Paramotoring the Length of New Zealand - 2006

Let me tell you of a little secret, known to very few. The best form of flying in terms of price, portability, safety, convenience and the ease to learn is paramotoring by a long shot. It can be packed in a suitcase, uses only 3 litres of petrol per hr, is able to be launched and landed in a very small area and for fun flying, it’s second to none. 

Paramotoring has now come of age, being lighter, with more power and greater reliability. With these advancements, pilots are becoming more ambitious to fly further, higher and explore greater afield.So the challenge was there - to fly the length of NZ by powered paraglider, well known for its dramatic variation in landscapes, with its formidable and all inspiring mountains, it’s rugged coastlines and the unpredictable and changeable weather systems. The flying adventure of a life time was advertised and within a few weeks we had an assortment of guys resembling a team. Composed of Wes and Walter from USA, Till from Germany and Rob, Tim and myself from NZ, the team was ready and biting at the bit to tackle the land from down under.

With varying skills, an assortment of motors, spares for spares, 2 support vehicles with trailers and an independent film crew, we took off on the 20th Feb just South of Cape Reinga. Our goal was to fly from the top of the North to the bottom of the South with 16 days to do so.

Our first day of our flying adventure was not an uneventful one. With an engine failure overlooking the lighthouse and with very few areas to land, one of the guys luckily demonstrated a perfect hill landing. His launch was even more precarious with a slope that fell away to the sea. With the anxious time behind us, the group of aviators flew down 90 mile beach with its pristine blue coastline, golden sand beaches and quite a number of parked buses.  Our flying adventure provided unexpected entertainment for a large number of camera happy tourists, who were surprised to see the colorful flying contraptions with giant fans.  I’m sure we will be in a large number of photo albums back in Japan. After a refuel and some showing off in front of the TV crew we continued southwards. 

Our next destination – The Bay of Islands This leg wa highlighted by the silky smooth air, and rolling green hills partially blanketed with the early morning fog.

Most of the pilots landed on the main beach in Paihia with the exception of Walter who decided the golf course looked like a good landing spot. Perhaps he wanted to play a round.

After having a swim and some lunch we launched off the main beach and took off for Whangarei, a straight line distance of 50km. Walter, not having much luck, had a forced landing due to a muffler problem. Tim decided to assist with the retrieval, radioing thru to the support vehicle. The rest of the team continued on but it was becoming apparent that rain was on its way. With progress being painfully slow, we decided to ditch and find shelter under a large tree with our motors. Sure enough the heavens opened up and down came the rain. 1hr later we were flying again and with improving conditions we reached our destination in good time.

Here my landing was unforgettable. At 40 ft with the assistance of a wet wing trimmed slow and over braking,  I entered a phenomenon called wind gradient. The wing suddenly stalled and before I new it, I found myself on my back with a base frame looking worse for wear, hurt pride and without a scratch. My next mission - to fly tomorrow.

The next few days our flying progress was painfully slow with strong winds with a weak front coming thru. We ended up holing up at Tim’s place just North of Auckland waiting for the weather to come right.

And finally it did. With the team eager to be in the air again we had one of our earlier starts. 6am wake-ups had been a struggle up to now with evening socializing and late night tinkering sessions with our motors, but not this morning.

Our next destination was Raglin, world renowned for its surfing and soon to be famous for paramotoring. This stretch of coastline is unbelievably spectacular but very remote. One of our support vehicles managed to flip their trailer while trying to follow us off the beaten track. All made it to Raglan except poor Rob who also was having a muffler problem. Rob, the Fitness Instructor, decided to land and run out with his motor on his back and the wing under his arm to the awaiting support vehicle. He must have been missing the gym or perhaps was anxious not to come across a not so friendly bull.

Bad news had arrived for Tim. Work was beckoning and he had to cut short his flying holiday. The team was now down to 5. With Rob and Walter holed up in Raglin fixing their ongoing muffler problems, we ventured on. After a few hrs we landed in a quiet little town, borrowed a vehicle and a couple of fuel containers from a friendly local and went down to the petrol station for gas and some well deserved breakfast.  

With a contingent of kids watching, (shouldn’t they be at school?) we took off keen to eat up some serious k’ms. That night we slept well after a good days flying and knowing we had a big flight ahead of us tomorrow - Mt Ruapehu.

One of our highlights of the trip had arrived. The day was perfect, light Westerly, with cloud base at 5000ft. That day, Till, the German, was the only one who managed to fly over the crater. At 9500ft, using the light Westerly for lift, he made sure he had photos to prove it. Disappointingly I managed to top out at 7,500 ft with an underpowered motor and flying a different face of the mountain. The other 3 guys had some minor motor problems with Rob smashing his prop trying to take off.

The next couple of days were frustrating with strong NW. Even so we managed to fly along the large wind farm at Palmerston North and short flights along the Kapiti Coast. Rob had some more bad luck with loosing his battery, disintegrating his last prop in the process. It was total carnage, with prop debris everywhere. Without wasting time Rob was busily on the phone looking for a replacement. 1 hr later he was catching a flight from Palmerston to Auckland to grab Tim’s spare. From there he hired a vehicle, drove 2 hrs to pick up the prop, returned to the airport and flew directly to Wellington. We picked him up that evening clutching a large and very expensive parcel. This guy was keen to continue.

Flying conditions were getting worse the further South we went. We managed to fly along some of the Eastern and Kaikoura coastline with its dramatic rocky outcrops and abundant sea life but with the weather being so unpredictable eating away large km’s was not possible.

Our next stop was Geraldine in South Canterbury. This is the start of serious flying country. The morning was clear but with a 15km SW breeze at ground level After a 15 min flight with ground speeds of only 5 – km the guys decided to land. Again we were beaten by the relentless head winds. With time against us we decided to head to Lake Tekapo.

Around mid-day some of the guys took off from the local airfield in Tekapo. Finding the air to be very turbulent, the not so enthusiastic few decided to get back to mother earth 30 minutes later. Flying is such a waiting game and around 6pm the conditions had improved. We took off, not knowing this was going to be the best flight on our tour. With silky smooth conditions and a sun set most can only dream about, we flew until dark. This flight made up for all the down time and all the days where our progress was limited. Only from a paramotor can you really appreciate the unobstructed views we had that evening.

We decided to drive thru to Alexandra with the intention to fly thru to Wanaka and on to Queenstown. The outlook was not looking good. After checking numerous weather sites it was showing a series of unseasonable cold fronts coming through in quick succession with possibly very little opportunity to fly. Racing against time and weather, we launched in Alexandra in light and smooth air and headed towards Cromwell at the crack of dawn. At high altitudes we encountered a strong NW headwind which was predicted. We were going nowhere. Frustrated we landed knowing that that the weather gods had won this time.

We decided that some R&R was on order in Queenstown. This provided a time to reflect over the past 15 days on the fun we had with our flying adventure, the good, the bad and the ugly and the friendships that had developed.

The challenge was a realistic one but with the unfavorable role of the dice, mother nature didn’t come to the party during a period when the weather is generally settled.

I love challenges and this one is not getting away. A second attempt will be made to fly the length of South Island later in the year.

I just like to sign off that it seemed we had continuous trouble with our engines. Generally modern paramotors are reliable. In our case 2 motors had modifications that proved to be problematic, were not tested prior and were not standard equipment.

If you have any queries or would like to join me on my next adventure email me at info@parapro.co.nz