I think I fall into the 'weirdo' class of pilot ;) It always takes me a few minutes into a flight to 'settle down' and relax when I'm happy with how the wind is behaving. (DEF-CON 5 in the pants dept)
The number of times I've told someone I'm a paraglider pilot only to get the same bl**dy response.
"Oh, you're one of those people who jumps off hills?"
"No, I don't jump off hills, I step off them ffs!"
Great post btw, explains the sport very well :)
Thanks @eggmeister! Yeah, the weirdos are the ones I like the best. It seems like a pretty eclectic mix of personality types can be found at any paragliding gathering. Launch-potatoes, newbies, total expert RedBull X-Alpers, true weirdos, at least one blag-mouth, and a few cool cucumbers. All that diversity just makes the sport that much more interesting to me.
I can think of at least one pilot who can fit into each one of those categories lol.
Hell, you've probably got at least 10 in mind for each one. :)
[thinking] mmm, probably only know about 10 pilots whom I've still got some form of contact with. Probs the same again the paramotoring community.