He may be scared of heights, but it was up, up and away for Durban paraglider Josh Degenaar, who completed the world\u2019s furthest cross-country flight this year.<\/p>\n
On November 3 he set off from Prieska in the Northern Cape and flew for seven hours, covering a record 355km before landing close to Steynsburg, making him the number one cross-country paragliding pilot in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cCross-country flying is all about going as high and as far as possible,\u201d said Degenaar. \u201cFor those seven hours, I didn\u2019t eat and drink, except for drinking 125ml of water because I didn\u2019t want to have to stop to go to the toilet,\u201d laughs Degenaar.<\/p>\n
And in the world of paragliding, the feat was even more outstanding as it was \u201ca blue-sky day\u201d with no clouds in the sky \u2013 and clouds play an important role in finding thermals.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to get up under the base of a cloud and follow what\u2019s known as a cloud street,\u201d says Degenaar.<\/p>\n
The paraglider then moves from thermal to thermal, with the tricky part being changing direction to move across to catch the next thermal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like chess and you can also judge thermals from the ground below \u2013 such as a brown field and green field next to one another. You have to fully concentrate on where you are going to get your next thermal.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasically with experience, you get to know what is going to work,\u201d Degenaar adds.<\/p>\n
And he has 20 years of experience tucked under his glider\u2019s wings, which are very sleek and light for competitive paragliding.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I turned 30, I wanted to do something radical. I tried paragliding and found I was actually good at it,\u201d said Degenaar.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m scared of heights, but paragliding is different \u2013 maybe it\u2019s because I\u2019m strapped in,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Because KwaZulu-Natal has mountainous terrain, paragliding for any distance becomes difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom Bulwer, it\u2019s only about 40km before you hit the Berg,\u201d explained Degenaar.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can take more than 10 days to fly 100km in KZN, but go out of the province and you can go 400km in five days.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s also difficult to predict weather and so the windstream in our province. In De Aar you can go up 10 metres per second, compared to the coast at five metres per second,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Despite that, Degenaar is a frequent sight in KZN and was the instigator of the tradition of paragliders landing at Splashy Fen, which has now evolved into the Splashy Fen Challenge.<\/p>\n
And having reached new heights, Degenaar is now looking to break the all-time world record, which is also held by a South African \u2013 Neville Hulett, who flew 504km in 2009.<\/p>\n
To train for his paragliding challenges, he runs marathons and \u201cdoes a bit of gym\u201d, but is quick to point out that paragliding itself keeps anyone fit. \u201cYou have to climb to take off and when you land, you have to trek back or thumb a lift to where you started, to get to your vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n
And while paragliding often conjures up images of flimsy wings crashing into craggy mountainsides, Degenaar has only had two accidents and is adamant paragliding is far safer than being in a car.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s enjoyed one-on-ones with hawks, cranes and eagles, thermalled up under Boeing airliners by catching their vapour trails, and has seen places untouched by roads.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can not beat being up there, it\u2019s so quiet, it\u2019s like being on another planet,\u201d says the record-holder. – Independent on Saturday<\/p>\n<\/p>\n