The paragliding equipment you will need for a safe enjoyable flight:

A paraglider for beginners. Paragliders are rated according to characteristics and reaction in flight. Safe gliders are rated as such ask your instructor for advice and prices.

A harness with good back protection. The harness is important and must have good back protection, just in case you don’t get the landing gear (legs) out in time!

Helmet: Open face or full face helmets can be used. Helmets are there to protect you should something go wrong on the ground.

Reserve: A reserve is not generally needed on the very safest gliders but is always recommended. A reserve parachute is usually a round parachute under which you descend at approximately 6m/s. This is used only if the glider fails totally and is unrecoverable.

Variometer: This is an altimeter that tells you how high you are above sea level, above take-off, and how fast you are going up or down in meters per second. It also has a beeper that indicates when you are in lift. It is very useful. Variometers range from basic to very high tech with integrated gps’s.

GPS: This is not necessary for flying but handy for assessing wind direction and speed. GPS’s are also required if you want to fly in competitions, for scoring purposes. The GPS will record your track log, allowing the scoring program to see how well you did in the task.