Im sitting on the top of the famous Babadag Mountain on the southern coast of Turkey, waiting for the gentle wind to turn into my face, ready to launch off the slope at 6000ft and fly out over the mediterranean sea.

There are world champion pilots on the mountain.

Tourists too, some have come to experience a tandem flight and return home with a DVD of them flying out over the stunning blue waters that surround the small town of Olu Deniz.

Some have come to watch their friends or just to see the crazy spectacle of brightly coloured paragliders laid out on the rocky, terra-cotta slope.

They have paid to get through turkish mafia checkpoints on the way up, and right now every single one of them is waiting for the wind to turn too.

They are more quiet than normal, the laughing and jostling for position has died down, they are all watching me

They are watching me because they haven't seen anything quite like it before, and I can hear the hushed conversations of puzzlement and surprise from the tourists of what Im about to do.

I feel a mixture of pride, embarrassment and anticipation as I sit staring at the wind-sock, willing it to show the air moving towards me so I can launch.

I can hear other pilots too, they are happy to see me there and the advice comes readily. I give myself something to do, looking back to check the lines and glider are laid out correctly one more time.

As I turn back I see the wind-sock is pointing straight at me now and I feel the wind on my face, its come on.

Jocky and Chris grab the front of of the buggy Im sitting in, the buggy they built, and ask me if Im happy and ready to go.

I am and I want to get off the mountain before the other pilots take advantage of the wind and the air gets filled with paragliders.

Jocky and Chris start running, they start off slow, dragging the buggy forward and helping me get the glider up above my head, after just a couple steps its flying, I look up and check it has inflated properly, that none of the lines are tangled or knotted, everything looks good, "run!" I shout.

The glider is up and its flying, but I need just a little more speed to create some lift and actually take-off away from the slope.

They run harder and I feel the bumping from the wheels over the rocks stop, Ive launched just a few centimeters above the ground, and built up more speed than Jocky and Chris can keep up with.

They drop away to the sides and I fly past, still parallel to the slope but just above it. I pull down on the control lines slightly, contorting the shape of the glider, converting my speed into lift, and the ground seems to fall away as I fly straight out without loosing any height.

The slope is steep and soon I am well away from it, the distance between me and the ground growing every second. Heading straight out I can hear people cheering and clapping from the launch site as I smile and relax into my seat letting the warm air bring a quiet freedom to me.

There is nothing up here, Im above everything in sight, and each smooth, gentle turn brings another smile to my face as I silently float out over the glistening sea. Its amazing, Im still at over 5000ft by the time I reach the coast, with nothing below me but the air and sea.

I look down, seeing the beach and town of Olu Deniz, feeling as if I own it , I pick out the place where I will land. Its beautiful, but it looks alien to me now. I dont want to be down there I want to be up here, where I can move and glide anywhere I want without and hinderance from being paralysed. I turn away, rolling the glider around, I might have to land, but for now I still have 5000ft to enjoy.

Paragliding is an awesome sports for anyone, if you are in a wheelchair then it just becomes even better. Getting thrown off mountains is a great way to meet cool new people, and it never seems to take much to convince people to throw me off a mountain, maybe I should be worried about that. Flying, when you cant walk, is just amazingly liberating and can be as peaceful and quiet, or as fast and extreme, as you want it to be. I truly cant recommend paragliding enough, for able-bodied and disabled people alike.

The easiest way to get involved is to try and get in contact with your local paragliding and hang-gliding club, there is bound to be on within decent traveling distance of you. A Google search for your local area and the word paragliding should yield results. If not then try to get in contact with your national association for paragliding, in the UK that is the BHPA, and in the US it is the USHPA.

At the moment they arent that many disabled people paragliding, and it remains a minority sport for people in wheelchair, but the British Hang-Gliding and Paragliding Association is helping to lead the way and has a disability initiative called Flyability. Set up by a disabled Hang-Glider pilot and with the help of Jocky Sanderson. Flyability promotes the sport for disabled people and arranges training courses each year, helping to subsidise the cost of training and providing specialist equipment. If you are from the UK and you want to get involved with the sport then get in touch with Flyability to find out about one of their week long courses held in Keswick at The Calvert Trust.

Interested in getting involved with some disabled adventures and expeditions? I’m hoping to get the first adventure going through the Canadian Rockies, with mountain biking and kayaking.
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Have a look at the Gallery pages to see pictures from my various activities and what I’ve been up-to lately.
Photo’s of the disabled sports I take part in and a whole random gallery of my ugly mug, enjoy.
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If you arrived at this page and haven't got a clue what the hell I’m going on about, or have just got lost, then head back to the Home Page to start from the beginning.
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The latest thoughts and ramblings from adventures and exploits. Updated with pictures and details from ‘stuff’ every once in a while at least, maybe. Have a look and see what I’ve been up to.
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They should be able to give you contact details for the nearest school or club to you, where you can find out details of courses and training or just arrange for a tandem flight to experience paragliding and find out how fun it is.

“When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return”

- Leonardo da Vinci