If you ever have to spash down, you'd better know how.

Landing in water is not an exact science. For chrissakes, don't listen to those who pretend it is.

Without a quick-release system, landing in a tree is generally preferable to landing in water. If you have no other landing option but the water, here's your plan of action:

1. While you still have some altitude, check the water beneath you for signs of a current. If the water isn't as smooth as glass, there is -- so try your best to quickly identify in which direction it's moving, and at what rate. Look at the movement of water around rocks and other obstacles, look for foliage dragging in the current and look for the trajectory of animals and debris moving on the water.

2. Try to determine your altitude. (It is very difficult to judge your altitude over the water.) Don't look down at the water to judge your distance; instead, use nearby features on land as ground references. If neither are available, fix your eyes on the horizon.

3. Plan your approach. In light winds, do your best to fly downwind. Your aim is to get the wing to overshoot, keeping the lines as stretched as possible.

4. Just before final approach, unclip your chest strap and the leg strap over your non-dominant leg. (It'll keep you from slipping out of the harness prematurely, which would really suck.)

5. Decide whether to jump from your harness or remain clipped in. (If it looks like there is a chance of a significant current, your best bet is to ditch your gear.)

Hoo boy, this is going to suck.

If you jump:

• Don't look down. Keep your eyes on the horizon, glancing at land features to judge your altitude on final approach.
• Keep a hand on the buckle for the final leg strap and make sure the clip is unimpeded. You'll unclip it at the last possible moment.
• Aim to leave the harness at a height of 10 feet. Less than 10 feet is preferable to more than 10 feet; if in doubt, wait.

If you remain in your harness:

• If you've executed your approach correctly and the wing overshoots you, the leading edge will hit the water first and remain an inflated "wall." If you're lucky and the shore is populated, the colorful material standing on the water will act a signal.
• It's best to leave your gear at this point. (If there's wind, the wing will catch it and pull you along, perhaps into an entanglement.)

6. Resurface immediately to check the position of your wing and lines. If they're collapsing on you, quickly dive and swim away to avoid a dangerous entanglement.

7. If you happen to get caught in the lines, don't wait -- use your hook knife. If you find that you're caught under your wing, don't panic. Instead, look for an air pocket. Kicking will only entangle you further, so focus on being calm and assessing your situation.

8. Be glad you were recording video on a GoPro HERO 2 in a waterproof case. (You were, weren't you?) 'Cause this footage is going to be epic.

Finally, a note on harnesses in water:

If you think your harness's foam back protector will keep you afloat, keep in mind that it will still be difficult to keep your head above water. A long wait for help will likely exhaust you, especially in cold water.

If your harness has an airbag, you'll have to fight it from pulling you under. The same mechanics that move air into the bag when you're airborne will move water into the bag once it's submerged. Unzipping the airbag will help, but it's very unlikely you'll be able to pull it off under the stress of the circumstances.

The best advice? Think before you launch.

Crazy springtime weather patterns, poor planning or just plain bad luck: if you're in the air, rain sucks. Do you know what to do if you're flying your paraglider and a raincloud suddenly pops up and soaks you? The following are, of course, totally dependent on how intensely the rain is coming down (and how long you're exposed to it)

In the Air

• The fabric may stick together during recovery from a collapse, so don't freak out and take it easy. Your first priority is to land; however, don't perform maneuvers to do so that require strong braking (such as wing-overs or spiral dives). Big ears are also a bad idea, as the wet nylon may stick together on one side and not the other, leading to an ugly oopsie. Only execute a B-line stall if absolutely necessary; if you do, use a light hand on brakes when you set up your approach.
• Disturbances to the laminar air flow over the wing will probably cause your sink rate to increase.
• Water will begin to soak your wing through micro-cuts in the fabric's coating. This will weigh down the wing's trailing edge. As the trailing edge drops, the wing will begin to "apply the brakes to itself," increasing the wing's angle of attack without pilot input. Depending on a number of factors, this could lead to an irreversible stall. (Important note: a wet wing will stall at a higher speed.)

If rain's brewing, land.

On the Ground

Your troubles aren't over after you've landed. Don't collapse in a cold, tired heap; you must see to your gear if you intend to keep it in good working condition.

• Putting away a wing with any moisture in the fabric will seriously deteriorate your wing. Mildew will set in almost immediately.
• Never do a flight to dry your wet wing.
• Hang your wing to dry. If you're lucky and the sun has come out by the time you get back to a dry place, don't succumb to the temptation to hang your wing in direct sunlight in the hopes that it will dry faster.
• It's a good idea to get your reserve repacked if you've soaked your gear. Left packed and wet, moisture may turn your reserve parachute into a useless brick. (In the Cloud 9 loft, we've seen it many times!)
• Depending on the materials from which your glider was made, the process of soaking and drying can cause the outside of your lines to shrink. If the shrinkage puts your wing out of trim, this could expose you to the danger of a deep stall if the C and D lines don't stretch back to their manufactured length. If you've soaked your wing, it's a good idea to bring your equipment in to the Cloud 9 loft for a quick inspection to get the official all-clear (or a repair, if something's seriously amiss).

Prepare Yourself

One of the reasons we see a long of spring-season accidents is that rusty pilots are so gung-ho to fly, they push it -- way too hard.

If you haven't flown for a while, don't jump the gun. Start with mellow flights. Take a step backward and reacquaint yourself with the air -- you'll likely be glad you did.

Review What You Know

Take a moment to refresh your PG knowledge.

Remember that the thermals tend to be stronger in spring than every other time of year, and the lapse rate can be very high (because of the bigger temperature differential between the middle of the night and midday). Both aspects of spring paragliding tend to surprise a lot of people, leading to a sky full of spooked pilots. You don't have to be one of them -- review your student syllabus and refresh your knowledge of the technical aspects of the sport.

Speaking of refreshers: don't be embarrassed to show up for a brush-up lesson. Think about it: if you haven't been scuba diving for a while, you won't rent gear and splash right in for a wreck dive. The same is true -- perhaps, even more so -- for paragliding.

Get your gear checked at the Cloud 9 loft.

Prepare Your Gear

Get your glider in for its annual inspection. When your glider sits in the garage over the winter season, latent moisture can cause lines to shrink.

Not convinced you need a repack? Heed us. Paraglider manuals generally recommend that a reserve be repacked twice a year. We generally acknowledge that once per year is adequate for the more casual pilot.

Whenever you have your reserve repacked, we recommend hanging from a simulator and tossing…just to see what happens. Though it's convenient to do this from a simulator -- like ours -- it's perfectly fine to do this at home and ship the rig to a loft for a repack.

The kicker (and you may find this out for yourself) is this: one in ten reserves don't come out when the person tries to throw.

A Repack = Health Insurance. Really.

Common causes of this deeply unsettling malfunction can be improper installation, corrosion on the deployment pin (especially, though not exclusively, for coastal fliers) and deep creases, or "memory," that cause the reserve to come out as a non-unfurling brick. (The latter is usually due to moisture in the reserve container causing the nylon to adhere to itself.)

Your reserve: will it be ready when you need it?

The Cloud 9 loft has also seen two reserves that were not connected to the paraglider whatsoever. (And no, we did NOT pack the reserves in question.)

Another nauseating story from the Cloud 9 loft: we had a customer come in from Europe to fly at the Point of the Mountain. His glider had a note tucked into the seat informing him that customs had inspected his luggage. He at first was planning to fly without the repack, but took his rig in on a lark.

The rigger pulled his reserve, and a ball of knotted lines plopped onto the floor. It turns out that customs had pulled it out, checked it, then tied it in knots, shoved it back in and carefully closed the reserve flap. (We don't like to think about how the story would have played out if he'd needed it.)

The Moral of the Story

We know you want to fly -- really badly, as soon as possible. Think about it this way, though: if you set yourself up intelligently, you'll enjoy many more years of crazy, bumpy springtime air than if you pass on the minimal investment of time and resources it takes to be safe.

No matter where in the world you happen to be, we're happy to inspect your rig, repack your reserve and dole out any advice you seek! Drop us a line or call the shop at +1 801-576-6460

This is *not* parasailing. Sheesh.

When you spend as much time in the sport of paragliding as we do, you hear a lot of nonsense. Today, we at Cloud 9 were inspired to set a few things straight.

1. Paragliding does not occur behind a boat in Jamaica.

That's parasailing (and you would not believe how often we have to explain that).

2. You need wind to fly a paraglider -- lots and lots of wind.

Strictly speaking, you don't need wind to fly a paraglider. Sure, we utilize wind to stay aloft longer than the short "sled runs" we take from the top to the bottom of the hill in no-wind conditions.

Though non-pilots often assume that gliders need loads of wind to inflate and fly, the truth is rather opposite: too much wind can complicate (or eliminate the possibility of) launching. It can also push unwary gliders into a danger zone on the wrong side of the hill/mountain/ridge. For these reasons, savvy pilots launch their paragliders in a conservative range of conditions -- often, winds that feel surprisingly calm to non-pilots.

3. Paragliding is really dangerous.

Danger? Pah. We blend danger into our morning smoothies. Danger, schmanger.

Actually, the sport of paragliding is as dangerous as you want to make it. Lots of pilots we know have been flying for a quarter of a century and have never had more than a twisted ankle. We know other pilots who bought their equipment on Ebay and immediately attempted to fly off a mountaintop into a thunderstorm (or tie themselves to a pickup truck and have a friend mash the gas pedal).

Like many, many other sports, the golden rules of paragliding are to get quality paragliding instruction from someone who knows what they're doing (like, y'know, us) and to always fly within your limits. If both boxes are checked, the likelihood of a paragliding-related injury is much reduced.

This isn't paragliding, either. (It's awesome, though, and you should try it.)

4. Paragliders last forever.

A paraglider isn't a big aluminum airplane that you can polish up and send out, year after year after year. It's made of nylon (which, by the way, makes it oh-so-much-easier to hike with than a Cessna), and it's going to come to the end of its flyable-glider life at some point.

Paragliders will last anywhere from 3-6 flying seasons, depending on how often you fly. After that, old paragliders become difficult to launch, less responsive and more liable to sink out. (All this is entirely aside from the annoyance and expense of patch-jobs and relining.) We know that there are some old-school specimens floating around the internet (and, in some cases, boating geriatrically around the sky). But seriously -- do you want to fly, or fight your equipment for every foot of lift?

Yep. Thought so.

5. Paragliding is prohibitively expensive.

A paraglider is the cheapest, simplest aircraft in the world. Prices for a complete set of gear range from $3,000-$6,000, and training for a basic license (USHPA's P2, which qualifies a student to fly on their own, without a tandem pilot) costs around $1,000.

Once you've got the gear and the training, paragliding is essentially free. There are no required additional costs to continue in the sport: no flights to skydiving altitude, no fuel, no storage costs for the equipment (as it fits in a closet). While you may find yourself traveling to explore lots of far-flung sites, paragliding is one of the most cost-effective sports on the planet -- far more so than its awesomeness would suggest. Which brings us to…

6. Paragliding will get you laid.

Actually, that one's kinda true.

If you hear this balderdash perpetuated as much as we do, take matters into your own hands and share this post!

Spring. Finally.

Let's face it -- this was pretty much the crappiest snow kiting season on record (at least for us, in Utah). Between the complete lack of coverage and the super-short season, we were entirely out of luck.

Happily, the short winter means that the traction-and-water-kiting season is coming up quickly. (A couple of athletes have already started their water kiting season at Rush Lake, and we're already looking forward to a muddy good time with our kite trikes.) That said, it's important to make sure your gear is dialed in before spring gets going, so listen up:

Traction/Land Kiting

If you're still hauling around a ragged-out old mess of a kite, now is exactly the right time to upgrade.

Ozone just re-upped their trainer kite line, so every category of land kiting enthusiast - from beginner through advanced - will find a kite that perfectly suits their level and style.

Here's how Ozone's kite line is looking for the coming season:

• The IMP 2-Line Trainer has been discontinued. It's being replaced by the IMP.
• The IMP 3-line Trainer has been discontinued. It's being replaced by the Ignition.
• The IMP 4-Line Quattro has been discontinued. It's being replaced by the Quattro.
• The Flow has been discontinued. It's being replaced by the Octane.

Cloud 9 stocks all of the above, and the broader range of kites offers something you can use to get hauled around on a mountain board or zip you along on a kite trike. (By the way - if you don't have one already - have you thought about adding a trike to your arsenal? Check it out.)

Water Kiting

If you're a Utah local, do yourself a favor and come check out the store's huge selection of Dakine seat and waist harness. If you have problems with the fit of your current setup, we can help you find a harness that fits like a dream.

Cloud 9 can do amazing package deals on gear, especially if you're able to come in to the shop to see the closeout selection we don't post online.

Take Care of Necessary Repairs

Since the season isn't in full swing yet, this is also the perfect time to come in to the Cloud 9 rigging loft to sort out your gear. Is it time to replace a couple of lines? Were you pretty sure that bladder had a slow leak at the end of last season? We can fix it.

In any case, make sure to get your gear in order before you start missing great days!

Get it on Video!

It's going to be a great season, and you're gonna go hard. Since that's obviously the case, you'd better get a GoPro setup to faithfully document every balls-to-the-wall moment of it.

If you don't already have a GoPro (or if you have one of the previous versions), check out the GoPro HD HERO II. Kiting (and speed flying, and paragliding) enthusiasts will be stoked that Cloud 9 carries line mounts, so you can position your GoPro camera in the best possible place for great footage.

We have to get special permits through the USHPA and get clearance from Snowbird to fly here so please know Snowbird is not "open" for speed flying.  We do have a lot of great hike and fly sites nearby.  Contact us for tours, beta or any other speed flying information.

video- Snowbird Speed Flying Ozone Bullets - Mayer, Hintze, Steen

• land in trees
• match their glider against a 4-wheeler
• melt a nice set of holes in their wing with a hot exhaust pipe

…all in the same week.  Yeah.

It looks like our repair ninjas will be working around the clock to get those unlucky pilots back in the air.

Back at the shop, we had a huge day. We sold one Ozone Magnum tandem wing, one Mojo 3 (to our student in from the UK), a Bullet 12 meter to a local wing junkie and a SOL Super Sonic pure acro wing to another Point Rat. Oh -- we also sold four harnesses and two reserves. Massive!

We had a customer come in to the Cloud 9 Toys shop asking for a reserve parachute repack. (Remember, you are supposed to repack them at least once a year.) One look at it revealed that he was flying with a SUPER OLD system. It looked totally suspect, so we asked him to toss it in the simulator and see what happened. Well? NOTHING happened. There was no possible way for that old reserve, last modified 20 years ago, to open.

It turns out that this guy had been flying strong thermal conditions for years with a totally inoperative reserve system, and no one had bothered to tell him. The happy ending? We sold him a crispy new 37 PDA from SOL.