Johannes Nieuwoudt shares his love of Esperance with fellow pilots at the Waggas beach and dune flying festival, Western Australia.
The advent of the internet and more readily available information has meant great things for our sport. Apart from being able to Google ‘paragliding’ to find an instructor, Google Earth has helped with finding new sites. Over the past four years I have discovered quite a few unique paragliding sites through initially doing the Google Earth leg work, saving thousands of hours and cost, not to mention disappointment. 2 years ago I discovered Esperance dunes in Western Australia, and they are perfect for paragliding. France’s Dune de Pyla is not the unique phenomenon I had thought it was!
80 metres high and 1.4 km long, pure white and totally flyable even for novices, there are few other places on Earth quite like it: Laminar, non-turbulent, perpendicular prevailing onshore winds blow onto the dunes for the whole of the summer at just the right strength (10-18 knots), from November until the end of April. It is one of those places you can go to in summer, knowing that at least 4-5 of the 7 days will be full-on and perfect for flying and doing low level acro. This form of flying requires many hours of practise and ground handling, and the Waggas paragliding festival is about just that: developing skills and having fun. Esperance also has some of the most beautiful beaches in Western Australia, great for kite surfing, surfing, snorkeling and Scuba as well.
The Waggas festival of 9-17 January was followed by another one on 9-14 April, before the winter set in and the prevailing winds turned north. Some incredible flying was experienced … pity that the flying was so great and the ridges so big (unlike the crowded ridge of Dune de Pyla) that we did not get any group photos! The pictures are self explanatory and evidence of 2 great socials, excellent days, some full moon nights and excellent flying. More info and videos on www.paraglide-xc-acro.com.
I would like to thank the people helping me and pilots attending especially Yoann Laperrousaz, Clive Salvage, Mervin Jefferies, Eugene Grove, Gabriel Isaiah. Also special thanks for the incentives from Paragliding Headquarters (Australia), Mountain Designs (Perth-OZ) Gradient Paragliders (Czech), Brauninger (Germany), Eternity Press (South Africa) and G-Force Paragliding (New Zealand) for their contributions.
