“I’m as ready as a man can be.” Cedar Wright takes another deep breath. Flying conditions are good this early morning. A great crowd of Kenyan youngsters is gathered on the takeoff. His companion and mentor Nick Greece is also ready. The camera rolls. One, two, three... then the two Americans lift off, one after the other. The Kerio Valley Nature Reserve lies below their feet. Woohoa! Cedar has a vision. He wants to crack his personal best and make his first 100 mike flight. “At the Kerio Valley you fly along a windy edge of the terrain, which falls steeply away to (from?) a high plateau, as Cedar describes the route. “It can be quite turbulent and unpredictable: there’s an explosive mix of thermal and dynamic upwind. If you get a collapse there’s little or no time to sort it out”.
Cedar is fiercely determined to go to his limits. 100 miles is a long way. Can he manage them? Not today, as it happens; it’s too turbulent and the two have to land. The mealie field can serve as an emergency landing field. In the vigorous tailwind Cedar loses control for a moment. The arrival is rough. He somersaults in the corn. Nick holds the camera steadfastly thoughout. “Holy shit!“, Cedar declares. In typical American style he puts a brave face on the painful crash landing. “I’m traumatised, I’ve had enough of this.“ Almost defiantly he packs his things together. This 100 mile business is for the birds.
What makes a good paraglider pilot? Nick: “A good paraglider has the memory of a goldfish.” Get up, shrug off the sense of failure, look forward. Now more than ever, the two pilots think. They don’t give up that easily. Equipment, wing, personal attitude – all good. Today will see the second attempt.
Conditions prove the pilots to be right. Confidence is back. With a certain composure they soar along the ridge. Today the miles clip steadily past under the Kenyan sun: 16... 32... 60 miles. Ecstatic, they fly on. This feels damnedly good. For a paraglider flying 100 miles feels like a coming of age, Cedar describes the adventure. “And when you take off you never know where you might land.” You are almost the whole day in the air, “so you have to be mentally fit and resilient.” These bodily and mental challenges drive the Californian on. “You are seven to eight hours in the air, without a motor.” For Cedar this is the ultimate adventure sport, “That’s exactly what I like.”
117 miles in 7 hours: Flight on XContest.org
Today went like clockwork. The thermals carried the two pilots unimagined distance. They cracke d the 100 miles without problem. Thumbs up. Enthusiastically they glide on – as far as the wind will take them. 106... 110... at the end lets say 117 miles in the logbook (173.2 kilometers). Cedar has his widest grin: “I FUCKIN‘ DID IT!” He can hardly believe it. Nick, who originally had the idea for this flying adventure, commented on the result more sagely: “This is the place where people come to break their personal records.”
Cedar Wright likes risk. As an extreme climber and paraglider pilot the American has a pronounced leaning towards passion and commitment. Again and again his ultimate adventures take him into situations which create an element of suffering. When he is not in the skies or on the mountains he makes films, music or writes stories.
Nick Greece is one of the best pilots in North America and has won numerous World Cup titles. He especially likes to explore every little crevice and corner from the air. Nick is very proud of his passport which is full of the exotic stamps of the more than 30 countries in which he has flown.