Skywings Paragliding Club was formed in 1991 and has established several sites over the years. It continues to maintain these sites, using membership fees and goodwill to do so. Skywings has agreements with land owners, among others, which include popular sites such as Beach Hotel, Serpentine, Gerricke point, Tolberg, and Kleinkrantz.
Skywings is a legitimate club registered with SAHPA and has a healthy membership of over 50 local and country members and is run according to the club constitution. Skywings belongs to its members. It is run for its members by its members via a Management Committee. A new committee was elected in October 2012 with a vision of creating unity in the sport, encouraging all to fly and supporting our Commercial Operators. Honest and transparent dialogue with stakeholders is encouraged.
With it’s roll out of the Mentorship program, we aim to pair less experienced pilots with more senior ones that will assist and encourage continued participation in the sport and sharing of knowledge. Successful “Open Day’s” have been held where Instructors host a morning training session for all that are keen to try paragliding. More are to be held in future.
Skywings also hosts flying competitions that draw vast interest and camaraderie and is an incubator for future competitive pilots, as well as being an excellent practice ground for experienced competitors.
EVERYONE is welcome to join Skywings Paragliding Club.
Deon Borrett, the owner of Dolphin Paragliding, has been an active commitee member of Skywings Paragliding Club for the past 15 years. Serving the interests of paragliding within the Garden Route, he has been involved with the maintenance of launch sites within Skywings club structure. Deon Borrett has also pioneered and helped develop many of the existing sites.
He continues to serve the community through his portfolio as site liason and competitions director for Skywings and looks forward to serving on the commitee for the next 15 years.
Baz Bus for Paragliders
What Is Baz Bus?
- Baz Bus is a unique hop-on hop-off, door-to-door bus service between the backpacking hostels around South Africa.
- Simply buy one ticket to your final destination and get on and off as many times as you want, wherever you want, with no time limit.
- Our buses are 22 - seater semi-luxury buses, all with on-board TV & videos, and trailers capable of carrying surfboards and bicycles.
- Baz Bus runs in each direction between Cape Town and Johannesburg / Pretoria with stops along the coast.
Dolphin Paragliding recommends Baz Bus for travelling paragliders who want to backpack and fly while travelling South Africa to use this convenient and cheap method of travelling.
Baz Bus travels to many towns with backpackers that are close to paragliding sites.
Top Ten Locations:
Mosselbay
1. Dana bay paragliding site, an epic ridge soaring site 3km from town.
2. Hartenbos, great low dune site, only 5km from Mossel Bay central.
Wilderness
3. Map of Africa, majestic ridge soaring site overlooking the Wilderness beach.
4. Wilderness Beach Hotel, 4km of cliffs to enjoy the day with.
Sedgefield
5. Gerickes point, panoramic site overlooking the beautiful Gerickes bay, epic ridge soaring.
6. Sedgeview, the best coastal thermic site in the world, overlooking the ocean, lakes and rivers of Sedgefield.
Knysna
7. Brenton on Sea, wonderful easy ridge soaring site with views onto Buffalo Bay.
Plettenberg Bay
8. Piesangs Valley, in town, great site.
9. Uplands, 15km out of Plettenberg Bay, great thermic site.
Durban
10. The Bluff, great ridge soaring site, close to city centre.
Dolphin Paragliding Partners and Associate Companies
We work with selected companies when needed, such as when we have large groups but insufficient pilots. We only associate with top class companies that have the same high standards for safety and quality as us. They are all as professional and dedicated as Dolphin Paragliding, ensuring a fun and safe experience.
Our top associate:
www.flytimeparagliding.com
Other associates:
Altitude Paragliding
www.altitudeparagliding.com
SA Paragliding Adventures
www.saparaglidingadventures.co.za
Knysna Paragliding
www.knysnaparagliding.co.za
Sky High Paragliding
Dolphin Paragliding supports Endangered Wildlife Trust
Humans are the custodians of this wonderful planet Earth, come on and do your bit.
EWT MyPlanet Rhino Fund
The creation of the EWT MyPlanet Rhino Fund aims to provide the public with a tangible way to actively support rhino conservation and anti-poaching efforts in South Africa through a consolidated fundraising programme.
You can make a difference every time you swipe your free MyPlanet card. Simply get your card here. In 2009 there was a dramatic increase in rhino poaching with 135 animals killed, and in 2010 an even more staggering 333 animals were brutally slaughtered for their horns - and recently more than 448 were killed or injured following a poaching attack in 2011. The war against our rhinos has been waged! It's time for us to rise up and fight back. Hope now lies in communities, organisations, governments and individuals working together towards saving our iconic wildlife. It is our duty to win the rhino war and set an example of what South Africans can achieve if we rally together behind a common cause.
The MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet fundraising programme has, through its MyPlanet card, been supporting environmental and animal welfare since 2007. For this reason, in partnership with the Endangered Wildlife Trust, a current beneficiary of the programme, we are proud to announce the creation of a dedicated fund committed towards rhino conservation.
Sign up for your free MyPlanet card in support of Rhino Conservation now.
The EWT MyPlanet Rhino Fund, launched in May 2011, is the culmination of combined efforts between the MyPlanet fundraising programme, the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) and supported by Braam Malherbe (the well-known conservationist and 50|50 presenter) in an effort to provide South Africans with a channel through which to easily and constructively support rhino conservation and anti-poaching without costing them a cent. The fund is administered by the EWT and will be used to address the most pressing needs across the country.
The EWT will also provide supporters with feedback on how the funds have been used and allocated, from paying for metal detectors to find bullets inside wounded animals to supporting the conservation work in the field where poachers are running rife. Yolan Friedmann, CEO of Endangered Wildlife Trust says, “The Endangered Wildlife Trust is delighted to be working with Braam Malherbe and MyPlanet to provide a platform for concerned South Africans to support the conservation of rhino and the improved protection of our threatened wildlife heritage.”
Read how the first batch of funds raised in aid of this charity will be used.
Take a stand against poachers and syndicates responsible for the demise of these iconic animals. Follow Braam Malherbe’s example: “My DOT campaign is so simple… if we all just Do One Thing our collective actions make a radical difference. Get a MyPlanet card and Do One Thing! Support rhino conservation.”
Help protect an icon of Africa, our precious rhinos.
MyPlanet Card to Support Vulture Conservation through Vulpro NPO
Want to support an environmental or animal welfare organisation?
The MyPlanet fundraising programme was launched as an extension of MySchool to provide community-minded people like yourself the opportunity to support a worthy cause close to their heart, without costing them a cent. You can support the charity of your choice every time you shop! Our partners will donate a percentage of your spend to the charity you have selected, on your behalf.
How does it work?
Get your free MyPlanet card today, select the Planet charity that you want to support (up to 3), and then, every time you shop at our partner stores (such as Woolworths, Toys R Us, kalahari.com, Reggie's, Engen, Altech Netstar and many more), they will donate a percentage of your purchase, on your behalf. It is so easy to make a difference.
Get a card here or at any Woolworths store, or call us on 0860 100 445
What is a Planet?
We classify Planets as organisations that focus on the improvement and protection of the environment and animals.
SUPPORT VULPRO NPO donate monies directly to there account if you want to as well.
Paragliding Courses and Training in South Africa
We are very fortunate in South Africa to have quite a few highly qualifed instructors who are equal with the World's best standards. Our Courses like the Basic Licence course is quite comprehensive and includes no less than 35 flights and certain safety maneouvers. There are theory lessons and an open book exam that is quite detailed and gives new pilots a good idea on what is needed to be safe pilot. The training includes some thermal flying as well as ridge soaring and sometimes winching is used to train pilots.
Tourists and foreigners can rest assured they will have a good quality instruction that will meet most of the criteria of their home country. South African licences are recognised worldwide. There is usually some form of conversion needed to be done in some countries and it may involve practical flights or theory exams or even both, but normally it's not a big deal to convert ones licence. The main reason for these conversions is insurance and casevac benefits in certain countries like Germany and Austria. South Africa is a great place to train and in particular the Garden Route as we have ideal conditions and sites for training. All our training sites are accessable by car and some you can even top land after a few flights. This ensures we dont spend on average more than two weeks to complete a course, naturally weather depending. The cost can sometimes be cheaper to fly from Europe and complete your course in South Africa and have a small holiday as well rather than trying to complete the course with Europes weather condtions.
Locals would also find it beneficial to train in the Garden Route as there is minimum travelling besides the intial flight or drive. The sites are within a 30km radius and easy to find as they are just off the N2. There are packages with accommodation that make this an attractive option as one gets a holiday and a course for the same price. The main training sites are between Wilderness, Sedgefield and Knysna. They are all scenic and have easy grassy launch areas and landings are either the beach or grassy fields .
So to those aspiring paragliding pilots from Europe and even locally like Gauteng and Cape Town, come join the team this side and have some quality flying and teaching in some of the most beautiful training sites in the world.
