SakshiEwa Wisinierska, being a German paragliding champion had never imagined in her wildest dream that one day her passion would land her in a critical situation. There were about 200 fellow paragliders with her in the training session of Paragliding World Championship when she was ready to set off to the sky. The venue was New South Wales, Austrailia and, Ewa was ready for another larger than life experience. However, little did she know this experience was going to be different than any other and very soon she was about to hit headlines worldwide for an unexpected reason. She was about to face a life-threatening storm that traps her and even sucks the energy to fight out of her. Whether she was going to survive the storm or not? Was her dream of winning the championship going to be a dream only?
This is true she was going to be famous but the question is was she going to survive to enjoy the fame or was she going to be a legendary story that passes on from generation to generation?
Not Cool
Ewa was very excited for the championship that was to be held in New South Wales of Australia. She and her team reached the venue a few days before the championship to prepare well for the contest. Her training was going smoothly till the time she decided to go on paragliding. Going on Paragliding in that weather was indeed full of dangers and the possibility of a coming storm had already been deemed by the weather department. A bunch of storm clothes had been spotted in the north direction and with the progression of day, the warning regarding the thunderstorm got even severe.
Taking On Cloud
So, the paragliders were warned about that in advance. However, Ewa and her fellow paragliders did not get cowed down by the critical situation of weather. They set her tracking logs and GPS in motion. Despite the warning, the cloud looked good enough to make a fly in. Eventually, with all her equipment on, she took off to her unanticipated future. For her, it was a normal part of training. Being a hard worker all her focus was shifted to her aim only. She did not really care about the weather all she cared about was the contest she was going to take part in.
Tied Along
Before taking off she made sure all her apparatus were in order. After inspecting all of them Ewa tied herself tightly to her glider. Thereafter she ran forward and thrust herself up to take off. Her teammates wished her good luck and prepared for their next step. Whereas Ewa was soaring high in the sky, her teammates hoped in their vehicle and began tracking her by following her in their van. They were constantly checking radio to get every possible update on her progress. Ewa was enjoying the experience to its fullest not knowing what future was holding for her.
Back To Sky
Everything was going smoothly with Ewa gliding forward towards the north. First, she flew over Mount Borah’s mountain ridge stretching up to 12 miles. Then she flew over the vast savanna. The clouds were calm during that part of her journey. With the increment in height, her confidence also increased. Now, she was overseeing the world with blazing confidence in her eyes. She wanted to win and she was going to take everything she could to be the champion. But was that really going to happen? Was she even going to participate in the championship in the first place?
Everything Was In Place
Ewa’s tracking log and GPS were working fine. Lost in her thoughts, the lady was just about to finish covering vast Savanna when she spotted a couple of thunderstorms in her way. No need to say, that made her heartbeat go faster. The giant clouds were huge in size with one larger than the other. This is true she was a well-versed paraglider but this is also true that she had never witnessed a problem like this before. Being naive, she had no idea how was she going to deal with it. On the ground, her teammates had every update regarding her progression. But soon they were going to lose contact with her.
Late Entry
Is not that Ewa did not know about the deteriorating condition of weather, it is just she did not mind that. Ewa and her teammates launched into the sky an hour after a number of pilots had taken off. All of those who took off an hour before Ewa had successfully managed to fly past the cloud. Now it was Ewa and two more paragliders who had to face the cloud. One of the two belonged to Austria and the other was a Chinese fellow, who had an extensive knowledge of the field.