Imagine an urban environment where everyone lives within half an hour of beautiful beaches, hiking trails and a dozen enchanted holiday islands. Add a sunny climate, a background rhythm of Polynesian culture and a passion for outstanding food, wine, shopping, water-sports - you’re beginning to get the picture of Auckland. Auckland’s blend of islands, Polynesian culture, beautiful beaches, glistening harbours and modern city environment creates an unbelievable lifestyle ranked amongst the best in the world. Extreme Sports Café’s has a new partner Paragliding School based in Auckland, New Zealand.
Extreme Sports Café’s partner New Zealand Paragliding School is located on Auckland's North Shore a short ferry ride from Auckland and overlooking the beautiful and tranquil Shoal Bay. There is regular hassle free ferry transport to and from the city allowing you to relax and enjoy the harbour cruise as you prepare to learn all about Paragliding or look forward to your Tandem Paragliding experience. 
Extreme Sports Café’s partner New Zealand Paragliding School fly all year around. Most of the teaching is done September - May. 'The most reliable weather is usually January to April. Auckland has a warm- temperate climate, with warm, humid summers and mild, damp winters. Temperatures are moderated by the primarily coastal climate, but the sun is often quite intense from September to March. January temperatures average 21-24°C. February can be warmer than January, but temperatures rarely exceed 30°C July maximum temperatures average 14-16°C. High levels of rainfall occur almost year-round (an average of 1249 mm per year), especially in winter. Climatic conditions vary in different parts of the city owing to geography such as hills, land cover and distance from the sea.
Extreme Sports Café’s partner Paragliding Centre runs a full size sailloft, where they manufacture paragliding equipment for most good NZ paragliding schools and customize equipment for many pilots in NZ as well as repair whatever a pilot may manage to break. The Paragliding Centre is appointed by the NZHGPA and the Auckland Hang Gliding and Paragliding Club to carry out WOF for flying equipment. Besides that they are the appointed Service Loft for the most reputable Overseas' Paragliding companies and several manufacturers for flying instruments. How do they have the expertise for all these jobs? Check out the qualifications of the Instructors.
Paragliding Auckland Courses in New Zealand from Extreme Sports Cafe
All of our Paragliding Auckland Courses in New Zealand can be booked online
Generally, you can do Tandems, One-Day Courses, PG1 and PG2 courses in Auckland any day during the season with few exceptions. More advanced courses are scheduled so please do contact us for dates. The school have 4 fully qualified paragliding instructors, so can cater for all levels at all times.
Paragliding Trial Flight Experience
A Paragliding Trial Flight in a tandem with an instructor will give you the chance to experience a long flight above e.g. the beautiful West Coast beaches, soaring with the seagulls high above the cliff, which usually only experienced pilots get to enjoy. The theory is that this will convince you to get into this wonderful sport.
- Without any training or experience you can fly like a pro for 20-30 min. You don't need to be very fit or sporty at all, depending on the site we can take pretty much anybody for an unforgettable Paragliding Trial Flight.
- Especially for visitors to NZ or to Auckland, the centre recommend a Trial Flight Package with transport out to the site, cold drinks and a SD card full of in-flight photos of your unique experience. Minimum 2 person booking.
1-Day Paragliding Intro & Tandem Flight Experience
This is truly a big day paragliding, training all day, learning to launch and control the glider, steer, land with a aim to complete a couple of solo flights on this first day, like on the 1-Day Course.
- In addition, you are treated to a nice long tandem flight with one of our NZ Champion instructors, so you get an inside on where this training leads on a long run.
- Soaring, gaining height, maybe some wild aerobatics, maybe a top-landing. During such flight, you often get the opportunity to steer for a while and learn some of the more advanced soaring or thermalling skills from the expert. You can also take photos and ask many questions.
1-Day Paragliding Introductory Courses
This Paragliding course is a fun and exciting day during which we teach you some basics of flying a Paraglider.You will start by learning how to inflate, launch and control a Paraglider, while you are initially firmly on the ground.
Once that is mastered, you then progress to very small flights and later even to a couple of solo flight should you feel confident enough. You will be surprised how quickly you may progress. You can also choose to do a tandem flight instead.
PG 1 Paragliding Courses Beginner Rating (4-Days)
This Paragliding course gives you very good understanding what paragliding is all about. Within 4 days you learn to launch a glider well in different weather conditions, fly safely, soar along the coast for long relaxing flights and land safely.
- You fulfill all the requirements for a learner's rating (PG1) issued by the NZ Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association. In addition we treat you to a tandem flight with one of our instructors in order to teach you some of the finer skills of flying first hand, you get to go soaring. We will also cover necessary theory topics e.g. weather, aerodynamics.
PG 2 Paragliding Courses (10 - 20 days)
This is what it's all about! This Paragliding course is for those who got the bug and choose to pursue the beautiful sport of Paragliding. The course typically takes about 10 - 20 days, depending on how frequently you can train, how much good weather you strike and how you progress. The cost of this Paragliding Course depends on how you plan to go about it. Since this is the course for those who are going to get into flying seriously, most pilots purchase their own equipment after PG1 Paragliding Course.
- The centre offer special package deals, which include a glider, a harness, back protector etc and the PG2 instruction. Please do contact us for more information on this.
All our Paragliding Auckland Courses in New Zealand can be booked online
Paragliding Thermalling Courses
The finer arts of Paragliding! These Paragliding courses are designed to teach new PG2 pilots and coastal pilots some of those more advanced techniques and skills, which accelerate your progress after your PG2 course. That includes thermalling, confidently flying in unstable air, advanced site assessment and basics of cross country flying. You need the skills of this course for Fly-Ins, Competitions and Cross Country Courses. Run by Jeff Ripley, one of our most experienced pilots in Auckland. 4 pilots per course only.
Paragliding Cross Country Courses
Once you are good at launching, thermalling and landing, it is time to try some XC flying. Learn about assessing XC weather and sites, techniques, safety issues and performance flying. Where do you go? And when? What do you look for? This Paragliding Cross Country Course will answer those questions for you.
Paragliding Take-Off Clinic
Auckland and New Zealand sites and weather conditions require above-average take off skills. Perfect launching gives you confidence and makes your flying much safer. During this course, we help you to perfect your technique and teach you advanced launch methods. These courses are strictly for maximum 2 participants per instructor (Jeff, Eva, John) to optimize the result.
Extreme Sports Café’s partner New Zealand Paragliding Centre’s services cover all aspects of flying and kiting, from manufacturing to importing and distributing, advice, selling, after-sales service, maintenance, WOF, repairs, teaching from absolute beginner to advanced pilot, to instructor and tandem pilot.
All of our Paragliding Auckland Courses in New Zealand can be booked online Frequently Asked questions - Paragaliding
Can anybody fly? Tandem Paragliding flights require no training, no special skill and a very low level of fitness. In fact, besides hundreds and thousands of fit and young passengers, we have also taken a lady for a Paragliding tandem flight on her 93rd birthday and flown with people with disabilities.
To fly solo, you still don't need to be a top athlete. The equipment packs down into a backpack, which is easy to carry. Still, very fit people will find it easier to walk back up a practicing hill during the early days of training, while older or less fit people may want to take a bit more time.
Do you need a license to fly in New Zealand? Yes, to free fly one needs a PG2 rating which is issued by the NZHGPA (New Zealand Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association), which in turn is governed by the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority). We teach to this level and test students accordingly.
Who issues the license in New Zealand? The NZ Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association issue all licenses. The CAA delegates NZHGPA to issue Paragliding and Hang Gliding ratings. Certified instructors teach for the NZHGPA and sign such ratings off.
What license do you gain for the PG1 course? PG 1 = Learners Rating License. You will still need supervision by an instructor to fly with a PG1 rating.
What license do you gain for the PG2 course? You get a PG 2 rating. This is an intermediate rating, which allows you to fly pretty much anywhere by yourself.
Auckland/ North Shore Notes
- The location is ideal for tourists and visitors, even those without cars. While other public transport is a bit of a disaster in NZ, the ferry takes people from downtown straight to our front door in a few minutes.
- North Shore City is only 30 minutes drive from Auckland International Airport, which is a three and a half hour flight from Sydney, a non-stop overnight flight from the United States, and around 10 hours flight from most places on the Pacific Rim, like Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
- New Zealand's unit of currency is the New Zealand dollar (NZ$). Foreign currency can easily be exchanged at most banks and some hotels in North Shore City. All major credit cards can be used in New Zealand and travelers' cheques are accepted at hotels, banks and some stores. In general, banks are open from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, although some banks are open in weekends. Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) are widely available at banks, along main shopping streets and in some petrol stations.
- The cafe scene is varied and exciting in North Shore City and quality restaurants are plentiful. Dining out is a pleasure with a wide variety of choices to tempt the most discerning palates. The cuisine on offer is truly international - Turkish to traditional Kiwi, using the best of local produce complemented by the nation's finest wines. After dinner, continue the evening with a visit to one of the numerous wine bars, pubs and nightclubs in the city.
Where to meet? You can either meet at the school premises and drive out with them or meet them at the flying site.
Where we fly. We use a variety of paragliding sites around Auckland depending on the wind conditions on the day. Most of them are 30-60mins drive from downtown. Several places are on the coast and some are on inland farms.
What to bring? You need comfortable cloths for paragliding - maybe shorts and T-shirt - but also a warmer windbreaking top. Please wear ankle-protecting footwear such as hiking boots. Since we spend most of the day somewhere on a beautiful hill in the country side, you also need to bring food and plenty to drink..
Paragliding Auckland Courses in New Zealand from Extreme Sports Cafe
All of our Paragliding Auckland Courses in New Zealand can be booked online
