Passions can be sparked by the most innocuous things.
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For Tamworth’s Halina Kaufman that was a glance up to the sky one day while in Tasmania.
“I saw paragliding in Tasmania and I just thought it looked amazing,” Kaufman said.
Then the opportunity to try it out for herself came up and she “fell in love with it”.
Barely 12 months after learning to fly, Kaufman created history on the weekend as the first female pilot to win the overall individual honours in the 23 years of the Paragliding State of Origin.
Held at Manilla’s Mt Borah, the annual competition is aimed at novice pilots and saw 150 – of all levels of experience - take to the skies.
Flying her Iota in the fun class, Kaufman finished with 742. Rob Laws was second with 675 and Lukas Grzyb third with 651, fun class pilots sweeping the overall placings.
It was a weekend of uncharted heights for Kaufman, who twice eclipsed her previous best distance of 50km.
She did it for the first time on the opening day, flying 138km.
“It was a big day in the skies,” she said.
“I landed after 6pm at night after flying for five-and-a-half hours.”
“(But) It was beautiful landing just before sunset.”
Conditions were a bit more challenging on Saturday with some weak climbs and inversions to get through but Kaufman still clocked 92km. Accumulating triple points under the competition’s handicap system, it put her in a very strong position.
Fortunately, as it turned out, with Kaufman only managing a couple of small flights on Sunday.
“It was quite a difficult day. The wind was in all different directions and at different heights,” she said.
She also had a bit of a run-in with an Eagle.
“I flew with him for a bit. I thought he would maybe show me where the lift was,” she said.
“Then he started screaming at me.”
“I’ve never had that before.”
Sensing a dangerous situation she flew away from it.
“If they want to some times they can shred the top of your glider,” she said.
Kaufman had a fair idea she was the best female pilot but to be first overall came as a surprise.
“I didn’t know going into the awards presentation last (Sunday) night that I had actually won,” she said.
“When I was looking at the scoresheet there was someone above me.”
He turned out to have been put in the wrong class, something Kaufman didn’t learn until she was presented with the trophy as the overall winner.
She said the past year has been a steep learning curve, admitting that it can be a struggle at times being up there watching your mates flying better than you.
“Eventually it all starts to fall together and that seems to be what happened this weekend,” she said.
It has given her a lot more confidence.
“It was a fantastic weekend and I feel much better about my flying now,” she said.
“I feel more confident to stay up in the air and catch the lift.”
There is “still a lot to learn” but Kaufman said the result has given her that urge to keep flying and possibly compete in more competitions.
Kaufman’s Manilla SkySailors team also won the teams competition.
As to the State of Origin honours, after reclaiming the trophy last year, NSW dominated their Queensland rivals.
Results State of Origin: NSW Cockroaches 4865, QLD Canetoads 3428, World Barbarians 2924
Individual Open: Halina Kaufman (Tamworth – NSW) – FUN Class - 742 2 1, Rob Laws (NSW) - FUN Class – 675.3 2, Lukas Grzyb (NSW) – FUN Class - 651 3.
Sportster Class: Oliver Lewis (NSW) 1
Ace Class: Godfrey Wenness (Manilla – NSW) 1
Teams: Manilla SkySailors 1
