By Lee Whittington
On Tuesday or Thursday mornings you may catch a glimpse of someone practicing their kiting in the kitesurfing staging area in Seal Beach. But look closely … you’ll see that this isn’t a kitesurfing kite after all. This is a much bigger sail, more like one used in paragliding.
You would be right. It is, in fact, a paragliding “wing” and the man underneath it is 90-year-old Sumusu. He is practicing with his sail in Seal Beach to get ready for his paragliding adventures about 60 miles northeast of Seal Beach, at Marshall Peak. This is where Sumusu glides off a mountain peak 4,000 feet up in the San Bernardino Mountains.
Sumusu considers himself a “late-bloomer” in paragliding. He got into this adrenaline-pumping sport at age 75 and has been polishing his skills over the past 15 years. He says the most challenging aspect of paragliding is finding the thermals that can keep him aloft for hours. His longest flight to date is 4 and ½ hours.
So when you feel like age is catching up to you and limiting the things that you can do, think of Sumusu soaring high above the desert mountain valleys trying to catch his next thermal.
