By Jaime Uranovsky
Not all 83-year-olds would choose to go paragliding off Signal Hill for their birthday celebration. Martin Margolius, however, is not your average 83-year-old.
โWhen you get to my age, people just think โwell, this is it. You know, you must start taking it easy.โ But thatโs not for me. I want to get back into things. Iโm young at heart, so I decided [paragliding] will be the way Iโll start.โ
Martin originally wanted to paraglide three years ago, on his 80th birthday, but was stalled by a knee injury and subsequent knee replacement. He did not let that hold him back though, and finally achieved his goal in April this year, just a few weeks after his 83rd birthday.
โI thought that you jump off Signal Hill. You donโt. You actually glide off. You glide off with your, letโs say, pilot becauseโฆ I did the tandemโฆ The view is incredible. I wasnโt scared. I was more excited, but I told my children, โyou must wait on the beachfront and hopefully I land. If I donโt land properly, youโll meet me in hospital or, at the worst thing, youโll come to my funeral.โโ
When asked about the landing, Martin recounts, โI was a bit scared because Iโve had a knee replacement and that was my problem. I warned them about [it] but, when I landed, the pilot took the so-called โrunning alongโ so that was quite okay. That was the only thing I was worried about.โ
For Martin, there are plans to spend more time with his head literally in the clouds: โThey said to me, when Iโm 90, theyโll do a paragliding for me for free. So, weโll see. I want to go skydiving. You know, thatโs from a plane. Thatโs what I want to do next year.โ
On the overall experience of paragliding, Martin had this to say: โMy daughter, Hazel, came up to me and asked, โDid you enjoy it?โ I said, โFrom what I can remember, itโs better than sexโโ
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