Peter Jennings: Our Speaker on Tuesday February 25th, 2025
By Nancy McFadden
At our last Probus Meeting on February 25th Peter Jennings gave his presentation called “Realizing the Dream” about paragliding.
Peter was introduced as a physicist, inventor, entrepreneur and traveller. He created one of the first commercial home computer games: MicroChess. It was the first of its kind to sell over 10,000 copies making the prospects commercially viable for other inventors. It also provided him the capital to launch VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program.
Peter was a ‘digital nomad’ before the concept became popular. He visited 130 countries while earning a living writing software. In retirement, he continues to travel searching for the perfect flight for his paragliding.
What an uplifting topic!
Peter explained that paragliders ride the thermal lift provided by ridges, waves and the onshore breezes of coasts. You circle as you go up. Because the equipment can be packed into a large backpack, you can hike up and fly down mountains. He warned that you may have to wait for hours for the right conditions once you are there. Paragliders go up as high as 17,999 feet as airlines take over at 18,000 feet and above.
At 10,000 feet, you need oxygen or the deprivation will disable your decision making. You can fly with pets or friends and there is no age limit. A woman of 105 years holds the record. It is not as dangerous as one would imagine when compared with many other common forms of travel including driving. The comparative statistics were fascinating.
Peter’s photographs were outstanding and his explanations so clear. It was another wonderful morning at Kingsway-Islington Probus.
To watch some of the content of his presentation, below is a video on Paragliding given to the Probus Club of St. Catharines in February 2023.
Probus Club of Kingsway-Islington 