As soon as John Walton ran off a 300 metre Hong Kong cliff he knew he was hooked on paragliding.

"I was in the air … Soaring along this cliff with waves crashing below me … I landed on the beach, packed my glider up and was completely hooked," says John.

For the last 20 years John has been an avid paraglider pilot, flying in New Zealand, Australia, Europe and Hong Kong, where he was working when he began to learn the sport.

Name

John Geoffrey (John) Walton

Born

Marton. 

Age

56. 

Entry to law

Graduated LLB from Victoria University 1982, LLM from Auckland University 2012. Admitted in 1984. 

Workplace

Barrister in Bankside Chambers, Auckland. 

Speciality area

Technology, engineering and construction law specialist.

Recently elected president of the Arbitrators' and Mediators' Institute of New Zealand (AMINZ), John competes in national cross-country events and during the week – if the wind comes on – he can be seen flying at Auckland's North Head and around the city.

"I first saw paragliding while skiing in Europe in 1988 ... The sport was in its infancy ... People were flying from the top of the skifield at the end of the day and I was totally transfixed..."

[Paragliding is done from a lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched parachute-style wing with no rigid structure. The pilot sits in a harness suspended below a fabric wing held up by air pressure and steers with a series of suspension lines.]

John Walton: "I like what I do, I enjoy it..." 

"I was working in London at the time and friends said I was stupid and would kill myself so I let it drift…

"When I was working in Hong Kong one of Chinese translators in the office produced a newspaper with a paragliding story in it so we started learning together…"

"On the first day our instructor took us up to little hill, we did bunny hops down a shallow slope and I not sure that was me … The second day we went to a cliff in the New Territories – a 300m cliff that dropped into the sea … I said forget it…

"The instructor said to put the glider on, put a radio in my harness, and told me to run … I took two steps off the cliff and was away…

"A typical flight now for me at the weekend would be to go north of Auckland, launch off a hill near Warkworth, fly about 30 kms until I run out of land, pack up and hitchhike back to the car…

"It's the perfect foil to sitting on your backside in an office all day…"

His soft pack packs into a rucksack and weighs about 20kgs, so it is easy to walk up a hill and take off.

"We fly a minimum of 30 to 40 kms, and usually 70 kms on a good day … Around Auckland air space is restricted to 4,500 ft but in places like Wanaka there is less of an air space problem and you can fly to 9,500 ft…

"The glider has an un-accelerated speed of around 35 kph and can accelerate up to 50 or 60kph…

"Safety is not really a word we use; it's more risk management … I have the dubious distinction on two occasions of having to throw my reserve chute - usually flying at altitude and something goes wrong…Which means you can't recover the glider and you have to throw your reserve parachute…

"It happened once in a competition and once years ago when the equipment was not so good…"

John's entire family paraglide. His 13-year-old daughter has just done her first few solo flights and his 19-year-old son is flying cross country training to be an instructor and fly tandem.

"I fly for pleasure … intense competition can spoil a good day out … I enjoy flying with my friends…"

And when the wind is too strong he kite surfs or goes mountain biking.

A keen photographer with an "affliction" for Leica cameras – both digital and film - John carries a camera with him, develops the film and scans the negatives to his computer.

"I'm reading Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman, like Scandanavian crime stories,  Stieg Larsson, Jo Nesbo, NZ writer Paul Thomas, Granta literary magazine and the New York Review of Books…

"I don't watch much tv other than the news and prefer to buy dvds of a series such as Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Homeland, the US House of Cards, The Honourable Woman and Mad Men…

"My kids keep me listening to modern music … I like British trio London Grammar, Led Zep and Black Sabbath, and enjoy opera including Carmen, La Traviata, Cosi Fan Tutte as well as chamber music by Schubert and Schumann…

"I started medicine at Otago but realised medicine was not for me so tried a few other things…

"My parents were doctors in Bulls, where they practised for 44 years … But I saw the toll it took being on call 24 hours a day…

"When I got to Otago I enjoyed studying sciences, which I had done almost exclusively through school, but I looked at the people who were doing medicine and how medicine was portrayed and decided it wasn't for me…

"I felt a lot of people were doing it were doing it because it was the hardest and most glamorous thing to do without understanding what the cost was going to be…

"I was fulltime studying women and drinking and skiing … and left Otago after three years with nine stage one units and the realisation I would never get a law degree at Otago…

"But I wanted to do law so went to Victoria, which was pretty much the hardest law school at the time…

"There's no money in an alternative career as a gliding instructor…

"I have been in law 33 years, mostly with big firms and have never got out of bed in the morning and not wanted to come into work…

"I like what I do, I enjoy it … My current challenge is to expand my arbitration, mediation, peer review and independent neutral practice…

"It's an opportunity and give effective results and outcomes for people … Not turning dispute and court work into a business but helping commercial people get on with their business in a way that is effective…"

Conceding he drives a "very boring Audi A4 Avant diesel" John has another thrill-seeking surprise up his sleeve.

"For pleasure and to the office I ride a bright red Ducatti Multistrada 1200cc Vtwin Adventure motor bike…

"It is very, very noisy … Goes like the clappers and makes a helluva racket … Great fun…"

Jock Anderson has been writing and commenting on New Zealand lawyers and New Zealand's courts for most of his career in journalism. Contact Jock at jockanderson123@gmail.com.