At Greenroom, our strength lies not just in our innovative software but in the diverse passions and pursuits of our talented and exceptional team members. It’s exciting to see how hobbies outside work can mirror the creativity, resilience, and teamwork we value in the office. Take James, for example, an engineer with a sky-high hobby that’s as free-spirited as it is strategic: paragliding. His recent adventure at the paragliding nationals is a snapshot of how Greenroom champions work-life balance, enabling our employees to soar both at work and in their personal passions. Dive into James’ exhilarating experience, as he narrates:
Paragliding alone as a form of transport is beautiful. No fuel, no motors, no batteries; just playing with the atmosphere to travel huge distances. Apart from ships, it must be one of the most efficient modes of transport. Add racing to this, and you get what I can only describe as 3-dimensional sailing!
*The rules of the game are very similar to sailing:
- We have a start line—in our case, it is a 3D cylinder around a GPS coordinate that we must start within.
- We race around marks/buoys—for us, these are again 3D cylinders around a GPS coordinate with a radius. We call them 'turn points'.
- We race around this course to see who can cross the finish line first—the only difference here is it is a physical location we refer to as 'goal'. Our GPS tracklogs are used to ensure everyone completed the course and their total time.*
During February, Australia holds two international competitions which form the Australian National Championships. Each competition is a week-long and comprises up to 8 days of racing with over 120 competitors.
Each race ranges from 60-150 km in length and can take anywhere from 2-6 hrs.
At the end of the competition, each pilot's results are tallied, and the winner is determined.
Luckily, the weather lined up perfectly, and we raced 14 of the 16 days. Blue skies with white fluffy cumulus clouds are the stuff dreams are made of (fair wind and following seas translate to blue skies and 1/8th cumulus).
Flying between ground level and 3000m, the game evolves around finding thermal updrafts and turning in these to take an advantaged position before continuing along the course line (think finding a lifting-shift in sailing). Whoever flies the atmosphere and their glider best will ultimately win the race. As the race track is enormous and usually involves multiple valleys and mountains, it's a terrible spectator sport but phenomenal for participants!
The Australian Nationals has been an event I have been training towards for the past year with hopes of performing well enough to be selected for the Asian-Oceanic Championships held in June.
Greenroom's flexible working arrangements have allowed me to live and work from the best training location in Australia, Bright. With weekends dedicated to training and even early morning & late afternoon sessions becoming routine, I was able to put my best foot forward in the competition this year. All while still kicking goals with the team at Greenroom!
After two weeks of racing amongst Australia's best pilots, I was able to finish 9th overall. In addition, I have been selected to represent Australia in a team at the Asian-Oceanic Championships.
A big thank you to the support from Greenroom for allowing me to balance my engineering and sporting pursuits at the same time! And also to my sponsors, Flow Paragliders and Bright Flight Paragliding.
Never trust a sun shower, James”
As we celebrate the diverse passions and achievements of our team, Greenroom Robotics remains on the lookout for exceptional talent to join our ranks. We're in constant pursuit of top-tier engineers, software developers, and robotics experts driven by innovation and a desire to make a significant impact in the maritime technology sphere. If this sounds like you, explore the opportunities on our careers page and stay connected via our social media for any updates