The Wellington Gliding Club is fortunate to be based at the Paraparaumu airfield on the Kapiti coast 35km north of Wellington. The Paraparaumu location affords tremendous soaring possibilities for glider pilots.  The club also operates in the Wairarapa from Hood Aerodrome in Masterton, though training is normally conducted at Paraparaumu.

The soaring season kicks off very early in August thanks to the prevailing westerlies, creating smooth reliable ridge lift along a 250km long range of hills. An upwind island creates a very tame "pet" wave offering easy climbs to 12000 feet or more.

Glider pilots coming to Paraparaumu can set their sights on 50/300/500km distance flights in westerly ridge or thermal. Westerlies make achieving silver or gold height gains very straightforward at Paraparaumu.

The westerlies continue on and off until late December when the summer weather settles into a thermal mode. Thermal conditions at Paraparaumu offer access inland from the coast to the mountains 25km away. In 30 minutes a glider pilot can be soaring along the top of a 4000-6000ft range of mountains 100km long. The thermal season runs from late December through to the end of April.