Light seaplane pilot reported an near midair collision in the vicinity of lake berryessa with a para...

Narrative:

While departing from lake berryessa (seaplane water takeoff from the lake); I spotted a paraglider being towed up to altitude by a boat on the lake. As paragliders commonly operate in this area and do not communicate with pilots on the CTAF; searching for them is part of my standard scan. As the towline is rarely visible from the air; I kept my eyes fixed on both the boat and the paraglider so that I could mentally draw a line where the tow cable should be. As I climbed up through 3;500 feet (staying clear of the paraglider); I saw something that looked like a small scratch on the transparent canopy of my aircraft. Upon further inspection; I realized it was the towline of a second paraglider; and made an immediate evasive action to avoid it. During the maneuver I spotted the paraglider several hundred feet up above me. In short; I was so focused on avoiding the first paraglider I completely missed a second one until I almost made contact with the tow line. As a seaplane pilot who is very familiar with the area and has hundreds of hours flying in and out of lake berryessa; this is extremely worrisome to me. Lake berryessa has quite a bit of aviation traffic; and I have never felt concerned about midair collisions as all pilots in the area communicate with each other on 122.9. However; the lack of communication from the paragliders causes an extreme threat; especially to pilots not familiar with the airspace/seasonal operation of paragliders. Over the past two years; this problem has gotten worse and worse as the frequency of paraglider operations; the size of their operation area on the lake; and the number of tow boats pulling gliders at the same time have all increased. In my opinion; requiring the paraglide boats to monitor 122.9; or mark the towline with streamers for visibility; would go a long way to decrease the likelihood of a midair collision.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Light seaplane pilot reported an NMAC in the vicinity of Lake Berryessa with a paraglider and its towline. Reporter recommended that paraglider operators monitor CTAF or mark the towlines with streamers.

Narrative: While departing from Lake Berryessa (seaplane water takeoff from the lake); I spotted a paraglider being towed up to altitude by a boat on the lake. As paragliders commonly operate in this area and do not communicate with pilots on the CTAF; searching for them is part of my standard scan. As the towline is rarely visible from the air; I kept my eyes fixed on both the boat and the paraglider so that I could mentally draw a line where the tow cable should be. As I climbed up through 3;500 feet (staying clear of the paraglider); I saw something that looked like a small scratch on the transparent canopy of my aircraft. Upon further inspection; I realized it was the towline of a second paraglider; and made an immediate evasive action to avoid it. During the maneuver I spotted the paraglider several hundred feet up above me. In short; I was so focused on avoiding the first paraglider I completely missed a second one until I almost made contact with the tow line. As a seaplane pilot who is very familiar with the area and has hundreds of hours flying in and out of Lake Berryessa; this is extremely worrisome to me. Lake Berryessa has quite a bit of aviation traffic; and I have never felt concerned about midair collisions as all pilots in the area communicate with each other on 122.9. However; the lack of communication from the paragliders causes an extreme threat; especially to pilots not familiar with the airspace/seasonal operation of paragliders. Over the past two years; this problem has gotten worse and worse as the frequency of paraglider operations; the size of their operation area on the lake; and the number of tow boats pulling gliders at the same time have all increased. In my opinion; requiring the paraglide boats to monitor 122.9; or mark the towline with streamers for visibility; would go a long way to decrease the likelihood of a midair collision.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1682354
Time
Date	201909
Place
Locale Reference	NCT.TRACON
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Seaplane or Amphibian
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Sea
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 71 Flight Crew Total 1038 Flight Crew Type 700
Events
Anomaly	Conflict NMAC Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Light seaplane pilot reported an near midair collision in the vicinity of lake berryessa with a paraglider and its towline. Reporter recommended that paraglider operators monitor CTAF or mark the towlines with streamers.