WHAT IS PARAGLIDING? MYTHS AND LEGENDS.
“It was in 1972 when a group of French skydivers became interested in the idea of taking off from the side of a mountain with an “open parachute” and being able to get off the ground, gain altitude, move around and train “technical landings” without the need to hire a plane.”
Is there anything more exciting than flying km and km with a piece of cloth and some ropes?
In today’s post we want to dismantle false myths and legends about a sport that we love to live, practice, feel… but that generates a lot of controversy in the general opinion. Many, out of ignorance, talk about how we are crazy people who risk our lives, that a draft will come and take you to the next country, that you will lose control of the sail and it will take you wherever it wants, etc. etc. Curiously these first thoughts of the people usually end up awakening interest and desire to approach this sport: – it must be amazing, and where do you fly or take off? -I have always dreamed of flying, but do you go with an engine? – how nice isn’t it? how envious you make me, and how, where did you learn? – I would love to, but I can’t, I have vertigo….
The paraglider glides in the air even if there is no wind. In this case it will be difficult to run to lift and generate enough speed for the glider to create the “lift” necessary for the glide. These are the conditions that we can usually find at dawn and dusk in spring and summer days.
Our first flights are like this, in calm conditions, with a qualified teacher and school to learn to control our paraglider both on the ground (takeoff) and in the air (landing), to forget our fear of these ropes and this “rag”. You will overcome your fear of vertigo by realizing that your life is in your hands and you “control” this aircraft. You will enjoy the views very much and in less than 20 flights you will be a completely autonomous “flyer”, I assure you :))
If in addition to knowing how to control the glider on the ground, you know how to brake and control the “pitches” and “warps” in the air, soon you will be doing cross country flights or who knows doing acrobatic paragliding.
We invite you to enjoy this magical sport and to meet all the wonderful people who are part of this passion.
We leave you with the comments of RIKKI, PILAR AND AGUSTÍN the protagonists of our video.
Rikki: In emotional terms, paragliding is my passion, one of them… It’s about sensations that become addictive. I guess it’s very much related to adrenaline and could be explained by an endocrinologist, but I prefer to see it from the intensity with which you see it from up there.
Pilar: At the beginning, learning to handle the glider is a tiring task, but you know that the reward is incredible and just because of that the motivation doesn’t diminish, if I had to keep one feeling, I would keep the silence, I find it very pleasant to be so high and not hear a single noise, it makes me feel lucky. I love sitting in the chair, hanging from “nothing” and watching the landscape from above, the swamps, the rivers, the mountains…You are flying and you are in a state that makes you feel great…Little by little you go down until you land and PLOF! you go back to being an earthling. That said, you get a great feeling that makes you have a special smile for the rest of the day.
Agustín: The word paragliding identifies a flying device and an adventure sport, but I think that for us paragliders it is something that goes much further. For me it’s a way of feeling life, it’s not just a simple weekend entertainment, but something important because it gives me exciting experiences without which my existence would be less interesting.
