Wanna Fly? First Stage: PARAGLIDING
Are you an adrenaline junkie? Or maybe you’re afraid of heights? Either way, paragliding is for you and here’s why.
I have to admit, I wasn’t very sure at first. Well, I was sure I had wanted to fly for a long time. Even when I go on commercial flights (and I fly very often for work), the feeling of being so far up in the sky is extremely relaxing, I feel so small and so amazed of the world that’s under my feet, that everything in my mind goes away. Gives me perspective. I would say it’s even therapeutic, every now and then, to see the world from above.
I have always wanted to do base jumping. Don’t you? I want to feel something different, truly intense. You just need around 300€ (of course depends on the country) and one afternoon to spare flipping out. I have friends that have done it and no one is disappointed. This is something I’m going to do, I’m sure, as soon as I have the chance.
I have always wanted to do base jumping. Don’t you? I want to feel something different, truly intense. You just need around 300€ (of course depends on the country) and one afternoon to spare flipping out. I have friends that have done it and no one is disappointed. This is something I’m going to do, I’m sure, as soon as I have the chance.
So I want to fly, really. There are many options out there. You can book a small airplane flight, or fly a glider, or a helicopter around many cities or above the Grand Canyon in the USA (totally worth it). And they are all amazing experiences that I encourage you to do if you have the chance, but I wanted to feel something more real, more authentic. I wanted to feel the risk, the danger, and the wind on my face.
So my girlfriend booked paragliding as a gift for me because we had a trip planned to Tenerife and I had been talking about it for months. And I was very excited, so I started watching videos about paragliding. And I have to warn you: don’t go to Youtube to build up the hype.
SO IS IT REALLY SAFE?
There you have it. The third result on Youtube for “paragliding” is a 10-minute compilation of accidents. If you are something like me, you’d have clicked on that video too. Big mistake (or not, I’ll explain it in a second). I kept watching videos of accidents for the entire morning of the day we were supposed to fly and I can tell you I started to feel a little hesitant about the whole thing. I wanted to fly, yes, but I wanted to live as well! But my girlfriend and I made a decision: if it’s scary, we have to do it.
There is also a big reason to have in account: if it’s legal, it means it’s 99% safe. But we weren’t thinking straight at that point. We were super excited and super scared at the same time. David, the guy from EnMiNube was super nice and answered all of our questions. He had the Spanish record for the largest distance flown without an engine, over 150km. That’s awesome!
So we arrive at the top of the Hill, 1km high over the sea level, to the take-off point of Los Realejos
There’s no turning back. We put on the suit and the gear and get ready to jump. At this moment my mind went blank. I had no fear and I really wanted to jump, so when David told me to run, I ran directly to the cliff and jumped.
Everything I had pictured before was wrong. It was super easy, super quick and in a couple of seconds, we were flying high. The feeling is like you are on tracks, it’s really steady, it’s not shaky at all, you feel completely safe. I could only hear the sound of the wind, I felt completely relaxed and zen. The view is unbelievable, especially in Tenerife, with the houses painted in different colors, the long Hill of Puerto de la Cruz and the Ocean at the bottom
And turns out it is very difficult to maintain the height, so we were losing altitude quickly. We had to maneuver to fly over the palm tree plantations that generate hot air columns that allowed us to gain altitude. Also spiraling very close to the mountain where the air goes up along the hill we could go higher as well.
It felt like a couple of minutes, really, but it took us nearly 15 minutes to approach the beach where surfers were catching waves. It wasn’t very hot so luckily the beach wasn’t crowded and we were able to land softly. It doesn’t require a big space, in only a couple of meters we had already stopped and saw the paraglide fall by our side.
I was telling you before that maybe watching all those videos about accidents wasn’t such a bad idea after all, and here is the reason: it helped us to live an incredibly intense experience, the fear made it real and it was extraordinarily helpful to build the emotion. Paragliding is awesome and I totally recommend it if you have never done it before because the feeling of being up there is liberating, you feel free and completely happy. But it isn’t dangerous or intense at all. It’s like riding a train on the sky, it feels super heavy and still, it’s a comfortable tour of the skies. This video Will give you an idea of the feeling.
Now, paragliding: check. Next stop: base jumping!
user rating :
5.00 stars (2 votes)
I was born in Madrid, studied Media and then decided to travel as much as I could. I love audiovisuals, technology, travelling and yes, politics too. I play drums because they are the best instrument and the only one that you can practice anywhere. My home is the World and my dream is to never stop dreaming!