Taking to the skies

Brilliant sun, a pleasant temperature, it is a quiet Sunday. We are close to the Loulé train station. Our meeting point with José Rosado, 46 year old paragliding instructor and level 4 pilot (licence FAI-PRT71469) who, literally, drives us to the sky. Nearby is the Cerro de Cabeça de Câmara.

At 220 meters high, it is the ideal spot for paragliding. An all-terrain truck full of backpacks makes its way to the take-off point. On the way there is plenty of dust, holes and an uncontrollable childish anxiety. Only Rosado is calm.

“This model is very versatile, if the conditions are not right for free flight, we can fly with a small motor on our back,” he explains. “For me, free flight is the most enjoyable, as it is a constant challenge, and our senses have to be on the alert”.

While we climb the hill, the instructor explains the importance of learning.

“This sport has been in existence since 1980, but it’s only in the last five years that it has really taken off. When I started there was no school at all here, and I started in the worst possible way. I had an accident which stopped me from flying for six months. I fractured two vertebra. Now you can appreciate the importance of this school.” The risks are always going to be there, but the wish to fly wins through.

In order to paraglide in Portugal you have to take out a licence. Licences are issued by the Federação Portuguesa de Voo Livre (FPVL), through various schools spread throughout the country. Training is divided into five sections. Anyone over the age of 16, brave enough (and with a healthy streak of insanity) can subscribe.

After completing the first three levels, students are able to fly their glider on their own. The next levels are considered the icing on the cake. Each course is valid for a year. This means that from the moment they enrol, candidates have twelve months to complete their courses. “There are some pupils that in four months have a good level. Here we are always learning”, José tells us.

And what does he consider ‘a good level’? “Ability to interpret the atmospheric conditions. The air is something that we cannot see straight away, we have to be able to know how to read it. There are various different signs. For example, the way that the vegetation moves, the direction and speed of the wind, cloud formation. The weather is the basis of free flight”.

Each pilot has a log book to register his or her flights. The prices for basic training vary between 500 and 1000 euros. Equipment is even more expensive, and you have to bear in mind wear and tear...

We reach the top. Rosado measures the intensity of the wind, which is blowing at 30 kilometres an hour. I ask him about other areas in the Algarve. “If the wind is blowing from the North East, we go to Benafátima, in São Marcos de Serra. If it is blowing from North West, we go to Fóia, in Monchique.

If it blowing from the South, we can fly here in Loulé, at Rocha da Pena, in São Brás de Alportel, or in Picota, in Monchique. Meanwhile, various other pilots put on their helmets, stretch their wings, and start running to beat gravity. Nearly all of them carry a radio for communication, GPS and the indispensable variometer – also known as a ‘rate-of-climb indicator’, a device that measures atmospheric pressure and shows if a pilot’s going up or down. It is also useful to detect the thermals, which are the basis of flight.

When our time comes, Rosado shows me to the ‘salete’, a kind of cushioned chair. It is comfortable and has lumbar protection for the back in case of a fall, or forced landing. Take off is a sensitive moment, but the pilot can abort if there’s a problem. For this free-flight baptism we fly up to a maximum altitude of 500 metres, for a quarter of an hour. Various pilots are filling the skies with wings all colours of the rainbow.

The sensation is indescribable. The peace of the flight rhymes with the blue of the sea on the horizon. Up and down the wings of the paraglider move graciously. Behind me Rosado concentrates all his attention on the dynamics of flying. We rise and fall to the movement of the thermals, manoeuvring according to the sounds that come from the variometer.

Before landing, the pilot decides on some stunts. He performs a series of spirals, which raise our speed, not to mention my adrenaline. The normal speed for flying is between 20 and 70 kilometres an hour. Softly we approach the ground to land.

If you would like to try an similar flight, it will cost 60 euros, but the price could be lower if you manage to convince some friends to join you. After all, man was also made to fly...