Homo ludens volatrix
Since homo sapiens
earned that title of ludens, it was high on his priority list to
leave the lowly ground, and extend his wings on flight. Countless dreamers,
experimenters, engineers, geniuses and fools spent time, effort, money,
and sometimes their lives in the pursuit of human flight. Thanks to them,
now we can fly in many different ways, including an approach that is minimalistic
in the material used, while maximizing the enjoyment: the paraglider. Adding
an engine to it, one can break free of ridges, and fly almost everywhere.
While the birds still fly better than any of our machines will, certainly
for us it's better to fly with a machine, than to stay on the ground and
just dream of flying. If nature had not intended us to fly, it would have
given us roots! When I realized that indeed I didn't have any roots holding
me to the ground, I chose to grow wings and make use of the freedom nature
gave me. Here is the result.
Growing wings: The full story of how I took up Free Flying.
Storage and transport: A powered paraglider can be stored in a bedroom and transported inside a car!
Flying from Lautaro: A sunday afternoon flight that turned into hours of wave-soaring!
Flying at the Rupanco lake: Fighting
the puihua, and enjoying gorgeous landscapes.
Back to the homo ludens homepage.