Dubai Hike & Fly T
he inaugural UAE hike and fly championship was held in late November, 2021. Just as I type this a notification pops up that a stranger has shared a post from this event nearly four months ago.
My most popular YouTube video ever was taken the same day. For myself and all of the other athletes I spoke to during our crazy and fun adventure in Dubai this was something really different and unusual, a once in a lifetime experience in the paragliding world. Now I’m at a gliding competition, which while it remains a dangerous sport, is taken from a completely different angle. With a lot of professional aviation experience and the same attitude to layered safety protocol, and rules specifying everything from the scoring handicap of your particular sailplane to the FAI
10 A i r b o r n
approval of the logger you must use to validate your flights, in UAE we all stood on the edge of a 70 storey building on a half finished construction platform, looking at each other and wondering, “what if”, “why not”? As pilots after a few ad hoc conversations we’d rewritten the rules on how the task would be run, and our organiser (who had been dreaming about this for months) reluctantly agreed that the part which was completely unfamiliar to all of us and most definitely life threatening, would at least have the competition pressure removed. Some observers questioned the legitimacy or ethics of pressuring athletes to do these publicity stunts for commercial reasons, but the truth is that there were no conditions or ultimatums set for us, it was completely optional to fly and every pilot just wanted to be part of this adventure. So the first task was absolutely spectacular and in the next few days it felt like we had the whole world watching - people incredulously watched us flying from the top of
a skyscraper over the beaches and city scape of Dubai. The next task over two thousand metre desert mountains right next to the coast was my favourite. And the final destination was the dunes, a site with a low rocky ridge rising out of the red sand which was perfect for soaring. Unique among paragliding competitions was an all inclusive hotel and transfer package with two buffet meals a day, which, aside from the adrenaline filled moments, made it a stress free and social experience along with the worlds best pilots. The event was not associated with Red Bull or any commercial sponsor, in fact the organiser was a free flying expat from Brazil who was motivated to develop air sports in his adopted country. Through skydiving he had links to the Sheikh’s son, who has been supportive of similar events, such as the World Air Games in
Nick Neynens reports from the United Arab Emirates 2015 where sailplanes flew in Dubai. Something, of course, that is hard to imagine ever getting approvals to do anywhere else, was in fact supported right from the top. Our expenses were provided and every day we were sent between our comfortable hotel and the destination for the next day’s adventure. We all felt very lucky to be a part of it. Generally the format was that we had four tasks, with a rest day in between each. In fact the rest day was used to reconnoitre the site. First and foremost on everyone’s mind of course was the skyscraper launch. No-one really knew if it was possible. Even the day before the launch wasn’t finished and we were all imagining what it might be like. The next morning the smooth expanse of the launch was an improvement, but it was still much too small for me to be comfortable considering a forward nil wind launch. We had a fresh offshore breeze, contouring around the oval shape of the building and putting us in the cross lee - there was in fact a higher level upwind of us. But in a few hours the wind began to abate and became light and variable, and we had our window.
