Dubai Hike & Fly

The 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 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 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.

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

Nick Neynens reports from the United Arab Emirates

I was one of the first to try, and my closest attempt was thwarted by a stray tripod getting caught in my lines. I stood on the platform watching the canopy of my wing drape itself out of view over the edge of the building. Puffs of wind were sideways but slightly outwards from the building, and in fact there were leeside thermals right in front, coming up off the beach. After a few failed attempts I opted to move aside and let the others have a go. In the next hour or so most managed to get off, although I found the scariest part was watching. It is not so bad when you have control.

Meanwhile though the winds were increasing again, and several athletes shunned the official launch and climbed a ladder onto the top deck, where they could pull the wing up into wind. I tried this next, and three times I could not bring myself to jump over the edge. You had to take two steps up onto the handrail, which with the increase in height took the tension out of your lines and without the reassuring tug of the wing overhead I could not take the leap of faith. By now I was the last one. I descended down the ladder when we noticed another leeside thermal blocking the wind.

A few more attempts on the main launch and finally I was off. It was a terrible thing to watch - a few days later I got hold of the phone video someone had taken. You could see the left wing was actually stalled the entire time I was running towards the edge, but I could not let it turn to the right or I would have ended up in the rooftop infinity pool. I was the last one off so my fellow athletes observed from the beach below, a

Left; Tommy Friedrich relaxing on the mountain reconnaissance day

Below; Boring soaring - seabreeze the afternoon of the skyscraper task Right; Steve Bramfitt takes off on the mountain task

Below; Inspecting the skyscraper launch the day before it was ready

mile or two away, and said it looked like I was running down the side of the building. Yes, the wing wasn’t flying properly until I was already in the air, but as long as I was clear of the building I didn’t care, I could handle the wing, that’s easy.

The advantage of the official launch over the rooftop is that being in the lee I got a thermal that took me over the top. Not as much airtime up there as Chrigel or Steve Bramfitt who had the best flight of the day, but some well earned moments that I’ll never forget. Because of the oval shape, the windward side of the building had diverging air and was sinky - but after that I was able to play in some light thermals coming from the beach below, in the lee of the other skyscrapers. Finally I rose into the offshore winds and was pushed out over the water and decided that was enough and it was time to land.

You might think that was enough excitement for the day (I didn’t even mention the stair climb or the beach run, which should also help to burn off any excess energy) but in fact most athletes were keen to go up again after the task for another flight! By now the sea breeze was blowing - straight up! It meant that the rooftop itself was completely in the rotor, and made for some interesting launching. I was 95% confident that I could manage it - but wasn’t quite sure that was enough, given the consequences. I also noted I was a little tired (I’d missed a nights sleep during my flight into Dubai) and hungry, not to mention social behaviour influences from my peers - although these guys are perhaps a different breed, or maybe I’m getting old.

So instead I immortalised the moment with a compilation of palm sweat inducing videos. A gliding friend, watching, had commented that even seeing the images on the screen from Australia had made him physically ill. I must confess that I also had butterflies in the stomach from the spectacle. In the end there