{"id":12002,"date":"2019-06-11T13:41:45","date_gmt":"2019-06-11T11:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ojovolador.com\/?p=12002"},"modified":"2019-06-11T22:21:35","modified_gmt":"2019-06-11T20:21:35","slug":"xxv-edition-of-el-hierro-international-paragliding-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ojovolador.com\/en\/xxv-edition-of-el-hierro-international-paragliding-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"XXV edition of El Hierro International paragliding meeting."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Approaching landing.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

For the eyes of a pilot who visits El Hierro for the first time, it may seem as if the whole Golfo Valley<\/strong>, in the north of the island, has been put there just to be flown. And that is exactly what some El Hierro paragliding lovers may have thought, when 25 years ago they decided to set up an annual meeting. . As years have gone by, El Hierro International Paragliding Meeting<\/strong> has become a benchmark, and it calls all sort of pilots, from distance flight lovers to acro pilots, who have a paradise in this island, to train and progress.<\/p>\n\n

The meeting began with cloudy skies and cross wind on the first morning, but that does not prevent from flying in the island: if the highest take-off (Dos Hermanas, 1200 m) is overcast or if the wind is not right, there are still three other take off areas , from 600 m onwards. And , with all these options, pilots could fly every day, from the 600m, 800m, and Dos Hermanas.<\/p>\n\n

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Dos Hermanas take-off.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The organizers had prepared, as usual, two kinds of competition for pilots. On the one hand, accuracy<\/strong> competition, which aim is to land on a bullseye. This implies some difficulty, above all if there is thermal activity in the landing area, which is frequent in this case. More than ten pilots were able to target.<\/p>\n\n

And, on the other hand, there is the distance<\/strong> competition, which this year was very tight until the end, with the final victory of Antonio Manuel P\u00e9rez Aserrador, from Tenerife, who flew a line distance of 46 km. The awards were given in the closing ceremony, full of fun and emotional moments, where prizes to the best photographs were also given.<\/p>\n\n

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Canarias Acro Team in action.
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meteorology was also favorable for a good number of people to have their first paragliding experience, enjoying tandem flights<\/strong>, and also for some hang gliders<\/strong> to share the sky with the paragliders.<\/p>\n\n

The atmosphere in the landing area couldn’t be better, livened up all the time by the usual event speaker, Airam Rodr\u00edguez. The organizers programmed activities <\/strong>for everybody, all of them connected to the air and the wind, common thread of this year\u2019s edition: workshops for the little ones, kites<\/strong> exhibitions, hawking <\/strong>show, and air dance <\/strong>shows. We could also enjoy with a hot air balloon<\/strong>, flying for the first time in El Hierro, a different way of enjoying its sky.<\/p>\n\n

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GES helicopter.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The expected parachuting jumps couldn’t happen, since the sky was overcast at the scheduled time, but safety has always to be first. However, we could enjoy with the presence of the Canarian Emergency and Rescue helicopter,<\/strong> which made a demonstration and it landed, making both kids and grown-ups happy. <\/p>\n\n

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Airam Rodr\u00edguez, shows the mini wind socks that were given to participants.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

The most spectacular moments were carried out by the acro<\/strong> pilots: on the one hand, the local pilots Juan Luis Morales and Renan Morales, (Canarias Acro Team), as well as the Basque Joseba Izaguirre and \u00d3scar Fern\u00e1ndez, and the base jumper Jos\u00e9 Rodr\u00edguez Allgayer, who made an impressive base jump from a paratrike.<\/p>\n\n

And to leave proof of such an especial edition, Mat\u00edas, Sabotaje al Montaje<\/em>, made an amazing commemorative mural<\/strong> that we saw developing along the meeting.<\/p>\n\n

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