Coupe Icare – paragliders’ heaven

The Coupe Icare (Icarus Cup) was held last weekend, just south of Chambéry. So, in our typical disorganised manner, we decided at 1am on Saturday night to spend Sunday watching the paragliders take part in the annual event. Although a strong wind at the landing area prevented many paragliders from taking off, the day was lots of fun and the entertainment was great. One wing that did take off was a tandem team with an eagle attached to the passenger’s arm. As they took off, so did the eagle, who then flew behind and around the wing as if it was a giant mum. Every now and again, it landed on the passenger’s arm again, and they stayed airborn for quite a long time.

Meanwhile, the on-ground entertainment took over. Adam and Eve featured in a show where a flying apple was offered to them. Eating it, despite God’s warnings, gave them wings, and, had the wind not been as dangerous for landing, they would have flown at that point of the show. Instead, they flapped their arms around like birds and ran around to emulate flight. Airline hostesses (not all females) arrived for the next show, before they handed out free drinks to the crowd in proper airline hostest style. Meanwhile special solar balloons, made by a Brazilian man (pictured  in a photo below) who is now an outlaw after the balloons were banned in Brazil, floated and sank above the crowd and into the distance.

Other notable parts of the day included:

• seeing the famous speed rider (a sport like paragliding, but with skis attached and using a very small wing), Michael Reignier, who spends most of winter speed riding in La Clusaz take off and sink fast with his tiny wing (but apparently landed without a problem);
• watching a replica of an antique NASA test wing be inflated (red, white and blue in photos below);
• checking out the atrociously bad fashion on offer for paragliders needing to stay warm in the air (it was so 80s!); and,
• seeing a photo I took at the Dune du Pilat in a paragliding magazine!

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

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