Many sports are built on inspiration from talented athletes, countless hours of video consumed in awe of what these professionals achieve. It is no different in the world of paramotoring and for me, there was one video that had me hooked, “Acro Paramotor Fiesta” by François Ragolski and Shams. François carried out manoeuvres I didn’t think were possible while Shams produced a video that left me buzzing with excitement. What followed next was more than a mild obsession for paramotoring and a new goal, achieve infinity tumbling on a paramotor.
The buildup
Having completed my training a year earlier I was progressing onto much larger wingovers and getting them wrong. Admittedly, I was overconfident and had a bad attitude: “I don’t need an instructor for acro, I’ll just learn it.” Well, a few collapses later and I decided it was a very good idea to seek out proper tuition.
If you’re familiar with both paragliding and paramotoring you’ll understand there is a big difference in the forces involved and the potential dangers of adding more weight under...
