Francois Ragolski and Martin Schrike wanted to fly 1,000km along the coast of Chile. They nearly made it. By Jessica Bown
Iquique in Chile is a paragliding paradise that attracts thousands of pilots every year, but while the airspace between Iquique and Antofagasta is well known and well flown, the arid stretch of land south of Antofagasta had never been flown by paraglider – until November last year.
That’s when reigning Acro World Cup champion Francois Ragolski and French speed riding champion Martin Schricke set off on a 1,000km adventure from the port of Caldera all the way up the Chilean coast to the Peruvian border.
Aided by their ground support team – Patricia Rojo and Loraine Humeau – Francois and Martin dreamt of being the first to traverse this beautiful but inhospitable coastline using just their legs and their wings.
“The Atacama Desert is one of the best places in the world to fly,” Francois said. “We wanted to explore the rest of it, including the dangerous parts!”
The full article is in Cross Country 161, July 2015.
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