Sailing to Paradise

Adi Geisegger flopped onto his bed then froze. Directly above him a tarantula hung motionless on the ceiling of the basic hotel room. “Now what?” he asked nervously in the direction of his roommate. Robert Blum’s advice was, “Go to sleep!”

They had landed in Punta Cana a few hours earlier. It was mid-January – winter in Europe. They had arranged to meet adventurer and professional paragliding pilot Tom de Dorlodot. The 37-year-old Belgian had just crossed the Atlantic in his sailing boat, and together the three of them planned to fly on the island. Adi’s mission was to take photos of the new light cross-country paraglider, the IOTA DLS.

Adi didn't sleep much the night of the tarantula, but he and Robert met Tom the next morning in Santo Domingo, the capital. With Tom was a local paraglider pilot who had already organised a driver and vehicle for the three guests. “Now is the best time to fly, let's go straight away,” he said.

The three were soon in the air. They soared on a beach, flew wingovers, banking only centimetres above the treetops of the densely overgrown slopes. The sea shimmered turquoise below them. Suddenly it was going up everywhere and beautiful cumulus clouds formed parallel with the coastline. It was a convergence zone that enabled the three of them to fly far out over the open sea. Several kilometres further on, they landed on the beach as the sun set. Bachata music rhythms sound all weekend on this Caribbean island. Over a reviving coconut milk, they made plans for the following days. On the way to the centre of Jarabacoa, the home of the Dominican paragliding scene, Tom, Robert and Adi passed a high valley where, according to the local pilot, there was a difficult-to-reach launch site. It was the perfect starting point for a cross-country flight.

In a sweltering 30 degrees and 90%+ humidity they set off. When they reached the top, the three guest pilots looked at each other, puzzled. The so-called take-off area offered just enough space to lay out a glider, with a take-off run of barely ten metres beyond that. Take-off would only be possible here with wind, if at all. But a short time later, a breeze set up – an invitation for X-Alps veteran Tom to pull up and get airborne after a few paces, followed by Geisegger and Blum. The thermals were strong, hoisting them straight to cloudbase. This was a high-speed introduction and their first real cross-country flight. Following a ridge to the north, they flew over slopes covered with cotton grass that shimmered golden in the sunlight. Flying conditions were dazzling, the speed fast. After about 40 kilometres they turned around. In typical Caribbean fashion, cumulus clouds had built in front of them, soon to be followed by the first showers in the distance. It was the premature end of a cross-country flight that had lasted almost three hours.

Two days later Adi and Robert met up with Tom and his sailing boat at Samana harbour. It was late afternoon when the three Europeans set sail on the Caribbean Sea. Tom introduced his visitors to the fine art of sailing. He spends several months a year on the boat, and is always on the lookout for exotic new paragliding territory.

It was a short night, with Tom in his captain’s cabin, his guests in their B&B. They set off early to the north, headed for Playa Rincon. They hiked a steep path parallel to the coastline, up to a plateau. There they met a farmer and asked about the place the locals recommended. They were concerned to find a fence across it, but the farmer was happy to take it down for them.

Even so, the take-off remained a challenge. The place is slightly in the lee, and the wind not perfectly laminar. Once in the air however, they soared over the crystal-clear bay and the deserted palm-fringed beach. To one side was Cape Playa Rincon with its breathtaking jungle vegetation. In a mix of thermals and sea breezes they circled along the coast ever higher above this paradise landscape. It was the final point of their Caribbean adventure together.