Paragliding has changed my life. For the reason of getting me closer to the nature elements and the constant challenges, it has taken me to a new dimension.
It’s a mind-blowing sport, quite easy to learn but difficult to master. Many novice pilots get fooled by the simplicity and quickness of the learning process, finding themselves in a problematic situation. I am telling that from experience.

Santa Catarina Island is a coastal flying site. Summer arrives bringing the sea breezes which, deflecting up on the hills, provide the flying lift that we pilots need to stay aloft. There are many take offs over the island but you are only allowed to fly in the eastern and northern beaches due to the airport traffic in the south and west airspace.

Praia Mole is the most popular site in Floripa. It works with south, southeast, east and northeast winds as it has 2 hills on both sides of the beach. Crowd is common with many Tandems, local and visitor pilots especially if there has been bad weather for a while. There are also other great sites like Rio Vermelho and Morro das Aranhas. I choose Mole because it´s the closest to where I live.

From the
top you have great views, either from Galheta hill on the north side, or Gravata hill on the south side. The lagoon looks like a water membrane reflecting the sky and surrounding hills. The coastline stretches north meeting Aranhas hill and south till Armação hill. The combination of all makes this site so unique.

It´s a God’s present to be up there feeling the wind and having this fantastic view. In good days you can be up there for hours; just watching out not to get a mid air crashing. Ironically, the best days are when you don´t expect, and worse, when you don´t have a camera. I have watched fantastic sunsets, crying for the magic moment and for not having a camera.

The first introduction to this flying experience is the Tandem flight. In Mole there are many experienced pilots flying Tandems charging about R$80 for a 15 minutes flight, depending on weather conditions. From there you can take up a course, starting with low height flights on the dunes, and having the first solo at Mole.
It is definitely a worthwhile experience; but be careful, you might get addicted.