EXPERIENCED PARAGLIDING GUIDE
Your head guide is Nick Crane, USHPA Advanced Paragliding Instructor and Tandem Instructor and seasoned Central American traveller. Nick has travelled and paraglided all through Brazil, Europe, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Honduras and Costa Rica. He speaks Spanish, passing Portuguese, pretty good French and a little German! He is knowledgeable about the ecology and natural history of the country and has charted over 400 species of Costa Rican birds. This season will be Nick's 15th season paragliding in Costa Rica, and 14th season leading tours there. He has been paragliding in Brazil for 8 years, and Europe for 6 years.
COSTA RICA PARAGLIDING, WHY YOU'LL LOVE IT!
I love Costa Rica! It has astounding beauty, diverse flora and fauna, great people and great paragliding. I started to lead paragliding tours to Costa Rica because most tours go to sites that can be intimidating or overwhelming to all but very experienced pilots. Many other areas also have a limited season. Valle de Bravo, Mexico is well known for it's awesome cross country flying, but it's finished for most paragliding by mid January. A P-2 could fly in Valle de Bravo, but realistically only in early December, and then only early in the day. Costa Rica on the other hand, has great paragliding year round. Pilots who want to focus on cross country should come in March. While the cross country can't compare to the best in Valle, March in Costa Rica it is very, very good. Otherwise any time of year has very good and consistent flying. Any level of pilot will find flying Costa Rica a rewarding, fun experience. You will increase your air time, develop and/or hone your skills. Most of our tours visit 4-6 sites during the week, so you'll fly a variety of launches and land in a variety of LZ's.
UNIQUE ACCESS to GREAT SITES
We have pioneered some of the best sites in the country, and we're always on the look out for others. Costa Rica is a unique paragliding destination in that almost all of the sites are privately owned. You will have access with us to the best flying. We have developed relationships with the owners to allow access, by taking great care with safety, respecting livestock, keeping the sites clean, developing a level of trust, etc. One example, Caldera, one of the best ridge soaring sites in the country, is open to the public during the weekend, but we have unique access during the week days too. One of the most popular activities for visitors to Costa Rica is a zip line or canopy tour. It occurred to me when I first flew over the tropical forest, plus after seeing countless birds, monkeys and even a sloth, that for experiencing the unique beauty of Costa Rica, nothing can't beat paragliding! Come join us for the Ultimate Canopy Tour!
Brazil Paragliding Tours
Paragliding in Brazil is a unique flying and cultural experience. Once in Rio four of us took a bus to the center of town. I asked the bus driver where we could get a bus to Lapa, a neighborhood with great restaurants and live music everywhere. He looked at his watch, turned to us and said "Fica aqui." Stay here! He proceeded to drive us for 15 minutes to drop us off in Lapa! I offered him some money but he waved me off. You may have heard negative stories about Brazil, and it has it's share of political problems and drug issues (what country doesn't!) but the spirit and unique beauty bring me back. Brazil is always an adventure, and I have been met with kindness time and again. It's also an awesome place to fly!
European Tours
My late friend Keith Johnston invited me to come visit him in Austria 7 years ago after we had flown together in Costa Rica. We were like brothers, and I don't use that term lightly. We had a great time and decided to organize a tour of some of the places we had flown. That was the start of Paracrane European Tours. The first year we flew in Austria, Slovenia, Italy and Croatia. We lost Keith in December 2015, but his spirit of adventure and incredible friendly energy lives on.
The tours have expanded to include Switzerland, France and the Coupe Icare.
The wonderful and varied flying sites in Europe blended with the cultural experience, and the postcard views around every bend make this an outstanding tour for all pilots, as well as non-flying companions.
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