The ongoing 4-day International Paragliding Festival at Wagamon in Idukki will draw to a close on March 17 (Sunday). According to officials, the festival is jointly organised by the Kerala Adventure Tourism Promotion Society (KATPS) under the Department of Tourism and the Idukki District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) with the technical support of the Paragliding Association of India.
KATPS CEO Binu Kuriakose said that this is the first time Wagamon is hosting a competition-level paragliding festival. “We received 107 registrations for participation while 75 participants were allotted a place in the competition. District Collector Sheeba George will distribute the prizes to the winners at the concluding ceremony on March 17 (Sunday),” said Mr. Kuriakose.
Preeya Jain, a festival participant, said that Wagamon is an ideal place for paragliding. “It was a nice experience to fly in the hill station,” she said.
Jobin Yendayar, one of the participants and a paraglider in Wagamon said that paragliding is one of the major tourist attractions in Wagamon. “The famed hill station is one of the few suitable places for paragliding in south India. Besides, the competition will help raise awareness of the practices and performances of the gliders from other States and countries,” he said.
Idukki DTPC secretary Jitheesh Jose said that the festvial will help spread the word on Wagamon as an ideal paragliding destination around the globe. “We hope the festival will help to attract more tourists to Wagamon,” said Mr. Jose.
‘Wagamon not-so-suitable site for paragliding’
However, Wing Commander (Retired) U.K. Palat, a paratrooper and an adventure sports expert raised safety concerns over the landing space at Wagamon which is in use during the festival. “A paragliding site should have a reasonably large landing area below. In many cases, the top landing area may not be available to the participant due to turbulence, eddy effect, insufficient ridge lift, glider handling peculiarities of a particular pilot, etc,” Mr. Palat said.
“The number of landing accidents (6 in 2 days) reported in Wagamon in this event indicates this. The Suicide Point site has few other general wind patterns and terrain-specific issues, making it less than ideal for paragliding. For an international event with 75 participants from 15 countries, there should’ve been a few hundred successful flights by this time. This indicates the general wind pattern there, making it a not-so-suitable site. I hope I’m not sounding too negative because the organisers must have worked hard for the event’s success. I shouldn’t hurt their feelings. At the same time, while taking calculated risks is alright in adventure spots, there should be no place for foolhardiness,” said Mr. Palat, who is a Shaurya Chakra awardee.
