Vaga fest ( 5-8 March 2007 )

March 5-8 witnessed the display of a sustainable enthusiasm in ParaGliding in India…A venue to bring in the PG enthusiasts in India and abroad was very much the need of the hour and Vagamon was obviously the ideal choice. With its 10 km long ridge and over 3,000 feet in height from top to bottom and carpet take-off from anywhere in the ridge make Vagamon the gem of Para Summits in India and the second consecutive International Fly-In was a testimony of the sustained enthusiasm and commitment of the organizers of ASSTA to promote one of the fastest form of adventure sports in the world.

The untiring efforts of Gopa, Vinil, Jose, Rafeek, Aby, Boban, Srijit, Anup, Baby and other organizers of ASSTA brought in over 50 glider pilots from India and abroad for this four day Fly-In at the scenic hill station of Vagamon in Kerala. The Event was supported by Kerala Tourism (www.keralatourism.org) , Idea Mobile, Labor India group of institutions (www.labourindia.com) , Vagamon Heights (www.vagamonheights.com) , State Bank of India, Malankara Plantations and Realty PropertyPlanners (www.realtycochin.com).

Mr. A Lakshmana, GM(Cochin Zone) of State Bank of Travancore inaugurated the opening ceremony. Pilots who made it to Vaga consecutively for the second time included Samson Desilva(www.spaceapple.com) from one of the premier ParaGliding clubs in India, Hari Nair (harinnair@yahoo.com) from Bangalore and Sriram Nair (sriram.nair@gmail.com) from Mumbai. There were a big contingent from Temple Pilots (www.templepilots.com) under the inspirational leadership of ex-IAF pilot, Avi..

There were pilots from UK, Australia, France, Germany, Netherlands and Russia apart from the Indian pilots. The Event added its colorful best with four women pilots in the fray. First day of the Event saw cloud base at 10,000 feet and the French pilot, Patrice breaking the Vagamon altitude record of touching the ceiling over 10,000 feet. Final day of the Event saw Avi(www.spaceapple.com) sneaking to cloud base at 12,000 feet and the two Russian pilots…Dimitri and Andre…going out on their Cross Country mission from Vaga hills. They landed out near the hill station of Peermedu, about 26 kms away from the launch and was successfully retrieved by the locals.

The final day dinner at Vagamon Heights was the perfect chill out for the promising and ever growing Indian ParaGliding fraternity. The souvenirs, sponsored by Kerala Tourism marked the beginning of more excitement in the coming years.