AdvertisementLike a Bird
By O.L.D. Brown · · Holiday Edition · 7 min read
Jamaica sometimes cultivates and curates hobbies and pastimes so extraordinary that it's a wonder many of us remain unaware of them. Paragliding is one example: a sport in which a light fabric glider, one that fits in a backpack, is used to fly and soar, just like a bird.
JAMAICA'S PARAGLIDING FLIGHT FATHER.
Jurgen von Dueszeln introduced Jamaica to paragliding in 2001 by inviting an instructor from Germany, Claus Vischer, to visit Jamaica and help identify a flying site. Claus, Jurgen and his wife, Anna Kay, made the first documented paragliding flights together from Skyline Drive in Kingston, beginning a new era of local aerial adventure that continues to this day.
As the de facto paragliding flight father of Jamaica, Jurgen wanted others to be exposed to the sport and perhaps take it up. The husband-and-wife team would often fly in the Papine area of Kingston and land in Hope Pastures, at UTECH or at UWI. People began expressing an active interest after seeing a flight, a landing or a launch. Genuinely wanting others to enjoy the exhilaration only paragliding affords, Jurgen decided to qualify as a paragliding instructor with the United States Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association (USHPA). Armed with an Advanced (P4) USHPA pilot rating in 2008 and an additional instructor certification, Jurgen went on to train many Jamaicans, and other nationals, to fly paragliders from 2008 onward. In the process, a community of paragliding pilots was born in Jamaica: an amazing accomplishment on its own. In addition to the local community of enthusiasts, Jurgen has introduced Jamaica to many overseas paragliding pilots from the US, France, Germany and Eastern Europe, who have come here primarily to fly.
FLIGHTS OF FANTASY.
One of Jurgen's students shares a remarkable story of serendipity. Doogie (his radio name when paragliding) first saw Jurgen flying in Malvern, St. Elizabeth. What he briefly witnessed was incomprehensible at the time: someone seemingly flying under a canopy, with a motor propelling everything. Afterwards, he debated whether he had really seen it or only imagined it. Later, Doogie met Jurgen and four North American paraglider pilots, who all launched and flew their gliders from New Malvern to Mountainside, St. Elizabeth. After seeing the gliders launch and fly, Doogie became a student and learned from Jurgen to fly both with and without a motor.
In late 2016, Doogie and his son, Gareth, embarked on an ambitious project: to build an aircraft at home. The idea began with what Doogie had thought was an urban legend: someone had built an aircraft in their garage in Kingston, and when it was finished, an entire wall of the garage had to be demolished to get the aircraft out!
BUILDING A LEGACY.
Miss Pitts, an aerobatic Pitts Special biplane, was not an urban legend. According to the family, the airplane was built and flown in the 1970s by John Harrison and other locals. John's son now flies Miss Pitts and maintains the aircraft in the USA. The story of this Jamaican aviation achievement is worthy of being told… in an upcoming article.
A tandem paramotor trike is an open-framed microlight aircraft with a fabric wing, much simpler to fabricate than a rigid-framed biplane like Miss Pitts.
On October 17, 2021, the paramotor trike, inspired by Jurgen's influence as an instructor, made its maiden flight. From a former equestrian center in Gilnock, St. Elizabeth, Doogie piloted the trike, named Dread Red Sled, into the air, with Gareth and Colin Barracks as ground crew. A legacy of Jamaican flight and fabrication, inspired by an enthusiastic instructor: Jurgen.
The discovery that Jurgen's wife, Anna Kay, is John's daughter only completed the circle of circumstance: a real surprise that's not such a surprise! Jurgen, a man who loves to fly, married a woman he encouraged to fly, the daughter of a local aircraft builder. An instructor inspired his student to build an aircraft with his son, and that son is now in civil aviation pilot training himself! And if that were not enough, because of Jurgen, you too can experience paragliding with a commercial tandem pilot whom Jurgen welcomed and encouraged to fly in Jamaica.
A HIGHER PERSPECTIVE.
Most of us have dreamt of flight, of being Supergirl or Iron Man: unbound! Some have been able to fly like a bird, thanks to the enthusiasm of a pioneer. Jurgen has changed the perception of flight, and its accessibility, for Jamaicans and other nationals alike, leaving a perspective that is above, and higher, than many can even begin to imagine.
FLY LIKE A BIRD THIS SEASON.
Paradise Wings Jamaica offers tandem paragliding flights with a qualified pilot at sites including Skyline Drive and Bull Bay in St. Andrew, and Malvern in St. Elizabeth. No experience is needed; the pilot flies, and you enjoy the view. The company flies during Jamaica's winter months, which makes the holiday season a good time to book.
Written by O.L.D. Brown. Photography by Jurgen von Dueszeln.
