The 16th Jeju Paragliding Competition, organized by The Federation of Jeju Paragliding Association was held on Dec. 12 at Darangshi Oreum, in Jeju City, a destination that has become well known in the island as an ideal spot for paragliding.
The competition first began in 1995 and is the largest and oldest paragliding event in Jeju, but recently the number of participants have been on the decline. On the day of the event only about 20 people participated in the competition.
Although the competition has seen a decrease as of late, the number of Jeju paragliding enthusiasts are increasing. Paragliding is one of the most popular leisure sports on the island along with trekking and yachting. In 2010, 120 people enjoyed the sport in Jeju for the first time.
“It’s not dangerous,” said Kang Yie Won, a senior manager at the Federation of Jeju Paragliding Association.
“There are 10 times more car accidents than paragliding accidents.”
Those looking to learn the sport can do so at the Jeju Paragliding School, which is one of three schools certified by the Federation of Jeju Paragliding Association. Enthusiasts who want to become serious about paragliding can join one of the many paragliding clubs on the island.
In Jeju, there are eight paragliding clubs and they usually go paragliding on the weekend and they have small interclub competitions almost five times a year.
Enthusiasts usually use oreum as a good launch point, since these parallel volcanic cones have quite steep slopes. Jeju is a suitable place for paragliding because there are a total of 368 oreum to chose from and soft pastures all around to land on. On the accompanying map, there are 11 favorite spots that are used for paragliding in Jeju. <Jeju Weekly>
<Yang Ho Geun yanghogeun@jejuweekly.com ⓒ Jeju Weekly All rights reserved>
