Toronto Star, Canada
July 26 2008

High drama in Greece

DANYLO HAWALESHKA PHOTO

Paragliders soar high above Drama, a Greek city near the Bulgarian
border.

DRAMA, Greece`High above the vast plain where Roman statesman Brutus
was defeated by Marc Antony more than 2,000 years ago, Mariyan Ivanov
prepares to soar like an eagle.

"Up there," Ivanov says with a flick of his head skyward, "there are
no speed limits or stop signs ` you’re free."

Ivanov, 23, is standing in the blazing sun on the summit of Mount
Korylovos, on the outskirts of Drama, a city near Greece’s rugged
mountain border with Bulgaria.

Wearing a snug-fitting, dark-green jumpsuit over his dancer’s frame,
the former skydiver from Stara Zagor, Bulgaria, and several of his
fellow paragliders are preparing to launch themselves hundreds of
metres above the shimmering valley floor below.

This part of Greece is well-known among paragliders for its frequently
favourable weather conditions. And it has a long history ` sometimes
tragic ` of motorized flight.

An Armenian inventor was killed here just before World War II during a
test flight of a glider he had built.

Fortunately, modern paragliding equipment and training have taken some
of the danger out of stepping off of a mountain. But not all of it.

The Korylovos site features a 350-metre vertical drop, with a
paragliding season that runs between March and November.

And it’s not the easiest place to fly. The landing site is a small
field beside a lightly travelled asphalt road. Strong midday thermals
during summer months can complicate landings, and paragliders need to
be relatively experienced.

A fenced-off Greek military base, where trespassing is strongly
discouraged, is to the immediate left of the landing field, adding a
little extra motivation to make sure you land on target.

"They (the soldiers) know us quite well by now," one of the area’s
regulars jokes. Air Club Aiolos of Drama, with about 80 members,
oversees the well-maintained Korylovos site.

"The Greek team here is wonderful," Ivanov says. "They take care of
everything."

Mountaintop access is via paved road. There’s a modest clubhouse at
the base, beside the landing site. Yannis Ioannidis, the president of
the club, says the flying conditions here are ideal 80 per cent of the
time.

"And if the weather is against you," Ioannidis says with a
philosophical shrug, "take a seat and get to know our members."