Hang-gliders
have flown Brazilian skies since the 1970's. It all started
in July 1974 when French pilot Stephan Segonzac took off
from the top of Rio de Janeiro's Corcovado Mountain. The
feat startled a lot of people and, soon enough, many were
eager to learn the art of flying. Two of those enthusiasts
approached the French pilot and decided they would fly too.
In search for an ideal hillside to start their lessons,
they eventually found Luiz
Cláudio, a friend whose piece of land sufficed
for their needs.
A while later, both gave up the course and, after a couple
of months of jumbled learning, Luiz Cláudio Mattos,
who had inadvertently come along for the ride, became the
first Brazilian hang-gliding pilot.
His first flight was on September 7, 1974, from the top
of São Conrado's Agulhinha Boulder, in Rio de Janeiro.
Because it was rather difficult to reach the peak of Agulhinha,
in just a few weeks Luiz Cláudio managed to open
up another ramp at Bonita Boulder's piedmont.
In November 1975, the number of pilots had already exceeded
ten, and the I Brazilian Hang-gliding Championship took
place in São Conrado. The competition involved permanence
and precision skills. The first Brazilian hang-gliding champion
was André Sansoldo, who joined vice-champion Irencyr
Beltrão in the Brazilian team for the I World Hang-gliding
Championship in 1976 in Kossen, Austria.
With the growing number of aficionados came the need to
open up a new ramp. This one was located at the end of a
road that had been cut by architect Sérgio Bernardes
on the hillside leading to the Bonita Boulder. The architect's
intention was to build a house in the middle of the woods
but-lucky hang-gliders!-environmental authorities estopped
it.
In
December 1975, the Brazilian Hang-gliding Association (ABVL)
was founded, initially intent on controlling access to the
Bonita Boulder ramp, which was eventually opened to all
pilots and has been in use to date. In 2001, the ramp was
renovated and then named after Maurício Klabin.
