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In the latest of a new series of posts, we chronicle some of the most amazing adventures you can have here on Gran Canaria. Join us as we relive our tandem paratrike flight above Maspalomas. Are you up for the experience?
We first heard about Sky Rebels when we chanced upon a video of them featuring a zany German tourist and the music of one of our favourite bands, The Pixies. On that basis, we made them one of our Businesses of the Week. Because that’s the way we roll.
At Gran Canaria Local, we’re keen to forge relations with fellow local businesses. And so we arranged a trike flight for Mr GCL down south. Did he have a head for heights? Let’s find out the answer to that and other questions below. Here are some of our random observations for your edutainment purposes.
- Don’t fly hungover
- You gain a whole new perspective from above
- Sky Rebels don’t have an age limit
1. Don’t fly hungover
Mr Gran Canaria Local’s flight was scheduled for a Friday morning. Ordinarily, that’s not a good time for him as he tends to follow his Thursday-night social seven-a-side game of football with some, ahem, social drinks. Knowing that he was flying on the morrow, however, he laid off the beers the night before.
Yet still Mr GCL was suffering from a hangover. ¿Por qué? On the Wednesday, he had seen his beloved Chelsea go out of the Champions League. And so he drank to forget. Ad nauseaum. Yet he felt quite alright as the Sky Rebels duo threw dirt up at the airfield to determine which way the wind was blowing.
But as Juanjo Skyrebels revved up his seagull (ordinarily known as a gaviota in Spanish but JS insists his is a gavioto as “he’s definitely a boy”), Mr Gran Canaria Local felt a knot in his stomach. A knot he hadn’t felt for a while. So, we’re shifting the blame from boogie to booze.
Up up away with Sky Rebels
Do look down with Sky Rebels
Above the GC-1 on Gran Canaria with Sky Rebels
Beat the traffic with Sky Rebels
Doing the seagull on Gran Canaria with Sky Rebels
Gavioto sure can swoop
Those magnificent men in their flying machines
The Sky Rebels pilot takes a back seat
2. You gain a whole new perspective from above
Mr Gran Canaria Local’s very much a non driver. So he listened with interest when Juanjo Skyrebels, a frequent flier with around 20 years experience as a commercial pilot on the Canary Islands, revealed that he felt much safer in a trike than in the car he and fellow Sky Rebel Inés picked him up in. And when they loomed over the GC-1 motorway, Mr GCL smiled to see cars reduced to the size of ants.
As they headed towards the Faro de Maspalomas, it was as if Mr Gran Canaria Local was looking at a L.S. Lowry painting. In 3-D. As instead of standing still as if depicted on canvas, the matchstick men (and women) waved to Juanjo and Mr GCL.
3. Sky Rebels don’t have an age limit
Sky Rebels are still a relatively young company. Inés told Mr Gran Canaria Local that some of their first clients were tourists in their 70s and even 80s. Age is not a factor, but rather weight.
So the minimum you have to weigh to fly is 30kg and the maximum 110kg. Figures joyfully seized upon by Mr GCL’s two eldest who have let it be known what it is they want for their birthday this year. But will they be able to cope with the post-flight baptism?
There’s an initiation ceremony which follows soon after you touch down. Mr Gran Canaria Local is not at liberty to divulge exactly went on. All that he can share is that has a new identity; that of Blogger Seagull. ¡Sky Rebels, mi niño!
Disclaimer: Ordinarily, Sky Rebels’ Maspalomas Tour (there are also Anfi and Mogán routes) costs €80. Because of our participation in the Typical Non Spanish programme, we received our tandem paratrike flight for free. All opinions nevertheless remain our own. Who else’s do you expect them to be?