The paraglider who made an emergency landing on The Level in Brighton yesterday had travelled from 12 miles away.
Baker Vincent Talleu set off from the Bo Peep hill near Alfriston and glided over Falmer and the racehill before he suddenly lost height and was forced to land.
But despite the scary circumstances, he says it was his best landing ever.
He said: “I glided to Falmer where I got really low and almost landed there. The seagulls showed me a climb and it was very good on the way back up, but the drift takes me right over Brighton.
“That’s when I lost the thermal and realized I’m actually pretty low and landing options are pretty scarce. What to do?
“It looked like the Level was big enough for a safe landing, plus it’s only few minutes walk from my flat,” he joked.
“It was unbelievable, everybody was whistling applauding and all, epic landing!
“Someone offered me a beer and everybody was asking me if I jumped from a plane, it was very hard to explain how I didn’t.
“It was through bad flight planning that I ended so low over Brighton and was forced to do an emergency landing, you won’t be seeing me landing here again, that’s for sure.”
He added: “It is the best sport in the world, it’s just mind blowing what we are able to do with a piece of cloth that packs up in a bag. Some people fly hundreds of kilometres.”
This video shot by Vincent with a headcam explains more about the mechanics of gliding – beware, it contains swearing:
