CORK man Oisín Creagh hopes to become the first person to fly from Ireland to North Africa using a paramoter for a daring charity stunt this summer.
Mr Creagh, a self-employed architect from Co. Cork will be under taking the perilous journey from Ireland, across Wales, England, France and Spain to his destination Tangiers in Morocco, in late summer.
A paramotor is a type of foot launched paraglider, comprised of a small lightweight engine drive propeller worn strapped to the back with a harness. It allows the wearer to ‘fly’ beneath a standard paragliding wing (essentially a type of parachute).
Oisín Creagh flying a paramotor over Ireland's west coastThe extreme stunt is already proving tricky as he attempts to plot a route through some of the busy airspace in Europe.
Talking to The Irish Post Oisín explained “I found out that it's a lot easier to find deregulated airspace in Ireland than it is anywhere else in Europe.”
The journey is around 3,000km in total with at least 100km across open ocean, which he is hoping to stay firmly above.
“I’m confident the water won’t be a problem, but I’m hoping not to end up in it”
Due to the paramotor’s small engine he will have to complete the journey in several separate flights.
“It’s a very small motor and tends to be quite temperamental, so I have my fingers crossed.”
In total he predicts the journey will take him a month, depending on weather conditions.
His adventure has already raised €2,000 (£1,545) for Irish international development charity Gorta-Self Help Africa.
The organisation supports small-scale farming and family run farm businesses across Africa, helping farmers change the lives of their families and wider communities.
It’s a cause he is passionate about, “I think the cause is as important to me as the adventure and the challenge, Ethiopia is facing the worse drought in fifty years and there is potential for things to get a lot worse quickly.”
The trip may sound risky, but Creagh who has been flying a paramotor for ten years is confident he will make it to his destination, although he admits he will be making the return journey the conventional way via commercial air travel.
You can follow Creagh’s journey and donate to his fundraising page here.
