Paramotor Magazine, issue 17
February / March 2010
Take one national TV star, add paramotor, stormy weather, wind and a 4,000 km journey. Shake. Stew for 50 days. Ed Ewing tucks into Lu Marini’s Brazilian adventure
“It was a gift from God,” says Brazilian pilot Lu Marini who last year completed a spectacular 4,000 km trip along the coastline of Brazil. He had just taken off, and had covered a mere 15 km – barely enough time to get comfortable – when he saw an incredible sight. “I was over the sea, near the coast, when I saw something very big move. I knew it could be a whale. I went to her and there were two females, two young and four dolphins.”
Right whales have a troubled recent history with Brazil. Nowadays, they can be spotted from the beach at surf spots like Joaquina beach on the island of Santa Catarina in the country’s south. Each year they migrate from Antarctic waters, where they spend the summer, to the warmer waters around Brazil to breed.
Whale watching tours are a fixture in the season, which runs from July to November. But it wasn’t always like that – the last Right whale was brought ashore on Santa Catarina in 1973. They had been hunted down, almost to extinction. When whaling was finally outlawed in Brazil in 1987 there were no whales left.
Twenty three years on and Lu found himself above two mothers and their calves. He piloted in close to capture some stunning film and still photographs. “I was flying over the whales at low altitude,” he said. “I risked a lot.”
Lu Marini is an entrepreneur, adventurer and TV personality at home in Brazil…
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