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And so it continued, practising more the launches and landings than the technicalities of flight. Every time I came towards the ground, the same command would crackle out from my on-board radio — “Flare!” I’d pull on my lines, the paraglider would slow and my impact with the ground would be no harder than jumping off a 2ft wall. On the one occasion that I hit with more force than I’d intended, the sand cushioned my landing: praise be to the dune.

Hops got higher and longer — 50ft up, hundreds of yards along — until they began to last more than a minute, had turns, and had, in effect, morphed into fully fledged flights. Down in the sea, a V-formation of wetbikes whipped along the coast, while, way overhead, the occasional jet fighter ripped lines across the sky. Only the paragliders in the middle zone felt like they belonged: natural, like windsurfers of the air. Down the coast, I could see some of the most experienced pilots engaged in slow thermal spirals; others were skimming along the dune’s cliffs and skirting the trees that came closest to the water.

With short flights mastered and a multiple-choice test completed, I reached the standard required of an elementary pilot; well on the way to the “novice pilot” qualification I’d need to fly without instruction. One of my fellow students was a lapsed Buddhist who had decided paragliding should become his new religion. “When you’re flying, you’re in the zone,” he told me. “Nothing else matters. Not the past, not the future; just the now, just the flight.” Try getting clarity like that in Sussex.

How to do it: Andrew Thomas travelled as a guest of Air France and was taught by Flight Culture (01305 267027, www.flightculture.co.uk), a UK-based school that runs trips abroad, with instruction in English and UK-recognised qualifications. It offers week-long trips to the Dune du Pyla in June and September (four trips each month), costing £695pp, including all equipment, a 2:1 student/ instructor ratio and self-catering accommodation in mobile homes right next to the dune, but not flights.

British Airways (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com) flies to Bordeaux, about an hour from the dune, from Gatwick, from £88; BMI Baby (www.bmibaby. co.uk) flies from Birmingham and Manchester, from £72; and Flybe (0871 700 0535, www.flybe.co.uk) from Bristol and Southampton, from £59. Air France (01 605 0383, www.airfrance.com) flies from Dublin from €189.

Flight Culture also runs paragliding trips to Tenerife, the Czech Republic and Brazil. Or try Sunsoar (0870 199 7343, www.sunsoar-paragliding.co. uk), or Thermal Monster (00 33 4 79 07 16 37, www.thermal monster.com), which also runs trips to the dune and elsewhere.

Is paragliding safe?

MARK DALE of the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association says that in terms of safety, paragliding is comparable with skiing or horse-riding: “The vast majority don’t get injured, but, as with any adventure sport, some do. The litigation culture in this country means that we’re wary of overstressing how safe it is: there are a couple of fatalities and serious injuries every year, but in 20 years, I can only remember one death of a student pilot.”

Paragliding is considered a dangerous sport by insurers, and most standard travel policies exclude it. Goldfish (020 8662 4116, www.goldfish.co.uk) and Dogtag (01603 895610, www.dogtag.co.uk) are two insurers that offer specific coverage.

Further details: the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (0116 261 1322, www.bhpa.co.uk).

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