Clube de Voo Livre Vertical, is a free flight club that operates in the Serra da Estrela mountain range in Portugal. It is one of the oldest free flight clubs in Portugal and one of the initial members of FPVL, the Portuguese federation that regulates such sports.
Clube Vertical manages its own paragliding school which have enabled the growth of the sport locally and nationally.
Serra da Estrela is the main mountain ridge in Portugal and presents unique conditions for the practice of nature sports. Clube Vertical have been responsible, since 1990, for its exploration and exploitation as an area for free flight, discovering new sites and negotiating with the local authorities and land owners for their usage and maintenance.
There is also a long tradition in competition, in particular in hosting them, with the first ever paragliding competition to be held in Portugal, being organized by Clube Vertical back in 1992 at Linhares da Beira.
Building on this heritage Clube Vertical has been hosting several competitions at Serra da Estrela, most of them international paragliding CAT 2 competitions, and its team has been supporting other clubs and venues to host their own competitions in other areas of Portugal.
But our home is Serra da Estrela, which is the region that has nurtured our passion for flying and the region to which we feel we need to give back.
Therefore Clube Vertical have been providing services to the pilots on every flyable day in the area, such as transport to take-offs, retrievals on cross country flights, and technical advice. This way we aim to attract and promote the sites, sharing our skies and welcoming pilots to the local communities.