Darjeeling, Nov. 9: Kites flew on the first day of the Darjeeling Carnival. Today it was the adventurers’ turn.

The third day of the carnival got off to a flying start as adventure addicts, harnessed to parasails, took to the sky from Tiger Hill.

While people experienced “flight”at Tiger Hill, back at Chowrastha, pedigree canines had their day at the dog show organised as part of the festivity.

Kalimdor Adventure and Retreat, the Kalimpong-based adventure tourism agency that conducted the sport, raised hopes that parasailing could be transformed into a full-fledged adventure sport to draw more tourists to the hills.

Eager parasailers waited their turn to be harnessed to the parachute and be towed by a jeep to help the chute catch the favourable wind.

In parasailing, a fast-growing adventure sport, people are hooked to parachutes and harnessed to a vehicle by a long chord. The vehicle, in this case the jeep, tows the parasailer who climbs to a height of around 175 to 300 ft, depending on the wind conditions, before landing again.

Vishal Raj Gurung, the person conducting the show, said: “Parasailing is the closest you would get to flying and one does not require any formal training to do it.”

Zafar Yusuf, a 17-year-old from Darjeeling and the first to try the sport this morning, said: “It is really amazing and exciting and I really enjoyed it. I heard of it yesterday and I knew I had to try it.”

For Pratiksha Pradhan, a college student who showed the girls the way, “ it was thrilling” but she was “never scared”.

Col (retd) D.K. Gurung, an expert hangglider, said the sport could be introduced in Darjeeling along the Tiger Hill stretch. “It may not be possible to parasail throughout the day because of the wind, but between 8 and 12 am, the conditions are ideal.”

The initial expenses are, however, high. Gurung said it would cost around Rs 15 lakh to start the sport on a commercial scale.