Mark Rossi

I’m the founder and Chief Flying Instructor of Cloudbase Paragliding and the driving force behind Dune Rider’s development across Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific region.

Based on Australia’s east coast, I’ve spent years immersed in paragliding as a pilot, instructor, coach, tour operator and equipment specialist. My flying has taken me extensively throughout Australia and internationally across Europe, Indonesia and the Philippines, but it’s the coast — and the technical, playful flying it offers — that has always held a particular attraction for me.

As an instructor, my focus has never simply been on getting pilots into the air. I’m passionate about pilot development: refining technique, understanding equipment, building judgement and helping pilots become more capable, confident and independent in their flying.

That philosophy carries directly into my involvement with Dune Rider.

I immediately recognised something different in Dune Rider and in Bryan van Ostheim’s approach to wing design. Rather than seeing parakites as a replacement for conventional paragliders, I see them as an exciting new branch of free flight — one with its own handling characteristics, techniques and progression pathway.

A major part of my work with Cloudbase is therefore focused on parakite coaching and pilot development. My aim is not simply to introduce pilots to the equipment, but to help them understand how to fly it properly — from ground handling, launching and landing through to energy management, carving, transitions and the progressive development of more advanced techniques.

For me, good coaching is about giving pilots the foundations to explore what a parakite can do while developing the judgement, control and understanding to progress safely and independently.

Through Cloudbase, I’m working to build that pathway throughout Australia, New Zealand and Asia: creating opportunities for pilots to experience the wings, providing structured parakite coaching and progression, developing demonstration and training opportunities, and building a community around the discipline.

My approach is simple: let pilots see it, fly it, understand it — and then discover where they can take it.

For me, Dune Rider is about much more than selling wings. It’s about helping grow a new flying culture — responsibly, authentically and with the same enthusiasm for progression, adventure and fun that drew me to free flight in the first place.