hang gliding & paragliding vol38/iss01 jan 2008

Volume 38 Issue 1January 2008 $4.95

A Publication of the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc. www.ushpa.aero

SKYWALK’s new lightweight DHV 1-2 MasalaPhoto courtesy SKYWALK

USHPA, Publisher: [email protected]. J. Sturtevant, Editor: [email protected] Hartman, Art Director: [email protected] Palmaz, Advertising: [email protected] writers: Joe Gregor, Steve Messman, Dennis Pagen, Mark “Forger” StuckyStaff artist: Jim TibbsStaff photographer: Josh Morell

Offi ce Staff:

Paul Montville, Executive Director: [email protected] Butler, Information Services Director: [email protected] Palmaz, Business Manager: [email protected] Russell, Offi ce Manager: [email protected] Burtis, Member/Instructor Services

Administrator: [email protected]

USHPA Offi cers and Executive Committee:

Lisa Tate, President: [email protected] Estes, Vice President: [email protected] Hass, Secretary: [email protected] Forbes, Treasurer: [email protected]

REGION 1: Rich Hass, Mark Forbes. REGION 2: Dave Wills, Urs Kellenberger, Paul Gazis. REGION 3: David Jebb, John Greynald, Brad Hall. REGION 4: Steve Mayer, Jim Zeiset. REGION 5: Lisa Tate. REGION 6: Gregg Ludwig. REGION 7: Tracy Tillman. REGION 8: Gary Trudeau. REGION 9: Felipe Amunategui, L.E. Herrick. REGION 10: Dick Heckman, Steve Kroop, Matt Taber. REGION 11: Gregg Ludwig. REGION 12: Paul Voight. REGION 13: Dick Heckman. DIRECTORS AT LARGE: Leo Bynum, Riss Estes, Mike Haley, Jon James, Dennis Pagen.EX-OFFICIO DIRECTOR: Art Greenfi eld (NAA).

The United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association Inc. is an air sports organization affi liated with the National Aeronautic Association (NAA), which is the offi cial representative of the Fédération Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), of the world governing body for sport aviation. The NAA, which represents the United States at FAI meetings, has delegated to the USHPA supervision of FAI-related hang gliding and paragliding activities such as record attempts and competition sanctions.

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine is published for foot-launched air-sports enthusiasts to create further interest in the sports of hang gliding and paragliding and to provide an educational forum to advance hang gliding and paragliding methods and safety. Contributions are welcome.

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine reserves the right to edit contributions where necessary. The Association and publication do not assume responsibility for the material or opinions of contributors. HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING editorial offi ces email: [email protected]. ALL ADVERTISING AND ADVERTISING INQUIRIES MUST BE SENT TO USHPA HEADQUARTERS IN COLORADO SPRINGS.

The USHPA is a member-controlled sport organization dedicated to the exploration and promotion of all facets of unpowered ultralight fl ight, and to the education, training and safety of its membership. Membership is open to anyone interested in this realm of fl ight. Dues for Rogallo membership and Pilot membership are $69 ($90 non-U.S.). Dues for Contributing membership and for subscription-only are $52 ($63 non-U.S.). $15 of annual membership dues goes to the publication of Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine. Changes of address should be sent six weeks in advance, including name, USHPA number, previous and new address, and a mailing label from a recent issue. You may also email your request with your member number to: [email protected].

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING (ISSN 1543-5989) (USPS 17970) is published monthly by the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc., 1685 W. Uintah St., Colorado Springs, CO 80904, (719) 632-8300, FAX (719) 632-6417. PERIODICAL postage is paid at Colorado Springs, CO and at additional mailing offi ces.

POSTMASTER: Send change of address to: Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine, P.O. BOX 1330, Colorado Springs, CO 80901-1330.

Canadian Post Publications Mail Agreement #40065056. Canadian Return Address: DP Global Mail, 4960-2 Walker Road, Windsor, ON N9A 6J3

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES IN PUBLICATIONS:

The material presented here is published as part of an information dissemination service for USHPA members. The USHPA makes no warranties or representations and assumes no liability concerning the validity of any advice, opinion or recommendation expressed in the material. All individuals relying upon the material do so at their own risk. Copyright © 2007 Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine.

Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine welcomes editorial submissions from our members and readers. We are always looking for well written articles and quality artwork.

Feature stories generally run anywhere from 1500 to 3000 words. If your topic demands more or less than this, you should discuss options with the editor. News releases are welcomed, but please do not send brochures, dealer newsletters or other extremely lengthy items. Please edit news releases with our readership in mind, and keep them reasonably short without excessive sales hype. You are welcome to submit photo attachments, preferably jpeg fi les smaller than a megabyte.

Calendar of events items may be sent via email to [email protected], as may letters to the editor. Please be concise and try to address a single topic in your letter.

Your contributions are greatly appreciated. If you have an idea for an article you may discuss your topic with the editor either by email or telephone.

Contact: Editor, Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine, [email protected], (425) 888-3856.

For change of address or other USHPA business, call (719) 632-8300, or email [email protected].

The United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, a division of the National Aeronautic

Association,

is a representative of the Fédération Aeronautique Internationale in the United States.

Flight Report: First Time Thermal Soaring . . .6

TAKEOFF STRATEGIES AND TECHNIQUES PART IV - STAYIN’ ALIVEAre your launches as strong as they can possibly be? Dennis off ers some suggestions for both hang glider and paraglider pilots for making sure you’re taking off with good airspeed and minimum chance of being sur-prised by an errant wind change.

HANG IN THERE Once again Forger survives the dangerous combination of youthful enthusiasm for fl ying coupled with a blissful ignorance of what’s needed to stay aloft safely. As always, he has embedded some serious lessons in his hilarious reminiscence of “� ere I was…”

PILOTS “GIVE BACK” TO THEIR COMMUNITIES“Community service” projects in small towns in Oregon and California strengthen the positive reputation of the hang gliding and paragliding groups in these areas.

CHRISTOPHER THE CATERPILLAR GOES HANG GLIDING� is rhyming fable points out to youngsters – and reminds us – that the joys of fl ying are, quite often, simply a matter of attitude.

DEPARTMENTSEditor’s Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Pilot Briefi ngs: News and Events . . . . . . . . . .8

Airmail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

USHPA: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Foundation: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Pilot Profi le: justACRO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

HG Accidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Flight Report: Unoffi cial U.S. State XC Distance Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

Comp Corner: Refl ections on Team Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

Travel: Green Point Flyers Association . . . . .32

Flight Report: Team Challenge 2007 . . . . . . .46

Travel: Depleador Redux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Comp Corner: USHPA Sanctioned Competition Notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54Tennesse Tree Toppers’ Team Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68

New Ratings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Classifi eds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

One Last Thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Index to Advertisers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77

Jeff O’Brien over the colorful foothills near Rock Canyon, Orem, Utah

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COPYRIGHT © 2007 by Dennis Pagen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

By Mark “Forger” Stucky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

By Paul Murdoch and © 2007 John Heiney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

By “Sunny Jim” Fenison, illustrated by Jim Tibbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

Volume 38 Issue 1January 2008 $4.95

A Publication of the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc. www.ushpa.aero

4 January 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.ushpa.aero


MONKEYS AND TUMBLING APESA former primatologist fi nds amusing-ly close comparisons between behavior she’s studied in chimps and what she observed in supposedly higher-order primates at a recent paragliding competition.

NICE HARNESS! WHAT’S IN IT BESIDES YOUR BUTT?If you land out – intentionally or otherwise – are you prepared for what comes next? A little forethought and preparation could spell the diff erence between hours of misery and a grand adventure.

By Alicia Harmon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

© 2007 Tim O’Neill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Gallery. . .62

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Happy New Year! As you’re reading this (assum-ing you read my column right off when you get your magazine…) I’ll be putting the fi nal touches on my last magazine and getting ready to start my retirement with a couple weeks of touring and fl ying in Ecuador. I wish you all a 2008 fi lled with peace and contentment, grand adventures and gentle landings.

In the USHPA pages this month, association presi-dent Lisa Tate speaks on the recent hiring of our new executive director (Paul Montville) and magazine editor (Nick Greece). Paul provides a letter of introduction; Nick’s hiring was too close to the deadline for this issue to include a note from him. He’s coming to spend some time with me “learning the ropes” just before Christmas, and we’ll put something together for the February issue. I’m delighted with USHPA’s choice of Nick to take over the magazine, and I’m certain that his youthful energy and past editing experiences will support the Publication committee’s goal of “moving the magazine into the 21st century.”

Pilot involvement is what keeps our sports alive and growing. Not too long ago, the famous Elsinore site in California was threatened by a potential landowner con-fl ict. On the Foundation page, Mike Hilberath explains how the Elsinore pilots successfully handled the threat, with help from the Foundation for Free Flight. In the feature article “Giving Back,” John Heiney and Paul Murdoch detail projects in California and Oregon that help ensure continuing landowner support at their sites.

Every so often something happens in the fl ying community that seems to get a lot of folks really fi red up and excited about fl ying. Not too long ago it was scooter tow clinics that had pilots and instructors full of enthusiasm and vision about bringing new pilots into the fold. Last fall, it was the Tennessee Tree Toppers’ 2007 Team Challenge. The emails I exchanged with those who contributed articles and photos – some fi rst-time XC pilots, some with hundreds or thousands of XC miles who acted as mentors to the newbies – were so full of energy and excitement that I felt compelled to share the entire selection with you. The message from all these contributors is clear: Team Challenge fulfi lled its objective of moving XC wannabe pilots to a new level of expertise and excitement – and then some! Team Challenge articles by Keith Atkins, Ollie Gregory and Kevin Carter are in the Comp Corner; Steve Prater’s

“I’m Still Grinning!” is a Flight Report.This month’s Accident Report column is another

fl ight report from a hang pilot who was stoked about getting his fi rst XC fl ight – but instead of traveling to a structured event like Team Challenge, this pilot went for it alone at his home site. He’s not grinning, although the only damage from his non-success was to his glider. He shares some important lessons that are relevant to both hang glider and paraglider pilots thinking about venturing XC.

Steve Roti’s Flight Report article is his annual sum-mary of unoffi cial state paragliding XC records; 11 states have new records since last year’s update. Tim O’Neil’s

feature article “Nice Harness!” suggests we all take a look at what’s in our harness that could help make a

“tiger country” outlanding into an adventure rather than an emergency. While his text targets paraglider pilots, many of his suggestions are relevant to anyone who fl ies anywhere there’s a possibility of landing out.

In the Travel section, Scott Clark reports on a fl y-in at Green Point, Michigan – his trip to a Region 7 fl y-in last Labor Day provided him with some great memories! Paul Murdoch’s “Depleador Redux” is a tale – more of a refl ection, actually – about his trip to Ecuador last winter. As Paul discovers, when we venture away from whatever is “usual” in our lives, the results can be far beyond what’s expected or even imagined.

The vast majority of us prefer to operate our wings well within the placarded limits and the realm of “normal” fl ight. Some of us choose to step outside those limits. Last April’s cover photo showed a paraglider pilot di-rectly above (OK, directly below on the cover, since we printed the image upside down!) his wing. That pilot is now the PG acro World Cup champion and, along with his partner in justACRO, is second in the world in para-gliding synchro. The justAcro team is profi led in Marko Georgiev’s pilot profi le article; all images have, this time, been printed right side up. There’s also acro for the masses, and former primatologist Alicia Harmon’s

“Monkeys and Tumbling Apes” showcases a weekend maneuvers clinic in Utah. The participants may not have world-class skills (yet!) but they all had about as much fun as one can have when one is just short of being scared you-know-whatless.

Dennis Pagen concludes his series on Takeoff Strategies and Techniques in this issue, with tips for both hang glider and paraglider pilots on fi nessing your takeoff skills to put you fi rmly in the safety zone for speed and control on launch.

Just for fun, I’ve included a feature story, “Christopher Caterpillar Goes Hang Gliding,” by Jim Fenison with il-lustrations by our staff artist, Jim Tibbs. The story is aimed at the youngsters in our community, but its mes-sage can be relevant for us “oldsters” as well. Another

“for fun but with a message” article is Mark Stucky’s “Hang In There” feature – hopefully you’ll laugh at his naiveté, then make a point of checking the airworthi-ness of all your equipment.

Steve Messman closes this issue with another thought-provoking article. Surely “The Wrong Color Wing” does not apply to you or your fl ying sites! As we begin 2008, I wish you all a year of minimal confl ict in your community, and an abundance of whatever brings you joy in your fl ying and in your life.

By the time you receive this magazine, the email address [email protected] will point to our new editor, Nick Greece. Please keep your photos and articles coming in. I’m looking forward to not knowing what’s in the March issue until it appears in my mailbox!

Hang Gliding Record Offi cial!

Last November 2, the FAI ratifi ed George Stebbins’s 332.5 km fl ight as a world record for out-and-return dis-tance. You can read the details of George’s fl ight, made last July in the Owens Valley on a Moyes Litespeed S5, in the October issue of this maga-zine. Congratulations, George!

7January 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.ushpa.aero

King Mountain Hang Gliding Championships Announces New Format for 2008 Meet

� e dates for the 2008 King Mountain Hang Gliding Championships are July 14-19. In this new Monday-through-Saturday format, which will allow travel/practice days before and after the meet, pilots will be scored on their best four out of a possible six days. � e 2008 event marks a dozen years of some of the best cross-country hang gliding in the world. Come see what it’s all about – and bring a friend!

For more information, go to www.fl ykingmountain.com, or call Lisa Tate, meet director/organizer, at (208) 376-7914.

Mike Markowski Inducted Into EAA’s Ultralight Hall of Fame

M i k e M a r k o w s k i ’ s aviation writ-ing and pub-lishing career began when he was contracted to write � e Hang Glider’s Bible, published in 1977, and

� e Encyclopedia of Homebuilt Aircraft – Including Powered Hang Gliders, pub-lished in 1980. In 1981, Mike founded Ultralight Publications, and through his

books, freelance writing, and full-page advertising, both in aviation and various popular magazines, he was able to share the sport of hang gliding with millions. To date, Mike has published 35 books on ultralights, homebuilts, aircraft mechan-ics, aviation history and model airplanes.

At a November 9 ceremony at the EAA AirVenture Museum in Oskhosh, Wisconsin, Mike was inducted into the EAA Sport Aviation Hall of Fame. USHPA awarded Mike a 2007 Special Commendation for his contributions to publicizing the sport of hang gliding (see page 19 in last month’s issue of this magazine); that award will be present-ed at the annual awards banquet at the spring 2008 USHPA BOD meeting in Colorado Springs.

1976 U.S. National “Hangliding” Championships Now Available on DVD! By James Howard

� irty-one years after the event, I found myself digging through a card-board box of old Super-8 movies that I’d made many years ago. Among the trea-sures was a 400-foot roll of fi lm with a faint felt-tip label: 1976 Dog Mountain Hangliding Championships. My mind immediately reeled back to the days of living in my beautiful log cabin at the base of Kiona Peak, only fi ve miles from Dog Mountain. I remember driving into Morton one summer day, and just happen-ing to glance off to the left and spotting

a huge kite fl oating above the mountain. I pulled over and studied the object from a distance – there appeared to be a man attached to the kite! Intrigued, I drove to the base of the mountain, thinking � is must be one of those hang gliders that I’ve heard about but never seen before.

All of a sudden another kite appeared! I sat there spellbound at the beauty of them gliding in the wind, the brilliant colors of red, orange, and yellow cast against the blue sky.

One of the kites came in for a landing, so eff ortlessly that it seemed the young man glided to earth, like an angel. He casually walked his glider to the logs at the edge of the lake, put the nose down and unhooked. I had to fi nd out what this was all about, and gushed questions at him. He told me that he was practicing for the nationals that were to be held at Dog Mt. and said that there might be up to 200 hang gliders at the site in a couple of weeks.

My god, this is exciting! I thought. All the way out here in the middle of the wil-derness was a championship hang gliding contest! � is was clearly a perfect story for a documentary fi lm. I returned home, loaded the Eclair 16mm, the Beaulieu Super 8 and the Nikon F2, and for the next three weeks I spent most of my time at Dog Mountain.

As the event drew closer, I spent more and more time at Dog watch-ing the pilots launch off the top of this beautiful mountain situated at the end of Riff e Lake, which is named after the town that was put under the waves for a hydropower dam. Dog was a perfect place to fl y. � e wind sweeps across the huge lake and pushes up the face of the

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mountain, providing amazing and con-sistent lift. � rough wind, rain and even snow these daring young men and their fl ying machines would be at one with the wind and the clouds.

I made many friends with the pilots and invited several of them to spend the night at my cabin. � ey loved the out-house, kerosene lamps and wood cook-stove and a home-cooked dinner. I, in turn, loved hearing the stories they told me about their hang gliding adventures.

As the opening day for the nationals drew close, hundreds of people from all over the world gathered at Dog Mountain; 150 of them would be chosen to partici-pate in the competition. All the manufac-turers of hang gliders were there showing off their fl ying wings, some single and some double wings, but the bulk of them were delta-shaped kites made from fabric. I put my cameras to good use, document-ing this amazing event.

Like so many home movies, this fi lm ended up stored in a cardboard box, essentially forgotten. � is box trav-eled all over the world with me, from Washington State to Guam to Hawaii. Dust, humidity, tropical storms, even volcanic eruptions from Mt. St. Helens, just over the hill from Dog, all have taken their toll...but all in all it’s still a valuable documentary about your heritage, about your passion.

Recently I returned to Dog Mountain on a beautiful summer day and, by co-incidence, met two gentlemen who had competed in the 1976 nationals. When I mentioned to them that I was putting my decades-old fi lm onto DVD, they were clearly excited about seeing them-selves 32 years younger, with longer (and more) hair!

To my untrained eye, it appears that the technology has changed more than a little bit. Today the fl yers resemble in-sects, with all types of cocoon-like bags they put their feet into and helmets that are swept back and pointed at the end. � ey wear surreal-looking sun glasses, and they carry all kinds of gadgets that tell them how high they are, how fast they are going, wind direction, tempera-ture – they even fl y with a parachute! � e leading edge of a modern glider and the cut-back trailing edge make the sail much more streamlined than the old ones that

tended to fl ap loudly in the wind.As I say at the beginning of the DVD,

“� is fi lm is dedicated to the fi ne young men who have since gone down with their gliders. Long may they fl y.”

For more information or to order a copy of the DVD, phone (360) 978-6225 or contact Orca Broadcasting, P.O. Box 8, Onalaska, WA 98570.

Notes and Gloats From the Paraglider Manufacturers

SKYWALK’s new lightweight wing, the Masala, is now certifi ed DHV 1-2 in size S. � e Masala is made of a revolution-ary new cloth, aerofabríxTM [Al] 29, an aluminum coating applied in nano-layers which protects the cloth from destruc-tive UV rays but adds a barely measur-able gram per square meter in weight. � e 4.3-kg wing off ers full comfort and defi nitive safety, with “real” risers, spe-cial shackles, covered lines, reinforced attachment points, “Jet Flap” technol-ogy and many more details. � e weight range is wide (75-105 kg), the pack size is extremely small, the handling is “typical SKYWALK.” More information about the Masala and all SKYWALK products is at www.skywalk.info.

U-TURN reports outstanding success for their pilots at the 2007 Air Games in Ölüdeniz, Turkey: Mike Küng, Pál Takáts and Gábor Kézi, all fl ying U-TURN Morpheus wings, won a clear

victory in the “viewers’ choice” evalua-tion after the acro show presentations.

� e Air Games promoters distributed 500 evaluation forms to pilots so that they could note their scoring of each competi-tor after the presentations. � is unique opportunity to have input into the com-petitors’ ranking created immense sus-pense and grabbed everyone’s attention: How, for example, would Mike Küng, who had already said “good-bye” to the world cup, rank in this fi eld of highly ex-perienced acro pilots?

� e answer came very convincingly: Nobody off ered a more exact, breath-taking presentation than the – begging his pardon – old master with his Morpheus, a wing he helped to develop specifi cally for performance fl ying. Above all the variations in his shows, in which he liter-ally celebrates the most diffi cult fi gures up to the infi nity tumble, fi lled the acro-savvy spectators with enthusiasm.

Mike’s superiority was graciously acknowledged by Hungarian pilot Pál Takáts, who is the overall world-cup winner in acro paragliding. Pál placed second in the spectator ranking, just ahead of his fellow countryman Gábor Kézi. Mike’s beautifully choreographed routine was rated the winner even though Pál and Gábor performed a special high-light: � ey fl ew 80 infi nity tumbles in a row.

U-TURN chief � omas Vosseler was completely enthusiastic: “[� e pilot voting] was an excellent publicity for this sport. Spectator evaluations like this should be done more often.”

More information about U-TURN wings and pilots is at www.u-turn.de/2006/home.php?sprache=en, or just Google U-TURN paragliders.

Last October 15, SOL pilot Rafael Saladini fl ew 397 km from Quixada, Brazil, on a Tracer 11, setting a new Brazilian record.

Rafael’s fl ight marks an auspi-cious beginning to the XC Northeast Expedition 2007, a month-long adventure with open-distance and declared-distance record fl ights as

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the goal. � ree SOL pilots, Rafael Saladini, Marcelo “Ceceu” Prietro and Olympio Faissol, with Dioclécio Rosendo de Lima Filho (Dió) as driver and techni-cal support, will monitor and analyze the weather conditions and attempt to put their small group in the best location on the best days for record-breaking fl ights.

Flights in the XC Northeast Expedition, and other record attempts in Brazil, can be viewed online at http://www.ciclone.com.br. Information spe-cifi c to the XC Northeast Expedition will be updated here: http://www.xcnordeste.com.br/.

� ousands of miles from Brazil, a select group of SWING pilots is descend-ing on De Aar, South Africa, for the X-SA event, another quest for world re-cords. Two teams – one South African (including guest pilot Ewa Wisnierska, of cumulonimbus-in-Oz fame) and one Swiss – are gathering at De Aar as this issue goes to press. � anks to the fi nan-cial services group Anglorand South Africa, the event has a proper budget for logistical support and a professional fi lm crew – each team has a dedicated photog-rapher, so there should be lots of images of SWING gliders with the Anglorand logo! You can follow the SWING teams online as they go for XC, altitude and speed record attempts. Renowned pilot/photographer/writer Greg Hamerton promises to update regularly the progress of the teams, in addition to participating in the quest as a member of team South Africa. Visit www.x-sa.co.za for the latest information, photos and videos.

NOVA fl ooded my inbox with press releases in November, all the while apol-ogizing profusely for their overzealous reporting (but surely hoping I’d publish all their news)! Here’s what’s new from NOVA:

A New NOVA Logo

� e Austrian paragliding manufac-turer has parted with its red sun ball and introduced a completely new brand logo. Wolfi Lechner, NOVA’s managing di-rector, describes the new logo as “fresh,

light and dynamic” in design, and says it reminds him of wings. When asked if the new logo symbolizes a new direc-tion for NOVA, Wolfi responded: “80% remains the same. We will continue to focus on the standard paraglider, mainly with high-quality wings in certifi ed cat-egories (class 1, 1-2, 2, and 2-3). We will continue to stick with our principles of reliability, honesty and integrity. You can probably say that 20% will change. We want to be more open-minded by includ-ing current paragliding trends in our product range. What I am thinking of is the Ibex, which will, I am sure, start a completely new category in the paraglid-ing market. Apart from that, NOVA will also launch the acro paraglider, Insect, and the performance paraglider, Triton‚ will be available soon. All in all, NOVA will appear younger, fresher and even more innovative.” NOVA’s Web site is http://www.nova-wings.com.

NOVA Names Four “Pilots of the Year” for 2007

At the beginning of October, the NOVA pilot team held their annual meeting at Achensee in Austria, where NOVA also has their proving ground. During the day, NOVA pilots test-fl ew new wings in perfect autumn condi-tions, and at night the team discussed the latest paragliders. � ere were reasons to celebrate – 2007 has been a very suc-cessful year for the Austrian brand with top results in the serial class in various competitions and online contests. Hence, managing director Wolfi Lechner named as NOVA “Pilot of the Year 2007” not just one, but four pilots.

In the online contest www.XContest.org, Cornelia Voigt (Switzerland) won the worldwide women’s ranking on her NOVA Tycoon. Christian Pichler from South Tyrol also triumphed with his class 2–3 Tycoon in the PG Sport cate-

gory. His superb performance is particu-larly noteworthy in that only three pilots in the open-class ranking placed ahead of him! Team rookie Johann Kronberger from Austria won the Standard catego-ry (DHV 1–2) on his NOVA Mamboo. (NOVA admits, though, that Kronberger switched brands – at his own volition – during the season. � us he did not do the long winning fl ights in spring on his Mamboo.)

Wolfi Lechner was obviously very happy with these comp results:

“Congratulations and thanks to all the pilots…� e general performance level in the OLC is very high today. Coni, Christian and Johann are the best in the world in their category...If we got it right, NOVA is the most fl own and also the most successful brand in the rankings on www.xc.dhv.de, www.OnlineContest.org as well as on www.XContest.org. Looking at the fi nal ranking of the Standard category on www.XContest.org, there are six NOVA pilots placed in the top ten! For that reason, we are eager to continue constructing the most pow-erful paragliders in the serial classes.”

� e fourth pilot to be declared NOVA “Pilot of the Year 2007” is NOVA test pilot Mario Eder. Wolfi explains: “� e performance and importance of test pilots is often overshadowed by the success

of the competition pilots. Test pilots are often not allowed to fl y cross-country and you won’t fi nd them in the comp rank-ings. People simply expect them to do their job quickly

and smoothly. Mario did an outstand-ing job this year. We really hope that this award expresses how much we appreciate his work.”

Each of the above pilots received a brand-new iPod Nano with an individual engraving as a sign of NOVA’s immense gratitude.

You can view the rankings of the online contests here: http://www.xcontest.org/2007/world/de/ranking-pg-damen/, http://www.xcontest.org/2007/world/de/ranking-pg-sport/, http://www.xcontest.org/2007/world/de/ranking-pg-standard/.

Mario Eder

NOVA’s comp Pilots of the Year


NOVA Test Pilot Affi rms: Dreams DO Come True! Last October NOVA strength-

ened its team by hiring 25-year-old Alex Höllwarth from Achensee. In joining the almost legendary trio of Toni Bender, Mario Eder and Walter Holzmüller, Alex fulfi lled a childhood dream. As a four-year-old he had eagerly watched paragliders landing in front of his father’s house with one thought on his mind: “One day, I want to fl y just like them.” � e dream of fl ying has held him captive ever since.

Alex had previously been employed by another paraglider manufacturer, but by joining NOVA he is going back to his roots – NOVA’s proving ground, and thus his new workplace, is in his hometown of Achensee. Alex is very happy about his new position: “Toni, Mario and Walter possess a huge wealth of experience. I consider myself truly fortunate to be part of their team. Hannes Papesh is probably the best construct-ing engineer in the paragliding scene. It is wonderful to work with him!”

“Good test pilots are hard to fi nd,” states Wolfi Lechner. “We are looking not only for excellent pilots but also for someone who is able to communicate his experiences and ideas in such a way that our engineers can draw the right conclusions. We are really happy that Alex joined us. He is extremely talented and despite his young age he is exceptionally professional.” As an added bonus, Alex is considerably lighter than most test pilots, and thus he is an ideal pilot for testing the smallest-size wings. For the larger wings he can always add some ballast, whereas, Wolfi reminds us, “it is impossible to make a heavy pilot lighter…”

NOVA Meets the Three Investigators NOVA’s test pilot Toni

Bender starred as a teen-age detective’s stunt double in the new movie, � e � ree Investigators – � e Secret of Skeleton Island. � e 11.5-million-Euro production was shot in Cape Town, South Africa; the movie featuring the three legendary junior detectives will be screened across Germany. Toni, who is

NOVA’s marketing consultant as well as test pilot, not only did the stunts, but was also instrumental in developing and pro-cessing the scenes. Special paragliders were created to meet the requirements of the movie.

� e � ree Investigators – � e Secret of Skeleton Island is the fi rst fi lm adaptation of the famous detective story series, which has been cult in Europe for many years. In this story, one of the three protagonists fl ies the paraglider. Line producer Michael

Schwarz chose Toni as the stunt double because they already knew each other from shooting a documentary about Toni called Glücklicher Ikarus (Fortunate Ikarus).

“Although the stunts were rather routine, it was nevertheless exciting for me, since coordinating the kites and paragliders turned out to be very diffi cult,” Toni comments about the shoot-ing, which took 14 days. Even before the production started, Toni needed to collaborate intensely with the producers in rear-ranging the movie script, as “some scenes had been unrealistic and not feasible the way they were originally planned. We had to rewrite the script before we could actually start producing the movie.” � e original idea was to shoot it above the roof-tops of Cape Town, but adverse wind conditions thwarted that plan. Eventually the scenes were fi lmed in the desert; the action and background were later put together with the help of blue-screen technique.

Published for the fi rst time in 1964, the � ree Investigators series now counts 120 issues and numerous audio books; more than 30 million copies have been sold worldwide. � e stories recount the adventures of three teenage detectives, Jupiter Jones, Peter Crenshaw and Bob Andrews. Directed by Florian Baxmeier, � e � ree Investigators – � e Secret of Skeleton Islandwill be in cinemas across Germany starting November 8.

Alex Höllwarth

NOVA’s marketing consultant as well as test pilot, not only did the stunts, but was also instrumental in developing and pro-cessing the scenes. Special paragliders were created to meet the

Toni Bender, stunt pilot


� e opinions expressed in the letters pub-lished in this column are those of the authors and do not necessarily refl ect those of the magazine staff or USHPA offi cials. While every eff ort is made to verify facts stated in letters, readers are urged to check the accu-racy of any statement before taking action or forming an opinion based on the contents of a letter.

Ladies of Hang Gliding(email, 10/22)

As a long-time member of USHGA/USHPA, I want to thank you for the article on Donnita (Holland) Hall. I remember one time I showed up at Fort Funston with a few friends from southern California to fl y for the day; it must have been around lunch time when Donnita showed up wearing a business suit and high-heeled shoes. Her rigid wing was ready to fl y and her partner helped her to the edge and off she went, heels and all. I thought we ladies were bad when we fl ew wearing our bikini tops during the summer, but Donnita showed us

up launching in heels. It is great to see she is still involved with the sport and both she and her husband Brad have aged gracefully.

Eileen (Debauche) Adames, USHPA #6801

More Praise for “Flight to the Borderlands”(email, 11/9)

I have praised the wit and intelligence of Paul Gazis before but I want to go on record that his “Flight to the Borderlands” is probably the best article that I have ever read in any issue of Hang Gliding maga-zine, past or present. Please encourage Paul to continue to write for us.

Mark “Forger” Stucky, USHPA #9380

Useful URLs and

phone numbers:For magazine submissions: http://ushpa.aero/magazine.asp

For accident reports: http://ushpa.aero/emailacca.asp

For membership info, change of address, and other USHPA business:

[email protected] (719) 632-8300

Members only section:https://ushpa.aero/member_

login.asp


As you may know, USHPA’s former executive director, Jayne DePanfi lis, re-signed earlier this year. � e executive director is a paid position on USHPA’s senior executive staff (as opposed to a volunteer position on the board of directors).

With Jayne’s resignation, USHPA’s BOD decided to embark on a transition planning process that included much more than simply hiring a replacement. � e productivity of any organization is maximized when all parties are work-ing toward a shared goal. When they’re not, productivity drops, impacting the organization as a whole. � e ED can especially impact the eff ectiveness of an organization, and a sudden change in leadership can be glacial if not properly planned. Simply put, planning for transi-tion was critical to the success of USHPA and our Strategic Plan.

Executive transition planning can be a major turning point for any organization. How it is handled can serve as a predictor of the organization’s future eff ectiveness. Careers of departing and arriving execu-tives and reputations of board leaders can be directly aff ected by the outcomes of executive directors transitions. Research by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation helped USHPA plan our strategy. Studies show that when there is a departure of an or-ganization’s ED, a managed and well-planned transition process is critical.

Without a plan, numerous nega-tive results could occur, aff ecting the organization, the board of directors, staff , members, and other stakehold-ers. Negative aspects of poorly planned transitions include high fi nancial costs, repeated executive turnovers, loss of organizational focus and momentum, and extended periods of organizational under-performance.

When an executive director plans to leave an organization, a high demand is placed on the executive committee of the board of directors for their energy, activity, and leadership. As president, I

felt the best course of action was to form a working group of qualifi ed directors to assist the organization in managing the transition.

Our approach was to manage the tran-sition process by fi rst fi nding a skilled and qualifi ed interim executive to handle the organization’s business aff airs through the transition period. Rick Butler, USHPA’s IT director, accepted the assignment and did a fantastic job keeping us on course through this period.

With a trusted, high-caliber individ-ual acting as interim director, the tran-sition committee could then focus on the recruitment and hiring process. We chose to hire the Center For Non-profi t Excellence (CNE) in Akron, Ohio, to assist us.

Working with the CNE, the transi-tion committee identifi ed three distinct phases of executive transitions:

Getting ready1. Recruiting, and2. Post-hiring.3.

Phase one involved a comprehensive review and update of the job description and development of an aligned job post-ing, as well as identifying advertising venues.

In phase two, USHPA conducted local, regional, and national advertis-ing. From this we gleaned approximately 30 candidates. Six fi nalists were chosen from criteria established by the commit-tee and measured with the Lominger Career Architect tool for phone screen-ings. � ree fi nalists were selected for face-to-face interviews, which were con-ducted at the USHPA offi ce in Colorado Springs on October 18.

During the interview process, Paul Montville emerged as a clear choice for both his excellent leadership background and his marketing expertise. We were pleased to off er him the position, and Paul started on November 1 as USHPA’s new executive director.

I would personally like to thank the members of the transition team and our

outstanding staff for their assistance, ex-pertise, and support through this transi-tion period.

Please join me in welcoming Paul Montville as USHPA’s new executive di-rector. Together, we are looking forward to a collaborative and successful future for the organization.

President, USHPA

A Note From Your New Executive Director

As your new executive director, I am pleased to have this opportunity to in-troduce myself and say “Hello!” to the USHPA community.

A little bit about me: I have spent over 20 years in the non-profi t business world, as a paid executive as well as serving on boards and in various key volunteer roles. � e bottom-line result is that I’ve sat on “both sides of the desk” and I have a good grasp of how non-profi ts function

Hiring USHPA’s New Executive DirectorBy Lisa Tate

Transition Team:Liz Sharp

Tracy TillmanMark ForbesRiss EstesSteve Roti

Felipe AmunateguiRich Hass

Russ LockeLisa Tate

Jeff Vengrow, CNE

Phone Interview Team:Lisa Tate

Tracy TillmanRuss Locke

Jeff Vengrow, CNE

Face-to-face Interview Team:

Riss EstesSteve Roti

Russ LockeLisa Tate

Jeff Vengrow, CNE


from both perspectives. My business-of-sports experience in-cludes several years at the Olympic Training Center as execu-tive director of three diff erent national governing bodies (table tennis, rugby and boxing), and I was a front-offi ce executive for a AAA professional baseball club (the Colorado Springs Sky Sox of the Pacifi c Coast League). � e realms of Olympic sport and USHPA are very similar in that both operate as 501(c)(3) national associations with business and governance models that are nearly identical. With that said, I am convinced that many of the methods and strategies that have proven to be successful in those areas can be helpful to us as we work together to make USHPA bigger and stronger.

On the personal side, I grew up in western Pennsylvania and New England and have lived in the Colorado Springs area for over 31 years. I have three children (ages 22, 11 and 8) and I enjoy most sports and outdoor activities (especially hiking in the Colorado foothills) as well as watching my kids grow.

Since my November 1 start date with USHPA I have al-ready had the pleasure of numerous conversations with USHPA members, volunteers and others in the fl ying community, and I am mightily encouraged by everything I’ve learned so far about our sport and our business. I look forward to meeting many more of you in the coming months, and to helping us grow our association and our sport in the future.

If you have any questions or comments regarding your membership, or have suggestions as to how we might improve USHPA’s service to our constituent groups, please do not hesi-tate to call or email me at headquarters.

Cheers,

(719) 632-8300 Offi ce(719) 659-4019 Cell1-800-616-6888 [email protected]

I am pleased to announce Nick Greece has accepted the position as editor of Hang Gliding & Paraglidingmagazine. Nick joins the USHPA magazine staff as editor from his last post as North American editor of Cross Country Magazine, an international free-fl ight publication. Before that, he was editor of the USA-based Paraglider Magazine. An advanced paragliding and tandem instructor living in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Nick’s extensive travels

have taken him throughout the world in pursuit of adventure fl ying and competitions. He has dedicated his post-collegiate life to fi nding and covering the perfect thermal, and asks that adventurers locating this phenomenon contact him.

Nick states: “ I’m very interested in hearing what pilots want to read about, and I am fi red up to learn to hang glide. I am thrilled at the possibilities of showcasing the amazing fl ying communities and locales we have in the States. � e magazine has a wonderful history of providing the membership orga-nizational information, education, and entertainment about the fl ying life and culture. It’s going to be great to add to this tradition.”

I would like to thank the Editor Hiring Committee for their hard work and diligence in this hiring. � anks to them, we were able to manage a high integrity process within a relatively short period of time. � e committee consisted of Riss Estes, Rick Butler, Urs Kellenberger, Martin Palmaz, Dennis Pagen and myself.

Several very qualifi ed candidates applied for the position. � e committee chose the top six candidates for a series of phone interviews and editing tests, then ultimately a face-to-face in-terview. Nick was selected for his fi t in several areas, including his understanding of USHPA’s Strategic Plan and goals. Nick will be working with C.J. for the month of December to ensure a smooth transition prior to his taking over the position on January 1, 2008.

Please help me welcome Nick aboard! You can reach him via email at [email protected].

Nick Greece Accepts Position as Editor for HG&PG Magazine

By Lisa Tate, USHPA president

from both perspectives. My business-of-sports experience in-cludes several years at the Olympic Training Center as execu-tive director of three diff erent national governing bodies (table

Paul Montville at work

Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Nick’s extensive travels

have taken him throughout the world in pursuit of adventure fl ying and competitions. He has dedicated his post-collegiate life to fi nding and covering the perfect thermal, and asks that

Nick Greece adventuring in Europe


� e story begins with an endangered world-class hang gliding and paraglid-ing site, and the eff orts of a few local pilots to save said site from the ravages of urban sprawl.

Around the turn of the millennium, a brave man by the name of Dickey Farnsworth laid claim to the use of the land that had been used as a free-fl ight landing zone for over 30 years. As time passed, an agreement between the Elsinore Hang Gliding Association and the landowner was negotiated regarding the use of the LZ. � e landowner prom-ised a portion of the property to the local fl ying association for the use as a landing zone and to fi le an easement to that por-tion of the property to the Elsinore Hang Gliding Association.

Unfortunately, good intentions and money sometimes don’t mix, and the landowner has been remiss in stand-ing up to his end of the bargain. So, the EHGA has had no other alternative but to bring before a judge a contract dispute. Needless to say, it has been a hard-fought battle, both in and out of court, in trying to get the current landowners to follow through with their promise to provide a permanent home for the pilot commu-nity here in Lake Elsinore.

Court costs quickly mounted, as they continue to do. Here is where the Foundation for Free Flight (FFF) comes in. After a number of conversations with

How the Foundation for Free Flight Helped a Ragtag Bunch’a Pilots in Lake Elsinore, California

By Mike Hilberath for the Elsinore Hang Gliding Association, Inc.Photos courtesy Mike Hilberath

Hang glider above E launch

The LZ, Lake Elsinore in the backgroundThe E-launch ground gaggle


our FFF contact John Greynald, the EHGA was encouraged to apply for a FFF Grant. After some refi ning of the application, the grant request was ac-cepted and the EHGA received a check in the mail for half its legal expenses!

� e Foundation cannot fi ght the bat-tles that free fl iers must fi ght to continue to soar in the burgeoning cities across America – that is a job best left to the local pilot community. But, they certain-ly can help fi nance the war!

� e Foundation’s grant money comes from donations made by pilots and other supporters of the free-fl ight community. If you’ve got monies at the end of the year that you would like to donate to a chari-table organization that helps preserve hang gliding and paragliding in America, then the FFF is our recommendation! You can make a donation, and fi nd out about tax benefi ts that may be available to you, on the Foundation’s new Web site, FoundationForFreeFlight.org.

“Elsinore is one of the premier fl ying sites in California, and

indeed around the country. One of the things that makes Elsinore

special is its weather – on days when the Santa Ana winds are

starting to decline, but it’s still too windy to fl y elsewhere, Elsinore

is the one fl ying site in the vicinity that can be counted on for good

fl ying. All of our fl ying sites are

worth fi ghting for, but Elsinore

is a particularly cherished re-

source with a long history of

free fl ight. The Foundation has

been very pleased to contribute

a helping hand in the conserva-

tion effort for this world-class

fl ying site.”

~ John Greynald

Elsinore on the cover of our mag, May 1978


As Lewis Carroll said in Alice � rough the Looking Glass, “Now we have arrived at the beginning of the ending.” In the fi rst three parts of this mini-series we fo-cused our lens on how to get airborne and up eff ectively. Now we look at the most important long-term strategy of all: how to launch safely throughout our fl ying career. Because this discussion involves technique unique to your wing type, I discuss hang gliding and paragliding separately.

HANG GLIDINGHere I am going to off er my advice.

Not everyone will agree with it, but I feel compelled to air my thoughts based on decades of observation, examination of the accident record, reviewing the instruction standards of other countries, and experimentation. Here’s the setup:

For seven years I have been running cross-country seminars for novice to ad-vanced pilots. Most of these seminars have taken place outside the U.S., with pilots from all over the globe bringing diff erent skill sets and techniques. From the beginning I realized that I was re-

sponsible for the students’ safety, and I have been careful to send them into the air and on courses within the limits of their skill.

� e takeoff is one of the biggest chal-lenges in these seminars since we often launch at sites that are new for the pilots and the conditions are usually thermally with some wind. When it became ap-parent that some of the students had less-than-stellar skills we began fi lming all launches. As a result, launch analysis became an integral part of the seminars. Since then I have taught takeoff /landing seminars with the same methodology: observing and fi lming, then playing back, critiquing and correcting.

What I have found is that a good percentage of pilots have faulty launch technique. For the most part the faults show up as getting too slow during the takeoff phase. Most of the time – perhaps for years – pilots get away with it. Either they fl y forgiving gliders, their guardian angel is on retainer or they quickly make a correction in time to avoid disaster. But we all know that too slow can be dan-gerous. Las Vegas off ers better odds than

a gamble on a pilot launching close to a stall. It is only a matter of time until an errant gust, a distraction or the hand of Zephyrus smites the careless launcher. � e fi nancier, Warren Buff et, says, “No one can tell who’s swimming naked until the tide goes out.” He was speaking of those exposed to fi nancial risks, but the aphorism applies beautifully to our launch technique. When our technique isn’t up to snuff we run the risk of dire consequences when the fl ow doesn’t go our way.

In 2005 I went to South Africa to teach seminars. � e day before my ar-rival a friend died in a launch accident at the seminar site. I watched a video of the accident several times. � e wind was cross from the left. He launched and fl ew away from the hill too slowly; a thermal gust hit his left wing and turned him back towards the hill. He impacted before he could gain speed and turn away from the slope. Later that same year two U.S. pilots died while launching at sepa-rate sites. In both cases the conclusion of witnesses was “they fl ew too slowly.” Of course, there have been other accidents over the years – some fatal – that have been attributed to the same faulty launch performance.

Now, we all learn early in our schools that speed is control, speed is our friend, stalls are hazardous and slow-and-low is a recipe for disaster. So why are there so many dangerous launches? I think the problem is the basic technique many pilots learn and maintain throughout their fl ying experience. What I am refer-ring to here is the old “beer-bottle grip” versus “grapevine grip” discussion (see Figure 1). But now I have a few new ob-servations. After watching hundreds of launches both live and on video, I have consistently seen pilots launching with the grapevine grip raising the nose up

TAKEOFF STRATEGIES AND TECHNIQUES

PART IV – STAYIN’ ALIVECOPYRIGHT © 2007 by Dennis Pagen

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TAKEOFF STRATEGIES AND TECHNIQUES

Mark Stump launching with the grapevine grip, Henson’s, Tennessee

Keith Atkins at Whitwell, Tennessee


a certain amount when rotating from the grapevine grip to the bottle grip during launch.

Try this experiment: Stand sideways next to a large mirror. Put your hands in a relaxed bottle grip and lean a little for-ward as you would in a takeoff run. Note where your hands are in relation to your center of gravity (which is at your hips). Next, put your hands in a relaxed grape-vine grip position, lean and see where they are. You’ll fi nd your hands are much closer to the center of gravity, which means in eff ect you have pulled in a bit more and are fl ying faster. Finally, with your hands in this grapevine grip and still leaning, rotate them to the bottle grip. You will most likely fi nd that they move farther away from your hips, and in fact, you may be hard put to get them back as far as they were in the grapevine grip in certain positions of lean. Experiment with this test and see what you fi nd.

� e bottle grip is used most frequently in our schools because it seems more nat-ural for a new pilot. � e problem is that it is harder to hold heavier gliders with the bottle grip, and control in all three axes is not as good as with the grapevine grip when you are on the ground. � e defi -ciencies of the bottle grip especially show up when conditions are cross, gusty or strong. Readers can prove this to them-selves on fl at ground while trying to carry a glider in robust conditions. Or try this: In a steady wind, hold the glider in take-off position and try to rotate it 360 de-grees on the ground using both types of grip. You will clearly see the diff erence.

It is my opinion that all schools

should graduate their students only after they have transitioned to and mastered the grapevine grip. � e bottle grip may work fi ne on the training hill, but in the real world where ill winds blow, it is defi -cient. Many European countries prohibit schools from teaching the bottle grip due to its potential for resulting in danger-ous launches. Transitioning pilots to the grapevine grip may require another day on the training hill, but it should be part of the package. Pilots who are more in control and confi dent on launch are less likely to pile in.

While I highly recommend the grape-vine grip, I emphatically recommend not switching hands from the grapevine to the bottle grip during the run! � is concept may be new to some readers, but I can assure you that many expert pilots would agree with me that it is the best method to prevent popping the nose. I am not saying that pilots who switch their hands will not maintain adequate airspeed,

but I am saying that it is much easier to maintain airspeed when the hand posi-tion does not change.

Figure 2 shows a launch sequence when the hand position does not change; I call this the “eternal grapevine.” While the hands may slide down the uprights during the run, they do not rotate – there is no reason for them to do so.

� is launch method may appear awkward, but it really isn’t once you use it a time or two. In my courses I have had intermediate pilots convert to it and feel comfortable on their third fl ight. Most importantly they report a feeling of re-newed confi dence in launch. Taking off is a no-brainer with the “eternal grape-vine” method because all you have to do is set the nose, then step, jog and run. � e glider does the rest. You do not push with your hands, but with your shoulders. � is technique makes it diffi cult to take off too slowly. Once you are airborne and have stabilized, the hands drop one at a time to the base bar directly from the grapevine grip.

I fi nd that this eternal grapevine method is versatile. I can really lean into a fl at-slope, light-wind launch to motor to top speed without changing anything. I can also maintain control all through the run and into the air on a turbulent launch (a situation I face frequently with our slot-in-the-trees launches). I would not want to be rotating my hands in the midst of a gusty takeoff ! I recall one ex-citing launch at Sandia Mountain in New Mexico when a 2000-foot-per-minute thermal hit me on my last step into the air. I am eternally grateful I was holding the eternal grapevine grip when it hit my


wing, and not trying to rotate my hands on the uprights, or the downtubes would have been ripped from my grasp.

No doubt many pilots launch safely using a variety of grips and grip-changing methods. Good pilots who rotate their hands from the grapevine to the bottle grip during the run no doubt pull back when they do so to avoid rais-ing the glider’s angle of attack. However, there is much more safety margin with the eternal grapevine. � e way Murphy sees it, if something can go wrong, it will. Why not give yourself the maximum margin?

In this discussion, I may sound like a hillfi re and brimstone preacher, but the truth is, I have seen the wages of our technique sins. Watching hundreds of videos has made the transgressions quite apparent to all viewers. Students

become believers when they see the nose of their glider pop up in slow motion as they rotate their hands. You can decide to perfect your takeoff skills, or continue to ride naked like the emperor.

PARAGLIDINGI don’t claim to be a paragliding in-

structor, but I have had the opportunity to see literally thousands of launches at paragliding pre-world and world meets. In addition, I fl y paragliders from a local site requiring special attention. Here’s what I have observed:

Flat-slope, light-wind launches re-quire a bit of oomph to get the wing lofted. Some schools teach reverse launches in all situations, and in most cases they work. However, I recall a certain situation where I was glad I was familiar with forward-launch technique. It was a popular winter site, high in the mountains above Sofi a, Bulgaria, with snow on the ground. � e wind was es-sentially nil. I had to run about 30 yards to get airborne, and then had to clear some trees. A reverse launch would have used up some precious yardage before I scrambled the wing up, turned around and started booking. � ere was a packed-

down runway, but not a lot of room for extra dancing around. In conclusion, my advice is to have a good forward launch in your bag of tricks for those special occasions.

On the other hand, a short-run, light-wind, precipitous takeoff almost requires a reverse launch for safety. Such was the case at Ibituruna, the mountain in Brazil where the 2005 World Meet took place. Once a glider was laid out, there was only about 10 feet of space before the edge of the void for a pilot to back up for infl ation then turn around and run. Occasional light puff s would trick-le in on most days to help the process, but some pilots with less-than-stellar ground-handling skills required

wing, and not trying to rotate my hands on the uprights, or the downtubes would have been ripped from my grasp.

Shawn MacDuff, grapevine grip, Hyner View, Pennsylvania

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The Ibituruna launch in Brazil: With a cliff just be-low the grassy slope, you want your takeoff to be perfect from the get-go!


multiple attempts (much to the conster-nation of rabid competitors waiting in line). Launch helpers would often try to aid these pilots by holding up the leading edge in the time-honored fashion.

However, I soon noticed an interest-ing result. � e canopies that were held up actually rose slower, so that the pilot ended up nearer to the edge of the preci-pice before he or she could turn and go. Careful observation revealed that when a canopy starts on the ground with an ag-gressive back stepping by the pilot, the leading edge is partially pulled upward by the risers being above the leading-edge level. When the leading edge is held up, the canopy pulls forward and takes more time (and space) to begin the climb. Furthermore, a canopy rising from the ground tends to have more upward veloc-ity throughout the rise than one held up. My conclusion is that the only good time for canopy assistance is when it is lying in deep weeds or other ground objects that can catch or abrade the canopy.

� e fi nal observation I’ll off er comes

from personal experi-ence. We have a nice local (Pennsylvania) fl ying site called Hyner View. It is suitable for paragliders except the primary launch is quite steep. I know of several paraglider pilots, including myself, who have been pulled off backwards in soaring winds when doing a reverse launch. In this case the canopy comes up too quickly, meets the soaring winds and pulls the pilot into the air all in one motion. Clearly a specifi c steep-launch tech-nique is needed.

Next to my house I have a large yard with a shallow slope that is great for windy ground-handling practice. I decided to run through the options and fi rst tried infl a-tions holding the A’s in one hand and the brakes in the other – no dice. Pulling the brakes can actually lift you even more, in the same way as a landing fl are. I next tried the A’s and D’s. Better, but it was still hard to keep the glider from rising too fast. � en I tried what every experi-enced pilot will recommend: the A’s and C’s. With this method the wing can be partially deformed in the spanwise direc-tion so that it is less “lifty.” � is is the best technique for slowing the canopy’s rise and controlling it, even through the power band. Once the canopy is over-head the lift can be controlled, but still it’s essential to get into the air quickly on a steep launch and not tempt fate by dal-lying – especially in strong winds.

Certainly many schools teach all these ground handling and launch variations, so the above is old news for some. But the fact is, I rarely see pilots using the

steep-launch method described above so I believe it should be aired. Note that some gliders only have three sets of risers per side; in all cases using the A’s and the risers one forward of the rearmost is the ticket.

* * * * * * * * * * * *We have completed our look at launch-

es for the time being. But, of course, our discussion will never be complete because there are always new pilots coming up, and new equipment requiring new tech-niques. In hang gliding, for instance, my launch technique has evolved through four incarnations from 1974 to the pres-ent as a result of changing control-bar dimensions and glider weight. Several years ago, at the Kitty Hawk Kites 30th anniversary fl y-in, I took my original rogallo wing, bikini harness and hockey helmet down to fl y on the dunes. I used the grapevine grip to launch and real-ized how much easier it would have been in the early days had we only known. Hopefully we old dogs will always learn new tricks to enhance pleasure and safety. After all, fl ying safely so we can become even older dogs is the ultimate launching strategy.

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slope that is great for windy ground-handling practice. I decided to run through the options and fi rst tried infl a-

steep-launch method described above so I believe it should be aired. Note that some gliders only have three sets of risers

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Launch crew holding up the leading edge of a competitor’s wing on a light-wind day at the 2007 Rat Race

Infl ating the wing with A’s and C’s


justACROBy Marko Georgiev

Photos taken in Ölüdeniz, Turkey, by Giorgio Sabbioni


How is that Hungary, one of the fl attest (as far as fl ying is concerned) countries in Europe, has managed to produce some of the best acro pilots in the world? A country with just one decent clear-water lake (over which you cannot fl y) and most of the fl ying sites ranging from 50 to 300 meters ASL, gave para-gliding Pál Takáts and Gábor Kézi, the “ justACRO” team – who staged one of the biggest surprises in the acro community of late. Namely, Pál is this year’s Acro World Cup champion, and both of them are second in synchro acro, right after “Satisfaction,” the SAT team!

In 2005, seemingly out of nowhere Pál and Gábor showed

up in Annecy, France, at the Acrofolies acro comp. � ey met the top dogs, competed and both of them fi nished in the top 20. Since then, they have been kicking butts left and right, up and down!

Pál, who is 22, has been doing various sports since he was a kid – rollerblading, skating, caving, and he was even a fencing-team champion once. Gábor’s background: ball-room dancing. � ey started fl ying paragliders in 2002, met at the local Hungarian Acro Jam in 2004, scored the same points and ended up tied for fi rst. � at gave them the motivation to work together, so they started the justACRO team and began re-writing acro history.

In 2005 they set up their Web site, www.justACRO.com, probably the best compilation of PG videos online, all down-loadable, and all good. � is year alone they’ve had 80,000 unique visits with more than 9 million hits! “We were searching for acro video clips online all the time because we were trying to learn from other pilots,” says Pál, “We carefully studied all their movements, and tried to apply what we learned to create our own style.” Many of the clips include descriptions on how to do the maneuvers, and more recently Pál and Gábor have added a blog and a prized photo contest to their Web site. � ey also make their own movies, directed and edited by them.


� is fall they picked up a new way to troll the sky – skydiving – because “it’s fun and improves the air skills,” says Gábor. In the meantime, they don’t stop doing acro shows, putting projects together, giving lessons, and unselfi shly

giving advice to anyone who is interested in learning and having fun!

Last October, at the 8th International Air Games in Ölüdeniz, Turkey, justAC-RO signed a contract with U-Turn and immediately set up a new category in syn-

chro fl ying – infi nity tumbling! � e new and yet unoffi cial benchmark: synchro-nous infi nite tumbling with both pilots using their gliders as giant jump ropes and hurtling down, completing 85 fl ips! And their goal for offi cial record-setting? � is winter they are planning to do 200 synchro tumbles in Hungary. Stay tuned for many more big articles on these fi ne young men. Something tells me you’ll be seeing them in the acro headlines often!

Marko Georgiev has 15 years of air be-tween his ears. He has contributed both ar-ticles and photos to this magazine in the past, including his photo essay, “Turkish Delight,” in the June 2007 issue.

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� is month we hear from a pilot who’s paid in advance for his fi rst cross-country experience. Luckily for him, the payment assessed by the sky-gods this time around was in cash only…

My First Cross-Country Flight Attempt

On Saturday morning I arose early, quickly disposed of the weekend chores, and checked in with several weather sources to see how the day was develop-ing. Conditions hinted that this could be the day of my fi rst cross-country fl ight: light north winds with lots of cumulus clouds. Panorama Vista was the site I had contemplated for this serendipitous event because after one good climb, it would be an easy glide over the back to the valley,

where I was positive I could continue to stay up. I’d recently had a superb evening glass-off fl ight back there in spite of the north winds.

I started calling around to other local pilots looking for a fl ying buddy. For some reason, no one else seemed to have the insight I had – conditions were going to be epic! Under such conditions, all pilots should immediately drop every-thing and go fl ying!

Several times, while driving to launch, I spotted red-tailed hawks circling and climbing. I thought out loud, “Man, I can’t wait to join them!” I was so ex-cited – this was going to be the day of my fi rst cross-country fl ight! � ree years ago, when I fi rst started fl ying off moun-tains, I was perfectly content to soar the ridge for hours at a time. Now, after 100

mountain fl ights and over 75 hours in the air, I was anxious to take the next step.

Arriving on launch, I found conditions as expected for an east-facing launch with light north winds. (Panorama launch faces into a huge bowl that re-directs the airfl ow in towards launch.) I quickly set up my glider while talking with some spectators whose interest had been piqued by the hang glider. One of them had previously assisted launches across the valley at Buff alo Mountain, so he was appointed to serve as my wire crew. I spoke with my mentor pilot via cell phone just prior to climbing into my harness, and informed him of my inten-tion to initiate contact radio once I was airborne and headed in his direction.

I patiently waited for a good launch cycle, since my wire crew had so little

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Pilot’s name withheld, as per USHPA accident reporting policyPhotos by Tony Estrada


experience with hang glider launches. Even though I was eager to get started on my fi rst cross-country fl ight, I knew getting a good start was key to having a successful fl ight. � e switchy conditions I witnessed in front of me reminded me of several pilots who have had diffi cultly getting off cleanly in the past. I was de-termined to have a good launch to start what I just knew was going to be an awe-some fl ight.

As I stood there pondering the po-tential launch diffi culties, I noticed a cloud drifting towards me. As it ap-proached close to launch, the winds straightened up, all the streamers blew straight in, and I was off . I started climb-ing immediately. � inking I was in the fi rst thermal of my cross-country fl ight, I started a 360-degree turn. As I came around towards launch, I found myself sinking really fast. I quickened my turn to get away from the ridge and uninten-tionally buzzed the spectators watching from launch. I wasn’t comfortable work-ing thermals this close to the ridge, so I headed farther out from launch to catch another one. Sure enough, I soon found more lift. After going up for three solid seconds I turned and started another 360. I

quickly fell out the back side. I searched and searched, trying to get back in. � en I realized I was getting low – it was time to head for the LZ. I was careful not to fl y too fast because the LZ was a long dis-tance away and I couldn’t aff ord to waste energy generating excess drag/sink.

I felt despondent. � is wasn’t going to be the day of my fi rst cross-country fl ight, after all. I snapped out of my mel-ancholy when I realized that I could be in serious trouble. Analysis of the terrain below me indicated that I wasn’t making much headway toward the only clearing for miles around. I increased my airspeed slightly and slowly started making some progress toward the LZ. I put the little knowledge I had of best-glide speeds into practice. � at only brought me to within 50 yards of the LZ. Close enough, it turned out. � ere was a grove of short pine trees below me to cushion the land-ing. How lucky could I be! A leading edge broken in two places and a punc-tured sail were the results of my fi rst at-tempt at cross-country fl ight.

After extricating myself from the har-ness, I dropped the few feet to the ground

and hiked to the LZ, where I

could wave to the spectators on launch to let them know that I was OK. Standing in the LZ, I was shocked by how strong the north wind actually was (10 to 15 mph on the ground). My eagerness to thermal my way across the countryside had kept me from using sound judgment in evaluating the conditions. Next time, I will not be so tightly focused on one aspect of my fl ight.

I know now that I should have paid more attention to evaluating the actual conditions in the air, instead of relying on forecasts and predictions. I shouldn’t have been so single-mindedly focused on this being the day of my fi rst cross-country fl ight. Instead, I should have asked myself why other (more experi-enced) pilots elected either not to fl y or chose another site.

Once I realized I was in trouble, I could have turned right and used the bowl to maintain altitude while the thermals came to me. After choosing to make for the LZ, I realize now that I needed to fl y faster than my no-wind best-glide speed. Even though my sink rate would have gone up, I would have traveled farther across the ground, and might have been able to squeak out the extra 50 yards needed to reach the LZ.

Fortunately, I faired much better than my glider: no broken bones, no lac-erations, not even a bruise. Many others cannot say as much, and have paid a higher price in pain, suff ering, and lost airtime; and for far less return. I con-sider myself lucky. My fi rst cross-country fl ight will take place yet!

Launching: Panorama Vista launch

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Please report accidents or incidents that you witness or participate in; the online accident report form is at ushpa.aero/emailacc.asp.

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� is is the eleventh edition of the paragliding state distance record list, and there are 11 new straight-distance records to report since the last edition: Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Virginia and Wyoming. All distances shown below are straight-line distances from launch to landing unless stated otherwise.

Arkansas: � is fi rst-time state record of 13 miles was set by Britton Shaw on August 17, 2007, fl ying a MACPARA Magus XC at Mt. Magazine. He launched late in the evening, caught the last thermal to 7K, and just glided. Britton adds, “Maybe this record will at-tract more pilots to the area!”

California: Dean Stratton broke Tom Truax’s six-year-old record, launch-ing from Walt’s Point on June 2, 2007, and fl ying 147.4 miles on a UP Targa 3. Dean fl ew 2.4 miles farther than Tom had, but Dean’s airtime was two hours shorter, indicating that he fl ew the route signifi cantly faster. June seems to be an auspicious time for big distance in the Owens as both pilots set their records in that month.

Florida: David Prentice broke his own Florida record, but this time he launched from Florida Ridge (last time was Quest Air) on April 16, 2007, and fl ew 91.0 miles north to Haines City on a GRADIENT Avax SR7. Similar to Dean in California, David fl ew 1.2 miles farther this time but his airtime was two hours shorter. Maybe paragliders really are getting faster.

Georgia: From the Atlanta Flight Park Luis Rosenkjer wrote, “Todd [Weigand] and I are trying to beat each other every day here with long distance fl ights.” And Luis managed to break Todd’s record by fl ying 59.3 miles on March 15, 2006, on a GRADIENT Aspen 2. � e altitude gain on his fl ight was 5950’ and the duration was 3 hours 24 minutes.

Hawaii: Doug Hoff man broke Troy Weigand’s fi ve-year-old record, launch-ing from Makapuu and fl ying along the spine of Oahu. Doug fl ew one mile farther than Troy, and if he had fl own much farther he would have been out over the ocean. Cross-country fl ights in Hawaii are limited by the size of the is-lands. Doug’s max altitude was slightly over 3000’ MSL due to the typically low cloudbase on Oahu.

Kansas: Darius Lukosevicius pushed the Kansas state record up a number of times during 2006 and 2007, culminat-ing with a 72.8-miler from Ottawa to the southeast on April 15, 2007, on an APCO Vista. Conditions were better than on his previous record fl ights and max altitude was around 7200’ MSL.

Louisiana: David Prentice reports, “[Rasa Lila] set a new state record in Louisiana. Launching from a small air-strip east of Monroe, she fl ew 16.5 miles to the southwest. I think she is the only female state record holder.”

North Carolina: � ere’s not much information about this one, just a note from Beth and Bubba at fl ytaterhill.com that Bill Jenkins fl ew 35 miles from Tater Hill to set the North Carolina state record. Beth added, “I know it was mid-July of 2001 and the day wasn’t even that spectacular; certainly on an ideal day this record could be broken.” If anyone knows more about this fl ight or knows how to contact Bill Jenkins please let me know.

Oklahoma: David Prentice reports, “I towed up just south of Korn, fl ying over my family lands, landing just south of Canton Lake for 53 miles in two hours.” � is breaks Paul Greenwood’s old record of 32.3 miles in three hours 20 min-utes, so just like in Florida David was fl ying fast.

Virginia: Another fi rst-time record, a 69.5-miler by Juanito Ortiz on July 22, 2007, fl ying an AIRWAVE Magic FR3. He launched from Hogback Mt. and fl ew for four and a half hours. It’s encouraging to hear about people doing big fl ights on the East Coast.

Unofficial U.S. State Cross-country Distance RecordsLast revised November 20, 2007By Steve Roti

Hawaii: Doug Hoff man broke Troy Weigand’s fi ve-year-old record, launch-ing from Makapuu and fl ying along

Georgia

Hawaii

VirginiaDoug Hoffman in Hawaii


Wyoming: Phillips Ridge above Wilson was once again the launch site for the Wyoming distance record – last time it was Jon Hunt fl ying 111 miles,

and this time it’s Josh Riggs pulling off a 120-miler. He fl ew along the Gros Ventre range and then into the Wind River range, fi nally ending the fl ight in

Lander. Josh made his big fl ight on July 16, 2006, and was in the air fi ve hours and 35 minutes on his UP Trango 2 with a max altitude of 17,999’ MSL (cloud-base estimated at 19,950’). On the same day Jon Patterson fl ew 115 miles from Phillips Ridge to Kinnear.

� e complete table of state distance records is online at http://www.ushpa.aero/comppgstaterecords.asp.

If your fl ight should be listed in this table and it’s not, it’s only because I wasn’t aware of it. Send me information about fl ights that should be on the list and I’ll update it periodically. You can email cross-country fl ight reports to me at [email protected], or send them by U.S. mail to 1081 NW Stannium Rd., Bend, OR 97701, or phone them in to (541) 385-7184. Be sure to include your name, miles fl own, duration, takeoff site, fl ight date, and make/model of glider.

WWW.USHPA.COM WWW.USHPA.COM

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Juanito Ortiz documenting his record fl ight in Virginia


If you accept the premise that since the dawn of mankind the human race has longed to soar like the birds, then we are extremely lucky to be a part of the fi rst generation to enjoy foot-launchable soaring fl ight. Our modern-day hang gliders are amazing aircraft and the late, great low-speed aerodynamicist, Dr. Paul MacCready, once told me that he felt the hang gliding design evolution had pro-gressed further through a semi-educated trial-and-error process than what would have been achieved in the same time span by classically educated aerodynamicists.

Aircraft design is a process of com-promises. � e designers must balance the quest for performance with handling qualities, weight, cost and service life. � e FAA tries to ensure the airworthi-ness of conventional aircraft by dictating stringent inspections to be performed by certifi ed mechanics based on calendar time as well as operational use. Such rules are necessary to protect the public from people like me: people who never change their car’s engine oil on time, people who fi gure it is less hassle to repair things as they break than to bother with preven-tative maintenance. In the U.S. our gov-ernment has allowed the hang gliding and paragliding industry the freedom of self-regulation and there are no guide-lines for product life. But manufacturers that desire to remain in business for the long haul realize that they need to design their products to last a reasonable length of time when used by a reasonably re-sponsible pilot.

Most manufacturers do this by over-designing their products. As an example, Wills Wing’s top-of-the-line competi-tion glider has been seen racing to goal at more than 70 mph and has been wrung through countless aerobatic routines, yet Wills Wing placards the glider for non-aerobatic fl ight with a do-not-exceed speed (Vne) of 53 mph. Similarly, they test-fl y their Condor trainers from moun-tain sites yet sell them with a prominent warning that they should not be fl own any

higher than you care to fall. � e company test pilots who soar the Condors do not have an ignorant devil-may-care attitude

– they know a factory-new Condor can be cautiously thermaled in mellow lift by a lightweight and capable pilot.

What they cannot know, however, are the capabilities and limitations of a hang glider that is being sold used on eBay and might have hundreds of hours of expo-sure to sunlight, dozens of hard landings, and perhaps has never been inspected or had any routine maintenance.

By placarding their products to a frac-tion of their full capability, the manu-facturers help ensure a long and safe product life. But as the new car stickers say, “Your mileage may vary.” During my fi rst 15 months of fl ying I logged nearly 200 fl ights but only racked up 1.5 hours of fl ight time. As you’ve already read, my Pliable Moose standard endured count-less crash-and-burn takeoff attempts as well as numerous hard landings.

My quest for long fl ights from the diminutive Kansas hills encouraged me to fl y in strong winds. One by-product of being undersized on my glider was

I got fl ipped upside down a lot, usually just prior to launching, sometimes after landing. With the rogallo wing’s long keel it was too easy to let the nose get too high on takeoff or landing. � e glider would pull me backwards, the keel would dig in and I’d go up and over in a half back-fl ip, landing inverted on the sail. � is often broke the kingpost, which I fi xed by cutting out the deformed ends and pop-riveting on an external sleeve. Each subsequent break would occur at the weak point at the end of the sleeve, which meant that the length of sleeve grew with each repair. Eventually the entire kingpost was a sleeve and the only original tubing that remained was a few inches at the base and the crown. I then began repairing it with internal sleeves. By the end of my fi rst year my kingpost had been rebuilt enough times that it was triple-walled – at which point I no longer had to repair it. It wasn’t that I stopped fl ipping upside down; I had just created hang gliding’s fi rst indestructible kingpost.

About this time I started noticing that my Moose was fl ying more like a cow. It

“Hang In There” Part Deux – Airworthiness

By Mark “Forger” StuckyPhotos courtesy of Wills Wing

Wills Wing testing their fi rst 7075 alloy frame under extreme negative loading


was becoming increasingly diffi cult to initiate a turn and even more diffi cult to get it to roll out. I couldn’t fi nd anything obviously wrong with the glider, however, and wasn’t sure whether I was imagining the change.

I’ve since learned that humans can learn to adapt surprisingly well. Recently my wife was complaining that the steer-ing of my 10-year-old SUV had a notice-able dead band. I drove that car all the time and hadn’t noticed anything wrong with it, but when she took it in for an inspection the mechanic confi rmed that the linkages were badly worn and re-placed them. � e steering was immedi-ately more precise and responsive and my wife now has another I-told-you-so arrow to add to her quiver of righteousness. My point is that a gradual degradation of fl ying qualities can be insidious. Without realizing it, test pilots often learn to com-pensate for design shortcomings and they stop noticing what had been a problem. To counter this tendency it is a good idea to occasionally bring in a guest pilot during the design process to test-fl y the aircraft and give a fresh opinion.

So although I was suspecting a prob-lem with my glider, I wasn’t sure I had a problem and I continued to fl y it. One day a group of my Mennonite relatives came out to see me take fl ight in this new-fangled fl ying contraption that

they had only heard about. � e hillside had just been cultivated and was littered with hay bales. It shouldn’t have posed a problem for me but I couldn’t control my landing approach precisely enough and I hit a bale with the corner of the control bar. � e sudden stop chipped my wrist bone and my relatives were not impressed with my frivolous activities.

Ridge soaring a standard on a small hill required winds strong enough to hover in, and in Kansas such winds usu-ally come with dangerous gusts. I was really itching to fl y after the fi ve-week hiatus required for my wrist to heal and on this particular day the winds were perfect – smooth and straight in at 25 mph. By now I was convinced that my glider had a serious problem with turns, but I rationalized that it would be OK for me to try to soar it because I would only have to hover stationary in front of the hill. I launched and did just that, holding position perched in front of the point. It was my longest fl ight yet but after eight minutes I wanted to do more than just

“pole sit” in a prone harness 75 feet above the ground. I decided to try to make a pass down the short ridge, and to play it safe I would start by making a gentle turn and then immediately stopping it. After quite a bit of coaxing the glider began a gentle left turn. I immediately swung my body full to the right to stop the turn but

the glider continued a slow turn towards the hilltop. Since I had been fl ying near minimum sink speed I quickly pulled in for better roll response. I was now in a dive with my body wrapped around the right upright. � e glider was just rolling through wings-level as the band of rock that rimmed the top of the ridge fl ashed by just beneath me. I barely had time to center myself in the control bar prior to impact.

I do not remember the sound or feel of the crash but it had to have been tre-mendous. After all, the glider was in a dive pointed directly downwind when it rammed straight into the hilltop with nearly 60 mph of ground speed, coming to a rest upside down in a crumpled heap of aluminum and Dacron. � e keel and the one-piece crossbar were each in three pieces; each leading edge was snapped in two, and the control bar was a twisted and broken mess. Every tube in the glider save for one was demolished. � e sole sur-viving tube was the one that had become the butt of jokes from other pilots and served no purpose in fl ight – my triple-walled kingpost. On this day it served as a strut to support the sail, which caught me safely in its grasp like a fi reman’s net. To everyone’s amazement I was totally uninjured.

I was extraordinarily lucky that day. My youthful exuberance and quest for soaring fl ight blinded me to the risks of fl ying an aircraft of questionable airwor-thiness in questionable conditions with questionable skills. Enjoying life is all about risk versus reward. I still may go far too long between oil changes, but I have learned to be meticulous with my winged craft, and I hope never to have to rely on any of the manufacturer’s “reserve” service life.

The post-test inspection of the frame showed the loads were elastic and there was no permanent structural deformation.

Have your wing and har-ness inspected by a quali-fi ed person at least once a year, or whenever you subject your equipment to a severe stress.

Safety Tip


� e beautiful Appalachian Mountains, the splendor of the fall colors, great soar-ing weather, and of course the best XC mentoring format ever: � at is the for-mula for a hang gliding event dream-come-true. � e Tennessee Tree Toppers (TTT) served up that dream in grand fashion with one of the most exciting fl ying events I have ever been a part of – the 2007 Team Challenge.

So what exactly is Team Challenge? Well, it’s not the typical championship or fl y-in we’re all familiar with, and it’s not really the opposite of GAP. Instead, it is a creative blend of all three resulting in an “XC mentoring meet.” While that might sound like many average low-key cross-country events, the TTT’s Team Challenge creates an environment for learning that is truly a one-of-a-kind ex-perience in the world of soaring sports.

� e vast majority of soaring events and competitions award the glory to

those who fl y the longest distance in the shortest time. � is sort of culture often leaves aspiring young pilots alone and in the dark when it comes to learning new skills. � e TTT fl ips that entire status quo upside down by placing the focus on the achievements of those lower in the performance envelope. Team Challenge produces an entire crew of new XC pilots jazzed about breaking through per-sonal barriers and reaching new heights. Advanced (“A”) pilots who serve as men-tors discover a whole new kind of satis-faction by focusing on the performance of someone other than themselves! � ese

“A” pilots become top dogs and earn brag-ging rights by helping their teammates shatter their old personal bests.

I must admit I have a personal bias towards Team Challenge. Years ago a fellow pilot encouraged me to try my hand at fl ying an XC comp. His exact words were, “You should go to Team

Challenge – it would be a great fi rst competition and the perfect environ-ment to learn more about XC!” I took his advice and that fi rst Team Challenge made me an instant competition addict. Not only did it inspire me to fl y more XC, but it inspired me to try and become a top pilot.

So, what made Team Challenge 2007 so special? For me, it was coming full circle from a fl edgling XC student four years ago in my fi rst Team Challenge to leading a team and mentoring others during this year’s meet. In between, I have spent a year ranked number one in the U.S. and have competed in two world championships. Initially, Team Challenge provided me with the foun-dation in XC competition skills and the nurturing environment to build my confi dence. Now I have knowledge and experience that I can give back to others participating in their fi rst comp. How sweet is that?

Team Challenge off ers many opportu-nities for pilots to learn about XC fl ying and test new skills under the supervision of XC masters. So what makes Team Challenge special for others? Maybe it’s the endless supply of soaring knowledge shared by legends like Mike Barber and Terry Presley, or sage advice from some good ol’ boys who’ve done a lot of soar-ing in their day, like Mark Stump, Dave Hopkins and Ollie Gregory. At least two hours every night were dedicated to diff erent topics such as thermal theory, weather prediction, airspace avoidance, safety, advanced XC strategies, vario setups and more.

Maybe it’s the landing clinic and video parties held each evening. Most pilots were excited to get video feedback, even if it meant turning red when the in-evitable jokes poured out. Maybe it’s the

“A” pilots like Ollie Gregory, the most

on Team ChallengeBy Kevin Carter, Team Challenge graduate-turned-mentor

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� e beautiful Appalachian Mountains, the splendor of the fall colors, great soar-ing weather, and of course the best XC

those who fl y the longest distance in the shortest time. � is sort of culture often leaves aspiring young pilots alone and in

Kevin helping a competitor fi ne-tune his equipment


enthusiastic hang gliding pilot and mentor I have ever known. � is guy loves to en-courage XC fl ying and support pilots who want to learn more about soaring hang gliders. Maybe it’s the great weather and plentiful landing fi elds up and down the

Sequatchie Valley. Although challenging at times, the Sequatchie Valley gave us soarable conditions almost every single day. I used up almost as much sun block at Team Challenge as I typically do in Australia! Maybe it’s the joy “A” pilots

feel while helping so many pilots new to XC achieve personal bests and compete in an XC competition.

Every night at the Tree Toppers’ pa-vilion there were dozens of stories shared by excited pilots who’d made their fi rst XC fl ights, or had reached goal for the fi rst time, or had fl own farther than ever before. Personally, my favorites were tales from pilots who had successfully used something they had learned in one of the seminars – a little nugget of wisdom that had opened a door to a whole new fl ying experience for them.

Many moments like these are what made this year’s Team Challenge the greatest XC event ever for the com-petitors, the mentors, and for me. I look forward to seeing you at Team Challenge 2008! Ph

oto:

Che

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Team Challenge participants soaking up “little nuggets of wisdom” at a seminar


Please, don’t tell any of my powered paragliding (PPG) buddies I said this: I like paragliding better than PPG. In fact, many times I’ll idle my PPG at al-titude just so I can get a paraglider-like experience. Pitiful, isn’t it? Well, here in Chicago, the Megalopolis of the Midwest, a hill is considered big if it’s over 10 meters high, so we take what we can get.

Once in awhile a few diehards will endure the torturous two- to three-hour drive to the Indiana or Warren dunes for ridge fl ying. � ese are fairly large sand

dunes that line the southern end of Lake Michigan and the southwestern coast of Michigan. If the wind blows from the north at 10 knots there’s actually pretty good fl ying on the dunes, espe-cially on a hot summer day. Farther along Michigan’s western coast these dunes extend northward 450 miles all the way up to the northern end of the state. � ese undulating ridges of sand rise up from the beach to as high as 150 meters above the fresh water shore.

� e westerly wind produces good mechanical lift on the dunes but with-out at least 10 knots of wind it’s a sled ride down to the beach and a hard, dry, torturous climb up the soft sand to the top. So PPG has its merits here in the Midwest if you want to maintain your fl ying options.

A few weeks before last Labor Day I received a newsletter from the Green Point Flyers Association inviting all foot-launch pilots in Region 7 to come up to Frankfort for the weekend holiday. As I was reading the description of the

planned activities the Rolling Stones were on the radio belting out their ever-famous mantra: “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you get what you need!” I need some solid paragliding time, I thought, so count me in!

With time at a premium because I had to be at work early on the Tuesday after Labor Day, I decided to fl y my Bonanza up to Frankfort on Monday morning and return home that evening. � e weather was predicted to be clear and sunny with wind from the west-southwest at 10

GREEN POINT FLYERS ASSOCIATION – FRANKFORT, MICHIGAN

By Scott ClarkPhotos by Bob Schmelzer

foot-launch pilots in Region 7 to come up to Frankfort for the weekend holiday. As I was reading the description of the

The paraglider launch area and the ridges be-yond, looking north from the hang glider ramp The author testing the wind


knots. Just like the song said, I’m gonna get what I need, good and hard! Forty-fi ve minutes after takeoff I could see the 450-foot sand dunes in the distance re-fl ecting the brilliant morning sunlight. It was looking better every minute! I landed at Frankfort Municipal Airport, where Keith Riemersma ([email protected]) of the Green Point Flyers Association was graciously waiting to drive me to the site. Already I’m liking this trip a whole lot!

� e wind was freshening up from the west. I walked out onto the wooden hang gliding ramp that extends some 30 feet out over the dune to test the wind. � e warmth of the sun felt wonderful! � e paraglider launch area is just below and to the north of the hang glider ramp. As far as the eye can see, north and south, are magnifi cent, undulating, soarable

ridges of sand. On top of these ridges are forests of maples, oaks and white pines interspersed with wide sandy patches of bare sand, perfect for launching a hang glider or paraglider.

Suddenly, I heard the wind in the lines of a wing as it fl ew past. In the next instant a blue-and-yellow SWING paraglider rose up for launch with the unmistakable sound that each individual cell makes as it infl ates with lift. � ere’s no mistaking that crinkling of Mylar and nylon as the wing snaps tight into fl ying position!

� e sunlight lit up each cell making the blue and yellow colors brilliant and contrasting them against the dark-blue Michigan sky. � e wing continued to ascend into the sky with a life of its own, as if it wanted to fl y and was unwilling to wait for the pilot to take control. � e risers twisted the pilot into fl ight position and off they went, the paraglider with the pilot in tow, down the ridgeline, climb-ing with the wind. I ran like a madman back to grab my equipment, not wanting to waste one precious moment. It was on, bigtime, and I was getting in the game.

By the time I was ready to fl y, the wind on the launch site had picked up and was gnarly and uncooperative, funneled into a venturi as it was being squeezed between two small tree-lined mounds of sand on either side of the launch area. My Muse jumped up then slammed backwards as I struggled in the steep incline and soft sand of the dune to make a horseshoe and confi rm a line check. I would be launching with a crosswind of about 15 degrees from the south. � is launch will

be active, I thought. Several kind souls from the Green Point Flyers assisted me by keeping my Muse under control while I fi nished my pre-fl ight line, harness and pilot check.

Prefl ight complete, I was ready to launch. � ere was no question I was under pressure to make this a good one – I had never fl own with these guys before and they were going to judge what kind of a pilot I was by my launch. I gave a nod and the ground crew turned the wing loose. It snapped into shape and fl ew up in one motion, instantly overhead and surging forward. Brakes on, everything looked OK – I turned for launch and up I went. Left brake on to turn into the wind and keep from turning into the hill, glider stable, gear up, fl aps up. Magic time! Once I was airborne in the laminar wind everything came together. I took up a heading of about 260 degrees and parked into the wind to assess the lift-band width, stabilize the wing and check for traffi c.

� e lift band wasn’t as wide as I’d have liked but it was adequate. Behind me I could see the hang glider pilots lining up for launch, almost like the deck of an aircraft carrier turned into the wind for takeoff . For a moment, with all the traffi c fi lling the lift band, it looked like Torrey Pines!

In spite of the turbulent wind at launch, there wasn’t a ripple in that lift band – just smooth, laminar, mechanical lift taking me 200 feet above the dunes.

� e view was spectacular! I’d fl own into Frankfort airport as a King Air char-ter pilot several times recently. While the

A rigid wing getting airborne from the Green Point ramp

A parapilot fl ying above the hang glider ramp


passengers played golf, I’d imagined how good the fl ying must be. Finally I was seeing the scenery from the best possible vantage point: my Muse.

� e Green Point Flyers Association had foresight. Ten years ago they pur-chased this property so it will remain a fl ying site forever! � ey’re more than happy to have you join their club, or you can fl y for a daily fee. You won’t meet a nicer bunch of people, guaranteed! In the meantime, if I don’t see you in the future, I’ll see you in the pasture.

Just after launch and climbing


Hang Gliding & Paragliding maga-zine has in the past featured a few articles on the Indiana and Warren dunes around the southern section of Lake Michigan. � ey’re fun to fl y but they don’t compare to the Green Point site in height and extent. It’s no Torrey Pines, that’s for sure, but it’s close!

Take a look at Google Earth, or go to YouTube and search for paragliding sites in Michigan, and you will fi nd

Frankfort. � e Green Point Flyers Association site is located at the top of a west-facing ridge of sand 370 feet above the beach on Lake Michigan just southwest of the airport. � e hang glider ramp is clearly visible on Google Earth. GPS coordinates N44° 35’ 33” W86° 13’ 21” will get you to the parking area.

Another great site just up the road is Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. You need to obtain a free permit, available at the park visitor center, to fl y there.

If you forgot some equipment or need a repair or guide, Traverse City Paragliding can help you out. � ey have a complete facility including in-struction. Contact owner Bill Fifer at (231) 922-2844.

On a small ranch in a small town in southern Oregon, ranch owners were preparing a soils conservation project, to help contain damage from their cattle walking through Bishop Creek. � e place where the cattle were walking hap-pens to be the LZ for a popular fl ying site, Woodrat Mt.

A Jackson County soils offi cial con-tacted the local hang gliding and para-gliding club asking if they could provide in-kind donations in preparation for a state grant request. In less than three days, the Rogue Valley Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (RVHPA) pulled together 800 hours of donated labor, $940 in cash, and $3200 in equip-ment rental. � is in-kind donation will assist in obtaining a state grant for soils protection. Donations came from pilots

across the West, in thanks for the Hunters’ continued generosity in allowing pilots to land in their pasture. Contributing fl ying organizations included Cascade Paragliding Club, Oregon Hang Gliding Association, USHPA board members, MPH Sports, Rogue Valley Paragliding School and � ermal Tracker Paragliding School.

Use of their pasture for an LZ is not an insignifi cant imposition on the Hunters’ land. � roughout the summer, vehicles line the road around the cattle-feeding area. Even well-intentioned pilots can’t help but get in the way of ranch operations. Each year, the Starthistle fl y-in and the Rat Race competition attract more pilots to the LZ. For years, Mr. Hunter would remove his cattle from the fi elds during those event, requiring (unbeknownst

to pilots) that he purchase and truck in hay, at his own expense. When RVHPA recently learned of this expense he was incurring on our behalf, it was only with some arm-twisting that he has allowed us to compensate him for the feed.

Year after year, the Hunters invite us back. Last fall, the local fl ying com-munity successfully nominated the Hunter family for a USHPA Special Commendation. � is award, along with the RVHPA’s assistance with the soils project, is a small gesture from the U.S. pilot community to express our apprecia-tion to the Hunters for their generosity.

Pilots “Give Back” To Their Communities...At Woodrat Mt., OregonBy Paul Murdoch

Three generations of Hunters in their pasture/LZ


Many years ago when I was traveling for UP, I had the good fortune to spend the weekend at the Lake McClure (California) fl ying site during the Coyote Howl Fly-in. Kevin Wright was a dealer for UP at the time, and he had requested demos. I did

not know what the Coyote Howl was, but I soon learned that it is one of those great little informal hang gliding gatherings.

Lake McClure has a good west-facing mountain to soar in the beautiful foothills of the Sierras in central California. � ere is a nice campground by the lake and a big LZ. It is fairly remote which makes it a pleasant place to hang out. I enjoy the dark-ness of the campground. � ere is no artifi cial lighting at all.

� ere is a little town called Coulterville a few miles to the east. � ey hold an annual festival called the Coyote Howl, cel-ebrating western small-town/country living; the hang gliding event took its name from this festival. I never did hear a coyote, but I am guessing that after enough celebrating, the humans do the howling.

Last winter Shannon Rabe and Ken Mucio invited me to make a return trip to the Coyote Howl, something I’d been hoping to do for years. Ken and Shannon are among the best XC pilots in the state and an institution in the local hang glid-ing community. � ey are the only pilots in history to fl y hang gliders across the Sierras. � ey paid their dues living in the quaint trailer court that borders the LZ in their younger days when fl ying was more important than working.

� e Coyote Howl fl y-in is hosted by a great group of pilots and held at an excellent soaring site. � e local pilots have done a commendable job of preserving their launch and LZ through the years. At last winter’s fl y-in I presented a Saturday night slide show that was well received. � e pilots in attendance were diverse and multi-talented, and some of them provided musical entertainment with a fl ute, a sousaphone and a guitar. Keith Baltz, an early hang glider manufacturer, had built and sold standards under the brand name “� under Chicken.” Once in a while during the evening he would pick the sousaphone up off the ground and blast out a tune. Interestingly, the name Keith means “the wind.”

...At Coyote Howl 2006Article and photos © 2007 John Heiney, johnheiney.com

The 2006 Coyote Howl Fly-In attendance

The smartest kid in the class, obviously – taking advantage of the big umbrella


Shannon and Ken had arranged to visit a local school to give a presentation on hang gliding to a class of teenagers on Monday. � ey invited me to stay an extra day and join them, so on Monday morn-ing we loaded up a glider and drove to the school. I did my slide show and answered questions. � e teacher gave a quiz to see if the students had been paying attention. � ey were impressive.

Afterwards we set up the glider in light, intermittent rain. � e teenagers were a little too cool to act very interested, but when a fi rst-grade teacher saw what we were doing, she asked if she could bring her class out. � ose fi rst-graders

were very excited to see the wing, and had lots of questions. Some told me they had fl own a hang glider. All of us had a great time!

� at afternoon, back at Lake McClure, Mother Nature treated us to nice ther-mals to 7000’ MSL.

Ken, Shannon and John with the real enthusiasts, the fi rst-graders

Chris McKeon soaring above Lake McClure


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I am a primatologist turned pilot, so I tend to look at human gatherings with an eye for similarities to the chimpan-zees I’ve studied. An aerobatic competi-tion can rival the best chimp displays I’ve ever seen! Both acro pilots and chimps throw themselves about in the air, do things that seem physically impossible and make a lot of other apes sit up and take notice.

� e primatology textbooks refer to this type of behavior as a “dominance display,” and it’s intended to be very intimidating, especially if you are the new chimp in the jungle. So it was with some apprehension that I went to my fi rst aerobatics compe-tition at Bear Lake, Utah – and I was just going to watch!

What convinced me to attend this

event was threefold: 1) � e previ-ous weekend at Bear Lake I had taken my fi rst maneuvers course with Chris Santacroce, who was running this comp; 2) the atmosphere of the costumed comp promised to be friendly and relaxed, and many of my friends from Salt Lake City and afar were attending; and 3) the hosts (Ray Elliot and family), the place, and the endless fl ying possibilities made it almost irresistible.

In the non-human primate world, the gathering at Bear Lake would cor-respond to a group of juveniles to sub-adults having a fantastic time messing about with only a few patient silverbacks making sure things stayed on track. No biting, hair pulling or feces throwing mired the mood of the day. Only pound-

ing backs in friendship and breathless pants of laughter for these animals.

� at’s what made this comp so much fun for me and for many who attended. Every level of pilot was en-couraged to compete and was cheered on with equal enthusiasm. Pilots were awarded extra points for amusing water-landings, and a fl oating trampoline lured many pilots to try their luck. Marshall Miller actually would have nailed that spot were it not for the bounce that sent him water-bound!

� e comp was held over the weekend of September 15-16, but Chris had al-ready been at Bear Lake teaching courses the previous week, towing every day, sometimes all day. I was lucky enough to attend on one of those precious days when the towing starts at 7 a.m. and ends at 7 p.m. with the sun setting and your wing spinning out of your SATs because you’re too exhausted to repeat the magic of the past nine fl ights. On every tow my heart was racing, I was completely in the present, and life felt extremely VIVID.

So it was with some surprise and much awe that I found Chris still towing ‘round the clock on his eighth day – totally effi -cient, professional and in the swing of a personal record: 189 tows, nine days and 600 Red Bulls! An accomplished pilot, Chris has been both North American aerobatics champion and among the top three in the world in aerobatics competi-tion. His over-the-water tow operations have educated more than 200 people a year and he is so smooth that he man-ages to run the boat, the radio, the winch, and his Blackberry all at the same time. Seriously, though, the amount of things he can take care of while holding a per-son’s life on a string is amazing.

Handling the numerous remaining details were the Elliots, the hosts of Blue Water, who made us all feel completely at

Monkeys and Tumbling ApesBy Alicia HarmonPhotos by Kelly Magnum

Jake Walker overshoots the target or undershoots the LZ…

Chris taking delivery of his daily ration of Red Bull


home. To describe the place accurately I’d have to say it is a combination of a farm, beach, resort, camping ground, picnic spot, and an area for all things water-recreational. A tractor is used to tow the boat into the clear blue water past the half-grass, half-sand perfect launch and landing area. � e gas fi repits are gather-ing spots for evening hangouts, or you can hang out in the hot tub. Campers’ favorite amenities include the spotless public bathrooms, and the nicest and most involved hosts you could imagine.

Ray Elliot and his family have lived in the Bear Lake area for 30 years. � ey are as integral a part of their local com-munity as they are of the fl ying commu-nity. Ray has been a paraglider pilot since 1992, and two of his kids, Mark (Fuzzy) and Jaime, have recently joined the sport. No strangers to fun toys, they also own a sailboat that Ray generously let the group take for a spin on the one day we were blown out in the afternoon.

Ray has high hopes for holding the fi rst-ever U.S. nationals of paragliding aerobatics and then, someday, a world championship event at Bear Lake. It is a gem of a lake with 48 miles of shoreline

encasing turquoise water, surrounded by fl yable ridges, a plethora of LZs and Randolph (another fl ying site) only 20 minutes away, making the fl ying options much broader than just towing. Towing, however, is what Bear Lake is perfect for, and Chris and Kay Tauscher, his partner for the comp, did a fantastic job present-ing the perfect tow event!

Still, at any level, the numerous pilots stole the show. � ere were all the usual moves thrown down with some combos I hadn’t considered before and smiles, smiles everywhere. People were having so much fun that I completely forgot we were being judged. � e theme of the day turned out to be attempted helicopters; this was as exciting for us spectators as it was frustrating for the pilots giving it their all, with smoke blinding their eyes and always wondering if the wind would take them out of range of a dry landing. Still every pilot landed with a smile, even those who took the opportunity to get their wing REALLY clean!

Jake Walker and Brian “Fly-Bri” Peterson set up for a synchro routine only to have Brian’s launch end up in the wa-ter’s edge, soaking him and the wing he

had borrowed. Jake valiantly performed the fi rst solo synchro routine in paraglid-ing history. Off ered a second chance to shine, Fly-Bri borrowed another wing and joined forces with Andy Macrae so he could D-bag* from Andy’s glider. � is time things went smoothly and the show was worth the wait for the comic tag-tow up and the dramatic drop down.

Another noteworthy competitor was Becky Miller. One of the sweetest and most gung-ho regulars in the Salt Lake City fl ying scene, Becky has recently pushed herself to expand her fl ying capa-bilities. She was actually my inspiration to get off my lazy butt and seek Chris out

– I had been encouraged to take a course with him for years and I’d always found an excuse not to go. Having fi nally taken the plunge, I wish I had done it earlier! Here is what Becky has to say about her maneuvers experience:

“For me learning acro has been more than just a fun hobby. Of course para-gliding is my activity of choice on any day and the amount of fun I have is compa-rable to nothing else. � e mental strug-gles that I deal with on a daily basis are

*D-bag: Originally developed by BASE jump-ers in the 1980s, a D-bag, or direct bag/deploy-ment bag, is a device used to launch a paraglider or other ram-air canopy from a static, “packed” position. � e canopy is meticulously accordion-folded into the bag and the bag is closed with rubber-band stows using the top part of the can-opy’s lines, which are then sequentially stowed on the outside of the D-bag. D-bags allow paraglid-ers to launch from tandems, helicopters, balloons, other aircraft, even bridges – or basically from anything high enough.

Everyone feels a little chicken during a maneuvers clinic!

Jake and wing after successful completion of the full-immersion wing-cleaning maneuver


diffi cult, and working through ridiculous amounts of self-doubt is draining and ongoing. � en this summer something diff erent started happening.

“One day I went towing and got totally out of my comfort zone and told Chris that I wanted to try full stalls and spins.

It was fully in my head that I was going to throw my reserve because there was no way I could do those, but needless to say, I tried. Lo and behold, she doesn’t throw! She even attempts SAT entries by the end of the day!

“A brief moment of ‘Holy shit, maybe I

can!’ was enough to drive me for the rest of the summer. I longed for the feelings I’d experienced during and after a run over the water. I noticed I was smiling after every move in the air and I loved the sensations associated with the things I was learning; I had never felt confi dent like this before and I liked it.

“� ese days over the water spilled over into every other area of my life. I started feeling more confi dent at work and in the mountains as well, but with a greater re-spect for what can go wrong. Any activ-ity I started and felt unsure about I found myself saying, ‘If you can full stall your glider, you can...’ I started thinking about Bear Lake in July. I only wanted to watch but Chris said no. I had fears of looking silly because I am nowhere close to any of the other pilots. Luckily my newfound confi dence won out. BRING IT ON!”

Becky went on to dazzle us with her spins, stalls, and SATs and earned extra claps for her dramatic spin water land-ings! � e only other female pilot entrant, Niki Sue Mueller, not only pulled off numerous tricks of her own but had us

Ray Elliot (center) helping Niki get set up to tow


on our feet as she locked into a low ass-chopper into the water. Once fi shed out, she was all cheers and smiles, albeit a tad lopsided for a while from hitting the water with the side of her face.

Later, as we watched the videos in one of Ray’s comfortable cabins by the lake, the atmosphere was light verging on hysterical as both the impressive and the comic did their best to perform well and, from our perspective, entertain us enormously! I admit it was with mixed envy and relief that I watched this time instead of participating…but next time I’m in!

So who beat their chest in victory? � e winner was Wade Maxwell from Washington, who made us dizzy trying to follow his moves. Jake Walker, our local loco, was voted second, as much for his pirate costume as for his amazing

“half-ass choppers.” Matt Dadam, Carson Klein and Brian Peterson tied for third and split a third of two gloves. Fourth…EVERYONE ELSE! How’s that for a friendly comp – I won and never left the ground!

� at last is not entirely true, as I was able to make the most of a blown-out tow afternoon the fi rst day, and followed Damion Mitchell and Kelly Magnum to a local site that had us all soaring the hills right till sunset. When Damion and I got into a conversation about the worth

of maneuvers courses he was most clear: “Everyone who picks up a paraglider should do a course within the fi rst six months and any time they change a wing. It should be mandatory.”

Becky delivers the take-home mes-sage: “Bottom line is having fun with the people you love and admire the most. � ere was no competitive atmosphere, no intimidation, no points but everyone cheering everyone else on and simply having more fun than there are adjectives to describe. � ere was no shortage of support from Red Bull, Blue Water, and my amazing instructor! With weather re-ports looking like we were going to get blown out, the Bear Lake gods smiled on us just long enough to get plenty of tows for the two days.”

Competition is both a good and nec-essary tool to keep us always pushing for our personal bests. Yet everyone has to start somewhere and it is always easiest to begin in an accepting atmosphere where safety is number one and fun is a close second. I have been fortunate to have attended other comps where the goal was your personal best, and I’ve always learned well in those environments.

Although my previous vocation would have me accurately label us all as animals and certainly primates, I must emphasize one important diff erence that gives us much of our humility and humanity: We

know how to enjoy making fun of our-selves. After all, the world is just a series of fl ips, twists and spins which are only truly VIVID when we are laughing and simultaneously pissing our pants in fear. Isn’t life great?

Please keep in mind that maneuvers should always be done within the safety of a maneuvers course under the instruc-tion of a professional. Do NOT attempt any of these tricks over land… especially not dressed as a chicken! Check out the clip of the event at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pluPyO_0as.

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Participants kept busy between tows.

know how to enjoy making fun of our-selves. After all, the world is just a series of fl ips, twists and spins which are only

Never taken a maneuvers course? Chris specializes in working with those who are feeling chicken.

Jake Walker


My fi rst hang gliding training was in 1979 outside of San Diego on a swing-seated contraption. But back then it was beer and girls that most captured my attention. � e fl ying bug didn’t really hit me until 24 years later when I saw a picture on my wife’s computer of a UP TRX fl ying over snow-capped moun-tains. After fi nding my instructor on the Internet I convinced my wife and our young daughter to come “look” at hang gliding. While they looked on, my train-ing began. My better half had so much fun watching on that hot and dusty day that she hasn’t come with me since!

While I’ve been to Quest to watch and help with the action at the Flytec meet, done some aerotow training at Wallaby, tasted the big air at Alamogordo (New Mexico), learned how NOT to fl y on the Arkansas delta tow roads from a truck platform, and fl own every available site in the Arkansas/Oklahoma area, I’d not consider myself a seasoned pilot by any stretch. Until last October 6 I had not been able to pry myself away from the comfort of the main LZ to try any cross-country fl ights. Tennessee Tree Toppers’ Team Challenge ‘07 was where it hap-pened for me. You can do it, too. Here’s my story.

� e guys tell me all fl ying stories should start out with, “� ere I was…” So, “� ere I was,” on launch at Whitwell, Tennessee, on the last day of Team Challenge ‘07. Goal for us “C” pilots (those who’d never gone XC) was Kimball Park, 13.6 miles down the valley, and it was now or next year to put into action what I had been learning from my team, the Arkansas Air Hogs: Mark Stump, Barron McKinley, Walter G-man Jordan, Keith Atkins and myself. All the previous day I’d been talking with my new buddy Edwin Ayala, who had fl own in from Puerto Rico for this event, about how we would use what we had learned this week. Keith, Edwin, I and everyone who hadn’t yet gone XC wanted to do this thing. � is was it. � e day looked good. Today we go far!

At 12:58 Eastern time I yelled, “CLEAR!” and ran off Whitwell’s rocky cliff leaving on Earth our last teammate, Walter, to follow. I headed into the valley to turn in what Keith, who had launched in front of me, was already in. We worked this area together, and I fi nally made my way over the ridge where I topped out at 2950’. I say “top out” even though I never got to cloudbase – but I did several times get close enough to the clouds to feel the cool air of their bottoms! For me, “topped

out” is just where I got as high as I could go, whether it was at the top of the lift or where I just fell out.

Some time during this climb Stump asked for my location. “I’m at 3825 feet, parallel to the school along the ridge,” I replied. Stump encouraged me to “take it as high as you can, man.” I could see that I was in a shadow, so when I “topped out” I pushed on to the next shadow. At the time, I didn’t know that this would work, but it did, and it’s what I did all down the valley. When I topped out, I just kept fl ying until I was in the center of the next shadow; then, crank and bank and up I’d go. Cool!

At one point I spotted where Stump had landed a few days earlier and I thought I’d have to choose a fi eld, soon. Right about then, Barron came on the radio and directed me to the next lift. I took this one up until it was time to head out again. � en Stump called out, “How far are you from goal, Steve?” I had no idea! “Look at your GPS,” he directed me. I could see goal in the distance, but I couldn’t read my GPS. I was close to the fi rst gap at Sequatchie but low and heading into the valley where all looked to be drying up. No clouds. No shadows. � is was bad.

I kept heading out in the search lines that Kevin Carter and Mike Barber had talked about in their seminars, but down was down and it was everywhere. I picked out a fi eld that I recognized from a video Ollie Gregory had made while fl ying above John Christoph’s fi rst XC land-ing during the 2005 Team Challenge. Getting lower... Yep, this was it. I saw a fl ag on a pole and fl ew over it. Man-oh-man, I didn’t want this to end yet! Just that morning Walter had removed his sticker, “Landing is for losers,” from my basetube. “Bad karma,” he’d said.

Team Challenge 2007: I’m Still Grinning!

By Steve Prater



Team Challenge 2007: Air Hogs at the rock – (L to R, standing): Keith Atkins, Walter Jordan; (seated): Barron McKinley, Mark Stump, Colin Hodsdon, Steve Prater

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Hearing that I was getting low, Stump keyed up: “Set up for a good landing.” Crap! OK, it was time to unzip.

Beep . . . beep. I looked at my vario: 650’ AGL. Beep. I was high enough to turn, so I did, ever so slightly and as fl at as I could. Beepbeepbeep. Lookie here – wouldn’t this be something? � e beeps got faster and faster. “Work it, Steve!” said Barron. Yahooo – this ride was fun! On the way up I was centered on the bar just right so that I was able to let the glider fl y itself, round and round. I’d heard the Sport 2 would do this, but until this moment I had not experienced it.

Farther out I saw Barron under a dif-

ferent cloud. He and Stump were our team’s “A” pilots and they were always within sight. As I climbed I spotted a top-less glider closing in. Right-of-way rules say make room for those climbing from below, but this climb was soooo good and I didn’t want to leave! He was still out a ways and he disappeared before I had to move. I had ridden this pony from just-about-to-unzip to over 4800’ and back two miles over the plateau where I felt what I thought was the venturi eff ect I’d been warned about. So I left this area, concerned about getting sucked too far back and into trouble.

As I glided out towards the valley my vario beeped again, so I climbed for a few turns. Again, I felt like I was being sucked back; I had to pull full VG and stuff the bar hard to leave this time. � is started my three-mile glide across the next gap and the town of Jasper and then along the ridge on the other side to a rock outcropping where I hoped heat would be releasing. It was, so I made six turns over these rocks, then fl ew on to the last knob with goal in sight. � e topless I’d seen earlier was back, turning over the

rocks I’d just left. I keyed up and told the team I was ready to head on.

Note: My teammate Walter, who’d seen me off launch at the beginning of this fl ight, had fl own this same route four days earlier, and we had watched from the chase truck as he passed over us on his fi nal descent towards the Kimball Park goal. Later that evening he explained that he’s a recreational weekend pilot who has fl ailed downwind a few times through the years, never going more than 10 miles. Flying to goal like this has been an on-again, off -again 27-year journey.

Hearing that I was getting low, Stump keyed up: “Set up for a good landing.” Crap! OK, it was time to unzip.

just-about-to-unzip to over 4800’ and back two miles over the plateau where I felt what I thought was the venturi eff ect I’d been warned about. So I left this area, concerned about getting sucked too far

Barron McKinley launching at Whitwell

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Kevin Carter test-fl ew several gliders during the TC; this is Keith Atkins’s U2 145. Mark Stump, not fl ying any more this day, offers support on the keel.


He also said that friends don’t let friends do the victory dance in public but we just couldn’t stop him that day. Now it was about to be my turn!

Just before goal I hit a bubble of lift. � is was good! I knew I had goal made

but more up was OK. While fl ying over I-24 I wondered if the traffi c noticed me. I saw the big fl ag by the barn, and lots of cars. People were coming out and waving. Cool beans! But where were the other gliders? I was about 15th in the launch line but I was the fi rst to goal! How cool is that?

I tossed my Arkansas Windsock to check wind direction on the ground. Rats! It fell into the pond. I made my downwind, base and fi nal and landed – nice one, too, if I do say so myself.

Massive airgasm hit about then. I was hollering and screaming and danc-ing about. � e people watching surely thought I was nuts. Later, the other Air Hogs complained of hearing loss. I made my way to a tree where I asked the people gathered there if I could share their shade so I could break down. I didn’t want to invade their family reunion. Someone in-vited me to get in the food line. “� anks”, I said, “but I can’t stand up.” Adrenaline was pumping through me so hard that I

was shaking like never before. So I sat there in the shade while a

lady brought me a glass of tea, and then the questions started. A pilot for FedEx came over and ogled my vario and GPS.

“You did what from where?” he asked. Six kids surrounded me and took turns trying on my helmet, all fi ring out diff er-ent questions at the same time. One kid asked for my autograph! Ha haha. I’m a rock star! What a way to end the week! Great fl ight. Not just to get up and go, but to get up and go to a predefi ned point. Soooie sweet.

� is trip could not have been any better. Big thanks to the guys that I drove and fl ew with, Team Arkansas Air Hogs and our driver Colin Hodsdon. Good com-pany, good time. Wow!

I still have much to learn from my airhead brothers in Oklahoma, Arkansas and pilots everywhere. It is their mentor-ing that got me out of the nest and let me know that I really can do what I have been watching others do for the past four years.

� e 2007 Team Challenge was the third TC for me. As a Hang 2 at TC ‘05, I volunteered my time but didn’t even get in a sled ride because of the weather. Volunteering again in ‘06, I was still H-2 but captured many fl ights from the Tree Toppers’ radial ramp. � e third time, they say, is the charm.

Team Challenge: It’s not really a com-petition but more like a team eff ort event where pilots can safely challenge them-selves along with others on do-able tasks in a fun and learning atmosphere. If you want to move on with your skills or share your expertise with others, Tennessee Tree Toppers’ Team Challenge is the event. From my point of view, it’s hands down the best time you will ever have. Team Challenge ‘08 – be there!

Fly high, fl y far, and fl y safe. But as my buddy Stump says, “Always, fl y for fun!” I’m still grinning…

More information on Team Challenge 2007, and on the Team Challenge format, is in this month’s Comp Corner.

Kelly Scroggins enjoying the sunset beside the clubhouse

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Keith Atkins at Whitwell


Life ebbs and fl ows. It breathes in and it breathes out. Money, relationships, good lift… Everything in life pulses like a tide. Some cycles are better than others. Some days are better, some days are worse. Occasionally, several life components align in perfect harmony. During the latter part of 2006, my life aligned in one magnifi cent synergistic ebb.

Money, work, love – it all slid downward. If life was air, I was sink. I had promised to fl y Ecuador with some friends. Upon my de-parture, my wife gave me a lukewarm kiss. I looked in her eyes, and she was not there. � at tide was very far out.

I’m not big on traveling in packs. � ere is an irrefutable law of group travel: Each incremental member complicates logistics by one order of magnitude. Kevin Lee organized this thing. He is a tall, aff able guy, and is USHPA’s 2006 paragliding instructor of the year. I told him I don’t do tours. “It’s not a vacation, it’s an adventure,” he said. I laughed. He just looked at me.

Near the edge of a small town in north-ern Ecuador is a hastily constructed bull-fi ghting ring. I’m standing just inside the ring. A very young girl smiles at me. She is wearing a black knit cap inexpli-cably embroidered with “Metallica” and

a marijuana leaf. A young, testosterone-fueled bull is on the other side of the ring. I have no weapon to fi ght the bull. � e girl hands me a pillowcase.

� e pillowcase is purple, with a smil-ing mouse.

I pause to observe the girl, and the entire smiling crowd behind her. � e cavernous language barrier is unbreach-able. I think they all wish for me to die.

“Depleador,” she laughs. What is deple-ador? Sounds like deplorable. My sweet friend thinks I’m deplorable. Maybe she meant to say toreador. Judging from my pillowcase, I doubt it.

Fear and Loathing in Quito, without the drugs.

Depleador: � e policeman gestures to his immensely overweight captain, asleep on a chair in the shade. “He is so fat. We built him a volleyball net.” He points. � e net hangs above an untrammeled sandy court. “We have no ball. He must exercise or he’ll eat himself to death.”

� is was why he requests a donation to the policeman’s fund. We are stopped at a checkpoint, hearing him out.

Juan, our guide, isn’t having it. � e po-liceman withdraws from our window. He stands up and looks at Jaba the Capitan. � is is not a shakedown. It is a request. With urgency.

� e policeman’s head pokes into our vehicle again. “Where is your fi re extin-guisher?”

Juan makes a face. Fire extinguishers are mandatory in Ecuador. Every auto is required to have one. Very few actually do. Juan looks at the policeman for a long time. He looks at me. He looks in the mirror at the motorists behind us. Five dollars later we are back on the road.

Life ebbs and fl ows. It breathes in I’m not big on traveling in packs.

built him a volleyball net.” He points. � e net hangs above an untrammeled sandy court. “We have no ball. He must exercise or he’ll eat himself to death.”

� is was why he requests a donation to the policeman’s fund. We are stopped at a checkpoint, hearing him out.

Depleador ReduxArticle and photos by Paul Murdoch


For years, I lived very comfortably, gainfully employed in the tech industry. Life was good. We had a home on the Puget Sound. Evenings, I fi shed for sea-run cutthroat. Weekends, I fl ew.

� en two planes fl ew into the Twin Towers. � e dot-com bust began. My job ended. I found and bought a company close to a great fl ying site. We make gourmet smoked meats, Christmas gifts, good artisan food. It is kinder and gentler. It is not more lucrative.

� ree years went by, and I was burned out. Late hours and the struggle had taken their toll on my checkbook, my spare time, and my marriage. Following a brutal holiday season, my physician prescribed a month elsewhere. Hence, Ecuador.

Delays and cranky gate agents delay my fl ights. I sleep on a bench in Houston. I join Kevin’s group a day late.

� ey had spent the previous day on a volcano overlooking Quito. � e city sits in a mountain saddle at 10,000 feet, shroud-ed in a perpetual smoggy haze. Planes arrive regularly at the ancient city, threading their way between mountains.

� e group includes Debbie, from California. Debbie is making the trip with Susan, from the Bay Area. � ey will fl y Ecuador, then travel to the rain forest. Martina and Derek are from British Columbia. Derek is a logger, Martina a tall and cheerful nutritionist. Louis is from Oregon. He is overworked, craving some exotic fl y time. Bruce is a surgeon in Medford. He fi xes damaged faces.

Juan and Juliano are our local guides. Juliano has curly hair,

a beautiful daughter, and a passion for females. He is verbal, with a bright smile. Juan is quiet. He has great taste in music. Both are well educated. � ey burn vacation time to do these trips. Eduardo is our driver. As we fl y, he plays solitaire on an omnipresent iPod.

Gravity works overtime at 10,000 feet. Launching and land-ing are accelerated. Wings fl y fast.

Day one – the day I missed – is a sledder from 13,000 feet to 10,000 feet. Debbie adjusts on her fi nal approach. Her wing pauses, then surges. She pendulums onto her tailbone. X-rays confi rm a fractured vertebra.

My plane arrives that night. Juan meets me outside Quito customs. We drive through the empty streets of the midnight city. � e hotel’s night watchman brings us to the bar, where we fi nd Kevin, Bruce and beer.

Kevin has just returned from the hospital. � e local doctor wants to operate. Bruce is clear: Debbie needs to go home.

Kevin books her a fi rst-class ticket. Her Ecuadorian doctor doesn’t like this plan, but he brings her something to stabilize her back during the trip: a beautiful hand-made leather corset. For some inexplicable reason, he has it spray-painted silver. � e fumes are deadly. Airline agents load Debbie and her corset onto the plane in a hand-truck.

“Such is life in the tropics,” Kevin says. Years of travel in South America have given him a cavalier outlook. Ecuador is characterized by a friendly, well-meaning approach. Life is im-proving. Politics are healthy. People are happy. � ey are very generous. A fresh leather corset? Why not paint it?

We drive to Ibarra, in the northern highlands. Atahualpa, the last Inca king, was executed here, along with thousands of his best friends. A 12x12x12-foot room fi lled once with gold and twice with silver was to buy his release. Spaniards accepted the ransom, and killed him anyway. � e treasure was whisked away by surviving Incas. It remains the source of countless un-successful expeditions.

Kevin has secured a lodge at the base of Ibarra. Situated on a golf course and fl anked by avocado trees, we spend off -hours in hammocks, listening to birds.

� e next morning, Eduardo drives our Mercedes bus up a harrowing dirt road carved into the side of the volcano. Despite the precarious incline, every patch of workable soil has a house,

Maria, with stick and cows


a well-maintained garden, and a cow tied up to a rope.

We ascend the hill and assess the spherical plants growing along the tele-phone lines. No one has an explanation. Strange organisms sprout from noth-ing, rooted only to bare wires hanging in the wind. “We don’t know why. � ey just do.”

Such is life in the tropics.Eduardo parks at a wide spot in the

steep road above the clouds. He pokes his head through the bushes.

A woman appears. She has an old stick, a weathered face, and a bad attitude.

Maria owns this highland pasture. She raises llamas, pigs, two cows, and many chickens, all on a 30-degree slope. She charges 25 cents per person to launch here. She is mannered and reserved.

Eduardo hands over eight quar-ters. Maria remains solemn. Some Brits stiff ed her the launch fee the day before. She moves the cows off launch, whacking them with her stick.

We launch into the Ecuadorian morn-ing. I pull up and dodge an errant pig. � e ground falls away. I turn in a small bubble, rising over launch. Circling, I’m stopped by the extraordinary geometry of the Ecuadorian highlands: tidy fi elds, terraces, trails, and crops. Stone fences mark straight lines. Turning to the lake, land fl ows down in massive lava steppes.

I’m fl ying over an overgrown Inca ruin, the ruin of Atahualpa. It sits on a rounded knoll, a thermal trigger. I circle in zero lift and study geometric lines. Something bubbles through. It starts small, stronger. I circle back towards the cliff s. � e ridges are massive, each water-carved cut a valley in its own right. For an hour I’m a tourist. I’m fl ying above ruins. Wild.

Days go by. We fl y Maria’s in the morning. We fi nd interesting shops or rodeos in the afternoon. Evenings, we lounge in the hammocks of the lodge courtyard, drinking Ecuadorian beer.

One afternoon, we head to a town known for their leather-working skills. � e reputation is deserved. � e main road is lined with purveyors of purses, suitcases, shoes or jackets. I buy gifts for my kids. I fi nd a butter-soft green jacket for my wife. Maybe leather will change the tides a little.

On our last day at Ibarra, we fl y from the highest volcano in the region. We must launch around 9:00 in the morn-ing. So we leave the lodge at 5:00. So our hosts must rise at 3:00 in order to prepare breakfast. All for a sled ride.

� e day begins with a dark, snor-ing drive through a northern mountain range. As the sun rises, young students in school uniforms materialize through alpine hedgerows to stand along dirt roads. We ask directions. Roads reduce to alleys, then driveways, then a rutted trail in the back pasture. Suddenly, we merge with a well-traveled road head-ing deep into the mountains. I’m im-possibly lost. Every turn brings a more spectacular view.

After a mud-bog sprint through an alpine lake, the landscape narrows into a valley straight from Tolkien. Our goal perches at the terminus of a broad ridge. On our right is a 3000-foot drop. We are on a muddy road, sloped outward. We lurch toward the abyss. Eduardo spits out his gum. Susan bolts from her canyon-view seat into the left half of the bus. Her gesture is futile. We will plummet to our death together.

Far above the clouds, the sun rises below us.

A few times in your life, sunbeams and fog highlight a fairy tale. � is beam traveled through space for years. It meets us here, at a scene so pretty and so un-usual we all pause.

Beautifully scaped launches are in all directions. Far below us are the highest terraced fi elds of sure-footed farmers. We prepare our descent into the Village of No Pants.

It’s a sled ride, for sure, but the fi nest sled ride I have ever had. I’m pulled im-mediately away from the hill. It is an IMAX big-screen fl ight through clouds, over fi elds where farmers look up and shout, sheep move away from my shadow. Around the rock bluff , I see the village. � e LZ is just as Kevin described. I start my approach. Children shout from the schoolyard. I touch down before they reach me.

As I’m folding up, a young black face peers through the hedge. He wears a thin T-shirt, and Spiderman underwear. My friends are coming in to land. His friends appear. I point the wind direction. I look back at the tree line, at dozens of children. Some have pants. Many don’t. Soon, the farmer’s fi eld is littered with downed wings. Each is surrounded by kids. � ey reach for gear, try on helmets, slip into harnesses. Few words are exchanged. We take pictures, and present the results on our digital displays.

Kevin lands, and hugs the farmer, who remembers him from two years prior. Soon enough, we are traipsing through the jungle in a parade. Escorted to the central soccer fi eld, we fi nd a small store. Martina buys “Pu-pu” ice cream. Kevin hails old friends. � ere will be a party tonight. We will return that evening for a local music and pancha, or sugar-cane liquor.

� at evening, we are fêted with dance

The launch above the Village of No Pants


by the young men and women of the village. A musical group sets up and begins. Young women balance full bot-tles of pancha on their heads, while bare-chested young men dance around them. Sex is in the air. Julian dances, then we all dance. We drink pancha. Eduardo works his iPod. A drunk man tries to pull his wife onto the dance fl oor. Kids vie for us to take their photo.

We leave our mountain villa, a long day’s drive through Quito and down through the cloud forest to the coast. We wind through frightening curves. Each corner has a small cross. Many people have died along our route to Canoa. We arrive at the small surfi ng town. It’s late, we are tired, so we go to town and drink more pancha.

We fi nd a beachfront bar, operated by a British expatriate couple. � ey have terrifi c taste in music. � e crowd is happy, drunk and young. � ey are not interested in middle-aged paraglider pilots from the States.

After drinks, the men are inspired to take a drive.

� is is how we are introduced to the Pothole of Epic Proportions. In Juan’s Land Rover, Julian cranks the iPod to painful levels. We hurtle down the high-way, heading south. We are on vacation, and drunk. So we drive fast. Some of us ride on the roof.

We scream southward. I watch Juan singing along. His mouth goes from per-fect syncopation to an inexplicable “O.” His eyes fl ash huge. � e truck lurches forward. I swing my head to the right, only to see the edge of pavement slide beneath the hood. We are airborne.

Juan accelerates as we leave the road. It rotates our weight onto the back tires as we launch. Good idea, since nobody knows how far it is to the LZ.

Eduardo is in the way back. He levi-tates to the ceiling, in a slow pirouette. His stocking feet stroke the ceiling. He

lands, face down. Julian makes Spanish noise. Bruce says a bad word.

We land. It is cathartic, with a great deal of yelling. Juan’s quick thinking puts us on our wheels, rather than our nose. We climb out to fi nd the road gone. We are in sand, six feet below grade. � e road vanishes for a 100-yard stretch.

� ere is no warning.Such is life in the tropics.Day two at Canoa. A ridge rises up

behind our lodge. It parallels the blue tropical water, beyond the Pothole of Epic Proportions.

Using all four wheels of Juan’s Rover, we fi nd the cut that takes us up to the ridge. Years before, Kevin’s friends carved him a launch.

We launch into steady trade winds. Secretary birds and pelicans run up the ridgeline on their morning commute. In wind a constant 8 to 10 mph, we join avian traffi c.

Lift goes to 2000 feet. We sort our-selves out, each into his or her own world. Miles of ridgeline await in either direction. Behind us is jungle and cloud forest. In front are miles of ocean, and the Galapagos Islands.

Canoa sits at the outlet of the Cuyabena river. For hundreds of years, communities found this site to be peace-ful and attractive. I fl y fi ve miles back to town. Walking down the beach in front of our lodge, I spot ceramic pieces in the sand. � ey are fascinating, like nothing I’ve ever seen. Each shard is intricately

patterned. Some show fi gures, faces, sun-sets. � ey look like pieces of the art I saw in the Quito natural history museum.

� ey are. � e beach is littered with pre-Columbian artifacts. Pots are made, pots are broken, chips wash down the river and along the beach. � ey are 500 years old.

Juan’s friend in Quito told us of his parents’ land to the north of Canoa. He has boxes of artifacts. Some adorn their walls. He has two complete burial urns. Boxes of fossilized giant shark teeth. Intricate tiny clay fi gurines. � ere is one sun-god headdress of hammered gold. All were found on the beach.

Such is life in the tropics.� e Ecuadorian endurance record

for fl ight is eight hours, thirty minutes. Bruce decides he’ll beat it. He launches at noon. I radio him many times, suggest-ing a restroom break. He declines com-ment. Bruce is determined.

I land. I fi nd ceramic beach artifacts. I have lunch. I drive back to launch. I fl y again. Land. Have dinner at the bar. Go back for an evening beach fl ight. I land as the suns pops a green fl ash on the ocean horizon. Bruce remains airborne.

At 8:35, it is very dark. Juan and I stumble from the beachside bar to the sand. Bruce’s voice is tired. He asks for LZ lights. I wave a small fl ashlight in the air. He sees us, but I can’t spot him. Minutes later, his legs, harness and wing materialize out of the black starry night.

He has been in the air eight hours,

Canoa launch

of our lodge, I spot ceramic pieces in the sand. � ey are fascinating, like nothing I’ve ever seen. Each shard is intricately

Our Land Rover on the brink of the Pothole of Epic Proportions


thirty-fi ve minutes. He lands. He pees. He has the record. Victory is his. I buy him sugar-cane liquor.

We move with the tide of tropical life. Wake. Eat. Fly. Land. Fly. Drink.

We go south to Crucitas, where Julian meets a girl. We fi nd a large, over-developed launch, with observation deck and bar. Inexplicably, there is also a gate and armed guards. Political corruption, land theft, and a riot have left bad feelings. Bottles were thrown, and bad words spoken.

We are stopped by a friendly man with a sawed-off shotgun. He stands in front of a sign that notes each person who has wronged the community. Fifty names are painted on a 4x8-foot sheet of ply-wood, painted white. It reads “Persona non Gratis.”

Perfect.After gaining access, I ask his name:

Sotero. I ask if I can take his photo. I get the quintessential tourist shot. Sotero aims his shotgun at a sign of Non-Gratis Personas.

� us commences my post-”adventure” South American life. To Papallacta, the land of potato people and healing hot springs. Bruce and I get a massage there, in most uncomfortable circumstances. We stay in a yurt at 12,000 feet, on the fl anks of volcano Cotapaxi. Sharing our roof is a Dutch family with a beautiful daughter. Esto, our cowboy guide, falls in love with her. So do we. We gallop mountain ponies up Cotapaxi’s grassy slopes. At 15,000 feet, we stop for coca tea. I’m winded. � e pony is not.

In Quito, Iranian President Ahmadinejad is in town to meet newly elected President Correa. We meet him at a historic church. He has two body-

guards. We could grab him by the shoul-der, but refrain.

We take lunch in an Inca ruin turned into a hacienda. We are served in a dark room with stones so tightly fi tted, noth-ing can or will ever slide between them.

A young man earnestly tells me of his vision quest. Five days in the rainforest, alone with a shaman. In his dream, he was a panther. He watched his own life unfold. Everything he saw in his vision has come true. He is amazed, frightened and resolved.

Experiences wash over me like a warm shower.

On a tropical beach evening, waves hiss up the sandy shore. A fat moon slides towards the horizon.

North or south? I could lose myself in the southern hemisphere for a season. But who would I tell my stories to? What is the sound of one man adventuring?

I spend a fi nal night with Kevin, Juan and Julian in Otovallo. Julian is joined by his daughter. Juan’s wife is there. Otovallo hosts the most famous outdoor market in Ecuador. � ere is a tourist market, and a local market. I spend the rest of my dol-lars in Otovallo, on gifts for my family.

As it happens, they love their gifts. My sweet wife fi nds her green jacket a perfect fi t. It is butter soft.

After Ebb comes delicious Flow. Just wait for the right cycle.

Crucitas

Sotero and the sign


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Dates: June 8-14. No rain, weather or other contingency plansEvent description: Out-and-return, triangles, cross-country race to goalLocation: Woodrat Mt., Ruch, OregonRegistration: Opens February 15, closes June 8Fees: $325 postmarked before April 15, $395 after. Fees in-clude BLM land-use fees, LZ landowner cattle feed, light snack at launch, retrieval, T-shirt, sign-in and awards parties, great atmosphere.

Pilot qualifi cations: Current USHPA card, P-3 Equipment requirements: Helmet, reserve, GPS, radio capable of receiving and transmitting on all USHPA frequencies. Awards and prizes: Trophies for top three places in open class, serial class, women’s class. More information: mphsports.com

USHPA Sanctioned Competition NoticeWest Coast Paragliding Championships

Dates: July 6-12. No rain, weather or other contingency plansEvent description: Introduction to competition with education and training in GPS use and competition strategies, mentoring program, evening classroom discussions. Out-and-return, tri-angles, cross-country race to goalLocation: Woodrat Mt., Ruch, OregonRegistration: Opens February 15, closes July 5Fees: $395 postmarked before April 15, $450 after. Fees in-clude BLM land-use fees, LZ landowner cattle feed, daily lunch-

es, retrieval, awards party, T-shirt, mentoring program, sign-in and awards parties, GPS training and more. Pilot qualifi cations: Current USHPA card, P-3 Equipment requirements: Helmet, reserve, GPS, radio capable of receiving and transmitting on all USHPA frequencies. Awards and prizes: Trophies for top three places in open class, serial class, master class (50 years and older), women’s class. Regional champion.More information: mphsports.com

USHPA Sanctioned Competition NoticeParagliding Rat Race

Pilots queued up to launch at the 2007 Rat Race


Dates: August 17-23. No rain, weather or other contingency plansEvent description: Cross-country race to goal, out-and-return, trianglesLocation: Lakeview, OregonRegistration: Opens March 15, closes August 17 morningFees: $295 postmarked before May 15, $350 postmarked May 16-July 31, $450 postmarked August 1 on. Fees include breakfast smoothie, light snack on launch, sign-in and awards parties.

Pilot qualifi cations: Current USHPA card, H-3 with TUR and XC endorsements Equipment requirements: Helmet, reserve, GPS, radio capable of receiving and transmitting on all USHPA frequenciesAwards and prizes: National champion, plus top three places in rigid, fl ex and women’s classesMore information: www.mphsports.com

USHPA Sanctioned Competition Notice“Hang-on” Hang Gliding Nationals

Whitwell (Tennessee) launch at 2007 Team Challenge

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You worked long and hard to earn your H-3 rating. You easily fl y your home sites, soar the ridges and thermals, but only within the comfort zone of your familiar bailout LZs. You’re beginning to wonder what it might be like to venture out, to explore what’s beyond your immediate fi eld of view – to go XC. Now, you want more out of your fl ying, but where do you turn for training and encouragement? Unless you fi nd a pilot with advanced XC skills who’s willing to take you under his or her wings, you’re on your own. So where do you turn?

Several years ago, the Tennessee Tree Toppers (TTT) considered this problem and concluded that “if we sponsor it, they will come.” � e basic concept was to off er a fun, low-pressure XC competition de-signed to help intermediate hang glider

pilots learn the basics of XC soaring from more experienced mentors. And so, Team Challenge (TC) was born.

� e guiding principles of TC are “safety fi rst, fun competition, XC expe-rience, and camaraderie.” Teams of fi ve pilots are comprised of one or two ad-vanced “A” pilots with extensive competi-tion and/or XC experience, intermediate

“B” pilots with limited XC experience, and “C” pilots who have never fl own XC. A H-3 or higher rating is required for competing in TC. A handicap-ping system based upon factoring pilot XC experience by wing type is used as a multiplier for miles fl own. “C” goals are pretty close, “B” goals a little farther away and “A” goals are farther still. TC is not a racing event. Instead, it’s all about learning XC skills necessary for going

the distance. � e “A” pilots mentor their teammates

before, during, and after each fl ight. � is may be accomplished in a variety of ways depending on the “C” pilot’s knowledge and experience. Pre-fl ight planning may involve assessing the weather, map read-ing, and choosing launch windows. In-fl ight radio communication is crucial for off ering encouragement, changing course lines, fi nding the next thermal, and LZ selection. Post-fl ight analysis allows for troubleshooting problem aspects of a fl ight and consolidating new skills.

“A” pilots are encouraged to set their egos aside and do everything possible to help their “B” and “C” teammates make it to pre-defi ned goals. “A” pilots who escort “B’s” and “C’s” to goal earn sig-nifi cant bonus points for doing so. A true

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How to Teach XC Skills to Intermediate Pilots and Have Fun Doing It

By Keith Atkins and Oliver Gregory

Tennessee Tree Toppers’ Team Challenge:

Setup area at Whitwell


“A” pilot leader never leaves his charges until they are on the ground or have their goals in the bag. � ere have been many instances of “A” pilots returning upwind and spiraling down to rescue struggling pilots about to sink out – fi nding lift in the nick of time, and assisting their teammates to goal. Some of these mag-nanimous “A” pilots may lose their own lift and land short of their “A” goal, but they still earn the assist bonus points for helping their buddies make it to theirs. During TC 2007, one “A” pilot actu-ally helped two “C” pilots from another team reach goal! “A” pilot Mark Stump summed it up best: “Helping my guys was as frustrating, challenging, and re-warding as any competition task I have ever fl own.”

� e TC format was modifi ed for our 2007 TC meet. We decided to immerse every pilot in the full XC competition experience, from event administration to individual pilot competition. In eff ect, every pilot was required to actively par-ticipate in daily operations. Here’s how this concept works: Safety committees, task committees, and scoring are made the responsibility of the competitors. Each team selects a pilot to serve on the safety committee and another on the task committee, each day. Highly experienced local pilots off er suggestions for reason-able tasks after reviewing weather data

from such sources as Dr. Jack’s BlipMaps, Skew-T lapse rates, and various weather forecasting services. � e assembled task committee discusses all pertinent infor-mation and determines the goals for each pilot class.

� e safety committee then meets to review the task recommendations and decides to either ratify or modify the day’s goals. Once launch opens, the safety-committee representatives are re-sponsible for ensuring that each of their teammates is fully prepared for launch-ing. Consequently, safety-committee members launch last, after all four of their teammates are safely in the air.

Although GPS units are recom-mended, they are not required for TC because “pinning in” is based upon the honor system. After all, TC is a learn-ing competition, all about helping one another. With the daily structure clearly

established before the meet starts, basi-cally all that is needed is good weather, an agreed-upon schedule for meetings, and enthusiastic competitors ready to have a great time. � e 2007 TC event pretty much ran itself! We didn’t have and didn’t need a meet director.

Another important factor in making a meet like TC successful is volunteers. Support and professional volunteers serve an integral role by making sure TC runs smoothly and by enriching the learning experience. Support volunteers assist in many ways including pre-event organiza-tion, LZ acquisition, and public relations with landowners. Someone must be re-sponsible for printing and collating pilot registration forms and handbooks, as well as managing the registration process. Others are needed for videotaping land-ings for the landing clinics, wire-launch support, retrieval, and custodial duty.

Additionally, volunteers obtain and coordinate other vital TC infrastructure necessities. Audiovisual equipment, a dry-erase board and a laser pointer are needed for the seminars. Awards, tro-phies, and prizes must be purchased and solicited from donors such as manufac-turers of wings and instruments, equip-ment sales companies and fl ight schools. For example, this year we received gener-ous donations from Steve Kroop (Flytec), Rob Kells (Wills Wing), Jim Lamb (AIR USA), Kraig Coomber (Moyes USA), Kamron Blevins (North Wing), Matt Taber (Lookout Mountain Flight Park), and Davis Straub (� e Oz Report).

Fundraisers such as silent auctions, raffl es and photographs help defray ex-penses. Off ering a hearty breakfast each morning for a nominal charge allows pilots more time to prepare their gear and attend committee meetings. � e awards ceremony and after-comp party

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is always a big hit and must be planned well ahead of time. � e TC 2007 awards party included catered, all-you-could-eat gourmet pizza prepared on-site, salad, dessert, beer and soft drinks, a huge bonfi re, prizes, and a live band…of course ev-eryone had a great time!

Professional volunteers provide a value-added component to TC. We were fortunate to have Mike Barber and Kevin Carter, two legendary XC-racing competition pilots and U.S. National Team members, present for TC 2007. � ey shared their ex-pertise through a series of exceptional seminars and by off er-ing help and advice to participants all week long. Mike gave seminars on such topics as general safety issues, understanding weather and thermals, thermal-search strategies and XC skills. And believe it or not, Mike served as a “wind dummy” (Mike’s words, not ours)! Kevin presented seminars on XC fl ying, safety and risk management, variometer programming, and analysis of videotaped landings during his excellent landing clinics. He also test-fl ew and tuned at least four gliders for pilots during the meet – and led a team. As Kevin explained during one of his lectures, “I believe in ‘paying it forward’ by giving back to others what so many have given to me.” Many thanks to Flytec, Moyes USA, and Wills Wing for sponsoring Mike and Kevin who, in turn, sponsor all of us by sharing their hard-earned skills and knowledge!

We were pleased to have two other VIPs in attendance, Jim Lamb and Terry Presley. Jim is a Class 2 National Team member, U. S. importer of the AIR ATOS line of rigid wings,

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A launch from Henson’s radial ramp


and leader of the winning TC team this year. Terry is a Northwest Airlines pilot and former National Team member. He gave a helpful seminar on understanding airspace sectionals and served as a “wind technician.”

Additional seminars during TC 2007 were presented by TTT pilots Ollie Gregory, Mark Stump, and Steve Lee. Ollie is an XC-racing comp pilot, mentor to many, and the driving force behind this year’s Team Challenge. He worked tirelessly from sunup to way into the night, every day, to make TC 2007 a resounding success. He coordinated the volunteers, chaired the safety and task committees, provided daily weather and lapse-rate forecasts, and ensured every-thing ran without a hitch. Ollie present-ed a comprehensive lecture on “Weather Forecasting, Skew-T’s, and BlipMaps” and served as master of ceremonies at the

awards party. Ollie loved it all and fl ew vicariously with everyone there.

Arkansan Mark Stump is an accom-plished XC-racing comp pilot, as well as one of the friendliest, funniest, and most unpretentious hang glider pilots on the planet. He is a true friend who gives ev-erything he has to the sport and to anyone who needs help of any kind. He gave the most important seminar of the meet:

“Fly for fun...Is it safe?” His talk was informative and delivered with a racon-teur’s fi nesse and humor. He also taught everyone how to make the “Arkansas Windsock” drop streamer, constructed of crepe paper and washers, to be deployed at 300’ AGL over your chosen XC LZ for those light-and-variable days when you don’t know which way the wind is blowing.

Steve “nothing is more fun than hang gliding” Lee is the president of the Tennessee Tree Toppers, an unassum-ing XC wizard, and the “lesser half ” of the Lee Team. He demonstrated “� e Right Way To Do a Wire-Assist Launch” during his seminar and also served as a TC 2007 wind technician. He generous-ly shared his vast experience and knowl-edge of XC hang gliding with everyone throughout the week of TC.

All of these seminars were like pearls of wisdom scattered before us, free for the taking. � ey were widely attended and many pilots expressed their appre-ciation for receiving such useful informa-tion that they could immediately put into practice during the competition.

You Can Stage a Local Team

Challenge!We believe that the TC model can be

readily adapted and customized to meet the needs of any hang gliding or para-gliding club interested in helping their intermediate pilots take their training to the next level. The TC model promotes safety, learning, camaraderie and FUN! Considering all that TC has to offer, there is no doubt that it is the best method for teaching XC fl ying for bargain-basement entry fees. TC comps held around the country could result in added dividends by making it easier and more reward-ing for intermediate pilots to stay in the sport, and will likely “grow” the sport through greater exposure, which should prove helpful in attracting new students. If you are an “A” pilot we strongly en-courage you to serve as a mentor to your intermediate buddies. How else are they going to advance to a level where they’ll want to buy your used high-performance equipment?

For more information, go to www.treetoppers.net and download the TC documents that provide details about how we re-designed TC: General TC Information, Registration and Waiver Forms, Staging Rules, Safety Committee, Task Committee, and Scoring. Please be aware that you may have to modify these forms, waivers, and rules to satisfy your club’s specifi c needs and legal re-quirements. Contact the Tennessee Tree Toppers at tttfl [email protected] if you have questions about developing your club’s Team Challenge. Good luck, fl y safely, and have fun with your local Team Challenge meet!

Keith Atkins, USHPA #79236, is a neuropsychologist who lives in Memphis. Ollie Gregory, USHPA #17894, is a psy-chiatrist from Lookout Mountain. He holds the rigid-wing distance record from Whitwell, 109.9 miles to Killen, Alabama, set last May.

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Mark Stump’s seminar

Team Challenge 2007 participants


When I discovered the challenge and joy of cross-country fl ying, it opened up an entirely new part of my life. Cross-country fl ying, and competition XC fl ying in particular, requires preparation, training, practice, and good decision-making. When you land in “tiger country” your recovery – even your survival – will depend on these same prerequisites. � ere may be times when your real ad-venture begins after the landing, and it is useful to consider the following before you fi nd yourself in this position.

Philosophically, I feel that none of us should ever plan to have others “fi nd” or

“save” us if we are not injured. Your “sur-vival with style” starts while you’re still airborne. Use your bird’s-eye-view: Are there any roads or structures near? Which direction will you take on your hike out? What obstacles lie between you and civilization? You may fi nd yourself miles from roads, at high elevation with sunset looming and only a vague idea of the best route to travel. Communicate your situa-tion and location prior to landing if pos-sible. After landing, a radio call, “Down OK,” is very helpful to those who might worry. � en you must set about making the decisions that will make your evening as safe and comfortable as possible.

Your fi rst order of business is to assess your personal condition. Are you injured? If so, how badly? If you have sustained more than slight injury, communicate your position and condition ASAP via radio or cell phone. (You do have the

appropriate emergency numbers in your phone, don’t you?) � e signal to fellow pilots that you are NOT OK is to leave your wing as it fell when you landed. If no communication is possible, set about to “hunker down” until help gets to you.

Next, what are the conditions of your world? What kind of terrain, brush, weather, and distance will you need to cover to get to civilization? How much daylight is left? Know the time of sunset. It is much harder and more hazardous than you might imagine to hike in the dark, so you must make a decisive choice to begin the hike out, or to make camp while you still have suffi cient light. If you choose to make camp, your evening in the woods is not an emergency and it doesn’t have to be uncomfortable, if you have prepared for such an eventuality. One of the primary characteristics of a survivor (yes, you now have entered the world of the “survivor”) is that a survivor thinks realistically, not optimistically. If your hike out will be substantially longer than the daylight remaining, it may be safer to fi nd an appropriate campsite and settle in for the night. � is prospect is much easier to consider if you have pre-pared for this eventuality by bringing some essential items to supplement those you have already in your bag.

I come from a search-and-rescue/technical-rescue background. My train-ing has shown that a situation can go from uncomfortable to life-threatening in a few hours for even the most hardy of individuals if they are mentally unpre-pared and lack certain simple tools in a survival kit. I’ve carried various kits with me while fl ying comps and XCs, includ-ing a tree-rescue kit, survival kit, fi rst-aid kit, you name it. I’ve carried too little, and I’ve carried too much, and I think I may have reached an acceptable compro-mise with the kit I now carry. Space and weight are always a consideration – the important thing is to go through the mental exercise and carry some form of

survival kit any time you venture away from your home LZ.

Your fi rst chore is to fi nd a suitable container. I use a pair of amenity bags I got on airline fl ights. � ey are soft, fl ex-ible and spacious enough for my require-ments. One I carry deep in my harness. It is seldom removed. � e other is in my fl ight-deck storage. It has renewable items like food and batteries. You need to think of your kit as part of a system of survival. Everything you carry should have a purpose.

For communication:Transceiver with spare battery • (AA version)Cell phone with recharger unit • (AA powered)Whistle•

For visibility:Signal mirror• Flashlight/headlamp (AA • powered)Strobe light (AA powered)•

Each of the above items is carried to aid in your communication and recovery. If you are injured, these will increase the chance of a quick rescue and extraction. Notice that all use similar batteries for redundancy. � e items listed below are carried to buy time and increase your protection from the elements.

WaterBottles/bladders (quantity • depends on weather/terrain – at least three liters)Water purifi cation tablets • Emergen-C type of vitamin • powder (for taste)Food• Energy bars (enough to fuel you • for 48 hours)Dried fruit/nuts•

Shelter/WarmthUse paraglider for shelter• 10’x10’ blue plastic tarp•

Nice Harness! What’s In It Besides Your Butt?Or, Survival for the Adventurous PilotArticle and photos © 2007 Tim O’Neill

A view from the cockpit, on glide in eastern Or-egon during the 2007 paragliding nationals

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Space blanket• Fire-making tools/matches• All clothing used for fl ying (be • sure to carry a waterproof shell)

NavigationCompass• GPS unit• Topo maps of the area•

Tools/SuppliesKnife• Flint• Spare boot laces or twine• Streamer tape• Spare batteries• Pain meds• Hat• Plastic bags • Pen and paper to log progress and • coordinatesToilet paper•

All these items fi t into my two small kits (each about the size of a woman’s clutch purse) and my harness storage pocket. Total weight for these addi-tional items (minus clothing and water) is less than fi ve pounds, and cost is less than $50.

I fl y with enough clothing to with-stand the forecast evening temperatures. If the fl ight is in warm conditions, I still carry a waterproof shell and fl eece in my harness. Your wing, tarp, and space blan-ket complete the basic shelter needs. Start a fi re if cold weather is planned, and re-member to drink water and eat the food

in your kit. Your goal is to remain warm and rested for your hike out in the morn-ing. If you decide to leave behind equip-ment, note the position with your GPS and tag your path with the streamer tape you brought. Use your knapsack to carry as much of your gear as you can haul.

As I wrote earlier, survival requires preparation, training, practice, and good decision-making. Your kit is a major por-tion of the preparation. Preparation in-cludes the airborne orientation that you do when visualizing the area around your planned landing site: Are there any roads, streams, buildings? Which direction will your route take when daylight comes?

Practice this exercise just as you do when evaluating potential LZs.

To train your mind for this type of scenario, you might visit some survival sites on the Web and read some of the great books on the subject. Practice using the equipment in your kit: Have you ever used a fl int/magnesium tool to start a fi re, or consumed water that has been purifi ed with your tablets? Familiarize yourself with your gear, and use it in a non-emergency situation so you will be confi -dent in its ability to sustain you.

� e decisions you make will deter-mine whether your stay in the wild will be an adventure or a hapless brush with danger. Plan ahead and use your head. A great book on the subject of survival is Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why by Laurence Gonzales. � e author explores not only the HOW of survival, but the WHY. He looks at the decision-making process and attitude adjustment that survivors need to accomplish, to go from victim to survivor.

So many people go through life ignor-ing the opportunities to live a true ad-venture. If you take your opportunities and temper your escapades with just the right amount of preparation and caution, you’ll have a wealth of experiences you can tell your grandkids about!


Gallery

Artwork: Diane Gerard62

Sandi Martina with pilot-in-command Tex Forrest, Blue Sky Flight Park, summer 2005Photo by Tex Forrest, digital artwork by Sandi Martina

Ron Weiner at Kagel Mt., California, wondering if he’s missed the windowPhoto: Greg Angsten 63

Playin’ in the sand, Warren Dunes, MichiganPhoto: Orlando Abreu

Ramon Gomez landing his Wills Wing Harrier at Ft. Funston, CaliforniaComposite photo by Ray Bailey64

Paul Dees records for history his daughter Bethany’s first tandem flight, Dog Mt., Washington, Larry Jorgensen pilotPhoto: Paul Dees

Jim Yocum at Villa Grove, Colorado, September 2007Photo: Phyllis CronJim Yocum at Villa Grove, Colorado, September 2007Photo: Phyllis Cron 65

Jamie Messenger waiting in the shade of his Mantra, Rat Race 2007Photo: Matt Beechinor

A crazy plane pilot buzzing Tater launch, Boone, North CarolinaPhoto: Orlando Abreu66

Arnaud Bondallaz “fl ying” his toy paraglider in the Red Bull spectator area at Vertigo 2007, Villeneuve, SwitzerlandPhoto: John Heiney

Jeff Shapiro and Jeff O’Brien buzzing the south launch at Point of the Mountain, UtahPhoto: Chris Gibisch 67

Calendar of events items WILL NOT be listed if only tentative. Please include exact information (event, date, contact name and phone number). Items should be received no later than six weeks prior to the event. We request two months lead time for regional and national meets. For more complete informa-tion on the events listed, please see our Calendar of Events at www.ushpa.aero.

SANCTIONED COMPETITION:

June 8-14: Woodrat Mt., Ruch, Oregon. West Coast Paragliding Championships. Registration opens February 15, $325 until April 15, $395 after. More information: mphsports.com.

June 29-July 4: Chelan, Washington. Chelan XC Classic, cross-country fl ying for hang gliders and paragliders. Score is best 4 out of 6 days. Registration $80 until April 30, $100 after, or come for part of the week and pay $25/day. Includes T-shirt and barbecue. Best 4 out of 6 days. More information: cloudbase.org.

July 6-12: Woodrat Mt., Ruch, Oregon. Paragliding Rat Race. Regis-tration opens February 15, $395 before April 15, $450 after. Introduc-tion to competition with education and training in GPS use and com-petition strategies, mentoring program, evening classroom discussions, much more. Additional information: mphsports.com.

July 27-August 1: Chelan, Washington. Chelan Paragliding XC Open. Registration opens March 15, $285 by June 26, $325 after. More information: chelanXCopen.com.

August 17-23: Lakeview, Oregon. Hang-on Hang Gliding Nationals. Registration opens March 15, $295 postmarked by May 15, $350 post-marked May 16-July 31, $425 after. More information: mphsports.com.

September 14-20: Bishop, California. Owens Valley Paragliding Nationals.

COMPETITION

January 2-10: Forbes, Australia. Forbes Flatlands Hang Gliding Championships. Registration/practice on January 2, competition Janu-ary 3-10. More information: http://www.moyes.com.au/Forbes2008/ or email event manager Vicki Cain, [email protected].

January 11-19: Mt. Beauty, Victoria, Australia. Bogong Cup hang gliding competition. Registration on January 11, competition January 12-19. More information: Vicki Cain, [email protected].

February 17-23: Dominican Republic. The Ozone Caribbean XC Challenge is a low-key, education-oriented paragliding competition with few rules, stress-free ambience, pure XC fl ying, amazing location, coaching from expert pilots and the assistance of Jocky Sanderson to help maximize your time in the air. Categories and prizes for pilots fl ying DHV 1, 1-2, 2 and 2-3 (CEN A, B, C and D) wings, plus an Ozone glider raffl ed among competitors. Registration opened on September 15. More information: http://www.caribbeanxc.com.

July 14-19: King Mt., Idaho. 2008 King Mountain Hang Gliding Championships, in Idaho’s Lost River Range, near Arco and Moore. Open, recreation, and team classes, driver awards, raffl e, trophies and more! Collectors-edition shirts designed by Dan Gravage. Free camping, BBQ’s, prizes, and tons o’ fun...PLUS some of the best XC fl ying the sport has to offer! For more information and registration forms, go to www.fl ykingmountain.com or contact Lisa Tate, (208) 376-7914, [email protected].

FLY-INS

January: Tenancingo, Mexico. Come celebrate the grand opening of La Malinche, a relatively new fl ying site with great XC potential. Free rides and retrieval. A beautiful manicured paraglider or hang glider launch for up to three at a time, 360 degrees of fl ying options and excellent LZs all around. Contact +(52)1-722-312-3363. More information at http://picasaweb.google.es/sumocobre/TenancingoFlyingSites.

May 24-26: King Mt., near Moore, Idaho. 2008 Spring Fling at King. Welcome the mountain XC season with this fun-fi lled event. Open XC with 1st place cash prizes for hang gliding and paragliding. All-you-can-eat outdoor buffet, with dessert. More information from www.kingmountaingliders.com or (208) 0390-0205.

CLINICS, MEETINGS, TOURS

January through March: Valle de Bravo, Mexico. Again after over 14 years, FlyMexico keeps going and growing. Sunday-Sunday packag-es, hang gliding and paragliding. Every stinkin’ day we go fl ying! Contact: www.fl ymexico.com, 1-800-861-7198.

January through Feburary 17: Valle de Bravo, Mexico. VOL VALLE! allows pilots to choose what level of service they want, from just a room to everything including guide, meals, transportation. Based on the sprawling Rancho de San Ramon, a large hacienda with stunning views that can house up to 20 guests. A 10-minute drive from Valle de Bravo with its own large LZ, on the route to the butterfl ies. Nightly shut-tles to and from Valle de Bravo included. Lots of activities for the family: sailing, hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, sightseeing. More in-formation: David Prentice, (505) 720-5436 or [email protected].

Now through January 14: Valle de Bravo, Mexico (site of the 2009 world PG championships). Improve your thermal and XC skills with top-ranked U.S. PG pilot David Prentice. Week-long tours include airport pickup/drop off, lodging, transportation, guiding, XC retrieval. More infor-mation: (505) 720-5436, www.earthcog.com.

December 27-January 7: Valle de Bravo, Mexico. Guided PG tour with thermal and XC instruction with Bill Belcourt (from 12/30 to 1/7 only) and Ken Hudonjorgensen. More information: (801) 572-3414, twocanfl [email protected], www.twocanfl y.com.

December 28-January 2: Forbes, Australia. Open to any pilot who orders a new Moyes hang glider to be picked up at the factory in Oz in December 2007. It’s not a competition but more of a tuning/training seminar to get dialed into your new glider before the comps. Maximum 30 pilots, no entry fee, just tow fees. We’ll tow out of Forbes for a couple of days then, weather permitting, set goal to another desig-nated town, tow out of there for two days and move on again. Gerolf Hei-nrichs and Jonny Durand Jr. will host this event. More information: Vicki Cain, [email protected].


December 30-January 22: Nepal. Big Sky Paragliding will host two 10-day tours in the most stunning and unique fl ying sites in the world. Mild conditions, big mountains and big birds. Thermal and XC coaching with Dale Covington. $1600 covers all transportation with-in the country, lodging and breakfast. For more information visit www.bigskyparagliding.com, or call (801) 699-1462.

January 4-15: Ecuador. Join USHPA’s 2006 Instructor of the Year, Kevin Lee, and Thermal Tracker Paragliding for a fl ying adventure! Kevin has been leading paragliding adventures in Ecuador since 1996 and is supported by two Ecuadorian guides/pilots who know and fl y the local sites. Explore both the high Andean mountain thermal sites and the in-credibly consistent coastal sites. Includes advanced coaching and all de-tails in country (lodging, transportation, drivers, guides, air shuttle from the coast, and much more). More information: Thermal Tracker Para-gliding & Aero-Sports, (541) 890-7142, [email protected], www.thermaltracker.com.

January 5-12, 12-19, 19-26, February 2-9, 9-16, 16-23, March 1-8, 8-15, 15-22, 22-29: Costa Rica with Nick Crane, paragliding instructor, tandem instructor and veteran Costa Rican trav-eler. Small groups, quality accommodations, safe and fun fl ying for all levels in exotic Costa Rica. Fly over tropical forests and land on un-crowded beaches. Share the sky with toucans, macaws, king vultures and pelicans. We have pioneered some of best sites in Costa Rica. For details contact [email protected], (541) 840-8587, or www.paracrane.com.

January 6-11: Big Island of Hawaii. Mauna Kea paragliding ther-mal clinic with Achim Hagemann. Mauna Kea (13,796’) has fl ying sites at various altitudes. Pilots should expect big air, high-altitude takeoffs and challenging XC fl ying as well as relaxing coastal fl ying. Skill require-ments: Novice or better. Cost: $375, includes 4x4 transportation, air-port pickup, guide service, free camping, daily state-of-the-art weather report. Contact: Paraglide Hawaii, fl [email protected] or (808) 895-9772, http://paraexpeditionshawaii.blogspot.com.

January 6-13: Tapalpa, Mexico. P-2 week with Parasoft Para-gliding School. We’ve been taking pilots to fl y in Mexico since 1991. The P-2 week focuses on long easy fl ights from 2500’. Details at www.parasoftparagliding.com/travel/tapalpa%20_mexico.php.

January 13-20: Mexico. P-3 week with Parasoft Paragliding School. We tailor our weeks to your pilot skills. In the P-3 week we focus on thermaling and short XC fl ights. After starting in Tapalpa, we fl y both San Marcos and Colima. Details at www.parasoftparagliding.com/travel/colima.php.

February 2-15: Dominican Republic. Big Sky Paragliding will spend two weeks fl ying the varied sites in the Dominican Republic with local pilot Sebastian Mier. Green and mild to dry and strong, this small island has diverse conditions appropriate for most pilots. $1600 includes trans-portation, lodging, breakfast and coaching. Contact Dale Covington at (801) 699-1462 or visit www.bigskyparagliding.com.

February 10-17, 2008: Southern California PG fl ying trip with Ken Hudonjorgensen. More information: (801) 572-3414, twocanfl [email protected], www.twocanfl y.com.

February-March: Governador Valadares, Brazil. Leave the cold northern hemisphere and enjoy the beauty and warmth of Brazil. Feb-ruary and March are the best months for soaring and consistently good thermaling with fl ying virtually every day. With 10 years of fl ying in GV we can offer bilingual guide service, USHPA hang gliding and paraglid-ing instructor, transportation, retrieval, hotel accommodations and a warm welcome at the GV airport. Limited to 4 - 6 pilots at a time to in-sure personal attention and service. Every level of pilot skill welcome. 10 days: paragliding $1500; hang gliding $2000 with your glider, or with our equipment $2500 single surface, $3000 double surface. Special airfares available plus assistance with all your travel plans. Adventure Sports Tours, (775) 883-7070, email [email protected], more info at http://www.pyramid.net/advspts.

Unidentifi ed pilot launching Whitwell during the 2007 Team Challenge


Rat ings issued during September 2007

Hang gliding ratings issued in September are on p. 72.

Rating Region Name City State Rating Offi cialP-1 1 Mike Bomstad Spokane WA Eben Von RansonP-1 1 Jim Wilkens Bend OR Kevin LeeP-1 1 Jason Wilkens Bend OR Kevin LeeP-1 1 Michael Pena North Bend WA Lawrence WallmanP-1 1 Brian Thibeault Medford OR Kevin LeeP-1 1 Guillaume Jean Anchorage AK Peter GautreauP-1 1 Michael Larosa Redmond WA Steven WilsonP-1 1 James Cecil Jr Issaquah WA John KraskeP-1 1 Ralph Ezagvi West Linn OR Maren LudwigP-1 1 Thor Prindle Kelso WA Stephen MayerP-1 1 Jared Anderson Ashland OR Kevin LeeP-1 2 David Duke San Jose CA Tim KuensterP-1 2 Rick Cavallaro Sunnyvale CA Jeffrey GreenbaumP-1 2 Juan Becerra Redwood City CA Jeffrey GreenbaumP-1 2 Joshua Marks Merced CA Chad BastianP-1 2 Eric Blum Richmond CA Jeffrey GreenbaumP-1 2 Karla Hankel San Jose CA Tim KuensterP-1 3 Tej Patel Rancho Palos Verdes CA Gabriel JebbP-1 3 Bryan Manard Makanao HI David BinderP-1 4 J.m. Thunell Logan UT Randy LiggettP-1 4 William Stoddard Congress AZ Stephen MayerP-1 4 Chris Lucero Richfi eld UT Stacy WhitmoreP-1 4 Ben Pike Orem UT Stephen MayerP-1 5 Aldo Fazio Ketchum ID Kevin HintzeP-1 6 Mariya Kim Stillwater OK David BroylesP-1 6 Clarence Olson Webster Groves MO Maren LudwigP-1 7 Chris Hughes Lansing MI William FiferP-1 7 Lukasz Sordyl Schiller Park IL Ken HudonjorgensenP-1 7 Chris Bemis Traverse City MI William FiferP-1 7 Noah Penn Montague MI Jonathan JefferiesP-1 8 Lorenzo Ramano South Egrument MA Ciaran EganP-1 9 Max Stein Lederach PA Tim KuensterP-1 9 Thomas Martin Upper Black Eddy PA Luis RosenkjerP-1 10 Ivan Douttchak Orlando FL Chad BastianP-1 11 Kelly Miller Cedar Park TX Chad BastianP-1 12 Justine Haupt Rocky Point NY Philippe RenaudinP-1 12 Tibor Koos New York NY David BinderP-1 13 Carlos Luna Tijuana Baja Califor Gabriel JebbP-2 1 Mike Bomstad Spokane WA Eben Von RansonP-2 1 Jim Wilkens Bend OR Kevin LeeP-2 1 Jason Wilkens Bend OR Kevin LeeP-2 1 David Norwood Wapato WA Douglas StroopP-2 1 Brian Thibeault Medford OR Kevin LeeP-2 1 Guillaume Jean Anchorage AK Peter GautreauP-2 1 Josh Livni Seattle WA Denise ReedP-2 1 Randall Lettau North Bend WA Douglas StroopP-2 1 John Kurtz Portland OR Denise ReedP-2 1 Armond Dubuque Leavenworth WA Douglas StroopP-2 1 Bruce Burris Sequim WA Douglas StroopP-2 1 Thor Prindle Kelso WA Stephen MayerP-2 1 Joshua Sexton Philomath OR Kelly KellarP-2 1 Mark Vancleef Lake Oswego OR Kelly KellarP-2 1 Jared Anderson Ashland OR Kevin LeeP-2 1 Mark Miulli North Bend WA Douglas StroopP-2 2 David Duke San Jose CA Tim KuensterP-2 2 Craig Roberts Lafayette CA Wallace AndersonP-2 2 George Willis Zephyr Cove NV Bill ArmstrongP-2 2 Joshua Marks Merced CA Chad BastianP-2 2 Erik Arnesen Oceano CA Hugh MurphyP-2 2 Karla Hankel San Jose CA Tim KuensterP-2 3 Jeffrey Hamann El Cajon CA Philip RussmanP-2 3 Rock Richter San Diego CA Bill ArmstrongP-2 3 Tej Patel Rancho Palos Verdes CA Bill ArmstrongP-2 3 Bryan Manard Makanao HI David BinderP-2 4 Gene Gardner Manitou Springs CO Etienne PienaarP-2 4 Robert Mcdonald Draper UT Michele McculloughP-2 4 Ludovic Simon Carbondale CO Alejandro PalmazP-2 4 J.m. Thunell Logan UT Randy Liggett

Rating Region Name City State Rating Offi cialP-2 4 Dan Slover Palisade CO Etienne PienaarP-2 4 Eunnyung Kim Rifl e CO Etienne PienaarP-2 4 David Malin New Castle CO Etienne PienaarP-2 4 Juan Sullivan Carbondale CO Etienne PienaarP-2 4 Philip Schippers Tonopah AZ Bruce KirkP-2 4 William Stoddard Congress AZ Stephen MayerP-2 4 Ben Pike Orem UT Stephen MayerP-2 5 Christopher Marcus Douglas WY Granger BanksP-2 5 Aldo Fazio Ketchum ID Kevin HintzeP-2 5 Robby Tozzi Jackson WY Scott HarrisP-2 5 Riley Rogers Bounderant WY Scott HarrisP-2 6 Mariya Kim Stillwater OK David BroylesP-2 7 Chris Hughes Lansing MI William FiferP-2 7 Lukasz Sordyl Schiller Park IL Ken HudonjorgensenP-2 7 Chris Bemis Traverse City MI William FiferP-2 7 Noah Penn Montague MI Jonathan JefferiesP-2 9 Max Stein Lederach PA Tim KuensterP-2 10 David Cavender Carnesville GA Luis RosenkjerP-2 10 Fred Macdowell Suwanee GA Luis RosenkjerP-2 10 Jose Carlos Gurman Rodas Miami FL Bill ArmstrongP-2 10 Thomas Herzog Huntsville AL Luis RosenkjerP-2 10 Ivan Douttchak Orlando FL Chad BastianP-2 11 Karl Smith Austin TX Paul GreenwoodP-2 11 She Sullivan Austin TX Paul GreenwoodP-2 11 Jeffrey Mcnutt Round Rock TX Paul GreenwoodP-2 11 James Lepard Fulton TX Bill ArmstrongP-2 11 Kelly Miller Cedar Park TX Chad BastianP-2 12 Tim Schonman Ringoes NJ Luis RosenkjerP-2 12 Justine Haupt Rocky Point NY Philippe RenaudinP-2 13 Carlos Luna Tijuana Baja Califor Bill ArmstrongP-3 1 Curt Boschek West Richland WA Denise ReedP-3 1 Mark Johnson Palmer AK William RossP-3 1 Geffrey Travis Anchorage AK Jake SchlapferP-3 1 Timothy Walsh Seattle WA Douglas StroopP-3 1 Summer Barham Ashland OR Kevin LeeP-3 1 John Mann Seattle WA Lan ChiricoP-3 2 Christophe Meyer Saratoga CA Jeffrey GreenbaumP-3 2 John Corbin Orinda CA Rob SporrerP-3 2 Nat Ely Los Olivos CA Rob SporrerP-3 2 Michael Walker San Mateo CA Wallace AndersonP-3 3 Gregory Bishop Los Angeles CA Chad BastianP-3 3 Jason Berend La Jolla CA Bill ArmstrongP-3 3 Meghan Khadija Striegel Haiku-maui HI Kevin LeeP-3 3 Allen Stewart San Diego CA Bill ArmstrongP-3 7 Robert Szczesny Franklin Pk IL Ken HudonjorgensenP-3 9 Hugh Mcelrath Hyattsville MD Laszlo LoveiP-3 9 Bernie Fullenkamp Dayton OH Etienne PienaarP-3 9 Andrew Marril Great Falls VA Bill ArmstrongP-3 11 Robert Ellis Jacksonville TX David BroylesP-3 13 Galo Borrego Guadalupe, Zacatecas Alejandro OlazabalP-3 13 Barbara Yates Tokyo Kevin LeeP-4 1 Johann Van Veelen Port Townsend WA Jebb, GabrielP-4 1 Joseph Sullivan Issaquah WA Douglas StroopP-4 2 Kurt Niznik Napa CA Ann SasakiP-4 2 Clemens Drews San Jose CA Rob SporrerP-4 3 Sean Remnant San Diego CA Bill ArmstrongP-4 3 John King San Diego CA Bill ArmstrongP-4 4 Chandler Papas Phoenix AZ Pete MichelmoreP-4 5 Colby Cox Jackson Hole WY Scott HarrisP-4 10 John Di Chiara Delray Beach FL Scott HarrisP-4 10 William Riley Parkton NC Jose CasaudoumecqP-4 13 Jeremy Hanen Vancouver Bc Rob SporrerP-5 11 R C Estes Austin TX Rob Sporrer


Paragliding Division


THERMAL NUCLEARDETECTION

THERMAL THERMAL THERMAL THERMAL THERMAL THERMAL NUCLEARTHERMAL NUCLEARNUCLEARNUCLEARNUCLEARNUCLEARNUCLEARDETECTIONNUCLEARDETECTION

www.northwing.com509.886.4605

Use yourGlider,or ourSTRATUSGlider!

North WingA.T.F.

Soaring Trike

ULTRALIGHT TRIKESHANG GLIDERS

Rating Region Name City State Rating Offi cialH-1 2 Debbie Vosevich Miranda CA Joe WeethH-1 2 Jim Jennings Moss Beach CA Michael JeffersonH-1 2 Aaron Simmons Antioch CA Patrick DenevanH-1 2 Jackie Horridge San Francisco CA Zac MajorsH-1 2 Damien Dykman San Francisco CA Zac MajorsH-1 3 Laura Tryon Los Angeles CA Lynden VazquezH-1 3 Jeffrey Tomas Northridge CA Lynden VazquezH-1 3 Christina Tomas Northridge CA Lynden VazquezH-1 3 Jay Janda San Diego CA Lynden VazquezH-1 5 Seth Warren Missoula MT Jeff ShapiroH-1 7 Joel Davisson Chicago IL Gordon CayceH-1 8 Michael Longo Danbury CT Greg BlackH-1 9 Scott Hinds Lancaster PA Adam ElchinH-1 9 Kevin Ott Carrollton OH Andy TorringtonH-1 10 Ian Theofi los Atlanta GA Gordon CayceH-1 10 Daniel Zirkin Atlanta GA Gordon CayceH-1 10 Wayne Whiteman Decatur GA Daniel ZinkH-1 10 Josiah Stephens Chattanooga TN Gordon CayceH-1 10 Kevin Roberts Chattanooga TN Gordon CayceH-1 10 Larry Prostick Lavergne TN Daniel ZinkH-1 10 Sergey Demin Alpharetta GA Gordon CayceH-1 12 John Merryman New York NY Greg BlackH-1 12 Gideon Grady-patinkin High Falls NY Greg BlackH-2 2 Will Harvey Palo Alto CA Patrick DenevanH-2 2 Debbie Vosevich Miranda CA Joe WeethH-2 2 Konstantin Othmer Los Altos Hills CA Patrick DenevanH-2 3 Peter Hill Orange CA Tammy BurcarH-2 5 Seth Warren Missoula MT Jeff ShapiroH-2 6 Jayson Holland Perryville AR Chris PriceH-2 7 Joel Davisson Chicago IL Gordon Cayce

Rating Region Name City State Rating Offi cialH-2 8 Timothy Holsbeke West Hartford CT Ben DavidsonH-2 8 Michael Longo Danbury CT Greg BlackH-2 9 John Shurte Mechanicsville VA Steve WendtH-2 10 Ian Theofi los Atlanta GA Gordon CayceH-2 10 Roberto Aleman Carolina PR Keishya SalkoH-2 10 Daniel Zirkin Atlanta GA Gordon CayceH-2 10 Wayne Whiteman Decatur GA Daniel ZinkH-2 10 Josiah Stephens Chattanooga TN Gordon CayceH-2 10 Kevin Roberts Chattanooga TN Gordon CayceH-2 10 Larry Prostick Lavergne TN Daniel ZinkH-2 10 Sergey Demin Alpharetta GA Gordon CayceH-2 11 Michael Hoffman Porter TX Jack WaltersH-2 11 Michael Williams Porter TX Jack WaltersH-2 12 Charles Elberti Rochester NY Rick BrownH-2 12 John Merryman New York NY Greg BlackH-3 2 Maya Ren Huschle Truckee CA Zac MajorsH-3 3 Todd Bloomer Sylmar CA Joe GrebloH-3 3 Jeffrey Craig Long Beach CA Joe GrebloH-3 3 John Wright Huntington Beach CA Rob MckenzieH-3 3 Janyce Collins Los Angeles CA Joe GrebloH-3 4 Shadd Heaston Draper UT Peter Cj AndersonH-3 5 Mark Hollon Riggins ID John BilskyH-3 8 Arthur Gwozdz Westford VT Jeffrey NicolayH-3 8 Robert Reynolds N Clarendon VT Jeffrey NicolayH-3 10 John Dichiara Atlanta GA Daniel ZinkH-3 10 Lucas Ridley Trenton GA Daniel ZinkH-3 10 Socrates Zayas Davie FL Daniel ZinkH-3 10 David Johnson Trussville AL Matthew TaberH-3 12 Warren Besthorne Hamburg NJ Paul Voight


Hang Gliding Division

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING RATES – The rate for clas-sifi ed advertising is $10.00 for 25 words and $1.00 per word after 25. MINIMUM AD CHARGE $10.00. AD DEAD-LINES: All ad copy, instructions, changes, additions & cancellations must be received in writing 2 months pre-ceding the cover date, i.e. January 15th is the deadline for the March issue. ALL CLASSIFIEDS ARE PREPAID. IF PAYING BY CHECK, please include the following with your payment: name, address, phone, category, how many months you want the ad to run and the classifi ed ad. Please make checks payable to USHPA, P.O. Box 1330, Colorado Springs, CO 80901-1330. IF PAYING WITH CREDIT CARD, you may email the previous information and classifi ed to [email protected]. For security reasons, please call your Visa/MC or Amex info to the offi ce. No refunds will be given on ads cancelled that are sched-uled to run multiple months. (719) 632-8300, fax (719) 632-6417.

HANG GLIDING ADVISORY: Used hang gliders should always be disassembled before fl ying for the fi rst time and inspected carefully for fatigued, bent or dented down-tubes, ruined bushings, bent bolts (especially the heart bolt), re-used Nyloc nuts, loose thimbles, frayed or rusted cables, tangs with non-circular holes, and on fl ex wings, sails badly torn or torn loose from their anchor points front and back on the keel and leading edges.

PARAGLIDING ADVISORY: Used paragliders should always be thoroughly inspected before fl ying for the fi rst time. Annual inspections on paragliders should include sailcloth strength tests. Simply performing a porosity check isn’t suffi cient. Some gliders pass porosity yet have very weak sailcloth.

If in doubt, many hang gliding and paragliding businesses will be happy to give an objective opinion on the condition of equipment you bring them to inspect. BUYERS SHOULD SELECT EQUIPMENT THAT IS APPROPRIATE FOR THEIR SKILL LEVEL OR RATING. NEW PILOTS SHOULD SEEK PROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION FROM A USHPA CERTIFIED INSTRUCTOR.

FLEX WINGS

EVEN-UP TRADES – Looking to move up from your beginner or novice glider, but can’t put up cash? (262) 473-8800, [email protected], www.hanggliding.com, http://stores.ebay.com/raven-sports.

FALCON 140 - 10 hours on this hot pink and purple beginner glider. Parachute, training wheels, helmet, ca-coon harness, and vario come with it. $2500 OBO. (316) 772-9147.

FALCON 195 & EUROSPORT 150 – Both very good condition. High Energy Sports & WW Z1 & kneehang-er training harness. For 5’10” & 175-lb. pilot. Para-chute & drogue chute. $2000 for the lot. Call Tom, (530) 233-5125, Northern California.

FALCONS CLEARANCE SALE – School use, one sea-son. Falcon 1s and 2s. All sizes $1250-$2500. (262) 473-8800, [email protected], www.hanggliding.com, http://stores.ebay.com/raven-sports.

EMERGENCY PARACHUTES

INSPECTED RESERVES – For HG or PG $199+up. Used Quantum, all sizes $475+up. Some trades accepted. [email protected], www.hanggliding.com, http://stores.ebay.com/raven-sports, (262) 473-8800.

EMPLOYMENT

NORTH WING DESIGN – is accepting applications for metal shop/wing and trike airframe mechanic. Also accepting applications for sail maker and sewing machine operator. Send application to: 3904 Airport Way, E. Wenatchee, WA 98802 or Fax (509) 886-3435 (www

.northwing.com).

HARNESSES

HARNESSES – 5’0”-6’5”. Cocoons $125+up. High Energy Cocoons $200+up, Pods $200+up. Inventory, selection changes constantly. Some trades accepted. (262) 473-8800, [email protected], www.hanggliding

.com, http://stores.ebay.com/raven-sports.

SCHOOLS & DEALERS

ALABAMAATLANTA PARAGLIDING – 20 years of experience, top instructors, top pilots and very consistent weather condi-tions all year around, make us your best choice on the East Coast. www.atlantaparagliding.com, (404) 931-3793.

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK – The best facilities, largest inventory, camping, swimming, volley-ball, more. Wide range of accommodations. hanglide.com, 877-hanglide, (877) 426-4543.

ARIZONAFLY HIGH PARAGLIDING.COM – over 10 years of experience, offers P-2 certifi cation, tandem fl ights, tow-ing, new and used equipment, the best weather to fl y in USA. (480) 266-6969.

CALIFORNIAAIRJUNKIES PARAGLIDING – Year-round excellent instruction, Southern California & Baja. Powered paragliding, clinics, tours, tandem, towing. Ken Baier, (760) 753-2664, [email protected], airjunkies.com.

DREAM WEAVER HANG GLIDING – Competitive prices, state-of-the-art equipment. Complete lesson programs. Northern California Mosquito harness dealer. Ideal train-ing hill. Tandem instruction. USHPA advanced instruc-tor Doug Prather (209) 556-0469, Modesto, California. [email protected].

EAGLE PARAGLIDING – SANTA BARBARA offers the best year round fl ying in the nation. Award-winning instruction, excellent mountain and ridge sites. www.FlySantaBarbara.com, (805) 968-0980.

FLY ABOVE ALL – Year-round instruction in beautiful Santa Barbara! USHPA novice through advanced certifi cation. Thermaling to competition training. Visit www.fl yaboveall.com, (805) 965-3733.

THE HANG GLIDING CENTER – PO Box 151542, San Diego CA 92175, (619) 265-5320.

MIKE BUTLER HANG GLIDING SCHOOL – Training hill just 30 minutes west of Yosemite National Park. Wills Wing and Flytec dealer. [email protected], (209) 742-8540.

MISSION SOARING CENTER – Largest hang gliding center in the West! Our deluxe retail shop showcases the latest equipment: Wills Wing, Moyes, AIR, High Energy, Flytec, Icaro. West Coast distributor for A.I.R. Atos rigid wings including the all-new VX Tandem Atos. Parts in stock. We stock new and used equipment. Trade-ins welcome. Complete lesson program. Best training park in the West, located just south of the San Francisco Bay Area. Pittman Hydraulic Winch System for Hang 1s and above. Launch and landing clinics for Hang 3s and Hang 4s. Wills Wing Falcons of all sizes and custom train-ing harnesses. 1116 Wrigley Way, Milpitas, CA 95035. (408) 262-1055, Fax (408) 262-1388, [email protected], www.hang-gliding.com, Mission Soaring Center, leading the way since 1973.

O’CONNOR FLIGHT SCHOOL – Specializing in Safe-ty In-Flight Training & Maneuvers Clinics and Aerobat-ic Instruction. Enhance your knowledge, increase your level of confi dence, take your piloting skills to new lev-els. Over-the-water safety and aerobatics clinics. Enleau and Ann O’Connor, www.oconnorfl ightschool.com, (530) 227-4055 and reserve your clinic.

TORREY PINES GLIDERPORT – Come soar in San Diego! This family-owned and operated fl ying site offers USHPA certifi ed instruction, advanced training, equip-ment sales, tandem fl ight instruction, motorized pg/hg instruction and site tours. We also have an extensive pg/hg outfi tting shop offering parachute repacks and full-service repairs. Bring your family for our amazing sunsets and dining at the Cliffhanger Cafe. Importers for Para-tech and Independence gliders. We also carry Aus-triAlpin, Center of Gravity, Crispi and Sup’Air. Check us out online for sales and questions at: www.fl ytorrey.com, or call toll-free at 1-877-FLY-TEAM (359-8326). Also, tune in to the Internet Paragliding Talk Show at www.worldtalkradio

.com every Tuesday 9-11:00 a.m. (PST).

WINDSPORTS – Don’t risk bad weather, bad instruction or dangerous training hills. 350 fl yable days each year. Learn foot-launch fl ying skills safely and quickly. Train with professional CFI’s at world-famous Dockweiler Beach training slopes (5 minutes from LA airport). Fly winter or summer in gentle coastal winds, soft sand and in a thorough program with one of America’s most prestigious schools for over 25 years. (818) 367-2430, www.windsports.com.

COLORADOAIRTIME ABOVE HANG GLIDING – Full-time lessons, sales and service – Colorado’s most experienced! Of-fering foot launch, tow and scooter-tow instruction. Wills Wing, Moyes, North Wing, AIR, Altair, Aeros, High Ener-gy, Finsterwalder, Flytec, MotoComm, and more sold and serviced. Call for more info (303)-674-2451, Evergreen Colorado, [email protected].


GUNNISON GLIDERS – Serving the western slope. Instruction, sales, service, sewing, accessories. Site information, ratings. 1549 County Road 17, Gunnison CO 81230. (970) 641-9315, 1-866-238-2305.

PEAK TO PEAK PARAGLIDING LLC – THE Front Range paragliding school, located in Boulder. Offering excel-lent state-of-the-art instruction. Equipment & tandems. (303) 817-0803, [email protected], www.peaktopeakparagliding.com.

FLORIDAATLANTA PARAGLIDING – 20 years of experience, top instructors, top pilots and very consistent weather condi-tions all year around, make us your best choice on the East Coast. www.atlantaparagliding.com, (404) 931-3793.

FLORIDA RIDGE AEROTOW PARK – 18265 E State Road 80, Clewiston, Florida, (863) 805-0440, www.thefl oridaridge.com.

GRAYBIRD AIRSPORTS – Paraglider & hang glider towing & training, Dragonfl y aerotow training, XC, thermaling, instruction, equipment. Dunnellon Airport, (352) 245-8263, email fl [email protected], www.graybirdairsports.com.

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK – Nearest moun-tain training center to Orlando. Two training hills, novice mountain launch, aerotowing, great accommodations. hanglide.com, 877-hanglide, (877) 426-4543.

MIAMI HANG GLIDING – For year-round training fun in the sun. (305) 285-8978, 2550 S Bayshore Drive, Co-conut Grove, Florida 33133, www.miamihanggliding.com.

QUEST AIR – #1 site for US competition & the big-gest fl ights on the East coast. No-wait, 1-on–1 lessons from fi rst tandem to advanced XC training. Towing 8am-sunset everyday. All amenities including on-site accommo-dations, time-honored clubhouse, pool, hot tub and private lake. Demos, rentals, sales, storage & repairs. Minutes from Orlando in Groveland, FL. Phone (352) 429-0213, fax (352) 429-4846, www.questairforce.com, [email protected], 1-877-FLY-QUEST.

WALLABY AEROTOW FLIGHT PARK – Satisfaction Guar-anteed. Just 8 miles from Disney World. Year-round soaring, open 7 days a week, six tugs, no waiting, every direction. 50+ nice demos to fl y, topless to trainer gliders: Laminar, Moyes, Wills, Airborne, Airwave, Exxtacy, La Mouette, Sen-sor; also harnesses, varios, etc. Ages 13 to 73 have learned to fl y here. No one comes close to our level of experience and success with tandem aerotow instruction. A great scene for family and friends. 10 motels & restaurants with-in 5 minutes. Camping, hot showers, shade trees, sales, storage, ratings, XC retrievals, great weather, climbing wall, trampoline, DSS TV, ping pong, picnic tables, swimming pool, etc. Flights of over 200 miles and more than 7 hours. Articles in Hang Gliding, Kitplanes, Skywings, Cross Coun-try and others. Featured on numerous TV shows, includ-ing Dateline NBC, The Discovery Channel & ESPN. Visit us on the Web: http://www.wallaby.com. Please call us for references and video. 1805 Dean Still Road, Disney Area, FL 33837 (863) 424-0070, phone & fax, fl y@wallaby

.com, 1-800-WALLABY. Conservative, reliable, state-of-the-art. F.H.G. INC., fl ying Florida since 1974.

GEORGIAATLANTA PARAGLIDING – 20 years of experience, top instructors, top pilots and very consistent weather condi-tions all year around, make us your best choice on the East Coast. www.atlantaparagliding.com, (404) 931-3793.

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK – Discover why 5 times as many pilots earn their wings at LMFP. En-joy our 110-acre mountain resort. www.hanglide.com, 877-hanglide, (877) 426-4543.

HAWAIIFLY HAWAII – Hawaii’s hang gliding, paragliding/paramotoring school. Mauna Kea guide service. Most ex-perience, best safety record. Big Island of Hawaii, Achim Hagemann, (808) 895-9772, www.aircotec.net/fl yhawaii

.htm, fl [email protected].

ALOHA! ISLAND POWERED PARAGLIDERS/THER-MALUP PARAGLIDING – The Big Island’s only choice for USHPA certifi ed instruction. Both free fl ight and powered tandems year round. DVD of your fl ight included. One-on-one lessons from our private oceanside launches and training facilities. Contact Yeti, (808) 987-0773, www

.ThermalUp.com or www.IslandPPG.com. Aloha!

PROFLYGHT PARAGLIDING – Call Dexter for friendly in-formation about fl ying on Maui. Full-service school offer-ing beginner to advanced instruction every day, year round. (808) 874-5433, paraglidehawaii.com.IDAHO

IDAHOKING MOUNTAIN GLIDERS – Alluring site plus shop supplying all your HG/PG needs. Instruction, equipment sales, complete accessories. Visit our Web site www

.kingmountaingliders.com or (208) 390-0205.

INDIANACLOUD 9 SPORT AVIATION – See Cloud 9 in Michigan.

MAINEDOWNEAST AIRSPORTS – Paragliding & hang glid-ing instruction using tandems & scooter towing for easy safe learning. Quality equipment sales. www

.downeastairsports.com, [email protected], Marc (207) 244-9107.MARY

MARYLANDHIGHLAND AEROSPORTS – Baltimore and DC’s full-time fl ight park: tandem instruction, solo aerotows and equipment sales and service. We carry Aeros, Airwave, Flight Design, Moyes, Wills Wing, High Energy Sports, Flytec and more. Two 115-HP Dragonfl y tugs. Open fi elds as far as you can see. Only 1 to 1.5 hours from Rehoboth Beach, Baltimore, Washington DC, Phila-delphia. Come Fly with US! (410) 634-2700, Fax (410) 634-2775, 24038 Race Track Rd, Ridgely, MD 21660, www.aerosports.net, [email protected].

MARYLAND SCHOOL OF HANG GLIDING – Sales, ser-vice, instruction since 1976. Specializing in foot launch. www.mshg.com, (410) 527-0975. Proudly representing Wills Wing & Moyes.

MICHIGANCLOUD 9 SPORT AVIATION – Aerotow specialists. We carry all major brand hang gliders and accessories. Cloud 9 Field, 11088 Coon Lake Road West, Webber-ville MI 48892. [email protected], http://members.aol

.com/cloud9sa. Call for summer tandem lessons and fl y-ing appointments with the Draachen Fliegen Soaring Club at Cloud 9 Field. (517) 223-8683, [email protected], http://members.aol.com/dfscinc.

TRAVERSE CITY HANG GLIDERS/PARAGLIDERS – Put your knees in our breeze and soar our 450’ sand dunes. Full-time shop. Certifi ed instruction, beginner to ad-vanced. Sales, service, accessories for ALL major brands. Visa/MasterCard. 1509 E 8th, Traverse City MI 49684. Offering powered paragliding. Call Bill at (231) 922-2844, [email protected]. Your USA & Canada Mos-quito distributor. www.mosquitoamerica.com.

NEW YORKAAA E-VILLE OUTFITTERS, MOUNTAIN WINGS INC. – Aeros, North Wing (845) 647-3377, mtnwings@verizon

.net, www.evilleoutfi tters.com, Ellenville, N.Y.

FLY HIGH, INC. – Serving New York, Jersey, and Con-necticut areas. Area’s exclusive Wills Wing dealer. Also all other brands, accessories. Area’s most INEXPENSIVE prices! Certifi ed instruction/service since 1979. Excellent secondary instruction! Taken some lessons? Advance to mountain fl ying! www.fl yhighhg.com, (845) 744-3317.

SUSQUEHANNA FLIGHT PARK COOPERSTOWN NY – 40-acre fl ight park, 160’ training hill with rides up. 600’ ridge-large LZ. Specializing in fi rst mountain fl ights. Dan Guido mailing address 293 Shoemaker Rd Mohawk NY 13407 Home (315) 866-6153, cell (315) 867-8011, [email protected].

NORTH CAROLINAATLANTA PARAGLIDING – 20 years of experience, top instructors, top pilots and very consistent weather condi-tions all year around, make us your best choice on the East Coast. www.atlantaparagliding.com, (404) 931-3793.

KITTY HAWK KITES – FREE Hang 1 training with pur-chase of equipment! The largest hang gliding school in the world. Teaching since 1974. Learn to fl y over the East Coast’s largest sand dune. Year-round instruction, foot launch and tandem aerotow. Dealer for all major manu-facturers. Ultralight instruction and tours. (252) 441-2426, 1-877-FLY-THIS, www.kittyhawk.com.

OHIO

CLOUD 9 SPORT AVIATION – See Cloud 9 in Michigan.

PUERTO RICOFLY PUERTO RICO WITH TEAM SPIRIT HG! – Flying tours, rentals, tandems, HG and PG classes, H-2 and P-2 intensive novice courses, full sales. (787) 850-0508, [email protected].


SOUTH CAROLINAATLANTA PARAGLIDING – 20 years of experience, top instructors, top pilots and very consistent weather condi-tions all year around, make us your best choice on the East Coast. www.atlantaparagliding.com, (404) 931-3793.

TENNESSEEATLANTA PARAGLIDING – 20 years of experience, top instructors, top pilots and very consistent weather condi-tions all year around, make us your best choice on the East Coast. www.atlantaparagliding.com, (404) 931-3793.

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK – Just outside Chattanooga. Become a complete pilot – foot launch, aerotow, mountain launch, ridge soar, thermal soar. hanglide.com, 877-hanglide, (877) 426-4543.

TENNESSEE TREE TOPPERS – #1 club in Ameri-ca. Home of the world famous Radial Ramp; great XC, easy launch, huge LZ. Just north of Chattanooga. www

.treetoppers.org.

TEXASAUSTIN AIR SPORTS – Hang gliding and ultralight sales, service and instruction. Steve Burns, (512) 236-0031, [email protected]. Fred Burns, (281) 471-1488, [email protected], WWW.AUSTINAIRSPORTS.COM.

GO...HANG GLIDING!!! – Jeff Hunt. Austin ph/fax (512) 467-2529, jeff@fl ytexas.com, www.fl ytexas.com.U

UTAHCLOUD 9 PARAGLIDING – Come visit us and check out our huge selection of paragliding gear, traction kites, ex-treme toys, and any other fun things you can think of. If you aren’t near the Point of the Mountain, then head to http://www.paragliders.com for a full list of products and services. We are Utah’s only full-time shop and repair fa-cility. Give us a ring at (801) 576-6460 if you have any questions.

REVOLUTION FLIGHT SCHOOL – with Bill Heaner and the Revolution Instructor Team. Closest paragliding school to the Point of the Mountain! Learn true wing mastery from some of the greatest instructors in the world. We of-fer P-1 through P-4, tandem fl ights, instructor certifi cation, tandem certifi cation, over-the-water courses, paramotor instruction, guided tours and a full-service shop within fi ve minutes of the Point of the Mountain. Campground, shopping and hotel accommodations within walking dis-tance of our shop. Contact Bill Heaner, 800-707-2525, [email protected], to get on our schedule. www

.rpmppg.com/school/facility. VIRGIN

VIRGINIABLUE SKY – Full-time instruction at Blue Sky Flight Park near Richmond. Scooter, platform and aerotowing available. All major brands of equipment, with Mosquitos and Doodlebugs in stock. Steve Wendt, (804) 241-4324, www.blueskyhg.com.

WASHINGTONAERIAL PARAGLIDING SCHOOL AND FLIGHT PARK – Award-winning instructors at a world-class training facility. Contact Doug Stroop at (509) 782-5543 or visit www.paragliding.us.

WISCONSINFREEFLIGHT AVIATIONS – The Midwest’s largest hang gliding school. Using both aerotow tandem and on-site training hill, 7 days a week, April through November. For the traveling hang glider pilot, rental equipment is avail-able. (920) 728-2231, tommy@freefl ighthanggliding.com, Freefl ightAviations.com.

WYOMINGJACKSON HOLE PARAGLIDING – A perfect fl ying day: Launch the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort Aerial Tram in the morning, tow at the Palisades Reservoir in the afternoon. Contact: [email protected], www.jhparagliding.com, (307) 690-TRAM (8726).

INTERNATIONAL

COSTA RICA – Grampa Ninja’s Paragliders’ B&C (bed and coffee). We offer rooms and/or transportation and guide service. Lessons available from USHPA certifi ed instructors. Open January through April. United States: (908) 454-3242. In Costa Rica: (506) 877-5604 (Janu-ary through April). www.paraglidecostarica.com.

BAJA MEXICO – La Salina: PG, HG, PPG. www.FLYLASALINA.com. by www.BAJABRENT.com. He’ll hook you up! Site intros, tours, & rooms. [email protected], (760) 203-2658.

MEXICO – VALLE DE BRAVO and beyond for hang gliding and paragliding. Year-round availability and special tours, Gear, guiding, instruction, transportation, lodging – all varieties for your needs. www.fl ymexico.com, 1-800-861-7198 USA.P

PARTS & ACCESSORIES

ALL HG GLIDERBAGS, harness packs, harness zippers and zipper stocks. Instrument mounts and replacement bands. Mitts, straps, fabric parts, windsocks, radios. Gun-nison Gliders, 1-866-238-2305.

BIG EARS PTT – $99.95. Includes speaker and micro-phone, radio connection, sealed fi nger switch. Choose the full-face or the open-face model. www.bigearsptt.com, (805) 965-3733.

CRITTERMOUNTAINWEAR.COM – your one-stop Web site for paraglider equipment and accessories. You can fi nd a full line of backpacks, stuff tarps, fl ight suits, cloth-ing, GPS and vario holders, fl ight decks, ballast contain-ers, radio holders, tow bridles, windsocks, boots, helmets, hook knives, varios, wind speed meters and much, much more. Everything you need to have the ultimate day fl ying your paraglider. Critter Mountain Wear also imports and distributes lightweight wings and harnesses from Nervures. 1-800-686-9327.

FLIGHT SUITS, FLIGHT SUITS, FLIGHT SUITS, Warm Flight suits, Effi cient Flight suits, Light-weight Flight suits, Flight suits in twelve sizes. Stylish Flight suits. www

.mphsports.com, (503) 657-8911.

FOR ALL YOUR FLYING NEEDS – Check out the Avia-tion Depot at www.mojosgear.com featuring over 1000 items for foot-launched and powered paragliding, hang gliding, stunt and power kiting, and powered parachutes. 24/7 secure online shopping. Books, videos, KITES, gifts, engine parts, harness accessories, electronics, clothing, safety equipment, complete powered paragliding units with training from Hill Country Paragliding Inc. www

.hillcountryparagliding.com, 1-800-664-1160 for orders only. Offi ce (325) 379-1567.

GLIDERBAGS – XC $75! Heavy waterproof $125. Acces-sories, low prices, fast delivery! Gunnison Gliders, 1549 County Road 17, Gunnison CO 81230. (970) 641-9315, orders 1-866-238-2305.

HALL WIND METER – Simple. Reliable. Accurate. Mounting brackets, control-bar wheels. Hall Brothers, PO Box 1010, Morgan, Utah 84050. (801) 829-3232, www

.hallwindmeter.com.

MINI VARIO – World’s smallest, simplest vario! Clips to helmet or chinstrap. 200 hours on batteries, 0-18,000 ft., fast response and 2-year warranty. ONLY $169. Mallettec, PO Box 15756, Santa Ana CA 92735. (949) 795-0421, MC/Visa accepted, www.mallettec.com.

OXYGEN SYSTEMS – The world-class XCR-180 operates up to 3 hours @18,000 feet and weighs only 4 lbs. Com-plete kit with cylinder, harness, regulator, cannula and remote on/off fl owmeter, only $450. 1-800-468-8185.

PARA SUPPLY – Flight suit $130, PTT $49, radio 5 watts+PTT $129, fl ight deck/backpack $45, fast-packing tube “Cocoon” $39. www.parasupply.com.

RISING AIR GLIDER REPAIR SERVICES – A full-service shop, specializing in all types of paragliding repairs, annual inspections, reserve repacks, harness re-pairs. Hang gliding reserve repacks and repair. For infor-mation or repair estimate, call (208) 554-2243, pricing and service request form available at www.risingair.biz, [email protected].

TANDEM LANDING GEAR – Rascal™ brand by Raven, simply the best. New & used. (262) 473-8800, www.hanggliding.com, [email protected], http://stores.ebay.com/raven-sports.

WHEELS FOR AIRFOIL BASETUBES – WHOOSH! Wheels™ (Patent Pending), Moyes/Airborne & Wills Wing compatible. Dealer inquiries invited. (262) 473-8800, www.hanggliding.com, [email protected], http://stores.ebay.com/raven-sports.

WINDSOKS FROM HAWK AIRSPORTS INC – 1673 Corb-in Lake Rd, Rutledge, TN 37861, 1-800-826-2719. World-famous Windsoks, as seen at the Oshkosh & Sun-N-Fun EAA Fly-Ins. [email protected], www.windsok.com.


PUBLICATIONS & ORGANIZATIONS

*NEW* AND THE WORLD COULD FLY – And the World Could Fly tells the story of how piloting for the masses became a possibility and then a reality. This is a tale of free fl ight in every sense of the term. Edited by Stéphane Malbos and Noel Whittall, And the World Could Fly con-tains contributions from many parts of the world as well as much new writing. Together, the editors have more than fi fty years of undiminished enthusiasm for foot-launched fl ight. And the World Could Fly is produced by the Interna-tional Hang Gliding and Paragliding Commission (CIVL) to celebrate the centenary of FAI. It is a book which will ap-peal to anyone with an interest in free fl ight, whether an old-stager who can remember the early California days or a newcomer who wonders where it all came from. Call USHPA 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www

.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901.

BIRDFLIGHT – Otto Lilienthal’s genius in scientifi c obser-vations and analysis, documented in this work, became the basis for the experimentation of the early pioneers in aviation. The “hero” of the Wright brothers, Otto is considered to be “The Father of Gliding Flight.” Lilienthal’s defi nitive book has been out of print for almost a centu-ry, but is now available to everyone for a wonderful and absorbing journey into aviation history. 176 pages, 16 photographs, 89 drawings and 14 graphs. $19.95 (+$5 s/h) Call USHPA at 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901.

*NEW* CLOUDSUCK: The Life and Death Struggle for the Hang Gliding World Record. Davis Straub tells the story of the dramatic 10-year race to fl y “farther than anyone has ever gone in a hang glider.” From the historic 1990 fl ight that fi rst broke the 300-mile barrier, through 10 years of adventure and challenge, this is a fi rst-hand account of the driven individuals who struggled against each other and against nature to set the next hang gliding world dis-tance record. $17.95. Call USHPA 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901.

*NEW* CONDOR TRAIL, PARAGLIDING THE CENTRAL ANDES – the guidebook to paragliding and trav-eling in the Central Andes. It’s packed with 256 pages of maps, site descriptions, local lore, free-fl ight contacts and photos, all the information you need to plan your own Andean paragliding adventure. Most of the launch and landing access throughout the Andes is done with cheap public transportation. Condor Trail gives you bus routes to catch, areas to avoid, traveler tips, and contacts for the local fl ying communities throughout Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Northern Argentina, and Northern Chile. Call USHPA at 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www


FLY THE WING! HOOKING INTO HANG GLIDING – By Len Holms. This is the perfect book for those curious about the sport of hang gliding. Written at a level that will not swamp the reader with a daunting amount of tech-nical details, you will learn about hang glider wings and the skills needed to fl y them. 84 pages with photos and illustrations. $12.95 (+$5 s&h). Call USHPA at 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901.

SOARING – Monthly magazine of The Soaring Society of America Inc. Covers all aspects of soaring fl ight. Full membership $64. SSA, PO Box 2100, Hobbs NM 88241. (505) 392-1177, ssa.org.

REAL ESTATE

OWN 10 OR 20 ACRES NEXT TO PARAGLIDING/HANG GLIDING SITE in beautiful Flagstaff, AZ. Pris-tine property with wide-open views. To view go to www

.northernarizonamls.com. Enter listing #s 123164, 123165, or 125465. Call Debra White, Dallas Real Estate, (928) 853-0761.

GORGEOUS 2.5 ACRES in Flagstaff. Surrounded by beautiful homes with access to national forest. Close to town yet only minutes to paragliding and hang gliding. Call Debra White at Dallas Real Estate, (928) 853-0761.

CUTE 3 BEDROOM 2 bath with 2-car garage on 1 acre horse property in Flagstaff. Has been rented for $1450/month. Only $279,900. Call Debra White at Dallas Real Estate, (928) 853-0761.

VIDEOS & DVDS

VIDEOS FROM USHPA – WWW.USHPA.AERO

*NEW* BROKEN TOE ACRO – Broken Toe Acro is a full instructional-encyclopedia for paragliding SIV and acro maneuvers. Each chapter is six to 14 minutes and con-tains descriptions of the maneuver, explanation on how to (and how not to!) perform it, as well as in-fl ight examples from many simultaneous camera angles. All instruction and narration is by Enleau and Ann O’Connor, leading ex-perts in Safety-in-Flight training. Two hours and 40 min-utes running time! Call USHPA, 1-800-616-6888, or or-der off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero, or via snail mail, PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901.

*NEW* DARE DEVIL FLYERS – The 94-minute digital video docupicture covers all thirty years of hang gliding and all seventeen years of paragliding. It begins with the Bob and Chris Wills story – they founded Wills Wing, the only surviving American manufacturer/dis-tributor of hang gliders and paragliders. Two legendary pilots guide the audience through these extreme sports with their narrative. The docupic features competition in the extreme sports of aerobatic hang gliding, speed hang gliding and high-altitude cross-country paragliding. Wing-mounted POV cameras provide the docupic with an in-the-air thrill ride from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacifi c coast. Narrator Bobby Carradine threads us through the three decades. Call USHPA at 1-800-616-6888 or or-der off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901.

*NEW* FLYING OVER EVEREST – Follow the antics and adventures of the late Angelo D’Arrigo and his efforts to fl y a hang glider over the summit of Mt. Everest. Call USHPA 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901.

*NEW* FLYING WITH EAGLES – In 2005, twice world champion Louise Crandal had enjoyed her fi ll of competi-tions and now wanted to move on to new challenges. Af-ter visiting Scott Mason in Nepal, she became enthralled with the possibility of training and fl ying with an eagle at home in Europe. Call USHPA 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colo-rado Springs CO 80901.

*NEW* FRESH AIR RIDERS – The Fresh Air crew have won awards at the Banff Mountain Film Festival for their ability to convey the spirit of the adventure sports they document. Call USHPA 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901.

*NEW* INSTABILITY 2 DVD – Bruce Goldsmith’s new fi lm is set to become the new benchmark in SIV instruc-tion. In 1992, the Airwave designer co-presented “Insta-bility,” a fi lm which helped thousands of paraglider pilots gain insight into tips and tricks learned by the profession-al test pilots. $41.95. Call USHPA 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901.

*NEW* NEVER ENDING THERMAL – This DVD is an “Endless Summer” for the free-fl ying generation. The ac-tion-packed documentary features the adventures of Ven-ezuelan pilots Herminio Cordido and Jorge Atramiz as they embark on an around-the-world paragliding odys-sey. $41.95. Call USHPA 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901.

*NEW* PARAGLIDING: GROUND HANDLING TECH-NIQUES – From the team that brought “Paragliding: Learning to Fly,” arguably the best instructional fl ying DVD for new pilots currently available, comes an in-depth and up-to-date study of the black art of ground handling. Call USHPA 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www


*NEW* PARAGLIDING: LEARN TO FLY DVD – This DVD brings to life many of the hard-to-visualize concepts which are so important for us to understand, like airfl ow around hills and mountains, turbulence and convergence, dynamic and thermic lift, plus aerodynamics like lift and drag, speed to fl y and so on. The production team have spent months on the 3D animation and video sequenc-ing. $44.95. Call USHPA 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901.

*NEW* PARAHAWKING – Nestled in the heart of Nepal’s foothills, and set against the backdrop of the majestic Hi-malayas, the city of Pokhara has played host to a remark-able story. Call USHPA 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901.

*NEW* PERFORMANCE FLYING DVD – When it comes to making paragliding fi lms, Jocky Sanderson doesn’t pull any punches. The suave Englishman’s slick production skills were fi rst evidenced in his debut fi lms, “Security in Flight” and “Speed to Fly.” Jocky’s latest fi lm, produced with Ozone’s test team, hones in on the fi ner piloting skills of fl ying XC, acro and SIV. $42.95. Call USHPA 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901.


*NEW* RED BULL X-ALPS DVD – Red Bull X-Alps 2005 fi nishes in Monaco! This stunning DVD features over 70 minutes of footage, including pilot interviews and wild POV camera angles. $41.95. Call USHPA 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901.

RISK & REWARD – By Jeff Goin. This 70-min. DVD ex-poses the risks and rewards of powered paragliding in a fun, action-packed adventure. You owe yourself this in-side look that could easily save your life. Three years in the making, Risk & Reward gathers wisdom from a long list of instructors. Spectacular video from around the world sheds light on essential concepts with clarity and realism. $29.95. Order yours at www.ushpa.aero/store.

*NEW* SPEED/SECURITY DVD – “Speed to Fly” and “Security in Flight” are two great fi lms designed to help you progress in paragliding, packed with stunning air-to-air footage. $48.95. Call USHPA 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901.

USHPA MAGAZINE ARCHIVE 1971-2004 – The DVD set holds the history of our sport, from the earliest days of bamboo and plastic to the present. Within these pages you’ll fi nd the evolution of foot-launched fl ight from the fi rst days of bamboo dune-skimmers to the modern va-riety of hang gliders, paragliders and rigid wings. Each PDF fi le is one complete magazine, just as originally pub-lished. Pages with color are produced as color scans, the rest scanned as black and white images. Future issues will be available on an update disk. Each disk includes Adobe Acrobat Reader Version 7 for Windows, Macintosh and Linux systems. $30 for members and $90 for non-members. Call USHPA at 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901.

MISCELLANEOUS

“AEROBATICS” POSTER – Full color 23”x 31” poster featuring John Heiney doing what he does best-LOOPING! See www.ushpa.aero under store/misc for example. Available through USHPA HQ for just $6.95 (+$5.00 s/h). USHPA, PO Box 1300, Colorado Springs CO 80933. (USA & Canada only. Sorry, posters are NOT AVAILABLE on international orders.)

*NEW* APPAREL – NOW AVAILABLE: T-shirts, fl eece vests, fl eece jackets, denim shirts, polos, base-ball caps, fl eece hats & fl eece blankets. Call USHPA 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901.

DVDS-VIDEOS-BOOKS-POSTERS – Check out our Web store at www.ushpa.aero.

WORLDWIDE INTERNET PARAGLIDING TALK SHOW – WWW.WORLDTALKRADIO.COM. Listen live or to the archives! Live Tuesday 9-11:00 a.m. (PST). Call toll-free, 1-888-514-2100 or internationally at (001) 858-268-3068. Paraglider pilots and radio hosts David and Gabriel Jebb want to hear about your stories, promo-tions/events or insight; they also take questions!

STOLEN WINGS & THINGS

GPS GARMIN 76 CSX – The last day of the Rat Race, after the tracklog information was downloaded, someone picked up my GPS from the table. It has white tape in the upper left corner with my pilot number 326 written on it. If you discover this GPS in your possession, please con-tact me at USHPA. Martin, 800-616-6888. I borrowed the GPS from a friend, so it would be an enormous relief to have it returned.

GRADIENT ASPEN – My paraglider equipment was sto-len from my vehicle on November 7th in San Diego, Cal-ifornia. The wing was a red, gradient Aspen 26m, SOL Large CX harness, SOL 33 CELL reserve, Ozone red and gray backpack. REWARD, no questions asked, $250 or please contact me with any information regarding the equipment. David Thulin, [email protected] or (307) 690-5792.

STOLEN FROM THE ANDY JACKSON AIRPARK CALIFORNIA, May 14, 2007. Falcon 195 #25038. Sil-ver leading edge, red bottom surface, white trailing edge. Contact Rob or Dianne through www.fl ytandem.com or (909) 883-8488.

WW XC 155 – White upper surface, white l.e., assy-metric blue and green lower surface with XC logo. Chris Smith Cloudbase pod harness, purple. Lee full-face hel-met, red. Flytec 4030 Race with airspeed. Taken from TTT Henson Gap LZ late afternoon Wednesday, June 5, 2007. Dan Shell at [email protected], (423) 949-6912, or (423) 667-9457.

STOLEN FROM 15263 STEEP MT. DRIVE, DRAPER, UTAH – October 2007: Longboard (Sector Nine Luna); OZONE Peak PG, blue/white/blue, size S, serial #KS-E-40-013; Sup’Air Altiplume harness size S; Reserve parachute, GIN T2, in deployment bag with oh shit on handle; Petzl rock-climbing helmet, light blue with marmot stickers; NOVA Ibex 17m kite, red, serial #36013; GIN Speedfl yer harness; OZONE Frenzy 11m kite, red/black/white; BMX bike, Kona Ku Ku, black; GIN 4.5m yel-low/white/red. If any of this is found, please contact Lori Fitzgerald, [email protected].

STOLEN IN MEXICO, LATE NOVEMBER: Niviuk Hook paraglider, XXS (45-65Kg) wing, orange and white, serial number C20664; Ava Sport XS harness, blue and black; Firebird R5 S reserve parachute. If you have any informa-tion about this equipment please contact Vinda Levy, [email protected], +52(312)3097665 (owner, in Mexico) or Arturo Espinosa Aldama, [email protected].

STOLEN WINGS ARE LISTED AS A SERVICE TO USHPA MEMBERS. NEWEST ENTRIES ARE IN BOLD. THERE IS NO CHARGE FOR THIS SERVICE, AND LOST-AND-FOUND WINGS OR EQUIPMENT MAY BE CALLED IN TO (719) 632-8300, FAXED TO (719) 632-6417, OR EMAILED TO [email protected] FOR INCLUSION IN HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE. PLEASE CALL TO CANCEL THE LISTING WHEN GLIDERS ARE RECOVERED. PERIODICALLY, THIS LISTING WILL BE PURGED.

Taken at the 2007 Team Challenge

Phot

os: S

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INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

MARKETPLACEADVENTURE PRODUCTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71FLY HIGH PARGLIDING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71, 72FLYTEC USA GPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71FLYTEC USA THERMAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71KITTY HAWK KITES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71MOYES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72MPH SPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72NORTH WING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71PARASUPPLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72USHPA BOOKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71USHPA STICKERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71USHPA XC AWARD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

CLOUD 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6DEIMOS PARAGLIDING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11FLY GUATEMALA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20FLYTEC USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80FOUNDATION FOR

FREE FLIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16HIGH ENERGY SPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48NORTH WING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24O’CONNOR FLIGHT SCHOOL . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50OZONE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2SKY WINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44SPORT AVIATION PUBLICATIONS . . . . . . . . 19SSA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34SUPER FLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55THERMAL TRACKER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35TRAVERSE CITY HG & PG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36USHPA APPAREL & MERCHANDISE . . . . . . . 37USHPA BANK OF AMERICA CARD . . . . . . . . 79USHPA CALENDAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47USHPA CALL FOR CALENDAR PHOTOS . . . . .31USHPA CONTRIBUTING MEMBER . . . . . . . . 27USHPA DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58USHPA RENEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22WILLS WING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

I was a child of the fi fties, but really, a product of the sixties. Those decades brought some rather diffi cult times for this nation. I remember one such aspect of the times because of the beach my family used to frequent. Besides the fun times, the fast boats, the skiing, the BBQs, and the sun, there was a dark side. One Sunday at the beach (we always went after church), there was a line waiting to get past the dude we had to pay. The long line was caused by the beach owner and a group of people trying to get into the beach. Soon, that carload of people left. I never saw them again. When my family fi nally arrived at the booth to pay, I remember that my dad asked what the problem was. The answer: The folks in that car were the wrong color. I also remember that I asked my dad why that was a problem. And then, I remember the answer all too well.

“Would you want to swim with them?”Fast forward to a few years ago, around

2000. I was just learning to paraglide, and was pretty much a P-nothing. All I wanted to do was scope out some places to fl y. I went to one site that, I was told, was very popular with hang glider pilots. There, I met a couple of the nicest people. And on that same day, I met pilots who would not even shake my hand because I was a bag pilot. Their words:

“This is a hang gliding mountain.” Their intent: “Would you want to fl y with them?” Suddenly, it was 1960.

Jump to a couple of months ago. I com-

mented in a group meeting that I would like to join this particular hang gliding club. (Remember that I am a bag pilot.) A member of that particular hang gliding club said that if I went to all the meetings and participated with the group I would probably be welcome. A member of my own club said, “How would you like it if hang glider pilots wanted to join our club?” I found myself wondering how many of the hang glider pilots who were reg-ular members of their clubs don’t go to all the meetings and don’t participate. I wondered what would be wrong with hang pilots joining our club. And I was wondering again if I was just fl ying the wrong color of wing and if I had just been told, like those folks at the beach so long ago, to mind my place.

It boggles my mind that those same feel-ings about pilots of different wings are still so often expressed. It bewilders my imagi-nation to hear those words that should have been eradicated from our fl ying vocabulary long ago. We often choose to fl y wings of a different color. But the fact is we all choose to fl y. Some of us are bigger and slower, and can’t fl y as far. But we can still turn circles with hawks and eagles. We can still hit base. We can still fl y cross-country. Inside, we are the same. We are all pilots who want noth-ing more than the sound of wind in our lines, the feeling of absolutely nothing beneath our boots, and, occasionally, to smile at the eagle at our wingtip.

Jump back to my conversation about join-

ing the hang gliding club. It seems to me many of us do what we can do to rid ourselves of those wing prejudices. Some simply choose not to be prejudiced. Some are biwingual. I would think that a club that welcomed both hang glider and paraglider pilots would be a huge success and could do much to further the progress of foot-launch aviation. And in that regard, I believe that the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association has made that tremendous leap of progress. That organization has recognized that the basic needs of all foot-launch pilots are very simi-lar, and it has accepted the responsibility of facilitating those needs. They have done that in the face of severe criticism and prejudice. And, in the face of that criticism, the associa-tion has continued to improve who they are and what they do for all of us.

We are getting better, though, as time moves forward. Clubs often host fl ying events that serve all foot-launch wings. As pilots, we seem to enjoy each other’s com-pany. Even on our own, we often fl y together. I have on several occasions been privileged to fl y that “hang gliding” mountain with two hang pilots. (Darn! Those guys are fast!) But for many, it’s just time to grow up, to get over our differences and accept them. It’s high time for us to work together, to grow strong together, and to fl y together.

The Wrong Color of WingBy Steve Messman, staff writer

I was a child of the fi fties, but really, a product of the sixties. Those decades brought some rather diffi cult times for this brought some rather diffi cult times for this

mented in a group meeting that I would like to join this particular hang gliding club. (Remember that I am a bag pilot.) A member (Remember that I am a bag pilot.) A member

Pilots of all wing colors play together at Utah’s Point of the Mountain.

Phot

o: C

hris

Gib

isch


hang gliding & paragliding vol38/iss01 jan 2008

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