hang gliding & paragliding vol44/iss07 jul2014

1HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

JULY 2014 Volume 44 Issue 7 $6.95

2 HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

http://flyozone.com

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.

SUBMISSIONS HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine welcomes editorial submissions from our members and readers. All submissions of articles, artwork, photographs and or ideas for articles, artwork and photographs are made pursuant to and are subject to the USHPA Contributor's Agreement, a copy of which can be obtained from the USHPA by emailing the editor at [email protected] or online at www.ushpa.aero. HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine reserves the right to edit all contributions. We are always looking for well written articles and quality artwork. Feature stories generally run anywhere from 1500 to 3000 words. 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. 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], (516) 816-1333.

ADVERTISING ALL ADVERTISING AND ADVERTISING INQUIRIES MUST BE SENT TO USHPA HEADQUARTERS IN COLORADO SPRINGS. All advertising is subject to the USHPA Advertising Policy, a copy of which may be obtained from the USHPA by emailing [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 offices.

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

COPYRIGHT Copyright (c) 2014 United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc., All Rights Reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission of the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc.

Martin Palmaz, [email protected]

Nick Greece, [email protected]

Greg Gillam, Art Director [email protected]

C.J. Sturtevant, Copy Editor [email protected]

Beth Van Eaton, Advertising [email protected]

Staff Writers

Christina Ammon, Dennis Pagen, C.J. Sturtevant

Ryan Voight

Staff PhotographersJohn Heiney, Jeff Shapiro

Hang gliding and paragliding are INHERENTLY DANGEROUS

activities. USHPA recommends pilots complete a pilot training

program under the direct supervision of a USHPA-certified

instructor, using safe equipment suitable for your level of

experience. Many of the articles and photographs in the

magazine depict advanced maneuvers being performed by

experienced, or expert, pilots. These maneuvers should not be

attempted without the prerequisite instruction and experience.WARN

INGON THE COVER, Nelson Freeman

and Thomas Punty flying down the Wasatch during the non-supported traverse of the

Rockies. More info: www.xrockies.com | photo by Nick Greece. MEANWHILE,

Soaring Inkler's Point in Northeast Washington | photo by Steve Baran.

YEARSof

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FLIGHT PLAN

PILOT BRIEFINGS

AIRMAIL

PSYCHOLOGY

CENTERFOLD

RATINGS

CALENDAR

CLASSIFIED

THE 1

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8

10

11

34

59

60

62

66

16

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JULY 2014

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Soaring and Touring South Africa

A dream vacation comes true

by C.J. Sturtevant

The Azores

Island beauty from above

by Jon Stallman

Birds in Paradise

Salute to a good friend

by George Ferris

Walt's PointLegendary site of the High Sierra

by Lawrence Mace

The Boy Who Flies...and eats food, water and dreams

by Christina Ammon

HG401: Advance Tips & TechniquesFly-on-the-wall Landings

by Ryan Voight

Crabbing It InThe Secret to Crosswind Landings

by Tom Webster

Thinking Outside the BlocksPart VII: The Good, the Bad & The

Paper Bag

by Dennis Pagen

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FLIGHT PLAN

I was recently visited by Nelson Freeman and Thomas Punty, who were halfway through their X-Rockies project: flying,

hiking, and camping from Jasper, Canada to Albuquerque, New Mexico. They had hit a large patch of rain over the following weeks and had walked about 400 miles to get to Jackson, Wyoming, where they had shipped some of their gear. Their ability to suffer was surely impressive, but it was their excitement for any flight that was contagious and inspiring. They were just as thrilled about a sled ride at the South Side of Point of the Mountain as they were to fly 50 miles through the Wasatch. This “ joie de vol” attitude is something that should win awards, be celebrated with multiple cheers, and have a place in all our free-flight fancies. All flights are created equal, from short hops to aerobatic loops to cross-country distance. Along those lines, if you have any flights that should be featured in this magazine, please send them in!

The July issue starts with an important briefing regarding a new service provided by USHPA that can help check the status of pilots flying at USHPA-insured sites! If you can send a text, you’ll get one back listing the pilot’s status, ratings, and appointments among other things to ensure that your site will stay protected for the coming years.

Patrick McGuinness is back with another great piece looking into the mental aspects of flying. This work focuses on flying perfor-mance as it relates to emotional intelligence and intuition.

Lawrence Mace got in touch with the USHPA magazine to send in an epic tale from the pioneering days in the Owens Valley. When someone says, “There I was, flying big air at Walts Point in 1978,” you should listen. These guys were the top guns

who brought our sports to where they are today. With more than 50 hundred-mile flights spanning 30 years, it was an honor to get Lawrence’s piece, especially with USHPA’s 40th anniversary this year.

Christina Ammon is back with an interview of Godfrey Masauli, the star of the documentary The Boy Who Flies. Canadians Benjamin Jordan and Erica Dobie had set out to help build a community center, and paragliding center, in Malawi and Godfrey was their first Malawian student. Check out their program at www.schoolofdreams.org.

C.J. and George Sturtevant recently returned from a paragliding trip to South Africa and have written an article that an-swers the question, “ Can you fly and tour in South Africa without a guide?” Jon Stallman reports back from the Azores with another far-off travel destination for the intrepid paraglider pilot. This volcanic chain of is-lands resting 800 miles from Portugal, hosts an annual paragliding festival put on by an incredibly friendly group of local pilots.

George Ferris re-submitted in an article that ran many years ago, as a tribute to a fallen friend. “Birds In Paradise,” about flying hang gliders in Hawaii, is a pulse-rais-ing tale of some of the early days of adven-ture flying in Kauai’s three-million-year-old Waialeale Valley,

Finally, Ryan Voight is back with another technique piece about fly-on-the-wall land-ings, and Tom Webster reports on how best to set up an approach while crabbing into the wind.

Hopefully the season is in full swing wherever you may be, and you are enjoying every flight regardless of length, duration, or complexity.

LEFT Flying tandem in Haiti for the Cloudbase Foundation. Erica Lloyd enjoys the lesson. Photo by Nick Greece.

http://www.schoolofdreams.org


USHPA MOBILE MEMBER INFOUSHPA has a new quick and easy

method for verifying pilot member-

ship and rating status right at the flying

site—all you need is a cellphone. If

you can send a text message, you can

instantly verify that a pilot is an active

USHPA member with the required rating

for your site. Simply text their member-

ship number to 719-387-4571.

You will receive a text message

showing:

- Member Number and Pilot Name

- Status (Current/Expired) and

Membership Expiration Date

- Highest Ratings (e.g. H2 / P3)

- Any Instructor Appointments

The text does not display any special

skills, however it does provide a link

to the full member record on USHPA’s

mobile-friendly member-information

page. If you have a smartphone with

data service you can view a more

complete listing at www.ushpa.org/

m/<membernumber>.

This new service makes it easier than

ever to confirm that the pilots flying

your sites are current and qualified—

even when their USHPA cards are left at

home or in the car in the LZ.

VESTPAC RADIOPACThe RadioPac is the latest addition to

the VestPac line. This Pac is a work-

horse, designed to hold up well in every-

day use. It features a universal radio

WORLD'S SMALLEST BLUETOOTH VARIOFlight Bandit’s new vario is one the

world’s smallest Bluetooth varios,

offering Android-based, touch-screen

functionality and a standalone audio

vario in a single package.

Flight Bandit is a collaboration

between two paraglider pilots, Kiwi

Gareth Hordyk and American Mark

Edwards, who met while studying in

London. Gareth says, “We decided

on a vario several years ago, but the

technology wasn’t quite ready. With

Android entering the scene, we’ve

been able to redefine how a vario

works by tapping into the amazing

hardware and software available on

phones today.”

With a user interface designed

to be simple and fun to use both in

flight and post flight, the Flight Bandit

vario boasts features like configurable

screen colors and layouts, custom

vario sounds, and flight logs that

can be viewed and shared from the

phone.

Flight Bandit Pod & software is

available for $149, including free ship-

ping, and may be ordered by visiting

www. http://flightbandit.com.

PILOT BRIEFINGS

harness, extra large vented chest pocket,

two additional utility pockets, a pen

holder, and a keychain holder. On top of

all that, it comes with VestPac’s renowned

3D Airmesh climate-control system and a

built-in hydration reservoir.

The patented flexible harness system

will ensure all-day comfort and breath-

ability. The water on the back, and gear

on the chest balance perfectly, improving

posture and reducing back and neck pain.

It will fit virtually any radio system and is

constructed using heavy-duty Cordura

nylon, so you know it can take a beating.

Includes a one-liter BPA-free reservoir

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box. The high-flow hose and 360-degree

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This Pac is slim enough to wear

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For more info, go to http://vestpac.com/.

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Martin Palmaz, Executive [email protected]

Beth Van EatonOperations Manager & Advertising

[email protected]

Eric Mead, System [email protected]

Ashley Miller, Membership [email protected]

Julie Spiegler, Program [email protected]

USHPA OFFICERS & EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Rich Hass, [email protected]

Ken Grubbs, Vice [email protected]

Bill Bolosky, [email protected]

Mark Forbes, [email protected]

REGION 1: Rich Hass, Mark Forbes. REGION 2: Jugdeep Aggarwal, Josh Cohn, Jon James. REGION 3: Corey Caffrey, Dan DeWeese, Alan Crouse. REGION 4: Bill Belcourt, Ken Grubbs. REGION 5: Josh Pierce. REGION 6: David Glover. REGION 7: Paul Olson. REGION 8: Michael Holmes. REGION 9: Felipe Amunategui, Larry Dennis. REGION 10: Bruce Weaver, Steve Kroop, Matt Taber. REGION 11: David Glover. REGION 12: Paul Voight. DIRECTORS AT LARGE: Ryan Voight, Bill Bolosky, Steve Rodrigues, Dennis Pagen, Jamie Shelden. EX-OFFICIO DIRECTOR: Art Greenfield (NAA).

The United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association Inc. (USHPA) is an air sports organization affiliated with the National Aeronautic Association (NAA), which is the official 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.

For change of address or other USHPA businesscall (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.

SEND US YOURCALENDAR PHOTOS.

2015 is the year of YOU.

Because you're awesome!

Go to www.ushpa.aero/calendarproject.asp for details.

SAFE PILOT AWARDSUSHPA’s 5-Diamond Safety Awards for 5000 consecutive safe flights!

#94563 Maedeh Moghimi

#94562 Seyed Hamid Amidi Namin

#94561 Seyed Majid Amidi Namin

For more information on how to apply for safe pilot awards go to http://www.

ushpa.aero/forms/Form_Safe_Pilot_Application.pdf

JULY 13-20 KING MOUNTAIN GLIDER PARK SAFARIFree annual Idaho event just east of Sun Valley. Paragliders, hang gliders, sail-

planes, and self-launching sailplanes are all welcome. Awesome glass-off and

cloudbase at 18,000’. Fly to Montana or Yellowstone. Wave window. Campfire,

potlucks, star gazing, hiking, mountain biking and fishing. Free camping at

the glider park. Big air and big country! Lions, tigers, and bears…oh my! Spot

locator with tracking function or equivalent required. Call John at (208) 407-

7174. See the pictures from prior Safaris in our gallery. For film clip about the

event, search YouTube “King Mountain 2011 Safari.”

http://www.ushpa.aero/calendarproject.asp

DeAR eDItoR, After reading Ryan Voight’s nice article on VGs, I feel compelled to supply the missing info on what gliders used the outboard VG system. Most people seem to call this a “cam” VG; even though there is no cam and the defining component looks like a bell crank to me.

Juan Corral invented this system. In his words: “Yes, I did design the CAM VG system while I was working at Moyes. It was during the development of the first topless prototype. I felt that there was the need for a VG system that would not move the spars to ten-sion the sail.

“I first installed it on my Xtralite 147.While I was test flying it at Stanwell Park someone looked inside the double surface and later described it to the Duncan brothers at Airborne. While Moyes did not think the idea was worth implementing at the time, it was Airborne who came up with the first production glider with the CAM VG; the glider was called the SHARK.

“Moyes only let me incorporate it in their Sonic 190, which I designed for them later that same year.

“It was during the time I worked at La Mouette in France in 1989 that Gerard Thevenot asked me to develop a way to get rid of slack wires on VG-off, not just for the inconvenience but for structural reasons, poor bracing and poor bracing geometry under negative loads. It was then that I started to think about it, but it was a decade later when I finalized it.”

Keep the good articles coming, Ryan.

Upward wishes, John Heiney

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by Patrick McGuinness

Flying downwind with the gaggle, you begin to feel uneasy. The cloud ahead of you, on course line,

is starting to overdevelop. You glide in the direction of two pilots circling underneath it.

A slight feeling of dread creeps in, a visceral sensation comes with it and a mental image of the pilots getting sucked into the cloud washes over you. A double take reveals they are, in reality, still circling beneath the cloud. You dismiss this idea, labeling it as an over reaction. Reason takes over and you begin to rationalize. “These are proven and experienced competition pilots. It must not be as bad as it looks from here,” you tell yourself.

As you get closer to the cloud, you notice the beating of your heart and decide you’re close enough. Aiming for the edge, and pulling in for speed you hope to skim it. Your friend and veteran competition pilot flies in below you, showing no signs of hesitation. He doesn’t seem concerned either. You second-guess yourself—“It must be me. Why am I so freaked out?” You over-ride your urge to bail out and hang in there a moment longer.

Unable to see the two pilots ahead of you on course line, you feel a surge of adrenaline and adjust your angle to leave the lift. Those pilots didn’t seem

worried about the decreased visibility when they hit the edge of the cloud. “Why can’t I see them on glide? It seems like they should be on course line, just ahead of me.” Judging those thoughts, you come to the following conclusion, “I just have to get used to it, this is a com-petition. I shouldn’t worry so much.”

Almost to the edge of the cloud, you’re coming up short, a few wisp-ies float by. That sick feeling in your stomach returns, stronger this time. You stuff the bar and expect to bust out the side of the cloud. Instead of gaining control, you feel a rush of cold air and clutch the bar as things go quiet. You’re in the white room, and your airspeed feels like it’s slowed to a stall.

A sudden gust hits you from the side; your input seems to do nothing. You’re in a flat spin when the move-

ment changes. Without visual reference you’re not sure if you’re upside down, right side up or in a slipping turn. A flash of light catches your attention. You aim for where you think it came from. You hold a mental representation of it and use “the force” to will yourself toward it.

Holding this course is the only plan you have right now. Suddenly, the flash appears again. You’re hopeful. It comes again more clearly this time. Bursting out of the white room you’re momentarily blinded by a reflection off the large lake to the south. “I made it! Thank God!” A warm fuzzy sensation spreads from the center of your body to your arms and legs. You re-orient your self to the courseline, pull in the VG and power onto glide.

WHY NOT FOLLOW MY INTUITION?You can probably relate to over-riding your own intuition. The mild sense of dread, the surge of nausea, the image of pilots getting sucked into the cloud,

PSYCHOLOGYAIRMAIL

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these are impulses or messages of emo-tion. This is your intuition speaking to you. Will you listen to it or dismiss it? The use of that information in your decision-making is emotional intel-ligence.

When you take a second look and see that the two pilots are still beneath the cloud, you’re using facts and logic to weigh against the alarming signals you’re getting from the emotional part of your brain. Deliberation, between logic and intuition, eventually leads to a decision. Will you go with your reason or your gut? In this situation, the pilot dismisses intuition and bases her deci-sion mostly on logic.

Debriefing with the other pilots at the end of the day, she discovered that she was not the only one in that cloud. The two pilots she imagined getting sucked up into the cloud were, in the moments to follow, actually in the cloud with her. Logic told her she was safe,

but the feeling in her gut told her that she wasn’t. The image was actually logic working with the emotional impulses to fast-forward and play out likely sce-narios. In the end, she wished she had listened more to her intuition.

WHAT IS INTUITION?Mike Barber, describes intuition this way: “You come to a fork, on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. You haven’t been to this place in 10 years and you don’t remember which road to take. You pause, and then you go left. How did you choose to go left? You used your intuition.”

Mike tells students that between thermals and in light conditions it’s important to use your intuition and act based on feeling the glider’s behavior and reacting with the goal of reducing sink and maximizing lift.

How well you can accurately de-termine what you’re feeling and how

well you use that information in your decision-making is emotional intel-ligence.

When it comes to intuition, the subconscious is hard at work, label-ing hazards and sending signals to the thinking part of the brain. If you try to describe the experience, you might come up short. “I saw the power lines and I was like, whoa!! Then I looked at the field next to it and I was like, yah! So I landed in that field.” This doesn’t exactly delineate the use of logic and reasoning from intuition. To better un-derstand the difference, let’s take a look at what science tells us about the topic.

INTUITION, RISK AND THEORYIn her book The Psychology of Risk, Glynis Breakwell, PhD, explains that we have a way of measuring emotion to events and objects by “tagging them” or rating the emotional significance. People refer to these “tags” when assess-

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ing risk. The rating you assign to them depends on a number of factors, among them your emotional state, how signifi-cant you believe the hazard is, and past experiences similar to the present.

It’s as if you rate the intensity of the emotion on a scale from 0 to 10. You see a hazard—power lines—in close proximity to your landing. The impulse is a feeling of dread. It measures at a 6 while you start to map out an approach. Then you look at a field with fewer ob-stacles. Feelings of dread measure out at a 1 or 2. Given only these two options, you’ll choose the second option.

INTUITION FOR SELF-PRESERVATIONIn addition to logic and sensory data, humans evaluate risk using intuitive emotional reactions. Without realizing it, most people make decisions about risk based on negative feelings, such as, dread, worry and regret. Put simply, when evaluating LZs and making a decision on where to land, the tractor in

field “A” is not only recognized intel-lectually as a hazard, your brain also ac-tivates a feeling of dread, which weighs into your decision to choose field “B.”

An advanced pilot was faced with a similar situation. He saw that his friends all landed in the field without the power lines. It was the obvious choice but it just didn’t feel right. He knew it didn’t make any sense but he felt more comfortable just taking precautions to avoid the power lines and landed in the first field.

He landed safely, packed up and walked over to the field where his friends landed. The first thing he saw was a flagpole, with no flag, right in the middle of the field. It blended in to its surroundings, making it almost impos-sible to see. Two of the pilots didn’t see the pole until they were on final glide and one pilot broke a down tube trying to avoid a collision with it.

One way to develop your intuition is through increasing awareness of your

physical sensations and emotions. Peak-performance training and emotional-intelligence coaching help boost your awareness and improve your ability to access your intuition when you fly. You can begin mental training on your own by noticing your own thoughts and feel-ings as they happen.

This is a form of intuition that experienced pilots use to make deci-sions. You don’t “think” it, you “feel” it. Intuition complements good logic and helps hang glider pilots like Paris Williams, Johnny Durand and Linda Salamone choose lines that other pilots don’t see in the midst of a competition, sometimes resulting in being the first or only pilot to arrive at goal.

Intuition is an understanding, a sens-ing or knowing that is beyond conscious awareness. Researchers discovered that highly intuitive people make decisions quickly, often unable to identify a ratio-nale. In other words, they know they’re right, they just can’t easily explain why

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they’re right or how they came to the correct answer. Despite their lack of explanation, they’re just as accurate as those who can “show their math” and tell you how they got the answer.

Linda Salamone is one of those pilots that get the right answer so often, it’s clear there’s something to it. Yet, if you ask Linda for the secrets to her success, she’ll try to convince you it’s all luck. When interviewed, Linda’s mod-esty makes her more likely to volunteer mishaps than accomplishments. In fact, the first-person perspective, used in the opening vignette, is Linda’s account of getting sucked into a cloud during a competition while she wrestled with facts and feelings. The facts however, show that there’s something to her flying ability that has made her such a strong pilot for so long.

USING INTUITION TO WINLinda is the Women’s National Hang Gliding champion. She’s known for her independence as a pilot. Linda doesn’t rely on a gaggle the way many competi-tion pilots do. Mitch Shipley explains,

“She’s confident to leave the pack and make her own decision. The fact that she flies light on her glider may contrib-ute to her independent style of decision-making. This independent style may also be a characteristic of a pilot that relies more heavily on intuition.”

Intuition is a result of emotional

impulses that are part of decision making. Being able to attend to these impulses and use the information to make decisions is intuition. Sharpening your intuitive process serves to improve your emotional intelligence.

At a competition in Texas, Linda watched as competitors left the gaggle on final glide. Her intuition told her to be patient and not to follow. It was a light-lift day and the instruments indicated goal was within reach.

Linda explains, “I couldn’t see goal and it just didn’t feel right.” The instru-ments showed it was doable and the other competitors decided to go on glide with the pack. “I just had to be patient and I kept turning, even when I was in zero lift.” As it turned out, her competitors sank out one mile from goal and Linda floated over them to win the day.

Mitch Shipley points out that ther-maling better than her competition and making the most of light days is what Linda excels at. “She can, and does, rely on feel.”

How you incorporate feelings into your decision-making is part of intuition. It defines emotional intel-ligence, which is an important factor in achieving success in all aspects of life. Your ability to use emotions in the decision-making process will make you a better pilot.

USE OF INTUITION IN FREE FLIGHTIntuition can be used to detect and avoid danger. It’s also used to enhance performance. For example, you might feel uneasy or even a little nauseous when you perceive danger, even when you have no hard facts to suggest the presence of danger. Intuition is about being aware of sensations and listening to your emotions, letting answers come to you rather than driving the process with the use of deduction or analysis. Successfully acting on your intuition can serve you well in competition.

For example, when you have a sense that perhaps a lift line is forming, you get excited. Your optimism builds and you’re compelled to test your prediction. Part of this process is about analyzing facts and using logic but there’s also a grey area. Perhaps you’re not exactly sure why you’ve chosen the heading you have but then you find the line no one else can.

Mathematical calculations from an instrument are helpful but not nearly as powerful as the human brain at synthe-sizing information and using judgment to make a decision. This means that the best strategy is using a combination of logic and intuition.

When you make a decision, you use calculations as a reference, then you decide what to do with the information. You also collect data from sources other than pure fact and integrate the infor-mation with reason. Physical sensations and emotions are an integral part the decision-making process.

Emotionally intelligent pilots use intuition well. Your ability to integrate emotional and sensory information with logic determines how good you are at making decisions. This way, your in-tuition can still access information from the emotional centers in your brain and incorporate that information meaning-fully into decision-making.

Rather than judging your thoughts and feelings, simply notice the impulses as they arise. Notice which impulses you act on and take note of the outcome. Before long, you’ll begin to see a pattern that will help you access your intuition and create a wining strategy.

Patrick McGuinness is the new owner of Wings Over Wasatch at the Point of the Mountain in Utah. He’s also a sport psychology and life coach at Mountain View Performance Coaching. For more information contact him at WingsOverWasatch.com or at MountainViewPerformanceCoaching.com.


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For many, perhaps most, hang glider pilots, a typical flying day consists of driving to a daily take-

off site, setting up the glider, launching to fly for an hour or so near takeoff, landing in the site LZ, breaking down, and driving back up to takeoff or being retrieved by a transport vehicle. After habitually enjoying this routine for several years in Southern California, I discovered there could be far more to hang gliding. And by more, I decided, I meant cross-country adventure! For XC pilots, the mantra is “Get high

and go far,” the higher and the farther the better, with flight time, route, and landing location open!

True cross-country experience oc-curred for me in 1978 at Bishop in the Owens Valley, 270 miles northeast of Los Angeles. The Owens is narrow, 150 miles long, situated amid steep 11,000’ “walls”—on the west side, the lofty Sierras, and on the east side, the Inyo and White Mountains. The Central Valley town of Bishop was known then as perhaps the most famous locale in the world for cross-country hang gliding,

where local pilots Don Partridge and Tom Kreche led other enthusiasts.

Gunther is a prominent 6000’-verti-cal takeoff, located on the east side of the valley above Bishop. My first flight from Gunther introduced me to a new kind of air, a new kind of flight. The thermals come in all varieties—large, small, strong, weak— and often are far apart and difficult to locate. Valley air movement is typically from the south, but often differs, depending on the direction or even each side of a thermal. One veteran pilot explained, “The most

by LAWRENCE MACE

Walt's Point


dangerous thing you can do in hang gliding is land any place in the Owens about 3:00 p.m. on a summer after-noon!” On a final landing approach, a thermal might bubble up directly ahead. A wind indicator ribbon can show mod-erate wind straight in, then suddenly change to the opposite, downwind, as wind passes through the thermal. Even though a pilot is anticipating this, when landing with excess air speed and a maximum flair, a safe landing may become difficult, even impossible. Great adventure!

After I took off and climbed above 14,000’, the thermal maxed out. Without suitable experience, my reac-tion was to head out mid-valley toward Highway 6, searching for another thermal. Surprise! During 15 minutes of losing altitude all the way, I found no workable lift, but plenty of time to select a friendly place to land. Two hundred feet over the highway, a light, little thermal finally began to form, provid-ing enough lift to maintain altitude for 10 minutes before becoming stronger, making it possible for me to climb into what became a “boomer.” Fifteen min-utes later, I was back above 14,000’—an outstanding thrill in my young hang gliding life! Rather than immediately heading out again, my route went north five miles along the mountain ridge, and, finally, out for an easy, exuberant land-ing. What a day!

Inyo White Mountain Peak, only 100 feet lower than the 14,700’ West Sierra valley-side Mount Whitney (the highest peak in the continental US) is 70 miles south. Its frontal vertical is just north of Gunther takeoff. The face of White Mountain has a “resident thermal” that over the years has been my source of thrills many times. The thermal ride reliably ascends at 2000 fpm, as if I’m holding a turbulent tiger by the tail. Being tossed upward into the thermal core feels as if my glider might climb end over end. Of course, the ther-

mal core is surrounded by sink, 2000 fpm down. When thermaling with a fellow pilot who is outside the core, his glider appears to fall out of the sky, and I resolve it’s far better inside the core!

A strong “Sierra wave” sometimes develops along the east side of the Owens. The wave once lifted my glider uncontrollably to a 23,000’ altitude above the Whites. How do I get down? Steep turns and “heading out” were to no avail. Finally, the solution arrived: Fly north along the ridge of the Whites for 15 miles to land in Nevada.

During the middle of the day, the wind in the Owens is often strong southwest. In 1973, pilot Jerry Katz launched west from the Inyo-side Cerro Gordo, 70 miles south of Bishop. His story: A storm chased him north up the central Owens past Bishop, clear to the Nevada border. He landed at “Janie’s House of Ill Repute” (Katz mistakenly called it “Betty’s”). Distance flown was 103 miles, the first 100-mile flight in the Owens, and a world distance record!

Directly west across the Owens, from the eastern Inyo valley side Cerro Gordo, Mt. Whitney towers above the town of Lone Pine. Back in 1978, pilots ordinarily did not launch from the Sierra western valley side. Mid-day wind from the west over the Sierras generally made takeoffs difficult and unwise. But such takeoffs soon became increasingly common. How and why?

Whitney Portal Road leaves Lone Pine, climbing west several miles to the hikers’ parking lot at the base of Mount Whitney. Halfway up Whitney Portal, a left turn headed south leads up Horseshoe Meadow Road, regional access to a high Sierra camping and parking area for horseback adventure, north along the Sierra rim to Yosemite and beyond. For 30 years, I traversed that road across breathtaking switch-backs that took me up 9000 feet to perhaps the world’s greatest cross-coun-try hang glider takeoff, Walt’s Point. It

http://www.littlecloudusa.com


became the center for my hang gliding world. It was said that from there a flight less than 100 miles was not a good day. My “good days” eventually totaled more than fifty 100-mile flights!

Friend Karl Stice said he was first to launch east, from the end of the lowest Horseshoe Meadow road switchback. (My first flight from the Walt’s Point road summit was early, but not first.) In early mornings, there is typically little air movement. As sunshine begins to warm the valley, light air moves up the southeast-facing ridge, providing enough lift for launch. From the roadside, one can first see bushes moving far below, then movement indicating light lift progressing upward and, finally, passing the launch. With longer and stronger cycles, a 30-minute launch window occurs. Soon after, air usually begins to move downward from the west, behind launch; launching becomes difficult, then impossible. Choosing the best moment to launch becomes an art.

Looking right from the launch, a high ridge progresses down below launch level, then upward from a low point, and higher still to a ridge top. After launch, behind this south-facing ridge low-point, the first workable thermal of the day often lurks. If there is no thermal, a pilot must find lift down along the north side of the ridge, with less and less probabil-ity of success farther out. Perseverance up to an hour may pay off. If/when

finally it does, you’ll go “up and away,” north above take-off.

Long Owens Valley flights gener-ally run north from Walt’s Point up the Sierras, cross the valley near Big Pine to the south end of the White Mountains, then north up the Whites to Nevada, and, eventually, east as far as possible. North of Walt’s Point, the Sierras have parallel south-facing ridges. Each ridge descends from the 12,000-foot east-facing Sierra rim. During the best days, it is possible, but unusual, to fly above 12,000 feet for 30 miles north, “run-ning the rim” north. Usually, however, a strategy that works well is to start near the top of each ridge and fly fast through sink between ridges, arriving as high as possible at the next ridge. By mid-morning, thermals lurk along the south-facing sides of each ridge. Success requires working up each ridge then crossing to the next. Each ridge becomes its own flying site for whatever time is required. But any ridge can become the end of the day’s flying. After a long lack of progress near a ridge bottom, a final desperate option may be to fly directly to the bottom of the next ridge, with a rare successful outcome. It is then necessary to head out for a place to land.

My most frightening hang gliding

experience: The roughest hang glid-ing air in the Owens, perhaps even the world, can be encountered crossing Onion Valley. Kearsarge Peak ridge extends east from the Sierras down into the Owens and provides the south wall of Kings Canyon. The top of Kings Canyon is also the top of the Onion Valley, which descends east from its highest point down to the town of Independence.

Strong mid-day wind from the west often meets obstructions at the top end of Kings Canyon, blasting upward. Once, my ridge-working strategy was to progress high above Kearsarge Peak, starting across Onion Valley. When entering a thermal, a glider’s nose moves

upward, while the rear of the glider is still in the sink surrounding the thermal. In an exceptionally strong thermal, the nose can rise uncontrollably until the glider moves 90 degrees vertical to a full stall. The glider then begins a “tail slide,” backward and downward. Now, the glider nose comes down hard to begin a continuous multiple forward “tuck and tumble” sequence with the only hope of survival becoming to throw a chute.

Precisely all this happened that day over Kearsarge, in a mother of all strong, rowdy thermals. A plan I’d considered ahead of time became my quick reaction when I started the tail slide: violently shove the control bar to an extremely hard left turn. The glider did a wingover right to upside-down, but without my falling into the sail. The glider then began a dive straight down to a final slow pullout, a thousand feet lower. It was the scariest thrill of my hang gliding life. A sled ride to Independence pro-vided an adrenaline-overload recovery. Standing on solid ground never felt better!

Successful ridge working leads to a final Sierra ridge, climbing above Tinemaha Peak. The purpose in going there is to get high, in order to cross the valley to the White Mountain Range. Experience teaches that one must reach a 14,000-foot minimum altitude leaving Tinemaha to reliably reach beyond the central valley. Black Mountain is at the south end of the White Mountain Range. The town of Big Pine is at the west end of the valley, between the ends of the Whites and the Inyos. The goal in crossing the Owens is to arrive at the base of Black Mountain high enough to get up Black, and continue north. My first six crossing attempts failed, each putting me on the ground just west of Black.

Then a successful strategy occurred to me: my secret, often shared with others. Air moving north up the Owens turns and flows a bit east between the ends of the Inyos and Whites. If one

For 30 years I traversed that road across

breathtaking switchbacks that took me up 9000 feet

to perhaps the world's greatest cross-country

hang glider takeoff...


can approach Black from its east side, even low, chances greatly improve for getting up Black to continue north. From Tinemaha Peak, the key is to head directly toward the north end of the Inyos, working lift carefully to main-tain altitude over fields and the Owens River, then fly north to the east-side base of Black. This discovery marked a turning point in my hang gliding life, becoming a successful route over the years with almost every crossing. From Black, it usually was not difficult then to work north up the Whites to the Nevada border and beyond, for a hundred-mile flight.

A crucial asset for cross-country flying is a good driver/partner. Over the years, my student/friend Chris Smith and I often drove to the Owens on Friday nights. One of us would fly on Saturday, the other, on Sunday. Often, we both were successful. With good radio communication, a driver can stay ahead of a pilot, scout landing areas, provide wind direction informa-tion and emergency assistance; never go anywhere without one! Advanced pilots Chris Price, Karl Stice and Dino Dinaso also were frequent Owens flying partners. But flying for me often included an Advanced Hang-2 flight lesson at Bishop or elsewhere, even Walt’s Point. It was great to get a quali-

fied, low-experience student off in the early morning for a sled ride, before the air became rowdy. Many of my students became excellent pilots and Owens Valley enthusiasts.

In June of 1987, I experienced the best of my cross-country flying. Take-off on a Monday from Walt’s Point was before 10:00 a.m. with great weather, and Jeff Locke as chase driver! Larry Tudor, all-time best cross-country hang glider pilot, got into the air about the same time; incredibly, Larry is often able to “stay up,” when nobody else can! A hundred miles north to Nevada was not difficult, but weather became spooky near Boundary Peak at the north end of the Whites. There was strong turbu-lent west wind, with snow at altitude, extreme and challenging fun!

Years of hearing “two lefts and a right” provided my route prescription: Follow Highway 6 into Nevada, at the first major intersection, go left; at the second, go left again; and at the third; go right. Flying this distance took the entire day, several times I almost “lost it.” Shortly after 8:00 p.m. I landed into darkness at Gabbs, Nevada, more than 10 hours and 170 miles from launch. An Australian flier took off from Walt’s Point that same day after having specified Gabbs for a world distance-to-goal attempt; he got the record. Larry

Tudor, also on that day, flew north from Boundary Peak in the Whites, and landed 35 miles north of Austin, Nevada, a new world distance record of 243 miles. My flight on Wednesday of that same week, with Chris Smith driv-ing, was once again 10 hours, landing at Gabbs for two consecutive 170-mile flights in three days.

About this time, Larry Tudor predicted that the first 300-mile cross-country hang glider flight would be from New Mexico, with a strong tailwind through Oklahoma. In July of 1990, he achieved just that, a distance-to-goal record from Hobbs, New Mexico, across Oklahoma to Elkhart, Kansas, over 300 miles. His record held for many years. A 2013 email perspec-tive arrived recently from Larry: “Over time I realized that distance records over the flats amount to not much more than sitting on a very windy flagpole. Managing the difficulties of the Sierras and White Mountains and still having energy to venture out over the Nevada desert is much more satisfying. I wish I’d known about your trick for getting up on Black Mountain!” The world distance record currently has increased to 475 miles.

So, what is hang gliding? For me, the epitome of the sport is a cross-country flying day at Walt’s Point!


We don’t often get guests from Malawi at Woodrat Mountain in Oregon, so when I heard that Godfrey Masauli, star of The Boy Who Flies, was going to be in the neighborhood, I jumped at the chance to host

him. He and the film crew, Benjamin Jordan and Erica Dobie, would be busy screening their movie and leading kite-building workshops at local schools, but I was persistent: An exotic guest! It was winter —so I couldn’t promise the crew good flying—but I could deliver a decent dinner.

The Boy Who Flies toured the US this fall, drawing crowds in Santa Barbara, Bend and beyond. The award-winning documentary follows Benjamin as his instincts lead him to Malawi with the idea of teaching kids to build kites. While there, he meets Godfrey, who’d always dreamed of flying. Benjamin teaches him to fly a paragliding wing while the two tour the country on bikes, build kites with kids, and practice ground-handling along the way.

It sounds a lot like fate, doesn’t it? After completing a record-setting paramotor flight across Canada, Benjamin was looking for his next project. After a life-long desire to fly, Godfrey wished for an instructor. But attributing it all to “fate” doesn’t give enough credit to ether of them, who trusted the power of following dreams and hunches.

“You have to tell people your dream,” Godfrey repeats over and over again like a mantra. If this sentiment seems frivolous and a bit lofty in the context of a country afflicted with hunger and HIV, Godfrey disagrees. His hierarchy of needs is clear: food, water, and dreams. Frivolous are the self-flushing toilets that terrified him when he arrived at the US airport, or the electric carts that tired shoppers steered down the grocery aisles at Food Lion. But dreams: dreams are not frivolous.

I was vexed: What would my Malawian guest want to eat for dinner? My usual fare of creamy pasta dishes seemed like they might be too foreign-tasting. It occurred to me to Google-up some basic Malawian reci-

pes, but I then thought better of it: Certainly any rendition I’d pull off would be a pale imitation to the food he knew so well. So, I opted for vegetable lasagna, which was a bit exotic, but in my entire life I’d never met anyone who didn’t like it.

The crew came over after a crispy, cold sled ride off

The Boy who Flies...and eats food, water and dreams.

B Y C H R IS T I N A A M MON

ABOVE Godfrey and instructor Kevin Lee blow bubbles to test the wind direction atop Woodrat Mountain.

“When I came here I had a fear of meeting other pilots—that they would judge me,” Godfrey explains. “But

they are always friendly and share and are helpful.” Photo by Benjamin Jordan/TheBoyWhoFlies.com


Woodrat Mountain. They looked tired—they’d been on tour for a while and had taught several kite-building workshops that same day. Still, Godfrey’s smile energized the room.

After some chat and hors d’oeuvres, we sat down for dinner. It turns out that Godfrey will eat anything. His time in the US was a culinary adventure as much as a flying one. “Ninety-nine percent of the food I’ve never even tasted,” he said, eyes wide. Sushi was his favorite and most memorable meal. For someone whose home custom is to eat with his hands, eating with chopsticks proved a puzzle. “It made me appreciate the distance between the hand and the mouth,” he recalls.

While he had the chance, Godfrey was seizing the oppor-tunity to eat whatever he could get his mouth on. As he ate with great gusto each piece of salami, each cracker, I realized for myself how amazing it all was. The combo of lettuce, apples, walnuts and blue cheese especially impressed him. Who knew a salad could be so exhilarating?

Back in Malawi, the food Godfrey eats is much simpler: a rather plain-sounding staple called Nsima which is corn flour thickened with hot water and then eaten with bare

hands. To eat chicken is a special occasion—“like Christmas.” Termites, caterpillars and grasshoppers are also seasonal deli-cacies, as are mice. But even in the face of all this American food, Nsima—ordinary as it is—fills a special place in him. Especially his mom’s version. He tapped his heart: “Nsima fills me like nothing can fill me.”

One of the main shocks during his trip to America was seeing all the excess. In terms of consumption he observed, “One person here equals eight people in Malawi.” He la-mented that all the abundance had distorted our perspective on the value of things: Big cars with only one person in them, and perfectly good food thrown in the garbage. “I want to say, Please, I will eat it!”

But what does all this talk of food have to do with para-gliding?

Godfrey likes to share this one story, and he shared it over dinner that night between ecstatic bites of lasagna. He once met an English couple and their young boy and asked them, “What are his dreams?”

They shrugged. He didn’t have any dreams. This felt strongly

ABOVE Interviewing Godfrey during his visit to Woodrat. Photo by Benjamin Jordan/TheBoyWhoFlies.com


symbolic to him and is a sort of metaphor for the waste he sees around him. Americans, he feels, have this buffet of opportunities and resources spread before them—schools, teachers, books, equipment—but not always strong dreams. In Malawi, it is the opposite: There is a famine of opportuni-ties, but an abundance of dreams.

Godfrey’s dream hatched early on, when his uncle used to sit him on his knee and tell him the story of how the Wright brothers invented powered flight. Godfrey looked up to his uncle, who was one of the first black men to fly airplanes in Malawi. But when in the ‘90s the country’s currency crashed, his uncle was out of business and never flew again. At that point Godfrey’s aspiration to fly seemed outlandish—like the sirloin steak of dreams. So he set about more pragmatic pursuits, working construction and selling charcoal.

But one day, the act of saying his dream aloud to Benjamin made it come true. And despite struggles with ground-han-dling and the skepticism of his fellow Malawians, he eventu-ally took flight. This first moment in the air is documented beautifully in the movie. Godfrey’s ecstasy at feeling flight will resonate with most pilots, but was perhaps even more potent for Godfrey, since it once was such a far-fetched possibility.

By the end of dinner, Godfrey had devoured five pieces of lasagna. “I always eat more than my hosts,” he laughed. I excused myself from the table and as I wrapped the few leftovers with extra care now, I

panged for a moment for the things I failed to appreciate and for the opportunities that I had wasted like so many plates of food. Godfrey had me thinking now. It was all a miracle, really: not just the opportunity to fly, but to have all this excess and the ability to share it all so easily.

Our conversation that evening revolved much more around food than flying, but it was winter and, anyway, in Godfrey’s mind both were equally essential.

“What do you like more, Godfrey?” I asked, as he demol-ished a second piece of apple crumble with delight. “Flying? Or eating?”

He thought for half a second before responding: “Both.”

Christina Ammon lives at The Crash Pad at Woodrat Mountain in Oregon. Contact her at: [email protected].

The School of DreamsLearning to fly was just the beginning of Godfrey’s dream.

Now he wants to help others. “I don’t view paraglid-

ing as a selfish sport,” says Masauli, “It’s changing many

people’s lives in Malawi already. When I tell kids to follow

their dreams, they feel motivated and inspired.”

His next endeavor is to develop a flight school where

Malawians can learn how to fly. During the off-season, the

school would function as a community center that culti-

vates self-esteem and career skills. He hopes to reduce

the current school dropout rate, which now stands at 72

percent.

His to-do list is long: He needs to pin-point a perfect

flying site for the school, build the physical structure, de-

velop a curriculum, collect equipment, and recruit other

Malawians to fly. The ultimate goal is to make the school

financially self-sustainable through tandem flights and

instruction.

“My dream is to put Malawi on the map as a world-

class paragliding destination,” Godfrey says. This boost in

tourism would help the country’s economy.

HOW YOU CAN HELPThe School of Dreams is grateful for sponsors and dona-

tions. The Cloudbase Foundation, whose mission is “help-

ing communities where we fly,” has made this easier by

sharing its nonprofit status with the project. This means

your donation to the School of Dreams is tax-deductible.

“We were totally blown away that there was something

like it,” Erica Dobie, the film’s tour manager, says of CBF.

Board member Nick Greece plans to help put together

an expedition to help scout a location for the School of

Dreams.

Aside from donations and sponsorship, Godfrey

shares his number-one tip for making anything happen:

“Tell everyone!”

LINKSwww.theschoolofdreams.org

The Film: www.theboywhoflies.com

Donate: www.thecloudbasefoundation.org/site/the-

school-of-dreams/


AfricaSouthSoaring and Touring in

BY C .J. S T U R TE VA N T


Africa! It’s been on my paragliding bucket list for decades, but it’s not a cheapskates’ destination, so for more than 20 years it had never quite bubbled up to the #1 spot.

But a year ago the stars must have aligned for my hus-band George and me, pointing straight to the Southern Cross, and we were able to book two weeks with Birdmen Paragliding in Cape Town for early March 2014. And it was indeed a bucket-list vacation, with the flying and the touring around South Africa about as close to perfect as we could hope for.

Several paragliding friends highly recommended Birdmen Paragliding’s tours, so we made them, and Cape Town, our destination. We were fortunate to squeeze into the last two weeks of their guiding schedule—Barry and Candice Pedersen run such a popular tour that many groups of pilots reserve their space for the following year before departing for home at the end of their stay. One couple in our group has been coming for 11 years, and plans to return next year to make it an even dozen!

Why South Africa?Aside from the allure of visiting a country that’s on the far side of the world from home—it’s 13 time zones away from Seattle—and aside from the opportunity to see “in person” those exotic animals that on our side of the world exist only in National Geographic specials or in zoos, there’s the flying. In our two weeks of paragliding we flew seven sites, accumulating more airtime that we had in all of 2013. And then there’s escaping a Seattle winter: During our entire three weeks’ sojourn in southwestern South Africa we enjoyed warm sunshine almost every day, while back home the Northwest was mired in the wettest March recorded since data collection began well over a century ago. I’d say that’s some really excellent planning!

Sites right in Cape TownThe afternoon George and I arrived in South Africa, far too jetlagged to consider getting in the air, pilots were enjoying epic flights from Signal Hill, right in downtown Cape Town. Within an easy day’s drive of the Birdmen base in Table View, a suburb of Cape Town, there are prob-ably a dozen good flying sites, both thermal and ridge soar-ing. Sadly, a repeat of those Signal Hill amazing conditions never materialized during our stay, and we never flew there.

The day after those awesome flights from Signal Hill was spectacularly blown out, and although we were disap-pointed to lose a flying day, most of us appreciated having some extra time to adjust to the time reversal. George and I, always willing to play tourist if there’s no flying to be had, borrowed Barry’s bus passes and spent the day exploring Cape Town.

The next bump to the south of Signal Hill is Lion’s Head, and a week later the lion was good to us. It’s a hike-to launch, which is always a concern for me, but it was easy to find a willing porter to lug our gear up the trail that leads both to launch and, farther on, the summit. The going rate for pack porters is 50 rand, about $5, but

AfricaBY C .J. S T U R TE VA N T

ABOVE There was too much wind for paragliders, but the kiteboarders were loving it! Photo by C.J.


the young Brit guy who carried my wing refused payment, saying he needed the exercise. That was an auspicious start to a fabulous flight!

There are two launches on Lion’s Head, both rather small, right next to the road-like trail, with little room to set up out of the way of the steady stream of hikers en route to the summit. On this day the wind dictated the lower launch (about 2000’ MSL), and our small group quickly sorted our gear and were ready to take off in the short breaks between tandem launches.

We waited patiently until the tandem pilots were showing us there was lift to be had, and our patience was rewarded. On a truly epic day it’s possible to fly over to the iconic Table Mountain and follow the ridge of the Twelve Apostles, right above the surf line, for several miles before returning to the huge grassy LZ field below Lion’s Head and right next to the ocean. On this day, experienced pilots on fast wings made an attempt to cross the gap, but none were able to get over and established on Table and soon were back mixing it up with those of us who were bob-bing around in the Lion’s Head thermals. For as long as we wanted we soared above the summit (and occasionally

above cloudbase), enjoying fabulous views of Cape Town, out to Robben Island and down to the surf foaming over the rocks just beyond the LZ. This was the most scenic flight of our trip, and I flew until I was quite chilled and glad to return to the warm sunshine at sea level.

In addition to Signal Hill and Lion’s Head, there’s also a launch right on Table Mountain, but it’s seldom used due to technical and meteorological challenges, including strong and gusty winds and the cloud formation known as “the tablecloth.”

A Field TripWhen weather reports for Cape Town indicated that the weather was going to be windy and perhaps wet for the first several days of our tour, we packed our suitcases for a five-day stay in Wilderness, about a five-hour drive from Cape Town. On the way we stopped for a morning flight at Hermanus, once the low clouds cleared.

The launch at Hermanus is an obvious clearing about midway along the ridge, about 770’ above sea level and looking right out at the trendy beach resort town. The wind typically comes in off the ocean at a velocity manageable for

ABOVE It really does look like the map of Africa, doesn’t it? Photo by George Sturtevant. OPPOSITE George

launching from Sedgeview, with C.J. soon to follow | photo by Barry Pedersen/Birdmen Paragliding


novices until early afternoon, when it picks up enough to make soaring high above the cliff easy but penetrating out to the LZ by the hotel on the beach a challenge for those of us flying EN-B wings. Once the clouds lifted, the view was spectacular, with the waves crashing on the rocky coast and the sunlight sparkling on the whitecaps, and the flying was interesting enough, with thermals interspersed in the ridge lift, that we all stayed aloft as long as we wanted. Top landing in the low scrub just behind launch is an option, but George and I forged ahead into the increasing wind, aspiring to make the hotel LZ. It quickly became obvious we couldn’t push into the headwind and wouldn’t reach the oceanside LZ; we turned back to land at the school field, along with others from our group.

Stoked after our first couple of hours of African airtime, and fueled with coffee and ice cream from a café on the beach we weren’t able to fly to, we piled back into the van and continued on to Wilderness. Just as we were leaving the town of Hermanus we spotted a troop of wild ba-boons, right alongside the highway. We foreigners thought that was quite cool, although the locals are typically not fond of these often malicious animals. As we drove along the Garden Route for the next several hours, Barry and Candice pointed out interesting critters (blue cranes, South Africa’s national bird; lots of white egrets, both in flocks in trees and perched on the backs of cows; a mama and

baby elephant in a game reserve; lots of ostriches, mostly in flocks in the distance but occasionally one right next to the road) and identified the mountains and geological features as we drove by. Barry and Candice’s running commentary was yet another perk of traveling with a knowledgeable local guide!

The Wilderness area is base for quite a few sites, and those in our group who’d been on previous Birdmen tours were looking forward to launching and soaring both from the dunes right on the beach and from the Sedgeview ridge a bit inland. As it turned out, the wind never cooper-ated for dune soaring, but we had several fabulous flights from Sedgeview and, ever hopeful, drove to several of the oceanside launches, none of which was ever soarable during our stay.

Sedgeview, however, provided us with several fine ridge-soaring and thermal flights; even though launch is a mere 430 feet above the sea-level LZ, we were able to climb to over 1000’ and cruise east along the ridge, leaving most of the crowd, inexplicably tethered to the wing-filled area around launch.

The takeoff at Sedgeview is grassy and open, with room to lay out dozens of gliders and get a large group into the air quickly. Many pilots, especially the tandems, land on top, making for heavy traffic. With Candice always on hand to retrieve anyone who sank out to the huge fields


in the valley and deliver them back up to launch, George and I felt comfortable scratching below the ridge top, and venturing farther away from the reliable house thermals near launch, even in light conditions. Except for one day that was absolutely stable—not a beep nor a whine from anyone’s vario between launch and landing—the house thermals were consistently there for us, and low saves were common.

No one wanted to leave Wilderness without at least one dune flight, so we made an early-morning foray to Gerricke’s Point, in the beautiful fynbos (a type of heather)

reserve and about 400 feet above the Indian Ocean. We paid our road-use fee and headed up, hoping to get a soar-ing flight before the forecast wind switch happened. To our delight, as we neared the top a huge water buck shot out of the brush on one side of the road and disappeared into the brush on the other side, gone before most of us could even think of grabbing a camera. Thanks to that water buck, even though the wind was too light for even the hotshots to launch this challenging takeoff, nobody grumbled about a wasted morning!

Later, after a very satisfying flight at Sedgeview, we

ABOVE C.J. and Benjamin at cloudbase under the convergence; on most of our flights at Porterville we followed

the ridge at the edge of the valley. OPPOSITE The convergence flyers: Benjamin, C.J., Barry and Clemence, after

our 37km XC flight from Pampoenfontein/Porterville. Photos by Barry Pedersen/Birdmen Paragliding


returned to Gerricke’s. Barry convinced the road-use fee collector to accept our earlier payment as good for the day, and we were optimistic to find just a bit of a breeze blow-ing in. Forward launches were the order of the day, though, followed by a straight glide to the beachside parking area, where Candice awaited our arrival. George and I, in our older and lower performance wings, landed together a bit short of the LZ, and watched everyone else with better technology glide over us as we trudged back to meet them in the parking area.

Sedgeview and Gerricke’s were the only two sites we flew in the Wilderness area.

The sites we missed out onThose who’d been on previous trips to Wilderness la-mented the fickle winds that kept us from enjoying the spectacular coastal ridge soaring at Paradise Ridge and Map of Africa. Candice drove us up to the Map of Africa launch one day even though we knew it wouldn’t be soar-able, because the “map of Africa” carved out by the river (behind launch) is one of those local geologic wonders well worth a side trip. We could have launched—a light breeze was blowing straight up the wide-open grassy takeoff—but it was an obvious brief sledder to the beach a few hundred feet below. We watched a hang gliding student and some experienced paraglider pilots for the few minutes it took them to launch and land, then returned to Sedgeview for another excellent thermal flight. If the coastal sites had been working, we were assured by our disappointed group

CAN YOU DO A TRIP LIKE THIS WITHOUT A GUIDE?George and I enjoyed the luxury of a guided vacation

with Birdmen, but you could certainly do a similar tour

on your own—most sites are easily accessible, and you

can find the necessary contact info for the regulated sites

online at http://www.sahpa.co.za. The biggest challenge,

I think, would be figuring out where to go for the best

odds of finding flyable conditions. Without having ob-

tained recent weather forecasts, the couple from Reunion

Island was planning a week-long stay in Wilderness.

Barry suggested they alter their itinerary and join us in

Porterville, where they had some of their best flying ever,

while it rained for most of that week in Wilderness. The

website http://www.meteoblue.com/en/south-africa/

weather-cape-town provides a wealth of weather data

for all the flying areas, allowing pilots to make the best

choice for the day or the next few days (within the pa-

rameters of weather-data fickleness, of course).

You’ll find a map and a list of the 96 flying sites in the

western Cape region at http://paraglidingearth.com/

pgearth/index.php?region=2219. Click on any site in the

list to get an additional list of a dozen or so sites close to

the one you’ve chosen, along with coordinates, launch

and LZ elevations, optimum wind directions and just

about anything else you might want to know before driv-

ing there to check it out in person.

http://paraglidingearth.com/pgearth/index.php?region=2219

http://paraglidingearth.com/pgearth/index.php?region=2219


mates, the ridge soaring at Paradise and Map of Africa is some of the best in the world.

A short road tripFrom our base in the Cape Town area, we had a choice of literally dozens of sites facing almost every wind direction; thank goodness we had Barry’s local weather savvy to de-termine where the best prospects for airtime lay! Our next road trip was to the world-famous XC site in Porterville, a couple hours’ drive from Cape Town, and some of the less experienced members of our group were delighted to sur-pass their personal best XC flights on two consecutive days in Porterville. And while we never encountered record-set-

ting conditions, most of us managed satisfying XC flights along the ridge. On one amazing day, a convergence set up perpendicular to the ridge, clearly marked by a cloud-street, and four of us were able to ride the (often rowdy) lift for a satisfying 23-mile dogleg, ending with a backwards landing in a huge field. I was grateful for all the Rat Race discussions on high-wind landings, and had an uneventful touchdown. Candice had already gathered most of the rest of the group, and she dropped us all at our favorite coffee house/ice cream stop where we waited to hear from Danny who, on his skinny comp wing, typically flew significantly farther than the rest of us, and on this day had flown over the pass and landed near our hotel in Citrusdal.

ABOVE C.J. and Niki high at Lion’s Head, looking across at Table Rock and the Twelve Apostles ridge.

Photo by Barry Pedersen/Birdmen Paragliding. OPPOSITE, TOP TO BOTTOM Penguins demonstrating

proper passing protocol. Adolescent brothers in the Aquila Private Game Reserve frequently entertained

us with typical teen-age-male antics: pushing and tussling and blowing dust at each other. Photos by C.J.

Custom dictates you pay your wing packers with treats, not money. These children were delighted with

chocolate cookies and grapes. Photo by George Sturtevant


Although we’d hoped for several days’ of good XC flying in Porterville, by the second day the forecast was for increasing wind from the wrong direction. So we had an early breakfast and drove to a seldom-used launch, Piekernierskloof, that Barry hoped would face more into the wind and allow us to fly towards Rhenosterhoek at the end of the valley. No such luck; we didn’t launch there, as there was a strong chance we’d end up in a no-road-access area, and nobody was willing waste the day on a long hike out from a short flight. Instead, we went to Kardoesie, part way up the road over the pass towards Citrusdal, and all of us were able to get off and soar, briefly, before the wind became unmanageable. Danny gave the planned out-and-return to Rhenosterhoek his best shot, but even with his fast wing he barely made it back to where Candice could drive in to retrieve him.

En route to pick up Danny, Barry pointed out a rooibos farm where the workers were raking and turning a huge swath of bright red rooibos leaves that were drying in the sun. We’d seen some rooibos bushes growing wild on the launch we didn’t fly from, and as several of us enjoy this African tea, we found it interesting to see how it’s grown and prepared.

Barry’s weather sources indicated that the flying condi-tions were deteriorating near Porterville, so we checked out of our hotel and drove back to Cape Town, where it was seriously blown out.

Some day trips from Table ViewOn one sunny, light-wind day we drove ENE less than an hour to Paarl Rock, a spectacular granite dome in Paarl, the largest town in the winelands. We hiked our gear up the short trail to the top of the dome, and were relieved to find the wind coming in lightly, although a bit cross. We set up quickly and hucked Danny off first, figuring he had the best chance of cruising about to find the thermals, if there were any. Sadly, he never got back up to launch level, and the only lift he was able to work was across the river, a bit too far for most of us.

Although the top of the dome is plenty large and quite smooth, with the cross component and the rapidly steep-ening slope of the dome, launch was rather intimidating. Everyone got off for extended sledders but agreed that there was little point in going back up; instead we drove to a nearby site at Franschhoek, which bills itself as the coun-try’s gastronomic capital, and where we hoped we’d find launch facing more into the fickle wind.

It did, and after a site briefing from Barry, who pointed


out that most of the friendly-looking bailouts en route to the designated LZ were in an off-limits gated community, we laid our wings out in the brush behind launch. Once again Danny was our wind probe, and he radioed back that in between the decent thermals there was big sink, which was enough to convince most of us to wait a bit rather than risk landing “out” in the forbidden area. Martti eventually chose a good launch cycle but found only sink and had to land on a road quite a ways short of the LZ. Luckily the security guard on duty was amused by Martti’s explana-tion—”I only know how to fly in the cold and snow in my native Finland!”—and cheerfully deposited Martti outside the development gate to await retrieve.

Meanwhile, up on top, the wind turned quite convinc-ingly tail, rolling our laid-out wings downslope in the brush. Sigh. We lugged our gear back to the van and drove down to the quirky tourist town of Franschhoek, where numerous coffee and ice cream shops allowed everyone to find an appropriate sweet treat to assuage their lack-of-

airtime frustrations. The next day had us back at Porterville, hoping for

one last good XC flight before our tour ended. As always, our flight plan was to stay together, marking thermals for each other along the ridge and across the 3.5-mile no-road stretch that began about 10 miles north of launch. Alas, we couldn’t stick together, and with Danny and Barry report-ing a significant headwind toward the north, and nobody ahead to mark thermals, most of us opted to land before we ran out of accessible-by-car fields.

Perhaps I should point out that, except for the young couple from Reunion Island who joined us for a few days, we were a group of “geezer” pilots—Danny and Niki are in their 50s, the rest of are well into our 60s, and all of us intend to continue flying for a good many more years. As a result, the majority of us tended to lean more toward the conservative side of risk-taking (including risking a long walk carrying a heavy pack) than many of you readers would.

ABOVE George leading out from the Hermanus ridge on our failed quest to land by the ocean | photo by C.J.


THINGS TO DO ON THE GROUNDIn Cape Town: We spent several days exploring the city,

and never ran out of interesting things to see. Our top

picks: the hop-on-hop-off bus that runs through the

main tourist areas of the city; the District Six museum;

the planetarium and aquarium and natural history

museum; the shops along the waterfront; the Sunday

crafts markets in Green Market Square; the drive

through Table Mountain National Park and the hike up

onto the bluffs at the Cape of Good Hope.

Throughout the Western Cape area: wine-tasting

tours; private game reserve visits—several are within

two hours of Cape Town, but they are far from a sub-

stitute for seeing the “big five” in Kruger National Park,

although considerably more manageable both finan-

cially and time-wise.

Near Hermanus: A wealth of tourist attractions in

this oceanside town itself; the Stony Point African

Penguin Colony near Betty’s Bay—we wished we had

more than our allotted hour to enjoy the antics of

thousands of these fascinating birds, without the heavy

tourist crowds at the penguin colony closer to Cape

Town.

Near Paarl: The beautiful views, colossal sculp-

tures, and interesting history exhibits at the Afrikaans

Language Museum and Taal monument; the hikes up

onto the granite domes in the Paarl Mountain Nature

Reserve, and other trails through the fynbos and wild-

flowers that offer superb views; wine tasting at numer-

ous world-class wineries in and around Paarl.

At Sir Lowry’s Pass: Shop for souvenirs and chat

with the artisans, who are there every day; enjoy the

views; watch for baboons.

Franschhoek: In addition to being a popular stop on

the “wine route,” the town caters to tourists, with lots

of shops selling everything anyone could desire, and a

lot of things no one could possibly need!

Porterville: The coffee/ice cream store at Kardoesie;

the historical, agricultural and domestic artifacts in the

Citrusdal Country Lodge, where we stayed during our

road trip.

Sites we visited but didn’t flyIn spite of Barry’s best efforts, we had a few days where we couldn’t get off the ground. Early in the trip we drove to Porterville, hoping it would be out of the high-wind zone. It was clearly blown out, but instead of sitting on launch hoping the wind would abate (in spite of the forecast indicat-ing it wouldn’t), Barry took us on a tour of sites along the coast north of Cape Town, on the edge of Saldanha Bay in the national park near Langebaan. The wind was howling and it was clearly unflyable everywhere we went, but stand-ing atop the dune or rocky bluffs and leaning into the gale, we could imagine the breathtaking views we’d have enjoyed if we could have gotten into the air. Sadly, it wasn’t in the cards for us, this day or at all during our time in South Africa. When we tired of the wind, we retreated to the beachside Driftwood restaurant for seafood snacks, with dozens of kitesurfers playing in the whitecaps providing nonstop enter-tainment.

On another day we arrived early at Sir Lowry’s Pass and sat in the cloud for a while, waiting for base to lift and the wind to mellow. Eventually Danny was able to get off, but launch conditions were clearly challenging; the rest of us declared it too strong for our comfort levels and packed up, while Barry launched with a tandem passenger and joined Danny soaring the cliffs to the north of launch.

Right behind launch a small group of African artisans had displayed on blankets all sorts of carved critters and bowls and other souvenirs. Barry suggested we consider doing our souvenir shopping here, as these guys are a trusted source for weather info for the Sir Lowry’s Pass site. We had plenty of time to talk with the artists and look carefully at their wares, all of which were skillfully created, tastefully displayed and quite reasonably priced. Every morning now I smile when I take my breakfast fruit from a wooden bowl carved by a Sir Lowry’s Pass artisan, with Africa’s “big five” prowling and lumbering around its perimeter.

We began and ended our flying vacation with ridge-soaring flights above the beautiful coastal city of Hermanus. The desert thermals and the XC options at Porterville provided interesting challenges for all of us. We flew above, and landed on beaches of, both the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans. The food was good (Candice’s braais were without exception beyond fabulous!) and surprisingly inexpensive. While the airplane time from Seattle to Cape Town was way too long, the rest of our three-week vacation seemed much too short. If flying and playing tourist in South Africa isn’t on your bucket list, it should be!

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OPPOSITE Cartaz. ABOVE Thermaling in the hills overlooking Nordeste, Sao Miguel Island. Photos by Jon Stallman.

BY JON S TA l l M A N

the AZORES

When I consider flying in distant lands, I think about huge landmasses—Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Australia. So when I received an offer to cover a flying festival in the Azore Islands,

my first thoughts were, Can this be for real? Where are the Azores?

I Googled the location with my daughter sitting on my lap, and found the series of small islands in the Archipelago chain, but still had no idea where they were located. I zoomed out, and out, and out, until my daughter explained,

“They are in the middle of the ocean!” Yes, indeed, this volca-nically formed island chain is uniquely parked in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, about 1000 kilometers off the coast of Portugal and 2000 kilometers from New York. I thought of its location to the East Coast as being like the location of the Hawaiian Islands to California. The Azores are

relatively unknown but are gaining popularity as a nature-lover’s destination for the exploration of lush green forests, volcanic mountains, hot springs, flowers, birds, wine, food, and a taste of European culture.

I promptly reached out to fellow Bay Area pilots Melody and Sati, who had spent time on the islands. They put me in touch with two local leaders: the organizer of the festival—Joao Brum, a Portuguese team pilot and the spirited, jovial

“father of paragliding” in the Azores—and Hugo Souza, a Portugese team pilot and media and communications organizer.

I quickly worked on my complicated flight plans, and the following Wednesday, passport in hand, I was off to the Portuguese Azore Island of Sao Miguel on a direct flight out of Oakland to Terceira, followed by a short puddle jump to Sao Miguel, a 10-hour total flight time. Islanders


have been exposed to centuries of passing cultures, as this island chain historically has been used as a stopover point for sailing and shipping vessels and wartime strategic opera-tions. English and French languages are spoken among islanders, due to their many years of commerce and trade with the mainland.

I was housed in a sports center used for hosting soccer teams, a well maintained dorm accommodation associated with several high-quality ball fields. The rooms were clean and well outfitted, containing two beds, a bathroom with a shower, and a common kitchen and entertainment lounge, including wireless Internet, were nearby. The complex is located within walking distance of the cobblestone streets of the downtown and the three-year-old wharf area where headquarters of the festival are situated. The military pro-vided a mega-sized troop transport vehicle capable of carry-ing a zillion gliders, a military-style tour bus, and a minivan to drive us to the 16 different flying sites around the island.

Each day began with a large group meeting at festival headquarters on the wharf, while the day’s flying site was determined by a group of local pilots who scouted probable locations. A well organized, brightly lit meeting hall was decorated with enormous vivid imagery from previous years’ inspirational flying locations, as well as the country flags of visiting pilots, a harness hang test rig, and a vending booth.

The Festival runs for five days in late August each year. This year was the 19th annual event.

On the first day of the Festival, the weather gods shone brightly on those ready to enjoy the “Green Islands” flying potential, with a flight from the majestic Sete Cidades, a giant collapsed volcanic cauldron, named after the original seven villages located around the lake at the bottom. The walls of this cauldron are 1600’ steep cliffs that circle the entire cone, coated in green foliage with yellow and blue/purple flowers, and terminate in a knife-edge just wide enough to drive a jeep up a steep dirt road. The group was able to fly one of the most picturesque places on the island at roughly a thousand feet over the knife’s-edge in dynamic ridge lift and thermals to cloud base. Everyone able to par-ticipate in this treat beamed with enthusiasm when recalling it, declaring this route a definite place to fly if conditions allow. The island’s 16 sites readily accommodate the rapidly varying conditions of the island.

The weather I experienced on the island was a bit dif-ferent and unusual, according to locals. The wind was consistently northeast every day, and remained so through-out the day. Due to the wind direction, most of the flying during the festival’s following four days were located at a relatively new site on the north side of the island, near the small, remote village of Nordeste. The village is gorgeous,


well worth a visit regardless of flying. The streets are lined with walls draped with cascading purple and yellow flowers as well as ornate architecture surrounded by Mediterranean-style white-washed, red-tile-roof houses. The streets are com-posed of centuries-old cobblestone, carved ornate designs, as well as some newly built asphalt highway.

The region around Nordeste is sometimes referred to as the 10th island due to its remote location on the island; life here offers a step into the past. Several years ago, the govern-ment constructed a new highway. While slightly controver-sial at the time, the town of Nordeste now has access to the rest of the island in less than 45 minutes, rather than the two hours it once took to drive a relatively short distance. This new road also means that pilots have begun exploring this end of the island for the first time.

On day two, Hugo picked me up to explore a new flying site on the north side of the island—a huge sea cliff nearly 1800 feet tall. Hugo and I met up with fellow local pilots Pedro and Ze at a classic European-style cafe for a quick bite to eat, while discussing the potential and details of the

new site’s potential. The landing zone is essentially a large dairy-cow field located directly below the launch site that is connected to a public access road. The launch, located in a park preserve on a private piece of land, has a grassy knoll capable of launching five or six gliders at the same time.

The new site Hugo was hot to fly is located northeast of the launch, reachable by a short climb out and XC from launch. Around 100 visiting pilots arrived at various times during the day. Cloudbase was around 3000’ each day, some-times rising a bit and sometimes shrouding the launch from view of the ocean. It’s really an amazing place—take off and

OPPOSITE Looking out of Nordeste to the big wall. ABOVE TOP Green grass LZ with food and beverages.

BOTTOM The island offers many non-flying activities- hot springs, geysers, swimming tide pools, and a

bounty of hikes. Photos by Jon Stallman.


ABOVE Wrapping up a great day of flying with a ride home from the Azores government. OPPOSITE

Organizers of the 19th annual festival and Portuguese team pilots Joao Blume and Hugo Suza at the

awards ceremony. Photos by Jon Stallman.

hook into soft thermals (perfect for new pilots) and climb to cloudbase, while admiring the turquoise blue ocean the entire time. Continue at that height with a trip out to the sea cliff for some dynamic ridge soaring down the coast a few miles, return to launch, and head back for more thermals—a blissful experience.

The magic of this site provided a glorious XC over to the big wall we wanted to explore. A gaggle broke away from the main hill, once the wispy clouds saturated our wings. Ten of us bolted across to the big wall like an exploration team entering unknown terrain. The dynamic lift on these cliffs is smooth and BIG. We had one more canyon to cross before reaching the tallest of the walls. Climbing steadily as we came closer, the vario began to pick up faster and faster as we climbed through 3000’ MSL. More gliders broke away from launch to join the fun. The air was buttery smooth, and we

had the ultimate in eye candy—turquoise water glistening in contrast to brilliant green foliage-coated cliffs, with a distinct black-rock-lined transition in between, and cumulus clouds dotting the sky as far as the eye could see—the edge of the world.

The following days produced similar rounds of experi-ences from the same location. At one count from the festival coordinators, over 60 tandems were performed in one day. Locals in the area keyed in on the event through a local newspaper article, and the organizers recruited rated tandem pilots to help provide the experience of a lifetime for many. Imagine being able to see your village from the air on per-haps the first time you’ve ever flown! The landing area was stylin’ a vending truck with yummy food and flowing beer. As the day ended, more and more pilots landed in the LZ, and the party began!


The flying day typically ends around 6:00 or 7:00 p.m., with the commute back to Ponta Delgada allowing time to reflect in awe on the day. The city life comes alive after 9:00 p.m. and gets really kick’n as midnight approaches. Everyone from elders to kids comes out around 10:00 to eat and enjoy the cool evening air. We found ourselves with dinner plans at the same hour, wrapping up with evening beverages in the wee hours of the morning. The food is fantastic, consisting of fresh fish, wine, locally grown vegetables, and tasty island cheeses. The Azores are well known for being dairy and fish suppliers of the mainland. There’s a specialty beer brewed on the island that matches the lightness needed for the occa-sional temperatures, and flavor to match the culture.

The Festival sported three stellar dining events. I arrived too late for the opening dinner but heard it was delicious. The awards dinner on the fourth evening was first class, with the customary meal, fine linens, local wines and cheeses, and the sponsors in attendance. The last day the organizers were rumored to be planning a huge field party. I envisioned a simple pig roast and bonfire. Consequently, when I arrived, I was amazed to see an entire semi-truck with a dropped por-table stage, band, concession stands with flowing beverages and food, a huge fire, and a pig roasting. The Green Brothers pulled some acro magic for the crowd by launching from a nearby peak, sneaking up on the venue from behind the stage. Once over the gig, Tim landed on top of the stage roof, while Ant did a heli spin into the dance area. That was the signal to let the party begin!

The festivities are all inclusive and designed for fami-lies and non-pilots. The organizers go out of their way to include non-pilots with transportation to whale watching, hot springs, ocean tide swimming pools, festivals, volcanic features, diving, and a host of other attractions. The pilots are treated to well-organized transportation, food and bever-ages at the landing zone, super friendly local pilots, parties, dinners featuring local foods, and a cultural life experience. The people are proud of their heritage, clean streets, and bolstering economy with low unemployment. The food is great. The wine and beer are fabulous. The scenery is off the charts. There is so much to explore and experience. The other islands also offer a host of variety to tantalize explorers. I have a love affair with the island of Sao Jorge, a 54-kilome-ter island merely one kilometer wide. Ridge soar the entire length and land at a local village for a cultural enigma.

On a future visit, I plan to take my family; it’s an ideal place to explore with lots to do for all. It’s also an ideal place for a group of pilots to explore the island’s wonders: prefer-ably four to eight pilots to share a vehicle rental or two and secure retrieves for XC. Plan on staying at least a week; longer would be better. Consider the options of camp-

ing, staying in a village house or small hotel outside Ponta Delgada for a more rural experience, or locating smack in the heart of Ponta Delgada near the action for easy access. There are hot springs in numerous locations and an active volcanic area in Furnas. My future visits will include a plane or boat ride to another island to experience the unique features and cultures of each place: Santa Maria, oldest colony, surfing, diving, and flying; Terceira, historically famous bull fights; Graciosa, the locals’ vacation spot; Sao Jorge, back-in-time culture with epic ridge soaring; Pico, wine-lovers paradise, highest volcano, and lava caves; Faial, transatlantic stop-over point for sailors; Flores, stellar flower displays and waterfalls; Corvo, traditional old-world culture preserved in time.

Based on my experiences, the Azores are a place to put high on your bucket list of exploration into nature’s play-ground and rich culture. Major kudos to the organizers of the festival and Sata airlines for putting on an incredible show and treating me to an epic life experience!


From 6000 feet, I peered down into the three-mil-lion-year-old Waialeale Valley in Kauai, Hawaii, hoping to spot the secret burial grounds of the ancient Menehune. The Menehune buried their

riches in a cave behind one of the hundreds of 1000-foot-high waterfalls in this formidable valley. On this particular day, most of the waterfalls were dormant, because the past few weeks had been relatively dry.

Flying deeper into this beauteous valley with its 2000-foot fluted cliffs, I worked the lift to maintain the altitude I would need to return to a safe landing area. At the end

of the valley is Mt. Waialeale, one of the wettest spots on earth, receiving some 600 inches of rain per year. To the west, adjacent to the valley, is the Alakai Swamp, which is poised on top of the plateau at about 3000 feet, making it one of the highest swamps on earth. After a strong rain, the swamp overflows and feeds hundreds of waterfalls that cascade into the Waialeale Valley.

About three miles into the Waialeale Valley, and totally enthralled with my surroundings, I was dismayed when the wind direction changed and the bottom dropped out. Realizing I was about 4.5 miles from the beach designated

ParadiseBirds inBY G EORG E F E R R IS


landing area and sinking at 400-500 fpm, I started racing north, out of the valley. About a mile from the "chimney"—a fluted cliff on both sides running east-west—I was doubtful I would arrive with enough altitude to fly over it, and knew I had to clear it in order to make it to the beach landing area. I considered the two other options for land-ing: on top of the plateau in the Alakai Swamp (rumored to be a three-day walk out) or in the riverbed below (I prob-ably would never be found). So I became as aerodynamic as I could by placing my hands together, lying with my face on my hands and tucking my arms in as close as possible to my body. And sped north.

About 1/2 mile from the chimney, while sinking at 500 fpm, I prepared myself mentally for the three-day walk-out and initiated a turn to bail out onto the Alakai Plateau into the swamp…

During the early 1990s my wife Gini and I traveled for two years searching for exotic locales where we could take flights, but had no success. On our first adventure, in Costa Rica, we arrived to find

one of our contacts had just left the country, and we were never able to reach the other.

The following year we toured South America, first arriving in central Chili, which looks much like Southern California with mountains facing every direction and four-wheel-drive roads to the top. We arrived at Eric's house to find he was in Venezuela. There were no other pilots to be found, even at the 500-foot sand dunes on the Pacific Coast.

Our next stop was Buenos Aires, Argentina. Buenos Aires is as flat as Kansas, and we could not locate any glider pilots there, either.

On to Brazil. Upon reaching Rio de Janeiro, we called Mickey Splane to discover he had gone to pick up a schoo-ner in California. His wife gave us a couple of contacts and when we arrived at the landing area, I was able to strike a deal with a local pilot, Celso Saguaro, to fly his glider. This time we were foiled by Mother Nature. An unusual low-pressure system developed that produced rain for the remainder of our stay.

In January of 1997, Gini and I became excited about the possibility of good flights in the Hawaiian Islands. After being thwarted once again on Oahu, we arrived on Kauai determined to fly, even if it was a sled ride. Kauai is the most northern and least developed of the major islands. Most of its interior is mountain forest reserve. The Alakai

Swamp is located about 1000 feet below Mt. Waialeale. In this spot, clouds and mist that rarely lift support a unique ecosystem where trees grow knee-high. Kauai is renowned for its stunning, natural beauty and hiking trails. Upon arriving, I called Gerry Charlebois of Birds Of Paradise, whom I had contacted from the States via Paul Voight. Gerry assured me that he had gliders and I would fly. After three days of L&V and conditions that Gerry described as anything but desirable, I was beginning to believe our destiny was to visit these places of wonder but never to fly.

I suggested to Gini that we take a helicopter ride. We flew over the central part of the island to Waimea Canyon, appropriately called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific by Mark Twain. The northwest part of the island is an untouched wilderness of beauty like nothing we had seen. Its valleys, mountains, and canyons, so primitive and un-touched, must have looked the same when the Marquesan culture ruled the island back in 500 AD. Gazing at its inaccessible beauty, it was easy to understand why so many movies—e.g. King Kong, Platoon, Jurassic Park, and Raiders of the Lost Ark—were filmed there. I was pumped and called Gerry to tell him I had to fly.

We arrived at Gerry's the next day to find him busy, but not into flying. When I explained that we had only one more day before leaving, Gerry assured me that we would go up, even if the trades didn't return.

Gerry called early the next morning and said the words I’d been longing to hear: “Let’s go flying!” Arriving at his place in Kapaa, he revealed that he planned to aerotow me to the Waialeale Ridge, about l5 miles from our starting-

LEFT Gini & George Ferris with Gerry Charlebois

the morning of our adventure in Kauai-Hawaii.

ParadiseBY G EORG E F E R R IS


point. While I was soaring, he would return to pick up Gini, and they would then fly back in the trike to take photos. This would be an all-day venture and, he promised, a flight I would not forget. I was excited and nervous at the same time.

I'm very glider savvy, having had the opportunity to fly every glider but one on the American market; of course, that's the one he chose for me to fly, a Wills Wing RamAir. Also, I had only aerotowed from a dolly, never from a standing start. I contemplated these challenges for 10 min-utes, then was ready to go.

We arrived at our airstrip: a paved road, bordered by post-and-rail fences, in an uncompleted housing develop-ment on the east coast near the shore. So there I was, tow-line hooked to both of my shoulder straps, feet braced and resisting the pull of the trike as instructed, until I couldn't hold back any longer. I signaled Gerry that I was ready, at the same time contemplating the possibility of skinned knees if I screwed up, since I was wearing shorts.

Two seconds later, I was down on the control bar, cruising five feet over the asphalt at 30 mph. Before I could check to see how much clearance I had between my wingtips and the post-and-rail fence, Gerry lifted off and I followed. Gini filmed us from the runway as we turned out over the ocean. Then we turned back, heading north-west, to start our l5-mile tow to Wainiha, about four miles west of Princeville. Now my mind was concentrating on the weak link just in front of me. Knowing I only had two or three hours before the clouds would start socking in the ridge, I was determined to make corrections without putting any strain on the weak link. Gerry's trike tows at a much faster speed than a Dragonfly, so I kept up my speed.

I sucked in the bar to my belly and held it there with slight corrections to pitch in order to stay level with the trike itself. Only a few times, as we hit turbulence, was I worried about breaking the weak link and not reaching my destina-tion.

When we reached Princeville at 3800', I gawked at the beauty surrounding us. The five or so ridges, running parallel north to south, start as foothills on the North Shore’s white sandy beaches. Heading south, away from the pristine blue water, the lush green valleys narrow three miles inland. At this point the ridges rise to 2000 feet, turning into steep, fluted cliffs covered with thick jungle vegetation on both the western and eastern sides. They continue south another six miles, where they all meet at 5170' Mt. Waialeale. Each valley is between 2000 and 3000 feet deep, and has its own river. At the westernmost ridge, which forms one of the walls of the Waialeale Valley, the Alakai Plateau originates—the plateau that extends west to the Na Pali Sea Cliffs. (see Gerry’s article on flying the Na Pali coast, in the January 1996 issue of HG&PG magazine.)

Approximately 20 minutes under tow, we reached our destination, Wainiha. I released on the lower ridge north of the Waialeale Valley at 3400'. Gerry instructed me to wait there while he returned to pick up Gini, so she could fly the trike while Gerry took photos. The ridge begins as a sheer cliff of 700 feet on the North Shore beach and extends south about 2.5 miles to 2200 feet, where a large spine juts out. This spine faces due north, forming a tiny bowl. Where I'm from, we call these small areas on a ridge about five wingspans wide that are facing a different direction, "chimneys." Waialeale Valley begins behind the chimney. About l/2 mile back into the valley, the ridge tums southeast, forming a large northeast bowl.

The air was turbulent and the lift was spotty and weak. I was working the north end of the ridge without much success, traversing about one mile south, always keeping my landing area within easy reach. The direction of the wind seemed to be changing every few minutes from east to north. I worked the spotty lift back and forth to the places that were producing less sink, sometimes finding 0 to 1 fpm. I guesstimated the wind speed to be around 25 mph out of the N-NE and knew that if the direction turned east, the lift would be ample. Unfortunately, it didn't turn east. I had lost 1000 feet in 30 minutes and knew if I stayed in this location, I was going to the beach.

Looking over the ridge, I decided to run to the south to


a small area at the end of this ridge that was facing more into the wind. My experience told me the direction of the wind should give me the workable lift I needed to stay up until Gerry and Gini returned. I arrived at the chimney at 1600'—enough altitude, if I didn't hit lift, to make it to the beach two miles away. My experience paid off. As I reached the chimney, I stopped sinking. As I did S-turns in 0, it eventually turned into 2 fpm up; I worked my way to 3000' and ventured back to the north to see if conditions had improved. They hadn't, so I raced back to the chimney, arriving at 2400' to once again find the welcome lift.

While working the chimney the second time, I finally started to relax. The beauty of Kauai is something every pilot should behold. No description or pictures can do it justice.

Looking south into the three-million-year-old Waialeale Valley, I began thinking of the lore of the Marquesan culture. Kauai is often referred to as the home of a race of little people called Menehunes. Legend after legend tells of happy Disney-like elves coming down from the mountains to produce significant engineering works in stone. It seems that when the first Tahitians arrived on the island about 1000 AD, they conquered the Menehunes, forcing them into slavery to build temples, irrigation ditches and fishponds now attributed to the Menehunes. The Tahitian term for "outcast" is manahue, and the diminutive social status may have given rise to tales of a dwarf-size race. Fine stone works remain, but the true identity of Kauai's little people lies hidden in a secret burial cave behind one of the hundreds of 1000' waterfalls in the Waialeale Valley.

In light lift, it took me a while doing S-turns, before I reached 3000 feet again. Looking behind the chimney and back into the valley, the ridge turned southeast, forming a large northeast bowl. I was sure the lift there would be ample.

Looking at the distance to the bowl, and knowing I would be flying downwind, I figured I could make it with another 500 feet of altitude. Keeping in mind that if I got low behind the chimney—which acted like a dam to the valley behind me except for a narrow crevice on the east

side that was letting air blow into the valley—I needed a bailout area. I started looking. But I found nothing but the river below and the quite intimidating fluted cliffs rising to the top of the plateau. Still gaining altitude, at 3300' I could see clearly the top of the plateau behind me and spot-ted a large treeless area where I determined I could easily land if I couldn't make it back out.

Finally, at 3500' I decided to start back, keeping in mind there would be sink behind the chimney. About half way to the bowl, after having lost 400 feet, I turned back know-ing there would be a strong headwind due to the Venturi. I needed to test the speed and penetration of the glider to see

OPPOSITE Looking back towards Princeville Cove after thermaling up and flying to the north shore of the

island where King Kong was filmed. ABOVE TOP Looking back over the chimney to the north bowl , my

destination. The Alakai Plateau is above the bowl , my bail-out area. BOTTOM George above Princeville.


how much altitude loss would occur. I crested the wall of the chimney at 2400', having lost 700 feet on my return. I worked the lift for some time until I reached a comfortable 3800 feet.

Then I started back again, feeling I could arrive with enough altitude to bail out to the landing area on top of the plateau if no lift was to be found. I knew there was no way I would make it back out to the front side of the chimney, without finding lift at the bowl I was aiming for. About 3/4

of the way there, I hit strong turbulence, probably being created by the chimney that was now behind me. Being closer to the bowl and judging I still would have ample altitude to bail out, I went for it.

Passing through the turbulence, I arrived at the bowl with my fingers crossed. As I approached, the turbulence dissipated along with the sink. I arrived at 2800' and started going up at 100 fpm. Wanting to regain altitude, I started doing short S-turns and was ready to bail out to the top if the lift shut off. When I reached 3900' I felt comfortable enough to test the lift going south, deeper into the island. There was lift everywhere on this ridge at this altitude, so I started traversing the ridge north and south, always keeping my plateau landing area within easy reach.

I found the lift was stronger and smoother father south into the valley, most likely due to the northern component filling the valley and causing excess air to rise—it had nowhere else to go. As I ventured deeper into the valley, I was beginning to experience some light thermal activity. At 6000 feet, I relaxed and found the visual spectacle more remarkable than any I had seen during my 21 years of hang gliding. Below me was the untouched Waialeale Valley. To the north were the crystal blue waters and sandy beaches of the North Shore with its contrasting white shoreline. At the south end of the valley, about three miles farther, was Mt Waialeale. To the west was the Alakai blue ocean in the distance. …….

About 1/2 mile from the chimney and sinking at 500 FPM I prepared myself mentally for the three day walk out and initiated a turn to bail out onto the Alakai Plateau into the swamp…

As I came over the plateau to set up for a landing, I ran into the best thermal of the day, 600 fpm. At 4600' and still climbing my radio sounded.

Gerry: "'George, do you copy? George, do you copy?" GeorGe: "Yes, Gerry, I have a copy." Gerry: "Where are you? Are you on the beach? I can't see

you.... over." GeorGe: " I'm at 4600' and climbing." Gerry: "WHAT?!!" GeorGe: "At 4600' and climbing." Looking out over the water, I finally spotted Gerry and

Gini circling up and cruising towards me. Gerry: "George, come out to the lower ridge; you're too

ABOVE Author George Ferris playing in the clouds!


far back."Little Did Gerry know I had been

touring around three miles farther back for over an hour, 1400' to 3000' higher, just a short time ago.

Gerry: "George do you copy?" Not answering, I sucked in the bar

and headed out of the valley, arriving at the chimney at 3700'.

Clouds were forming on the lower ridge. Gerry started shooting pictures as I cruised north on the lower ridge. When the clouds started forming below me I headed out. Looking down to the top of the clouds 400 feet below, I saw a 360-degree rainbow encircling the shadow that my glider cast on the cloud tops. I radioed Gini and Gerry to look for the rainbow. Gini and I had never witnessed this phenomenon—known as a glory—before, and we were elated!

After filming, Gini and Gerry flew back to get the truck to retrieve me. Knowing it would take them better than an hour, I played out my dream flight. The clouds were thin and only forming below and behind me, and the wind direction had turned east. There was ample lift where I had first released, so I decided to stay and play in the welcoming clouds. As I dived down through many rainbows, one of which was a double, I realized Gerry had been so right. This was a flight I never would forget!

By the time I landed 3.5 hours later, the Waialeale Valley that had frightened, charmed and made my flight possible was in total cloud cover, hiding the Menehune burial cave from me forever.

The article "Birds In Paradise" is written in memory of Gerry Charlebois, who made possible this most memorable flight. Thank you, Gerry, you will be missed!

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Fly-on-the-wall Landings by Ryan Voight

HG 401: Advanced techniques & Concepts

For those unfamiliar with the term, a “fly-on-the-wall” land-ing usually refers to landing

downwind and uphill. It is generally considered an advanced technique because the consequences of a mis-take are severe...but it is an invalu-able skill in the toolbox of advanced pilots.

The premise is pretty simple: By landing while going uphill, we are able to land our gliders utilizing an as-toundingly short amount of “runway.” In fact, it works so well it can even be done with a tailwind!

Let’s break this down into two parts: First, we are landing uphill. Landing uphill is performed like any other landing; that is, we need to approach with plenty of airspeed. We round out and “ground skim,” during which time we use that extra airspeed to maintain a constant height above the ground. Once the glider has slowed sufficiently, we flare to stop our remaining forward motion. The key difference in landing uphill is that we need to approach with much more speed than we do when land-ing on flat ground. We need enough speed—AKA energy—to do a bigger-than-usual round out, changing our trajectory from diving to climbing uphill. The greater direction change eats up more energy than a standard round out for landing on flat ground, plus now our ground skim is uphill. Ideally, we want enough energy to maintain a bit of ground skim up the hill, which separates the round out from the flare and helps us keep up mentally with how quickly things are happening. Glider performance and VG setting play a role here, as higher

performance means better energy re-tention. Therefore, it can be done with a little less airspeed/energy because that energy is transferred into direc-tion or altitude change more efficiently. Beware of too much performance (VG) and loss of lateral control.

Any pilot who can land consistently well while following this formula on flat ground should do just fine land-ing uphill. However, when learning any new skill, it is prudent to develop a progression to work into it slowly. Landing uphill is a pretty simple progression. We learn, practice, and perfect landings on flat ground first. Then we gradually increase the gradi-ent or steepness of the slope we are landing on. How far you want to take that progression is up to you.

In the real world, we don’t have an unlimited number of flying sites or, more specifically when referring to this skill, an unlimited number of up-slop-ing LZs to practice on. This leads some to just “go for it” and land by going up whatever hill or launch slope they have available. I’ve never been one to just go for it, personally. I prefer progres-sions. They’re usually more work, but in the long run they help you manage the risk, helping you build a larger rep-ertoire of experience, since you will not have just landed on flat and steep slopes, but everything in between.

On the topic of managing risk: The biggest risk when it comes to landing uphill is the combination of high air-speed and sharp angle from which we approach the ground. Even in no wind, the ground approaches at an alarming rate, challenging us to stay calm and collected in order to perform a clean landing. (Most humans don’t function

by Ryan Voight

www.flymaster-usa.com

http://www.flymaster-usa.com


well when flustered!) As I said earlier, what separates an uphill landing from a regular landing are the conse-quences of a mistake—specifically, in the round-out phase of the landing. Round out too late and the impact speed and angle are VERY hazardous. And rounding out too much, due to over-reacting to the ground rush, can be a problem, too, because if the glider climbs to the point of stalling and rotating nose down (like a “whack” landing on flat ground), you’re basi-cally diving into a hillside: not good!

A great place to get a tiny taste of landing uphill is Andy Jackson Flight Park in San Bernardino, CA. Their LZ is graded slightly uphill, and you can land there with a headwind, minimizing ground speed and, therefore, minimizing risk. A slightly steeper uphill landing zone, also into the wind, exists at the bottom of the North Side of Point of the Mountain. I believe this LZ is about twice as uphill as the AJax LZ. There are prob-ably others around, but those are two I am familiar with and highly recom-mend. From there, it’s not a far leap to land up the face of most suitable

training hills used for hang gliding and paragliding. Most good T-hills have a gradual slope at the bottom, becoming steeper as the hill goes up. By utilizing your already precise spot landing skills, you can continue your progression by landing higher and higher up the hill to continue increas-ing the pitch.

There is an excellent video of one of the top US pilots, Jeff O’Brien, doing three fly-on-the wall landings in one “flight” at the South Side of Point of the Mountain. He’s flying a high-per-formance glider, but he purposefully switched from his race harness to his cocoon harness for this flight. If my memory serves, there was essentially no wind on this day. It is also worth noting that this site is 5000’ MSL, and because the flight took place on a hot summer day, density-altitude was quite high. This means ground speed (consequence of error) was quite high. You can see the video at http://youtu.be/1ZW7EmDhejQ.

If we analyze his technique, we can see he flies out away from the hill far enough to perform a full 180-degree turn in order to be wings-level as he

rounds out and climbs up the hill. He carries enough airspeed at the hill to allow him to round out, ground skim up the hill, and finish with a flare. We can also see that when climbing up such a steep hill (if you’re not familiar with the South Side, it’s VERY steep where he’s landing), the glider runs out of energy in a nose-up orientation without flaring at all. Speaking in general terms, the steeper the hill, the less critical the final flare is.

I think we’ve thoroughly covered landing uphill. But in talking about fly-on-the wall landings, we would be remiss if WIND were not addressed. Wind complicates the landing some-what, but in reality changes nothing. Having a headwind going uphill is great (don’t over-flare at the end). Having a tailwind increases ground speed considerably. It can be shock-ing how much faster the hill comes at you, even with just a few mph tail. The more tailwind there is, the steeper the hill needs to be. For example, we know landing downwind on flat ground is nearly impossible. As we add upslope to our LZ, we can get away with more and more tailwind. I say get away with, because the faster the ground approaches, the more skill is required to perform an accurate/precise round-out up the hill, and the windier and steeper the hill, the greater the demand for precision, and the greater the cost if you can’t deliver.

Crosswinds can make life interest-ing. Depending on the site and the slope, it might be best to ignore the crosswind and treat it as a no-winder, since there is no head- or tail-component to the wind. If the wind is coastal-smooth and reliable, you might be able to flare in a turn, with your bank angle matching the slope of the hill, and land semi-into-the-wind right on the side of the hill. If this sounds tricky, that’s because it is. The


physics of it are straightforward, but, again, the execution requires a great deal of skill. If this is something that interests you, I recommend assembling a progression and working up to it, rather than diving right in and going for it. There is a great video of the extremely talented pilot Scott Barrett performing fly-on-the walls using the turning-into-a-crosswind technique (and making it look easy) at http://vimeo.com/14476032.

If you want to read more about fly-on-the-wall landings, Jeff O’Brien wrote an excellent tutorial: http://www.willswing.com/blogs/PilotBlogs/tabid/38/EntryId/97/Fly-On-The-Wall-Tutorial.aspx.

I’d like to further focus on one sen-tence in Jeff ’s tutorial: “There is a point where you simply have to ‘sack up’ and commit to your first fly-on-the-wall.” This might give the impression he

recommends just “going for it,” but Jeff continues to talk about stacking the conditions in your favor by working up to it in a progression. Therefore, I feel I can interpret his words as saying, THE ONLY WAY TO RELIABLY AND SAFELY LAND FLY-ON-THE WALL IS TO FULLY COMMIT. You can’t sort of turn at the hill. Once you do, the option of bailing out cannot be in your mind. You must be 200% focused on seeing it through and per-forming it correctly.

Fly-on-the-wall landing can be an extremely useful skill, especially for XC pilots. I would NOT say it is a requisite skill, because except for (per-haps) one or two sites in the country, situations requiring fly-on-the- wall landings are entirely avoidable. Being comfortable performing them can open up new potential LZs, sometimes opening entire new XC routes, or at

least offering more landing options along the existing routes. Of course, if you’re not so confident in your landings that you’re ready to turn straight at a perfectly good hillside and pull in to-wards it, that’s just fine, too. It’s an elec-tive skill with increased risk, and each individual is free to pursue or abstain as they see fit (just like XC in general). I do *not* encourage anyone to pursue actually performing fly-on-the-walls. I believe knowing how to do them makes us safer, without any increased risk. Practicing exposes us to risk, the extent of which depends on the situation and conditions. I’m not saying DON’T practice; I’m just saying it needs to be the pilot’s choice. The mental strength required to safely fly-on-the-wall is not to be underestimated.

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by TOM WEBSTER

Crabbing It In the secret to crosswind landings

When you’re flying a hang glider or a paraglider, the best practice is to land directly

into the wind. But there are times when your landing direction is more

important than the wind direction. On a cross-country flight several years ago, this was my experience:

At the end of the day, when thermal lift was all but gone, I found

myself too low to reach any open space except an L-shaped field that wrapped around a full parking lot. There were no other good options, but one leg of the L was oriented directly into

Crabbing It In the secret to crosswind landings

LEFT If you follow a crosswind ground track while reducing airspeed, your control inputs will cause the crab angle to increase.

the wind, so I felt relieved about my chances for an uneventful landing.

However, as I descended and got a clearer view, relief gave way to concern. The into-wind section of the field was cluttered with a wire fence, irriga-tion pipes, and who knows what else. The other leg of the L was long and open enough, but much too narrow to accommodate a landing across its width: It would have required a final approach at 90 degrees to the wind di-rection. What options did I have then?

As any airplane pilot will tell you, landing with the wind at an angle to the runway is a normal thing to do. And as any beach pilot will tell you, landing with the wind perpendicular to your flight path is an extremely useful skill, if a little tricky.

The trick to the crosswind land-ing is to use mental discipline. First, identify a clear “runway” and orient your approach straight along it, with a quartering headwind if possible—anything up to a 90-degree crosswind (in other words, no tailwind compo-nent) will work. Then, remember two important facts:

You must constrain your final path to this runway. Turning toward the fence line/ocean/alligator farm is not an option.

The glider will fly just fine with the nose pointed in a different direction to your ground track. This is called crab-bing, and the difference between the nose direction and the ground track is the crab angle.

With this in mind, perform your approach. A typical downwind-base-fi-nal approach will feel different: down-wind is now crosswind and base is now downwind, so consider an alternative approach like a tight set of figure-eights. Hopefully, you have chosen a long runway so there is plenty of room

for error in altitude judgment.As you slow down on final ap-

proach, focus your attention on the far end of the runway, keep the wings level, keep making the direc-tional corrections necessary to follow the runway, and let the nose point wherever it needs to. It will appear to “weathervane” or swivel into the wind, but the glider doesn’t do this on its own as a real weathervane would. Any control inputs that are required to maintain a crosswind ground track will increase the crab angle and cause the nose to point toward the wind as you slow down.

Touchdown is simple in a para-glider: Either execute a normal flare with emphasis on the upwind brake so you end up facing the wind, or run out the landing to transition from flying to kiting, if that’s your custom and preference.

Hang gliders are a little trickier to flare in a crosswind, due to the quick change in angle of attack. There are a few different opinions on the best method. Some pilots recommend a roll input toward the upwind wingtip before or during the flare to inten-tionally drop that tip and prevent the wind from flipping the glider over. Others advocate, if the wind is strong enough, avoiding the flare completely and raising the nose just enough to hover in as you continue to turn into the wind. Four out of five stuntmen recommend sliding down a dirt road on your sneakers as you let the wing swivel into the wind. And still others suggest to swivel your body toward the direction you’re moving and “moon-walk” along the ground, letting the glider settle and lose energy until you are moving slow enough to simply stop.

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Thermals come in all sizes, shapes and flavors. The average pilot gets to know hundreds of them in a

season, thousands of them in a flying career. Yet each one is as different as the stars; as different as individual snowflakes. Part of the fun of “wing-ing it” is figuring out and maxing out each new thermal. After years of flying, most thermals turn into a blur of whirling circles with an impression of great gains for the optimists and lost opportunity for the pessimists.

But in my experience, there are a certain number of thermals that are memorable, because they are either so wonderful, or so vigorous or so nasty that they get embedded in our memory core. Riveted in our recollection, fea-tured in our fear file. The Good, the Bad and the Plug Ugly.

Like most pilots, I have a number of these “special” thermals in my logbook bank. I thought that now in the new flying season is a prime time to review some of my experiences in the hopes of entertaining and enlightening the reader. There are lessons to learn in nearly every thermal. I learned from these specimens; perhaps you will, too.

THE GOOD I call the good thermals welcome thermals, because they are like a friend stopping by to lend a helping hand. Sometimes they come to help you out of a jam, lift your mood and help you move on.

The first friendly thermal on my list is perhaps my best of show. I was in a hang gliding competition sometime in the late ‘90s at Dinosaur, Colorado. The task was a long way to the south-east over no-woman’s-land. We would typically travel in a flock because there is safety in numbers. Cooperate and elevate. The more probes, the greater the probability of finding lift. I knew all that, but somehow I found myself alone, getting low far from a road in dinosaur country. By low I mean perhaps five or six hundred feet off the deck. I scrabbled in weak nothing as I drifted downwind to a cliff face about 500 feet tall. There wasn’t much ridge lift, but I made some passes hoping for a sign from above (or below—any sign). Like magic, a golden eagle cruised out from a perch on the cliff and went straight forward to a core. As soon as he made an obvious climb I went for it and entered at his height. We went up together, wingtip to wingtip, for 3000 vertical feet. He could have climbed above me, no doubt, but he chose to linger with me all the way. At the top he took off to who knows where (maybe back to heaven) and I took off for goal. I have often thought about that dream experience. It’s probably a once in

a lifetime occurrence. The main thing I learned from that

event is to never give up until I am on the ground, and to note that the best thermals may be out away from the ridge. I try to always be aware of the signs. I also try to be conscious of the incredible moments that we are given as bird impersonators.

Another lucky save occurred in a meet in Florida. Around 20 of us were on course in a weak section. We spread out to cover more territory and sniff out lift. Nothing was showing green air. One by one pilots were getting grounded. It looked like the whole flock would be wiped from the sky. Then some little teasing bubbles appeared when we were about 500 feet up. We soon gathered with the six to eight pilots left and worked a miracle save. Gradually it turned into a solid 100 then 200 fpm and we were slowly lifted to safety. But just then Manfred Ruhmer flew into our area. He had taken a later start clock and was proceeding at his usual blazing pace. I thought to myself, “Good, he will be a welcome running mate.” But he didn’t stop at our thermal, despite being only about 1000 feet off the ground. He went a little past us and explored around

by DENNIS PAGEN

PART VII: THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE PAPER BAG

thinking outside the Blocks

Like magic, a golden eagle cruised out from a perch on the cliff and went straight forward to a core.

in his inimitable fashion. I watched him like a hawk as I continued to climb. After a bit of wandering, Manfred hit a screamer about 100 yards from us. One by one we zoomed over there and found the good stuff, but of course by the time we topped out, Manfred was long gone. He won that day along with the meet.

I picked his brain that evening and asked what was he thinking, passing a thermal when he was so low. He said that we had the thermal marked and he was getting better lift before, so why not explore. Of course, had he not found the better core he would have come to us below. It is his great confidence that made him think he could find our thermal from below and max it out. I have no doubt he could. What I learned from that experience is that when we get a saving thermal it is not necessarily the best one in the region. Often a bubbling thermal area will have several cores rising and the first one we encounter is not always the best. But, it takes a stout heart to leave light lift when it is raining gliders all around you.

Low saves are always fun, and I expect most thermal pilots have had their share. One day in a meet at Albuquerque, New Mexico, I was over the back of Sandia Mountain looking for badly needed lift. I was low, and while there were gliders above me, they were of little help since they were also in the doldrums or sink. The sink I was wal-lowing in got stronger and I was looking for landings. Like a dose of charm, I felt the sink lessen, then turn to burbles of lift. I soon cruised into a solid core that started compelling me upward at a steady 1000 feet per minute average. I went from about 9000 feet MSL to 18,000 feet—the legal limit, all in one go. That thermal is probably my great-est single climb in a given blob of lift. I relearned a lesson I was taught many times: it ain’t over till it’s over. More importantly, centering in the thermal

and focusing on staying centered is the key to maxing out every climb.

A couple years ago I was at a local site, Hyner View, on a weak weekend day. I was set up and determined to fly, as were many others. We were taking our sled rides like men on the hot doodah day. I launched and piddled around in teasing lift, prolonging the inevitable slide to the deck. Not much happening in the hot, stable air. About 100 feet above the landing field I felt some lift. Might as well turn in it. I started circling with all my focus to max out my floatability. To my surprise, I began sustaining round and round. The bubbling would increase and then decrease and I would go up perhaps 50 feet, then sink back to the lower level. I hung on for nearly 20 minutes, mostly 100 feet off the ground. It was as if I were suspended on a wonder layer of lift. Some fun! The lesson I learned here is that a hot lower layer can send up soar-ing bubbles even in stable conditions. Hard work can create a little magic.

Convergence helps promote thermals and has its own special rewards. I was once flying at Mt. Kitheron in Greece. The sea breeze comes in from both sides of the peninsula and often meets in an area above Thebes. The two flows have different humidity, so when they meet and well up in thermal lift, cloudbase of the two masses will be at different heights right next to one another. I was on the dryer mass side and took the opportunity to climb up under the high base, about 1000 feet right alongside the moister mass cloud. Once I got near the higher base, I simply turned west to punch through the cloud tower beside me (no, I wouldn’t do this in the U.S. where it is illegal). It was a strange won-derland inside that disorienting cloud, but just as I was beginning to doubt my decision, I popped out the other side and was in the clear, high over the territory where the Greeks defeated the mighty

Persians and saved their civilization. I learned to not take cloud flying lightly and save my own civilization.

I was in a meet in Castajon de Sos (Castle of the Spring—in Catalan, not Spanish). Typically at that site

high in the Pyrenees, the north flow sets in by early afternoon while the launch faces south. I was a little late for some reason and had to beat into the north wind to get the first turn-point. The lead gaggle was well on its way, miles ahead. I headed south after the turnpoint with a couple other stragglers. We went out over the valley on course and suddenly found a nice thermal. After a couple circles I detected strong, smooth, wide lift. A cloud formed over our heads and the drift was essentially nothing. I realized that we were in convergence formed by the north wind meeting the southern flow that comes up from the heated plains to the south. I climbed for thousands of feet in that thermal—to cloudbase—and went on course. Ahead was a line of clouds and the lead gaggle below at the next turnpoint. I reached that line well above its base, since I had climbed in the drier north air mass. I merely tucked as close as I could to the cloud line and essentially found zero sink to light lift for miles until I reached the next turnpoint and the leaders still working lift below. I headed for the third turnpoint and saw the gaggle chasing me from behind. A couple more normal thermals later I got the last turnpoint and tracked towards goal. I was followed closely by Oleg Bondarchuk (later world cham-pion), but managed to hold him off to win the day—a rare gift indeed.

The main thing I learned from that experience is to never give up hope (a lesson I repeatedly learn) but also to be eminently aware of the micro effects when I fly. Certainly recognizing the


convergence early helped me maximize it. The two other pilots with me in the lift went wide and wandered out of it and ended up lower than me when it came time to glide onward.

One final memorable good thermal was encountered on the flats east of Chelan Butte in Washington State. We had a triangle task and I was headed back into the wind getting low—dis-hearteningly low. Suddenly I noticed off to the right a dust devil cranking up. I headed that way while this devil turned into the Mephistopheles of all dusties. It grew about 200 yards (two football fields) in diameter and around its perimeter it sported multiple little devilettes turning the opposite way of the main rotation, like ball bearings in a cage. When I got near, I was only about 300 feet above the floor. Should I dive in so low? I had quite a bit of experience in the Chelan dust devils by that time and I knew them to be quite benign. A careful view of the dust in the perimeter indi-cated it wasn’t rising too awfully fast or swirling too awfully radically. So I took the plunge. I was rewarded with a sweet, smooth climb to impressive heights and a final glide to goal.

I learned that constant observation often rewards us with signs of salvation. I also noted that although this event turned out all right, I wouldn’t normally dive into a dust devil so low unless it was in a place like Chelan where the ground cover is like talcum powder and experi-ence has shown that dust devils arise in fairly moderate thermals.

THE BADBut not all thermals are so kind and benign. Sometimes we encounter stronger stuff or freight-train thermals that give us the willies. Other times the thermals show promise, but the promise is false.

To the west of Hearn, Texas there is a factory spewing out the usual heat and

noxious gas that factories are uncaring enough to do. This factory was a typical turnpoint in the meets we had there. The factory smokestack and huge tin roofs produced a steady, heady thermal. Every time we dove into it we found about 1500 fpm of serious lift, smelling slightly like a vent from the underworld. But it was the best climb in the area, so guess what we did time after time. In a similar manner, pilots would always dive for the pig farms in Spain. They were nauseating, but provided reliable altitude injections. I had a chemical factory near a local site that produced funny smelling thermals. To prolong your time in the air you had to shorten your time on this earth. Then there is the sewer thermal a bit farther north of this site, and the limestone plant that puts out nice ther-mals with a characteristic odor.

What we learn from all these tainted thermals is that often, sweet lift is not available and sometimes we have to make do with the sour type. More importantly, our sense of smell is a useful thermal-detection device. We have to take what comes. Farmers are now spreading more noxious processed cow waste on their fields. Expect to have to suffer more for your art of flying. But every once in a while the scent of honey-suckle or roses will come up to greet you. This was the case in the Rose Valley in Bulgaria, site of the last paragliding world meet. Nothing better.

One day in the ‘80s while flying a local site called Purdue, we had humid thermals forming clouds above and out in front. In a quick process, one of these clouds developed into a small thunderstorm and started dropping

rain. This site doesn’t really allow escape downwind over the back, so we pulled forward, flying fast to try to reach the ground. We were still about 800 feet up when a mild gust front hit us. It was a little rock and roll, but the leading edge shear soon passed and we were then in smooth air with a marked wind direc-tion change all the way to the ground.

On another occasion, I was in a competition in Governador Valadares, Brazil. The heady thermals of the day produced one large thunderstorm that threatened to move across our course line. About 30 pilots continued on until the storm spread towards us, at which time most of them spiraled down to try to land. Unfortunately they encountered serious turbulence due to the gust front, and a couple pilots were injured. A few of us chose to fly on past the storm and used the widespread lift to gain a dis-tance of about 15 kilometers beyond the reach of the gust front, and I landed in normal smooth conditions. After about 15 minutes on the ground the front hit with strong gusts and rain.

What I learned from these experi-ences is to judge thunderstorms more carefully and to not leave the escape plan until it’s too late.

Another bad thermal developed during a competition in Florida. Perhaps 40 of us hopeful pilots were straggling towards goal on the last leg. Things were quite weak. We would find a bit of lift, climb a few hundred, then it would peter out. Off we’d go to spread out and search for more hope. I was searching an area with several pilots and we blobbed along working what we could, following fatuous vultures luring us to points of no

What I learned from these experiences is to judge thunderstorms more carefully and to not leave the escape plan until it’s too late.


return. Every thermal offered promise, but then proved to be a dud. Finally I made one last glide to a circling buzzard and found a bit of lift. My search mates had juked to the left and found another little buoyancy. I worked and worked, and they worked and worked, and when it was all said and done, they gradu-ally climbed out of the hole and I was on the ground kicking at anything that wouldn’t break my toe.

But Florida isn’t known for its disap-pointment. On another occasion I met the ripper of rippers in my experience. We were on course and I saw a gaggle ahead strung out vertically. Even though I was flying along in sink I could tell they were screaming up. I dove for the thermal and as I neared, I hit the hard-est jolt I had ever encountered—that includes all my flying in the Owens Valley, Sandia, Lakeview, etc. The jolt was straight down with no rotation, and even though I had a death grip on the bar, one hand was ripped off. I regained the control bar and my composure and encountered the meat of the thermal a few seconds later, to find a screaming steady 1500 to 2000 fpm climb to the stratosphere. Much to my amazement, after landing at goal I noted my alumi-num base tube was bent upward about 5 inches. Who knows if today’s carbon base bars would fail under such a severe jerk.

I learned that such a thermally fecund area such as Florida can some-times disappoint, but can also some-times shock. Why that thermal was so steroidal, I don’t know, but I do know I learned to hang on to my hat and base tube when approaching a thermal no matter where I am.

THE UGLYSometimes it’s hard to decide how to classify a thermal. Should the previous one be ugly or merely bad? Since my fear was fleeting and in the end I was lifted

to great height with no further stress, I just call it a bad boy. But this next one instilled fear all the way up, through more than 3000 feet of gain.

I was in a meet at Sandia above Albuquerque, New Mexico. Setup space is limited, so we had an ordered launch and it was my turn to go. The launch here is at 10,300 feet MSL, so we typically wait for a cycle to come through to help carry the load. The launch director heard a thermal coming and got me psyched. When the wind came I cleared and lunged. But it was the launch thermal of a lifetime; it im-mediately pointed my nose skywards as I hung from my hands on the uprights. I laid the glider over into a turn as soon as I gained composure and continued to rocket upwards. The thermal was so powerful that I banked well over 45 degrees to avoid getting near the sides. Even with this steep bank I continued to climb at over 2500 feet per minute. I was afraid this ineluctable power would tumble and shred me, but I was even more afraid to leave and pass through the cylinder of doom surrounding such a megaton monster. So I hung on for over 4000 feet of climb—it didn’t take long. The thermal widened some and

mellowed some as it got higher, but even so when I left, it shook me seriously. (I left because I didn’t need to continue the stress—there were many other kinder thermals out there).

I learned that on any given day, just like a rogue wave at sea there can be a rogue thermal, marshalling its forces to be an ordinate larger or more powerful than the norm. I already knew enough to maintain a steep bank to help avoid a severe roll or pitchover. I also was glad I tend to hold my original grapevine grip when launching, because if I had been transitioning to turn my hands around when I was hit by the buoyant bus, I probably would have lost my grip on the uprights, with consequences that make me shudder.

I was in a meet in Guatemala way back in 1979. We were at a site near Panjuachal called the Nunnery, because there was a nunnery right by launch. It was a deep cliff bordering Lake Atitlan, a volcano-studded scenic area. While we were standing on launch, an earthquake hit. I have no idea what the Richter factor was, but we were all shaking, shaken and scrambling to get away from the cliff. After things settled down we got ready for a task. The lift was light

PHOTO BY STEVE BARAN


to nothing until a thermal came in, but then a cloud would form quickly in the humid air, only a bit above launch, and sometimes right at launch. Back then we were flying one-on-one, so two pilots launched simultaneously. I launched with my opponent and suddenly a cloud formed around us. There we were, pointed out to the lake near one another. I couldn’t see a thing and all I knew was that he flew just off my left wingtip. I began hollering in hopes he would hear me, but I guess he never did. We never hit, of course (I’m here to tell the tale), and suddenly we both popped out of the cloud going the wrong way about a half-mile behind the cliff. I turned around and barely cleared the lip, then went on to finish the task.

That harrowing experience made me respect launch conditions a bit more, and realize that just because the launch director tells you to launch doesn’t mean he has complete control of the weather factors. That was my worst encoun-ter with cloud flying and I learned to respect the potential fear and loathing inherent in unexpected cloud flying.

I have watched three gliders go upside down from a close perspective. In all cases I was in the same thermal or about to enter it. One incidence was in the washing machine in front of the aforementioned Sandia Mountain. The pilot had launched just in front of me and we were flying out for our first thermal. Suddenly his glider tucked under and he was lying on the sail. It took a moment for me to realize what happened, then I entered the same air he hit, although it wasn’t too bad for me. I watched him eventually flip back to right side up, and continue his flight. I was ready to go land, but when I saw him bravely soldier on, I too started thermal-ing. We got up, went over the back and landed together. His glider had a broken reflex bridle and a number of seriously bent battens.

Another pilot went bottom-side up at

King Mountain in Idaho. Again it was in a competition and we were in a fairly crowded thermal. Suddenly I saw out of the corner of my eye a strange sight—I couldn’t quite correlate it until I real-ized a pilot was upside down still going around the thermal. That didn’t last long, for he soon threw his chute and we got to watch and listen to the descent into a canyon. He had rolled over at the edge of the thermal. The diagnosis was that he was flying too slowly.

The third upside downer occurred at a site near me. Again the pilot was flying too slowly around the outside of the thermal and got rolled over. He too went down under canopy. In all these case, the thermal wasn’t such a belligerent one in general, but a bit of rolling air and slow flying was the combination that flipped the pilots. The lesson is obvi-ous: Maintain ample turbulence control speed near the borders of a thermal.

But even with ample speed you can sometimes get surprised. Twice I have been rolled upside down. Once was near Dinosaur in Colorado. It seemed to be a normal day. I was flying along, looking for lift when suddenly my left wing was lifted so strongly that before I could react I was upside down about 45 degrees past vertical (135 degrees of roll). I am convinced that had I not re-acted properly I would have ended up on my back exactly like the last two pilots described above.

Then perhaps 15 years ago I had the same thing happen to me at Hyner View, mentioned above. A meathead with a house below launch had burned some trash on a windy day during a drought period. Some sparks got away, lit the forest on fire and burned black the whole front of launch. For several years, until that area re-greened, we had powerful thermals. The thermal I encountered was one of those. Again I was rolled upside down.

In both cases I came out fine because I had a bit of speed—always a good

thing when searching for lift—and I knew how to do wingovers. I knew when to stop fighting the roll and put in the opposite control and then pull in and let the glider go over the top and do a split S, then pitch up to normal attitude. This maneuver is beyond the scope of our classification of thermals, but we will cover it in a future installment.

To avoid ending on an ugly note, here I offer one more “good” thermal from my memory cache.

It was about 10 years ago, I was flying a local site known as Pleasant Gap with Mitch Shipley. When we weren’t disposed to fly cross-country we would typically explore upwind, seeing how far we could penetrate into the valley and still stay up. Often we could go five miles or so to the next mountain forward. On this day thermals were reasonably good and we were out in the valley. Suddenly I saw a huge burst of dust back towards the mountain. After a moment I realized that the quarry that sits out from the mountain had detonated an explosion. I saw the cloud of dust rising rapidly, so I flew over to take advantage. I met up with serious lift—1500 fpm, more than twice what we had been experienc-ing for the past hour. I augured up and called Mitch. He came over and climbed up below me and we both topped out with glee. Sometimes we are given a gift of lift and we just can’t say no.

After many miles and circles and plunges and elevators and slides to the bottom and miracle saves, I have come to appreciate all the unlimited variety in the lift we encounter. It sure keeps a pilot on his or her fingertips. It sure is nice to fill the memory up with such ex-periences rather than tortuous visits to the furniture store, interminable sitting in traffic or watching mind-numbing TV. May all our memories be of excep-tional lift.


HANG GLIDING

PARAGLIDING

RTG RGN NAME STATE RATING OFFICIALRTG RGN NAME STATE RATING OFFICIALRTG RGN NAME STATE RATING OFFICIAL

RTG RGN NAME STATE RATING OFFICIAL

H-1 2 Norio Eda CA Patrick DenevanH-1 2 Mark Larsen CA Patrick DenevanH-1 2 Michael Yee CA George HamiltonH-1 7 Robert Warmbir IL Michael Van KuikenH-1 9 Mark Erwin KY Gordon CayceH-1 9 Dale Erwin KY Gordon CayceH-1 9 Zach Erwin KY Gordon CayceH-1 10 Collin Preston NC Alex BrewerH-1 10 Kait Creamer GA Christopher (kit) MartinH-1 10 Andrew Creamer GA Christopher (kit) MartinH-1 10 Alan Friday NC Michael AppelH-2 2 Himanshu Mhatre CA Eric HinrichsH-2 2 Norio Eda CA Patrick DenevanH-2 5 Mark Weinstein Mark FrutigerH-2 7 Robert Warmbir IL Michael Van KuikenH-2 9 Kenny Tedder WV Jennifer CoppleH-2 9 Mark Erwin KY Gordon CayceH-2 9 Dale Erwin KY Gordon CayceH-2 9 Zach Erwin KY Gordon CayceH-2 9 Al Bowling KY Christopher (kit) MartinH-2 10 Kait Creamer GA Christopher (kit) MartinH-2 10 Andrew Creamer GA Christopher (kit) MartinH-2 10 Ryan Brown NC Christopher (kit) Martin

H-2 11 Zachary Bateman LA Jennifer CoppleH-3 2 Henrik Bengtsson CA Barry LevineH-3 2 William Sprague CA Eric HinrichsH-3 4 James Penrod NM Mel GlantzH-3 5 Diego Calderoni ID Jeff ShapiroH-3 7 Daniel Lange WI Christian ThorensonH-4 6 Cyril Stewart Jeffrey HuntH-4 6 Shamim Chaudhry Jeffrey HuntH-5 3 Kenneth Andrews CA Alan Crouse

P-2 5 Maximilian Toeldte ID Andy MacraeP-2 6 Barry Tonkin Raimar Van Den BylaardtP-2 6 Jhon Fredy Norena Agudelo Rob SporrerP-2 6 Raymond Heer OK Luis AmeglioP-2 6 Jeanyves Preudhomme MO Rob SporrerP-2 6 Kody Preudhomme MO Rob SporrerP-2 6 Andre Simao Osorio De Barros Rob SporrerP-2 7 Ivo Byrtus IL David (dexter) BinderP-2 9 Bud Branch VA Christopher GranthamP-2 9 John Gentile Jr PA Rob SporrerP-2 10 Dimitrijus Sazinas NC Kevin HintzeP-2 10 Vaibhav Khairnar GA Hynek CibulaP-3 1 Jason Douglas WA Marc ChiricoP-3 1 Morgan Jobert OR Steve RotiP-3 2 Charles Beaudoin CA Jeremy BishopP-3 2 Shannon Long CA Wallace AndersonP-3 2 Brad Bell CA Rob SporrerP-3 2 Oleg Ace CA Wallace AndersonP-3 2 Emily Reinys CA Jeffrey GreenbaumP-3 2 Mark Budenbender CA Jeffrey GreenbaumP-3 2 Cuauhtemoc Cardin CA Rob SporrerP-3 2 Dmitry Chichkov CA Jeffrey GreenbaumP-3 3 Dennis Wills HI Scott GeeP-3 3 Lianne Oneal CA John KraskeP-3 3 Scott Vincik CA Kari CastleP-3 4 W Brent Pace UT Patrick JohnsonP-3 4 Zachary Dickerson CO Jonathan JefferiesP-3 4 Scott Thompson CO James ReichP-3 4 Dwight Quillin AZ Nik PetersonP-3 5 Jack Dennett Ken HudonjorgensenP-3 5 Neil Batho Fred MorrisP-3 6 Stephen Bailey AR Britton ShawP-3 6 Jhon Fredy Norena Agudelo Rob SporrerP-3 8 Adam Haggerty ME Jonathan JefferiesP-3 9 Kyle Kearney VA Nick CraneP-3 9 Drew Richardson VA Phil GivensP-3 10 Shawn Pryor AL Nick CraneP-3 11 Derek Black TX Hal FranklinP-3 12 Peter Tast NY Rob SporrerP-3 12 Salvatore Scaringe NY Ray LeonardP-4 1 Joe Walden WA Lawrence WallmanP-4 1 Andrey Yakimov WA John KraskeP-4 1 Morgan Jobert OR Steve RotiP-4 2 Vitalii Umanskyi CA Jeffrey GreenbaumP-4 3 Mark Donner CA Jerome DaoustP-4 3 Tony Boyer CA Bob Hammond JrP-4 3 Kris Souther CA Gabriel JebbP-4 3 Michael La Tour CA Bob Hammond JrP-4 4 Edwin Williams Iv CO Sanders (sam) CraterP-4 4 Mike Benzie CO Sanders (sam) CraterP-4 4 Nate Johnson UT Ken HudonjorgensenP-4 4 Douglas Brown CO Gregory KelleyP-4 6 Mak Kam Wai Jeffrey GreenbaumP-4 6 Chan Yuk Fai Jeffrey GreenbaumP-4 6 Tang Chi Shing Jeffrey GreenbaumP-4 6 Kwan Chi Ming Jeffrey GreenbaumP-4 6 Sae-lao Decha Jeffrey GreenbaumP-4 6 Jhon Fredy Norena Agudelo Rob SporrerP-4 7 Andrei Cojoianu MN Terry BonoP-5 6 Peter Humes David Glover

RATINGS issued in March

P-1 1 Morgan Jobert OR Steve RotiP-1 1 Daniel Cleary OR Justin BoerP-1 1 Jeff Johnson OR Justin BoerP-1 1 Thai Verzone AK Jake SchlapferP-1 1 Jerry Little AK Jake SchlapferP-1 1 Stephen Karney WA Ross JacobsonP-1 1 Olegario Carrillo AK Jake SchlapferP-1 1 Todd Lang OR Kelly Kellar

P-1 1 Brian Malta AK Stephen MayerP-1 1 Jody Barton AK Stephen MayerP-1 1 Chris Henry AK Christopher HunlowP-1 1 Christopher Masteller WA Gabriel JebbP-1 1 Horacio Leyva WA John KraskeP-1 2 Nathan Chidiac CA Jesse MeyerP-1 2 Dmitriy Litvak CA Wallace AndersonP-1 2 Adam Cook CA Wallace AndersonP-1 2 Maxime Legaignoux CA Wallace AndersonP-1 2 Ed Lowder CA Christopher GranthamP-1 3 Rick Moore CA William Purden JrP-1 3 Jader Barreto CA Marcello DebarrosP-1 3 Daphne Schonfeld CA Max MarienP-1 3 David Hawley CA Max Marien

P-1 3 Dave Schultze CA Rob SporrerP-1 3 Seung Lee CA Max MarienP-1 3 Marco Roman CA Max MarienP-1 3 Spencer Mar CA Rob SporrerP-1 4 Farhad Geramipoor CO Seyed Alireza Amidi NaminP-1 4 Dwight Quillin AZ Nik PetersonP-1 4 Steven Besendorfer UT Jonathan JefferiesP-1 4 David Eubank NM Charles (chuck) WoodsP-1 5 Matthew Richter ID Justin BoerP-1 5 Benoit Marin-cudraz Stephen MayerP-1 6 Barry Tonkin Raimar Van Den BylaardtP-1 6 Jhon Fredy Norena Agudelo Rob SporrerP-1 6 Raymond Heer OK Luis AmeglioP-1 6 Jeanyves Preudhomme MO Rob SporrerP-1 6 Kody Preudhomme MO Rob SporrerP-1 6 Andre Simao Osorio De Barros Rob SporrerP-1 8 Bruce Sanborn NH Heath WoodsP-1 9 Bud Branch VA Christopher GranthamP-1 9 John Gentile Jr PA Rob SporrerP-1 10 Dimitrijus Sazinas NC Kevin HintzeP-1 10 Vaibhav Khairnar GA Hynek CibulaP-1 10 David Ribardo GA Terry BonoP-1 11 Lindsay Strahle TX Blake PeltonP-2 1 David Little WA Marc ChiricoP-2 1 Zachary Blodget OR Matt HenziP-2 1 Travis Hanson WA John KraskeP-2 1 David Connolly OR Justin BoerP-2 1 William Willenbrink AK Jerome DaoustP-2 1 Morgan Jobert OR Steve RotiP-2 1 Daniel Cleary OR Justin BoerP-2 1 Jeff Johnson OR Justin BoerP-2 1 Thai Verzone AK Jake SchlapferP-2 1 Jerry Little AK Jake SchlapferP-2 1 Zachary Sommer OR Justin BoerP-2 1 David Thorp OR Justin BoerP-2 1 Ingrid Johnson OR Justin BoerP-2 1 Olegario Carrillo AK Jake SchlapferP-2 1 Todd Lang OR Kelly KellarP-2 1 Brian Malta AK Stephen MayerP-2 1 Jody Barton AK Stephen MayerP-2 1 Natalie Rogers WA Justin BoerP-2 1 Christopher Masteller WA Gabriel JebbP-2 2 Aron Kormout CA Wallace AndersonP-2 2 Nathan Chidiac CA Jesse MeyerP-2 2 Ed Lowder CA Christopher GranthamP-2 2 Simon Gonzalez NV Chris SantacroceP-2 3 Tom Caruso CA Max MarienP-2 3 Jader Barreto CA Marcello DebarrosP-2 3 Dave Schultze CA Rob SporrerP-2 3 Spencer Mar CA Rob SporrerP-2 3 Jonathan Christner CA Max MarienP-2 4 Justin Spain NM Charles (chuck) WoodsP-2 4 Leigh Caswell NM Charles (chuck) WoodsP-2 4 Scott Thompson CO James ReichP-2 4 Jack Thompson CO James ReichP-2 4 Farhad Geramipoor CO Seyed Alireza Amidi NaminP-2 4 Dwight Quillin AZ Nik PetersonP-2 4 Steven Besendorfer UT Jonathan JefferiesP-2 5 Benoit Marin-cudraz Stephen Mayer


CALENDAR, CLINIC & TOUR LISTINGS can be submitted online at http://www.ush-pa.aero/email _ events.asp. A minimum 3-MONTh LEAD TIME is required on all submissions and tentative events will not be published. For more details on submis-sions, as well as complete information on the events listed, see our Calendar of Events at www.ushpa.aero

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING RATES - The rate for classified advertising is $10.00 for 25 words and $1.00 per word after 25. MINIMUM AD CHARGE $10.00. AD DEADLINES: All ad copy, instructions, changes, additions & cancellations must be re-ceived in writing 2 months preceding the cover date, i.e. September 15th is the deadline for the November issue. ALL CLASSIFIEDS ARE pRE-pAID. If paying by check, please include the fol-lowing with your payment: name, address, phone, category, how many months you want the ad to run and the classified 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 classified to [email protected]. For security rea-sons, please call your Visa/MC or Amex info to the office. No refunds will be given on ads can-celled that are scheduled to run multiple months. (719) 632-8300. Fax (719) 632-6417

hANG GLIDING ADVISORY: Used hang glid-ers should always be disassembled before flying for the first time and inspected carefully for fa-tigued, bent or dented downtubes, ruined bush-ings, bent bolts (especially the heart bolt), re-used Nyloc nuts, loose thimbles, frayed or rusted cables, tangs with non-circular holes, and on flex wings, sails badly torn or torn loose from their an-chor points front and back on the keel and lead-ing edges.

pARAGLIDING ADVISORY: Used paragliders should always be thoroughly inspected before fly-ing for the first time. Annual inspections on para-gliders 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 paraglid-ing businesses will be happy to give an objec-tive opinion on the condition of equipment you bring them to inspect. BUYERS ShOULD SE-LECT EQUIpMENT ThAT IS AppROpRIATE FOR ThEIR SKILL LEVEL OR RATING. NEW pILOTS ShOULD SEEK pROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION FROM A UShpA CERTIFIED INSTRUCTOR.

SePTeMBer 28 - oCToBer 4 > Dunlap, TN. The original Tennessee Tree Toppers’ Team Chal-lenge brand of fun cross-country hang gliding camp! Bring your A, B, or C-game self and team up with other pilots in a low-key safety and learn-ing-centric competition. Cross-country aces (A-pilots) team up with B-pilots (H-3+ with some XC experience) and C-pilots (H-3 pilots new to XC) and fly cooperatively to complete A, B, and C level XC tasks with a unique scoring system that’s heavily weighted to reward safe B & C-pi-lot XC miles and A-pilot assists. Daily seminars on all aspects of hang gliding led by some of the very best XC pilots around. This benefit alone is worth a million and can help you become a bet-ter pilot! Launch off the world famous Tennessee Tree Toppers’ Radial Ramp and soar the beautiful Sequatchie Valley. http://www.tennesseetreetop-pers.org/

MArCH - oCToBer > United States informal race-to-goal events at sites across Northern Cali-fornia. Aims are to get pilots to fly farther than they would on their own. More information: Jug-deep Aggarwal, 831-566-8652 [email protected], or www.santacruzparagliding.com.

FLY-INS

JULy 4-6 > The Ellenville Fun Meet is BACK! This is a fun and friendly team event open to H-2 and above pilots. Scoring is based on flight dura-tion, bomb drop, and spot landing. In the case of unflyable weather other fun “tasks” will be called. There is a party and TEAM SONG event Saturday night. See website for details and up-to-date in-formation! Check out: www.SNYHGPA.org/fun-meet

JULy 3-7 > Anchorage, AK. Arctic Air Walk-ers Fly-in www.arcticairwalkers.com TIME TO CROSS ALASKA OFF YOUR BUCKET LIST! USH-PA’s 2013 Chapter of the Year, the ARCTIC AIR WALKERS, is hosting a fly-in in the land of the midnight sun. Cost is just $40, which includes an awesome AAW club T-shirt, BBQ with beverages, contest entries, prizes and swag. Three possible flying sites include Alyeska ski resort, Eagle River and Hatcher Pass, all with easy access and locat-ed within 20-80 miles of Anchorage. All sites pro-vide spectacular Alaskan views from the air and ground. Contests will include a costumed flight, rubber ducky drop, farthest traveler and more. Other activities available include fishing, hiking, rafting, shopping, wildlife cruises, kayaking and much more. More information, and to register, go to www.articairwalkers.com.

CALENDARSANCTIONED COMPETITION

JULy 5-12 > Chelan Butte, Chelan, WA. Chel-an Flats Nationals. 2014 US Paragliding Nation-als, Race-to-goal, Chelan, WA More information: Kimberly Phinney, 707-508-5431, [email protected], or whiteowlpg.com.

AUGUST 3-9 > Big Spring, TX. Big Spring Na-tionals. Strongest, smoothest, most consistent conditions of any US competition. Air-condi-tioned pilot lounge, hangar, paved runways, ice cream, water, all facilities. More information: Belinda Boulter and Davis Straub, 1-863-206-7707, [email protected], or http://ozre-port.com/2014BigSpring.

SePTeMBer 14-20 > Francisco Grande Golf Resort, Casa Grande, AZ. Santa Cruz Flats. More Information: Jamie Shelden [email protected], or santacruzflatsrace.blogspot.com.

NON-SANCTIONED COMPETITION

JULy 8-20 > FAI European HG Championship - Class 1. Spain will host once again the Euro-pean Hang Gliding Championship for 2014. The championship will be held at Arangoiti - Sierra de Leire in the city of Lumbier at 40km from Pamplo-na.July 8th: Opening Ceremony. July 8th: Prac-tice - Free Flying. July 9th: Practice - Task. July 10th - 19th: Competition Flying Days. July 20th: Closing & Awards. More Info: http://www.aran-goiti2014.com

JULy 10-13 > Enjoy field, Chebanse, IL. Corn Alps XC. First non-sanctioned PG towing comp in the Midwest. More info coming soon: Jaro Krupa, 708-935-0177 [email protected], or www.chicagoparagliding.com.

JULy 27 - AUGUST 2 > Boone, NC. Tater Hill Open. Cross-country race for paragliders and hang gliders with concentration on new XC pilots. We will utilize a unique scoring system so every-one has a chance to win. Kari Castle will be back this year to give clinics. Registration opens May 1st. $200 entry fee includes rides up the hill, re-trieve on competition days, and awards party on Saturday night. We will be giving away lots of prizes and money for top-placing pilots. More info: www.flytaterhill.com or call Bubba Goodman at 828-773-9433.

HOW TO USE

calendar & classified

http://www.tennesseetreetoppers.org/

http://www.tennesseetreetoppers.org/

mailto:[email protected]


http://www.santacruzparagliding.com

http://www.SNYHGPA.org/fun-meet

http://www.SNYHGPA.org/fun-meet

http://www.arcticairwalkers.com



http://whiteowlpg.com/


http://ozreport.com/2014BigSpring

http://ozreport.com/2014BigSpring



http://santacruzflatsrace.blogspot.com/

http://santacruzflatsrace.blogspot.com/


http://www.chicagoparagliding.com


60307/13 - 7/20: King Mountain Glider Park Safari Free annual Idaho event just east of Sun Valley. Paragliders, Hang Gliders,Sailplanes, and Self Launching Sailplanes are all welcome. Awesome glass off and cloud bases at 18,000'. Fly to Mon-tana or Yellowstone. Wave Window. Campfire, Potlucks, Star Gazing, Hiking, Mountain Biking and Fishing. Free camping at the famous Glider Park. Big Air and Big Country! Lions, tigers, and bears? Oh my! Spot Locator with tracking func-tion or equivalent required. See the pictures from prior Safaris in our gallery. For film clip about the event search YouTube King Mountain 2011 Safa-ri. Contact John Kangas at (208)407-7174 or j [email protected] More Info: http://www.king-mountaingliderpark.com

JULy 23-25 > Richfield, UT, Pioneer Days Fly-in. Hang Gliding and Paragliding Fly-in from Cove Mountain, Monroe Peak, and Mt. Edna in central Utah. Combining the hometown celebra-tion of Monroe Pioneer Days, and world-class flying from Utah’s highest peaks. Parades, fire-works, and entertainment to complement. Ulti-mate morning sledders, midday thermaling, and evening ridge lift. There is something for every-one at the Pioneer Days Fly-in. More info: Stacy Whitmore, 435-979-0225, www.cuasa.com , or [email protected].

AUGUST 23-30 > Villa Grove, CO. Colorado Fly Week presents: Rocky Mtn Airmans Rendezvous & Mountain Flyer Championships. We're back this year with big air & smooth lift along the Sangre de Cristo Range. Tiffany's Tavern greets you in the LZ w/refreshments. Live music, food vendors, stage shows, awards dinner & more. This is the fly party of the season! It'll be great to see old friends & make new. This event caters to accomplished H2 & P2 pilots seeking their first mountain experi-ences. A fundraiser for our launch, consider a do-nation &/or register early until April 1 for $100 & get the 2012 Fly Week DVD. $140 at the door. For comp info contact Fred Kaemerer, [email protected]. Event info Tiff Smith, [email protected] & www.facebook.com/ColoradoFlyWeek

SePTeMBer 29-4 > Richfield, UT. Red Rocks Fall Fly-in. Fall colors, beautiful mountains and flying activities for all levels and interests. Ther-maling clinics, spot-landing contest, ridge-soar-ing task competition, morning sledders, and distance challenges. Low pressure, fun flying ac-tivities to give everyone a chance to mingle and enjoy flying from central Utah’s many world-class flying sites, at a most colorful time of year. This is a biwingual event. More info: Stacy Whitmore, 435-979-0225, www.cuasa.com, or [email protected].

CLINICS & TOURS

JULy 5-7 > UT. Instructor Training with Ken Hudonjorgensen in Utah. Phone: 801-971-3414, e-mail [email protected], or www.twocan-fly.com

AUGUST 7-9 & 10-12 > Northern Califor-nia Over-the-water Maneuvers Clinics in North-ern California with Eagle Paragliding. America’s top all-around acro and former national champion Brad Gunnuscio will be coaching you over the wa-ter with our state-of-the-art towing setup. Eagle is known for high quality tours and clinics with lots of staff, and this clinic is no exception. We en-courage you to make the time for this important safety training with any qualified SIV instructor. More information: Rob Sporrer 805-968-0980 [email protected], or www.paragliding.com.

SePTeMBer 5-9 > UT. Cross-country and thermaling clinic with mentoring. Paragliding in-tensive with Ken Hudonjorgensen and other men-tors. Inspiration Point, Jupiter, West Mt. and Mon-roe, Utah, wherever the weather tells us to go. Phone: 801-971-3414, e-mail [email protected], or www.twocanfly.com

SePTeMBer 18-20 & 21-23 > Northern California Over-the-water Maneuvers Clinics with Eagle Paragliding. America’s top all-around acro and former national champion Brad Gunnuscio will be coaching you over the water with our state-of-the-art towing setup. Eagle is known for high quality tours and clinics with lots of staff, and this clinic is no exception. We encourage you to make the time for this important safety training with any qualified SIV instructor. More information: Rob Sporrer 805-968-0980 [email protected], or www.paragliding.com.

SePTeMBer 20-28 > Owens Valley, CA. Owens Valley Go Big XC Clinic. Geared for Very Strong P3/H3 pilots and above that are ready to fly XC in pretty sweet conditions. Owens Valley with Kari. Fly one of the best sites in the US with one of the best pilots in the world. Let Kari’s 33 years of flying and 26 years of liv-ing/flying the Owens Valley, be your guide! We work on anything that has to do with high altitude mountain flying from launching thru record set-ting XC flights and everything in between the sky is the limit!!! More Information: Kari Castle 760 920 0748 [email protected], or KARICASTLE.COM.

SePTeMBer 27-28 > UT. Mountain Fly-ing and learning how to pioneer a new site. Utah sites with Ken Hudonjorgensen. Phone: 801-971-3414, e-mail [email protected], or www.twocanfly.com

SePTeMBer 27-28 > Dunlap, CA. Dunlap Thermal and Cross-country Clinic with Eagle Paragliding. Dunlap offers some great flying in the foothills of the west side of the Sierras. This trip is one of our favorite two-day excursions. Join us for some nice flying with some great people. More information: Rob Sporrer, 805-968-0980, [email protected], or www.paragliding.com.

NORTHWINGSPORTS.COM

http://www.flytec.com


http://www.twocanfly.com



http://www.paragliding.com











http://www.hanglide.com

http://northwingsports.com


NoVeMBer 8-10 > Santa Barbara, CA. In-structor Certification Clinic with Rob Sporrer of Eagle Paragliding in Santa Barbara, California. This three-day clinic is open to Basic and Ad-vanced Paragliding Instructor candidates, and those needing recertification. We invite you to ap-prentice with us anytime to get as much hands-on experience as possible before the clinic. More information: Rob Sporrer, 805-968-0980, [email protected], or www.paragliding.com.

NoVeMBer 11-12 > Santa Barbara, CA. Tan-dem Paragliding Clinic with Rob Sporrer of Ea-gle Paragliding in Santa Barbara, California. We will be doing classroom and practical training at the best year-round training hill in North America. More information: Rob Sporrer, 805-968-0980, [email protected], or www.paragliding.com.

NoVeMBer 12-14 & 17-19 > SIV Clinic. Ye-lapa, Mexico. SIV/Maneuvers flight camp clinic. Join us for another great learning and fun expe-rience in beautiful, tropical Yelapa. Tow up and land on the beach in a warm, friendly location with lots of great places to stay and eat. Brad Gunnus-cio, world class XC, acro pilot and Instructor of the Year, will be teaching the courses. As Brad says, "Yelapa is by far the best place to do an SIV clinic...." Contact Brad at [email protected] or (801) 707-0508 and Les in Yelapa at: 011 52 1 322 142 5804. More Info: http://www.para-glideyelapa.com

JAN 18-25 & FeB 1-8 > Tapalpa, Mexico Fly Week Parasoft has been guiding pilots to Mexico in Jan-uary since 1990. In 2002 we discovered world-class Tapalpa, with four other sites close by. With big launch and landing areas this is the best in Mexico! Tapalpa is a 2500’ vertical drive-up site located one hour from the Guadalajara airport. To prepare for the 2004 World Cup competition, a restaurant and bar were added. Our trips include six days of flying. We see these as both a fun fly-ing vacation and a learning experience. To guide our clients well, we limit group size to four cli-ents and offer tandem flights to improve flying skills. More info: [email protected],303-494-2820, or http://parasoftparaglid-ing.com/mexico-flying/.

CLASSIFIEDFLEX WINGS

A GREAT SELECTION OF hG&pG GLIDERS (ss, ds, pg) -HARNESSES (trainer, cocoon, pod) -PARACHUTES (hg&pg) -WHEELS (new & used). Phone for latest inventory 262-473-8800, www.hanggliding.com

DON’T MISS OUT.RENEW ONLINE.

Be sure to renew your USHPA

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in the USHPA Green initiative.

Online renewal is only available to

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who have been expired less than

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have access to online renewal.

SePTeMBer 29 - oCToBer 4 > Red Rocks Fall Fly-In. Fall colors, beautiful mountains and flying activities for all levels and interests. Ther-maling Clinics, spot landing contest, ridge soar-ing task competition, morning sledders, and distance challenges. Low pressure, fun flying ac-tivities to give everyone a chance to mingle and enjoy flying from Central Utah's many world-class flying sites, at a most colorful time of year. This is a biwingal event. Contact Stacy Whitmore at 435-979-0225 or [email protected]. More Info: http://www.cuasa.com

oCToBer 1-5, 10-20, 24-27 > Ow-ens Valley, CA Women With Wings- The Third Annual gathering of women pilots! Geared for P2-P3’s but all are welcome! Owens Valley with Kari. Fly one of the best sites in the US with one of the best pilots in the world. Let Kari’s 33 years of flying and 26 years of living/flying the Owens Valley, be your guide! We work on anything that has to do with high altitude mountain flying includ-ing launching to record setting XC flights and everything in between. The sky is the limit!!! More information: Kari Castle, 760-920-0748, [email protected], or KARICASTLE.COM.

NoVeMBer 3 - DeCeMBer 1 > Iquique, Chile.With the most consistent thermals on earth, we guarantee you will fly everyday! After 16 years of leading trips, wining competitions, and working as a local guide/tandem pilot, Luis Rosenkjer and Todd Weigand offer the most professional guid-ing service available in Iquique. With 20 year of combined guiding experience in Iquique, nobody can lead new pilots to this region with the exper-tise that these gentlemen provide. Beginner to advanced instruction available with everyone pro-gressing at an extraordinary rate! More XC offered during the last segment. Last year a few clients completed our classic 115 km flight back to the hotel! Join Luis & Todd so you can improve you flying skills, break your personal records, and en-joy the best of Iquique! www.paraglidingtrips.com

NoVeMBer 5-19 > Fly Atacama Desert Para-gliding Adventure. We take you to South America to fly over the driest desert in the world - The Ata-cama. It is our seventh consecutive trip to what many pilots consider to be the best place to fly on the planet and more consistent than any oth-er flying location. Iquique, Chile offers pilots of all levels plenty of XC miles and endless thermal-ing days. Year after year our guests beat their per-sonal distance and air time records. With us you get to fly with Jarek Wieczorek - multilingual para-gliding guide, XC specialist and site pioneer with unsuppressed knowledge of the desert. Our top-notch logistics, stunning locations, in-depth local knowledge, deluxe off-road trucks, and gorgeous beachfront accommodation will make your flying experience in Chile unforgettable. Contact: [email protected] / (303) 800 6340. More Info: http://www.antofaya.com






mailto:[email protected],303-494-2820

mailto:[email protected],303-494-2820

http://parasoftparagliding.com/mexico-flying/

http://parasoftparagliding.com/mexico-flying/


6020HARNESSES

FLY CENTER OF GRAVITY CG-1000 - The most affordable single line suspension harness available. Individually designed for a precise fit. Fly in comfort. [email protected], 315-256-1522

SCHOOLS & INSTRUCTORS

ALABAMA

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGhT pARK - The best facilities, largest inventory, camping, swimming, volleyball, more. Wide range of accommodations. hanglide.com, 877-HANGLIDE, 877-426-4543, hanglide.com.

ALASkA

AK pARAMOTOR - Paragliding & Paramotor School. Year-round: USHPA+USPPA certifica-tion. Novice, Refresher, Training, Equipment. Frank Sihler 907-841-7468 www.USAparaglid-ing.com

CALIFORNIA

AIRJUNKIES pARAGLIDING - Year-round excellent instruction, Southern California & Baja. Powered paragliding, clinics, tours, tandem, towing. Ken Baier 760-213-0063, airjunkies.com.

EAGLE pARAGLIDING - SANTA BARBARA offers the best year round flying 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 certification. Thermaling to competition training. Visit www.flyaboveall.com 805-965-3733.

MISSION SOARING CENTER LLC - Largest hang gliding center in the West! Our deluxe retail shop showcases the latest equipment: Wills Wing, Moyes, AIR, High Energy, Flytec, Aeros, Northwing, Hero wide angle video camera. A.I.R. Atos rigid wings- demo the VQ-45’ span, 85 Lbs! 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. Pitman 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 training harnesses. 1116 Wrigley Way, Milpitas, CA 95035. 408-262-1055, Fax 408-262-1388, [email protected], Mission Soaring Center LLC, leading the way since 1973. www.hang-gliding.com

WORLD FAMOUS hISTORIC TORREY PINES GLIDERPORT: Incredible Flying – food – fun. Come enjoy coastal San Diego flying year-round! We offer USHPA-certified instruction for all ratings, as well as tandem, instructor, and SIV clinics and local flat land towing. Call us for details on our domestic and international clinics and tours or join us in our 4x4 12-passenger tour van for 15 other flying sites opportunities in SoCal and Baja California. We have expanded product lines including Ozone, Skywalk, Sup Air, Independence, Woody Valley, Sky, Gradient, Niviuk, Paratech, Plussmax helmets, Crispi boots, Gopro, Flytech, Flymaster and a lot more. Come test our new mini wings from Ozone. We have a huge selection of Demos on site. Our full service shop offers reserve repacks, annual glider inspections, repairs and more. We also carry an extensive new and used inventory of certified gliders and harnesses. Check us out at flytorrey.com, facebook.com/flytpg, [email protected], or call us at (858) 452 9858.

WINDSpORTS - Don’t risk bad weather, bad instruction or dangerous training hills. 350 flyable days each year. Learn foot-launch flying 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.

COLORADO

GUNNISON GLIDERS – X-C to heavy waterproof HG gliderbags. Accessories, parts, service, sewing. Instruction ratings, site-info. Rusty Whitley 1549 CR 17, Gunnison CO 81230. 970-641-9315.

FLORIDA

FLORIDA RIDGE AEROTOW pARK - 18265 E State Road 80, Clewiston, Florida 863-805-0440, www.thefloridaridge.com.

GRAYBIRD AIRSpORTS — Paraglider & hang glider towing & training, Dragonfly aerotow training, XC, thermaling, instruction, equipment. Dunnellon Airport 352-245-8263, email [email protected], www.graybirdairsports.com.

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGhT pARK - Nearest mountain 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, Coconut Grove, Florida 33133, www.miamihanggliding.com.

WALLABY RANCh – The original Aerotow flight park. Best tandem instruction worldwide,7-days a week , 6 tugs, and equipment rental. Call:1-800-WALLABY wallaby.com 1805 Deen Still Road, Disney Area FL 33897

GEORGIA

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGhT pARK - Discover why 5 times as many pilots earn their wings at LMFP. Enjoy our 110 acre mountain resort. www.hanglide.com, 1-877-HANGLIDE, 1-877-426-4543.

HAWAII

pROFLYGhT pARAGLIDING - Call Dexter for friendly information about flying on Maui. Full-service school offering beginner to advanced instruction every day, year round. 808-874-5433, paraglidehawaii.com.

ILLINOIS

TWIN OAKS hANG GLIDING CENTER - Whitewater, WI - Bunny hill, scooter towing and aero towing. Training and Discovery Tandems. Ric - WisconsinHangGliding.com. Paul - ScooterTow.net. Danny - 608-469-5949

IOWA


INDIANA

CLOUD 9 SpORT AVIATION - See Cloud 9 in Michigan

http://flyozone.com


MARYLAND

hIGhLAND AEROSpORTS - Baltimore and DC’s full-time flight 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 Dragonfly tugs. Open fields as far as you can see. Only 1 to 1.5 hours from Rehoboth Beach, Baltimore, Washington DC, Philadelphia. Come Fly with US! 410-634-2700, Fax 410-634-2775, 24038 Race Track Rd, Ridgely, MD 21660, www.aerosports.net, [email protected].

MICHIGAN

CLOUD 9 SpORT AVIATION (hang gliding equipment), North American Soaring (Alatus ultralight sailplane and e-drive systems), Dragon Fly Soaring Club (hang gliding instruction), at Cloud 9 Field, Webberville, MI.More info: (517) 223-8683, [email protected], www.DFSCinc.org.

TRAVERSE CITY hANG GLIDERS/pARAGLIDERS Put your knees in our breeze and soar our 450’ sand dunes. Full-time shop. Certified instruction, beginner to advanced. 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 Mosquito distributor. www.mosquitoamerica.com.

MINNESOTA


NEW HAMPSHIRE

MORNINGSIDE - A Kitty Hawk Kites flight park. The north east's premier hang gliding and paragliding training center. Teaching since 1974. Hang gliding foot launch and tandem aerowtow training. Paragliding foot launch and tandem training. Powered Paragliding instruction. Dealer for all major manufacturers. Charlestown, NH. Also visit our North Carolina location, Kitty Hawk Kites Flight School. (603) 542-4416, www.flymorningside.com

NEW YORk

AAA MOUNTAIN WINGS INC - New location at 77 Hang Glider Rd in Ellenville next to the LZ. We service all brands featuring AEROS and North Wing. 845-647-3377 [email protected], www.mtnwings.com

FLY hIGh, INC. - Serving New York, Jersey, and Connecticut areas. Area’s exclusive Wills Wing dealer. Also all other brands, accessories. Area’s most INEXPENSIVE prices! Certified instruction/service since 1979. Excellent secondary instruction! Taken some lessons? Advance to mountain flying! www.flyhighhg.com, 845-744-3317.

SUSQUEhANNA FLIGhT pARK Cooperstown New York Serving the North East since 1978. We have the best training hill in New York. Dealers for Wills Wing and others. Trade-ins welcome www.cooperstownhanggliding.com 315-867-8011

NORTH CAROLINA

KITTY hAWK KITES - The largest hang gliding school in the world! Celebrating our 40th year! Teaching since 1974. Learn to hang glide and paraglide on the east coast's largest sand dune. Year round instruction, foot launch and tandem aerotow. Powered Paragliding instruction. Dealer for all major manufacturers. Fly at the beach! Learn to fly where the Wright Brothers flew! Located on the historic Outer Banks, NC. Also visit our New Hampshire location, Morningside Flight Park. (252) 441-2426, 1-877-FLY-THIS, www.kittyhawk.com

OHIO

CLOUD 9 SpORT AVIATION - See Cloud 9 in Michigan

PUERTO RICO

FLY 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].

TENNESSEE

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGhT pARK - Just outside Chattanooga. Become a complete pilot -foot launch, aerotow, mountain launch, ridge soar, thermal soar. hanglide.com, 1-877-HANGLIDE, 877-426-4543.

TEXAS

FLYTExAS / JEFF hUNT - training pilots in Central Texas for 25 years. Hangar facilities near Packsaddle Mountain, and Lake LBJ. More info: www.flytexas.com, (512)467-2529

UTAH

CLOUD 9 pARAGLIDING - Come visit us and check out our huge selection of paragliding gear, traction kites, extreme 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 facility, Give us a ring at 801-576-6460 if you have any questions.

VIRGINIA

BLUE SKY - Full-time HG instruction. Daily lessons, scooter and platform towing. AT towing part time. Custom sewing, powered harnesses, Aeros PG , Flylight and Airborne trikes. 804-241-4324 , www.blueskyhg.com

WISCONSIN


INTERNATIONAL

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.flymexico.com 1-800-861-7198 USA

CLINICS & TOURS

COSTA RICA - Grampa Ninja's Paragliders' B&B. Rooms, and/or guide service and transportation. Lessons available from USHPA certified instructors. USA: 908-454-3242. Costa Rica: (Country code, 011) House: 506-2200-4824, Cell: 506-8950-8676, or Kathy @ 506-8918-0355 www.paraglidecostarica.com

SpRING, SUMMER, FALL - Woodrat Mountain, OR. Hostel / Camping / Rooms below launch. Heated pool, hottub, internet. Shuttle/guide service. [email protected], 541 951-6606 or Facebook-Raven's Landing

PARTS & ACCESSORIES

GUNNISON GLIDERS – X-C, Factory, heavy PVC HG gliderbags $149 Harness packs & zippers. New/used parts, equipment, tubes. 1549 CR 17 Gunnison, CO 81230 970-641-9315

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.


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OxYGEN SYSTEMS – MH-XCR-180 operates to 18,000 ft., weighs only 4 lbs. System includes cylinder, harness, regulator, cannula, and remote on/off flowmeter. $450.00. 1-800-468-8185.

SpECIALTY WhEELS for airfoil basetubes, round basetubes, or tandem landing gear.(262)473-8800, www.hanggliding.com.

PUBLICATIONS & ORGANIZATIONS

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

SERVICE

CLOUD 9 REpAIR DEpARTMENT - We staff and maintain a full service repair shop within Cloud 9 Paragliding; offering annual inspections, line replacement, sail repair of any kind (kites too!), harness repairs and reserve repacks. Our repair technicians are factory trained and certified to work on almost any paraglider or kite. Call today for an estimate 801-576-6460 or visit www.paragliders.com for more information.

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

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parameters for the profile (used on Atlas and Boom 9)As pilots, we are trained to control all aspects of our flying. We’re happiest when we manage to

beat every unknown out of a flight, re-ducing it to a routine. But I didn’t get into flying for the routine and neither did you. Am I right? Am I right? Yep. You got into flying for the adventure and for not knowing what was going to happen next.

So next time you find yourself facing the question of “to XC or not to XC…”—XC, damn it! Anything less is unacceptable. The best stories and experiences begin when you’re totally committed on the ground as well as in the air.

I was a participant in one of these stories myself. A few buddies and I went down to Texas for some flatland flying, and on this particular day east winds pushed us to the Mexican border. We were strewn along the last major road that runs north of the Rio Grande. Our loose plan was to fly to Zapata, and short of that, get wherever by whatever means necessary. Once we regrouped, we would figure out how to get our collective asses back the 80 air-miles to Edinburgh, where we started.

I “dirted” short of Zapata and was now into the “whatever means neces-sary” part of the program. When the tow-truck pulled over and the driver, who looked like a younger Danny Trejo, motioned me to throw my glider on the greasy rear deck and get in, I didn’t think twice. You shouldn’t think twice either. A ride’s a ride, and getting a ride

near the border with a glider pack is like winning the Lotto.

Carlos and I hit it off immediately. He was a “repo” man, after having been a cop who was shot up in a gunfight while responding to a burglary call. According to Carlos, a life of legalized car theft was laidback compared to life as a cop. I nodded in agreement, while surveying the baseball bats and boxes of ammo stuffed into the back of the cab. We headed up the road towards Zapata, debating the merits of his S&W 686 versus my Glock 23.

One by one, we picked up the rest of the crew. We located everyone but Andre, who had landed miles from the pavement on some dirt road. Carlos had come to Zapata to repossess a truck and said he would help find Andre after his mission was completed. He dropped us off at a restaurant, returning in a flash with a new Ford pickup hooked to the back of the tow-truck. We piled in, three stuffed in the tow-truck and two sitting at a 45-degree angle in the pickup hooked to the back.

It was now a moonless, pitch-black Texas night, and we were flying down dirt roads over rattlesnakes, with tow-truck lights flashing. Long after I thought we had gone way too far, Andre suddenly appeared, standing in the middle of the road like a deer in headlights. Carlos slammed on the brakes, grabbed one of the baseball bats, jumped out of the cab and ran at Andre screaming, “I’M GONNA KILL YOU, M*TH*R*U*CK*R”! Carlos got a

really good laugh out of that, and I must admit it was pretty funny, if you weren’t Andre.

With all of us rounded up, Carlos hatched a plan to get us back to Edinburgh, by now about three hours away. We’d only have to do a little “repo job” involving a luxury car. The Cadillac was about the length of two Honda Civics, with a hood as big as a queen-sized bed. Carlos told us he had repossessed it earlier and “stored” it in a used-car lot. Our job was to drive this car back to Edinburgh and leave it at a hotel parking lot for Carlos to pick up later. But since Carlos had no keys, we had to break into the car. The whole scheme seemed a bit suspect, but what the hell? We needed a car.

As it turned out, a white 1983 Cadillac DeVille was the vehicle of choice for the retrieval. It had a massive V8 engine, with leather, more leather, and room for four glider bags in the trunk. (It’s no wonder the “mob” was into these.) We did as we were told and prepared to start our journey.

Meanwhile, Carlos took the tow truck and headed to his girlfriend’s house, leaving us with the Caddy and a half rack of Bud he had been steadily working through since I climbed aboard.

So this adventure began with some great XC flying and ended on the Mexican border at 2 a.m., driving an unregistered white Cadillac with no plates packed with gliders, pilots, beer, and a story no one would believe!

by BILL BELCOURT

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hang gliding & paragliding vol44/iss07 jul2014

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