Gary's Blog
Hang Giding
Mon Feb 05, 2007 6:28 pm
[  Mood: Happy ]
Some of my fondest memories as a child growing up were the many vacations our family took to the outer banks in North Carolina. I recall watching the hang gliders fly at jockey’s ridge state park and thought how awesome it would be to fly like a bird. Fast forward many years later. I'm now married and on a trip to the outer banks again with my wife. Seeing the gliders flying again while visiting rekindles a flame to fly. Once I arrive home I start searching the web to find out more about hang gliding. After a little research I find out to my surprise that there is a hang gliding instructor not to far away from me here in Ohio. After a phone call or two the date is set and I am to meet my instructor on the training hill about 40 minutes from my house.
Finally the weekend was here and it was time to find out what hang gliding was all about. I drove to the training hill and met up with my instructor. It’s been so many years ago I do not remember exactly what year it was, but I’m guessing it was between 1990 and 1992. I was excited to be starting my training and to experience flight for the first time. My instructors name was Mario. To this day I have the utmost respect for him. He was a great instructor that placed a great deal of emphasis on safety. I learned a lot from him over the next few years and always valued his opinion. I do not remember every detail from each of my training sessions but there are a few things that stand out. I remember having trouble learning a good solid launch technique, and was usually jumping into the glider before it was ready to fly. To this day I do not know why it was so hard for me to pick up on this. Then my instructor gave me some very simple, yet effective advice. He said I should pick a spot at the bottom of the hill and run for it as fast as I can. Do not even think about flying, just try to run down the hill as fast as you can without letting the glider get ahead of you. The next launch attempt I did just that, slow built up my speed and ran down the hill as fast as I could. Before I know it I was running and my feet were no longer touching the ground. I was finally flying. I do not know why this has stuck in my memory for all these years but it was a technique I continued to use for years to come.
Here is a picture of me on one of the local training hills with the first glider I ever flew. Forgive the picture quality, my scanner is not the best in the world.
(To be continued)
The Trackback URL for this entry is:
http://www.hanggliding.org/trackback.php?e=40
| Author |
Message |
sg
3 thumbs up
Joined: 17 Jul 2006
Posts: 11030
View Blog
|
 Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 6:49 pm Post subject: |
|
Now thats some serious OLD SCHOOL 
|
| Back to top |
  
|
 |
|
Hang Gliding Org Forum Index
-> Blogs
-> Gary's Blog
-> Hang Giding
|
|
|