Back to Main Page Back to Archive 2004

Index to weather maps

Hangola March 23 - 30, 2004

Flight Reports

Blowin 20+ on the ground, no one flew. Ran into TR, Jessy and Norm over at Wallaby. Doug's there, but he and Nat were out doing better things with their time. Sunny and warm still ain't too bad, even if it's breezy. Forecast is the same till the weekend though. Starting to think of heading elsewhere.

Got a look at that new Sport 2. Nice looking wing. Hopefully some of us will get a chance to take it up. The mornings are looking do-able, so someone might give it a go.

Jim

Tuesday afternoon Rance and I spent a few hours a Taylors working on launching and landing in srtong gusty conditions,(I flew and Rance helped cary the glider and operated the video camera). Launches and landings were acceptable.

Changes are in the works at Tylors. There appears to be a fence under construction that will run parallel to the base of the hill and the tree line. The fence looks to be about 50 feet east of the pond and will run the entire length of the landing zone (north to south).I have, and have seen many others land beyond what will be the new fence line. Flying straight down the hill without turns to shorten the horizontal distance traveled may become an issue.

Tim

Blown out again. Bo decided it was beach time so we went and soared the hotels. Mantowed up from the dunes and rode the ridgelift infront of those expensive houses. Holy crap that's fun!

Heading up to Lookout in search of better weather.

Jim

It wasn't epic flying, but I did get airborne twice.

On Monday after arriving at the airport, I called local PG instructor Will Smith and got instructions to the site, a 500' vertical W/SW facing mountain on the ast side of the city. We met at about 5pm and were joined by local pilot and LZ-neighbor Jeff Martin. We hiked the trail to launch and were rewarded by a great view of the city and launchable (albeit crosswind) conditions. I launched first and managed a few passes before sinking out in the crosswind.

I was able to return on Wednesday evening and made the hike again, accompanied by Jeff. This time, winds were much stronger and straighter. I launched first and gained, making a few passes and enjoying the view. Unfortunately, as the wind increased and switched 90 degree cross, I found myself drifting slowly backwards. I applied speed bar and managed to maintain my position, but I still wasn't too happy about the lack of penetration, so I pulled ears, added speed bar and descended into less wind. This tactic worked, allowing me to track back towards the LZ for a no step landing. Ironically, winds decreased shortly therafter, providing Jeff with a pleasant extended ridge soaring flight.

Albuquerque pix at http://community.webshots.com/album/128524277khkJSO

'Spark

Got in from Albuquerque at about 1am. Headed to Middletown about noon with the PG. Flew 7 times between noon and 5pm, landed back on top 4 times. Zagi'd for awhile with Scott. Kited a bunch. Thermals were fat and smooth, not enough for the PG to sky out, but xtend'able - gains of 100' or so. The Zagi's were speck'n, chasing the locals.

Found my vario. It fell from about 50 feet almost 2 weeks ago, was snowed on and rained on. It was staring right at me. I powered it up and used it for my last flight.

Life is good. : )

'Spark

Yup, we used aerotowing "baily" releases instead of wrapping the base tube. 20mph smooooth beach winds help a lot. So does some scooter towing experience. Friends that can run fast are a must. The experience is not to be missed. Soaring buildings is tricky stuff though. Have pictures, will post later.

We're in Woodstock now. Hahaha, just worked out that way. I'm sure it's not NW tomorrow though (haven't looked yet). Lookout was blowing over the back, but we towed. Roudy stuff, but smooth once you're over the ridge. Booooming conditions by 10:30am. Much fun.

Heading to Highland tomorrow am.
Off to check the weather... cheers

Jim

Well, it wasn't a spectacular day, but the skies did clear, the winds picked up, and there was plenty of flying to be had at the Pulpit on Sat!

Arrived around 12:30 or so. Dave T, 'spark, Ellis, and Marc F were already there. I think 'spark had already had a 20 minute soaring flight. Later joined by Karen and Matthew, and Tom (PG'er).

I took my time setting up, given the forecast. Winds were cycling up and down: 5, 10, 15 NW. A bunch of paragliding flights in the early PM, and I think everyone soared.

Marc F. was the first hangie off, maybe around 1:45 or so. Winds were fairly cross, so he was working hard; but still, he was catching thermals to a few 100 over, in between scratchin' and clawin'.

I made an LZ run and picked up some of the PG'ers (so that I could have a full crew ;-) . So I didn't join Marc until maybe 2:30.

It was tough. Fairly cross (even NW is 45 cross!). Rotor surfin' at times. Other times I was near top-o-stack, with only Tom above.

Then I lost it in a flush cycle, after maybe 30 minutes of concentrate-flying. *Just* before things really turned on, wouldn't you know. Broke down, got a ride up from 'spark, and was setting up again at 4:00.

Tom (PG'er) headed over the back and made it to Greencastle. Lots more PG flights. Karen soared for about 30 minutes. Then I was up for my second go....

Phew! That was *lots* of work. No-one else on the ridge though, so no traffic problems trying to work the light conditions. Got a few hundred over, then lost it for a while, then conditions *almost* went magic. Lots of sun from 3:30 on. Never completely turned on, so it was still lots of work to stay up; I'll be sore tomorrow! :-) Was joined by 'spark (PG) and Matthew (HG), and Marc (PG for his 2nd flight).

Flew 'til sunset. Got about 1.5 hours on the second flight. Crappy landing (tail wind); you'd think I would know by now, sheesh!

All in all, not a bad day. It felt good trying to map out what lift there was, very challenging at times.

Figured there would be more pilots there, but I guess the AM rain in DC/Balt gave people second thoughts...

--mark c.

Expecting "mudsburg" vs. Smithsburg...instead we found it dry. Even the corn areas were dry. Wind turned from SW to NW and NNW by 1pm. Steady, smooth NW 5-10 ALL DAY. Best training conditions in a long time! All four ( second day ) students launching from the top by days' end. Awesome group ( Jim, George, Gary and Jeff ).

Rich Hays

Four people worked on the new launch. Several stumps were removed. Lots more work will be required. The dirt road to launch was graded and smoothed.

Seven PG pilots flew the Pulpit - the largest number yet. I made three flights for a total of 1:20 and almost have my 20 hours towards P3. Pics at the link below.

http://community.webshots.com/album/128935802GIqhTJ

'Spark

Got an upper body workout @ HR yesterday and looking for a leg workout @ OR today. Should be there late morning w/ the Harrier... any other takers?

Danny Brotto

Well, Quest was looking blown out for the rest of the week. We were ready to bail when Bo decided that the beach looked soarable. Did a bunch of mantowing at the dunes. Freakin fun as hell soaring the oh so nice houses on the beachfront! The crew (me, Lenko, Danny and Alek) headed out to Lookout afterwards. It was going to be blowing over the back, but none of us had flown there yet and they have aerotowing. Upon arrival, we found out that they have aerotowing, but because of the local political troubles, they have to tow up near the mountain. It was light enough that we could still tow, but whooo doggie is that rotor a B*(tch! Weak links breaking left and right.. a nice switchy LZ.. flying was well, challenging. But we were determined (stupid) and flew anyway. The air was booming by 10:30 am. Strong lift and cloudstreets. Soaring in a T-shirt again. Back at Highland now recovering from all that driving.

Life is good
Jim

Pretty much bullet proof conditions. Launches commenced about 1500 into fairly smooth air and only one cloud sucky big black ooga booga that chased Shawn and I from under it. Tops to about 3400 above and times to about 3 hours. Thermaled with lots of Red Tails, two picnic coolers, and a floor safe...Bob

Arrived at the Sac at 12:30 to STFI & 10-20. It stayed that way all day with just a few gusty periods. As matter a fact, the gusts always seemed to to start just when Joe or Shawn got up on launch. Shawn was the first out & he rocketed up to cloud base in minutes. He was followed by Joe & Bob, then John & Gary. Thanks to Shawn who volunteered to land early to launch me at 5pm. It was the most beautiful part of the day. The sun finally came out for good & I had my first ridge soaring experience of my life. I launched into smooth air & got up without effort. Made it up to 1k over launch and nearly watched the sun set. Had to land after an hour & 15 to avoid breaking down in the dark. Most got much more than that. Could have stay up as long as you wanted. We even had Eric, a visiting HG from Norway with 20 years experience & 1000 hours. Real nice guy that helped most with launch. He didn't fly though.

Jim! You should have been there!

=====
-- Pat F.

Think I will try Bills today. Blip map does look good. Rock was very light yesterday. If only I had waited two hours longer before launching and weighed 20 lbs less I could have been up there with Danny. And if I got lucky. Fellow heavy weights Kelvin and Kurt K also sank. Kelvin was there en fam -- nice to see susan and the girls.

Lotsa pilots at Bills today. I wasn't too thrilled with the initial cloudiness in the AM, so I got a late start, arriving at 1:30P. Marc Fink launched his paraglider shortly thereafter into light air and soared big time, getting way upstairs. While setting up other paragliders launched and soared. I took off behind Dave Proctor, who was slowly rising to the north of launch in light lift. Tried to pimp off of him, but the ladder was pulled up :-(. Many got short soaring flights, and plenty of extendoes. Climbed up the mountain to get the vehicle. If you hustle it a bit, it takes the same amount of time to climb the mountain as it does to drive from the LZ to launch - 25 minutes. While almost to the summit saw a Falcon launch and start scratching above the treetops. By the time I got to the top, saw Pat Brooks in the Falcon way upstairs. Retrieved glider, took monster truck driver Paul back to launch, where it was blowing in steadily. Cruised around 4:40P after helping Gary Smith launch. Heard that it went magic later. See that in State College right now (11PM) it's blowing SE at 12, gusting to 17 MPH. Another example of timing is everything (Jacks).

Bacil

Life is good at the ranch. Sunday was a lift everywhere kind of day. Cloudbase was 6000'. Lots of gliders to demo and the operation is as smooth as ever with very little wait for a tow. Beard is getting himself current for towing and Dorie is getting a nice tan by the new inground pool. The new chef is cooking great meals and now there is more than enough food for even those last in line.

We are missing you guys, sorry you couldn't make it down this time.

--
Bob Buchanan

Had a great week flying and hanging out in Florida and Lookout. Great way to start a season and get some airtime. A couple of firsts for me. Now I want to fly more than a week ago. Daniel is writing an article for the Skyline so I will leave out the spoilers.

Alek

I got 1.5 hr in the air at the Sac plus a pair of work gloves & safety glasses on Sat. Missing something Joe?? I'll put them in my helmet ! remind me next time I see you!

Gary

<snip>

Oregon Ridge was fun on Sunday. I broke away from my normal routine to see if I can still foot launch after a season of towing. It turns out that I can and it reminded me how cool it is to run into the air like I used to in my childhood dreams. The day also reminded me that I don't excercise my quads enough. Maybe I'll change my workout schedule to include a day or two a week of just carrying my glider up and down my driveway :-)

Dave

There were a total of about 15 pilots including students at Oregon Ridge on Sunday. John and Rich each had about 6 each. Sunny and warm and I think everybody got in all the launches they wanted. No carnage in spite of the somewhat squirrly wind conditions and ground effect that seemed to go on forever. Danny Brotto flew his Harrier, some guy showed up with an old Raven, Craig and I shared his Pulse, everybody else was on Falcons or Eaglets I think.

I had four flights including four very gratifying light wind launches that Craig was kind enough to record for me.

Dan T.

p.s.

Bye the way Wesley also made it to Oregon Ridge yesterday. He looked real steady. Good job Wesley.

Although it was neat to hit that thermal and get up on my first flight, I thought I would mention that I made a stupid mistake of wearing only a fleece shirt and a flight suit, and that was the main reason I bailed at 1400 over and flew out into the valley, I wanted to land and get better dressed to deal with the cold (and of course I sleded the next flight). I believe it was very nearly freezing at that relatively low altitude, but the thermal I was in was plenty strong (4 mps with 30 second averaging) and smooth and going strong. Looking back on the day, I believe there was a valley inversion to around launch height, but once above that the lapse rates picked up significantly in the colder upper air. I also did not think there was much of an easterly drift to the thermals, so hugging the ridge did not really do much to gain the good ones, IMO. Also, the slower speeds possible on a paraglider might have been an advantage low down under those circumstances. But there was a most excellent wonder at the end of the day--where did that new hang 2 go??

-m

Each evening on my journey home, the sun has stayed just a bit higher in the sky. Today, there was just exactly enough time to visit Middletown hill. Set up my wing (PG) in less than 5 minutes and was airborne at 6:10pm. Winds were perfect, straight in at about 12. Just enough for a few passes on the ridge. Hiked back up just before dark. Next time I should bring some suitable shoes ;-)

What a great way to end a Monday.

'Spark (primed and ready to 'spring forward' this weekend)

Timing. So I am dead last in line and I figure 4:30 is my likely launch time. Damn!. That is just not gonna do it. I note that there is some space to the right of launch so I suit up, hook in, pass the dozen or so waiting gliders, say "skyoo me man skyoo me" and boogie off. Pretty cool. But I am just as quickly on the ground. Ironically, 4:30 would have been the perfect launch time. The gods punish the impolite. I think Pete L should get some kind of award. He flew 3 times! That is a strategy. Soaring like evolution. There are creatures who plan very carefully and make only a few attempts and there are those who asault the world. And then there are those who make only a few ill planned efforts. which is why the phone book has very few kinsleys. Oh well. I had a good time.

Shawn had a successful first mountain flight You out there Shawn?

Not much too brag about for either Paul or me for yesterday, but I am such a sicko I loved it all anyhow. Many of our friends arrived, that we have missed for so long -- the Mountaineer creeps, plus many of our own Cap-Heads -- and we caught up on adventures. Larry H. and JR and the Gardinator and Pete S. and Pete L. the amazing and Shawn and Tom the PG pilot and Ellis (who carried my glider, she is so cute) all met at the top, grins plastered on their faces. Maybe 20 or more pilots.

I shoved into line too late, and a couple of pilots pushed in front of me besides, prolonging the wait. One said that you weren't in line if you weren't hooked in (seemed obvious to me, with all the gliders packed head-to-head, but it wasn't worth an argument, or if it was, I was too much of a wimp too make it). Literally waited 2 hours to launch, just in time to miss the evening magic conditions. Bad timing.

I don't know why it was fun anyhow. We cleaned up the slot a bit before launching (me and Paul and Sean and Larry) and then, even though I was both too late and too early, I landed great in front of the crowd and just was so happy to be out in the sun and flying. Being surly was too much of a chore. Paul and I ran for home without dining with our friends, too much work ahead, both last night and today.

Come fly with us soon. We are all going to have great seasons. This year will bring abundant thermals and flowing gin and boowah flights.

Lauren Tjaden

Yea, Pete was really something, got an amazing amount of airtime. I tried to follow Larry and him into the air but was hours behind! Actually followed Pete once but it was his only short flight. Ha! Timing.

l forgot to mention, the coolest thing about being at the mountains with lots of people was all the advice I could get. Tom told me about how the notches on each sode of the LZ tend to trigger thermals (obvious, but I hadn't thought of it when he told me). He is always calm and smart and helpful.

Steve Kinsley threw Shawn off, and explained how he uses the LZ. He knows all these sites so well, how to fly them best. I told Pat D. about how I was by the ridge in some kind of lift, but after turning figure eights a couple of times I fell out of it, and veered too close to the trees, too slow. I flew away, nervous of the terrain. He told me I should just fly straight into the wind away from the ridge, and look for the thermal there, when I had enough altitude to turn. JR. told me how the LZ tilts uphill towards the middle, and if the wind is cross I could find a bit of wind if I started from one corner or another. Worked great, thanks. I wish I could fly with so many good pilots everyday, suck up some of that knowledge.

Lauren Tjaden

<snip>

The flying in Florida has been pretty sweet the last few days. Bo and I have been playing a fun game. Its goes something like this..."Hey Bo, I just did some major tweaking on my glider and I think it is real dangerous to fly, think you could take er for a spin?" I kept him on his toes. Now we have my wing flying puuuurfect. Flew a U2 160. Not a fan of this particular one. I had flown one last fall and at the time liked it. I have a hunch this one might need some work or is just the runt of the litter. Felt like a truck in the air. Really made me sore. Landing was so easy that I got called Barishnikov for being gracefull on one foot. Seriously, that is one Hella easy glider to land.

Today I flew the best flying farthest gliding Fusion SP I have ever seen. Doug the dealer asked me my opinion on a possible turn. Holy cow that thing had a HUGE turn in it. I was afraid to make left turns on approach! I am just amazed at how well it flies now after just some minor tip tweaking. It has some unlisted comp modifications on it and the handling and bar pressure are both really light. Not to mention it is fast and gets a great glide. Jim, get down here quick with your Talon. We need a glide off. The curiousity is killing me. It was great seeing him beam at hearing the positive feedback on his wing. Apparently his flying buddies have been ribbing him and he was developing some social issues with it. Funk that.

I'm not sure if it is all the practice or just plain necessity but the one legged landing is going great. The "bad leg" is available in case I need to call for backup but I haven't needed it yet.

Down in Charlottesville for work. Came early for central VA parachute clinic. Betty Pfeiffer was great as last year. Very friendly central VA pilots. In spite of Greg Mick's explicit instructions, I managed to arrive for the Saturday clinic, which was expressly for PARAGLIDER pilots, but he let me hang from the gym ceiling anyway and practice deployments and get my repack. Course, it mattered that Saturday was rainy and Sunday cleared to a beautiful NE day. Met Ricky (PG instructor), his son Josh, fellow DC area PG-er Jurgen, and USHGA-mag contributor Steve for walk of awesome 1850 foot NW launch, then went to new SE PG launch (950 feet). Set up, went with Greg Mick to walk LZ and station vehicles. PGs were only getting extendos. I launched in a good cycle and had I been a better thermal pilot and not extra-careful at a new site, I might have gotten good altitude out of thermal off launch, but settled for extendo and landed in slightly interesting LZ. Greg came down to debrief me on my flight, then informed me I was first HG to ever launch there. Didn't want to make me nervous by telling me before. Hooked up with fellow HG pilot Lyman to check out upper (1850 foot) SE HG launch. LV, cross and even over the back at that altitude. Went back to lower SE launch, got stampeded by enthusiasm of local HG pilot Shane, raced to set up for another sled, first recorded HG whack at that LZ. Setting all kinds of records! - Hugh

Sunday....

Launched at 8:30 to get the bugs out for a sledder. Launched again at 11:30 and lost a little gained a little then caught a nice thermal to cloudbase @ 4800'. Flew for 2 hours and never got below 4000'. Did a little 10 mile out and return. Nice weather--- I could get used to this.

Monday.....

Launched at 12:30. Difficult to get to cloudbase but made it after 2 low saves. Cloudbase was 5100'. Flew for 1.5 hours. Temps in the mid 80's. Great day -- everybody got gobs of airtime.

Tuesday.....

Weak link broke on tug 100' off ground. Second tow was basically a sledder. No lift all the way to the deck. Three pilots from the MI crew did manage to get up and flew to Wallaby. Nice little XC. Keith and Carol showed up today and Keith took 2 flights on a Discus and claimed he loved it. He stayed up for a while on his first flight. Not sure how long.

Today.... looks like a blown out day so far. Must be a day for starting in on the beer early.

That's it for now. Hoping for this wind to back off enough to get some flying in tomorrow or the next day.

John Hope was right.... this place is like being in paradise.

Dave

Flew Jacks on Monday ~ Joe and I got a late start as work intervened, but the other pilots let the latter down when we showed up and we soared till sunset. Landing was challenging with switchy winds ten to fifteen on the ground. I heard Kirks Ridge pilots and the sailplane pilots had a great day as well. An exceptional treat especially for a Monday!

Flyable. Small crowd. Saw Bruce & Barb, Jim, Matt & Karen, and the Highland Crew, among others. Got to 4150 MSL on the first flight. Base dropped to like 3k later in the day. Flew an insane, crazy 'what the heck is that guy thinking of?' style approach; which forced me to execute a brilliant save micro-spot landing on the taxiway between the launch line gully and the swamp gully. Though I was gonna be feet-wet for real. Reported entertainment value: High.

Watched Mark (our newly adopted kid) crawl into my glider while it was on the cart, tell me to go take a hike while he leaned over the basetube and proned out, picking up his little feet like he was in a kneehanger harness or something. Started with the "zoom, zoom, zoom, Mark's flying," bit. Kid's not even three yet. Oh boy!

-- Joe G.

sorry i took so long, but i wanted some time to absorb what i had experinced sunday. i arrived sunday at bill's hill with my good friend kenny at 11.00.i had tried to be in contact with sparky for an observer, but he had prior commitments. sparky, and i did not have sunday chisled in stone so i don't want anyone to think he left me "hangin." he simply agreed to observe me after watching my basic skills at cheesehill. SO THERE I WAS! SETTING UP MY GLIDER. i got through to sparky at around 12, and he said he couldn't make it, but he refered me to lauren who was kind enough to introduce me around, and find me an observer.i guess people read my name from the listserver, and the encouraging words from my instructor RICHARD HAYS. thanks man! speaking of richard i only had 2 paid lessons with richard,but i would go to cheese hill on my own and practice,and practice. richard would be there with students some days,other days it would be eddie miller, and i. the days i would just show up, richard would be with a class, but he would still take time with me,to critique my flights, answer questions and stress on some of my flights. thank's rich you're a real classy guy, and a cool dude just to hang out with! so anyway back to the flight. lauren had introduced me to steve kinsley, who was cool enough to observe me,and retrieve me from the lz.steve i think knew i was chomping at the bit so he said let's get "ER" done. i was behind mark fink who was flying a paraglider, watched him launch, then steve motioned me to launch. my time had come! steve was on my left side, and i'm terribly sorry but i met so many pilots that day., another good pilot on my right. i was the first hg off the mountain that day, and my first ever. this means i didn't have the luxury of watching other flights, approaches etc. i remember steve helping me at launch, he had few words, but they were calming ,the pilot on my right was talking to me, but it was a lot of technical info, at the same time, i grasped a hold of it, but also it kind of sounded like charlie browns teacher, you know wa wa wah wa.what steve had told me was get a good straight up launch cycle AND GO! i don't like to dangle on launch to long, i think it messes with my head. by launch i mean smithsburg. so i had a good cycle come through, and i launched. i can't honestly say i was nervous or scared, it felt like a launch at smithsburg. i went out, and up a little, felt like lift so i turned to the left and rode it for a couple of seconds, then straight out to the lz. my approach was weak, could have been more precise, but landed on my feet after 2min, 5sec. i had gotten back to launch to talk to pilots and do some filming when i ran into paul tjaden who i had helped earlier in the day cleaning up the site with lauren, and a few others, and that was it!. i had casually asked paul how my small flight went, he said the flight was fine, but the approach wasn't brilliant! well paul i knew that, but some helpful kind words may have gone a long way. after all paul i have you on video from last years fly in at the pulpit where you clobbered that glider at the SIDE of the lz, and your head did not turn away from that parked glider once, is that what they mean by target fixation? so some helpful constructive words to the newbies might help, and that's what i had gotten for the most part all day. thanks steve for getting me off launch, and to everyone who helped me fullfill my dreams!

ONCE YOU HAVE FLOWN ,YOU WILL WALK THE EARTH WITH YOUR EYES TURNED SKYWARDS, FOR THERE YOU HAVE BEEN, AND THERE YOU WILL LONG TO RETURN THANK YOU EVERYONE!

PEACE,
SHAWN L.RAY

Pulpit February 2004:
http://community.webshots.com/album/122296291oSZOvs

Pulpit march 2004:
http://community.webshots.com/album/130790601skEOAs

non flying pix from Bill's Hill last weekend:
http://community.webshots.com/album/130788787XcrVyL

As one of the Mountaineer creeps, I would have to say guilty as charged; however, I would question the presumption that we "pushed in front" of Lauren or anyone else that day. I'm not sure of the exact order, but when I suited up, got into my harness, hooked into my glider and carried it out to launch, I believe Tom McGowan was on launch waiting for a cycle. Behind him hooked into their gliders were Paul Tjaden, Pat Brooks, and then Mark Gardner. There was room behind Gardinator for a glider or two without blocking the road, and then Lauren's unattended glider was set up facing into the wind on the other side of the road with a few other unattended gliders set up behind hers, also facing into the wind. I got in line behind Gardinator and then Larry Ball got in line behind me. That's when someone suggested we were "butting in line".

Now, I've been to most of the major U.S. flying sites and quite a few of the competitions over the years and the general rule has always been that you need to be in your harness and hooked into your glider before you're considered as part of the launch line. Not only is this considered proper etiquette, but there's a practical consideration, as well, that was illustrated during my last trip to fly at Ridgely. One of the pilots in attendance carried his glider out to flight line to secure a spot as folks began to que up for the tug. He then left the glider to go back for his harness. Shortly thereafter, a gust of wind blew the unattended wing over into the next glider in line damaging its sail and making the pilot/victim (who was with his glider) a very unhappy camper. While I can't claim to be the Amy Vanderbilt of hang gliding, I don't believe that leaving an unattended glider set up behind launch assures one of a place in the launch line nor would I consider it wise to do so.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

JR

	previous page	back to top	next page

This page last updated April 5, 2004