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Sunday, May 12, 2013

Hang Gliding

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Bob and I were invited by our friends Fred and Jo to go hang-gliding down in Hollister, CA.  We of course said yes, and we had so much fun that we immediately purchased five more flights each so we could continue to fly.  I'd been para-gliding before but hang-gliding is much more comfortable and enjoyable for a beginner.  (At least in my opinion.)  That's not to say that I didn't enjoy my para-gliding experience because I did.  But hang-gliding is definitely the better choice for me.

 

 

 

 

 

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We've used the company Mission Soaring for our lessons, and we've had Mike as our instructor both times. Mike is awesome, I cannot say enough amazing things about him. He's a great teacher, and great at helping you understand the movements of the glider and super encouraging and friendly. In other words, I heart Mike.

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We took a bunch of videos of us flying on our first lesson. Not so many this second lesson because, while we were better there wasn't enough of a difference to really show off.

Here is my last flight of the day.

 

 

And Bob's last flight of the day.

 

 

Me at the end of the day after my pink hair had run all over me.

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Each lesson is 4 hours long, and there's a lot of moving around. You run down the hill to fly, and then you push the glider back up the hill to fly again. It's a great work out. If you're thinking about going make sure to slather on the sun screen and take lots of water with you. And then just have good time.

I'll leave you with my wipe out video. I didn't get hurt, and I'm happy that it happened earlier on in taking lessons rather than later. I feel like it's a pretty graceful wipe out.