By: Tony Verhulst

Some memorable hang gliding was done in North Carolina in 1975. Susan and I drove down the to Jockey's Ridge on the NC outer banks. This place is just a spit from the Wright brothers memorial at Kitty Hawk and the brothers flew their early gliders at Jockey's Ridge - before they ruined it all and stuck an engine on the things - so that was a trip in itself. We were there for the 3rd Annual Tactile Flight Meet (an event that is still held annually to this day). The dunes there were only 100+ feet high so the flying wasn't all that great but when you get over a hundred people together who share the same interests as you, only a great time can be had.

The competition consisted of duration, spot landings, and a slalom course through gates (the dunes were not steep so you were never high off the ground). The competition was split into 2 classes; standard Rogallo, which had an L/D of 4:1, and advanced Rogallo, which were around 5+:1. Anyway... I won first in the standard class and walked off with a nice plaque and $250. Terry Sweeney was designing gliders for Sky Sports at the time and showed up, along with the rest of the Sky sports crew, with a few experimental prototypes including the Peregrine and the BFG (Big F*g Glider). As I said, a great time was had by all.

After Jockey's Ridge, we all made a bee line to the western part of the state to Grandfather Mountain. Now this was serious hang gliding - about an 800 foot cliff followed by another 800 feet of mountain – and the cliff was part of a soarable ridge. We did not soar the next day. Grandfather mountain is a tourist attraction with a road to the top and a gift shop at the summit. We knew we weren't going to soar that day because we had trouble walking into the gift shop. The weather station inside was reporting winds in excess of 90 mph. But the wind direction was perfect - dead on the ridge.

We didn't soar that day but the local residents did. They have ravens at Grandfather mountain - lots of ravens. We were literally hanging on to any thing we could because we were afraid of being blown off the mountain. And, walking across that suspension bridge between the 2 peaks was probably not the smartest move. Anyway, the ravens were soaring the flippin' ridge. They had their wings tucked in real close and were just zipping along. They were at ridge top level about 30 feet in front of us and it was just amazing. I can only guess at what their airspeed was, but they were probably moving across the ridge at 20 to 30mph and so when you factor in the 90+ mph wind speed, their ASIs were probably hitting near 130. You'll never convince me they were flying to catch lunch - they were flying because they were having a blast. Of this I have absolutely no doubt.

And the next day was dead calm - a sled ride day. There were some guys there from Hawaii - the land of 30 knot trade winds and 3000 foot cliffs. Here's how you cliff launch a hang glider on a strong day. Three guys hold on to the glider one on the nose and one on each wing. The pilot hooks in and everybody walks to the edge of the cliff. The pilot directs the nose man to position the nose at just the right angle to the airflow - this is VERY important. When the pilot is satisfied, he yells "clear", and everybody lets go and the glider literally climbs straight up with little or no forward speed. Any way.... for these Hawaiian guys, backing up 20 feet and running like hell off of an 800 foot cliff scared the cr*p out of them. For us east coast guys, it was just another day of hang gliding. We did this off of Mt. Tom all the time.

Another good time was had by all. Later in the week we did get a few good ridge days and everybody was happy - including the Hawaiian contingent.