Home                                                                                                     HANG GLIDING

Just south of Lennox Head was a sign indicating a lookout. I decided to have a look and as I pulled in I saw several hang gliders flying around the cliffs.

When I had stopped I saw that there was a hang gliding firm taking people for tandem rides. This had been on my list of things to do for some time and while I hadn't planned on doing it right now the opportunity was too good to pass up.

The instructor gave me a briefing of what to expect and fitted me with a harness. Its a bit like a cocoon coming down to about your knees then with the remainder open to put your feet in when you are airborne. We both then stood under the wing and attached our harnesses to the glider. With the assistance of someone else on the ground we faced into the wind that was fairly strong - about 20 knots. Once we were lined up properly we took about 3 steps walking and then about three steps starting to run down a gentle slope then we were airborne. The glider seemed to spring into the air rather than gently glide into it. As the wind was quite strong we were able to climb quite quickly without making much forward progress. Once we had settled down I put my feet into the bottom of the cocoon and was zipped up by the pilot pulling on a cord.

We went along a cliff face and a ridge line and varied the height. It was generally fairly quiet and peaceful in the air. When we came in to land we came down to about 10 metres or so the pilot dropped the glider virtually straight down and then hovered and touched down nice and smoothly with both of us standing up.

 Another bit of excitement on the trip!

I managed to change the settings on the camera without knowing it so a number of photos of this didn't turn out, mores the pity.

                                     That's the glider I went up in? on? with the pilot's harness on the front  and mine by the fence post.