Story by Burr Preston
The orange windsock at the hang glider site indicated perfect winds for flying. Not a single glider was in the air. No one was readying a glider in the staging area. The only glider in sight was tucked away in its traveling case atop the carrying rack of a plumber’s truck in the parking lot. It was 10 AM on Saturday morning.
The driver of the truck informed the group he intended to fly, but was waiting for his buddy. He allowed that the people who flew here were not early risers.
Gary, Bob, Pam, Chris, and Laurie decided to go over to the native plant nursery situated by the entrance from Skyline Blvd. Being a first-time visitor to the site, I chose to snoop around the place. The National Sea Shore management has several interesting displays portraying the history of the site—it was fortified for both World War I and II and later contained a Nike missile launching site under the present parking lot. Other placards described the geology and the wind currents that make hang gliding possible.
A tiered observation platform and wooden walk provide good viewing of the beach below the cliffs and of the gliders in action.
About 11 AM the guy in the plumbing truck began unpacking his glider—a large model with black wings with a red stripe. The long zipper (I’d never seen one so long, perhaps 12-14 ft) on the cocoon-like carrying case released the glider whose wings were then unfolded like a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis. The set-up procedure was time consuming involving inserting many struts in channels in the wing fabric, tightening rigging wires, and assembling the hanging bar and steering mechanism.
As with any sport, the equipment comes in many varieties no doubt of varying costs. Some gliders appeared to be bare minimum or perhaps older designs. The flyer dangled by a harness. In the larger models the flyer was encased in a sleeping bag like affair—like a cocoon and butterfly one under the other.
The observation platform provided a limited view of the pilot running down a sloping field to catch the wind before he ran over the edge of the cliff. The protocol was to make a right turn in front to the viewing platform and gain altitude. One novice proceeded to turn left ending up in a gradual decent to the beach below where he landed safely. It must have been a long trek with his glider back to the top.
Some gliders passed so close to the viewing platform that one could hear the whoosh of the air as the wings swept past.
Photography was challenging. The rapid speed made focusing and composing, preferably with the aid of a zoom lens, difficult. This is clearly an assignment where digital is preferable to film because of cost and the ability to change ISO easily. It takes many exposures to get an acceptable photo. Personally I had two lenses with me, a 24-120mm and an 80-400mm zoom. The latter was the most useful. I also had a pointand- shoot camera with a 24-300mm equivalent zoom, but I was not experienced enough to use the LCD screen for viewing. I found I needed an eye-level view finder to capture the fast action.
An added challenge was to get multiple gliders in the same picture. Five was my limit. Or to include birds with the gliders, both the natural and unnatural flyers.
The weather was foggy, producing white backgrounds, until just before we left when the sun as a white disk played hide-and-seek. Foolishly I did not put sun-screen on my face or wear a hat. By Saturday evening I looked like a broiled tomato and my scalp under my not-so-thick hair was very tender.
Several of our members arrived later in the morning when there was more action. By 1:30 PM the last of us departed. At this time there were perhaps 8-10 gliders in the air, several flyers had ended their flights and landed, and the staging area was jam-packed with about 8-10 gliders preparing to fly. Clearly this is an afternoon sport. Is it the weather, the angle of the sun, or just people’s life style?
Add A Comment