THIS ISSUE

September 2009 Vol 1 Issue 8

Some Photos from

Summer: including
Instructor Olympics

Epic Beach Soaring

September 1 2009

Blog Entry

TJ soaring thanks to man power from

Doug and Laser
BLOG ENTRY
Sept. 18 2009
Well a lot has hap-
pened in the last sev-
eral weeks. Summer is
over, lots of people
have gone back to work
and school but not be-
fore having some big parties, good food and flying.
Most all the new instructors got there H2 ratings or are
extremly close to getting them. there has been a few
good surfing swells. Hurricane Bill made 15 to 20 foot
faces.
I missed out because I drove to Alabama that weekened.
I went south to buy 2 gliders for an incredible deal.
Thanks again to Ed in Birmingham, Dave Birdman now has a
sport and I have a super sport. I test flew my glider
today on Jockys Ridge. I’ve never glided so far and so
fast before it was awesome. I also got two harnesses for
a sweet deal. One’s an old blue Bill Bennet

cacoon, and the other is a big black pod

harness. I flown in both on an Eaglet, and
I kinda like the pod.
I’ve done a lot of flying and teach-
ing. also worked some more down in Ro-
danthe, and surfing often. I actually gave
in and bought a bigger board because my
little homemade boards arn’t easy to stand
on. August was hard because people started leaving and
even though September is mellower more people are leav-
ing and some we wont see again for a good while. It has
also been very epic. There have been great days soaring
on the beach, and the Ridge, at the airport, also some
epic meals and adventures with good friends. there’s no
way I could write about them all. If you weren’t there
you missed out, but don’t worry there will be more.
I am pretty tired from being so busy and having so
much fun but tomorrow always has the potential of being
even more epic. Everyday really is an adventure. Enjoy
‘em all.
SEPTEMBER 1 2009
September is the most eventful and tragic month of the year.
It’s the month schools generally start. The weather changes
things cool down. It’s also the anniversary of historical mo-
ments, both good and bad, It’s also the peak of Hurricane sea-
son which can also be good or bad. For a lot of things it’s the
beginning or end. There are a lot of birthdays and death dates.
Maybe there’s some sort of astrological explanation but all I know
sky wise about September is that it’s the
best time to Hang Glide. 5 years
ago I took
 my first lesson and then earned my H2, life
hasn’t been the same since.
Some how it worked out that it was my day
off and even though I had a feeling it would
be soar able some where I slept in any-
way. I didn’t make it to the Ridge till about
noon and it was cross NE at the right veloc-
ity. I was about to set and fly there but then
I Heard Laser was already at the beach. By
the time I arrived there he’d been up for a few
hours in his Pulse 11 meter. It was too windy
for my falcon and a little too cross anyway. So
I headed back to the ridge and bumped into
Doug Haber who was meeting up with Laser. I
picked up TJ and his glider, a Pulse 10 meter
(named Roxanne) and we got a call from Laser
and Doug who had a crazy idea.

We headed south to a north east facing slab

on the beach that Doug said he and Bo had
soared before. It looked pretty sketchy to me
and I didn’t think it would work at first be-
cause too much
could go wrong,
but if anyone
could, it was
these guys. We
set up Laser’s
Pulse and got a
few hundred feet of rope. I resigned to just
take video and pictures because I’d never
flown an 11 meter and this probably wasn’t
the best situation to learn in. the tide was
coming in so we only had so much time any-
way.
Laser went first, they did a test pull and
then a full length tow and then Laser crabbed
into position. He made it look easy of course.
Doug and TJ also towed up parking above
the building in turns. TJ actually bumped out
and got nice and high out
in front. It was EPIC. When
there’s a will there’s a way
and these guy know how to
pull it off.
TJ landed and we broke

down before the tide came

in any further. There was
still plenty of day light so
we headed back north to
fly more. The wind Being
NE limited the locations
we could fly but
there is a
nub that
worked
out
great.
We all took turns I got a chance to fly in Rox-
anne. We trained seagulls to fly with Laser.
Then TJ and Laser flew side by side. We flew
till sunset and then had tacos at the pit and
looked through the collection of photos and
videos we’d just created.
It was a great day off and an amazing way
to start off the
month I thought.
Even though
the conditions
weren’t per-
fect we charged
anyway, and
had tons of fun.
Which is really
what the spirit
of hang gliding is all
about. FLY FLY FLY.
The next day at
work I found out that
Francis M. Rogal-
lo Passed away the
same day. Just goes to show how Sep-
tember is full of epic highs and lows.
It’s been a Summer
Just some of the pictures from the last days of the season
 Still wondering what
PAPALOTES 2153 is?
It’s taken me a while but I think I’m starting to figure it out, but it’s definitly more than I can imagine by myself.

Next Issue:
The Rogallo
Memorial
Sept. 20 2009