Gliding site and some basic idea of hang gliding

The hang gliding course I am taking has two gliding sites.
One is near the beach, Dockweiler Beach.

maps
The map shows you the physical location with satelite view.
Here is the link for the traing center: http://windsports.com/index2.html
Another site they have, is at the mountain, for next step learning.

The beach site is for beginners, which is where I am learning my first 5 training sessions. around $500 for 5 days.
It is a 25 feet high slop facing the beach.
Each time, you will fly around 100 feet far and maybe 40 feet high depending on the wind and how fast you run to launch.

You are hanging down the glider by the hang string.
the trangle thing you see is not what you put weight on.
It is for controling the glider, like the steering wheel for a car.
We will call it control bar here. See the chart, you will understand more about it.
Shift the control bar left and right to turn left and right.
Push or pull the bar to climb or dive/speeding up.
Easy like that?
Well, I am simplifying it here so you have the idea how it works.
Otherwise why should we attend a course to learn just this four different maneuvers?

That's it for this post.
We will talk about my second day course and my third CRASH happened on that day in next post.

Don't be scared by my CRASHES.
It is not typical(It is just me.) and they don't hurt much.


April 2006, Los Angeles, California

Harry