Tsunami Hang Glider

I was a pole vaulter in the 70s - my vaulter friends and I made hang gliders out of old fiberglass vaulting poles covered with a pretty thick MIL plastic. We used duct tape to attach the plastic to the frame. We used a foam ski belt as a harness. I swear this isn't a joke. We flew at a few ski resorts during the months they were closed down for skiing. We also flew at large sand dunes in Kitty Hawk, NC. We were young and stupid, what can I say . . .

I like the newer designs, as they appear to have no king pin; much cleaner aerodynamics. When I started hang gliding in '77, there were no double-surface sails and the only battens were to help stiffen the sail, not create an airfoil. Heck, we were just out of the Stone Age of regallo wing gliders w/ 15 degrees of billow and glide ratios in the single digit range. To put that into perspective, the Space Shuttle has a glide ratio of 4.5:1 - which is really poor. I remember how impressed I was with my Cirrrus 5 and its 1 to 2 degrees of billow and an 8:1 glide ratio. There are hang gliders out today that sport 15:1 and 20:1 glide ratios. To think what I was able to do in such a relatively primitive glider - 8 1/2 hr sustained flight, a PB of 12,500ft altitude and enough flight hours to warrant a commercial pilot's rating twice over - makes me wish I could still fly. Be still, my heart. lol

What a beautiful sport! I would never want to come down 😊

Loved my Tsunami wing :-) freaking awesome and so easy to live with - great memories

The first part all at Devil's Dyke. I flew a lot there on my old Airwave K2 back around the 2000's. Probably my favourite spot to fly in England 👍

FABULEUX !! Superbes images et photos, le pilote fait des décollages/atterrissages tellement parfaits. Merci pour le partage.

Awesome! Beautiful view coming around.

Best hang glider YouTube I've seen so far.

Standing there before you launch. You guys remind me of grasshoppers when you are out of the sleeping bag thingie.

Everyone out there flying paragliders and hangliders on such a nice day. Looks like a magical place to be.

That title was way more exciting than the video.

i believe in the next 20 years we will have hang gliders that have motors where the propeller fits back into the leading edge of the wing or something, and the wing covering material is made of solar panels, and the wing ribs are where the batteries are located :) will make for very long flights. maybe all day on a good sunny day with thermals

Nice ! That is a real hang gliding - Ideal spot for my Fledge ;-)

1:26 Avoiding jellyfish traffic with a better sink rate.

sweeeeeet!!....if all humans (or at least many more) could see the world from our perspective, everything would be perfect....

this is so beautiful

Makes me brain happy!

That looks so nice to glide like that.

Really GREAT! I must try it.

Looks so fun to fly, love it.. yeahhh