>>Not to mention that his glider did not cost half a house. Or maybe it did?
For the cost of a modern carbon framed topless hang glider, you could buy something like a Libelle or Standard Cirrus and fly rather faster and further than in a hang glider. In three or four years time, depending on the hours flown, your hang glider would need either a new sail or to be replaced to remain competitive. Top level hang gliders, when sold second hand, don't fetch good money since most people either want new or something a little lower performance, perhaps lighter or with easier landings. Your Libelle or Cirrus would be worth about the same as you paid for it. It's very difficult to support the notion that hang gliding or paragliding are cheap sports at intermediate to high level because the equipment does not last as well as a sailplane and does not have a very good resale value while most good sailplanes command an extraordinary resale price. I think a Standard Jantar can be sold for almost exactly what it cost when new. However, there's little in sailplanes to compare with the experience of flying cliffs in a hang glider, even below cliff level (most of us have done it though not on 300 ams of cliffs) with a fresh sea breeze in your face and nothing between you and the sea other than a thin stick of carbon or alloy tubing. Some time back, we used to compare cliff launches by the number of people it took to hold the glider down on the lip of the cliff. One person on the nose wires was an easy launch while a difficult one had one or two on the nose and one either side and I have even seen one person on the keel pushing the glider out into the lift. Hopefully, everyone lets go at the same time and then you are in a screaming dive for the next 300 - 500' while the glider goes straight up. Or over the back if you could not dive fast enough. Happy days! D _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
