[ARP]

As seen on OZ Report:- Skysurfing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVrAUxj ... e=youtu.be

[Frank Colver]

Kicks get harder to find.

FC

[wingspan33]

I watched that video and on first viewing did not notice that the pilot seemed to be hooked into the glider. "What an idiot" I thought. Then on second viewing I noticed that there seemed to be a longish hang strap leading into the back of his tee shirt. But was it connected to some minimalist harness?

The next up video is of the same fellow and it's very clear he works for Wills Wing. So, I expect that he (forgetting that he's not wearing a helmet) probably had some kind of safety harness on while "Sky Surfing".

I'll also mention that ARP and Frank (at least) probably both remember that long ago "Sky Surfing" was just another term used to identify hang gliding.

What's old is new again!

[Rick Masters]

The human skull is about 1/8th of an inch thick.
That's good for one kick.



When I was a teen, I enjoyed body surfing.
Then, in my 20s, I heard about hang gliding the first time.
(I lived in the Owens Valley, surrounded by gigantic mountains.
Nobody flew hang gliders up there. Chris Price and Don Partridge hadn't started yet.)
I didn't know how they did it. I'd never seen a Rogallo.
Some writer referred to it as "sky surfing" so I imagined a guy up on top of a wing, riding it like a surfboard.
Then the dreams started.
I'd be sky-surfing along the Sierra escarpment, riding the wide, flat keel like a surfer.
Wings stretching out to either side. If I fell, I'd land on them. No worries.
No helmet. No harness. Surfers don't use that stuff.
No 360s. Surfers don't do 'em. I'd lean to the side to turn away when I got too close to the cliffs.
Funny how that video brought that all back.

[ARP]

I watched that video and on first viewing did not notice that the pilot seemed to be hooked into the glider. "What an idiot" I thought. Then on second viewing I noticed that there seemed to be a longish hang strap leading into the back of his tee shirt. But was it connected to some minimalist harness?

The next up video is of the same fellow and it's very clear he works for Wills Wing. So, I expect that he (forgetting that he's not wearing a helmet) probably had some kind of safety harness on while "Sky Surfing".

I'll also mention that ARP and Frank (at least) probably both remember that long ago "Sky Surfing" was just another term used to identify hang gliding.

What's old is new again!

This UK club is still active:- http://skysurfingclub.co.uk/

[JoeF]

LS18cover.png (83.94 KiB) Viewed 6296 times

Low & Slow No. 18 cover image clip:

[Rick Masters]

Is that a Sunny Jim Flybar?    

[JoeF]

Skysurfer Magazine
Michael Markowski
Michael Anthony Markowski
Michael A. Markowski
http://www.energykitesystems.net/MichaelAMarkowski/index.html
Eastern branch of Self-Soar Association
Otto Member
Wow: Mike was born on Otto Lilienthal's birthday: May 23, 1947
First HG: September 18, 1971

===============================

2018 finds Greg Black nearly demanding that hang gliding change its name to "skysurfing".
Well, Greg, many of us have never stopped knowing that our sport of hang gliding has been a skysurfing sport.
Ask author, hang glider designer, publisher Michael A. Markowski, an early member of Self-Soar Association.