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[9:33 AM EDT - Bite gliding.]
Hmm, I've got this strange bite on my arm. I'll have to take a closer look at it at some point in time. So I'm taking a day off today and going hang gliding. Unfortunately, it looks like it's going to rain. *looks* It also has already rained so..
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[11:58 PM EDT - The Ultimate Hang.]
So..
The plan for today was to go hang gliding, have lunch, and have the pictures developed. Afterward, the rest of the day would be spent "taking it easy".
It started off well. Kinda. We were late leaving our place, and had to wait for VW to get ready. Afterward, we realized that we didn't have any BBQ utensils, so we had to double back (after staring at a kinda-cute Chinese girl at the street corner) and look for some. Then we had to stop by the Loblaws to pick up some burgers. (There was a very good looking Chinese girl with long hair that passed by.. didn't get a good look though.) Finally, we were able to get underway, but I pulled an ace out of my sleeve and took the 407 so that we actually made it to the field right on time! (There was a cop with a radar at the end of the highway. I'm glad I was slowing down at that time.)
ET was already there, and I was amazed that girl and ET were both wearing orange shirts! Their excuse was that orange was very visible in the sky. Yeah, I should've gotten my Stray Rays shirt. It would've saved me from changing afterward, but I didn't want to stick out that much in public. The flight crew were very friendly and introduced themselves to us. One of the girls (well the only girl) had the same name as LB! Now she is pretty (to me).
They told us that we would have to go in order of the lightest to the heaviest. This became something like the older ones going before the younger ones if you can imagine that. So, ET and girl were slated to go up but they had a large harness and a small one, so I was pulled in to go first. (I have no idea how that came about.) Anyway, so off I went, after they tied the rope to the ATV, I hopped on the back and we drove across the field. The ride was bumpy, and I was only hanging on by some handholds, but I wasn't thrown off fortunately. At the takeoff site, I was greeted by the pilot and was quickly briefed on positioning and protocol.
![[Piloting the kite.]](../Pictures/2002-03-03/2002-06-24h.jpg)
girl had asked me if I wanted to try out hang gliding, and when ET got word of what I was thinking of doing, she jumped on the idea and bounced around on it until I figured that I should try it out. (It was actually quite entertaining to watch all of that bouncing.)
After reaching our maximum altitude and going around a couple of times to look at the surrounding countryside, the pilot told me to let go of him and hang onto the bars. At that point, he let go of the bar and told me that I was piloting the kite. He then proceeded to tell me how to steer it, and I began to stretch out my flying legs!
Getting a handle on gliding.
The rules were simple enough, so I got strapped in, and we prepped for launch. The takeoff was faster than I had anticipated. We had a moderate headwind, but we were airborne within several meters. In less than a minute, we had climbed to around 700 feet and went arouind for another lift. We finally topped off at over 1400 feet and we started looking around. He let me guide the glider for most of the way down, telling me how to maneuver the craft. I got a little freaked out when we went into a steep bank, but just a little weight shift and we were all good. The whole ride lasted about ten minutes before we touched down. The landing was right on the same spot we had lifted off.
![[The hang gliding crew.]](../Pictures/2002-03-03/2002-06-24j.jpg)
At the end of it all, we still had some extra pictures that weren't used, so some group photos were taken. This one included all of the flyers and the pilot that took us up.
From the left: ET, VW, me, the pilot, JW, and girl.
The rest of the group went up one after the other. There was a little scare when the rope broke during ET's flight, but everything was good, and ET got a second flight! *shakes fist* Afterward, we had some BBQ lunch and some pasta salad (a new recipe by ET using instant noodles) and hung around a bit after everyone else had left for lunch.
We went our separate ways and our group went to get the photos developed. girl asked if we had any preference to where we wanted the film developed, but none of us said anything (I didn't have a preference). So we stopped off at the closest one and dropped off the film. At that moment, JW mentioned that we should see his grandfather who worked at the mall. Apparently he worked in a photo shop.
We looked at him.
girl asked
"Why didn't you tell us earlier?!?"
*shakes head*
Anyhoo, we went to visit the relative and wandered around the mall while our photos were being developed. I went to the arcade and noticed that there was an Initial D driving game (Driving Stage). It looked pretty good, although it seemed really easy to drift. (I was watching, not driving.)
After we had the pictures printed, we headed back to my place where we started working on the 1000 piece puzzle before I headed out to ultimate. I was a little worried about the weather because it did start to rain a bit and there was a possible thunderstorm forecasted for the afternoon, but the field was dry when I got there and we never got any rain!
We had asked for a coach for the game, and she happened to bring out someone else who just happened to be in town. He's from Alabama if I remember correctly. Anyway, they gave us tips on how to run plays, and how to throw. Let me tell you, their advice worked wonders. Our team had the best outing this season! We actually scored ten points! Ten! That's double digits! Whoa, we should have those coaches out more often huh?
Anyway, it's too late for me to update this weekend's entries but hopefully I'll have pictures and stuff up in a few days.
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