Mark,
It's always good to watch the hawks and eagles. If you get on a ridge with a
hawk, you will find that a good double surfaced hang glider is about their
equal in glide and sink rate. Some of the eagles are better than us, and a
bald eagle can outfly us at will.
And yes, a HG pilot can be so "daring", or maybe just innovative. If you don't
know the stuff that Gary Osoba has been doing, I can tell you that he is
exploring whole new worlds of "micro-lift". I'd guess that those hawks gave
you an introduction.
If you ever get near the sailplane guys, you probably know that they are (in
general) completely locked into a competition mentality, and 'way less than
helpful to new pilots, because IMHO they fear they might lose out to the new
guy someday. Gary did exactly that to them, being an unknown new pilot and
showing up at the Regionals. He had this little homebuilt wooden sailplane
(Woodstock by Jim Maupin) amidst all those house-priced 'glass ships. The
starting grid looked like an Indy race with a go-cart in the middle - and Gary
beat them all, flying with his long experience in hang gliding (25+ years) and
his unique theories of "micro-lift". One competitor came over to Gary after
the meet and said "...you aren't supposed to be able to beat anybody in that
thing". I'd guess that by now, a Woodstock has a new handicap for scoring, to
insure this. I hope Gary does it to them again, one day.
So I don't pay much attention to competition, but check out all of the
"micro-lift" articles by Gary Osoba. It's a breath of fresh air.
Cheers,
Red
--
*************************
Replies will bounce, unless you remove
the letter A from my email address.
P.S. Not relevant, but...
Free advice, and maybe worth the price,
for new and low-time HG pilots,
at my website:
http://www.xmission.com/~red/

Mark Jones wrote:
>
> I was watching some hawks circle around a small clearing in a line of
> woods the other day, on the leeward (and shaded) side no less.
> Magnificent creatures, they always amaze me, where and in what conditions
> they can fly. They set an example for all ultralight pilots to better
> understand the sky. This pair happened to be circling very slowly in what
> had to be a tiny, weak bubble, if there was anything there at all. It was
> a poor thermal day, overcast and humid... I have no idea how they were
> staying up. A HG pilot would never be that daring... would they?
>
> Makes one wonder, what kind of L:D does a hawk get? 50:1?
>
> And what if our preconceptions about thermals are not necessarily
> correct?

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