Speed-flying, Ozone paraglider ad

There is this one from Alpental aprox. 1970.

There is this one from Alpental aprox. 1970.

Yeah, Jeff Jobe. I remember seeing him fly at Alpental in the 1970s. He was one of the pioneers of hang gliding in the Northwest. He got into paragliding for a while. In fact he may still be doing it.

Wow, you may like this one Lowell!!! www.smh.com.au/news/national/ewa-sucked-...6/1171405421626.html

Wow, you may like this one Lowell!!!

HG and PG pilots call this cloud suck. I've experienced minor instances of it. It's pretty scary when you start to think you can't get down. You do deep spiral dives, which make you want to throw up, and when you stop spiralling you go up again. Not fun.

A friend posted a link about this incident on the local PG mailing list. He noted that Kari Castle, a U.S. champion from the Owens Valley, landed immediately and was incredulous at the other pilots who kept on flying and disappearing into the clouds.

It turns out that speed flying canopies are available in the U.S.

Super Fly in Utah has Gin canopies. There may be other distributors in this country.

A fellow at the company I've been working at has one of the larger canopies, which can be foot-launched. So, the sport is taking hold in this country.

Couldn't resist Jack L's the blast from the past. Living at Alpental during those years I knew Jeff fairly well. He was certainly the first to ever take off on skis in the PNW, perhaps the country and maybe even anywhere else. He did this from Upper International first then graduated to straight off the cliffs. Quite a thrill just watching and not knowing what would happen. I took a movie of his first flight, not sure if I still have it though. He was a competitive water skier and freestyle skier. His hang gliding of course started on waterskis before ever taking to the snow. Wonder where he is now. Thanks for the memory, Jack, did you take this picture, were you there then?