Hang Gliding Summer 1974 Rincon Peak CA - Santa Barbara

[oneyanknaus]

I have flown Rincon..and many "Learning Hours" @ La Conchita..Thanks to Jim Woods ..my instructor...and many friends to help me including John Brandt..I managed to SOAR the Skies of Ventura County..and am very proud to say..I helped..per-say..pioneer some of the great Flying sites..Topa-Topa, Oat Mountain,fly some of the 1st great Hangliders(Sensor)..many great Pilots back in those days..See Ya'll on the "Avenue in the Sky"..Thanks Jim for the gift of "Free Flight"....Bud Johnson...!

[oneyanknaus]

I have flown Rincon..and many "Learning Hours" @ La Conchita..Thanks to Jim Woods ..my instructor...and many friends to help me including John Brandt..I managed to SOAR the Skies of Ventura County..and am very proud to say..I helped..per-say..pioneer some of the great Flying sites..Topa-Topa, Oat Mountain,fly some of the 1st great Hangliders(Sensor)..many great Pilots back in those days..See Ya'll on the "Avenue in the Sky"..Thanks Jim for the gift of "Free Flight"

[weflyuniv]

@skeatesy1 Sure you can build one. Plans do exist and if you are resourceful enough you may even find them. There is no upside to marketing hang glider plans though, only liability. You may have a chance to find some posted somewhere on a web site but they will be for the earliest designs that no one dares to fly anymore. Do your self a huge favor and arrange to fly as a passenger/student. Locate your national organization for a list of instructors. Watch for a while then fly!

Good luck!

Ken

[weflyuniv]

@skeatesy1 Not nearly the cheapest. There are tons of dirt cheap obsolete old gliders out there that can be had for far less than you could build one for from scratch. The question for either method of getting a cheap glider is "is it airworthy?" Few are qualified to make that judgment and those that are will generally be reluctant to serve as a test pilot. If you hope to have success you might consider not hobbling your chances by focusing on "cheap."

Ken

[algaivoto]

If I'm not mistaken I flew here in 77 with Joe Greblo's school. Landed on the same beach,

Search under algaivoto videos (takes me back)

[weflyuniv]

@algaivoto Saw your Rincon film. What a great pair of videos your Rincon movie and mine make! Yours made me miss the warm beach air and the cool beach landing next to 101 and La Conchita!

Ken de Russy

Anacortes, WA

[scatolin]

Ken ... congratulations .. thanks to you guys today is that the free flight

Wonder sport ...

good times!!!

Ska

Brazil

[MaloyBob]

Ken,

Great to hear back from you and "re-connect". We had an "old timers" reunion/luncheon last week with Robert Millington, Mike Adams, Bill Broadhead and Ted Zinke (one of the stars in your videos). I'll check out your pix and hope to see you in person someday. Please send you email address and contact info to me at rmaloy@cox.net. Say hello to Bonnie!

Bob

[MaloyBob]

Ken,

Great video and memories!

How are you? Best wishes,

Bob Maloy

[weflyuniv]

@MaloyBob

Nice to hear from you Bob and glad you liked that movie. Bonnie and I live on the south end of Fidalgo Island in a stunningly beautiful and lush natural paradise. Water, evergreen forest, and wildlife make this the most perfect place I could never have imagined before we found it. Come up for a visit!

Have a look here to see our world. picasaweb(dot)google(dot)com/k­en.derussy

Ken

[weflyuniv]

@johnzo420

Dave is an unusually able pilot. Nice to know he is still flying the antiques!

Ken

[DessoThumbs]

I also owned and flew a Seagull IIIZ 19 back in 1976, the year I turned 16. Bought it from John Harris, the founder of Hitty Hawk Kites in Nags Head NC. GREAT MEMORIES!

[WECantThink]

Hi,

I, too flew a Seagull 3, and lived to tell about it....Back in '74 or 75 (76?) Flew for 3 years 'til I got stuffed after a 2 hr + flight trying to land from where I took off. Came in too far behind the crest of the hill and got caught in the rotor. I decided that I would stick with motorcycles.... :-)

[weflyuniv]

Glad you made it! We all were impetuous and often made bad choices. Your experience illustrates the contrasting real truth of the myth that the old gliders were dangerous. Rarely were accidents caused by the wings themselves. Pilot choices were nearly always the cause of accidents. In fact when assembled and operated within the norms of the day they were extraordinarily tolerant of mistakes. Tens of thousands of safe flights attest to the forgiving nature of the old wing designs.

Ken de Russy

[yomoma812]

Flew the rincon may times with Jim Woods Had a Sun standard modified buy leading edge from Colorado Springs. It had the letters SU on the trailing edge after the modification. Also flew the training hill at Santa Barbra. Hope to see some more footage I'm sure I met you some where along the ride.

[yayashua]

Hi Ken Its Mark Anderson. Still alive an well. God bless you.....CONDOR

[weflyuniv]

Hey Mark! It is great to hear from you! As I do not assent to any god stories I have heard I will accept your blessing as warm wishes for life in this, the only world! I hope you are well and enjoying life!

Ken

[NMERider]

Great memories! In 1974, when we were just 16, my late friend Phil Jones and I built our 2nd hang glider from Dick Eipper's plans. An 18' Flexi Flyer. In July, 1974 we drove from Golf, IL to Torrey Pines for a wonderful, month-long hang gliding odyssey which inlcuded: Sylmar, Mt. Palomar, Point of the Mountain, UT, etc. Thanks for bringing those memories back! - Jonathan

[hyrdew]

That is some fun old footage, a real sense of the times. I think I turned 21 that summer but I don't remember exactly...

[ParaglidingManiac]

So did you uploaded some more videos to your PC? Can't wait to see that stuff

[netosnaproll]

Mais um classico...parabens!

[acrazedmaniac]

thanks a bunch ken... have more??...cool choice to land like that in the water...pull out a video camera huh??

still have that huge collection of 'old' gliders? what happened to the antique/old timers flyin on the Oregon coast?

[weflyuniv]

Tons more. I just need to get my hands on a Video Capture PCI card to do the transfer of about 500 hours of video in my archive. I am still working with a tiny budget (like zero) and a W2000 CPU-Speed of 1.3-ancient computer. Anyone feel like donating a faster computer to support my work?

[acrazedmaniac]

ya...wonder why i have only10secs?..buy,gota love "old school"! guessing you heard about stevennow legendholte? i have all his old 'stuff' aka hanggliding, and several 8mm rolls,8" like hisxxx,so hear ya. he pioneered over 48 sites before 97. i was the last of "his 'chris's,' in the h.g. community.hansen,drake,bulger