I shouldn't have taken off.... Torrey Pines Hang Gliding (narrated)

[@someguydino6770]

"no amount of skill can compensate for just a small amount of bad judgement" My grand daddy told me this right before he died....sniff

[@brentnevius2849]

no amount of judgement can replace skill.

[@riverbankfisher]

Wow, that was a super smooth touchdown, especially in those blustery conditions. It never occurred to me that strong winds would make a landing back at the glider port problematic, and this is the first time I've seen La Jolla State Beach used as a secondary landing option for hang gliders that launched over Blacks Beach. Seeing Blacks Beach at high tide in the winter brings back some fond memories of summer days spent down there inspecting the tan lines of UCSD coeds with an air of academic detachment.

[@SoarswithSwords]

Thanks! It was a good learning experience for me!

[@feathermerchant]

Ah, fond memories of flying my Eipper rogallo at Torrey Pines in 1974. Geez I'm getting old!

[@SoarswithSwords]

Your generation helped our generation have far safer gliders, and had to pioneer a lot of stuff we still use, so thanks!

[@FlatlandMountaineer-1]

I haven’t heard Eipper in ages. They were #1 in So Cal when I started. Iendld up buying a kit from Free Flight Systems.

[@feathermerchant]

@@FlatlandMountaineer-1 The model I had was the 18' Flexi-Flier. It had the glide ratio of a smooth rock! When flying at Torrey Pines I got a lot of exercise carting that 40# on my shoulder back up to the top.

[@ejcm55]

Me too. Taught by Floyd Fronius, son of Bob: president of the Ultralight Flyers Organization.

[@michaelbowman6301]

😢​​@@FlatlandMountaineer-1I used to work for Eipper hang gliders in the late seventies before they moved, We used to go fly at point Fermin in San Pedro sometimes, I never did get a chance to fly Torrey pines but I flew a lot of crystalline and Symar in the San Fernando Valley. and back in those days there are other places you can fly but are no longer open to flying, Yeah those were the Good old days.

[@coresurf22]

such an epic flight. looks super rad but also super dangerous. you pulled this one off about as perfectly as one could hope for… mad props! 👏🏽🙌🏽

[@Mrbfgray]

Was expecting smoking hole in the sand, oh well, looked nice. 😉

[@SoarswithSwords]

@@Mrbfgray Not this time! :P

[@TRfromTO]

Yeah, that's definitely beyond the edge. Great flight though. It had me "puckered" for all 6 minutes. Nice setup for landing. Thanks for posting.

[@penrynbigbird]

Pro tip. If you're in enough wind that you can basically elevator down you should immediately get the glider stabilized and then unhook (especially if you have two individuals right in front of you that can assist). Getting ground looped while still attached to a hang glider is NO FUN - high risk of damage to the glider and yourself.

[@leifvejby8023]

I was about to say the same - saw a glider get killed when he got the kite's tail onto the ground, and he got flipped over.

[@penrynbigbird]

@@leifvejby8023 Where was that and what year??? Sorry you had to witness a fatality, that's something I was fortunate to never see in my 5 decades of flying hang gliders...

[@leifvejby8023]

@@penrynbigbird It was on a "practice hill" in Denmark, must have been 1982.

[@IanBrubaker]

Elevator down to where? Not sure anyone but a few appreciates how wicked the wind shadow can get there on strong days.

[@JerryPoe58]

@@IanBrubakerHe landed way down the beach away from any cliffs. The wind shadow would be minimal. The wind was much lighter where he landed than the 38 mph that was reported at launch, which makes sense.

[@ronaldglider]

Great video - great learning for others! I love your honesty - yes, you should not have launched - yet you managed to everything right. I am sure you learnt a bundle! Happy landings!

[@SoarswithSwords]

Thanks! If I can share a learning experience and help someone else out, that’s a huge win to me!

[@jasonsmith7809]

My first solo flight was with John on a UP Glider off Farmington Peak. Never forget it.

[@Paul-ou1rx]

I used to love to go out there and watch you guys fly. Grab a burger at the snack shack and enjoy the day. Perhaps hike down to the beach. Cool seeing it from your point of view. Lived in OB for four years. (Have you ever thought of giving VR rides with a live camera feed and VR goggles to spectators?)

[@salsanacho]

Good thing La Jolla Shores was pretty empty and could be used as an alternative landing zone, that beach and grassy area can sometimes be packed.

[@gisall8205]

You did Fine. Once anybodies qualified to fly at Torrey Pines, they've been in the air long enough to know if they can handle it or not. QUESTION. Around 27 years ago I was taught how to fly by an incredible pilot named John. He was married to a woman named Amy at the time. She also flew Hang Gliders.

[@jeffbeck8993]

Pretty cool! Nice to see my old home turf beach all the way from Thailand.

[@cabanford]

If there's a paraglider flying, guessing one would be still on the green with a hang glider, no?

[@cabanford]

38 mph! I want to see the paragliding pilot's video 😮

[@sergeig685]

@@cabanford According to him the wind increased well after launch.

[@dr_harrington]

@@cabanford He said it was 22-25 mph when he launched. You only see the pg on his first pass. The pg was way out in front probably getting himself out of the lift band so he could get down. Probably lower wind speed near the beach. Still it was probably a puckery landing.

[@PacificAirwave144]

I never flew Torrey Pines but Ft. Funston a dozen times. Oh great memories, great friends...

[@JaysonHolland-v9f]

In the end you are the pilot in command. Never should have hooked up if you have any doubt. Your instructor knew you could handle it and you did great. Have more faith in your abilities my friend.

[@aerobatty1]

Side wire help doesn't help. Nose wire guy can keepings level by moving the nose to the rising wing. If somebody has pressure on a side wire, and lets go while pulling down on it, that's going to cause a bad launch.

[@michaelangelos5117]

My buddy, doc, got killed hang gliding at point of the mountain in Utah. Once I was at Black's Beach surfing and walking down the beach and a hang glider almost hit me. Didn't even make a word. Just buzzed me 2 ft away. I don't really take that crap so I had to approach him. He was an ignoramus.

[@TheCloudpuncher]

Reminds me of the time that I took off at Torrey with the opposite conditions with my paraglider. It was super light winds, and I had to land on the beach directly below Torrey pines. They forgot to tell me on the radio that it is a nude beach!!!!

[@freeflyer]

I'm surprised that some paragliders are airborne 😱

[@theoldman2821]

It looks like the guidewire people were very important. I find it hard to believe that one couldn't use both hands but had to keep taking video. Safety first pictures second.

[@hellhound59]

Nice flight buddy, good landing

[@SoarswithSwords]

Thank you!

[@davidkelly9387]

Why did you stay clipped in after landing.? Surely the safest thing to do is unhook yourself before you manoeuvre anywhere?

[@dave9351]

Windspeed of 22 to 25ish is the reason there should be NO paragliders ! They can only penetrate with a speed bar something like 20 MPH, otherwise they are heading backwards. Great flight and video.

[@sergeig685]

That's absolute BS. A student paraglider has a trim speed of around 24 mph and 31 with speed bar. High performance wings go faster. I've spend many hours flying Torrey with wind speeds over 20

[@mikeroche8544]

I hate that type harness, it is why I chose a pod style- you can get into flying position immediately and worry about your legs later.

[@diggy-d8w]

You're quite the humble guy...... in my opinion..... lol, as I watch this it took brass ballz to tip the nose up & go up, Up, and away. What comes into my non-pilot brain is how much wind pressure can this wing handle before it bends/breaks? I'm sure it's strong & you know all of its abilities but those are things that hit me watching from my armchair. peace

[@diggy-d8w]

That was quite impressive in landing her, I thought it would be much more difficult? You made it look exceedingly easy.... like a pro would do, peace

[@SoarswithSwords]

The glider can handle way more extreme forces than the wind itself will provide, you need to be inverted or pull several G's of force to be worried about it bending or breaking. It's more a concern about being blown back to an un-landable place or messing up the landing with the wind and turbulent air.

[@diggy-d8w]

I'm not a pilot & never flown but as I research I know that I'm not going to be getting a license to fly. That said, the reason I ask about this is naturally b/c the winds can be severe as you've shown us here. And in my research of planes I've come across some planes that've been ripped apart in flight. In my mind I compare them even though I get that they are different. I appreciate the video & for posting up to me here. All of the forces of nature come to my mind & I'd want a stronger wing.....lmao, I'm not planning on paragliding as you do here but I do like the paraglider wing attached to a motorized trike type application. So I'm here learning about these wings so that I've got some knowledge about what came before they added a motor to the mix ! This video is the 3rd one where after takeoff I could feel just how difficult their control to land was gonna be. You actually did well in landing her but I'm sure you know just how fast things can change/go bad. Thanks for sharing all of this, You're too kind. Be safe & GB ALL

[@bobmcelvogue8133]

I thought you did really well. If you hang glide long enough these situations occur. In the UK we are used to high winds turning nasty. It’s about getting the balance right. You learned a lot. You do have to push sometimes to advance. It needs to be you coming up with plan b in the future though. Well done.

[@alcampbell5831]

You have admitted that you shouldn't have taken off, you didn't crash or injure yourself or bystanders, so call it a valuable learning experience.

[@TitusIV]

It's impossible to know how winds will change, unless you ignored a wind increase forcast, at the time of take off the winds were good, 22-25 kmh are amazing soaring conditions, you had no way of knowing winds would increase. The importance is to stay alert of the changing winds and react accordingly which you did. Great experience of flying in strong winds :) !

[@SoarswithSwords]

Yeah the soaring was great, and I’ve soared at the Point of the Mountain at those speeds, the issue was a lack of control on launch.

[@TitusIV]

​@@SoarswithSwords You're the expert on that matter :) !

[@sman5877]

Look backs always seems worse than they were. Experience is what you get when weather changes and you make changes to come out ok. Just because others aren’t flying doesn’t show you have bad judgment just more experience 😊.

[@Akooks]

I almost got knocked off the goat trail by a paraglider. Dude didn’t have a whistle and he literally passed 2 feet in front of me while I was heading down to go surf. I’ve also heard some gross stories from hang gliders of dudes whacking off in the bushes at Blacks beach. For those that don’t know it’s a nude beach.

[@Paiadakine]

Pretty nice video. La Jolla shores is where you landed.

[@JulioCastella-i1e]

Allí vive nuestro querido profe, Juan Carlos Costa!!!

[@flynbike]

John Heiney! Legend! Probably shared air with him at Point Of The Mountain back in the ‘80s; nowhere near as skillfully though!

[@grocersphones]

You are flying a topless on a day that a paraglider flew. The only problem with your launch is that you learned to fly in California. Start launching with your downtimes on your shoulders. It makes all the difference in the world

[@IgorMusulin]

it's not a topless...and the launch itself was good.

[@D-Garck]

Nice flying dude! Glad you had wire assistance at takeoff!

[@darrellhambley7245]

Looks like a great flight. (Remind me, when I'm at Torey, not to have a woman named Erica stare at her cellphone instead of paying attention to the pilot.)

[@SoarswithSwords]

I trust her with my life and would rather have her on my wires than any other pilot.

[@DD-gi6kx]

How about the person on the wing put down the phone and concentrate on the task at hand

[@kdub-1200]

What altitude do you stay at? I fly into Montgomery in a plane. It can be hard spotting y'all with a busy approach. ATC likes us coming in via mount Soledad

[@SoarswithSwords]

Usually about 100-200 feet above the ridge. On certain days we can go higher but it's somewhere in that range.

[@olsonspeed]

We have all had flights like this.

[@stefanmargraf7878]

Depend on your helpers. Could be scary after landing (bug on the back). The girl should look at you and not at her phone. Once i did similar, but no one at the front, only at the wires left and right. As i was starting, the guy on the right didnt let go. So i went in a nice roundhouse bang into the bushes.

[@SoarswithSwords]

She’s my fiance, a H4, and very experienced at launching me while recording a video. I generally wouldn’t trust someone to do that, but with her I am 100% confident she will let go. If you watch, the person on my left wing actually held on for a moment on this launch.

[@dernicolas6281]

being rather alone in the air never feels good. Wonder how the paraglider did that..

[@BacilDickert]

Next time you launch in such conditions (if you choose to do so) make sure your wire crew has BOTH hands on the side wires. Your life depends on it.

[@erikajklein]

When you fly out toward the ocean it’s like you’re trying to fly the glider to the Philippines 😉

[@SoarswithSwords]

🤣 looking for those mid ocean thermals.

[@unknownskyman2156]

Very cool....thanks

[@TheBeefSlayer]

I would have wanted to stay up longer.

[@nicucrainic8106]

Good job! Congratulation!

[@crazyangel4109]

Cool flight bro

[@kay834]

GOOD MATE YOU DIDNT GET REKT

[@TheBeefSlayer]

Takes some guts to Stand in front of that glider.

[@ryanstewart1521]

Wow that take off looked sketchy

[@donaldnorden2264]

Oh yeah you landed on La Jolla beach. I like that beach.

[@jamesclarkson3009]

If a paraglider can handle it so can a hang glider?

[@SoarswithSwords]

The one glider that was up when I launched landed soon after, and he may have launched when it was lighter earlier.

[@penrynbigbird]

What is your hang rating and time and experience?

[@SoarswithSwords]

Hang 4, Mountain launch, turbulence, rlf, xc, aerotow ratings- about 270 flights and 95 hours over 7 years of flying.

[@penrynbigbird]

@@SoarswithSwords Ok, you mention in the video "should I have launched, I don't know, I didn't have the best control of the glider..." There's your answer to a long and healthy future in the sport. If you don't have absolute confidence/control of the glider it's to your advantage to opt not to launch. That's my H-5 opinion and I'm sticking to it...

[@SoarswithSwords]

@@penrynbigbird yep that's why I made the video. I also said if I was in the same situation again, I wouldn't do it.

[@webrambler88]

When you hang out with a legend (John Heiney!) you must have had the best training available and yoyget the best advice

[@mikewashlake927]

You were not allowed to fly past the pier and land on the beach. That's against Torrey Pines Glider rules.

[@SoarswithSwords]

Good to know. John Heiney recommended it as winds were gusting 35-40+ up at launch, and he felt it would be safest otherwise I would have top landed.

[@ecoturismovalle1570]

Very nice video. Did you add the voice after or during the flight?

[@artfisher1235]

The view is always the same in every place.

[@SoarswithSwords]

I’ve flown 4 ocean ridge soaring sites now, and I find them very different. Same with inland mountains and ridges.

[@biggooseadventures]

Cool video

[@yvesbajulaz]

If you cant self launch its too strong for your skills…

[@RaceMentally]

Yeah…

[@ворон-с3н]

Очень круто! Молодец!

[@JohnDoe-xu2vx]

I'll stick to golf

[@kostashellas]

🤙🤙🤙

[@FrankFrankston-kj4sx]

Don't like the wire assists or t he basebar circus take-off "tecnique". I flew years solo at buffety windy sites. If you can't control the nose angle - you can't control the roll. Practice controlling pitch and roll via a slack harness strap, using down tube grips only. In same circumstances, the pilot in command ought BE IN ACTUAL COMMAND. An instructor should focus on developing awareness in the student in when or why he is or isn't in control. The flight itself doesn't matter that much. What matters is the student being in command and displaying competence via effectively cleanly taking off or effectively refusing the take-off- because he KNOWS he hasn't got control.

[@xerophobic]

I agree , I have been in a nearly identical situation at the same site and it was suggested I use the basebar technique which i had never done and it frankly felt aweful not to mention the conditions were likely not the ones to attempt something brand new in. It simply doesnt feel very secure but at least he , like I, got away with it so to speak. Lesson learned......

[@FrankFrankston-kj4sx]

Thanks! So pitch control IS or Grants roll control! That's a concept all instructors need to impart to their students. One of the many benefits of using 2 place powered hang gliders as a hang gliding instructional aid, is this is learnt by the student in about 1 hour. Some in 15 minutes. You're 1st ever manoeuvres are 360 degree turns... How pitch changes affect the roll rate... To the point of tip stalling (and recovery). But if you're still teaching or learning in the "approved" stone age of hang gliding instruction, you could either learn or teach some of that via walking a wing - without a harness - across a windy take-off. Don't stuff it up - you might lose the glider! But in the right place in the right conditions, this can be an invaluable lesson. You'll learn the relationship between pitch and roll. Which is ALWAYS there.

[@GigaBit-i2j]

Clickbait...

[@milesb4231]

Click bait - launch and land...the rest is nonsense.

[@lpaone01]

Just the fact you needed assistance launching tells me you were way in over your head. And these instructors should have never allowed you to fly in this weather. I am a flight instructor and wouldn't let a student fly solo in 20 to 30 knots of wind on the ground in a Cessna.

[@Thermal-rr5rq]

This comment tells me you don't fly hang gliders. Assisted launches like this are standard practice when it's windy, regardless of skill level.

[@christoes4598]

Boring and misleading headline

[@donpardo9093]

boring~ ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

[@ejcm55]

Were you hoping for a crash?

[@TheIndyspace]

Boring people, are easily bored. 🙄

[@28th_St_Air]

Thanks Debbie Downer.

[@coresurf22]

wasn’t boring to me. if you’re a seasoned glider pilot, then your a 0.01%’er but for us common folks that was amaaaaazing. looked super dangerous but this guy turned it into a great flight.

[@michaelbowman6301]

Torrey Pines is not a hard take off, back in the late seventies where I used to work for Eipper hang gliders we used to go fly at Point Fermin in San Pedro When it was still open to fly, That was a scary take off the wind blowing up the cliff could be easily 25 to 30+ miles an hour. in fact I wired launched other for 2 years before I took off myself And flew on it myself. I sure do Miss this kind of Flying. 🙂👍🪂