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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

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

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

Wow that take off looked sketchy

Yeah…

Boring and misleading headline

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

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

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

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!!!!

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

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.

Cool flight bro

GOOD MATE YOU DIDNT GET REKT

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Very cool....thanks

I would have wanted to stay up longer.

Takes some guts to Stand in front of that glider.

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.

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

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

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.

Yea 200’ above before ya get in the harnes.

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

Good job! Congratulation!

I'm surprised that some paragliders are airborne 😱

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.

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

We have all had flights like this.

Clickbait...

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?)

those guys are flying the ridge I learned on, lol!

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

Cool video

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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. 🙂👍🪂

Nice flight buddy, good landing

"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

boring~ ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

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

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!