THREE COMPETING hang gliders take off oO into the gloom ‘on the first day of competition at the Grouse Mountain Invitational Hang Gliding Championships. (Eric Eggertson photo) Pederson was unreachable FROM PAGE 8B1 position and tried to stay just above and behind the other gliders. Pederson said that landing the glider at Cleveland was not particularly difficult as long as the pilot had “total concentration” in what he was doing. But few pilots were able to manage perfect landings and there were cases of pilots overshooting the field and flying into the fence or groups of stationary gliders. After each day of preliminary heats the bottom pilots were eliminated and the finals were limited to the top 20 pilots. While there was a time limitation during’ the preliminary heats, the soaring event allowed the pilots to stay in the air as jong as possible. Pilots were given one hour in which to choose the best ‘conditions in which to take off and were then awarded a point per second for the duration of the flight. Pederson had the longest flight of the competition as he stayed up for 100 minutes, giving him a 30 minute edge on his closest rival in the final standings. While soaring conditions were not described = as perfect for the soaring event, Pederson said the thermals “were pretty good where | was.” Other British Columbia pilots also finished in the top ten competitors. Howard Vandall was third, Dave Hanes finished sixth, Martin Dennis, a hang ghding instructor on _ the North Shore, was eighth, and Tony Schmidt was tenth. A 16-year-old Washington state prlot who was the youngest competitor finished in fifth place. California dominated the women's division as pilots from the state took the top three positions. The event attracted quite a number of spectators to Grouse over the. weekend but it was clear that many of those people watching had no idea what was going on. But the gliders were spectacular and colorful, the vast majority of pilots knew exactly what they were doing and most of the competitors seemed to be having a good time, and that was all most of the people seemed to be interested in knowing. For Pederson it was very nice to win, but he is no longer dedicating his whole life to hang gliding com- petitions. “IT used to ‘fly in everything.” he said, but his business commitments now keep him away from some competitions. So you want to try it Hang gliding isn't that hard By PAT RICH So you want to leam how to hang ghide but have some very basic concerns about the whole venture’ Basic concerns such as “What if I die Well, according to those in the know hang gliding is a very safe and highly regulated pasttime For one thing: you can forget what you have heard about hang ghding being the single most dangerous sport around People in the business said this was truc ten years apo sport) was when the yust people sure of gelling started and were not quite the best way to buald hang gliders But well made now the ghders are machines) which arc casy lo put together and acrodynamically sound Gliders do not past fold up and collapse in mid ai and the knowledge of the pilots far more crstical to pre venting ant 4 ausing anth accident But cven people who are convinced about the safety of hang ghders may balk at the thought of jumping off (rouse Mountain and landing the gliders somewhere oa castltom aides below Youd dt never net thie chance, at least not for a long ume Hang gliding halls throughout North America are rated for their level of difficulty and pilots have to be certified at a certain level of proficiency before they are allowed on certain hills. Gsrouse is rated at Hang Five which is the highest level, for master pilots only. When you Iearn to hang ghde you start on very small hills. or even flat land The Aurora) Company, which as) the only hang gliding company on North Shore rents property near Abbotsford which has these sort of gentle slopes Like learning to hang plage starts with the pust else anything basics and goes from there, so you wont actually have to fly for a while You become used te handling the plider (which you find is aot very heavy at all but can be awkward) and putting a getting landings together into before takeoffs and If this sounds like people arc conspiring to keep you out of the atr its not really Its just that the sport developed lruc has some credibility and they dont want people cumning this by plummeting fo a stuky end before they know what they are doing. Along with the practical lessons, Aurora also holds classes to teach people about the dynamics of flight and weather conditions. There is a lot to be learned about anabatic wind, wing tip vorticies and even leeside rotors, and if you really get involved with hang gliding you'll leam more than you ever wanted to know about meteorology. This article just begins to give an indicabon what 1's all about 1 believe them when they say hang ghding tis not a comphcated way of com- mitting sutcide and ve secon the animaticd = capressions displayed by capencoced hang ghders when they talk about flying But on the other hand tt takes a8 Commitment to leam., just hkhe anything cls Anybody who 1s interesicd in learning more about hang ghding or in taking lessons can contact” The Company at 985-4947 Every Wednesday oa the North Shore they show a free film oon hang ghding And the company must whatits doing Il ast Aurora know week the owncr won the Grouse Mountaim in vilatonal cvent and the rastruector finished cighth B7 - Wednesday, July 29, 1981 - North Shore News 1977 DATSUN 200 SX . | Automatic transmission, AM/FM radio, radial tires, velour seats, air conditoning, was $5,395 — summer sale price +4,888. reece noe) 1979 Dodge Power Wagon Short box 4x4 with V8 auto. trans.,P.B.,P.S., radio, rofl bar, 28,000 km was $9995. sale price $9687 1976 Cordoba V8, Auto., P.S., P.B., bucket seats, viny! roof. summer sale price $4595 now *3996 1979 Jeep 6 Cyl., 4Spd.,P.S.,P.B., radio & canopy. 4 X 4. summer Sale price $7995 ; 1980 Eagle 1974C * 1980 Camaro Sport Coupe Auto., P.S., P.B., radio, P. 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