The activity:
Hang gliding
Where to do it here:
Sacramento Hang Gliding (www.sachanggliding.com), run by local pilot George Hamilton, provides hang gliding lessons in Rancho Murieta and also at a favorite gliding spot, Coloma.
What's the big deal?
Said Hamilton, who has been teaching since 1992: "It's fun to figure out the weather and air currents, how to stay up and fly cross-country. Some of my most memorable flights are neat weather conditions. And you actually fly with birds. Ever see buzzards and hawks circling? What they're doing is working the upward moving air, the thermals. We do the same thing. If you get in a good thermal, they'll come up and join you. It's weird looking down on a bird as you're flying."
Want to learn?
Hamilton says you don't need a lot of special skills to hang glide. Anyone who has the ability to sprint a short distance and hang onto bars can do it with proper instruction, Hamilton says.
"The main thing is mental. Relax. That's the key to it. I've had teenagers to people 80 years old go through our training." Beginners start on the small training hill, then after three lessons fly from an 80-foot hill.
"Usually," he said, "it doesn't take students too long until they can get to 500 feet, flying around and landing basically where they take off from."
Hamilton charges $140 for introductory lessons. Continuing lessons: Five for $500.
The cost factor:
Not cheap. Hamilton says new gliders cost about $3,500. "But you can find good used ones for half that," he says. The all-important harness runs about $1,000.
Read up:
Good Internet resources include the Northern California Hang Gliding Association (www.nchga.org) as well as www.ushpa.aero and www.hanggliding.org.
Tell us why you love it:
Already a hang glider? Tell us what you love about the activity. Go to www.sacbee.com/ outbound and share in the comment's field of this feature.
– Sam McManis smcmanis@sacbee.comWelcome to "You Can Do This," a look at activities worth trying for people of all abilities in the Sacramento area. To suggest an activity, email smcmanis@sacbee.com.
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