Our other hobbies

Some oldies, 'cause the darkroom sits unfinished...(they look like crap because I haven't invested any energy in how to do high quality scans & such yet. Being large format I can enlarge them 20x24 and the skies are buttery smooth with really fine detail everywhere).

HiDHo said:

Sippin Old #7 Tennessee sour mash whiskey and wondering if one day I'll be able to get back on and ride my 1985 BMW R80 RT.

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Two winters ago I started rebuilding my 85 BMW K100. The 1st K sold in New York State. I live near Chicago so when I got to the point of seeing the end of the job and thought about the crazy traffic here I sloooooooowed the project down by starting a boat project. It's still on hold.

I prefer the single malts from the Isle of Islay.

HopCar said:

Eric, Nice pictures! What kind of UL's did you fly? Following is a picture of a much younger and lighter me in a Manta Foxbat.

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You, manyboats, and I, birds of a feather. Almost 30 years ago......


Now I'm thinking of going to battery powered ultralights. Quiet like the hang glider, easier launch and landing for my old body.

Looks like fun, huh?

Earthstar Electric E-Gull 2000 Flight at the Arlington Air-Show 2012 - YouTube

Music is by far our number one hobby. We love to sing.

Sports wise it would be tennis, followed by basketball.

+1 on the tennis.

Deckofficer, Is that a Sea Gull hang glider? The leading edges look curved in the photo.
The electric ultralight is very appealing.

HopCar said:

Deckofficer, Is that a Sea Gull hang glider? The leading edges look curved in the photo.
The electric ultralight is very appealing.

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Good eye, a Seagull Seahawk 200. I used to be the Seagull dealer for Sacramento.

I figured it was either a Sea Gull or you hit a wall!

Back in the late seventies John Harris of Kitty Hawk kites brought a couple of Sea Gulls to Miami to see if they would tow well behind a boat. They did.

I flew Seagulls because Dr Francis Regallo (the inventor of hang gliders) flew them at the age of 70. Compared to high performance double surface wings, their flight characteristics are quite docile and ease of launch and landing was a big deal for me. Sure other pilots would gain more altitude in thermals, but when it came to landings, the slower stall speed of the Seagull kept be from bending down tubes.

I agree with everything you said about the flight of Sea Gull gliders. They were sweet.

I once met Rogallo at Kitty Hawk Kites. I think he lived on the Outter Banks and spent a lot of time at Jockey's Ridge either flying kites or hang gliders. Of course he was treated like a god there. Following photos are from Kitty Hawk Kite's Face book page.

Living in California and flying here I never had the pleasure to meet him. I learned to fly on an old Seagull 3 and stayed with them. A very forgiving, rather low performance glider but that was what I was into. I loved flying, but launches and landings still gave me the old pucker factor, so the easiest to launch and land was for me.

Bob and HopCar,
I had a Sky Sports Osprey. Kind-of a squirlly handling wing but fun to fly doing light aerobatics. My flying inspired a National champion acrobatic flier Arron Swepstack. Wingovers and extremely high banked turns but I never did a loop. And I don't think I ever went negative.

Also had a Seagull Seahawk. I called it the "Bent Beak" glider. Flying under 20mph it had a very good sink rate.

Also had an Easy Riser dope and fabric tailless biplane. VERY quick handling. I built it as a hang glider but it turned out to be my first ultralight w an 8hp Chrysler dirt tamper engine. Had a chromed aluminum bore on aluminum w no steel liner. Tweaked that one to 12hp (or so (took out 2 of the three rings for more rpm)) and eventually stuck it. Then went to a 15hp Yamaha go cart engine that ran at over 10,000rpm. 100cc displacement. Did'nt footlaunch. I started flying when John Moody put landing gear on the Icarus glider (the predecessor to the Easy Riser). What fun. Best I've ever had.


Murray,
Your tree in the forest is REALLY good photography.

My first hang glider was an Eaglet which is the training wing they use at Kitty Hawk. It is slow and forgiving. My next glider was A Will's Wing Raven with a huge wing. It was also slow and forgiving with a very low sink rate. The slow sink rate was very important as here in Miami as all of our flights were down hill sled rides to a water landing.

Wow, a bunch of old hg pilots from the 70's here on the Trawler Forum. Who would have thought it?

HopCar, speaking of sled runs, for Thanksgiving each year our group would fly Big Sur on the California coast which was a sled run from a 3800' launch to the ocean with plenty of altitude, allowing for some time spent searching for whales heading south. In a prone flying position the wing acts as a sound amplifier and nothing will give you goose bumps more than the sound of a whale clearing his blow hole below you.

Bob, That's sounds amazing!

deckofficer said:

...nothing will give you goose bumps more than the sound of a whale clearing his blow hole below you.

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I'd agree that would be pretty cool, but it was with lung pulsating intensity that the Royal Hudson steam locomotive passed about 100 vertical feet below me while rock climbing in Squamish, BC. It was amazing...sunshine...blue sky...green glacial melt water...and the chugga chugga, chugga chugga, chugga chugga of the train.

Don't climb so much anymore, but memories carry on

MurrayM said:

but it was with lung pulsating intensity that the Royal Hudson steam locomotive passed about 100 vertical feet below me while rock climbing in Squamish, BC.

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Murray, is the Royal Hudson still in operation today? I have fond memories of riding it the year St Helens blew its top.

CPseudonym said:

Murray, is the Royal Hudson still in operation today?

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Don't think so...

MurrayM said:

Don't think so...

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Someone told me a while back it had been taken out of service. Was kinda hoping I had been misinformed.