[tevake]

Such a cool subject, was hoping our flying pelican brethren would share more stories.

I got to fly off of Wasserkuppe in Germany. It's the birthplace of gliding there.
With a cool museum of gliding/ soaring history.

It's one of those hills where you could probably launch with a winch and long cable.
We towed off behind a plane and flew a short distance to release point. Then flew around to the windward side of the hill to use some updraft there. Flew around for a half an hour or so With a few other sailplanes in sight. Then landed back at the hill top field. Easy peasy, it's fun listening to the vario altimeter sound letting you know your rate of sink or climb.

I've also enjoyed trying hanggliding in New Zealand, Queenstown. And parasailing in Interlaken Switzerland. Both very fun experiences , flying tandum with experienced pilots showing me the ropes as we flew. I love the simplicity of engineless flight.
The pilot of the hangglidder in Queenstown slid over shortly after launch and let me fly for most of the flight. At one point he found a nice column of up going air for us to circle tightly in, climbing nicely with a hawk circling just below us. And our vario chirping nicely as we climbed.

That landing was quite thrilling as when flying with a passenger they don't try to land on their feet. Rather use big balloon tires on the corners of the control bar, so you land prone and with your head about 18" off the ground. The pilot was so comfortable with me at the control bar that he let me fly right down to the landing. I could feel him giving slight inputs in the last few seconds. He told me that he had never done that before on a first time passenger. It just felt that natural to me.

As a lifelong sailor and former hardcore windsurfer. Its like taking those sports into three dimensions of the sky.

Cheers Richard