It’s an Airborne-Again Lifestyle for Gliders

Taking flight, spiraling over the back yard and soaring over the neighborhood to float awhile over the school playground, is the stuff of childhood dreams. It is also the reality of local para-gliders, at least those who live high up.

“What really struck me was the fact that these guys can launch from anywhere there is a hill,” said staff writer Jeff Meyers, who wrote this week’s cover story on those daredevil hang gliders and para-gliders who can be spotted above mountains and over shorelines of Ventura County.

“The hill above Ventura Avenue in Ventura is so intimately connected with the city,” said Meyers, “that it is surreal how they can fly out over rooftops and land at the beach.”

Or, in the case of hang gliders, jumping off mountains, traveling as far as 300 miles and going as high as 11,500 feet in contraptions that from the ground look as sturdy and reliable as untethered kites.

Clearly, gliding is not a sport for the squeamish, or for the weekend jock.

“It is more than just a hobby or a passing interest,” Meyers said. “These guys are very committed. You can’t do it every few months and expect to live; you have to keep skills at a very high level. It is their life.”

Clearly, gliding is not a sport for the squeamish, or for the weekend jock.

The “they” being men, as this sport has yet to attract many women.

“The hang glider weighs 80 or 90 pounds and has to be carried uphill, which might be hard for many women,” said Meyers. “It is what kept women out of surfing until the ‘70s, when lightweight plexiglass replaced heavy wooden boards. The lighter weight para-gliders will likely become more popular amongst women.”

Will we be finding Meyers up there with them?

“I’m thinking about it,” he said. “But I once went up in plane and the pilot decided to do some barrel rolls. That was about as much of being in the air as I could take.”

For those of us who like the feel of linoleum, grass or earth under foot, there is much to engage us this week. If you happen to have feet that like to move in a line, Country Roundup columnist Robyn Loewenthal offers advice on where to learn country-Western dancing.

If you are both grounded and planted in a job, fashion columnist Kathleen Williams will clue you in on what employees of local corporations are wearing to work.

And if you happen to be tethered to a large group of people and you are the one responsible for feeding them, Leo Smith--who spent much of his week around refrigerated deli cases--reports on good values from the meat market. Look for it in this week’s Shop Talk column, which was also featured here last week, but failed to find its way into the paper.

Our heads must have been in the clouds.