Last weekend's hang gliding clinic at Rylstone, NSW, was filled with MUD (after Friday's rain), ICE (early morning frosts), and AIR (70+ tows).

Above: A fun flight in the Moyes Malibu demo glider

The new Cloudstreet Winch, with hydraulic tension regulation, provided some smooth tows, as the Toyota Hilux drove along the grass airstrip.

Eight of our hang gliding students learn to aerotow and then converge on the thermals at Forbes, NSW, in April.

As winter now sets in, it is quite dreamy reflecting back, and down, to the hot dry paddock below from which my student-pilots were teleported thousands of feet deep into Earth’s troposphere. These guys not only learned to aerotow hang gliders safely, but they also tapped into an unfamiliar energy form: thermals.

Above:  Student Andrew Phillip towing up behind Steve McCarthy at our Forbes Aerotow Clinic.  Photo by Andrew

Hang gliding video and report from the recent Forbes trip: 

Last week's flying was another chapter for the hang-gliding memory book.

I took eight guys out to Forbes, NSW to show them the "next-level" of hang gliding in Australia.

The students learned to tow (and release) their hang gliders behind the Moyes Dragonfly microlight.

I'm happy to blog that our hang gliding lessons have just stepped up level, with our purchase of our new "scooter" winch, from the towing experts at Cloudstreet Winch, in the USA.

As always, our lessons will also include both tandem hang gliding flights from Stanwell Tops and solo "bunny hill" flights.

(Above: A hang gliding lesson, south of Sydney, NSW, Australia)

The winch (pictured below) is has been tested, and proven by

Here are recent photos from some of our flying sites that we use for professional hang gliding instruction:

Above: Jonathan, of Helensburg, NSW, leaping from Stanwell Tops on his first solo flight!

Stanwell Tops, is great for the instructional tandem flights. -learning how to set up the landing approach, and where to find the lift on certain days. Stanwell Tops takes a south to an east wind. Speeds from 2 knots to 25 knots are commonly flown.

Above: Dave, from Canberra, on one of his first bunny hops from Bells Point, Austinmer.

Three seconds from personal freedom: Kathryn, a hang gliding student of Sydney, about to embark on her first ever solo hang gliding SOARING flight....

Her dedication to learning to fly hang gliders pays off tonight, just before sunset:

Kathryn has had some previous dune and training hill flights, but last week she made her FIRST "high glides" from the scenic coastal site of Catherine Hill Bay

The launch:

That's Conrad Loten and I running on the wings.

This launch site is user friendly and quite private, really. The water below was crystal clear.

Here's one of her three perfect flights:

It's been a fun hang gliding course for all of us!
We've blogged it this far, might as well show what happened today at Bald Hill, Stanwell Tops :)

Smooth 15 knot South winds....he's already climbing in the Airborne Fun 190 (photo below)....

Day 6 into the Hang Gliding Course, Chris has taken the 200 foot jump. We pick smooth morning NE winds at Hill 60 in Port Kembla. The long empty beach makes a great LZ to wear off the altitude. We use the Wills Wing Condor 220 for the first flight. It's designed to be a forgiving glider that has slow take-off and landing speeds. -ideal and built for students' first high flights.
The second flight we put Chris on the Fun 190

Learning to Hang Glide in board shorts....
Perfect 10 knot NE winds filled our wings with a bit of airspeed for take-off on Saturday.
The students walked away with amazement of how far they progressed through the day. -Well deserved, as they've already had a few tandems and a couple of previous days on the sand dunes.
Here's me testing the air and giving a demo flight