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