Hang Glider

Hang glider at McCarty's Bluff, Dade County, Georgia

In the 1970s and '80s I was for a time the official photographer for the World Cup International Hang Gliding competition, sponsored by Glider Rider magazine and held at McCarty's Bluff on Scenic Highway on the western escarpment of Lookout Mountain.

The World Cup was the brainchild of Tracy Knauss, entrepreneur and publisher of Glider Rider, who had purchased the cliff at a high point on that side of the mountain, a place where favorable winds blew almost every day, and began charging people to jump off his cliff -- in their gliders, of course. A glider rider himself, he once set a record by staying aloft for five hours.

Because he was concerned about the safety of the flyers, he began to require that those who jumped off his cliff have a certain amount of training. McCarty's Bluff is now managed by the Lookout Mountain Flight Park and training classes for flyers are held every morning of the year, weather permitting, except Christmas Day.

The photo was made with an Olympus OM camera and a Vivitar Series One 70-210mm f3.5 lens. The film was probably Kodak Ektachrome 64.

Photograph and text copyright 2022, David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone

My book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, is now out of print, although copies are apparently still available from Amazon, and possibly other sources. The second edition is now in the editing stage and is scheduled to be released in December.