TAKE FLIGHT

FREE AS A BIRD

ELITE HANG-GLIDING CENTERS OFFER ONE-OF-A-KIND VIEWS AND ADRENALINE-PACKED ADVENTURE

BY ERIC J. WALLACE

CRUISING A RURAL STRETCH OF U.S. 13, I SPOT

something unexpected: A pair of hang-gliders soaring high above Virginia's Eastern Shore. I pull over and watch them cruise over maritime forests and dense tidal marshes toward Quinby Harbor, Upshur Bay, and the wild barrier islands that lay beyond.

The sighting leads to a fantastic discovery: The Shore is home to one of the most unique hang-gliding operations on the East Coast. Tandem tours carry visitors upward of a mile in the air and feature views of the Chesapeake Bay and more than 100 miles of protected shoreline. Gliding over isolated wetlands, bays, and the longest chain of undeveloped barrier islands in the global temperate zone proves to be a bucket-list experience.

Hang-gliders, I realize, are like the motorcycles of the sky. Only there are no roads, lanes, traffic lights, motorists, or rumbling engines to contend with.

“The wind is in your face and you’re soaring like a bird,” says Don Guynn, owner-instructor of the Virginia Hang Gliding Flight School. "It’s like a childhood fantasy come true; the freedom is intoxicating. Gazing down at the world from such dizzying heights brings this amazing sense of perspective. It’s meditative and joyous all at once.”

Luckily the Southeast is home to more than one exemplary hang-gliding center. Though few and far between, each brings incredible views and thrilling experiences.

The Virginia Hang Gliding Flight School

Don “Freeman Sky Coyote” Guynn became obsessed with free-flight around the age of 17 and has spent more than two decades sharing his passion for the sport with others. Years of teaching at top learning centers in Florida, Colorado, and on the Outer Banks of North Carolina inspired Guynn, a certified master pilot, to found his own hang-gliding school.

But he wanted to do things differently.

“Most places have beginner and intermediate learners launching off small hills or dunes,” says Guynn. Flight time averages less than 10 seconds. Return climbs—especially up sand dunes—are often physically intensive and time-consuming. That makes skill building tough.

Guynn starts by teaching the basics on the ground. Flight training is streamlined using a small aircraft to tow students to higher altitudes and tutor them in a tandem setting. That means learners get personalized instruction and incredible views.

Guynn grew up near the Eastern Shore of Virginia and knew the peninsula was the perfect location for a free-flight school. The area is sparsely populated, free of major airports, and features world-class aerial sights. Guynn relocated in 2013 and launched Virginia Hang Gliding on a 25-acre property near Onancock.

Today the school offers a variety of tandem tours, certification classes, and towing services for established pilots. The “Mile High” experience carries patrons to altitudes above 5,000 feet. The peninsula is just 10 miles wide on average, so fliers can enjoy simultaneous views of the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean.

Looking to up the adrenaline factor? Guynn’s aerial

LEFT: SOARING IN THE TENNESSEE SKY. PHOTO COURTESY OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK | ABOVE: LANDING IN NORTH CAROLINA. PHOTO COURTESY OF THERMAL VALLEY HANG GLIDING

acrobatics package brings stunts like barrel rolls, corkscrews, and loop-de-loops.

Tandem experiences start at $199; virginiahanggliding.info

Thermal Valley Hang Gliding

Craig Pearson discovered hang-gliding as a high school freshman when he spotted pioneers leaping off Hibriten Mountain and coasting thermal winds to mileplus altitudes.

“It was the wildest thing I’d ever seen,” says Pearson, now 58. “I said, ‘Now that’s something I’d like to try.'"

Pearson dove into the sport soon thereafter— and spent as much of the next 40 years as possible launching gliders off mountains and cliffs in North Carolina and the greater U.S. He quit his job as an electronics technician in 2010 to found a flight school in Lenoir, N.C., with his wife and son.

“It was one of those chase-the-dream scenarios,” says Pearson, a certified United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding instructor. “To me, I can’t imagine a better way to make a living than introducing people to the crazy, joyous world of free-flight.”

Pearson started by partnering with Foothills Regional Airport. Early offerings were limited to tandem tours and towplane shuttles for certified glider pilots. But he wanted to do more.

“Our goal was to create a [full-service learning institution] that could become sort of the central hub for a larger community,” says Pearson. The family connected with other local enthusiasts and landowners to expand operations.

The efforts have produced one of the East Coast’s most extensive hang-gliding programs. Thermal Valley now boasts progression-based training facilities for all skill levels, tandem experiences, certification courses, and a variety of services for skilled pilots.

The Happy Valley educational center offers hypercharged learning opportunities for beginners and intermediates. A large, grassy flying area is equipped with an anchored, variable-speed towing system for enhanced training efficiency. The platform brings 30-40 seconds of airtime and altitudes up to 60 feet. Golf carts provide swift and breezy shuttling. More advanced fliers can use the system to practice turns and climbing.

The new Butte Mountain facility is located a few miles north. There, advanced students practice footlaunching from 800-1,000-foot cliffs. Landing fields are situated at various distances so pilots can practice longer or shorter flights. The facility is open to certified gliders as well.

Tandem tours from $159; thermalvalley.net

Lookout Mountain Flight Park

One of the oldest and most respected institutions in American hang-gliding awaits in northwest Georgia near Chattanooga, Tennessee. Lookout Mountain Flight Park was founded in 1980 and is currently the largest full-time hang-gliding school in the U.S.—and one of the only dedicated free-flight resorts on the planet.

“This is definitely a world-class hang-gliding destination,” says certified instructor, C.J. Giordano. He’s flown at hotspots throughout the U.S., Central America, and elsewhere. “I can say without reservation that Lookout Mountain is fundamentally unique; there’s nothing like it anywhere else in the country.”

For starters, the resort occupies a rural valley and 2,000-foot ridgeline in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The landscape is staggeringly beautiful; amenities are unparalleled. The 144-acre landing zone is surrounded by a wide range of lodging options that include luxury cabins, RV docks, tiny houses, and primitive camping. There’s also an on site general store, retail shop, eatery, swimming area, music stage, central bonfire pit, and more.

Educational programming spans all skill-levels of paragliding, ultralight aircraft and hang-gliding. Patrons learn the basics and level-up on a series of progression-oriented training hills. Tandem flights offer sightseeing thrills for fliers aged 10-100. More advanced students can practice tandem and solo launches from ridgeline platforms as high as 2,300 feet. Veterans flock to the park to use its premium facilities and shuttle services.

“We’re basically the national country club of [freeflight], but without any of the country club pretention,” laughs Giordano. He discovered Lookout Mountain taking beginner hang-gliding classes in 2012. He moved to the resort full-time in 2015 after becoming a certified instructor.

“Yes, the facilities are great, but what really makes this place so special is the community,” says Giordano. Most premier hang-gliding spots are extremely isolated and visited solely by experts. On-season weekends at Lookout Mountain, however, typically bring more than 100 fliers and their families. Some are greenhorns, others are veterans or even professionals.

“But everybody that’s here is here to fly or support somebody that wants to,” Giordano continues. “To me, that’s just incredibly cool.”

Tandem experiences start at $249; flylookout.com

THERMAL VALLEY HANG GLIDING OFFERS TANDEM FLIGHTS IN THE CATAWBA VALLEY OF NORTH CAROLINA. PHOTO COURTESY OF TVHG

This summer, a fi stful of paddle strokes and a handful of bellyfl ops into a true mountain lake might just be the best remedy for, well, last year. Add a double dose of fresh mountain air and never-ending views, and your Chi will practically rebalance itself. Prepare for the effects of mountain therapy to be immediate and most certainly habit forming.

Book your lodging with us, and enjoy a free Activity Fun Pass for everyone in your group.

MAKING WAVES

NEW WHITEWATER PARK TAKING SHAPE IN NORTH CAROLINA

BY MICHAEL WELCH

SCOTT SHIPLEY, A VETERAN KAYAKER OF THREE

Olympic games and the founder and president of S2O Design and Engineering, has been getting calls from Asheville for almost as long as he’s been building whitewater features. None of those calls ever resulted in a whitewater park, but that appears likely to change.

In 2016, the nearby town of Woodfin was mobilizing to create a system of greenways that would revitalize its French Broad riverfront. Located on the northern border of Asheville, this system would tie into the city’s own plan for greenway improvements—plans that had been proposed years earlier but were just starting to gain momentum.

Marc Hunt, former Asheville City Councilman and former chairman of the city’s Greenway Commission, reached out to Shipley to look into the viability of a whitewater feature on the French Broad. A lifelong paddler himself, he felt that a surfable whitewater wave could serve as a centerpiece of the transformation and add a “Blueway” component to the Greenway effort. As the two kayakers floated the river scouting for a viable location, Shipley’s eyes lit up when they came around a bend. It appeared they had found the perfect spot.

Only they hadn’t. After falling in love with the location and the amenities it offered next to the existing Riverside Park, Shipley’s 2016 Conceptual Design and Feasibility Study showed that you could create a whitewater feature there, but not one that would make it through the permitting process. He explains, “In the U.S., one of the requirements that we have for placing a feature in a natural river is that we can’t raise the flood level. You’d hate to live in a house by the river and find out your basement flooded because of a play park downstream. That’s why we’re held to the same construction standards as a dam or a bridge.”

It was a setback, but the 2016 study included several alternatives. Besides more complex and expensive construction methods, it identified another feasible location for a world-class feature approximately 350 feet upstream of the original. In 2020, the town purchased the adjacent riverfront property from WastePro, and last April, leaders including town manager Eric Hardy signed a $719,000 contract for the detailed design of the wave and the park improvements that would accompany it on shore. That figure is just a part of the project’s approximately $6 million price tag, but it’s a big slice that demonstrates the ongoing commitment to the plan.

And what does a $6 million investment get you? According to Shipley’s 2017 Hydraulic Analysis, “The wave would create a place to surf, kayak, and float that would attract users from throughout the region and country. Similar features, located in similar places, have been found to be significant attractions that have multimillion-dollar economic impacts, host major kayaking events and festivals, attract visitors from afar, and draw and encourage the local community to pursue outdoor recreation.”

Shipley’s firm has already designed a smilar feature in the Camphill Surf Park on the Hawea River in Wanaka, New Zealand. Camphill was designed to produce surfable features in flows that vary from 300 to 7,000 cubic feet per second (cfs). That range applied to the French Broad will create year-round opportunities for kayakers, paddle boarders, river surfers, and many other users.

It's an exciting proposition, particularly in an area known for its outdoor amenities. Shane Benedict is the Head of Design at Big Adventures, a paddlesports manufacturer in Fletcher, N.C., and one of the original

FEATURES AT A NEW WHITEWATER PARK IN WOODFIN, N.C., WILL RESEMBLE THOSE AT THE CAMPHILL SURF PARK ON THE HAWEA RIVER IN WANAKA, NEW ZEALAND (PICTURED HERE). PHOTO COURTESY OF S2O DESIGN

founding partners of whitewater brand Liquidlogic Kayaks. “As a boater and as someone that runs a local paddlesports business, I’m really excited about the Wave’s potential to expose people to the fun you can have on the water.” Benedict has long been a pioneer in the local paddling scene, and he explains that, “There are tons of great rivers for freestyle kayaking in the greater Asheville area, but distance and river level dependencies make them difficult to rely on. It will be awesome to jump in the river at the wave park for an after-work or after-school session, and that accessibility will help grow the sport.”

Chris Gragtmans, another local kayaking expert and real estate professional, is excited about the project’s potential to unite citizens and transform a part of the river that has long been neglected. “The beautiful thing about greenways and blueways is that they are a nonpartisan subject, and everyone can see and feel their benefits. Deliberate participation from public and private stakeholders is required to breathe new life into a neglected and environmentally contaminated real estate corridor like the French Broad River, and that’s exactly what is occurring.”

It’s difficult to pinpoint a completion date, and Shipley describes permitting as a big unknown that involves lots of regulatory hurdles. His best guess is a design phase that takes about a year, including construction of a 1/13th scale model at a lab in Prague. The modeling step adds to the overall cost, but it also ensures the feature lives up to its potential. Construction, which cannot start until the river is at its lower point, will take another year.

Shipley has built dozens of features around the world and knows the result will be worth the wait. “There's that moment when a park has just opened, and a family pulls up in a van and a bunch of kids jump out. Some of them float, some play on the feature, some just sit on the bank and read, but it's awesome to create this thing that wasn't there before and get to see people utilize it.”