An exceptional day when I was participating in the national championships in Porterville in 1991.
I was flying one of the best gliders of the time, an APEX MESH from the Japanese brand FALHAWK. I know the glider well: I participated in its development.
I’m well placed in the competition and I’m a bit late to take off for the last run. There are only a few minutes left and if I am not in the air, I will be disqualified. Two people assist me, as the wind is quite strong. I inflate the sail. I hear a shout that there is a knot in the lines! I look at it: it’s not very big. I say I want to take off anyway. I am told no… I insist!
Finally I take off. I climb almost without moving and suddenly I rise much faster. I look down between my legs and see one of my helpers fall into the brush! Surprised, he had held on to my harness longer than the other helper and fell down the slope a few meters… Fortunately, no harm came to my “passenger” who made the shortest tandem flight in the world! The only tandem flight I have ever done in my life as a pilot and, moreover, with a black passenger some time before the end of apartheid!
Eric Laforge
