SANTA BARBARA HANG GLIDING HISTORY

by Ken deRussy

The first hang gliding in Santa Barbara, that I can document, was a man by the name of Bob Hourdequin of Solvang (still listed in the phone book) who built and flew a biplane from an overpass like Paterson or Turnpike between January and March of 1967.

The Jesuit Property (The Mesa) was first flown by Dave Butz in November or December of 1971.

Dick and Dave Saffold, as I understand it, were two of hundreds or thousands around the world who, after receiving the February 1972 National Geographic which featured photos of a bamboo and plastic sail hang glider in flight, went right out and built one and flew it the next day. Dick and Dave flew at the Mesa.

I had returned from Europe the fall of 1972 having completed a 4 year and 5 month enlistment in the USAF as a (Combat) Security Policeman. I was living on Silver Strand Beach in Oxnard and working at the commissary at Pt. Mugu when I first heard of hang gliding. I first saw it at a hill next to Lynn Road in Thousand Oaks and took my first flights at a training hill in Moorpark. I bought a glider in late summer of 1973 and immediately decided that hang gliding was going to be the next Hula Hoop. I began talks in October/November with the company to secure a dealership in Ventura (Ventura had hills I reasoned and Oxnard was flat!) but I got cold feet and backed out. I not only knew nothing about business but I could barely fly.

In January I went back to the hill in Moorpark and the site was alive with gliders. I went to Free Flight again and told them that I would do anything to be in the business but I was still nervous about the idea of starting my own dealership because I knew nothing about running a business. They hooked me up with a John Evans up in Lodi who had become a dealer but had never flown. He was looking for an expert and hired me over the phone!

I first saw Santa Barbara in February or March of 1974 while on my way to connect with Evans. I remember changing planes at the SB airport and looking up at the mountains but it never occurred to me that it was possible to fly mountains. I was headed to Stockton/Lodi where Evans expected me to assemble his kits, assist in starting a school and teach hang gliding on weekends for Free Flight of Stockton. John Evans, the owner of a carpet warehouse had decided that hang gliding was the next coming thing. As far as I know he never learned to fly. I don't think he was all that interested. His plan was to wheedle a dealership from Free Flight down in Sylmar and asked them to find someone who could come up and build the gliders, find a hill and start teaching. He just figured the people would show up and buy large numbers of gliders!

After four or five weekends working for Evans I decided I had learned enough about business to start my own. I contacted Free Flight and told them I was ready to be "Free Flight of Ventura". They told me I was too late as they had granted that dealership to Jim Woods. I was bummed! I was convinced that Free Flight Systems would become the Honda of hang gliders and was certain I needed a dealership with them.

I had to find another geographic area for my dealership. I looked on a AAA map of California to see how far away I would need to drive from Oxnard. I was not so confident that I was ready to quit my job at Pt. Mugu so I felt it couldn't be too far away. I noticed Santa Barbara and took note that the greater SB area was colored yellow which indicated population. I had no knowledge of Santa Barbara whatsoever and certainly didn't know about the training hill. I had no idea that hang gliding could be done from such rugged mountains as those that I had seen from the airport months earlier.

I never investigated anything about Santa Barbara or even visited before I gave Free Flight a deposit on three gliders and accessories to start my business! Based solely on that AAA map I told Free Flight I would be a dealer there. It was not much different from throwing a dart at a map! I ended up in Santa Barbara simply because the map showed yellow!

I can't say in what order the following occurred but I saw the hill for the first time in April or May of 1974. I had met Dave Saffold as well as Dan Poynter at the third Lilienthal meet in Sylmar in May and I think Dave remembers that he told me about the hill at that time. I remember that Jim Woods told me where it was. In any case at the time there was no full time hang gliding business in SB. Ted Zinke and Bill Broadhead were there frequently teaching on a Quicksail (their own design) with a clear plastic sail. John Baird, who lives here in Anacortes now and is my partner in our Falcon Trike ultralight and was also the club's first President, also had a part time business selling gear late in 1974.

The hill in those days was unfenced and was used by dirt bikers, four wheelers, hang gliders, dumpers, target plinkers and dope growers. I just started going there and in the beginning had no permission. I really didn't even learn who owned it until a year or two later.

I rented my shop/office at 1806-J Cliff Drive and got my business license in the name of Free Flight of Santa Barbara in May of 1974. I requested and received 965-3733 (965-FREE) from the phone company. The next year in April I moved to 613 N. Milpas St. and changed the name to Channel Islands Hang Glider Emporium.

I was fortunate to have met Dick and Dave. I found that it was impractical to keep my apartment in Oxnard and my job at Pt. Mugu and gave them up. Robert and Louise Saffold, at Dick and Dave's request, let me sleep on their couch for a week or so. Dick and Dave were excited to have the opportunity to influence the direction of the new instructor from out of town (who could barely fly, let alone teach) and gave me a huge amount of help. Dave was a bottomless pit of energy, endlessly carrying the student's gliders back up the hill so they wouldn't get too tired, and was a natural teacher. He was then, as now, a natural pilot and understood what was important to impart to new students. In fact, Dave, more than anyone else I knew in the beginning of my flying, was my instructor. He was very encouraging to me.

Up through the end of July when I met Bonnie, I slept in my shop. For a short time stayed with my Dad and his wife who had rented an apartment nearby on red Rose Way. Within two weeks (or less) of meeting Bonnie at the Yankee Clipper on upper State Street I moved in with her at her place in Ojai.

By the fall I had begun to sell other brands and in September ran ads showing that I was representing Free Flight, Seagull, Manta and Sport Kites as Wills Wing called them selves in those days. No one in the world has been a Wills dealer longer.

Dan Poynter was the author of "Hang Gliding - The Basic Handbook of Skysurfing" which was the first real book on the subject. He was known throughout the world as THE authority and loved to bring people together using all his contacts and knowledge. His success in his book publishing business was the result of him being a natural organizer. He was and is also great at encouraging me and others I'm sure.

It followed then that he would encourage me to start a club just as he had seen every place in the world where hang gliding was popular. He prodded me into getting the names of the flyers together and he created a nifty looking notice that announced the formation of the "California Coast Hang Gliding Association" with my name on it as the organizer!

And so it was that the first meeting of the Santa Barbara hang gliding club took place on 4 February 1975 at Sierra West on Yanonali Street. I advocated having our club name include the geographic identifier Channel Islands so as to include an area that could represent Santa Barbara and Ventura areas. The idea carried and the Channel Islands Hang Gliding Association was formed. Two months later when I moved to Milpas I changed the name of my business partly because I no longer wanted to appear to be exclusively a Free Flight dealer but also to appeal to that larger than just Santa Barbara area.

I cannot at this time pinpoint when we became USHGA Chapter #26 but it was probably April or May 1975. I am Member #1 and, at different times served as President, Vice President, Treasurer, Media Relations, Safety Director, Public Relations, and probably every other office that our club had! In early 1977 the club voted to change the name to Santa Barbara Hang Gliding Association.

The Mesa was pretty wild in those days. Kids would drive straight up the face of the hill while we were flying, dirt bikes would whiz by us at high speed and it was not unusual to have dumped couches and other crap all over the field. Some even came in full on dump trucks and unloaded where they pleased in broad daylight. Finally some kids were four-wheeling and flipped their jeep. One kid died and there were whispers of lawsuits against the Jesuits.

In August 1975 the attorney for the Jesuits, John K. Hass, had the property fenced and sent me a notice that the property would be posted and that no permission had ever been granted to anyone to use the property. A small trailer was placed at the top of the hill and a guard was assigned to insure no trespassing. Almost immediately there was a confrontation between the guard and some kids who called the police and claimed the guard brandished his weapon. The guard was removed and Hass phoned me to have me come to his office to "work something out."

As a result of that meeting I was given formal permission by John K. Hass to teach on the Mesa and the responsibility to manage ALL activity on the property.

...to be continued...