need medical attention, mostly because 

 of scrapes or braises, Weaver says. An 

 occasional broken arm is the most 

 severe injury, usually suffered by an 

 advanced student experimenting with a 

 difficult maneuver. 



Most students are first-timers, about 

 85 percent, according to Weaver. He 

 estimates that the school has stopped 

 more than 200,000 different people into 

 gliders during the past 23 years. 



One reason the school has been 

 able to teach so many people is that the 

 only real limitation is weight: a student 



must weigh at least 85 pounds to muster 

 enough force to shift the glider's wings 

 and no more than 225 pounds. Age and 

 physical condition are not hmiting 

 factors. At this school, the youngest 

 student so far was 7, the oldest 92. And 

 an instructor here once helped a visually 

 and hearing-impaired man learn to fly. 



The average student? It's not a 

 college kid or a 25-year-old sports addict, 

 as I had assumed. It's me. About 60 

 percent of the students, Weaver says, are 



30-something vacationers. 



I begin to wonder if taking a hang 

 gliding lesson is a popular way of 

 grabbing gusto during a mid-life crisis — 

 but before the personal implications of 

 that thought can sink in, my lesson starts. 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 3 



