Oh Yeah! It's rated a windy cliff launch but as you saw it's not the average cliff launch. Unless it's a light day most visiting pilots are throw off by the low nose angle on launch but trust us that the wing will be flying. It is, in fact, one of the best "rushes off launch" that there is. I bet launching into Yosemite is right up there but in a different sense. When the elevator is working you can pop the nose after launch and climb straight up for hundreds of feet, or not, depending on what you feel like and what you want to do. On good days you can play off launch all you want, buzz the box, etc.
Just so you know I think that during this whole time you were here maybe one or two paragliders snuck in a flight for a couple of hours during some wind shifts. To my knowledge no one has flown a hangglider there for weeks. Just like Haleakala, when it's on it's great! We'll hook up again.
Yeah - Yosemite is a rush (3,000' cliff running off a granite rock) but it's usually almost completely dead-wind, so it's entirely different (and super easy, actually). Fort Funston might be closer actually, but it's only about 150' high and you can usually waltz off of launch in the smooth flow, so it can't compare I'm sure. We have one site in No Cal that is a 1,200' windy cliff glass-off site (Hat Creek), but it's nowhere *near* as exposed as Makapu'u.
I totally get the low nose angle thing. I figure when it's blowing, you want that thing as low as you can get it there!
I'll catch you next time...
Dan
