Couple of incidents during my hang gliding years. Both involved stalls.

First time, Carl Boenish was filming us flying off Palomar for a possible documentary. Boenish had filmed surf videos up to that point and wanted to expand into other sports. The Palomar launch site entailed running across a road and jumping down a 45 degree incline at the shoulder. Glide ratios back then was 4 to 1 so a 45 degree slope was more than enough.

I ran the road and just as I hit the launch point, a gust came up the slope and lifted the glider's nose putting me in a stall. A stall is what you do when you land to stop the craft and definitely not what you want on takeoff. Pulled the bar in to recover from the stall and was skimming down the hill. Boenish had footage of me missing a rock by an inch that would have sliced me open from chest to crotch had it not been for that inch of air.

A different time I was flying at the Nike base in Pacifica. Very unusual winds were coming from the southwest which imparted a swirl. I found a spot on the hill that was producing a steady updraft and tried to hover in the updraft. Held the hover for a few seconds when a sharp gust lifted the nose and again, I stalled as the craft was spun 180 degrees. I was about 100 feet off the hill at the time pointing straight at the hill. Pulled the nose in to recover which brought me towards the hill even faster and when I recovered control, pushed as hard as I could back and side to pivot on the wing tip. Just barely pulled it off and got my ass to the landing spot.

A couple of guys watching from the ground came running over talking about how awesome it was thinking I had done it intentionally. All the time, I was thinking I was damn lucky to be talking to anybody at the point.

Later, when my best friend died in a hang glider crash, I figured it was time to quit the sport.