Since our hang gliding school was founded way back in 1974, we've been handing out wind checks (our form of a rain check) to participants who are unable to complete their dune hang gliding lesson for one reason or another.
Our wind checks are typically redeemed within the following days after they're issued, or at most within the next year or so as many people who vacation on north carolina's outer banks return year-after-year.
Rarely do we see a wind check show up at our hang gliding school at Jockey's Ridge State Park that's more than five years old. However, there are some exceptions.
Midway through this August, we had two women show up at our hang gliding school with tattered wind checks in hand. We were amazed to find out that one of the wind checks was from 1976, and the other was from 1979!
The two graciously donated their brochure, wind check, and student handbook, items they carefully held onto for nearly 40 years, with hopes of one day making it back to Nags Head to hang glide. The wind check from 1979 was particularly interesting, as kitty hawk kites' president and founder john harris had signed it when it was initially issued.
We're unsure of what caused each of them to initially receive their vouchers, however we were trilled to finally be able to get them out on the sand dunes and in the air.
No matter how long you hold onto your voucher for one of our activities, it will always retain it's value in terms of the activity, regardless of the price difference between a hang gliding lesson booked in 1976 and one booked today in 2015.
Update: We learned that the wind check from 1976 was issued to Edie H. when the wind completely died off during the middle of her hang gliding lesson. Laine D. kindly shared the collection of photos below that were taken during the partial lesson in 1976 with us on Facebook… Enjoy!
