There are probably few hang glider or paraglider pilots around who are unaware of sailplanes and plenty of us who switched. I and several of my friends switched to sailplanes in the 1980s after a series of fatal accidents in our hang gliding club. I'm sure we all knew it wasn't the safest of sports (especially mountain foot-launching), but it took a couple of sharp shocks to get us to switch.

Mountain launches and cross-country retrieves sure took a lot of 4-wheel drive time!

Deflatable wings are a whole other story!

Mike