I decided to hang back and use up the fifth lesson I had to work out some of the wrinkles I had. I was cross controlling and it was ugly. I gave blood the Thursday before the weekend and while it was a feel good thing to do, it was also a very dumb thing to do. My body reacted a lot harsher to the loss of blood. I’m still affected by it as I’m writing this. The nurse told me I’d be ok for light activity after two days. Hrmn, hang gliding at Dockweiler isn’t light activity, it’s strenuous as Hell. So I wasn’t able to make as many flights as I usually do. I was getting weaker by the flight. The cross controlling problem never showed up though. Right in the middle of the afternoon Paul cleared me to go to Kagel mountain for tandems. I was going to the mountain. So the paperwork for my first rating was filled out as well as my membership to the USHPA. I am now officially a Hang 1. In the mean time I’m still recovering and I’ll be taking it light for a week or two. They took two units of blood cells from me and its going to take 16 weeks to get it back!