Learned an important lesson for a very cheap price

The club aquired an Ultrasport 166, and I wanted to fly it. So, I took it to Ed Levin today, and flew with Daniel M. We started the day running on the flats, until I was almost taking off from the 5 foot hill. Then, we progressed to the 50 ft hill, where I managed to get a 5 second flight from starting half way up the hill (in dead wind!). I was quite proud of that. Next, I launched from the top of the 50 ft hill, and I nearly landed in the H4 spot- this glider has better glide than my pulse. Also, it was very easy to land; I was really starting to like this glider.

Next, we carried our gliders to the top of the 300 ft hill for one last flight to cap off the day. My glider weighs a little over 70 lbs, so this was no small feat (though Daniel carried it half way up the hill for me). I took a quick break and launched off the hill. I immediately started PIO'ing...BADLY! I started getting into bigger and bigger oscillations and in my mind I knew that I was supposed to let out and fly more slowly, but being this close to the ground I didn't want to stall either. I followed my flight plan as well as I could but the glider kept going all over the place as it oscillated. I've seen videos of other people in a PIO, but none of them were as severe as the situation that I found myself in. My glider was literally standing on one wingtip, completely vertical when I was a mere 20 ft over the ground. I thought for sure I was going to crash, so I was getting mentally ready to bring my arms in before I hit the ground.

Miraculously, the glider leveled out and went into ground effect. I was too frazzled to pull off a good landing, but I gave a small flare, ran out a little before the glider got ahead of me and had a small whack. I was more than a little freaked out by the experience, and I am very happy that I am alive and without a single injury to myself or the glider. A very, very cheap price for the learning experience. My lesson: fly more slowly and listen to the glider.