Was it Rod Fuller?

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27465

http://www.fai.org/civl-news/35813-rod-fuller-passed-away

After skiing a mile or so not being able to get it in the air, I
returned to the beach and had another one of the club members try it because I
was exhausted. He did just the same thing. Then another one attached the harness
on the rear ring, did a jump start and went straight in the air to about 80ft,
pulled the A-frame to his chest, and went straight down into the water. He was
badly shaken but not hurt otherwise. So we hooked on to the middle ring and had
another of our most confident skiers, Rod Fuller, do a jump start and get it out
of the water. He flew it, exactly how I had suggested to him that he should, for
over a mile, which was about the record for ski-kites in those days.

Seems like it was someone else on this day and it seems like it
was a ski kite. But what do I know?

Joe Faust writes:

The first pilot of modern hang gliding still lives: Take your
pick: 1960 foot-launcher glider Tony Prentice. Or 1962 foot-launcher Barry Hill
Palmer and or his friends that flew foot-launched also. Or others before
Rod--who did not foot-launch and was late in the game: Sept 1963 with
"slack-line" tethering.