On Sunday, February 22, 2015 at 11:26:01 AM UTC-8, wrote:
Is there a commercial operator in Hawaii that will rent gliders to qualified pilots for them to give friends and family rides?

Check out Dillingham on the North Shore - about 45mins to an hour drive from Waikiki. I wasn't interested in actually getting checked out, so I called for a flight lesson with a CFI. When I showed up, I explained my qualifications and he said "lets go fly". The flying is mostly ridge soaring but it is fantastic! BTW, there are a lot of restricted areas and I think a few prohibited areas so maybe that is why their checkout is so intense. The only thing I found weird, is that the gliders are parked diagonally next to the runway and the tow plane pulls you out to the runway and into take-off.. It was a handful because I have never done that before.