Sounds more like a hang-on! glider.
I was actually surprised that this happened. Given how anal the Swiss are with rules and procedures, you'd think the pilot would have had a checklist. From the article, it sounded like he was an instructor or doing it for a living or something so should have not been so sloppy.
I don't know anything about hang gliding, but I wonder if US hang glider pilots are taught to use a checklists the same as pilots who fly real aircraft.