Hello fellow Pilots!

I would like to take the time to introduce myself as the "Ridge Dancer's" new editor. My name is Rich Hammer and I've been a pilot for just short of 2 years. I trained with the Advanced Paragliding crew and look forward to getting my P3 rating this spring.

We hope you all like the new format for our newsletter! (Thanks Julie!!!!) We very much look forward to continue the tradition of interesting articles about our great sport. In this vein I would encourage all of you to please submit articles about or related to paragliding for publication.

Annual BAPA dues are due by the end of the year to renew your membership for 2006. 

BAPA is one of the largest and most active paragliding clubs in the country.  Our flying community is made up of a diverse population and it’s great to get to know and fly with so many pilots. 

We all live in the San Francisco Bay Area and are lucky to have some great coastal sites to fly: Mussel Rock and The Stables.  On a good day you can fly until you get tired or hungry or just have to go.  You can see the Farralon Islands, the Golden Gate and San Mateo Bridges, Pt. Reyes, and Mt. Tamalpais.  Scampering on the ground you are likely to see a couple varieties of foxes, cats, skunks, fishermen, locals walking their dogs, and your buddies who came late and haven’t gotten up yet.  Look out to the ocean and you are apt to see dolphins, whales, sea lions, and the occasional fisherman swimming to or from the rocks.

Embrace the Fall!

Over the summer, I happened to be on Oahu the weekend they held their annual Makapu’u Air Games fly-in.  This year it was being held at Kahana Bay.  While I was in the launch queue a tandem pilot was getting ready while another pilot was going through his gear off to the very narrow side.  The tandem pilot brought his wing up and away he went with what looked to be a snag in his lines.

I’m writing this tardy Safety report at the beginning of October.  As usual, August was a busy month with pilots dispersing far and wide in the U.S. and beyond.  I hope everyone accumulated great flying adventures inn the late summer.  These experiences can be hauled out and relived in the approaching slow period of November and December before the winter storms come and we get into pre- and post-frontal flying.

We'll make sure the minutes are more formalized in future issues. During the December meeting (at the special Pilot Summit) the main topic was that the election results were presented. Below is a snippet from the announcement Jeff Wishnie sent out to SFBAPA members shortly thereafter.

The election results are in. Here, drum-roll, are your new officers for 2006: