Thermal Clinic at Potato Hill

The annual BAPA thermal clinic was held May 19-20 at Potato Hill. Before the event Ann and I were going back and forth on the location, checking weather daily as the weekend approached.  The forecast called for west winds through out the state, a less than optimal condition for Potato Hill; but later the forecast turned more to our favor and off we went. 

Expecting that the launch might blow down anyway, Ann, Kurt, Susan, and I worked to get all the pilots off early in the day. The lift was weak, but everyone got a chance to try their thermalling skills and the most patient were rewarded. Later however the air around Potato Hill became leeside, even though the wind was still coming in at launch. This can produce some rather dangerous flying conditions, so the hosts recommended that newer pilots not launch.  (The author did launch but didn’t like the flying much, and landed soon thereafter.)

More class time and a catered dinner followed. The next day the hosts provided yet more class time, followed by another trip up the hill. On that day however the wind blew down at launch without a break, and the group was not able to fly.

Spring XC League

Since the last presidents report Jugdeep Aggarwal has put on two more XC League events.  The race at Tollhouse was a battle of pilots against weak and desperate conditions. Saturday’s task had no one in goal, while on Sunday just Eric Reed made it in. Sunday in particular marked a new task route, out to Nichols Road, which should come in handy for future XC flights there.

The online RidgeDancer experiment is drawing to a close.  Without a Editor to hunt down content, write up articles, and finesse the stories into the required format, we haven't been able to publish a regular newsletter.

This issue will catch up with content previously submitted and the official meeting minutes.  Starting in 2008 we will integrate all club communication into an updated layout of the website:  www.sfbapa.org. 

Voting for the BAPA calendar has been completed. The preliminary results voting results are in:

There were a total of 41 votes:  http://paraglidingphotos.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=14

I will have the voting and ranking checked by another BAPA person prior to finalizing the results and begin onstruction of the Calendar proofs to pass around for review.

Thanks for all the participation.

Stu and I flew Anderson Flat today 10/19/07. He got up to cloud base at 9000' MLS and I made it up to 7300' MLS above Pilot Peak. He flew about 1 1/2 hours and I had enough after 45 minutes (I launched after him). We had to wait until about 1:30 PM for enough thermal wind to launch, but it was rock and roll after that with the strong thermals. Out over the valley it was smoother but took a while to find sink to get down.

A website I read daily (www.vansairforce.net) just posted a small review of a really cool new device. As useful as it is for airplanes, I uspect it is far more useful for you XC paraglider sky god types. Cheap, small, logs flights by web and has a panic button to notify various phone #s with a prestored message and GPS coordinates. Possibly a middle ground before going to a EPRB.

See www.vansairforce.net for photos and more description.

Meeting called to order at 7PM. In attendance were Tom, Chip, Wally, Tim, and a total of 16 members. Absent were Rolf, Roy, Ann and Brent.

09/05/2007 at South San Francisco Round Table Pizza

Officer Reports:

Tom M - President