Eager Pilots Posing for the Camera

We had a most enjoyable fly-in at Hat Creek on June 22-24. The weather forecast looked somewhat questionable calling for possibly windy conditions and unseasonably cool temperatures.  However, there was quite a bit of enthusiasm for a fun weekend nonetheless. As it turned out, the fifteen Bay Area pilots who made the trip had at least two great glass-offs, three if you stayed for Sunday night as well.  There was also a short morning flight and hiking at Lassen Park and Burney Falls. Chip braved the cold water at Burney and Frodo dove with abandon into the current of Hat Creek. Ricardo went on two bike rides. After our evening flying, we had two wonderful dinners around the campfire under the moon and many stars.  Kurt and I sat on the Rim and admired the moonlit view. Altogether a great weekend with lots of flying and good camaraderie. 

The July BAPA meeting will be on Wednesday, July 11 which is the SECOND Wednesday of the month because the first Wednesday is the 4th of July holiday. At the July 11 meeting in Milpitas, Josh Cohn will give a slide show on the World Paragliding meet. This should be a really interesting presentation! 

The July XC League is on July 14-15 at Potato Hill. 

Gregg Hackett says that the Sonoma Wings Potato Hill and St. John's fly-in is on August 10-11. The August XC League is on August 18-19, most likely at Tollhouse. 

The next BAPA fly-in will most likely be on August 24-25 at Potato Hill. Brent and I will confirm the dates and details as August rolls around. Potato Hill can offer some nice morning flying in August – often not as inverted and turbulent at July. It is usually pretty hot which can mean that you spend the mid-afternoon at Letts Lake swimming in the clear water. Sometimes there is a nice evening flight with abundant smooth lift. 

That's it for now. I hope that everyone has a great 4th of July and lots of enjoyable summer flying.

Ann Sasaki on Launch at Hat Creek

A Beautiful Saturday Evening Flight at Hat Creek

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 most recent race was at Dunlap again. Unlike the first event there in April, the conditions on Saturday were not only stable but deceptive: at least half the participants went down near Granny’s Knob quite early in the race. Still, a few people including Susan Kent managed to make it out to the San Joaquin valley. As difficult as Saturday was, Sunday was deceptively easy: climbs were high and easy to find, making it possible for about half the pilots to land at goal.

Redbull Xalps

The Xalps, one of the most punishing endurance events in the world, will have two American paraglider pilots participating. Both Nate Scales and Honza Rejmanek live near Sun Valley Idaho; but Honza spent much of his early flying career living and teaching in the Bay Area. If you would like to support the effort, please have a look at his crew website at www.xcaction.com.

Commercial activity at the Dump is not allowed

Unfortunately I must remind everyone that paid paraglider instruction, including paid tandem flying, is not allowed at the Dump aka Mussell Rock. If it comes to the city's attention that such things are happening -- and almost anyone can go and inform the city -- we will lose one of the country's most unique flying sites.

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.

Visitors/New Members:

Mike - a P1, currently a student of Wally's, flying an Arcus 5
Kevin - a new P2, Wally's, also on an Arcus 5
Boone - Flying since 1995 and before, now on a Paratech P44.

Officer Reports:

Tom M - President

Two XC League events were held since the last BAPA meeting.  First, the event at Potato Hill had two tasks. The conditions were light and desperate. Only a few pilots made goal. Still, the sailplane pilots who saw the event thought the PG's were doing a wonderful job so we got some good buzz in that community!

The second XC event was at Dunlap, and was only one task.  Weather was OD-like, but with weak lift near launch, although it was better away from launch. The San Joaquin valley was ON if you got that far.

The next Ham Cram is May 19. Get your ham license if you use ham radios. See the BAPA website for more information.

Rolf B - Vice President

Tom reported: Rolf renewed the Dr. Jack membership. A motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved to reimburse him $50.

Chip S - Site Director

Morrey point site information was published in the latest Ridge Dancer.

Tam's LZ permit was renewed for another year.

Wally A - Safety Directory

Lack of a formal incident report notwithstanding, Wally recommends that pilots not slip and fall off of wet rocks - legs don't like that and might break, apparently.

Ann S + Brent E - Activities CoChairs

Tom reported: See the BAPA website calendar for events. Events coming up in May include the Anderson Flat and Elk fly-ins (on the same weekend), another XC League event and the ever-popular BAPA thermal clinic (which is full with a waiting list.)

Roy - Treasurer

Tom reported: The USPG team said "thanks" for our sponsorship.  Now we need to acquire a clubhouse so we can display it appropriately.

Old Business:

Minutes from the March meeting approved by unanimous vote.

New Business:

Wally has been in contact with Jill, who is willing to lead a weather clinic for BAPA. When asked who would be interested, every one of the people at the meeting raised their hand, so it looks like there is quite a bit of interest. Wally will follow up.  Motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously to allocate up to $200 for the clinic.

During the XC League at Dunlap, the landowner asked the pilots to have Connie contact her about brush trimming below the launch area. Chip will contact Connie and see if there is anything BAPA could do. Tom indicated that it would be very difficult to trim this brush.

Motion was made, seconded and unanimously passed to allocate $150 for the Mission web cam ongoing cost. Tom to find out if BAPA wants to do more in this area.

Atta wanted to know if the franchise fee and updated board members list had been forwarded to the State of California.  Tim to follow up with Roy.  The Ed Levin wind talker is down, apparently due to phone line problems.  Travel to South and Central America on Spirit Air is apparently exceptionally cheap right now.

Meeting adjourned at 7:40 PM

Entertainment was Celia showing her slides from Slovenia.

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

Visitors/New Members:

Joe, a HG pilot looking for some XC info.

Officer Reports:

Tom M - President

XC League events were held at Potato Hill and Tollhouse.    

Canadian Nationals were held in Golden, BC, in July/August 2007.  Locals Eric, Pat, and Tom attended.  Good weather, 6 tasks in 7 days.

Rolf B - Vice President

No report.

Chip S - Site Director

Wally A - Safety Director

No report.

Tim S - Secretary

Ann S + Brent E - Activities CoChairs

Fly-in at Potato had OK weather. Some had nice flights. If better estimates of attendance were available, food and/or refreshments would be easier to plan.

Roy - Treasurer

$4800 in the bank.  Please be sure to change your contact information on the BAPA web site.

Old Business:

Dunlap launch improvements.   $1000 for heavy equipment rental was requested.  $450 was approved by unanimous vote, pending a project plan.  What about USHPA Foundation, other local clubs contributing to get to the $1000 required?

Our contribution paid off - After starting out sick, Honza finished 9th in the Red Bull X-Alps!

New Business:

Again, there are problems with paid training at Mussel Rock.  This is not acceptable to the Daly City city government and is not tolerated.  Apparently the training this time is tandem HG flights, perhaps because a local HG instructor recommended the site for commercial flights.   Tom to follow up, possibly with USHPA assistance.

Meeting adjourned at 8:04 PM

Officer Reports:

Tom M - President

Rolf B - Vice President

No report.

Chip S - Site Director

Wally A - Safety Director

No report.

Tim S - Secretary

Ann S + Brent E - Activities CoChairs

No report.

Roy - Treasurer

No report.

Old Business:

Jug brought up some ideas for closing the gap between the $1500 needed for Dunlap launch improvements and the $450 which was voted by BAPA for the project (pending a project plan) back in July, 2007.  Since contributions to it are matched by the USHPA, Jug's been in contact with the Foundation for Hang Gliding and Paragliding.   The Foundation will also match money for volunteer time, valued at $20/hour.

A discussion followed, with Jug and Tim to communicate the volunteer opportunity to WOR and BAPA club members.

A motion was made, seconded and unanimously passed to re-iterate BAPAs commitment to donating $450.

New Business:

Meeting adjourned at 8:00 PM

Entertainment was Jug's slide show of his trip to the Dolomites, Italy.