General Members Meeting

The July meeting was called to order by President Jeff Wishnie. Additional officers present were Co-Activity Directors Chip Sheppard and Rich Leggett, Co-Safety Directors Ann Sasaki and Wally Anderson and Secretary; Pete Norlander. A total of 26 members and guests were present. The meeting was held at the Round Table Pizza on Gellert Blvd in South San Francisco.

New Members/Visitors

Four new members and six guests joined us for the evening. The four new BAPA members were Tim Serranni, Alex Kerkoff, Mitch Dougherty and Chris Hilliard. Tim is a pilot from Minnesota. He did mostly tow flying in his previous home state. Mitch has done some flying in New Zealand. Chris goes back to the early days of paragliding having learned to fly 1991. Our six guests for the evening were Tim Matson, Dave Royer, Ryan Brownlow, Patrick Aiken, Bodi Aiken and Shawn Foley. All 6 are experienced sky divers with over 1,000 jumps each. They recently began ground based launching at The Dump / Mussel Rock area. They responded to an invitation by Jeff Wishnie to join us at a BAPA meeting to share aspects of their sport and discuss how members of their community and the paragliding community can coexist in a safe and friendly manner.

Officers’ Report

Ann Sasaki announced that informal permission has been received by an engineer for the city of Daly City to post a sign at the Mussel Rock flying area. The sign will be aimed primarily at new and visiting pilots notifying them of safety issues and potential hazards that may exist. Ann talked about an incident at a recent fly in at Lakeview, Oregon in which a reserve was thrown. It served as a reminder of the importance of maintaining situational awareness and adequate space both horizontally and vertically while flying.

Wally Anderson noted an incident at Ed Levin in which a pilot launched before sticks in his lines were cleared. He flew over the back side of the 300’ launch into the Eucalyptus trees. Emergency personnel were called to the scene. The extent of injuries, if any, were not determined at the time of the meeting. Wally said he would report additional information later after he had learned more.

Rich Leggett reviewed the upcoming club calendar of events. A fly in at Potato Hill / St. Johns is scheduled for the weekend of July 22, 23, and 24. An XC Social League Competition will be held for the weekend of August 13, 14. Greg Gamma will be holding a First Responder First Aid Clinic on Saturday, August 20. A ‘Community Day’ at Mussel Rock is planned for the last weekend in August, Saturday the 27 and Sunday 28. The non flying public from the neighborhoods near Mussel Rock will be invited. The goal is to be good neighbors and develop a rapport with those that live adjacent to and in the area surrounding our flying area. Saturday will include a Demo Days in which various vendors, schools and instructors will be on hand for paraglider pilots. Sunday will be an open house aimed at the neighbors. Tandem flights will be offered at a reduced price. The proceeds will be donated to local community groups.

Raquel Lopes mailed in a Treasurer’s Report. The club account has $4,200.00. Current membership is 137.

Old Business

Minutes From Past Meeting - A motion was made to approve the June Minutes as published in the Ridge Dancer. The motion was carried and approved.

Ann Sasaki reported that a new LZ at Dunlap has been established. After it being on again, off again, Dunlap is once again open for flying. The new LZ is uneven and has some trees but is larger than the previous LZ.

Old Business

A motion was made to allocate $150.00 for a new sign at launch at Mussel Rock. The motion was approved.

A new city park for Pacifica has been approved. It will be located on the bluff across the street from the Post Office. A proposal was made to ask the city for permission to use it as a launch site.

Following the paragliding meeting, there was a discussion about ground launching at the Dump. The six ground launchers who attended the meeting talked about the equipment they use, the skills, speed, maneuvers and methods of control required for ground based launching. Following adjournment of the meeting Rich Leggett showed a video on a paragliding maneuvers clinic. Tim Matheson, one of the ground based launchers showed a video on BASE jumping (buildings, antennae, structures, and earth.) A thank you to our 6 quests for sharing with us details of their sport.