PNW glider organizations

[Alex Winbow]

    At Monday night's SGC General Meeting there was discussion about the need and opportunity to revitalize SGC's role as the "club of clubs" for soaring in the Pacific Northwest.

    One small piece of that puzzle, it seems to me, is simply knowing who are the various centers of soaring within our region. Over the years at SGC events I've had the pleasure of making friendships from a number of clubs, but I'm still surprisingly in the dark about who all is out there. I expect that leadership within our clubs who haven't been to many SGC XC events are probably even more in the dark. The SGC website has some hints under Information --> Reference, but even that looks quite out-of-date (some of the organizations seem like they may no longer exist at all). It also gives little idea of the scale of the operation, or the critical resources we all struggle to keep going financially: towplanes.

    Maybe I can make a small contribution to our common understanding by compiling updated information. I started the table below based on some bits and pieces I've learned over the years.

    Could folks from each of the clubs below, or any clubs not listed, drop me a note offline and help me fill in the gaps?

    BTW, there also there was discussion in the meeting about the idea of asking each club to name a formal representative to SGC. It might be useful to create a mailing list (Google Group?) with at least one member from each PNW club's executive Board or leadership, or an email alias if available (e.g. "president@[gliderclub].org"). Let me know if you'd like to be that rep?

                    Thanks,

                    -Alex

Club name (short name) --> web page	Home field	Where is that?	Operating months	Towplanes: model(tail)	# of Club-owned gliders	Notable annual cross-country soaring events (typical timing)	Remarks
Seattle Glider Council (SGC)	Ephrata, WA (KEPH)	3 hours east of Seattle	May - Sept	Pawnee (), C182 ()	0	The DustUp (Memorial Day weekend), Methow Valley encampment (mid-June), Region 8 Contest (late-June)	Club-of-clubs -- the coordinating body for PNW soaring
Willamette Valley Soaring Club (WVSC)	North Plains, OR (1OR4)	West side of Portland	April - October	Pawnee (82Z), AgWagon (37G)	8	Alvord Desert encampment (ground launch via auto-tow) (mid-July)
Evergreen	Arlington, WA ()	vaguely Seattle?		Pawnee (), ?		Ephrata encampment (early June)
Puget Sound Soaring Association (PSSA)	Enumclaw, WA ()	even-more-vaguely Seattle?		SuperCub ()
Hood River Soaring (HRS)	Hood River, OR (4S2)	1 hour east of Portland	Year-round	Pawnee (7Z), Pawnee (7L)
Cascade Soaring Society ()
Columbia Basin Soaring Association ()
Grand Teton Soaring Club ()
High Desert Soaring Club ()	Bend, OR (KBDN)	Central Oregon
Spokane Soaring Society ()
Silver Star Soaring Association ()
Independence Glider Club ()		1 hour south of Portland
Brad's winching operation				Winch

[Roy Clark]

https://www.cascadesoaringsociety.com/

 

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[LBC]

Alex- for Evergreen’s entry - 

EVERGREEN SOARING CLUB

evergreensoaring.info

Arlington, WA (KAWO)

One hour north of Seattle. +/-

Year round operations 

2 Pawnee tow planes, N4430Y and N4333Y

5 club owned gliders

Encampment note is correct, also the SGC Methow encampment is supported

Remarks - weekend operations are scheduled, other flying by arrangement with CFIG’s and/or towpilots

[Brad Pattison]

Alex,

Here is our info as you had requested:

Puget Sound Soaring Association

Bergseth Field, WN76, exclusive use for gliders and guests

Enumclaw, WA

March through October

Piper Supercub 160hp

3 club owned gliders. L23, PW5, PW6

8 PSSA member owned private gliders

No annual XC events except participation in Methow event w/PW6 & tow plane

Web site:  pugetsoundsoaring.org

Sponsor and staff a booth and glider display each year at NW Aviation Trade Show in Puyallup

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Brad Pattison

Gig Harbor, WA

c: 253-686-1415

[Chris Klix]

Don’t forget our friends to the North in Canada, many of whom come to Ephrata on a regular basis.

Chris

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