september meeting minutes
l.dan...@comcast.net
September 2017 Meeting Minutes
1) The meeting began with introductions. New faces included Benedict (from Australia and has been a pilot for 7 years), Tim (saw pilots flying at Tiger mountain and decided that he wanted to fly). Ian (who is hopefully off the injured list and ready to fly again), John (Brad and Maren’s “baby bird”), Himanshu (also training with discover … and my deepest apologies for what is most likely a misspelling), and Mariah (also training with discover paragliding).
2) Upcoming fly-ins: Baldy Butte (on September 22&23) and the Can Am fly-in (same dates I believe). The Baldy Butte fly-in has better xc potential and the CanAm has nice views of Mount Baker and free camping in a family friendly environment.
3) David Le and Mark Sanzone have been nominated for USHPA Commendation awards … and in my humble opinion very worthy of the awards! http://old.ushpa.aero/emailaward.asp is the link to nominate someone and it would help get Mark and David some well deserved recognition if we send in more nominations for them.
4) We voted to spend up to $300 for a fire extinguisher, 1st aid kit, shovel, 5 gallon bucket and any other deemed necessities for our new Cliffside storage unit! The motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously. There is also a weather station in progress the will be used at Cliffside.
5) John Sargent motioned that money intended to pay for Spaghetti feed expenses should be donated directly to the Ruch School. The Starthistle fly-in was cancelled due to smoke so we were not able to put on a spaghetti feed of which proceeds would have benefitted the school. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
6) Sarge has put in many years of hard work into organizing the spaghetti feed and would like someone to take over … Thank you Sarge for all of your work in that endeavor. I recall some people who just arrived or were not able to attend being volunteered. I will let you know if you were put in charge next year ;) Seriously if anyone wants to step up then let Dirk or myself know sometime before next summer.
7) Oceanside turf issues came up again! For those not aware this has been a reoccurring subject with lots of ideas thrown around during the past 3 ½ years. Some of these ideas have been tried with partial success. Currently we have several (3 I think?) pieces of turf on launch with the west end as well as part of the south end attached to railroad ties. Dirk suggested using one piece of turf, Dave B suggested using peat gravel without turf and Jeff W suggested using some lighter turf that is used in the Alps (forgot the name). The lighter turf was designed to allow wind to blow through it. It was also mentioned that Oceanside winds get much stronger wind than most other launches in the country and possibly the world. Whatever the solution, the unattached portion of turf gets blown off of launch several times per year and can be difficult to put back without a bunch of people. Also the railroad ties are sticking up a bit more and can be a hazard.
8) There was a pretty significant injury to an out of state pilot at Cape Kiwanda. This pilot also had a water landing on the north side of Cape Meares several years ago. Just a reminder that the coast can be a dangerous place to fly if we are complacent regarding conditions and site hazards. A reoccurring theme this summer unfortunately has revolved around tragedies that resulted from poor decision making (this is not a judgment as many of us, including myself, have made poor decisions and “got away with it”).
9) Dirk talked a little about the spring refresher clinic that we are planning to have sometime as the spring flying season nears. We may have a warehouse to use for the clinic. The clinic could involve a reserve repack, tree rescue and many other things. Late January was suggested as a time to hold the clinic. Dave suggested using Stu’s kit which is for sale only for roughly $75. I cannot find the link, so if anyone knows if this is still available can you post a link to order this. It is a lightweight tree rescue/descending mechanism with 75+ feet of rope all attachments, tools & knots premade and ready to use, all nestled inside small bag.
10) Alan presented a wonderfully beautiful description of the School of Dreams in Malawi. As usual I have grown hesitant to provide all the details on these types of presentations because I don’t feel I can accurately capture the humanity, emotion and extraordinary stories through my interpretive verbal capabilities. Anyhow Alan had a number of flights out of the mountains in Malawi. Most of the presentation talked about the people, lifestyle and hospitality in this section of Malawi. I think we all felt like we were acquainted with the nice folks associated with the School of Dreams after the presentation was over. Here is a link to the School of Dreams: http://theschoolofdreams.org/ . They provide food and a place to stay for a small price if you want to fly out there.
11) Brad presented information on coastal weather. One day Brad and Maren performed a temperature reading while towing up and it went from 80F at sea level on the coast (very warm for the Oregon coast) to 86F 3,000 feet up. It is this deep inversion combined with the typical summer high pressure system that creates rotor at places like Cape Lookout. The summer coastal air is often warmer on shore than it is 10 miles out to sea. This also contributes to lighter winds on shore than what you may experience a little offshore. The prevailing NW winds along with the coriolis effect (spinning of the earth) bring cold water to the shore and push the top layer of water out to see as it is replaced by the colder water at the bottom. In summer the best chances of coastal soaring at places like CLO are when we get several days of SW winds followed by a change in direction.
Thank you Brad and Alan for your informative, entertaining and positive presentations!
The end!
…. Random mingling and chit-chatting ensues