What we know as of today/ the above post date. . .

Some SD Sites are back OPEN but Some have closed again due to Fire Hazards.
​
Flying Site Status with all of the COVID-19 and Fire Closures. We will try to update this list as we receive updates, but no guarantees and always check the referencing links.

Note that the Cleveland National Forest and all National forests in California are closed due to high Fire Hazard conditions as of Sept 9th. Flying XC from many sites that may still be open could put you over closed access terrain.
​
If you have or know of any updates, please let us know and we will update this list.

Some Sites are listed as OPEN; However, the County stay-at-home and social distancing orders except for essential needs are still in effect. ​Also the status of these sites may change to to Fire Hazards. Keep an eye on Sky-vector for TFRs & the Cal Fire maps this time of year. Also, flying XC from many sites will put you over CNF closed access terrain.

​Sites we know are open (if following City & County mandates):

• Palomar -OPEN watch out for new well pipe in near the road in the LZ & other Hazards, look for new parking lot area, walk Palomar before you fly the site.: via Bill H: well pipe, about a 1’ in diameter and 4’ high in / near original Approach path. The Ranch is requesting that we land to the NW side of the building where HG typically land. 
• Laguna (Lower Cliff Launch): Open (only if flying the HG Cliff Launch and Kwaaymii Point road is open to traffic. ) (Kwaaymii Point road is BLM, but may be gated or restricted by S1 access thorough CNF & ABSP)
• Little Black - Black Mountain Open Space  : OPEN
• Blossom - keep it Chill & Keep an eye on Fire TFR and other possible fire related air support ops pulling water out of the local reservoirs. If the water drop spotters see HG, PG, RCs, or drones in the air, they will flag off air drop water support aircraft operations and may impact fire fighting efforts. 
• Otay is probably open
• Torrey Pines Glider Port: OPEN - Check in with the TPGP office for TPGP status updates.

Status of SD City Parks/ Flying & Kitting Locations: as of 4-20-2020
Be sure to check the PDF List at the Above link as some of this may change. Note that larger/ higher use areas and trails remain closed. The following areas are open or closed for Passive Use only (walking, jogging, or hiking​). We have no formal interpretation if this included passive Free Flight)

• Black Mountain Open Space (Little Black) : OPEN
• Torrey Pines City Park, Shoreline Parks (also known as Glider Port): as a Park is OPEN, including pilots
• Black Mountain Ranch Community Park (Ball Fields / Kitting Location): OPEN
• Hilltop Community Park (Kitting Location): OPEN
• Hilltop Recreation Center: CLOSED
• Kate O. Sessions Neighborhood Park (Kitting Location if south): OPEN
• Mission Bay Park (Kitting Locations):  Tecolote Shores and Most locations:  OPEN

2. Blossom Ownership Change:  Much Ado About Nothing.
Nik thought Blossom had been sold, but it turned out that only a small chunk of the property on the south side of Quail Canyon road had been sold.  ​

3. Dusting off the idea of Adding in Waypoint buoy races for our sites: 
Examples:

• -Point Rat Series in UT: http://www.uhgpga.org/event/point-rat-series/
• -http://freeflightcomp.appspot.com/comps/pointratseries2020/ 
• -Other series using the same SW: http://freeflightcomp.appspot.com/

1. -Santa Barbara Free Flight Hoe Down
2. -CSS Cross Country Rodeo (Just starting but they need to reformat/ scale back to comply with the guidance along with submitting Risk Management and other)

Butch suggested we hold a "Rookie meet".  Experienced pilots are paired with rookies, the mission is to get your rookie to a specific goal.  This got lots of thumbs up!

Actions:

1. Need some members to volunteer to organize & run the activity
2. Lay out the Comp and select scoring platform
3. Waypoints for each site, keeping in mind safety factors for intended pilot base
4. Risk Management for the Waypoint Comp activity
5. Update the Site Risk Management Documents in the RRRG system with a Change request. 
6. If we did things right, it could be accepted, could be included as a normal day of flying activities. (better and more flexibility)
7. If activity gets pushed out of a normal day of flying, would need to apply for ACE coverage for the activity. (like the NorCal XC League)

4. Weather Forecasting
a. Bill’s forecasting and recent forecasting updates have been awesome, thanks Bill!
b. Some great videos on the subject added to the SDHGPA YouTube playlist
i. Lisa Verzella Explains XC Skies (NOAA Pilot) on Cloudbase Mayhem / Gavin's
ii. Top 10 Wind Forecast Models
iii. SD Weather Overview, V1

5. Site guide updates (SDHGPA Site Guides)
-syncing data with USHPA/RRRG data
-goal is to produce a template for any club to use
-site guide for Blossom will be the first one
-raw video has been shot and is being edited and worked on
Bill Helliwell recommends we submit that video for a “best USHPA video” award

6. Blossom Safety and Landowner relations at the Base of El Cap
a. landing north of the power lines on El Cap, where to navigate to and where to hit the road

7. July Meeting: Q&A with USHPA Executive Director Martin Palmaz July 16 2020

8. Nik's advice:  Keep the banter a little friendlier.  My personal guidance on this: aim for fun, joy, and building things up.  Stay away from controversial non-flying issues.  BUILD the community wherever we can.


Next club meeting suggested topics:

• -USHPA Exec Director Martin Palmaz Q & A
• ​-how to use websites to understand weather and how to use all the latest gear.  
• -Butch asked for help using all the sites and geeking out on his gear.  Maybe hook him up with Connor?
• -Brad updated property knowledge on Blossom.  We’re safe for now.

Chat Text:
19:38:49 From  Jeff Brown : http://www.tasma.org/repeaters/2m-repeaters/
19:38:56 From  Jeff Brown : http://www.tasma.org/TASMA-2m-Band-Plan.pdf
19:42:17 From  Jeff Brown : Maybe try 145.525 or 145.600
20:00:48 From  tom zylak : Blossom sign-in book, with a space for USHPA#?
20:01:36 From  Nik H : Interesting idea Tom.
20:06:18 From  Nik H : Love the Rookie Meet idea.
20:07:32 From  Scott Larson : as a rookie, that sounds very cool!
20:16:25 From  Jason Virskus : There's a free app called Drone Deploy that you can use for creating 3D models also. Very cool
20:16:57 From  Jason Virskus : https://www.dronedeploy.com/



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Notes taken:

Elsinore Site Guide, Bill Soderquist
-About a dozen locals fly it
-Been landing over by O’Hara’s (terrible place to land if it starts to blow down)
-Mostly top land in cleared areas (via chop and controlled burns)
-The bank may own it, caretaker usually is the only one to come out and interact.

Sites we know are open:

• Palomar - watch out for drilling rigs, look for new parking lot area, walk Palomar before you fly the site.: via Bill H: well pipe, about a 1’ in diameter and 4’ high, requesting that we land to the NW side of the building where HG typically land.  Need to update site guide regarding LZs
• Blossom  - keep it Chill
• Laguna is open if flying the Cliff Launch, but we do not have an Active permit for the State Park and the Upper Launch being in the State Park is technically Closed due to COVID-19 .  The ABSP haven’t cashed the check paying for our permit. The Earthquake Valley LZ is also closed (being in the State Park. All entrances to Anza-Borrego (Earthquake Valley) have been fenced off with tape.  Nothing has been put on our gate at the upper launch.  Rangers unlikely to be cool about us going to the upper launch.
• Otay is probably open

Site that we know are Closed:

• Horse closed
• Little Black closed die to being in a City Park
• Big Black closed

In San Diego, the situation for impacted hospitals and service workers is just starting to ramp up and we can expect hospitals to be triaging similar to what was experienced in Colorado this past weekend.

There was an incident in Colorado this past weekend where a snowboarder ended up with a broken clavicle (collarbone) and at the ER, he was turned away from treatment at triage with the explanation that collarbone surgery is elective. They were an impacted hospital and not doing any elective procedures . . . that are not life-threatening. At Tiger (WA Site), there were also two separate incidents requiring ER and hospitalization in an impacted area this past week. 

Hoping we get through this and back in the air without complex social health concerns.

Regards and Safe Flights!

Steve Rohrbaugh  (SDHGPA President) and the SDHGPA Board

Horse Road Rain and Fire Closures:
The road up to the launch at Horse Canyon, Sheephead Mountain Road  (15S18), may closed before and after periods of heavy rain or severe fire danger. If that is the case, the gate just past the postage stamp lz will be locked.

The reason if and when the Gate is locked for rain, is that the road is wet and they don't want vehicles tearing up the road. The plan is typically that closures would be for just a few days until the dirt dries out a bit. With periods of heavy or extended rain this it will likely be a few more days. 

Border Patrol activity during an active pursuit might other reason that the Gate could be locked. In this case, closure would be for a very short term and not show up in the following tables.

The road to Horse is the Sheephead Mountain Road  (15S18).
When the road is open it will not appear on the table. I have been told that the table is updated right away whenever there is change to a road status. So you can check each morning to see if a road is closed or not.

Big Black Road Rain and Fire Closures:
Also on the table is the Black Mountain Road (11S04), the road we use to get to Big Black. Road closure due to wet ground is rare at Horse, and more common at Big Black. A few years ago when there was an unusually wet winter the road to Big Black was periodically closed throughout the rainy season. It was closed just after a rain when it was wet and the wind was West. Then it would be open for a few days when a Santa Ana wind dried things out. Such is life.

This past Sunday (January 12th, 2020) we got the year off to a fine start with another Holfuy weather station installation, this time at Little Black.  After about a year and half of working with the park rangers there (well done Jeff Brown!) we agreed on a spot, set up a date, and rallied the troops.

So you found the SDHGPA weather station on El Cajon mountain, eh?  Maybe you hiked out there and saw the QR code link on the mast*.  Maybe you heard about it from a fellow paraglider or hang glider pilot.  Perhaps you’re a supporter of the San Diego River Park Foundation, or a biologist over at the US Forest Service.  However you found it, there’s a pretty rad story behind how it got there, who the players were, and just how much collaborated effort and expense we went to in order to plant that mast and gather weather data.

Like any good story, this one starts in a few different places.

Here are Nik's notes: