SDHGPA Meeting Minutes, News & Articles Blog - San Diego Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association

Palomar Site Guide Update

11/8/2018

The Palomar Site Guide has been updated to highlight some Protocols that are being overlooked.

Specifically to: Check in with the Ranch Office Manager (Clarissa) Monday - Friday (& Saturday if ranch hands are present) and introduce your self.

Also, Please pack up before dark: SDHGPA access has been granted for Day Use only. Do not linger in the LZ past dark unless we have specific permission to do so for an event. If the security flood lights trigger on, that is the time to be heading out. (after dusk, head over to El Rey for post flight socializing)

October Update & 2018 in review

10/20/2018

San Diego Free Flyers, we’ve got a bunch to catch up on! 

Year in Review

It’s been a rad year of learning for me. I spent most of this last year flying Blossom with the intent to build my basic XC skills of thermal flying and mini-XC legs over to the Cap & back.

The good news is that Blossom is still as technical and and fun and challenging/dangerous as it ever was, the better news is that I’m still in one piece to be able to enjoy it thanks to a bit of luck and a lot of guidance from the local pilot community.

Article by Nik Hawks

I should probably start naming names: Bill Davis was the one who saw the opportunity to shove me into a thermal over at Little Black, and I’ll probably always remember his super simple and intensely shared advice over the radio: “Keep turning, ya knucklehead!”

As funny as it sounds, that’s really all you need to get started with thermalling, although that’s just the start of the invisible elevator game.

Chris Cote spent lots of time at Blossom with me going over what he looks for and how he understands the sky from the ground and from the riser-feel once he’s skyward. It’s always nice to get the perspective of someone who has put in a ton of time in a very short period (and who holds more than one of the local site records.)

Ivan Guajardo was also more patient than he needed to be when it came to talking through the first steps of Blossom and the crossing to El Capitan, and Mike Dowdall has been about the most generous and encouraging pilot I’ve met on launch.

Yes, Phil Russman was there barking his occasional gems of wisdom, Paton always drops the technical flying info-bombs, and before he got sucked into buying a house, Robert Michiels was a fairly constant wingman.

I got to enjoy the glory of a hike with Dave Metzgar and hear his gravelly version of what’s right and wrong in the world of paragliding, which is one of those experiences that just makes you want to hear more.

On a few car rides to club meetings or out to Horse with Josh Gelb I got an exceptional and interesting view into club history, including many lines that are rarely flown now and the genesis of the Palomar launch.

Blossom Update

Speaking of launches and sites, the big news right now (end of October) is the fight to keep Blossom free of the massive El Monte Valley Sand Mine project. If you’d like to help (and you bloody well should pitch in on this one), cruise over to the Google doc

https://docs.google.com/document/d/13U-JA09VjHxhQSNhghwpAge0b3XXZeCv2S2l5mBL4kg/edit?usp=sharing

Will you pitch in to help maintain this beauty?

This view may be forever changed if the proposed sand mine goes in, with impacts ranging from lowered visibility, Valley Fever exposure (no joke, I have several friends who got this NON-CURABLE disease), environmental damage, and up to 170 trucks per day on that tiny little road snaking through the middle of the valley.

Here's what you can do to help. Yes, it involves reading & writing. You can do this!

Hit the link above and send in a written statement to the listed contacts prior to the Oct 25th meeting and submit it to the county planning commission.

Sunset Gliding at Blossom may change forever

Rough project outline that will be part of the proposed sand mining operation in relation to Flying Blossom. Essentially the entire wash area will be the sand mine.

Proposed Project Map from the last EIR presentation

Why SDHGPA & Why it Maters

Finally, an exhortation to those of you who either haven’t renewed your membership yet OR who are new and wondering what a membership actually gets you.

One of the reasons San Diego is such an excellent and reliable place to fly is that we lean heavily on just a few people to do all the paperwork and admin “stuff” to keep our sites open.

Access to Horse, the permission to fly Palomar, the ability to put up weather stations, keeping sites maintained, the website itself, and keeping us an insured & recognized club in good standing with USPHA is frankly a huge PITA.

There are two ways to contribute, one is easy, one is hard.

The easy way is to take the money you’d spend on your sweetie for a cheap dinner once a year and pay your membership dues. That’s a one-time action that allows the 4 or 5 people who do 98% of the volunteer work that keeps San Diego such a great flying area to keep on slaving away on our behalf.

Oh, and if you find anything other than a cheap dinner in San Diego for under $40, let me know!

The hard way is to volunteer to actually do all that paperwork, and there is a TON!

While I’d encourage you to volunteer, it’s far easier and also pretty effective to just pay your dues. We’ve got about 100 pilots who haven’t renewed yet, which represents a good chunk of our yearly income as a club. If you fly any more than 3 times a year it’s basically a no-brainer to continue supporting.

Finally, if you’re new and thinking about joining SDHGPA, please do!

Most club members are happy to chat with you and share as much as we know, along with introducing you to potential flying buddies and mentors. You can eat $40 worth of tacos at any one of our fly-ins, so if you’re a hungry pilot, think of coming to multiple fly-ins as basically being paid to fly and eat.

At $40 per year for a full annual membership, this is about the most valuable spend you’ll make this year. Ping us with any questions, and see ya in the sky!

Cheers,
Nik Hawks

SDHGPA Meeting Minutes 10-18-18

10/18/2018

Dave’s Unabridged Meeting Notes: 10-18-18

Site Updates:

Little Black Weather Station: Jeff Brown - weather station for LB is in hand, next need to finalize location - suggest we put station on top or on cow hill. Ask Ranger Ed. Prefer top. Otherwise maybe in shrubbery near the top (between towers and switchback launch, etc). Somebody suggested better lower, on north side (ie cow hill) so it represents launch better.

Steve R and Jeff to give Dave coordinates to run by Ranger Ed for approval
See New WX Station post for more details

Blossom Site Update: Asking for everyone’s support to help counter the proposed sand mining project in the valley. Nik is leading the current efforts and has written a October Update post about what is needed to Help Counter the Sand Mining Project.

Event Planning:
10/27 Halloween fly in: Need help with stuff for fly-in
Bill has some stuff but needs pickups to transport - Joseph, Luke, etc...
Steve to put up sign up sheet – See Sign-up Genius link on Halloween Fly-in info page

USHPA Film Fest 2018 at UCSD 11/17? Or at Palomar with a fly in 11/17/18

Kim is working details to get co-sponsorship with a UCSD sports club to bring the costs down to a reasonable level.
Default / Back-up location will be Palomar
For more info see and follow the Film Festival Event page

A few days after the meeting, the Board determined that Palomar would be the best Event location from the proposed locations.

Other Club Business:
Memberships:
Dues the same for next year, approved by board unanimously

Lots of people not renewing but still flying:
Ask em to join if u see em. Best tactic in my experience - present it as an essentially voluntary and supportive action, of little cost - a way of protecting and maintaining our sites and doing right by your fellow pilots.

SDHGPA 2019 Elections
SDHGPA Board Nominations & appointed committee positions for 2019 will open at the next scheduled meeting in November. Please think about how you would like to be support your flying community in this next year. Elections will be in Dec - Jan via mail in ballots.

LiveTrack24 SDHGPA Group
Steve R- everybody should use LiveTrack24 and sign up for the SDHGPA tracking group, so we can find em. Any tacking device dealio from satellite Spot or Garmin inReach type to cell phone app can be linked and combined in LiveTrack24. Our Livetrack24 Group is a good way for us to merge all of the different tracking devices and methods into one location for our SDHGPA group to quickly and easy access pilot locations for retrieve or emergency purposes.

A good practice is to use both Satellite and phone app for tracking for redundancy and that the cell apps can fill in more data points between the 5 or 10 min satellite tracker data send intervals. (If using phone for tracking, it is a good idea to also use a back-up battery supply)

Bill D. - everybody that doesn’t have a dedicated SOS-sending satellite tracking dealio is basically committing suicide. But if they want to go with wimpy-ass LiveTrack, whatever. Maybe we’ll come find em, maybe not. And off we go into the abyss . . .

Topic Discussion: Weather Tools
Great talk by Chris Cote on weather-casting tools and how he uses them to crush the rest of us in XC-land. If you missed it, it’s your loss. Or gain - if you or I tried to fly in some of the crazy conditions he calls “awesome”, we would just be scared out of our minds and likely give up paragliding for golf.

Cheers,
Dave Metzgar

Laguna - San Felipe Valley Update

7/3/2018

If flying Laguna or XC North from Horse, should now carry a CDFW Lands Pass

Note: The entire San Felipe Valley, including the usual Banner Emergency landing areas, are now open year long but require a CDFW Lands Pass.

Most all of the San Felipe Valley comprises the “ San Felipe Valley Wildlife Area”, which is controlled by the California Department of Fish and Game. Some of the Area is closed to public entry all of the time. Areas previously closed in the summer months are now open year long but require a CDFW Lands Pass for public entry. Reference: www.wildlife.ca.gov/Lands/Places-to-Visit/San-Felipe-Valley-WA

Clearly there is an exception for the highways. But the Area is on both sides of the highways. If you land on BLM property at the San Felipe Hills you are not allowed to walk/ hike to the highway without a CDFW Lands Pass. The North end of the San Felipe Valley has some privately owned property. Some quite level and almost like a meadow. The North end is also where the Sheriff station is located. It is at the small gray triangle next to highway S2.

SAN FELIPE VALLEY WILDLIFE AREA

If you are forced or choose to land in the San Felipe Valley, you risk getting a ticket from the Sheriff, or Fish and Game Ranger if not carrying a CDFW Lands Pass.

San Felipe Valley CDFW Lands Pass Requirement

On lands pass properties, each visitor who is 16 years of age or older is required to carry a daily (1 day) or annual lands pass while on the property. Visitors who are carrying their own valid California hunting or fishing license are exempt from the requirement. School and organized youth groups (including accompanying adults), are also exempt.

Types of Passes

Daily (1-day) Lands Pass ($4.32 for 2018) Valid only for the day printed on the pass.
Annual Lands Pass ($25.10 for 2018) Valid for one calendar year. If you purchase an annual lands pass after the first of the year, it is valid for the remainder of that year.

Both daily and annual lands passes are valid for entry on any lands pass property.

How To Purchase

Online: Purchase and pass is mailed (takes about a week). Be sure to carry the temporary authorization / receipt until your pass arrives via US mail.
By phone: (800) 565-1458. Be sure to carry the temporary authorization number (TAN) provided to you by the sales associate.
In Person: Find a Sales Agent or a CDFW License Office

Laguna XC Route LZs in the San Felipe Valley:

Site Maps & Locations of All LZs is available in the Members Only Section Maps & Waypoints page.

Banner LZ - Emergency Bail-out (San Felipe Valley) (CDFW Lands Pass required)

Hazards: Unimproved desert bail-out – Old grazing fields better than many options. However cacti, yucca & other desert plants, & wash ruts – Can be thermic and need to watch for high winds out of Banner Pass. Need to pick best options on approach.
(CDFW Lands Pass required)
No motor vehicle access: foot access only from the paved roads

"Fish and Game" LZ - Emergency Bail-out (San Felipe Valley) (CDFW Lands Pass required)

Owner: State of California
Hazards: Unimproved desert bail-out – Better than many options. However cacti, yucca & other desert plants, boulders & wash ruts – Can be thermic and need to pick bests options on approach.
(CDFW Lands Pass required)
No motor vehicle access: foot access only from the paved roads

Be sure to read to full Laguna Site Guide for the latest most up to date information.

SDHGPA 2018 ELECTION, SURVEY RESULTS, & JAN MINUTES

1/20/2018

2018 Election Results

Election Ballots were sent out to the 2017 and 2018 Members as of Jan SDHGPA Full Member Voting Body Roster on Jan 2nd following the Nov meeting & Dec open nominations period. 32 Ballots were received by the Jan 15th response deadline. All non submitted ballots are determined to be abstentions.

The Following 2018 Voting (Board) positions were ratified by each receiving 100% of votes cast:

President: Steve Rohrbaugh
VP: Jeff Brown
Secretary: Dave M
Treasurer/Sites Director: Bill Helliwell
Safety Officer: Bill Davis
Co-Safety Officer: Philip Wessinger

Appointed Non-voting positions for 2018:

TPSC rep: Kim Mccoy
Black Mountain CAC: Dave Metzgar, Antonella Zampolli (Incumbents)
Website: Steve Rohrbaugh, Nik Hawks, Philip Wessinger, Christopher Smith
Social Committee: Angela Albota, Bill Davis, Christopher Smith, Heather DeCourcy, Josh Gelb
XC Competition: Bill Helliwell / Jeff Brown / Eric Kolberg

Survey Results

Thank you to all that responded to the Survey!

It helps to direct what we as Club Members want the Club to be and set some direction. If you have any comments, questions, or concerns about the SDHGPA & its direction, please let us know. by talking with one of the Bard Members or come to the meetings. If you offered to help or are willing to help, please reach out and we will try to get you involved. Help is always appreciated.

We will try to incorporate the higher requested meeting topics into this calendar year meetings

Willing to Help with:

Happy to geek out on website stuff a little more, cleaning up the email list & making the emails a little more user friendly. Happy to help with site maintenance, especially at Blossom where I fly the most.
Work party
Site improvement/cleanup and anything else that's needed.
I'm only around January and February and available most days. Call if I can help in anyway.
Producing club collateral or content
Tasks as they come up, site flag replacement and maintenance etc.
I've enjoyed doing site maintenance.
site maintenance
Site maintenance/opening, fly-in organization, web site design
Working on committees, event planning and other volunteer opportunities.

Comments:

Thank you!
It would be great to have site briefing videos available for members as a supplement to the online information.
I need to get myself more involved and will work on that.

SDHGPA General Meeting Notes 1/18/18

Quorum of Directors present

Site Brief - Bill Helliwell
Laguna - all new State Park folks, Bill talked to a temporary ranger about existing permit, sent to Heidi, got form letter on how to apply for a permit instead of info on existing permit, tried to clarify. We have heard nothing. Assuming permit is still valid. Chief Ranger position appears to be open.

SDHGPA Calendar & Upcoming Events:
Activities & Calendar was discussed and set for the Next 3 months:

SDHGPA New Year Fly-in & Awards @ Palomar - Saturday, February 3:

SDHGPA XC Clinic - The old Triple XC - Will be back in action this year

4-part Clinic Series with the final part being a Laguna intro Flying Day:

Feb 15th - Clinic Talk - XC Basics & Thermaling - How to start getting your feet wet.
Feb TBD - An Intro to XC Fly Day for P2+ & P3 at Palomar Will be scheduled at the Feb15th meeting.
March 15th - Clinic Talk - XC Advanced Skills & Convergence & Laguna Routes
April 7th - XC Fly Day and Intro Fly Day @ Laguna ***

Laguna Upper Launch

April 19: SDHGPA Club Meeting & BBQ Mixer - Topic: TBD

Spring Fly-in : Tentative Dates: May 5th or June 2nd

Other items in planning to be added soon:

HG – PG 1st Responder class in the planning stages (no date set)
LB Trail Work Party will be scheduled in the next few months.
Palomar Launch Work Party will be scheduled in the next few months.
4th WX station is slated to be installed at LB post proper approvals.

*** SDHGPA XC Clinic Fly Day @ Laguna - WX dependent Date.

The Laguna flying day will be a good intro to Laguna for P3+ pilots.
All P3 pilots wanting to fly must be signed up and pre-cleared to fly. Also, All Pilots wanting to fly must attend the prerequisite SDHGPA XC Clinic talks at the Feb and March Meetings.
P2 & new P3 pilots or others not feeling up to Laguna may Join the Clinic however will not be Flying on the Laguna Fly-day, but rather observing at the site and driving to learn the routes and logistics required. (Will still be a great and impressive learning experience.)

Other SDHGPA News & General Board Business Minutes:

Motions and Club Business discussions:

1. Annual Windsock Flag Replacements per usual plan and two Masts to be placed on order in the next few weeks for windsocks at Palomar, Little Black and Horse. (motion Passed)

2. Increase Temp Membership Dues to at least cover costs of Fly-ins and keep the no excuses low Annual Membership of $40. Proposed Membership structure: Week $10, Month $20, Annual $40. After review of other clubs in CA and surrounding states. SDHGPA remains one of the least expensive while including the most sites. (Motion Passed)
Dues adjustment discussion: We’re low for clubs with actively maintained sites. Maintained sites with outhouses, groomed launches, etc, are usually much more. Suggestions to have daily fees for visiting pilots floated, but detractors pointed out that daily fees are unlikely to be paid daily without site monitors to collect. Noted that primary purpose should be compliance rather than income, to decrease risk of uninsured accidents. Steve R proposed week should be $10, month $20, year $40.

Round-up of other Club Dues for comparison:

Crestline/ AJ (single site): $100 annual, $10 / day,
Symar/ Kagle (single site): $75 Annual, $40 month, $10 /Day,
Saboba (single site): $65 Annual
Santa Barbara: $30 Flat Annual but is also structured that all need to fly with a site guide/ instructors for + $/day (locals included even at the training hill for kitting there) and the club has very little overhead as they only carry insurance for the training hill.
Central Cal Dunlap/Tollhouse: $100 Y, $10 / Day
Bay Area PA: $30 Annual + $20-40 per site sticker (fly more sites, pay more and some sites have higher overhead costs)
Marina (one site): 30Y flat (little to no Maint) + need to pay a State Park fee to use the site. $195 annual pass
Rogue Valley HGPA: $60 Annual local, visiting pilot annual $30, visiting pilot 7-day $20
Arizona: $50 Annual, $25 M, $10 W, $5 D
Utah HGPA: $50 Annual, $25 week, $5 day

3. One additional WX station this year after Proper Approvals at Little Black. (Motion Passed)
Discussion Notes: Weather stations - 3 up and running. Blossom proposed as next target but iffy because we have no permission on appropriate sites. So, Little Black was selected as next target. Dave and Anto will ask Ed and CAC at next meeting if we can put one somewhere well off-trail and out of sight from the parking lot, etc. Maybe on the ridge below and slightly south of launch. Station for Little Black would be another Ultrasonic wind sensor like Palomar & Laguna. Initial cost would be about 1.3K including installation costs.

Ultrasonic WX Station at Palomar

4. Improve Palomar Launch surface to minimize line snags from exposed sharp rocks and weed snags. Motion was modified to put together a proposal looking at several alternatives from Heavy Erosion Control Matting typically used in Road Bed construction, Road Base Aggregate infill, Native GD infill. Anything installed will need to blend in with natural surroundings the majority of the year. (Motion Passed)

Discussion Notes: Palomar needs a DG fill on launch, to cover stubs and rocks. AstroTurf from worn football field was suggested (However, would need to be a natural color and blend in with the surroundings so recycled field turf wold likely not meet the pre approved criteria) Or Landscape Fabric (in beige/ light brown color) Or 3/4 in gravel. No carpet. All options have good examples of effective use at launches here or elsewhere, but must be acceptable to the tribe. In our Palomar Use Agreement , Artificial turf is pre-approved in concept, but would need to be in a “natural color.” James Goodpasture (Pala Tribe Program Manager that worked on the original launch improvement project) might have leftover DG or gravel from a nearby site. Steve R will call to check on cost and delivery options/cost. Seems like using a tribal source and DG/gravel rather than artificial material like AstroTurf, carpet, or landscape fabric would decrease potential rejection by the tribe? Note: Additional Improvement project proposals beyond Site Maintenance need to be cleared through the Tribal Council.

5. Laguna Site Intro as we have done in years past in conjunction with an XC clinic. (Motion Passed) and added to the Calendar

6. Approved Schools for SDHGPA sites will be given a certificate/ Vehicle ID / Parking Pass to indicate the sites they are allowed to launch or land at commercially as outlined in the SDHGPA School Requirement protocols. Includes any form of instruction for money or consideration. Observation of uncertified / non verified instruction (ie, instruction of groups of students, tandems for hire, and traveling guided groups) in the absence of displayed certificates should be communicated to SDHGPA and in turn USHPA RDs. This includes visiting instructor travel guide/ XC Clinic tours/ Comp & League events. Those tours and events need to provide event insurance to cover our Landowners for those activities. If They do not, they are not following site protocols and putting our sites at risk.

7. Chapter Renewal and related application & activities need to be completed by the end of Jan to assure no gap in coverage: Risk Management / Risk Assessment for club insurance renewal. New forms required to streamline USHPA processing. Bill and Phil are going to do it. Giant cut n paste adventure, with some new items to cover. Mar 1st Insurance renewal Date, but there is a potentially long processing time upstream and Chapters are proceed on a 1st in 1st out queue so trying to complete by end of January so that we do not have a laps in coverage.

2017 SDHGPA Annual Income & Expense Report:

In 2017 largest reoccurring expense increase and expense overall was adding in the 2nd Portable and maintaining the 2 at Palomar. This year we also invested in 3 weather stations that are non reoccurring cost. There are about $500-$600 outstanding expenses incurred in 2017 that not hit the books and will be rolled into 2018. As a result the Chapter ended out the year with a net negative cash flow of -$138.62. Reserves remain at ~ 12k approximately 12 months of annual operating budget and appropriate for a 501 (c) (7) non profit organization of our size.

SDHGPA Memberships Past 3 Years

2018 Budget: Expect 2018 to be similar with larger improvement projects slated (less being allocated to weather station expenses, and more for Palomar launch upgrade). Although, may need to do a fundraiser or apply for a Foundation for Free Flight grant to cover part of the Palomar project depending on project scope defined in the discovery process/ proposal.

Note that expenses and improvement projects at Palomar, Horse, Little Black, Laguna, and Big Black are scaled to balance the budget each year. Annual and Temporary Memberships overall have been declining over the past 3 years.

New Laguna WX Station

12/18/2017

The 3rd SDHGPA weather station of three planned for 2017 was installed at Laguna on 12-16-17 and is up and running!

A Big Thank You!, Goes out to efforts of those that braved the elements for the installation work over two days. When the station went Live, it was reporting 37 F with gusting winds to 17 mph. On the 16th, it started to snow in the Lagunas shortly after installation.

Expected Readings & Location: The Laguna station location was chosen to represent the general base wind at the Upper Launch and indicate West blow down and shear that would result when the Face may still be blowing up. This location will under report the vertical component of actual winds coming up the Face at the Cliff Launch and house thermal out in front of the Upper launch.

Laguna WX Station looking North to Granite Mountain

Data from the Laguna station is live and is working well

About the SDHGPA Laguna Weather Station

For this 3rd station, we chose the Ultrasonic wind sensor like at Palomar for less maintenance and more obscurity due to no moving parts. The rest of the system is similar to the Palomar and Horse stations that are also solar powered and send data over a cellular network connection. Data is then sent to the Holfuy Data hosting site and WEB based data visualization.

Data Sheet for the Palomar & Laguna LCJ CV7 Ultrasonic Wind Sensor
Data Sheet for the Horse Davis 6410 Anemometer Wind Sensor

The Weather Station data can be viewed in several ways:

On our SDHGPA Weather Station page under Whats Happening menu.
On the Laguna Site Guide Page
On Several Holfuy.com Station interface pages : SDHGPA Laguna Station Data Page, Map Page . . .
Using the Holfuy App that is available for iOS & Android

December 2017 Santa Ana Winds

12/15/2017

Both the Palomar and Horse Weather Stations withstood the strong sustained winds all week Dec 4th through the 9th. This is the 1st time the stations have displayed magenta, beyond red, wind speed shadings.

Palomar 5 day graph Dec 3rd - 8th (1hr Average with peak)

Here are some data snapshots from the Week. The above Palomar graph represents 1 hour average base wind with peak gust. You know the wind was strong from the reported 47.7 mph 1hr averaged base wind on the 7th at 10:30am.

The Palomar Station reported 50.8 mph Base Wind (15 min average) with gusts to 69.4 mph at 10:18 am on 12-7-17.

The Horse Station reported 39.7 mph Base Wind (15 min average) then gusts to 60.8 mph 15 min later at 8:26 am on 12-7-17.

Palomar max reported Base Wind 50.8 & Gusting to 69.4 (15 min Average) (1 day graph zoom on 12-7-17).

Horse max reported Base Wind 39.7 & Gusting to 60.8 (15 min Average) (1 day graph zoom on 12-7-17).

Note that some of the variation between the two stations is due to placement locations and less than ideal locations for reading NE winds due to being in the lee and rotor conditions. Although the sensors are different, the wind speeds were well within the operating specifications for the sensors.

Data Sheet for the Palomar LCJ CV7 Ultrasonic Wind Sensor
Data Sheet for the Horse Davis 6410 Anemometer Wind Sensor

New SDHGPA Horse Weather Station

10/18/2017

The 2nd SDHGPA weather station of three that we have have planned this year was installed today at Horse Launch and is up and running!

A big thank you to the efforts of Jeff Brown, David Whitehall, & Bob Barry for the Station installation!

They fortified the old windsock mast foundation out on the front cliff line in front of launch. Then tied in the weather station mast and grounding rods to protect the station from lightning strikes.

Data from the Palomar Launch station is live and is working well!

About the SDHGPA Horse Weather Station

For this 2nd station, we chose a more traditional Davis anemometer wind sensor to save on costs in that it is a bit hard to get to. The rest of the system is similar to the Palomar station. The Horse Station is also solar powered with an appropriately sized battery pack and sends data over a cellular network connection. Data is then sent to the Holfuy Data hosting site and WEB based data visualization.

Data Sheet for the Horse Davis 6410 Anemometer Wind Sensor
Data Sheet for the Palomar LCJ CV7 Ultrasonic Wind Sensor

The Weather Station data can be viewed in several ways:

On our SDHGPA Weather Station page under Whats Happening menu.
On the Horse Site Guide Page
On Several Holfuy.com Station interface pages : SDHGPA Horse Station Data Page, Map Page . . .
Using the Holfuy App that is available for iOS & Android

The next weather station to be installed this year is planed for a Laguna install mid November.

Palomar Safety Bulletin

10/14/2017

On multiple occasions with this past Sunday being the most recent, pilots flying into rotor and possible venturi locations have been observed. All should be reminded that Palomar is a complex mountain site and all should review the Soaring notes of the Palomar Site Guide and also Review the Flying Effective Faces article pulled from our XC clinic talks.

Palomar is a complex mountain site

Fly effective faces that are perpendicular to the prevailing wind conditions. Note that on light and variable wind pure thermal days, the effective faces can be constantly changing and influenced by thermal activity. i.e. If the prevailing winds are west, trying to ridge fly the big south face or into the canyons will not be productive and can be turbulent. See Article on Flying Effective Faces and scroll through Palomar examples for different wind directions. Also Note that winds and effective faces will shift to thermal activity and geographic location / topography influences.

Do not fly into the canyons at or below ridge-lines down wind/ in the lee of effective faces. Note that effective faces and thermaling / soaring envelopes (out of rotor zones) typically extend up at the same slope as the effective face.

Canyon crossings should be made only with enough altitude to be able to fly from spine to spine arriving at the next spine with altitude clearance or to an effective face clear of rotor zones.

Do not attempt to ridge soar deep in the canyons of Pauma / Lion Creek below 6K, there are no lading options and are known venturi locations.

Thermaling / soaring envelopes typically extend at Slope of Face (out of rotor zones)

Do not fly into the canyons at or below ridge-lines or cross deep below 6K

Palomar WX Station - Standing Strong

10/9/2017

Palomar Launch Wind values are reporting correctly again!!!

Thanks to the efforts of many, the Palomar WX station mast has been rebuilt out of metal and planted deeper.

Big thank you to Chris Cote, Bob Barry, and Jeff Brown for the primary pre work & coordination efforts along with all the crew that helped get the station back to standing tall!