​For 2019 Site & Gate access: Join or Renew SDHGPA Membership if you have not already done so for the 2019 calendar year.

• Site Gate Codes are only provided to Annual Members after Membership Verification and may take several weeks to process. If you desire immediate site gate access, Please Fly with current local active Annual Member Pilots for site access and site briefings. ​Visiting pilots can only gain gate access with a Full Member guide present.
• Annual Members will receive a separate email after verification on how to access the Member Only section of the website and receive current gate codes. ​

Plus you get all the other great SDHGPA membership benefits:

• Site & gate access to the following sites:
  • Palomar
  • Laguna
  • Big Black
  • Little Black
  • Horse
• Site Guide & News Updates
• SDHGPA Weather Stations with accurate current conditions at your favorite sites (more being added each year)
• Quarterly Fly-ins

• Great Meeting Topics & clinics throughout the year

• Access to the Member Only section of the Website
  • Local Pilot Roster & Contact Directory
  • XC maps & way point files
  • Master SDHGPA Google Earth Site Guide file
  • Meeting notes & presentation materials
  • Membership Card & Parking Pass re-printing
• Helping to protect The Sites & Landowners by carrying Site Landowners as Additional Insured to the USHPA policies for the following sites: Palomar, Laguna, Big Black, Little Black, Horse, Blossom.
• Site Maintenance for all of the above sites (depending on permissions negotiated) that includes Windsocks, Outhouses at Palomar Launch & LZ, Mowing, & other launch & LZ surface maintenance from erosion & other.

You can check Current Membership Status under the Membership menu.

​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.  ​

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.

​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.

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

​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

​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

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

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: 

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

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

​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.

Data from the Laguna station is live and is working well

About the SDHGPA Laguna Weather Station

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 

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.

​

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. 

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

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

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.