December Meeting Minutes

Minutes from the Sonoma Wings meeting held on December 10, 1999. This was the Sonoma Wings Christmas party meeting. It was held at Ernieªs house for the third year in a row. (Thanks Ernie) This meeting featured kids. Many members brought their children along, which was a fun change.

Some of the 52 people at the party included John Blacet, Andy Jeanie and Sydney Long, Larry and Dianna Roberts, Jon James, Peter Humes, Albert Branson, Donna and Ashley Mathias, Chris Arai, Matt Jagelka, Charley Elaine Philip and April Warren, Ernie and Maya Camacho, Bob Stanley, Chris McKeon and Jenny, Roger Ellen and Keith Buttler and Robin, Duane and Sheila Taylor, Todd Robinson and Kelsey, Peter and Denise Lindquist, Rich and Danny Sauer, Kurt Kelsy Kimberly and Spencer Bainum, Leo Jones, Bob and Anne Storms, Scot Huber, Gunter and Frieda Lohrentz, Greg Sugg and Pam, Dan and Ronnie Tierney, Hank and Robin Roberts and John and Ariel DeAguiar. Undoubtedly I missed someone for which I apologize.

While we waited for the meeting proper to begin everyone had a great time partying. Once again Peter Humes brought a mouth watering smoked salmon. Peter also brought two kegs of homemade beer. He claimed that it was very healthy beer, made from all natural ingredients. My favorite of the two was the Cavedale Ale. Dan Tierney brought a homemade zinfandel, made from grapes grown in his back yard. Very nice!

Along with the libations there was tons of great food including a quiche made by our new prez, Albert. Rumor has it he even ate some. There were homemade dips and pies as well as other great desserts. Also we ate stew and ham and pizza and ravioli and so many other good homemade dishes that I canªt list them all here.

While the adults were eating and drinking the kids were having balloon fights and conducting interviews. The interviews were done on a video camera and might be viewed at the next meeting. They asked several pilots about their flying activities in 1999.

The adults had a video game to play with. Larry brought a hang gliding simulator game called Hangsim. Most pilots preferred to call it "Hangismâ", however. Must be a dogma thing.

Finally after much playing and parting the meeting was called to order at 9:05 by Jon James. Jon first thanked the club for electing Albert and then gave a brief state of the club address. He also thanked the club for its confidence in him during his tenure as president.

To summarize the state of the club, we have many new members for the year. The flying season started early in the year at Elk and continued well into the fall. Highlights of the year were getting the new St Helena LZ at the Barvarian Lion vineyard, the spring fly-in there, the Rose Parade, the July Owens trip, the tumble at Hull Mt, the King Mt meet, the Regionals, the Aero-tow clinic, the fall Owens trip, the St John fly-in, good weekend flying at Hull, flying at Slide and flying St John in December. We got Goat Rock and Vista Trail on the same use permit. The Forest Service is willing to do work at St John to improve the launch. They will get the bad boys to do the labor.

After the summary Jon turned the meeting over to the new president. Albertªs first official statement was to disavow any responsibility for past club citations. Then he went on to issue awards.

The Coffee Can was shared by Jon and Matt. Their longest flight from a local site was 54.5 miles from St John. After they split up the money by agonizingly reading off the names on the five dollar bills Matt recounted the day. They went straight up to cloudbase and headed north up the range. By the time they got to Paskenta they were at 10,000'. Clouds were forming ahead of them on route. They lost radio contact with Leo, who was driving for them. As the ridge dropped back into never never land they angled out into the valley. Jon reckons they could have flown further if they had stayed on the hills, but with no radios it would have been a long time before they were found. Leo chimed in to report that both pilots had lousy launches.

While waiting for Leo to find them Matt tried to take a nap but kept getting woke up by thermals tearing through the trees next to him. We all felt sooo sorry for him. Matt was awarded a cup for a 50 mile flight from a local flight. Nominations for the Best Flight Award were Matt and Jon for the afore mentioned flight, Leo for a 43 mile flight from St John to Arbuckle, in the Central Valley and Todd for two flights. One to his folks house from St Helena and the other for a flight in the Owens on Labor Day. The award went to Todd for a 103 mile flight to Janies from Walts Point. What made the flight so special was the fact that it was a hard day to make it. The wind was out of the east on the Whites and it was very hard to get miles after crossing the Owens Valley. Toward the end of the flight Todd radioed his driver that he would need a stretcher upon landing.

Next Albert handed out the Go-For-It Cup awards. Everyone who entered the competition received a very nice pint glass etched with a hang glider design. The top five placers had their ranking etched in as well. Taking home cups were John Blacet, Dick Girard, Vince Endert, Albert Branson, Ernie Camacho, Charley Warren, Bob Stanley, Scot Huber and Rich Sauer. Fifth place was Bill Vogel, fourth was Matt Jagelka with 276 miles. With 367 miles Leo Jones was third. Second was Jon James with 390 miles. Todd Robinson won the trophy with 403.8 miles for his ten best XC flights. The trophy is a beautiful wooden work of art from Lisa Tate. The Best Flight trophy is also a Lisa Tate creation. Todd said he is looking foreword to this years competition. It will be a real challenge to win the cup three years in a row. Todd also thanked the people who chased us all over thousands of miles of sometimes not very good roads.

There were many nominations for the Turkey Award including Chris McKeon for an out landing at Elk, Jon James for a lake landing at McClure, Leo Jones for selling his glider before having a replacement and Scot Huber for spending a night out after flying 15 miles XC from St John. The winner of the Turkey trophy was Arthur Meadows for landing upside-down in a tree on the backside of Elk Mt!

The club handed out a new award this year for the Most Improved Pilot. It is meant to be sort of a rookie of the year award. The winner was Vince Endert. Vince flew 35 miles on his one year anniversary of flying. Also mentioned for the award were Scot Huber and Chris McKeon.

The final award was the Outstanding club Service Award. Albert reminded us all that there were so many contributions by so many people. In the end the award was given to the most deserving Jon James. Jon stepped up to the plate at Walts Point and ordered a porta potty to satisfy the Forest Service requirement so they would issue a permit to open the launch. This good deed allowed not only us but pilots from all over the world to use the site when the site monitor and the USHGA and other clubs closer to the site had opportunities to fulfill the requirement. Thanks Jon!

Albert next reminded us to bring our radios to the February meeting to check them out. He then made a short speech and said that he is excited to have the opportunity to serve the club as president at this time in its history. The club has evolved from being a low key group to being recognized as a respected energetic group in the hang gliding community.

The new vice president, Ernie Camacho, said typically the VP in this club has no defined duties but he will help out as much as he can wherever he is needed.

As Flight Director Leo thanked everyone for flying safely throughout the year. He relayed many compliments for the web site. And asked that all criticism be taken as constructive.

At 10:07 Albert returned the spectacles he borrowed from Frieda Lohrentz. Not being able to see to read anymore he adjourned the meeting.

A raffle was held that raised $98 for the club. The partying resumed and people paid their dues for 2000.

The next meeting will be 1-17-2000 at 7:00pm at the Occidental Rd Round Table Pizza. --CW

November Meeting Minutes

First let me take this opportunity to remind everyone that the Christmas party is coming up December 10th at Ernie's house at 12320 Old Redwood Highway, Healdsburg at 7:00pm.

Attending the meeting were Peter Humes, Ernie Camacho, Larry Roberts, Andy Long, Charley Warren, Charlie Gutierrez, Kurt Bainum, Scot Huber, Gunter Lohrentz, Bob Storms, John DeAguiar, Duane Taylor, Denise and Peter Lindquist, Jeff Kembers, Albert Branson and Donna, Jon James, Fred Clement and Matt Jagelka.

The meeting was started at 8:06 by Jon James, our now lame duck president. First we heard from a newcomer named Jeff Kembers. He found Sonoma Wings on the web. He has recently moved from Vancouver to San Rafael. Jeff is a hang 3 and is looking for a glider. Suddenly there was a clamoring of pilots offering good deals. Jon promptly brought the meeting to order by questioning whether it was proper or not to sell gliders on club time.

Albert brought up the first business, that of radio usage. We need to be sure that when we have radios we use them and be sure we turn them on for the people driving our cars. This rose from an incident where a vehicle with a radio in it didn't respond and seemed late coming down the mountain. Albert went in search only to find them five minutes down the road with the radio off. We should leave them on until all people are accounted for. Also people should take the winter to work on their radio gear. Mics, antennas, and push to talk switches. Ernie and Albert volunteered to help people make antennas for their harnesses. Bring your radios to the February meeting and we'll have a check out meeting.

Next we got a report from the Halloween party. Many of the participants flew Elk on Saturday before the party. They reported breezy conditions and not much lift. Sonoma Wings pilot of way back Howard Osterland and his wife Irenna were in attendance. Ten people showed up to party and there was food and drinks for forty. Scot Huber was the only one to show up in a mask. There was lots of fun entertainment and a good time was had by all.

Jon got a letter from Peter Lawrence suggesting the latest strategy for Walts Point. He says to just show up and fly. Peter sent a letter to the Forest Service suggesting that we drop all regulations regarding hang gliding at Walts. Sounds good to me!

Pilots talked about submitting flying stories to the newsletter. I hope they do it.

Ernie is getting some of the pictures he needs for the web site but still needs pics from Elk. He also wants anything you can think of that you don't see on the site and good shots of Scott's dam (Lake Pillsbury). You can also send him your favorites and get your own spot on the page. Ernie asks that people inform him of any text errors as well.

We talked about flying Sonoma Mountain. There are precious few places to land. Grapes have been planted below.

Ernie has permission to launch at one spot on Black Mountain on Geysers Road. He is also advocating static line towing. Saying that it is the cheapest and easiest way to tow. Scot has the club winch in his boat and is looking for willing participants.

Jon says the rangers at St John Mt. are researching the permit thing. Jon gave them directions to the ramp.

People have flown St Helena recently. The LZ is still in order. We should stage vehicles out on the corner where we used to. We were reminded of the Christmas party coming up at Ernie's. He will post a map on the web. He said to come whenever you want that he is off work that day.

Finally we got down to the elections. There were some last minute nominations. Jon moved to re-elect Leo Jones, Flight Director, Duane Taylor, Treasurer and Charley Warren, Secretary since they were all uncontested offices. The motion carried.

For Vice President nominations were Steve Kessinger, Albert Branson, Todd Robinson, Matt Jagelka, Greg Sugg and Ernie Camacho. All present nominees were asked to speak on their own behalf. When asked why we should vote for him Ernie responded with, "Well basically I have no life". This charmed the membership and he was elected Vice President.

For President the nominations were Jon James, Leo Jones, Andy Long, Greg Sugg and Albert Branson. Once again the nominees were asked to speak. Albert's campaign speech for VP was so lofty and idealic that he was elected President.

The next meeting will be 12-10-1999 at 7:00 at Ernie's place at 12320 Old Redwood Hwy, Healdsburg. It's the Christmas party!!! Ernie's phone 707-433-1785 Below are directions to Ernie's; From the South: North 101 to Healdsburg. Take first Healdsburg exit: "Healdsburg, Old Redwood Hwy." Take left, going under freeway and head south on Old Redwood Hwy. After passing Foppiano Winery, you'll pass Limerick Lane on your left. Take the first left after Limerick Lane. You'll enter a private road. Take the first left, into my yard. The house is beyond the barn. >From the North: South 101 to Healdsburg. Take last Healdsburg exit, after crossing the river: "Old Redwood Hwy". Bear right and head south on Old Redwood Hwy. After passing Foppiano Winery, you'll pass Limerick Lane on your left. Take the first left after Limerick Lane. You'll enter a private road. Take the first left, into my yard. The house is beyond the barn. CW

October Meeting Minutes

There was quite a bit of talk about Fusions as people filed into the meeting room. Greg Sugg and myself recently purchased used ones and Leo was there to discuss his new one.

This was one of the lightest attendances's we've had for a couple years. There were only ten people at the meeting. They are Gunter Lorhentz, Ernie Camacho, Duane Taylor, Charley Warren, Kurt Bainum, Charlie Gutierrez, Rick Hovis, Jon James and Ron Leslie.

Leo informs us that he has a shipping tube at Mission Soaring that someone can pick up if they are going down there. It can belong to the club if anyone needs it. He also has a shipping box that fits a glider broken down to 12'.

Ernie circulated printouts of the great photo spreads, of Hull and St John, he has put together for the web page. Ernie wants more photos of other Sonoma Wings sites. Gather a bunch of 'em in an envelope and send 'em to him.

The meeting started early, at 7:42, once it became apparent that no one else was going to show up. First we met Rick Hovis. He is a paraglider pilot from Windsor. He has been flying for four years, mostly in Nevada and at Pacifica. Rick is rated P2. He has a brother flying in the Battle Mountain area, in Nevada. If anyone wants to fly in that area look him up. His name is John Hovis. Charlie Gutierrez is getting back into hang gliding after a 20-year hiatus. He is looking for training sites. Kurt Bainum was a Sonoma Wings member about fifteen years ago and has been in the Petaluma area most of the time since. He has been flying most of those years in between. He has become much more active this past year in flying thanks to a recent change in his marital status. Rob Leslie is a hang 3 who recently moved to the area from Arizona. Other than a recent launch and landing clinic at Milpitas he hasn't flown in a year. Rob has a Formula. That's four new pilots out of ten people at the meeting. Three of them found Sonoma Wings through the web site.

We need to have better attendance for the next meeting, as it is the election of officers meeting. We talked about the need to find and fly more local sites. Ernie has checked out a good launch north of Geyser Peak. We are also reminded that as far as we know we still have permission to fly Sonoma Mountain. The LZ situation is uncertain however. Be sure to scope out the landing possibilities before flying there. The flying scenario the last I knew was to call or leave a note on the landowners door. They catch flack from the neighbors when we are up there so they MUST be notified. The phone number I have is Maggie Roth 765-2024 or David Best 762-1605. Or leave a note on the door at 320 6th St, Petaluma. In the past these people were friendly to us as long as we let them know whenever we were on the property. I would talk to them before going up there to be sure the situation has not changed. It has been about five years since I have flown there.

We impressed the new members with nominations for the Turkey Award. If you haven't already, people with trophies need to return them to Jon for engraving for this year's awards. We recapped the nominations for the Best Flight Award as well as the nominations for club Officers. We also agreed to have a new award, starting this year, for the most improved pilot. Nominees for the new award are Vince Endert, Chris McKeon and Ernie Camacho.

Other nominees include the following:
Service Award Jon James for the Walts porta-potty, John Blacet for the web site
President Jon James, Leo Jones
Vice President: Steve Kessinger, Matt Jagelka
Secretary: Charley Warren
Treasurer: Duane Taylor
Flight Director: ???

Elections will be held at the next meeting. We need a large turnout to be sure our interests are well represented.

The club received an invitation from the Wings of Rogallo to participate in a circuit competition next summer. Details still need to be worked out. The plan would be for each of six clubs to hold one event.

Ernie has taken over the photo section of the Sonoma Wings web page. He will check with John Blacet regarding updates.

The next meeting will be 11-15-1999. This will be the Election of Officers meeting. Please make whatever arraignments necessary to attend. Leo is sure to have great raffle prizes for this one!

September Meeting Minutes

Attending the meeting were John Blacet, Charley Warren, Roy Massen, Duane Taylor, Steve Kessinger, Jon James, Steve Bickford, Ernie Camacho, Fred Clement, Matt Jagelka, Gunter Lohrentz, Leo Jones, Justin Miller and Karin Warnelius.

As pilots arrived we sold T-shirts, sold raffle tickets and helped Duane try to balance the books from the St John fly-in. Jon called the meeting to order early at 7:53.

First we heard from Roy Massen who is a paraglider pilot from Geyserville and Healdsburg. He has been learning to fly from Wally Anderson. Next we heard from Steve Kessinger who took vacation and came all the way from New York to attend the meeting. Steve also reported flying his Duck at Marina while he was in the area.

Steve Bickford reported that Oliver has flown Dillon Beach recently. He just showed up with his glider and asked if he could fly there and they said go ahead! Apparently he was there for several hours with a friend and flew until his friend broke the glider while learning. Nothing major.

We spent some time discussing the porta-potty expenses at Walts Point. The total cost was $579. The club has recovered some of the expenses from pilots at Walts and other clubs. The porta-potty has been removed for the year. Negotiations are underway with the Forest Service to remove the permit and site monitor requirements for next year.

There was a report on the St John meet. We actually didn't loose money on the meet this year, a first. We got an update on the Walter Bliss situation. So far we still have not been issued the citation for "illegally damaging trees with malice". Leo and Jon have been in touch with a lady from the Forest Service named Janet Flanagan. She is the person in charge of permits. She said the Forest Service would build us a ramp to our specs. There may or may not be a fee if we do need a permit for the ramp. Jon and Leo will keep working with Janet. Recreation in the National Forests is a good thing in their minds. The Forest Service bottom line is that they don't like people doing things in the forests without their permission.

Elections of club officers are coming up at the November meeting. Nominations are now open. Nominations taken at the meeting included the following; Prez - Jon James, Leo Jones; VP - Steve Kessinger, Matt Jagelka; Secretary - Charley W; Treasurer - Duane Taylor; Flight Director -?

Pilots with trophies are reminded to bring them to the next meeting so that we have time to get them engraved before the Christmas party. Also bring nominations for the Best Flight award. Nominated so far are Vince, Todd, Leo and the Matt/Jon combination.

Ernie volunteered to do the club membership cards for the coming year. We talked about a handicap system for next years Go-for-It Cup. It was agreed to continue the discussion after the cup entrants were polled. It is understood that the standings probably wouldn't be any different, the results would just be closer. Once again we will have the Christmas party at Ernie's house. It will be Friday, December 10th. We are all invited to a costume party at Rich Sauer's house on November 6th, one week after Halloween. There will be flying costume parties at McClures and at Dunlap on Halloween weekend.

Steve Bickford reported that Hungry Joe would not be moving to our area as earlier rumored. Jim Inderbro is very interested in us having an aerotowing operation at Crazy Creek Soaring Center. There would probably have to be some kind of lease arrangement for it to work. Steve also gave us a report on the recent speed gliding contest at Ed Levin. #1 JB in a Stealth with the sprogs and washout struts removed. #2 was Chris Arai in a Fusion. #3 was Ken Brown in a Moyes Litespeed and Hawkeye.

Finally we had the raffle. Gunter won a Magic Air shirt, Ernie won a folding saw and Matt won a video. We made $28 for the club coffers. The next meeting will be 10-18-1999.

CW

August Meeting Minutes

While waiting for the meeting to come to order the following people talked about recent flying at Hull and St John and partook of pizza and drinks; Rob Leslie, Charley Warren, Duane and Sheila Taylor, Cliff Olling, Todd Robinson and Emily, Albert Branson and Donna, Brian Sharp, Peter and Denise Lindquist, Jon James, Steve Bickford, Scott Huber, Gunther Lohrentz, Matt Jagelka and Leo Jones.

The meeting was called to order promptly at 8:00. First off we heard from a new pilot named Rob Leslie. Rob is a hang 3 and has recently moved to the area from Tuscon Arizona. He has a Formula and is looking forward to flying our sites.

Next we heard a report from the club trip to the Owens in July. There were 13 Sonoma Wings pilots on the trip. There were two one-hundred mile flights. And a great time was had by all. There was quite a problem with the site monitor. It seems that he was less than responsible. Jon had to order a porta-potty for the launch as well as get site insurance. We committed $67 of Sonoma Wings money for the insurance and $600 to $800 for the porta-potty for the next year. The Forest Service Enforcment Officer is letting people fly Walts Point because Sonoma Wings, and Jon James, stepped up to satisfy the sanitation requirements. Jon is soliciting donations from other clubs to help cover the costs. Peter Lawerance is negotiating with the Forest Service to get the site monitor requirement lifted for next year. Sonoma Wings supports Peter's proposal to the Forest Service with the addition of some guidelines.

There are only three or four of the latest batch of Sonoma Wings T-shirts left. Leo has them.

There was a status report on the St John fly-in. Everything is ready to go. The west launch was improved with the trimming of some brush that was intruding into the launch area.

We got a report of more incidents at Hull. This time a pilot broke both! arms on landing, and another pilot flew into the lake within minutes of each other. Gunter updated the club on other news from Hull. He reports that there have been 14 air evacuations from Pillsbury this year so. Only one was a hang glider pilot. He also reports heavy traffic on the county road and no plans to repair the logging road. The pilot who broke both arms was Rod Duggan. He is doing as well as can be expected and is getting along OK on his own. He sent out an e-mail thanking all those who helped get his car and stuff home.

Steve Bickford donated two nice new sail tie straps for the monthly raffle. They were won by Denise Lindquist.

Suggestions were made for a club trip on Labor Day weekend. The Owens Valley was the favorite.

The next meeting will be 9-20-1999.

St John Fly Fest News

Thursday Scott burned up his motorcycle and melted the nose of his glider. Friday Ernie's Land Cruiser rolled over on Charley's CSX. The Funship 5 suffered. Saturday launch conditions were trying. Those who got off the mountain went straight up to 12,000'

We met Ranger Walter Bliss who informed us that he was instructed to tear down our ramp last fall. He said we would need to get a permit to keep it.

Sunday there was an escape from Fouts Springs Bad Boys camp and the Sherriff wouldn't let anyone into the area until they were all caught. Monday we were cited by the Forest Service for cutting trees without a permit. They refered to the work we did around the launches to make them safer.

There were prizes left over that will be raffled off at the next club meeting.

July Meeting Minutes

This was the most lightly attended meeting in about two years due to many members being in the Owens Valley.

At the meeting were Peter Humes, Brian Sharp, Bob Storms, Albert Branson and Donna, Peter and Denise Lindquist, Duane Taylor, Charley Warren and Gunter Lohrentz.

While waiting for people to arrive we viewed photos from Hull Mt and heard tales of the past weekends flying at Hull and St John. There was also a round of joke telling that can't be repeated here.

The meeting was officially called to order, at 8:00 pm, by the Secretary in the absence of the Prez and VP.

There was not much business to conduct with the lack of members. We heard that Leo has been gathering prizes for the St John fly-in and Charley has accepted the T-shirt duties.

Peter Humes has been flying Tam and reports that it has been soarable quite a bit lately. We talked about Hollywood's accident. The main lesson to be learned is that VNE can easily be exceeded on the new rigid wings and the wings cannot withstand the high G forces of an abrupt pullout.

Gunter gave us an update on issues affecting Hull Mt. An arsonist has been apprehended and is in custody for setting several fires around Pillsbury. It is a local from the basin. Gunter says the place is crawling with undercover cops. The Logging road had money allocated for repair and work was stopped because a spending limit imposed by congress was exceeded. The Forest Service is pushing for closure of Gravelly Valley airstrip. CRIMP is trying to stop it but it appears imminent sometime next year.

Someone named Mike is giving tandem trike flights from Petaluma airport. We talked about safety for a while. The lack of a launch and landing site is our biggest safety issue. We need to aggressively seek sites in Sonoma County. Pat Denevan's site in Hollister is said to be great but one must make arrangements with Pat to use it.

Brian Sharp was given the nickname "Cloud Potato" by Sheila Taylor for having a five and a half-hour flight at Hull. In the end it was math that caused Brian to land. He began figuring how long it would take to break down and drive home and it was getting quite late in the day. Way to go Cloud Potato.

Please make the following changes to the phone list. Albert has moved to 315 Lincoln Ave, Cotati 94931, abranson@bigplanet.com. Larry Robert's address was omitted, 929 Hudis St. Sorry Larry. Roger Butler's address should be Rd "B", not D. Scott Huber is a H3 and has HAM call sign KF6QBC. Please scribble these changes on your phone list.

CW

June Meeting Minutes

Attending the meeting were; John Blacet, John DeAgiuar, Bob and Anne Storms, Ernie Camacho, Andy Long, Duane Taylor, Peter and Denise Lindquist, Brian Sharp, Albert Branson and Donna, Todd Robinson, Brian Gray, Mike Greenlee, Charley Warren, Scott Huber, Leo Jones, Jon James, Gunter Lohrentz and Matt Jagelka.

As we waited for the meeting to start we watched videos of the recent aerotow clinic and bought raffle tickets. The raffle prizes included a foldable buck saw, a cold-pac water bottle and a booby prize.

The first order of business was to hear from the new people at the meeting. Brian Gray found us at the aerotow clinic. He is interested in learning to fly hang gliders and lives in Guerneville. Brian said he would like to drive for us sometime to see what mountain flying is all about. His number is 707-869-9210. Brian is also a triathelete. He competed in the Vineman event the day before the Sonoma Wings meeting and didn't look any worse for the wear.

Mike Greenlee was another new member at the meeting. He is a H3 pilot who recently moved to Petaluma from Sacramento. Mike learned to fly through the Berkeley Club and has a Klassic.

Two other new Sonoma Wings members who were not at the meeting are Dan Skadal and Wally Long, both of whom are H5 pilots. It sure is great to see the club flourishing with new members with such a broad range of experience.

Next we talked about upcoming events that have passed by the time of this writing. The Wings of Rogallo fly-in at Hull (didn't happen) and the King Mountain meet in Idaho. Todd, Ernie and Scott went to King. Weather conditions weren't too good. They called tasks into the wind which made for short flights.

We got a report on a recent incident at Hull. Our friend Cliff Olling broke his leg on landing at the regular LZ. Cliff set up his landing a little short and his leg struck a log as he flew through the rough before the ditch. The leg-snag action caused him to nose over and he struck his face on another log. The face wounds turned out to be superficial. Cliff drove to the hospital in Ukiah on the advice of a nurse who just happened to be there. He didn't think the leg was broken until it was x-rayed. Turns out he had to have it pinned just above the ankle and will be out of flying for some time. Lessons to be learned from this incident include, #1 Burn off your altitude upwind of the spot, not back in the slot. #2 fly with a radio so you can let people know your condition if unforeseen circumstances arise. #3 the Soda Creek Store phone number is 707-743-2148. They will relay messages to Gunter who can relay them to the flying community.

Turkey award nominations are mounting up this year. Aside from Cliff other nominees include, Jon James for landing in the lake at McClure, Brian Sharp for a blown launch at Hull in the Swift and Leo for selling his glider before having a replacement. The Aerotow clinic at Crazy Creek Soaring Center in Middletown was a big success. Thanks go out to Matt for getting it set up. Hungry Joe issued 17 aerotow ratings in 11 days. Six were Sonoma Wings members. The only incident came when a Cessna took off in front of Joe while he was on his base leg to land. He had to extent the leg and hooked the tow rope on one of the sailplane tow planes. The Pawnee sustained minor damage.

Joe expressed interest in coming back to the area whenever we wanted him to. He said if we could find him 20 acres of cheap land he would buy it and move up here.

The flying was good most days of the clinic. Pilots got up to 8000' and Jon James did a 15 mile out and return to Pope Valley. People are encouraged to send thank-you's to the Jim and Connie Inderbro, Crazy Creek owners. There was talk of an Aerotow XC event out of there in the early fall.

Submissions for our club competitions have been coming in steadily. The details can be viewed on the club website which has a new address. It is now www.sonomawings.com .Please update your links.

At the Regionals Sonoma Wings didn't do quite as well as the past few years. Larry Smith won the last day, however and Todd placed fairly high. They came home before the final results were tallied. They flew ahead of a convergence line each day to make goal. Most days it was best to launch early. Pilots were getting to around 11,500' then racing downwind to goal. Jon reported flying down the runway at 50mph while climbing at 300fpm, on Sunday. Many pilots had a hard time getting down upon reaching goal and reported seeing the convergence line sucking dirt off the ground as it passed under them.

There were 35 entrants, the most ever. The meet was won by a local named Tim Washik flying a LaMouette. There were over 110 launches and only a couple broken downtubes. The meet was reported to be major fun.

Plans are underway for the Owens trip. Many pilots will be there instead of at the next meeting. We will expect some good stories for the next newsletter, from the trip.

Walts Point is open! Mike King has agreed to be the Site Monitor for this season. Peter Lawrence has submitted a proposal to the Forest Service to do away with the Monitor for next year. We discussed coming up with our own proposal and submitting it as high as we can on the Forest Service ladder. There is a document called a "Forest Order" that deals with Walts Point that needs to be changed to accommodate changes to the Site Monitor system.

The St John fly-in planning is well underway. They will have had a couple meetings by now and will have a theme picked out.

People are reminded that Hank has offered to let us camp on his property below Red Spot as long as we contact him first.

Gunter reminded us all to move our gliders as far from the spot at Pillsbury as quickly as possible to give incoming pilots a chance to safely land there. He also reported the first fire of the season happened on Ericson Ridge just off Sanhedrin.

Finally the raffle was held. Scott won the collapsible saw, Bob won the water bottle and Sterling won the booby prize, a roll of clear sail tape.

The meeting was adjourned to more great videos which included my son Philip and I flying tandem, a grapefruit game at Leo's barbecue, more aerotowing and an inspirational video about a paraplegic girl who learned to hang glide.

CW

May Meeting Minutes

While waiting for the meeting to start members heard tales of flying at Elk Mt and of Brain Sharp flying his Swift at Hull. Several pilots were at Hull the previous weekend, the first weekend that launch was accessible, this year. There was still plenty of snow on it though. We also bought raffle tickets for an Atlas, a camera mount, a balsa glider hand made by Jon James and a booby prize donated by John Blacet.

New Sonoma Wings t-shirts were sold. They turned out great. Todd has 'em. Call him to order one.

Cliff informed us that he could generate a 3D graphic representation of people's flights if they send him data from a GPS or recording vario. Send him the data, he'll send you the map.

Attending the meeting were John Blacet, Albert Branson and Donna, Bob and Ann Storms, Andy Long, Duane Taylor, Charley Warren, Todd Robinson, Jon James, Cliff Oling, Brian Sharp, Guy Nicholas, Leo Jones, Ernie Camacho, Larry Roberts, Gunter Lorhentz, Scott Huber, Arthur Meadows, Emily Walker, Matt Jagelka, John DeAguiar and Laura and Chris McKeon.

Once the meeting was called to order we talked about upcoming events first. (the ones we discussed have taken place already now)

Gunter informed us of a cabin for sale at Pillsbury. Contact him for details.

We talked about the Cinco de Mayo fly-in. Thanks go out to Leo for kicking things off and Ernie for keeping the ball rolling and taking care of many of the arrangements. Financially the club came out even. We pulled the event off on very short notice. Leo sent a letter of thanks to Pierre Ehret, the property owner.

Next we talked about the Rose Parade. Once again this was a fun event for those who participated. Thanks to Matt for the use of his truck, Albert for making a club flag, John, Guy and Peter and Denise for walking, My daughter April for hanging in the glider and my son Philip for just hanging with us. We were able to use my Super Sport for the glider this year due to staging out in the open instead of back on the narrow street before the parade route. The truck and glider were decorated with banners and streamers and, of course, roses.

The subject of out landings at Elk came up next. One landowner complained that there have been three on his land recently. One PG and two HGs. Pilots need to be sure they are heading out before getting too low to make it out. Being so low that you have to climb to get to the LZ is unacceptable. It puts the pilot in a dangerous situation and jeopardizes the site. Be sure to tell all new pilots and pilots new to the site not to get low in the canyon on the north side of the mountain.

Rich Sauer has offered to have a Halloween party/fly-in at his place this year. We talked about doing it on November 6. Stay tuned for further developments. There is camping and floor space available.

The Aerotow Clinic at Crazy Creek was the next topic of discussion. It looks like many Sonoma wings members are going to attend. As of this writing we are right in the middle of the clinic. Having attended the first weekend I can report that aerotowing is a blast! The tows will improve your piloting skills and the Crazy Creek area is very thermally active. Watch for more reports in the next newsletter.

Todd reported that he has a south facing training hill at a winery at the south end of Lower Lake along the highway. We got a report that the two original planks on the St John ramp blew off during the winter. They have since been replaced and more dirt and rocks have been placed to keep them there.

A committee was formed for the St John fly-in. It consists of Leo, Jon, Todd, Scott, Matt and Charley.

There is still no site monitor for Walt's Point. As a club we can ask the USHGA to help find a solution. We talked about something like a fishing license that the Forest Service could enforce. People are urged to call and write USHGA, Regional Directors and Peter Lawrence. The raffle raised $26 for the club this month. The winners were 1. Guy Nicholas - Road Atlas, 2. Brian Sharp - camera mount, 3. Charley - balsa glider, 4. Jon James - booby prize that turned out to be a nice pocket knife.

Before the meeting was adjourned and we heard stories from the weekend including how Gunter saved the Swift by catching my glider out of the air when a dust devil rolled through the LZ by the airport windsock at Hull.

Brian said he is looking forward to flying the swift every weekend this summer.

Jon flew 24 miles from Elk to Spring Valley Store.

Roger Butler was nominated for the Turkey award for flying with one downtube 8" shorter than the other one! Scott received a similar nomination for landing at 4000' on High Glade.

John DeAguiar got his H2 from Wally. Congratulations John.

Arthur reported that he went to a launch and landing clinic with 8 other pilots most of who were reentering the sport. He found the clinic very useful. He also found it interesting that the pilots in the clinic were making the same mistakes that were being made at the nearby beginner training. --CW

April Meeting Minutes

This seemed to be the meeting of new faces. Even though some of the faces are people who are members that we just don't see often, there were some brand new Sonoma Wings members. Our sincere welcomes go out to you all. At the meeting were Thomas Payne, Todd Robinson, Emily Walker, Charley Warren, Sterling Calder, Albert Branson and Donna, Peter Humes, Leo Jones, Jon James, Duane Taylor, Gunter Lorhentz, Steve Bickford, Dave Casella, Myron Plichota, Wally Long, Dan Buchanan, Scott Huber, Ernie Camacho, Greg Sugg, John DeAguiar and Guy Nicholas.

That's 22 members for the meeting! Great job to all of the attendees. Once the meeting got started, we heard from the new members including Myron Plichota. This is Myron's story, in a nutshell:

"I was active in hang gliding from 1977 through 1991 and have since continued aviating in light planes (holder of Canadian Private Pilot License) and sailplanes (SOSA Gliding Club member in '96 & '97).

I never forgot my passion for flying nekked and always wanted to return to active status in hang gliding. I am not too proud to spend time at a training hill getting back in the saddle. Any recommendations? I have relocated to Healdsburg and brought my WW Sport down with me. Yours Thermally, Myron Plichota"

After the introductions we heard that the Elk Mt BAPA fly-in and the Owens Spring Fling were both pretty windy. In the Owens few people went very far and it was very cold. At Elk, more hang gliders than paragliders flew, due to the winds. We were reminded of the upcoming events. The Funston Air Races, The Coyote Howl, and the Starthistle Meet.

There was a call for volunteers for the Santa Rosa Rose Parade. There seems to enough support now. There was talk of the Regionals. Many pilots seem to be going. They are the weekend of 6-18~20-1999.

We agreed to have a Cinco De Mayo celebration with the farm workers at the new St Helena LZ. It will be 5-8.

The club trip to the Owens is still on for the week of July 17.

We were apprised of the changes to Bay Area airport terminal restrictions. The FAA is lowering altitude restrictions around TCAs effectively cutting off some XC routes. Especially around Mt Diablo and Mission Peak.

There was a rumor that the County Road into Lake Pillsbury will be open soon.

There are lots for sale at Pillsbury Ranch. 40 lots of one to four acres will be on auction in Rohnert Park on May 22. The minimum bid is $4000 an acre.

Roger Butler is looking into using Coyote Dam, at Lake Mendicino, for a training site. It has a southwest face that is reported to be dam high, about 200'.

We were informed that the aerotow clinic at Crazy Creek is on for sure. See item in this issue for details.
(See Events Section on the web site or your newsletter.)

Todd reports that new club T-shirts are now available. Call him. They are beautiful. They have the redtail head on the sleeve and the osprey logo on the front. They come in white, natural and ash. Large and Extra Large only.

We got a quick update on the Coffee Can and Go-for-it Cup competitions. 15 names are in the Coffee Can and the Go-for-it Cup has 12 entrants.

Dan Buchanan has a show upcoming at the Sonoma Co. Airport August 21 & 22. Dan is looking for support help for his shows. Please call him soon if you have time to help and want to see some great airshows.

March Meeting Minutes

Meeting attendance continues to be great. This meeting was above average by quite a bit with 22 pilots attending. Adding to the numbers were, John DeAgiuar, Charley Warren, Tom Payne, Duane Taylor, Andy Long, Bob Storms, Jon James, Fred Clement, Matt Jagelka, Greg Sugg, Larry Roberts, John Blacet, Leo Jones, Gunter Lohrentz, Scott Huber, Brian Sharp, Arthur Meadows, Todd Robinson, Denise Lindquist, Peter Lindquist, John Lord and Ernie Camacho.

When the meeting was called to order we were reminded of the Sierra Flyers upcoming fly-in at Tollhouse called the Coyote Howl. The BAPA is having a fly-in at Elk 3-27 & 28. Many Sonoma Wings pilots are planning to be there. The Funston Air Races are the weekend after the Elk fly-in. There is a $150 entry fee. There is also a spring fly-in in the Owens Valley the same weekend. Ernie will be going to the Owens weekend and was looking for riders and a driver. He will also be going to the Starthistle Meet, Memorial Day weekend and is looking for the same for that trip.

We made the date for the St John meet firm. It will be 8-21&22.

The Go-For-It Cup and the Coffee Can each have about seven entrants so far, more signed up at the meeting. At meeting time John Blacet was leading the Go-For-It and Todd was leading the Coffee Can.

Leo informed us that the permit is still not back for St Helena, but we should assume year-round access. (It has since come back and access is approved) We heard a lot of good news regarding St Helena. The LZ we have been using may not be planted for several weeks. We can land in another field just across the grapes to the west of this one as long as we talk to the Foreman first. His name is Martin and he lives in the second house on the property, which is accessed off of Franz Valley Road. There is also an LZ to the north, which is open until it is planted. There is a lander-friendly field just over the back of the mountain that's a good bailout LZ. It's just south of the casino.

Next we had the raffle that raised $25 for the club. Denise Lindquist drew the winners and who do you think the first name out of the hat was? Peter Lindquist. That's synergy. Peter won a book "Touching the Void". John Blacet won some new tie down straps and Greg Sugg won a space blanket.

Todd polled the membership for color preferences for new club t-shirts. Charcoal seems to be the favorite.

Andy gave the club a presentation on predicting thermal conditions using the RAOB program. The program is a free download from the SSA homepage. Soundings are posted from 4am and 4pm weather balloon readings. The presentation was quite good and the information seems pretty accurate and useful. We will be trying to get the program incorporated into the Sonoma Wings homepage, or get the soundings distributed to interested members some other way. Andy is in search of a source of forcasted high temps for Middletown. If anyone knows where to find them please let him know.

If you haven't paid dues for 1999 you will only get one more newsletter. The next meeting will be April 19 at 7:00pm at the Occidental Rd Round Table Pizza.

CW

February Meeting Minutes

This was the second meeting in a row to fall on a Holiday. This is a real plus for me, working swing shift. Not only do I save having to burn a vacation day for the meeting; I get paid for enjoying myself. When we arrived at Round Table, Leo was deploying his chute all over the restaurant. Watching Leo deploy were Steve Bickford, Larry Roberts, Andy Long, Charley Warren, Leo Jones, John Blacet, Sterling Calder, John D'Aguiar, Jon James, Albert Branson and Donna Matthias, Duane Taylor, Ernie Camacho, Guy Nicholas, Matt Jagelka, Peter Humes.

While we assembled we ogled the raffle prizes and bought tickets, at the rate of three for two dollars. I'm sure we more than doubled the take for the club over last meetings proceeds but I failed to record the figure. See Duane if you're curious. By 7:48 we had consumed enough pizza and beer to start the meeting. Jon began by reporting that Sonoma Wings members are invited to the BAPGA fly-in at Elk on March 27 & 28. There was quite a bit of interest from club members. Ed. everybody seems itchy to fly

Leo reported that St Helena is officially open on a year round basis. He is still working on access to the Campbell Ranch landing area, but the property Foreman is against it. The LZ we are using now will not last long. It is staked for planting grapes. Steve reports that the Napa Valley has been quickly filling in with grapes this winter and is now virtually full. Be advised to drive down it before considering a route over it. For now there are still places to land in the Pope Valley.

A few of the club members opened a new launch on St Helena over President's Day Weekend. We threw a few dying shrubs off to the sides and raked some rocks smooth and we have a launch that we don't have to walk a third of a mile to. We need to have our drivers remove the streamers, or take them down when we retrieve, so as not to attract too much attention to the site. We are reminded to keep vehicles to a minimum and not to offend any hikers. Jon is going to distribute a few more keys to our lock so more pilots who are qualified to fly there will be able to open the gate. Since the site is higher up and farther north we need to be more watchful for rotors in northerly winds. The launch faces almost due south and is close to the top of the bowl to the north, just below the lowest tower at the north peak.

Duane told us that some of the recent checks written on the club's new checking account would be coming back due to having the wrong account number on them. He has taken care of the situation and apologizes for any inconvenience caused by the bank error. He also reports that the books are balanced from last year and that thanks to the generosity of Sonoma Wings members that the club is in good financial shape for the year to come.

We are getting good response from our web page and will be getting the address changed to www. sonomawings.com. It will cost a little extra but the membership agreed to it.

Charley gave a brief report on the recent HAM radio-licensing seminar. Leo, Sterling and he got their licenses from it.

Moyes will have a Demo Day at Hull this year around the first part of June. Stay tuned for exact dates. Their Demo Days last year is what prompted me to buy my CSX.

Todd is going to get some new Sonoma Wings club T-shirts printed up. They will be like the ones with the osprey on the back and the hawk on the sleeve. Several pilots joined the "Coffee Can" and "Go-for-It" competitions. We were reminded that Coffee Can flights must start from a Sonoma Wings site, including St John, Hull, Elk, St Helena, Goat Rock or Vista Trail, or other site in Sonoma, Mendocino, Lake, Glenn or Colusa Counties.

The date for the St John meet was tentatively set for 8-21&22. We talked about ways to include paragliders. There are lots of jobs to volunteer for including Prize Beggar, MeatHead, T-shirt Maker, Entry Form Maker and someone to be in charge of Safety. Please step forward and help out.

Steve says to come to the "Coyote Howl" at Colterville in mid May. They fly from McClures and it's a real hoot. Check the Motherload Flyers web page for the actual dates. The Funston Air Races are being held this year. We would like to have a good Sonoma Wings turnout.

Some pilots will also be going to the upcoming "Star Thistle" meet at Woodrat.

Finally the meeting returned to the raffle. Sterling won a nice hardcover copy of "Yeager", Albert won a nice bottle of Pepperwood wine and Matt won some airplane stencils.

Everyone was reminded to be careful in light of a recent, nasty crash on launch by a Millennium pilot. The meeting was adjourned and we all stuck around to see if Leo could get his chute back in the bag. He didn't even notice the slice of pepperoni we slipped up the primary wind channel. Ha!

The next meeting will be March 15 at 7:00pm at the Occidental Rd Round Table Pizza.
--CW

January Meeting Minutes

This first meeting of the new year showed promise for things to come with attendance up quite a bit for a January meeting. Despite the absence of the President 19 people attended the meeting including; Peter and Denise Lindquist, John Blacet, Brian Sharp, Andy Long, Bob Storms, Albert Branson and Donna, Sterling Calder, Matt Jagelka, Charley Warren, Guy Nicholes, Ernie Camacho, Duane Taylor, Gunter Lohrentz, Scott Huber, Leo Jones, Arthur Meadows and Todd Robinson.

While we waited for the meeting to start Andy treated us to a video of Judy Leden's balloon drop from 40,000 feet. Quite a feat!

John D'Aguiar asks that people call him to drive for them. He has been working toward his H2 rating with Wally at the Nicasio training site.

In Sterling's first official duty as Sonoma Wings Vice President he called the meeting to order, then promptly turned the meeting over to the Flight Director. A good Vice President knows how to delegate.

Albert announced a Ham radio-licensing seminar at the Petaluma community center. For $35 you get one day of videos then take practice tests and the real test the next day. They claim a 90% pass rate. He encouraged all unlicensed operators to attend. Peter told us of a free online practice test and said interested parties can e-mail him for the URL. Ernie recommends self study, by reading only the correct answers to all the questions. We were all reminded that there is up to a $10K fine for operating without a license.

The members voted to continue to have the meetings at this venue, the now Occidental Rd Round Table Pizza. We will try to get the larger room. We watched the entire meeting as one big guy sat alone in that room while our club sat cozily in the smaller one.

Leo started the meeting by bringing up safety issues. There was discussion of a recent fatality at Wallaby Ranch. The cause was a set up error followed by the lack of an adequate preflight. The pilot was experienced. The lesson to be learned is PREFLIGHT your glider! Several pilots in the room proceeded to tell of instances of set up errors, some that caused serious problems, others that caused merely great inconvenience like having to go land when you didn't really want to. The errors included leaving out washout tubes, luff lines under battens, VG string trapped between keel and crossbar, safety pins left out, sprogs left out, tip battens not hooked and leg straps not hooked. We talked about repeating the preflight if distracted and having another pilot inspect the glider, as ways to assure a good preflight. The recent sail shrinkage advisory from Wills Wing should be headed by all pilots as Leo found hid two year old XC to be out of compliance by quite a bit.

We are all reminded to repack our parachutes every four to six months. Brittle and broken rubber bands can be a major problem. They can cause the chute to unfurl out of sequence. Leo volunteered to assist anyone who wants in repacking their chute.

Next we talked about site news. There was work done at Elk to make a possible top landing area. Also a new waterbar was cut in the road just above the worst washed out part. Year round flying at St Helena is getting very close to being a reality. Bud Getty said yes over the phone. It still needs to be formalized. We found a burrowing owl hole on the Grade, right where we like to set up. We should avoid it, as it appears fresh and occupied. It is recognizable as the hole with fresh owl shit at the opening.

Gunter told us of a site by San Gregorio, in San Mateo County. The site is a 400' cliff on the ocean that faces west, is seven miles long and owned by a hang glider pilot! It is top landable but there is a nude beach at the bottom. The owner's name is Klause Koch and all he asks from visiting pilots is a little help working on the road down to the beach and perhaps help with property work. Klause's phone number is 650-726-4005.

The summer trip to the Owens Valley was set for the week beginning July 17th. Leo has three friends coming over from England and is looking for ride space for them and their gliders and stuff. There is still question about the site monitor situation at Walts Point for this year. So far no one has stepped in to take on the task.

Matt is looking into getting an aerotug pilot to come to Crazy Creek and give us lessons and ratings. We will try for the first weekend in May 5-1-1999. The price was unknown at this point but plan on around $200 for the seminar and rating.

The rules for the Go-For-It Cup were discussed and will remain basically the same with minor changes to the minimum distances for the various tasks. All flights will have to be claimed within one month to be valid. Matt will be in charge of taking entry fees ($5) and keeping track of miles.

Charley received an application for the Rose Parade. We agreed to do it again this year. The following people agreed to help Albert, Charley, Peter, Denise, Matt, Guy and Ernie.

Leo brought a 1999 USHGA calendar to raffle off. We raised $5.00 for the club with the proceeds from the raffle. Leo promises bigger and better raffles prizes for upcoming meetings. Be sure to attend the next meeting.

The meeting was adjourned to video of sailplane wave flying in New Zealand. Hardly anyone left until it was over. The next meeting will be 2-15-1999 at the Occidental Rd Round Table Pizza (formerly Stony Point Rd Round Table)

CW