Sonoma Wings meeting notes from 10-25-2001

Attending the meeting were John Blacet, Albert Branson, Bob Storms, Scot Huber, John DeAguiar, Peter Humes, JW Seeley, Jon James, Todd Robinson, Matt Jagelka, Leo Jones, Justin Miller, Kurt Bainum and kids, Charley and Philip Warren, Larry Roberts and Derk Steggewentz.

The meeting was called to order at 7:48.

First we heard from JW Seeley. He is a paraglider pilot, new to the club. JW is also a fire inspector in the area. He learned to fly during a ten-day stay at Torrey Pines and now has a year and a half of experience.

We spent some time talking about the present officers being overloaded with club business. The executive committee may review the duties again this year.

Next we got down to the business of nominations for officers and awards. Nominations are open until the elections at the next meeting. Please contact Albert if you have additional nominees. This is what we have so far:

Prez: Larry Roberts and Ernie Camacho

VP: Leo Jones, Jon James, Scot Huber and Derk Steggewentz

Safety Director: John Blacet and John DeAguiar

Site Director : Leo Jones, Scot Huber and Jon James

Treasurer: Matt Jagelka

Secretary: Charley Warren and Greg Sugg

Most Improved Pilot: Vince Endter

Best Flight: Scot Huber for St John record and for 100mi O&R at King

Kurt Bainum for 100 mi O&R at King and for 50 mi flight from Elk

Jon James for 69 mi triangle at Nat's

Rich Sauer for 120+ mi goal flight at Nat's.

Turkey Award: Leo for broken keel at Funston

Todd Robinson for a particularly hard downwind landing

Anthony Abate and Peter Humes for an incident at Goat Rock that brought out the rescue units

Rich Sauer for flying with too much ballast at the Nat's

Kurt Bainum for snapping a camera off his wing at Drakes

Vince Endter for having to have his nose sewed back on after a landing

We know other turkey-like events occurred this year. Again, please get nominations to Albert a.s.a.p. Also please get trophies to Albert a.s.a.p. or bring them to the next meeting, so they can be engraved in time for the Christmas party.

Leo and Jon gave us an update on the St John situation. There has not been any action on the ramp partly due to the fire there this summer. Leo will follow up. The Colusa County board of supervisors is waiting to hear from us regarding the LZ situation. Lynn Woolsey offered her help with this situation. Jon and Leo will follow up.

We will be doing a hang gliding presentation for the Stonyford School in the near future.

We discussed sending out gifts to landowners again this year. We think it was a good thing to do even if we didn't use all of their properties.

There was much discussion about the Go-for-It Cup rules. Of particular interest to some members was some sort of handicap system, either for the type of glider flown or for the experience level of the pilot. We will be entertaining proposals for changes for next year.

We are reminded to keep an eye out for potential new sites. Remember land can change hands and a site that was off limits in the past may come open in the future. In this vein, if anyone is interested in negotiating to re-open Dillon Beach they would almost be assured a club service award.

If you attended the parachute clinic in January and have not packed your 'chute since then, it is getting close to a year. Please think about doing it soon.

Albert still has some club t-shirts for sale. Justin and Leo will work on getting new ones made by the Christmas party.

Speaking of the Christmas party, it will be Friday Dec. 7th at Larry and Dianna Roberts' house in Rohnert Park.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:15. The next meeting will be November 15th at the Occidental Rd. Round Table Pizza. Please be there to help select your new officers. If you are interested in representing your club as an officer please step forward. Some of the present officers would appreciate a break.

Charley