Re: Welcome Dave S
Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2014 11:58 amI just spoke with Bill (who started this topic), and we talked about moving these posts into the "Hello US Hawks" topic. We both thought that was a good idea. Here's our reasoning...
The "Hello US Hawks" topic is a running history of the people who've come to join the US Hawks. It already has nearly 4 years of that history, and we'd like everyone who joins the US Hawks to be represented there. Also, because active topics stay at the top of the list, the "Hello US Hawks" topic will always be active as we continually welcome new members to the forum (it's also "pinned" to the top of the list to keep it in view). On the other hand, individual welcome topics (like Welcome Dave S) will tend to fade into the depths of the topic stack once all the welcoming is done. We'd like the memory of Dave joining the US Hawks (and the memory of all of our new members) to be fresh in our minds and we'd like it to be part of the running history of this growing organization.
So for all those reasons (and with Bill's approval), I've moved the posts from this topic into the "Hello US Hawks" topic. For clarity, these are the posts that were moved:
Now that those posts are integrated into the "Hello US Hawks" topic, please feel free to continue the discussion here or anywhere else.
Also, if ANYONE objects, please let me know and I'll move everything back.
The "Hello US Hawks" topic is a running history of the people who've come to join the US Hawks. It already has nearly 4 years of that history, and we'd like everyone who joins the US Hawks to be represented there. Also, because active topics stay at the top of the list, the "Hello US Hawks" topic will always be active as we continually welcome new members to the forum (it's also "pinned" to the top of the list to keep it in view). On the other hand, individual welcome topics (like Welcome Dave S) will tend to fade into the depths of the topic stack once all the welcoming is done. We'd like the memory of Dave joining the US Hawks (and the memory of all of our new members) to be fresh in our minds and we'd like it to be part of the running history of this growing organization.
So for all those reasons (and with Bill's approval), I've moved the posts from this topic into the "Hello US Hawks" topic. For clarity, these are the posts that were moved:
billcummings wrote:Bob is out at Torrey flying and will place you through the last hoop this evening.
bobk wrote:Done!!
Welcome Dave S!!!
By the way, I bought a relatively cheap Canon camera last night and got some video of my flight today at Torrey. Unfortunately, I need to get some drivers before I can read the video files it produces.
DaveSchy wrote:I appreciate the warm welcome, thank you!!
I have been rated H4 since 1979, was a certified instructor 79 to 82 (Olympia and Santa Barbara). I am not a pilot with thousands of hours, as I have a business and a family. But if you ask me who I am, I'll tell you I am a hang glider pilot.
Here in the PNW, weather patterns have changed so much over the last few years that it seems best to discard our "old" models of prediction and just figure that "if you don't go, you won't know". That has been especially true at Dog and Blanchard.
Sites like Blanchard and Tiger are completely overrun by baggers to the point of having serious safety concerns for hangs. Our state Dept of Natural Resources must have someone in senior management who's brother-in-law builds gates for forest roads. We have lost many fantastic sites just to gates and a general disinclination to bandido, as we age. (Yet, in the 80's, DNR had given us a key for almost any gate in the forest, and when CBCC blew that deal all to hell at Mt Si, I left that club)!!
Lots of logging opens up many potential sites, and we really see that after the snow level drops, but gaining legal access is very, very difficult. I remain motivated to locate new sites, but "bandido mode" seems the most likely way to get some air time without worrying that some showboat bagger is going to top land on you and smirk about it. (That was Wade Maxwell, last year).
For many years, I have been involved in access negotiation, with a personal emphasis on NOT INCLUDING HSHG..what the hell A insurance or membership, and have tried to be a resource when strategy is mentioned. I have been successful with this to a limited degree at several local sites. What is troubling is that some people just do not understand that even mentioning insurance gets a land owner's caution lights flashing, and slows or stops what should be an easy hand shake agreement. It seems that folks around here tend to try a one size fits all approach to site negotiation, I can tell you, it does not work. (unless you frequent Wal-Mart).
CBCC, the local USH.. chapter, needs a serious overhaul (although I have not been a CBCC member for close to 20 years..) Just this week the group yahoo list was hijacked by Christian zealots and we discovered that there is no list moderator to silence them (peer pressure and threats worked)!!
The only reason I maintain my USH.... membership is that I have done so every year since I joined in 1976. The magazine is a joke, the "officers" are snotty (that's you MGF), the insurance is a scam and the waiver .... well, my advice is to "electroncally" sign it with "signed under duress", because it still looks illegal and unprofessional, like it was written by a high school student on a balky word processor that changed fonts at will.....
Stories? Oh yeah...
bobk wrote::clap:
Dave, your comments are right on target - "snotty MGF" included.
We're trying to build a different kind of national hang gliding association here at the US Hawks, and your ideas and views are very very welcomed.
USHPA is in the process of leaving behind both the sport of hang gliding and the spirit of hang gliding. If you know of pilots who want to join an organization on a different track, please encourage them to join us. If you have even a small handful of like-minded pilots, please bring them together to form a local club. As you can tell by our forum, the US Hawks model is based on supporting our local clubs and helping them work together to do what USHPA should have been doing all these years ... save the sport of hang gliding.
Most of all, welcome aboard!!! Please help grow this forum with your own stories, your own advice, and your own opinions. That's what we're all about.
Sincerely ... and thankfully,
Bob Kuczewski
P.S. I took my first hang gliding lessons in Washington State back in the fall of 1978. My first non-ground-skimming flights were from the cliffs above the Cape Kiwanda area later that year. I went back to Cape Kiwanda for one of Antique Glider fly-ins in 2004, but I couldn't find the exact cliff launch that we had used in the 70's. If you know of anyone who was instructing during that era, I'd sure like to hear from them.
SamKellner wrote:DaveSchy wrote: Iots of logging opens up many potential sites,................ the "officers" are snotty (that's you MGF),
Stories? Oh yeah...
Welcome Daveabout ushPa and the snotty officers
and to know it's not just my own echo.
Really great to have senior instructors also.
Although the troops, that's you and me, are increasing in number, IMO BobK is a one man army in support of our sport, largely but not only at Torrey.
Bob has supported/visited us in Texas several times in the last few years. Most recently his efforts are obvious working with the RGSA. Don't get me wrong, US Hawks is not just a BobK fan club, but I've been around long enough to know when I see a crusader for fairness and justice. With Bob's leadership the US Hawks has already made a difference and is continuing to do so.
Again a big Tx. welcome.
Sam Kellner
#16016
Basic Instructor (rookie)
PS ...... "Snotty" is being too polite
DaveSchy wrote:Lets see, 70's instructors. Bob Podhola in Olympia, Blaise Lewark in Seattle, Big Bird in Seattle, Airplay'n in Seattle and Capitol City Gliders (Balloon Drop Jim Brown) in Olympia.
Spent my first 2 years at Kiwanda. There was a "camp" spot at the end of the road, we called it the eagle's nest, just north of the dune proper. We would launch from there in the morning to start our day at the dune. Now its houses....
bobk wrote:DaveSchy wrote:Lets see, 70's instructors. Bob Podhola in Olympia, Blaise Lewark in Seattle, Big Bird in Seattle, Airplay'n in Seattle and Capitol City Gliders (Balloon Drop Jim Brown) in Olympia.
Spent my first 2 years at Kiwanda. There was a "camp" spot at the end of the road, we called it the eagle's nest, just north of the dune proper. We would launch from there in the morning to start our day at the dune. Now its houses....
None of those names sound familiar (but it's been over 35 years). As I remember, we drove down to Kiwanda from Tacoma in the instructor's motor home (him, another student and myself). I think our instructor had a girlfriend in Tillamook, because after we got set up on the cliff and each had a flight, he went off to spend the day with her while the other student and I took turns flying the glider.
The setup area was a fairly small clearing near the edge of the cliff, and just to the south was slope that was barely shallow enough for the two of us (both in our early 20's) to wrestle the glider back to the top. Carrying it back up was quite an ordeal, and between the two of us, we were only able to carry it up a total of 6 times during the entire day (giving us 3 flights each). But after each flight we were jumping up and down with joy and slapping each other on the back in congratulations. That day is one of my fondest memories from the sport.
That's the kind of memory that makes me want to save this sport and ensure that it has a future. I wish I felt confident that USHPA was looking out for that future, but I'm not. That's why we're here to build this new association, and you're helping us grow with every single post. Thanks for joining us, and thanks for every single post that helps us grow.
Now that those posts are integrated into the "Hello US Hawks" topic, please feel free to continue the discussion here or anywhere else.
Also, if ANYONE objects, please let me know and I'll move everything back.