RGSA CLUB NEWS

[Bill Cummings]

RGSA/Hawks,
It’s official! The RGSA (Rio Grande Soaring Association) voted to join the US Hawks Hang Gliding Association. We are the 6th Chapter. We are also moving our forum (message board) from Yahoo Groups to the US Hawks forum. Our Desert Southwest chapter of the US Hawks can select a chapter name or we can decide to just have RGSA as our chapter and/or forum name. I like RGSA/Hawks myself but maybe someone from our club can come up with a clever name that equals the outstandingly clever Missouri Hawks Hang Gliding Club’s name, Mo Hawks. That will be a tough one to even match.

Whatever decision the RGSA comes to I would like to see the word “(Demo)” deleted since it makes me feel too much like a fledgling group. It sort of chops off the prestige like saying, “Major Garrett, Private 1st Class.” (So Bob if you would be so kind?)

Robin noted that more was to come of our last meeting in his last post and since he was taking notes and together with him having a better natural memory than mine. I’ll get out of your faces now and look forward to his post.

[Bob Kuczewski]

Hello Bill,

I just got home and the first thing I did (even before unpacking) was to read your post and remove the words "Demo" and "Demonstration".

It is with great pleasure that I officially welcome the RGSA as US Hawks Chapter #6 !!!

[Bob Kuczewski]

Our Desert Southwest chapter of the US Hawks can select a chapter name or we can decide to just have RGSA as our chapter and/or forum name. I like RGSA/Hawks myself but maybe someone from our club can come up with a clever name that equals the outstandingly clever Missouri Hawks Hang Gliding Club’s name, Mo Hawks. That will be a tough one to even match.

That would be a tough one to beat. Warren was very clever with that name. Kudos Warren!!

I think you should stick with RGSA all by itself. You're now a Chapter of both USHPA and the US Hawks, but there's no need to use either (USHPA or US Hawks) in your own club's name unless you really want to for some reason. So I think you're all set as just the RGSA which happens to be a USHPA Chapter and also happens to be a US Hawks Chapter.

If another national or even regional organization springs up (maybe a paragliding-specific organization or a towing-specific organization), you'd be free to become a chapter in their organizations as well. That's the beauty of this ... clubs (like yours) can begin to think "out of the box" with regard to what kinds of relationships benefit them.

In this case, the US Hawks very much values your club, and we will work hard to do what we can to help your club thrive and grow. That's what's been missing at USHPA. Their monopoly has kept them from wanting to work for Chapters ... because Chapters had no other choice. That's still the case regarding insurance, and I'm hoping we can change that also as more clubs become dual chapters.

Thank you RGSA!!!      

[Bill Cummings]

Thanks Bob for making yourself available clearing up questions and providing a choice in forums for pilots.
--------------
RGSA,
We are a chapter of USHPA and USHHGA That would be United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association and United States Hawks Hang Gliding Association.

I assist the club’s secretary/treasurer with the RGSA roster. I’ll give him a chance to get out of bed before I call to seek his bidding since I am not permitted to exercise any direction on my own.

I will ask if he wants me to contact pilots to find out what their privacy preferences are concerning RGSA contact information.

I’ll check with Bob Kuczewski, the Hawks forum moderator, so that pilots that
wish to join RGSA at our new forum at the US Hawks will have approval to log on and post immediately. (Prior authorization without the hassle of registering themselves.)
Pilots may want to look over the forum and register themselves if they desire.

I left Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Groups since they read my email to my sister, took a name from the body of the email, and tried to extract a fee from my sister to find more information about the named individual (Our mother’s complete name).

That breach of our family privacy left me all the more protective of contact information that I have access to while assisting with the RGSA roster.

More later.

[Bill Cummings]

Hey Bob where are the fireworks?
I would think that the RGSA becoming the 6th Chapter of the US Hawks Hang Gliding Association would entail some hoopla of some kind. How about announcing on the US Hawks Hang Gliding General that we have arrived?
This is going to be great. A forum that will keep pilots from other areas in the country and around the world connected to share information about our sport of Hang Gliding.
At other websites I feel stifled with what I can say and feel like a hammer is poised above a well lubricated Ban Button if I should run against the grain. But not with the US Hawks. It’s time to blow the horn! After all the vote carried to join with the US Hawks Hang Gliding Association

[Bob Kuczewski]

Hey Bob where are the fireworks? ... It’s time to blow the horn!

Hello Members of the US Hawks!!

I'm writing to announce that the Rio Grande Soaring Association (RGSA) has recently become Chapter #6 of the US Hawks Hang Gliding Association. The vote took place on January 25th, 2014 during their annual club meeting in New Mexico. The RGSA is the 4th US Hawks Chapter to hold dual membership in both USHPA and the US Hawks, and they are now the oldest Chapter in the US Hawks family of hang gliding clubs. As a US Hawks Chapter, the RGSA will share an integrated local/national forum with the other US Hawks clubs. We believe this integration of local clubs within a national framework will help bring together the pilots and resources to help preserve and protect the sport of hang gliding across the United States. Thanks to the RGSA for joining this revival of hang gliding!!!

The RGSA is located in the southern New Mexico and El Paso Texas area where they support both sports of hang gliding and paragliding. They maintain a variety of great flying sites, and you can find their web site at:

     http://www.rgsa.info

The RGSA Forum can be found at:

     http://ushawks.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=28

Please visit their forum and offer a "Hearty US Hawks Welcome" to our newest US Hawks Chapter!!

Thanks for your membership in the US Hawks Hang Gliding Association and Forum.

Sincerely,
Bob Kuczewski
858-204-7499 ... please call any time

That was the best I could do ... considering that fireworks are extremely restricted in most parts of the US.     

[Bill Cummings]

RGSA/Hawks,
On the 21 of March 2014 I went out the Corralitos Ranch Road also known as C009.
From a BLM (Deming) map I plotted the northeast corner of the private land off to the east of and at the base of the Magdalena Rim and entered it into my Garmin GPS.
I then went in search of the NE property survey pin and found it. I then made a waypoint while physically standing over the NE corner survey pin.
The location is 32.478820-107.113790

If you have Google Earth you can either copy/paste or type in the numbers just as you see them (all twenty characters.) into the upper left search box on your Google Earth page.

When you are taken to the location you can use the measuring tool and start at the location and drag a line 0.5 mile to the west (270 degrees). That will be the northern borderline of the private property all the way to the Northwest corner of the private property. (I couldn’t find the NW corner pin. (Rock slide??)
The private land is square. (0.5 mile east and west & 0.5 mile north and south)
I will be using the arroyo on the west side of the paved road to land my hang glider. I landed there on the 20th.
My landing plan will be to stay off the private land and only use BLM land when landing.

[Bill Cummings]

Last month March 21, 2014 I walked up past South Launch at Magdalena Rim. I found four of the so called Indian grind holes and as a non trained grind hole museum nerd they didn’t look anything like I’ve seen in the Deming, NM USA Museum. I’ll attach a picture of one of them that I took. It looks more like volcanic activity than any smooth type of Indian grind hole. Somehow I get the feeling that that area is fenced off for no good reason. Even if they were to be bona fide Indian grind holes they are in huge boulders too big to haul away. The reason I feel that the pictured (“grind”) hole is nothing more than the result of volcanic action is that the inner hollowed out area is just about twice the diameter as the rough opening diameter. The Indians would have had to time travel into our future and return with a tool that would accomplish that.

Now of course Indians could have found the hole just like I did and they could have ground some type of grain but wouldn’t one expect to find the bottom smooth like the other museum pieces on display?

I think some first year student up from the (agricultural) collage at NMSU in Las Cruces, NM started all this B.S.

Grind hole - not.JPG (54.81 KiB) Viewed 9226 times

[RobinHastings]

Hi, everyone! I'd like to invite all current and potential pilots in our area to the RGSA Annual Meeting. Date will be Saturday, January 17, 2015. Location will be in Las Cruces, at the International Delights restaurant at 6:00 pm. This restaurant is in the northeast corner of a large shopping plaza (just north of the Albertson's supermarket) which is on the northeast corner of Idaho Avenue and El Paseo Blvd. in Las Cruces. If the winds are good, we can go flying prior to the meeting at any of our local sites, such as Magdalena Rim or Agave Hill (down in El Paso). Everyone is welcome - we need your ideas! I'll hope to see you then and there.
-Robin Hastings
RGSA President
575-541-5744

[Bob Kuczewski]

Congratulations Robin!!!!

That was your 100th post on the US Hawks!!!

RobinHastings100.png (28.85 KiB) Viewed 8406 times

Thanks for your steady and reliable posting. It reflects your steadfast commitment to the sport of hang gliding in your region.

Your quiet but steady dedication is an example of what every club needs at its very heart. It's an honor to know you.