USHPA - Association News

Chapters talk off season 2011-12
Cloudbase Country Club

By Robin Jones, USHPA Communications Manager
12/21/2012 8:52:00 AM

Washington - Brian Scott, Chair of the Board: "It may be a bit nippy outside, but our Seattle based Chapter keeps flying, though a slower season, all year long. We like to do events during the winter months like our November election for our new Board of Directors, our after-Christmas Winter Party (potluck) where we give awards for exceptional volunteers, and we also do a Chute Deployment Clinic (repacking) with over 57 chutes in combination with the Northwest Paragliding Club. Its the collaboration of our club and others that make it even more enjoyable.

Just because we dont fly as much, it doesnt mean we dont get together. However, we started to notice that the events were much better attended than the club meetings. We started off with strong attendance. Our website just got so good that the interaction was available and the need for meetings became more obsolete. Every first Monday of the month got harder to meet and since everyone is so spread out in the region and the traffic was nasty, we now do quarterly meetings and it works for most everyone.

At our meetings we cover a lot of ground including fundraising for site management/maintenance of our primary site, Saddle Mountain. Theres a lot of mentoring going on - the new blood is really exciting, its what keeps us going - they are brand new since last year or the year before and are now flying at an advanced level. They were just on the training hill not that long ago. Its hard to keep the instructors going, we dont have good training hills, but theyve been working with 10-12 new pilots from hang 2 to 3 and that helps keep them rewarded during slow months.

We also take videos of launches and critique them as a group. It helps us with our skills and saves us from twiddling our thumbs when we meet. Before the season picks back up March through October we use the off season to plan events and reserve spaces through the Parks Department well in advance. Volunteers also use the time to organize, design event t-shirts, make trophies, and write up surveys for members to ask how they want the events to evolve. So really, if we think about it, the slow season is still busy, just less flying."

If you are a pilot in the Seattle area and would like to connect to this Chapter - start now: Cloudbase Country Club | www.cloudbase.org