May, 2004

Regional News: Fraser Valley
By Margit Nance, WCSC President/BCHPA Regional Director

This has once again been a very busy spring for the West Coast Soaring Club (covering two regions of the BCHPA) :

WCSC Membership: Most notable have been the changing demographics of our membership, now pushing 100 in number, whose range has considerably broadened over the last couple of years: there are many more senior pilots now pursuing international competitions - our Club made up a significant portion of the Canadian delegation at the recent comp in Dominican Republic, for example - and more pilots joining the Club immediately after being signed off by their instructors. We credit and thank the schools and all instructors for working with the Club to introduce new pilots to our wider flying community in the Fraser Valley. In this way new pilots are welcomed and encouraged and a lot of knowledge transfer from more experienced pilots to newer pilots takes place in a collegial and fun context.

A new fee structure was developed by our Club this year to allow pilots to pay fees appropriate to the type of usage of our sites, duration of usage, visiting or local pilots, etc. A new membership/waiver form is being developed and a membership card will be issued shortly by our Membership Director, Rick House. Pilots are reminded that HPAC is required to fly all WCSC sites (a requirement of our tenures and our landowners). (A hard copy of the text of our HPAC insurance is now on file with the Club and is available to all pilots, if they request a copy.)

WCSC Competition Activities: The Fraser Valley XC both for Hang gliding (thanks to Barry Bateman for running that) as well as paragliding (thanks Nicole Mclearn and Rob Samplonius) were recently held and the winners of both events are proudly presented on our homepage of www.westcoastsoaringclub.com. Congratulations to all participants, including the ones who caught the comp. fever, some learning how to use a GPS for the first time, and flying their personal best! Jon Orders, our Comp Director, will be posting on the comps page for upcoming comp events as well as previewing the 2004 Bridal Falls Air Races to be held in mid-July.

The WCSC also hopes to assist any way it can the Canadian Nationals which will again be organized by Mark Dowsett. Jon Orders has also instituted a new Eagle of the Month Award, given out at Club meetings to the best flight of the month by a WCSC member.

New Competition Fund: This fund has been set up for donations by Club members and others to assist WCSC pilots to compete in international comps. A very generous donation has already been made, adding to the funds that the Club had already set aside for 2004 in its budget. Please contact Jon Orders for more information.

First 2004 Schools Meeting held: As people may be aware, the Club holds twice per year meetings with the schools, instructors, and commercial tandem operators in the Vancouver/Fraser Valley area. As it is the schools that "grow" our sport, these meetings are very important for maintaining a smooth transition for new pilots from being "student pilots" to joining the larger flying community. These meetings form an important dialogue as all our sites are used by advanced as well as beginner/student pilots. As well, the WCSC tenures are umbrella commercial tenures to cover all pilots, students, instructors, tandem pilots and recreational pilots, HG and PG making good communication of all site users very important.

The Bridal Falls Air Races July 2004: The second annual Bridal Falls Air Races will be our major event for inviting pilots from far and wide to join us for fun competitions, to generally promote our sport in the community and for raising the funds to pay for the Bridal tenure and maintenance. Ian Johnston will coordinate numerous tandem flights with tandem pilots donating flights during the weekend, some coming from the United States. Our Comp Director, Jon Orders, will be posting additional information on the website as it becomes available.

Site Preservation Activities: In addition to Woodside launch and Upper Bridal launch tenures with Land and Water B.C., the Club has added a tenure for Lower Bridal Launch. The latter will formally be in place in early July, completing the goal of securing the major flying sites in the Fraser Valley. Landing zones around Woodside have been renegotiated with the landowners for 2004. The only remaining landing zone to be secured is the one at the base of Bridal, which is at the research stage by our Site Director, Rob Samplonius.

Site Maintenance: For some time, concerns about safety had been expressed by pilots both at Woodside and at Lower Bridal. Alex Raymont, as a one-man committee working with the Board of Directors, researched the various options for making both launches safer. He consulted with pilots as well as leading a broad discussion of the issues at the April Club meeting. A consensus was reached for Bridal as to the work that needs to be done there. Please contact Alex Raymont or Rob Samplonius for details. Work will commence shortly on launch as well as routine maintenance on the road. Jeff Rempel will be working with Alex Raymont to make a recommendation as to the tree removal/or/topping required at Woodside.
Forestry is to advise the Club shortly as to the future status of the road up to Lower Bridal. However, as we will hold a legal tenure at Lower Bridal launch, we will continue in any event to have access to our launch.

Safety: Nicole Mclearn, our Safety Director, has convened several important clinics this spring such as a reserve repack clinic, the amateur radio license group exam, and also ran the recent PG Fraser Valley XC, which was an excellent opportunity for new competition pilots to learn the ropes of safe competition flying. A HAGAR group exam is planned for later in the season.

Website: Our website has made tremendous gains in the past few weeks, thanks to Robin Sather, our Webmaster, and thanks also to the many Club members (and other pilots from far and wide) who have contributed material. It is the intent of the Club to make the site user-friendly and to make it possible for pilots and other contributors to manage their own information on the site. The remaining site page entries are in progress and should be complete shortly. A number of forums have been added such as a ride forum and a BFAR planning Forum (for registered users).

We want to say thank you to the many many Club members who are constantly moving the agenda forward, offering constructive criticism when the directors of the day get things wrong, and lending many hands to Club activities. There would not be a Club without all of them.

Respectfully submitted,
Margit Nance
WCSC President
BCHPA Regional Director Vancouver/Surrey