Crestline Soaring Society

The CSS Board met this past weekend and we are excited about the development of the X-Country Ranch and the future of the CSS in this regard. Please see the minutes from the meeting at http://www.crestlinesoaring.org/2010_feb_special_meeting_minutes .

Many of you will recall that back in 2006, while the developer was pressing ahead with plans to develop the property to our east; the Ranch property to our north came up for sale. There were at least three bidders: the developer; a lady who wanted to plant an orchard; and pilots Len and Owen. Fortunately for us, Len and Owen were the successful purchasers. Our approach has been protected, our water supply increased, the fence between the properties and the 'paragliding eating tree' are gone, and now the Big O project is in mid-flight.

Crestline Soaring Society.

Special Meeting February 27, 2010

Minutes

In attendance:

Board Members: Alan Crouse, Megret Olewiler, Mike Blakely, Ken Howells, Dianne McKenzie, Mike Zeller.

Board Members on slate for upcoming election: Dan DeWeese, Kevin Williams

Members: Owen Morse, Len Szafaryn, Rob McKenzie, Ken Westfall, John Wright

The Hang Gliding & Paragliding Club for San Bernardino, CA, USA

The CSS is a non-profit organization (501(c)(3)) which exists to serve the foot-launched flying community in the San Bernardino Mountains - Crestline & Marshall Peak in particular - and Southern California and beyond in general.

Our club maintains launches in the San Bernardino National Forest and leases a landing zone, Andy Jackson Airpark, in the valley to ensure that our right to fly is not infringed. As a chapter of the United States Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association (USHPA) we play a part in furthering HG & PG nationwide. The club also sponsors fun events a few times a year which attract pilots from far and wide.

I have not deleted any posts or comments from the forum in quite some time. A forum user thinks some content has been removed. The site logs for the last couple of days don't show any deletions, but there's been so much activity that they only go back a couple of days at this point. {UPDATE: I've just increased the log retention}

[b]Normal procedure is for those with deletion rights (i.e. the CSS Board) to discuss it with other board members before deleting anything. We've only deleted a couple of items in the last four years.

So, the Simba weather station went off line a couple of Sundays ago and a simple reboot didn't get it back online. On inspection I found that the weather equipment was fine and that the mini computer between it and the internet wasn't connecting to the LAN via ethernet. The only way to communicate with the device is via the LAN, so I had to send it in for service. This is the machine we repaired this summer by replacing the motherboard, keeping the RAM and the Flash memory with the OS and programs already on them, to the tune of $300. I expect the manufacturer to cover the failure under warranty.

We're having our annual toy drive on Saturday December 19. We collect unwrapped toys for all ages and add them to the nearby fire station's toy gathering efforts. The firefighters bring a truck out to the LZ and we get to interact in a non-emergency situation. We haven't seen them much this year, which is a good thing!

Toys will be collected in the LZ on Saturday from Noon until 2 PM.

Greg made the call to postpone the event until today and there has not been a better public policy decision made in the history of western civilization. The air was epic. But COLD. Someone said 40 degrees at 7k. Unbelievable for the middle of November ! Many thanks to Flakey and Greg for organizing.

I took a quick count at about 4:30 and there were 52 people on the ground ( many of whom had just landed ) and 3 - 4 people still in the air. The mood was definitely the Elsinore version of NASCAR hoping for some major whacks ! but all were to be disappointed. No aluminum was bent ( except for the many, many cases of cold beverage containers ) Just a tiniest bit of blood....one ground loop and several WHOA ! landings. Mitch did some loops to applause which he has probably never heard.

It is almost election time for the 2010 Board. There will be vacancies for several key positions and all positions are open for nominations. Please let me (president at crestlinesoaring.org), or any Board member know if you are interested in standing for election.

The official position descriptions for each Board member can be found at: http://www.crestlinesoaring.org/css_constitution_march_2005 .

Crestline Soaring Society.
Semi-Annual General Meeting November 7, 2009
Minutes

In attendance:
Board Members: Alan Crouse, Megret Olewiler, Mike Blakely, Dianne McKenzie, Mike Zeller.

The meeting was called to order at 5:30 pm.

Site Coordinator Dianne McKenzie moved for approval of the minutes from the Spring May 9, 2009 meeting and the motion was seconded by Mike Blakely, voted on and carried

At the just completed USHPA Bod meeting, local pilot Owen Morse was chosen as the recipient of the associations highest award, the Presidential Citation, for his display at John Wayne airport. Next time you see him you all owe him the beverage of his choice. Include Dan DeWeese, Commendation winner for his "Hook In" signs.

Brad Hall
Awards Chair

I would like to invite someone who likes to throw parties to take my place as Activities Director.

I can't imagine a club full of nicer people, more fun to volunteer for, than the Crestline Soaring Society. We've got a great core of cornerstone members who really help, in official and unofficial capacities, the place run well.

Ken Howells has been handling the website and windtalker and Simba and other IT issues forever... the longest standing board member. Alan has put in many years, including this last very important one, as the calm and dignified President of our club. Mike Blakely, the ever-helpful Mike Zeller, Megret and Dianne are fantastic in their roles as Treasurer, VP, Secretary, and Site Coordinator, respectvely. I have really enjoyed being on the board and working with these great peeps.

It's on... July 11 is AJ Airpark Fly-In.

Di found a great live band. If anyone has a beefy generator we can use, let her know.

Food, of course, will be provided for $10 and $10 for the day use fee for non-annual-members.

Crestline Soaring Society hats will be for sale and there will be custom-embroidered 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place hats (PG and HG) as trophies for the spot landing competition ($5 to enter). Win a hat and remind people all year long that you are better than they.

Doh, meant to make this a blog post and I've already linked to it from a number of other sites:

http://www.crestlinesoaring.org/forum/20090416/2154

This is developing, I have little information at this point, but it's worth getting out for planning purposes:

CSS'es second road trip of the year will be to Mingus Mountain in Arizona the weekend of Memorial Day (May 22-25).

Personally, I will be flying one day, whatever day has the best forecast. The rest of the time I'll be doing other things with wifey and pipsqueek in the area. Some may want to bring their families and do other things in the Prescott area.

Mark your calendars now, March 13-15 (Hey, Friday the 13th, what could go wrong?).

Here are directions to the LZ
ftp://ftp.knumbknuts.com/DunlapDirs.pdf

Plan A: Dunlap, California (We're going to Dunlap)
Plan B: Mingus Mountain, AZ

We will go to Dunlap if the weather predicts sled rides or better, no rain.

We will go to Mingus if Dunlap weather predicts rain or over the back winds and Mingus shows sleds or better, no rain.

2008 Elsinore Turkey Meet November 29th

November 29th @ Elsinore Marina West LZ. Check in 9am. Spot landing, bomb drop and duration for HG and PG.

Admission to the event $25.00 per person, includes food and soft drinks. Additionally, the Marina charges $5 day-use per vehicle at gate.

This is a benefit for the EHGA, 100% of proceeds go to support club activities.

For more info email

We're having our annual toy drive on Saturday December 20. We collect unwrapped toys for all ages and add them to the nearby fire station's toy gathering efforts. The firefighters bring a truck out to the LZ and we get to interact in a non-emergency situation. We haven't seen them much this year, which is a good thing!

Club funds will be used, as usual, to purchase a cart or two of toys beforehand, so if you'd like to donate to that effort in advance, please do. You can leave a donation in the site drop box in a day-use envelope (write 'toy drive' on the envelope),with any CSS officer

2008-11-08 Meeting Minutes posted.

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Suggest we start at 5:00 PM at the Andy Jackson Airpark and our agenda consist of:

- Approval of Minutes from Spring Meeting
- Officer Reports
- Update on Development Activity
- Request from EHGA
- Open Floor
- Nominating Committee
- Close

The City of San Bernardino Planning Commission will consider the University Hills development project at their Nov 5 meeting (Agenda page).

At this point the proposal is unchanged, despite almost 300 letters from the Hang Gliding Community.

This will be an open, public meeting at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall.