Minutes of a Hang Gliding Competitions Panel
Meeting Held at Market Hall, Crickowell on 6th May 2007
675. PRESENT & APOLOGIES
The meeting opened at 10:15 with the following present: John Aldridge (Sec), Mike Armstrong, Trevor Birkbeck, Dave Bluett, Nigel Bray, Johnny Carr, Will Greenwood, Graham Phipps, Gordon Rigg and Kathleen Rigg (Chair).
676. UPDATE ON COMPETITION ARRANGEMENTS
KR ran through this season's competitions:
a. Long Mynd
MA confirmed that the only outstanding matter was a decision on the meal. It was agreed a Hog Roast with veggie option was the best choice.
Action: MA
b. Dales
TB briefed on the reluctance of the Crown to have us back and said that one alternative was the Rope Factory; in favour was ease of parking for pilots, against was cost and need to use it at pre-determined hours without the use of a key. It was agreed that the community hall was probably the best option and TB was authorised to negotiate up to £100 for use and the provision of a deposit if necessary to obtain the use of a key. TB is also investigating the possibility of a pilot meal in the upstairs bar/restaurant opposite the Crown.
Action: TB
c. St Andre
WG is our coordinator on this. He said the only outstanding matters are accommodation for JA & DB and confirmation that the Le Mure goal field will be available to us. A pilot event was suggested and WG will investigate options including a repeat of the pizza evening Chez Taggart and a barbeque at Aerogliss.
Action: WG
d. Crickhowell
GP confirmed a meal had been arranged at the Britannia Inn to cater for 80. Wills Wing sponsorship would pay for meals for one retrieve driver for each group of pilots.
N.B. This meal was subsequently cancelled at near to full cost due to the comp being abandoned because of lack of suitable weather.
e. Reserve meet
It was confirmed that SE Wales would be the venue if this is necessary. It was acknowledged that getting the Market Hall at short notice might be a problem, GP to investigate when the need is confirmed. JA announced that he would be out of the country for both backup weekends and DB is unavailable. KR said she would act as MD if necessary and approach possible scorers.
Action: KR & GP
677. SPONSORSHIP
WG confirmed that sponsorship had been received for the British Open Series from XC Magazine and UK Airsports. Green Dragons had also agreed to sponsor the BOS and this was awaited and there was still money available from the 2006 Wills Wing sponsorship. The approximate amounts involved were notified to the panel. Logos of all sponsors are now on both the usual competitions website and the new trial version with links to sponsors own websites. WG will continue to try and find a sponsor for a pilot retrieve vehicle. It is also possible that XC Magazine may wish to produce video cover our nationals in St Andre.
Action: WG
678. WEBSITE
NRB updated us on Phil Chettleburgh's work on a possible replacement website (http://bhgc.wikidot.com/) which is like Wikipedia and provided by the same people. All panel members were encouraged to sign up to it and edit their own profiles and areas relevant to their responsibilities. Those who had already looked at it felt positive about the site.
Action: All
Post meeting note (NRB): (Nigel,) Mike A, Dave, John, and Phippsy have successfully joined. (Will, and Gordon have tried). John and Mike A have completed the action to edit their own profiles and areas relevant to their responsibilities.
679. NXCL
The recent delays in flights appearing on the NXCL website were discussed and NRB asked for details to be sent to him for him to follow up.
Post meeting note (NRB): Initial discussions held, will follow up again after May.
NRB also reported that Phil Chettleburgh is willing to transfer Series flights into the NXCL. Scoring files from the current comp will be transferred after this meet. NRB will talk to MB about Phil Chet's involvement in the NXCL.
Post meeting note (NRB): Action completed. Site updated, message posted on Site "2007 Website Updates After final publication of Winter League Results, updates are usually held over for a month or so to give people plenty of time to have a look. As this year the end of the Winter season was a month later than previous years I guess more people have noticed this. Updates will now progress as normal, about weekly (+/- a bit)"
680. BLERIOT CUP.
Ten pilots had volunteered and team size is six. It was decided to follow the French example of selecting a team based upon youth with just a couple of experienced pilots who were familiar with the Bleriot concept to advise. The team selected was:
- Dave Shields - team captain
- Sam Hull-Bailey
- Ben Hull-Bailey
- Myles Kynaston
- Oliver Kynaston
- Tony Stephens
- Patrick Buxton - reserve.
It was also decided that a further £200 would be added to the team budget if the reserve travels with the team.
681. PRE-EUROPEANS
KR asked if there was any information on team sizes and how we would know if pilots from the reserve list could enter. She also pointed out that there did not appear to be any cut off point for entries and that the entry fee did not need to be paid until the start of the comp - leaving it pretty certain that there would be non-attendees that the organiser would not know about it advance. She felt that nations should be able to substitute pilots within the team, when the size was known. JA offered to contact CIVL for more information and KR will ascertain which of our pilots will actually compete so that a team may be nominated once we know the team size.
Action: JA & KR
The meeting closed at 11:45.



