Sylmar Hang Gliding Association

I’m FINALLY putting the wheels in motion for the Southern California XC League and I think it’s long overdue. Everyone has been talking about wanting a league – so here it is. The Northern California XC League has been, and continues to be, a huge success. The system works extremely easy and efficiently. I will be using the same format as the NCXCL with just a few exceptions. The league is open to both PG’s and HG’s and will be broken down into categories. The league is starting late this year so it will be abbreviated as compared to the plan for 2009. This will work well to get the ball rolling, spread the word, and work out any kinks before the league goes into full swing in 2009.

The first event of the series is this next weekend, August 23-24, at Marshall. I know it doesn’t give much advance notice but I’d like to get four meets in this year and the only way to do it, all things considered, is to get one meet in late this month. I just put the website up last night after working on it all last week. You’ll find all the details on the website. If you have any questions email me. Things are a bit rushed for this weekend so I could use all the help I can get in spreading the word.

Check it out
Website: http://www.usxcleague.com/


Hope to see some of you this weekend,
Dean Stratton

I may be mistaken, but I think Dean said something about making the HG tasks shorter than the PG tasks. Maybe he could use some help from a few HG pilots. Only 3 are signed up so far.

Don't forget the first meet is this weekend at Marshall/Crestline.

No...lol...I won't be making the HG tasks any shorter but there may be less free beer for the HG's if more of them don't participate. Forget that last part; there's no free beer:)

With some help, I did finally decided on the HG categories. I posted an update on the CSS forum, here's a copy of that post:

Well, I've spoken with a few HG pilots and taken a look around at other comps to see how it's usually broken down. It seems that 4 categories is the only way to make it fair. I'm absolutely willing to break it down for the HG's as long as HG'S show up. If there are only 5 or 6 HG pilots that participate then it doesn't make sense to have almost as many categories as their are pilots - know what I mean. As of now I only have 3 registered HG pilots. Now I'm sure, as I've experienced in the past, pilots show up at the last minute that weren't planned for, and I'm hoping this will be the case, but at the same time I'm dreading the last minute paper work. I'm hoping the HG community wants to participate in the league. Please send me your info, show up, and I'll take care of the rest.

Here's the HG categories:
1) Rigid
2) Topless
3) Double S King
4) Single S

*Please let me know which category you fall into when you send me your pilot info, I'm not up to speed on the different glider names and which category they belong in. One more thing; I’m thinking of running two tasks at each event that are staggered in time and type, one for HG and another for PG. That will be part of the discussion Sat. morning.

I'm trying very hard to put together a first rate league series on a shoe string budget. Those of you that run flying schools and put together leagues or competitions can relate to what I'm saying. The success of the league will depend on two things: First and foremost - pilots need to show up and support the league; and second, pilots can help things go much smoother and make my job much easier by sending in the required pilot info ahead of time. Entering pilot information into the scoring software prior to a task takes time. There won't be enough time Saturday morning to do this if 10-15 pilots show up unexpectedly. If it were further into the series it wouldn't be so bad, but since this is the first event things are going to be very busy.

I’ve put up more tech info on the Download page of the website, so check it out. Also check out the Pilot ID page, I had to shuffle the numbers a bit.

Only 4 HG pilots have signed up so far. What's up with that?