.

[bobk]

I've been looking for a place to post this (sorry about the image size)...

On October 24th, 2009, 5 members of the Torrey Hawks Hang Gliding Club set up a hang gliding simulator at the 2009 Kick Gas Festival. We encouraged anyone passing by to give it a try, and we ended up giving 64 "hang gliding rides" during the day. We also handed out dozens of cards and brochures for our local hang gliding schools and instructors.

Thanks to the members of the Hawks who helped out during a long day!!

[Wingspan34]

Hey Bob,

What a great way to Spread our Wings! Looks like the Torrey Hawks are actually a REAL hang gliding club after all!

And to think some people think the Hawks is just a list of pro Bob K supporters.

[Windlord]

That is so excellent Bob. Definitely a good way to get some interest going.

[sg]

Thats awesome

The Hawks should have entered the Oct promotion contest

[TommyT]

The Hawks should have entered the Oct promotion contest

[bobk]

The Hawks should have entered the Oct promotion contest

Sorry, I didn't know about it. I was so busy preparing myself for the upcoming battle with the USHPA BOD (over the Accountability Amendment and their nasty letters) that I didn't do too much pleasure browsing of hanggliding.org. Maybe the Hawks could get honorable mention for the 2009 year-end award?

By the way Tommy, those posters were awesome!!!

[bobk]

Hey Bob,

What a great way to Spread our Wings! Looks like the Torrey Hawks are actually a REAL hang gliding club after all!

And to think some people think the Hawks is just a list of pro Bob K supporters.

Actually, it's funny that you should mention this...

The San Diego Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (SDHGPA) was also at the Festival. But they were mostly promoting paragliding. They brought a paraglider which they kited for a brief time, and they intended to bring a paragliding simulator (but they had problems with insurance). They did a similar thing at the May 30th Powerline fund-raiser. They donated tandem paragliding flights but not tandem hang gliding flights. It was the Torrey Hawks who donated the tandem hang gliding flights and brought a real hang glider for the local ranchers to play with:



The SDHGPA still has some hang glider pilots in it, but it has mostly become a paragliding club. The Torrey PG school has been cranking out PG pilots for so long that the cumulative effect is to populate our area with mostly paragliding pilots. Just do the math. The SDHGPA president and vice president and most of their board have been paragliding pilots for as long as I've been associated with the club (about 5 years now). That's why we need a separate voice for hang gliding here in San Diego. The Hawks have been working for over 2 years to be that voice. I'm hoping we're almost there. If we can elect Jerry Katz that just might be enough for USHPA to finally support the Hawks. Maybe...

Katz and Sporrer. Katz and Sporrer. Katz and Sporrer....

[i8godzilla]

I've been looking for a place to post this (sorry about the image size)...

On October 24th, 2009, 5 members of the Torrey Hawks Hang Gliding Club set up a hang gliding simulator at the 2009 Kick Gas Festival. We encouraged anyone passing by to give it a try, and we ended up giving 64 "hang gliding rides" during the day. We also handed out dozens of cards and brochures for our local hang gliding schools and instructors.

Thanks to the members of the Hawks who helped out during a long day!!

As SG said, you should have entered the October contest. But what the hell, PM me your address and I'll send a set of straps the the Hawks. You can auction them off at your next meeting and put the money in your club Treasury.

(Next time you can ask Nick Greece for some magazines and give the away also.)

[bobk]

As SG said, you should have entered the October contest. But what the hell, PM me your address and I'll send a set of straps the the Hawks. You can auction them off at your next meeting and put the money in your club Treasury.

(Next time you can ask Nick Greece for some magazines and give the away also.)

Guess what ... our club doesn't have a Treasury! We don't charge for membership because our focus is on representation for our members. There's no charge to be a Republican or a Democrat, and that's why there's no charge to be a Torrey Hawk. Any time we need something ... someone donates it directly.

But thanks for the thought. I apologize for sometimes being difficult on this forum. I'll bet 90% of the folks I disagree with are pretty decent people when you get to know them. I hope I'm in that 90% as well.

[bobk]

The previous picture from the Kick Gas Festival highlights the visitors who came to our booth. But I should also add one that features our 5 volunteers. Thanks to each of them!

[bobk]

This is not exactly a "spread your wings" idea, but on the way back from the fall 2009 USHPA Board meeting I saw this billboard (I think I was heading west out of Las Cruces New Mexico) ...

[Wingspan34]

Look like powered trikes. But there are hang gliders attached!

[Erik Boehm]

I wasn't keeping up with this thread, didn't see this until bob linked to it, so thats my excuse for reviving an old topic.

The San Diego Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (SDHGPA) was also at the Festival. But they were mostly promoting paragliding. They brought a paraglider which they kited for a brief time, and they intended to bring a paragliding simulator (but they had problems with insurance). They did a similar thing at the May 30th Powerline fund-raiser. They donated tandem paragliding flights but not tandem hang gliding flights.
...
The SDHGPA president and vice president and most of their board have been paragliding pilots for as long as I've been associated with the club (about 5 years now). That's why we need a separate voice for hang gliding here in San Diego.

Why does this not Surprise me?
You mention they were "mostly" promoting paragliding?
What did their Half-azzed attempt (I suspect thats giving them too much credit, 1/8th assed attempt?) consist of? The word hangglider buried in the middle of some brochure plastered with PG pictures?

Sounds more like rather than being a SDHGPA group, it was a TP Glider-port concessionaire promotion.
Let me just guess where they were recommending interested parties go to learn more? Whose contact info were they giving out - TPG's, right?

I'd go into it more, but I don't want to hijack the topic

[bobk]

I'd go into it more, but I don't want to hijack the topic

I don't want to hijack it either, but I will say that some of the people manning the SDHGPA booth actually went to the one of the event organizers to complain about our simulator and try to get it shut down because we didn't purchase insurance for our booth.

Fortunately, I invited one of the organizers to visit our booth, and I showed that the simulator was not "dangerous", and I also agreed to accept any responsibility myself. He was fine with us continuing to use it, and it was a big hit as you can see from the photos.

But this again points out how many of the SDHGPA members are just nasty and spiteful people. They just want to tear down what others are working to build. They're the same people who are trying to get USHPA to hold a recall election to have me removed from office. Shameful.

Anyway, I'll save anyone else the trouble ...



Sorry for the diversion, let's get back to coming up with some great ideas to grow our sport and show the world how cool it is to fly hang gliders!!

[TomGalvin]

My Airwave Klassic was hanging in The Poughkeepsie, NY Civic Center during a local radio station event, the "Man Show". Unfortunately is was a flyable day at Ellenville.

[Windlord]

That's pretty good Tom.
Gotta love those "Man Shows" with all of the Man Tools and Man Toys.
Going there is just the Manly thing to do.
That makes for some good HG exposure. Very nice!

[Wingspan34]

My Airwave Klassic was hanging in The Poughkeepsie, NY Civic Center during a local radio station event, the "Man Show". Unfortunately is was a flyable day at Ellenville.

Tom,

Have you got any other details on this event? How did it all come about?

[TomGalvin]

Greg got a booth for his school showing hang gliding videos of the training hill and the mountain. A few locals pilots pitched in hanging two gliders from the ceiling and working the booth.

[bobk]

Hi Tom,

Can I nominate you for Hanggliding.org's Hang Gliding Promoter of the Month contest for January?

Thanks,
Bob K.

P.S. If I don't hear "no" very soon, I'm going to do it anyway! That is very cool.

[bobk]

I google'd the event and found some more photos at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Poughkeep ... 652?ref=mf

It looks like there were at least two hang gliders hanging from the ceiling. I checked reviews and it looks like this happened on January 31st, just under the wire for the January 2010 HangGliding.org Promoter of the month contest.

Do I hear any objections to the nomination of Tom Galvin and whoever helped him participate in this event?