Atout Vents <<atout.vents>>
writes:

I am sad to inform you that the national hang gliding committee
has taken away (email received on Thursday 27th of July) unilaterally (no vote)
and arbitrarily the organization of the French Nationals.

Many months of hard work and labor to obtain and secure the support from our
various institutional partners (FFVL, CND, Ligue Paca, CDVLs, Région etc.) and
commercial (Icaro, XC Mag, Sup’air etc.) in order to provide and offer the
required infrastructure and services as well as the necessary minimum budget to
allow for a proper national championship (trackers, prizes, shuttles, staff,
diner party etc.), all thrown away by a simple mail!

It seems only honest and fair to explain the ‘reasons’ announced by the
president of the national committee to justify his decision:

Following the communication I made on Friday July 21st (there was 0 prepaid and
only 13 preregistered pilots) regarding pilots' registration minimum criteria at
4 weeks and then 3 weeks of the comp (criteria finally validated by the
competition commission’s head by email on July 21st), I received an email on
Saturday 22nd from the national committee’s head saying that the comp will be
held no matter what (finally answering a question I was asking to the comp
commission’s head for a couple weeks) and ordering me to commit once and for all
to the organization of the nationals by Monday the 24th, bluntly disregarding
the previously validated criteria.

They got my reply on Tuesday the 25th (sorry but I have a life and I am not
doing voluntary work every day either) in which I am delighted by their
commitment, confirming mine while leaving myself the right not to plunge atout
vents into bankruptcy (we lost quite a bit of money last year because of the
cancellation of two events due to horrible weather) if the validated criteria
were not met while asking them to truly help us (logistics, com etc.) for the
final leg of this journey.

It's only two days later, on the evening of Thursday the 27th that I received
the reply from the national committee’s head (while waiting for their support)
in which I learned bluntly that THEY decided (3 people without a proper vote)
that Atout Vents will not be organising the French nationals anymore, because I
have replied on Tuesday instead of Monday while re iterating the need for their
support for the organization of this comp.

On my end, I can’t help but drawing some sour conclusions especially since my
accident in May and because of all the money (FAI sanction fee, t shirts,
posters, etc.) time and energy AV and I have invested for the last 6 months in
order to organize a proper championship but I repeat that the only goal of this
message is to be transparent and honest with the hang gliding community. I don't
want to argue politics etc. and only want to share this with you. Some things
will be said, some true, some false. But my conscious and I are clean and won’t
have to blush!

Since I am here for the sport, I am just glad to have noticed that in the next
couple days after my communication re. The criteria on the 21st, over 10 extra
pilots registered for the nationals and some who finally prepaid!

The pilots knowing me understand that it takes more for me to give up and that I
will stay true to the values of Hang Gliding and Free Flight which I have been
defending and promoting domestically and abroad for years now through Atout
Vents.

I will stay committed to the sport and continue to propose and organize events
matching the freedom of action which free flight provides us with., for now,
stay tuned for a little surprise for spring 2018. If I can go through with this
project, it will be show time!