http://www.fai.org/hang_gliding/meetings/bureau/2008_nov

The parts I found interesting:

Paragliding Europeans Serbia.

Problems here were also discussed. Some of the team fees held by the FAI continue to be held for now while more details are determined. The CIVL Bureau recognised that the situation at this Championship had been highly unsatisfactory, and agreed that it was necessary to ensure in future that NACs guarantee the quality of competitions held on their territory.

A bid for the European Hang Gliding Championship to be held at Ager, Spain has been received: More information required,...

Hang Gliding Subcommittee.

A brief note was received to say that a report had not been prepared. The Bureau was disappointed not to get an update on the activity of the Hand Gliding Special Subcommittee including any progress on sprog measuring.

CIVL will have to move the World Cross Country Contest from the DHV sponsored servers to a new server within the next few days. Some have already been shut down, without notice.

Sporting Licence database of FAI. This is due to be online on 1st Jan 2009, and will provide a useful cross check of holders of valid Sporting Licences, based on information provided by the NACs and delegated authorities. The database is designed to be used alongside the existing system of presenting paper licences at registration of all FAI sanctioned competitions.

FAI Sporting Licence (FAI SL) and WPRS.

a) There are pilots in the WPRS database who do not hold a current valid FAI SL, but they do not score ranking points, and they are clearly marked (with an *)

b) We have anecdotal evidence that some pilots may have qualified for Cat 1 competitions by flying in Cat 2 competitions without an FAI SL, and who have qualified for WPRS points without a valid FAI licence. This problem should be solved by the FAI SL database, and by the bureau decision to tighten up on licence possession.

c) Checking licences at category 2 competitions and penalties. If a pilot in a Cat 2 competition is later found not be in possession of an FAI SL, a letter will be sent from the CIVL president to the organising NAC informing them they have not upheld their responsibility. It was proposed to change S7 so that there is an official warning letter for a first offence with a financial penalty for a 2nd offence that the cat 2 sanction fee will be doubled for the next application from that country.

Paula Sawyer, the CIVL Competition Co-ordinator, has tendered her resignation, to be effective from after the 2009 Plenary in February.

Anti-doping rules and procedures. This was discussed and the bureau is aware the revised rules have been adopted by the FAI. We will await more direction from the FAI and make ourselves more familiar with potential ramifications in the meantime.

Investigate the possibility of using PayPal for sanction fee payments.

S7A - 16.5.7.3 Early Start

Specify that the time penalty will be applied by shifting the pilot’s track log time by the amount of the penalty. This is to ensure that, firstly the pilot loses any lead bonus, secondly that in the event of a stopped task the pilot is not allowed to fly for a longer time than those pilots who started at the correct time. Reason: response to steward requests.

From Laragne Pre-Worlds Steward Report:

10. Changes important to Section 7 that you think will improve fairness or effectiveness.

Suggest to change paragraph 5.5.8 and change the time that must have been elapsed since the first valid start taken by a competing pilot from 2 hours to a more flexible possibility like “to be decided by the meet director and at least 1 hour”. We have experienced that during short tasks 2 hours is too much.

From Richard Westgate to R&B SC

1) Can Free Distance Flights now be claimed as World Records? There is no reference to them in section 3.4.

2) Was Walter Geppert's recently ratified World Record (HG Class 5) a free distance flight as intimated on the Oz Report? (http://ozreport.com/1211200439) In which case why has the flight been ratified in the category 'Distance over a triangular course'? By definition a course is pre-defined. For guidance, Free Distance records originated with the IGC and they list them separately. Also, 1.6.5.8 definitely refers to Free Distance flights as separate records.

Race version 6.2.20 was released and published on the CIVL web. This new version is mostly bug fixes done in last 2-3 years. It is expected to be the last version of Race as the focus is on FS.

I don't see anything in here about fixing the problems with the DNF and ABS definitions (http://ozreport.com/12.221). I've now written to John Aldridge directly.

No bids or information on possible bids for a 2011 Class 1 Hang Gliding Worlds at Montecucco.

It looks like sprog testing is falling by the way side, as well it should.

Nice to see the Oz Report referenced in the Bureau minutes.

Also great to see the early start provision.

I didn't see any asterisks in the first 200 pilots ranked on the WPRS. It is unclear how and when CIVL knows if a pilot's Sporting License isn't up to date. Mine gets updated right during the Worlds, so when I present them my card it shows my membership expiring half way through the Worlds. Of course, electronically (on the internet) it has been updated, but it is not at all clear that there is any connection between the CIVL pilot database and the USA's NAA's hang glider pilot database. We'll see.