I believe that competition is a key to promoting the sport of
hang gliding

Pilots are a competitive lot and it given the opportunity to
compete they will. And if engaged in competition they will improve their flying
skills and increase their enjoyment of flying. Competition is a means of
sustaining our sport and encouraging individual growth within the sport. If you
aren't growing you are dying.

I have made a number of proposals previously regarding what the USHPA can do to
support competition. I elaborate on those and add to them here:

1. Do whatever it takes to get additional local clubs to put on Team Challenge type competitions. This goes for the Santa Barbara club, the Sylmar club, the Crestline/Marshall/Andy Jackson club, the Rochester Area Flyers, the Arizona Hang Gliding Association, the New York area club, the Arkansas club. Identify the strong clubs around the country, identify the top movers in the clubs, see what they need to get started with replicating the Team Challenge type competition experience.


2. Identify every barrier for meet organizers and eliminate or at least reduce them. Cut the sanction fees and bond fees by a factor of 10.


3. Reduce the red tape at the office required of meet organizers. I have already created new documents that should help out this process.


4. Encourage the Competition Committee co-chairman to be in regular contact with the meet organizers to help iron out problems and provide support.


5. Create an on-line scoring facility or adopt one (there is one in Australia). Create a GPS download capacity that allows for the easy downloads at competitions.


6. Create a simple on-line registration facility.


7. Create a Sport and Single Surface Class ranking on the USHPA web site.


8. Make the National champion the pilot with the best total of two scores from all the USHPA sanctioned meets in a year.


9. Free quarter page ads in the magazine every month for the USHPA sanctioned competitions.


10. Free ads on the USHPA web site for the competitions (not just calendar notices).


11. Heck, place ads in the Oz Report for the competitions.


12. Send lots of USHPA swag to the competitions for passing out to the pilots. At least match Wills Wing, Flytec, and Moyes.


13. Pay for score keeping.


14. Pay meet organizers to mentor new meet organizers.

I ask the USHPA BOD to really think about what it takes to support competition
and not engage in some misguided effort that doesn't do that much. If the BOD
doesn't think that competition is that important, then quit messing with it. If
they decide that it is important, then do the right thing.