I have written a great deal about our competition program and made
some very specific proposals for "improvements" to the program. What is my goal?

My goal is to increase participation in competition.

First, why do I have this goal?

It's more fun for me and others if we have higher participation rates in our
competitions. We encourage meet organizers if the meets are better attended so
that we have a better chance of having competitions now and in the future. I
want to be assured the competitions are available because frankly I really am
not interested in flying hang gliders other than at competitions or in world
record attempts.

The competition program needs a sound economic basis. Tow competitions require
significant resources, especially expensive tow planes and tug pilots, and
without a strong competition scene these resources will eventually dry up. 
I feel that the current population base for hang gliding competition is too
small to support an ongoing competition scene and requires significant
improvement.

Competition is an excellent activity that promotes hang gliding in general if it
can engage a large portion (or at least larger portion) of the hang gliding
community. It builds solidarity and gives a stronger purpose to the activity. It
can build club infrastructure and help pilots gain essential skills, promoting
safety.

My objectives are:

1) To double (from the 2009 base year) the participation in USHPA sanctioned
Race-To-Goal national-level competitions within the next three years.

2) To eliminate the fees and bonds required by the USHPA of experienced and
trusted meet organizers at the fall 2009 BOD meeting.

3) To detail the proposed structure for USHPA-supported cross country
competition program parallel to the NTSS competition program, again at the fall
2009 BOD meeting. This may include two parts, a on-line HOLC type part and a
recognition of and melding of existing and proposed cross country competitions
into a unified program.

4) To make the USHPA Competition Committee a committee of competition paraglider
and hang glider pilots only with two co-chairman (a competition paraglider pilot
and a competition hang glider pilot) and to have them meet virtually, right
after the fall 2009 BOD meeting

5) Eliminate outdated and unnecessary provisions of the USHPA Competition
Rulebook that place burdens on meet organizers and reorganize the Rulebook to be
more accessible and useable by its intended audiences, at the fall 2009 BOD
meeting.

6) Develop a partner relationship between the USHPA Competition Committee and
the competition meet organizers  in order to determine what steps the USHPA
needs to take to encourage and support meet organizers and make for a
sustainable competition program.

7) Rewrite and reorganize with the new IT person at the USHPA office the USHPA
sanctioning package to make it as easy as possible to apply for sanctioning.

8) Create a National Championship program along the lines previously detailed in
my articles.

9) Get the USHPA Magazine to print monthly free ads for the national-level NTSS
competition program. And publish the ads as ad buttons on the USHPA web site.