2004 mins 600-616

MINUTES OF THE HANG GLIDING COMPETITIONS PANEL MEETING HELD AT TIDESWELL ON 23rd OCTOBER 2004 600. PRESENT & APOLOGIES The meeting opened at 10:20 with the following present: Trevor Birkbeck (Chair), John Aldridge (Sec), Mike Armstrong, Dave Bluett, Nigel Bray, Gordon Rigg, Kathleen Rigg, Mike Stephens. Apologies: Johnny Carr 601. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING & MATTERS ARISING The minutes of the last meeting were approved and there were no matters arising that were not agenda items. 602. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT The Chairman summarised the year’s activity and noted that the Open Series had gone well *and was continuing to attract new support but Millau had not provided us with the flying conditions we had hoped for. 603. TREASURER’S REPORT & FINANCES a. Current Position. Finances remain healthy with 2004 producing a £6K surplus of income over expenditure despite a reduction in competition entry fees. The panel agreed that sufficient reserves are held and that this surplus should be ploughed back into national level competitions. It was felt that the most attractive way to do this would be to provide a minibus and driver for all UK national meets (including the nationals itself) and perhaps one foreign meet. NB will check availability and KR produce costing estimates, recommended personal contribution levels and email for potential drivers. Action: KR, NB b. Future Funding. JA indicated that BHPA funding by UK Sport is falling and this may result in a re-examination of competition funding levels eventually but is thought unlikely to lead to a drop for 2005. 604. BRITISH OPEN SERIES a. Costs and income. Hillary had produced a detailed analysis and entry fees more than covered expenditure. b. Scoring. We will continue to use the GAP 2002 formula with Race but will link data from CompeGPS directly to Race next season to ensure lead bonuses are calculated correctly. Six tasks will count toward series positions again. The “fudging” of minimum distance flight data has been successful; it would continue to be set at 1 km in the GAP parameters but flights entered at 5 km if actually less than that distance. The scaling down of tasks to a max winners score of 500 will continue for the series result but JA asked that the Best 6 macro be extended to automate this function too. Action: DB, KR and NB c. 2004 Dates & Venues. The British Open (30 Apr – 2 May) will be based on the Long Mynd with Miles as local organiser, HQ in Wentnor again, possibly a DIY barbeque on Sun 1 May. GR again commented on the need for a local pilot committed to attending for site selection each morning. The second meet (27 – 31 May) will be SE Wales and based in Crickhowell, JA will book the Market Hall, TB offered to arrange a barbecue, probably in the Britannia pub for Sun 29th. The series final (26 – 30 Aug) will be based in Hawes at the Crown Hotel and TB will handle local arrangements, including a buffet on Mon 29th. Action: TB, MD and JA d. Additional meet. As in 2004 the comps panel will plan another 2 day meet with a fall-back weekend only if insufficient tasks are validated in the May meets due to weather. e. Entry Fees. These will remain as £40 for the Open and £45 each for the 5 day meets. Pilots who pay up for all 3 meets by 1 Mar 05 will get the British Open free, paying just £90 for the full series; after that date and up to end of the Open the Series entry will cost £110. If an additional meet has to be arranged pilots who have already paid for the full series will pay no more but any others will pay £10 for the additional weekend comp. f. Classes. There will be Class 1, Class 5, and Women if entry levels justify it. 605. UK NATIONALS a. Class 1 venue & dates Lumbier (Nr Yesa and 40 km SE of Pamplona) will be first choice with Aspres/Larange as the backup and preferred dates are 13-19 August. It will again run in tandem with an Open FAI Category 2 meet i.e. all pilots will require FAI licences. JA will investigate possibilities with the Spanish and report back. Action: JA b. Entry Fees. To remain £85 (€115) but a subsidy of £10 will be given to UK pilots with entry paid by 2nd May 2005. Qualified pilots (i.e those with AP) entering the nationals for the first time will again be subsidised to the full amount. UK pilots with a rating of Pilot will be accepted in the Cat 2 Open comp. c. Rules. Normal Nationals rules will be used. There should be a limit on the distance a pilot is allowed to fly and remain eligible for a re-light. d. Scoring Formula. GAP 2002 will be used with data transfer from CompeGPS. e. Marshals. JA believes that with the use of virtual goals marshals will not be essential at either site. f Class 5 Nationals The demand for such an event has not been proven and no championship will be arranged. If another organiser wishes to arrange one the minimum criteria have already been agreed. JA should include these on the competitions website. Action: JA 607. INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS a. Pre-European Championships Croatia. Details for this meet had yet to be published but it was agreed that pilots should be encouraged to attend. A team budget of £3K is allocated based upon 6 pilots attending. JA will try to find out meet details. NB will check if insurance considerations would rule out using a UK minibus for this. Action: JA, NB b. Bleriot Cup. MA pointed out that team members had made greater personal contributions than usual in 2004; it was agreed in principle to allocate more funding next time the comp is held in the UK. France is host for 2005 and a team budget of £1K was allocated. c. Worlds 2005. More detailed costing was available and a team manager found, the budget of £10K allocated in May was increased to £11K. There had been a query about the original set aside of £15K for the meet and KR reminded the panel this was made on the basis of having to hire a dedicated trike and pilot for the team. CIVL had subsequently insisted on different arrangements and this had reduced projected costs. JA also pointed out that it was Panel policy to aim for 2/3 funding and 1/3 personal contribution; the BHPA allocates comp funding on the basis of 50% funding and we add to this from UK competition profits. The panel also looked into the omission of Robin Hamilton from the team but considered that sufficient had been done to investigate his availability. d. Category 1 Team Selection. It was agreed that in future the top 3 from the WPRS will be automatic selections providing they are in the top 30; all other selections will be at the discretion of the panel. e. Individual pilot subsidies. These will be raised to £200 for foreign Cat 2 meets. Eligibility unchanged i.e. must fly UK nationals and enter 2 x BOS meets. If a pilot wishes to obtain a subsidy for a comp that has not obtained FAI Category 2 sanctioning he must obtain Comps Panel approval in advance. 608. CIVL MATTERS JA circulated the agenda for the forthcoming Bureau meeting. GR expressed concern about the wording of the +2 rule for continental championships. He was invited to submit his proposal for alternative wording to the panel by email. Action: GR 609. PILOT DEVELOPMENT a. Boot Camp It was not felt necessary to run a “boot camp” each year; however GR & MS agreed to run a weekend session for the 2005 Worlds team on preparation, planning, tactics etc. This was not expected to incur cost to the panel. Action: GR & MS b. Mentoring It was agreed that mentoring should be tried again in the Open Series for 2005 with MS organising this. JA will put a question on the entry form and it will again be available to new pilots and those who placed below 40 in the 2004 Series. Action: JA & MS 610. T-SHIRTS It was agreed that Hillary will organise these again and that JA will give her numbers when the requirement is clearer. The budget should be raised to £11 per shirt. It was suggested that the t-shirt logo design should replicate the trophy design with the addition of appropriate wording and that BOS and Nationals T-shirts should differ in either colour and/or style. Action: JA & HSS 611. TROPHIES & PRIZES a. Trophies The trophy list will be circulated by MA for review. It was agreed that TB contact Ben Ashman for a change of design. MA suggested something based upon the 1995 Ashman T-shirt design. Action: MA, TB b. Day Prizes. It was agreed that these should not just go to task winners but also for unusual or exceptional performances. DB will continue to supply them but panel members will take on the task of awarding them. Budget to remain an average of £15 per item. Action: DB & others c. President’s Trophy. Candidates were discussed in case the top Class 1 flight in 2004 does not beat the top 2003 one. JA to check with Chris or Malcolm. Action: JA 612. PR It was agreed GR would again publicise both the British Open Series and the Nationals and emphasise the savings to be made by booking the complete BOS by 1st March and the savings and free places available in the Nationals by 2nd May - end of the British Open. JA to put a separate notice in Skywings. Action: JA & GR 613. RESPONSIBILITIES No changes were made and NB was again congratulated on his provision of met information. 614. AWARDS PRESENTATION - TELFORD TB to contact heads of PG and Accuracy to liase on this. MA will chase up trophies. It was noted that GR would not be available at the presentation. Action: MA & TB 615. EQUIPMENT DB asked that a flat screen monitor be purchased so pilots could watch track log download. A budget of £200 was allocated. JA requested scanned air charts for CompeGPS for this purpose and GR offered to produce them. Action: JA & GR 616. AOB The question of potential liability for safety committee members in view of their power of veto on a task was raised. JA pointed out that they have £2m liability cover from the BHPA but it was questiooned wether or not this was £2m each or for the one incident i.e. £200K Each. JA agreed to get the BHPA insurance officer’s advice on this. Action: JA The meeting closed at 18:15 with thanks to Kathleen and Gordon for hosting us yet again.