by Rich Poland
Not a great turnout at our monthly meeting. Gary, Jose, Robert, Dan and a couple of others who are pretty regular didn’t make it. I hope it was a scheduling conflict or something other than negative health issues. President Don got through things and we went to fly fairly early. Elaine got her solo and plenty of congratulations. I flew and did pretty well I thought, but by the time Don and I got airborne there was no lift. Or, maybe Joe and the editor of Soaring used it all up. They went up in the Grob for a substantial time and I think they hit 8,000 feet. Woody towed many flights and seems to be none the worse for wear. Joe, as usual, offered to fight all comers. No one took him up on it.
We had a couple of new prospective members and VP Don introduced them to the group. Don came to us as a complete novice and now he owns a couple of gliders, has stayed up for hours in places where O2 was necessary. Liam, our youngest member, took a flight with Don while his mother patiently waited for him. Peter and Chuck were present but didn’t fly. Mike K decided to check on the fleet but didn’t take up any airtime. Chuck the younger played with his Discus but he didn’t find the rumored lift. Wyre took a very short flight. We were visited by Norm who has been out of the rotation for a while, but he says he will be back shortly. Tom P. took a tour in the Grob.
I didn’t see Eric but Dan billed him for a tow, so I assume I just missed him.
We went over the plans for the Christmas meeting and elections. Tom O. who has served well, and longer than I can remember as secretary announced that he’s got other things to do. We are looking for people to run for this office. In an attempt to put something back into the club, I volunteered to act as secretary until someone with real talent and ability decides they want this job, so please, if you have any desire to do this, put in your name or else I’ll be stuck with this and I’m an equal opportunity insulter so to avoid this, sign up. Many years ago, before we got a competent treasurer, I was treasurer and spent most of my time trying to get someone else to take over the job. I’m not sure how I got Dan to do it, but it is one of my most proud achievements.
We expected Alex3 to come but he was sick. 6 months ago we had Alex1, Alex2 and Alex3. Now with Mr. Sutton at San Jose State and Alex2 leaving to go to Elsinore, Alex3 is now just Alex.