Hello all Ultralight Soaring Pilots, Builders, Dreamers and Fellow Enthusiasts.
For those of you that are not already members or news letter subscribers, there is a new national organization formed specifically to cater to the needs and interests of Ultralight Soaring enthusiasts. Called the UNITED STATES ULTRALIGHT SOARING ASSOCIATION, this organization's purpose is to: "foster a heightened consciousness about ultralight soaring, to encourage an exchange of knowledge and information making possible the growth of this sector of soaring, and to serve Association members in their common ultralight soaring needs."
The above purposes include, but are not limited to: encouraging both foot and tow- launched ultralight soaring flight and sharing the techniques thereof: sponsoring training; and promoting the acceptance of ultralight glider operations by the existing soaring community, commercial and regulatory infrastructure.
Current Association membership is $25.OO for Founding Member and $15.00 for annual subscription to the association newletter - "Ultralight Soaring News". The newsletter is being currently published quarterly but we hope to begin getting it out once every two months as more individuals contribute information, articles, comments, stories, etc. for publication in sufficient quantities to make bi-monthly publication a worth-while effort.
Ultralight soaring enthusiasts around the world are welcome to join or subscribe as well... Non- United States founding memberships are $35.oo for Founding Membership and $20.00 for Ultralight Soaring News subscriptions.
Please make cheques payable to: "Chuck Rhodes" (rhodcg@bmd.clis.com, new address as of May 1998)
The current Association Officers and Board of Directors are:
So, I respectfully request that all of you Ultralight Soaring enthusiasts out there now that are not currently members of the USUSA, JOIN NOW and help us all promote this fantastic sector of soaring and build the organization nationally and world wide.
Thanks and remember: Soaring is living! Anything before or after, is simply waiting. - Chuck Rhodes
The United States Ultralight Soaring Association (USUSA) will be sponsoring the third annual "USUSA Ultralight Soaring Championships" 12, 13, & 14 June '98 in Witchita, Kansas at the Sunflower Aerodrome. Monday - Wednesday have been designated at practice days and competion will run Thursday through Sunday.
Again, the emphasis will be on FUN, seat-of-the-pants soaring and friendly camaraderie among all participants. Tasks will be designed to accent the unique attributes of ultralight sailplanes, i.e. high soarability, localized cross country, duration, and a final open distance competion. Launches will be by proven hang-gliding ground and aero tow winch systems that work perfectly for ultralight sailplanes as well.
Anyone is welcome whether they come from hang gliding, traditional soaring, or general aviation etc.
We are particulary interested in seeing a variety of ultralight sailplanes compete this year. So if you own a SWIFT, MILLENNIUM, SUPERFLOATER, CARBON DRAGON, MITCHELL WING, EXXTACY, APEX, RAPTOR, FLEDGLING, EASY RISER, ICARUS V, ODYSSEY, ULF-1, STEALTH II, or any other Ultralight sailplane design or traditional hang gliding "rigid wing" come on down!!
The overall purpose of the meet is to promote the Ultralight Soaring concept as a low cost, high air-time form of soaring that allows us to return to the basics of soaring that we all love so much. You won't find any 60:1 glass racers here worried about who's the fastest around the 100 mile triangle!
We are combining classic soaring skills with state of the art design and construction materials to yield extremely light weight gliders that allow us to stay aloft on the weakest of lift yet go from point A to B with glide ratios from 15:1 - 35:1 and beyond! This represents a REVOLUTION IN SOARING, as never before have such incredibly low sink rates and moderate glide ratios been combined to allow the Ultralight Sailplane pilot to soar with such ease in the most marginal of conditions. AND this is only the beginning!! One can only imagine the soaring potenial of the Ultralight sailplanes of tomorrow.
So come and join us for a great weekend of pure fun soaring, learn about the Ultralight Soaring movement, and be a part of history. For complete details contact Gary Osoba.
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