US Team Committee
Fall2006Board Meeting
Activity Report
2006 Competition Results
We sent six pilots to the WGC’06 in Eskilstuna, with the best racing results turned in by Ittner (5th, 15 Meter Class) and Jacobs (5th, Standard Class). Overall, team pilots did very well on individual days, and in the case of Butler in Open Class, led the cumulative standings during the contest period but lost the lead. Weather conditions were difficult as were airspace restrictions which made departures from and final glides into Eskilstuna quite difficult. New faces gathering valuable experience included Rick Indrebo and Sam Zimmerman, who flew together in 18 Meter class. Both had outstanding individual day performances.
We also sent five pilots to Vinon, France for the WGC’s in Club and PW-5 classes. Our best result was turned in by Francois Pin (5th, PW-5 class). New participants Tim Welles and Dave Stevenson gathered valuable experience as well, but as is well known, it is very difficult for first time visiting pilots to do well in the southern French Alps, home to the famous French National Gliding Center and its many, many very experience pilots in this area.
One bright spot was Tim McAllister’s second place finish in the Russian Grand Prix Competition, which means he has qualified for the first World Grand Prix Championship to be held in Omarama, New Zealand in late 2007 – congratulations Tim!
Less fortunate was Doug Jacobs, who competed at St. Auban in a very well run and weather blessed French Grand Prix qualifier, finishing in the middle of the pack.
We were informed that the US Grand Prix planned for Ely was abruptly cancelled. As the FAI’s new initiative to make racing more accessible to the general public, this was naturally quite embarrassing for the US and did not reflect well on the SSA. The organizers of this event did not involve the US Team Committee in their deliberations, did not respond to emails asking for details on selection process, etc. The Team Committee would therefore recommend that any future international competitions on US soil be vetted by them, either directly or through the Competition Committee to avoid such future situations.
2007/2008 Team Selections
Based on competition results over the past three years and in accordance with the US Team Selection Policy, available on our web site at the following pilots have qualified for 2007 and 2008 World Competitions:
Junior World Championships, Rieti, Italy, 2007
Mike Westbrook
Chris Saunders
Open/18M/15M Championships, Germany 2008
Heinz Weissenbuhler – Open Class
Rick Walters – 18 Meter Class and 15 Meter Class
Club/PW-5/Standard Championships, Rieti, Italy 2008
Chip Garner – Standard Class
Pat Tuckey – PW-5 Class
Jonathan Gere – Club Class
For the two 2008 contests, these selections are contingent on participating in the relevant pre-Worlds in 2007, unfortunately at personal expense.
Four of the seven selected pilots are first timers, boding will for broadening the experience of US pilots in international competition. More information on their backgrounds and participation will be made available on our web site. Congratulations to all!
US Team Web Site Reporting
One of the most popular offerings of the US Team Committee is a terrific web site, and daily reporting of contest results overseas. Doing the honors in Sweden and for the Grand Prix in France was John Good, who wrote daily reports of competition results and happenings around the field. Susan McAllister served as both Team Captain and official blogger (bloggess?) for the Vinon Team, and later the Russian Grand Prix. These contributions take more than a bit of effort in the midst of crewing and captaining duties, but are widely read but the SSA membership and much appreciated.
Financial Position
Financial reporting has been finalized by both Team Captains and was reviewed by the Team Committee at our fall conference call on August 28th. Complete budget and expenditure reports will as per our practice, be posted on our web site.
As previously reported, we allocated a total of $48,800 in Team funds to Sweden, working out to a defined benefit per pilot of $9,375 (we gratefully accepted two pilots’ offer of self-funding) with the remainder for administrative expenses. Through the hard work of Team Captain John Godfrey, we were able to stay within $1,000 of that budget.
The Vinon Team budget was $30,000, working out to a defined benefit of $7500 per pilot (one pilot self-funding), and Team Captain McAllister was able to stay within that target, doing a terrific job doubling as Captain and husband Tim’s crew.
In both cases, the cost of traveling, obtaining gliders, rental cars, living expenses, etc. are far above what we’re used to in the USA, primarily because of a currently very unfavorable exchange rate of the dollar vs. Euro. Both sites are within a day’s drive of most of Europe, making participation for European pilots far less of an obstacle. Despite the significant size of these expenditures, it is estimated that we covered, at most, only two thirds of the cost of pilots’ participation, and in some cases well under half.
Looking forward, we face the 2007 season in reasonable shape. Total resources from existing funds on hand, available funds from the Robertson Trusts under our Memorandum of Understanding with the Foundation Trustees, and known cash sources yet to be collected (2006 sanction fee surcharges, ride collections, etc.) are roughly $60,000, before consideration of additional Robertson availability at year end. Our only expenditure for next year will be for the Junior Team to Rieti; 2008 will bring a return to major expenditure for the two World Competitions in Germany and Rieti.
The SSA has$6,900 in funds remaining from a $25,000 gift given directly to it by Baron Hilton to support the Grand Prix concept. Some $10,000 was spent fruitlessly by the Ely organizers (see comments above) and additional monies were provided to defray the costs of participation in last year’s New Zealand competition by Dave Mockler. At the moment, the remainder appears on our financial statements (only available through April) but is kept in a separate bank and separate account and we have no control over the funds. It is not clear to us what the fate of this money should be under the terms of the gift, and we have asked the ExCom for clarification.
Finally, as are all SSA members, we are very concerned about the current financial problems being uncovered in Hobbs. Chairperson Nixon’s web postings have been helpful in disclosing the situation but it seems to be still evolving. The source of payment for our eventual liability to the IRS and related expenses is not yet known, but speculation has it that among the possibilities discussed has been tapping Foundation funds on some sort of loan basis. Given that a substantial portion of Foundation assets consist of Roberson money, the Chair has emailed both the SSA Directors and Foundation Directors on behalf of the Committee to express a strong concern of doing such given no visible means of repayment by the SSA, and requesting that we be consulted and approve any such plan involving US Team funds.
US Team Committee Elections
John Seaborn, who has done a simply incredible amount of work on behalf of US Teams and Robertson, has informed us that he will not stand for reelection when his term expires at year end. We greatly regret his decision, and thank him profoundly for his contributions.
In keeping with our policy we will be notifying Directors shortly of a Call for Nominations to replace John. Nominations are requested by October 30, we will hold an internet election in November and the winning candidate will begin a three year term at the beginning of 2007. All Directors are urged to put forth worthy candidates.
We are particularly fortunate to have the volunteer services of Dirk Elber to replace John in his role as Team webmaster. Dirk has done excellent work with the Blue Ridge Soaring Society’s web site, as well as several contest web sites for Mifflin.
Merchandise Program
Despite a very well organized merchandise program, designed by John Seaborn, supported in good fashion by the SSA office, and by the efforts of many volunteers at contests over the season, we have decided to step back from this form of fundraising for the near future. Results were good enough to pay for the uniforms issued to Team pilots, crews and captains, but only resulted in a breakeven performance for all the work that went into the program.
US Team Committee Camps
We are in the initial stages of organizing additional XC/racing camps for 2007. These have proven to be very popular despite the difficulty of organizing them, and we hope to enthuse a large number of pilots at the transitional stages of their cross-country experience to give racing a try. Updates will be posted as they occur on the US Team web site.
Member Feedback
To get a better idea of how the membership feels we’re doing, we plan to post a number of questions on the annual SRA web poll. Several include proposed changes to qualification for the Club Class, but we will also seek to get a better handle on where our pilots think the Team Committee should try to go. Results will be discussed at our next meeting and reported for the winter board report
For the Committee
Doug Jacobs
Chairman