So how did the USHPA President respond to my indictment of the
USHPA leadership on the question of support, leadership, and guidance for hang
gliding competition in the US? Well let's say that she wasn't pleased. While I
won't quote her as I haven't asked for permission to do so (and won't), I'll
accurately paraphrase what she said.


She wanted to make sure that I and all the other members of the Executive
Committee knew that she felt that the problem with competition has been going on
for years.


Going on for years?


THE PROBLEM? Exactly what was the problem was Lisa referring to?


The problem I was referring to was the fact that in 2006 we had four USHPA
sanctioned hang gliding competitions and zero in 2007. But as far as Lisa was
concerned that wasn't the problem. She had a much different problem in mind, and
perhaps she wanted to solve that problem and not deal with the problem as I saw
it, the problem that we've got right now, the problem of no USHPA sanctioned
hang gliding competitions in 2007. The problem that we didn't have last year,
when we had a different Competition Committee Chairman.


So I wrote back:

I wonder what problem Lisa is referring to.


Last year we had four hang gliding competitions that were sanctioned by the
USHGA.


Same was true the year before.


This was due to a strong working relationship between the Competition Committee
Chairman and the meet organizers.


In addition the Competition Committee Chairman went and got funds from the USHGF
to support the training of a meet organizer in New Mexico.


This year zero. That is the big change that has happened under the current
regime and it is due SOLEY to a failure of leadership at ALL levels. This is the
PROBLEM.


Previously we had a Competition Committee Chairman that actually cared about
supporting competition, recently we had a Competition Committee Chairman that
cared more about free enterprise than about the competition pilots.


I certainly hope your statement above does not represent your personal agenda,
the Idaho agenda. The failed agenda. Your position on the competition system (as
was written into the strategic plan) in the US is a minority position and one
that doesn't have the support of competition pilots in the US (as evidenced but
the strong support of competition shown by these pilots).

I have been in contact with Lisa Tate for many years, long before
she was elevated to the position of President of the USHPA. Lisa for many years
has also been the King Mountain Meet organizer and has refused repeatedly to
sanction the King Mountain meet as a USHPA sanctioned meet, even after she
became the president of the USHPA.


She may or may not have honorable reasons for her decision to keep her meet
unsanctioned, but the point is that she has a personal agenda re competition and
as USHPA President she appears to be pursuing that agenda to the detriment of
the US competition pilots. Her actions as President and as chairman of the USHGA
Planning Committee indicate that she is pursuing this agenda, which is fine if
it in fact helped increase and support competition, but if it is not, it is a
bad policy and should be named as such.


I will have more to say about this in the next article. On going discussion
here: http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4751.