After many months of negations with the park department, I’ve finally gotten clearance to bring paragliding to Fort Funston!
This was not an easy task and required the park department trusting me and not the FF Executive Committee. Fortunately, since I’m not officially a FF officer, I didn’t need to check with the Board, so you can’t give them any credit for my accomplishments.
Since the Fellow Feathers is a hang gliding only club, I had to start our own paragliding club for the Fort. I’m still trying to decide on what name to call it. The “Fellow Feathers of Fort Funston Paragliding Club” sounds too much like the hang gliding club so I think we will go with the “Funston Para Hawks”.
There will need to be a few rules if we are to share the ridge with the hang gliders: First, no more than three paragliders will be able to kite on launch at any one time, and more than 6 paragliders will be allowed to kite in the landing zone at any one time. No more than 10 paragliders will be allowed to fly on the main ridge at any one time, and are of course encouraged to give hang gliders a wide berth so they can land on the beach.
Since I used the Dumps as a model, we won’t need waivers or insurance. No USHPA for the Funston Para Hawks! The Dumps does not require ratings so no ratings will be required to fly paragliders at Funston either. This is great because as a P-1 I will be able to get lots of airtime!
I’m also making arrangements to get us space in the clubhouse. I anticipate getting permission to take down at least half of the hang glider racks to make room to hang our canopies and do repacking. Since the Fellow Feathers are paying the rent and don’t allow paragliders to join, the Funston Para Hawks will be able to use the building for free!
Since I am the most experienced person for the job, I have appointed myself the Fort Funston Director of Paragliding. No paragliders may fly at Fort Funston until they have checked in with me and joined the Funston Para Hawks. Membership will be $1,000.00 per year, which sounds like a lot of money but is a small price to pay for flying Fort Funston! Please contact me off line to make arrangements.
I’m really looking forward to floating around and parking for hours on the ridge, hope to see you all at the Fort!