Next meeting: Tuesday the 19^th of August 2003. Time: 7:30 P.m.

Vice President: Red Jensen (707) 585-3170

Secretary: Open (707) 577-0496

Treasurer: Tom Haddorff (707) 526-7058

Member @ Large John Reade (707) 545-9831

Not sure if you have noticed this as much as we have but there seems to be a very positive spirit of cooperation that is flowing this year among the members. We have had some problems in the past but things seem to be working out. We can all do our part to contribute to this spirit by not constantly bringing up this stuff from the past. Hanging on to old issues will not help anyone and only causes you not to enjoy yourself at the field. So next time you hear it from someone else, change the subject or just ask them what they hope to accomplish by bringing it up. Together we can all keep a positive attitude and accomplish way more than being negative all the time. Take care and have FUN!

We have five new members this month to welcome. We can start with Jerry Williams who is John Reade’s good friend and a new flyer, then we have John Stouffer who is Ralph Grella’s friend and also a new flyer but one who has a lot of experience with R/C boats. Max Rein and Patrick O’Halloran both have previous experience and we think they know their way around R/C. Finally, Ryan Renslow, a younger member that we suspect probably needs flight instruction. Hope to see all you guys at the field soon.

Submitted by Phil Leech

The big news for the month was the "Fun Fly" July 27. It was a warm day with temps approaching 90 degrees. The heat held down attendance somewhat with 50 – 60 people that turned out

Big winners were:

Joe Kagan – Trainer Class

Tom Haddorff – Sportsman Class

Red Jensen – Expert Class

$350 in prizes were distributed to winners with a $160 half cash prize won be Ollie Burns.

There were no crashes but Red Jensen owes something to Steve Cole for sharing his "Kaptain Kadet" with him so that Red could walk off with the top honors.

Financially, we made $110 on the food and the overall event cost just $70 so, all in all it was a great day!

The meeting was called to order at 7:30 PM by President Steve Cole with 24 members present.

Taylor Jensen drew the ticket for the door prize, a gallon of fuel that was won by new member, Jerry Williams. We’re sure that Jerry can put that fuel to good use.

NEW MEMBERS AND GUESTS

A number of new members and guests were present including: Ryan Renslow with his brother Andrew as guest, John Stouffer, Jerry Williams, Max Rein, Patrick o’Halloran and guest Ken Melani.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Tom Haddorff presented the treasurer’s report for the past month and informed us that present membership stands at 102.

SECRETARY’S REPORT

The minutes for June’s Board and General Meetings as published in the Newsletter were approved as written.

OLD BUSINESS

Sid Maxwell brought us up to date on the status of the Salvation Army Float Site. We have secured a Certificate of Insurance for $2.5 million and have presented this to Major Carow who is Director of the Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Center for the Salvation Army . Flyers will be required to sign-in and sign-out at the Main Building each time we fly at the site which is a 30 acre lake that is equipped with a 10’x12’ floating dock. Sid thought we might need a work party to clear some seaweed material at the shoreline and that we might think about reserving frequencies for the float site. The site will be available to us on a sunrise to sunset basis so we could either fly early or fly late without having to worry about frequencies.

Sid has spearheaded this program with assistance from Ralph Grella and they both deserve more than a few "atta boys" from all of us.

Gary Child reported that he has met with Donna Roper of the Volunteer Center of Sonoma County to consult regarding the status of our By-Laws and he hopes to have something to show to us in the near future.

Sid Maxwell distributed some of the New Members Packets that he has put together and gave us all a brief idea of the contents. Very professional, Sid.

NEW BUSINESS

Steve Cole announced that Larry Miller has had a continuing conflict with our meeting dates and his work requirements and he has suggested that we need to find someone else to fill the Secretary’s post.

The upcoming PCAM event was discussed and Wayne Frederick volunteered to show his Fokker D8. The theme this year favors "History of Flight" with an emphasis on WW1 so we will be looking for models with a historic background for our display. Look like we will be allowed to fly this year…we hope.

THE RAFFLE

The Half Cash ($70..is that a record?) was won by Max Rein..and how was that for his first meeting? Phil Leech won a battery cycler, Phil Heidt left with a fueler system complete with pump while Andrew Renslow took home a tach and his brother, Ryan left with a DVD about flying.

SHOW AND TELL

Sid Maxwell brought his "FunBat" combat plane to show us and he let us know that he has two more kits available for $32 each. Sid has sold several of these and is trying to get a bunch of us interested in combat flying. Sid also brought in a "SeaMaster" float plane with a 59" wingspan. Sid has named his plane "Sea Dog" Sid always names his planes some kind of Dog. Have you checked out his "Thunder Dog"? How about "Ugly Dog" or "Who’s Dog is this?"

Jeff Costa wanted to discuss mid-airs between planes and helicopters and the merits of using spotters and general communication between all flyers was reviewed. Wayne Frederick volunteered that he has had 5 mid-airs in his modeling career..all with airplanes..no helicopters. He suggested that the number of planes allowed in the air was a significant factor. We allow 5 aircraft at a time and he wondered if we should limit the number to 4 or even 3. Apparently many fields limit the number to 4 at a time.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 PM with refreshments and discussion at the rear of the room

The meeting was held at the offices of Gary Childs, Mortgage Broker. Thank you Gary. Members in attendance were: Gary Childs, Steve Cole, Rob Jensen, Larry Miller, Tom Haddorff, and Phil Leech.

The meeting was brought to order at 7:40 by Steve Cole.

Plans for Art Sutter’s Party planned for August 9 were discussed. Looks like we have 33 people signed up for the event. The question of whether we need to rent some tables and chairs was questioned and Steve Cole thought there was a local rental store that could provide them. Phil Leech will pursue this.

The Float Pond frequency pin issue was discussed and all members present gave their frequency pin canvas results to Red Jensen who will record them with the purpose of determining what frequencies are unused that might be reserved for float pond use. It was thought that if we could find 5 unused frequencies that would work OK.

Larry Miller reviewed the upcoming PCAM event on August 23-24. Larry has prepared a site map that shows where we are to be located. We should be near the flight line and it looks much more likely that we will be able to fly this year. The FAA and the airport manager have signed off to the idea so we are hopeful. Red has prepared a roster of planes to be displayed and flown including 2 jets and Wayne Frederick’s D-8. Phil Leech will help Larry set up on Friday, Gary Child will man the booth on Saturday with Steve Cole signed on for Sunday. Phil Leech will get 200 or so WCF info fliers printed for handouts and we will ask Stevo Smith to supply his canopies along with Joe Geiger. We will ask John Wolfe to lend us his P/A system again.

A review of the financial picture for the past Fun Fly showed that we made $110 on the food and that the overall cost of the event was $70.

Looking ahead at the next event, The Neil Taylor Day, we decided that since Stevo wasn’t present we would assign him the task of Contest Director. Larry Miller will order the plaque for the Annual Neil Taylor Award to be given to the member to be recognized in 2003 for his past contributions to the club.

Progress on securing the Astro-Turf form SACRATS was reviewed as Steve Cole told us he is working with Larry Childs re: finding a truck that has a gooseneck hitch. We have a trailer, just need truck with the right hitch.

Gary Child is working on final details of the By-Law update and revision. It was decided that with five Officers we should have 4 appointed Board members.

Larry Miller brought up the question of the condition of our Frequency Board and Red Jensen will call Wayne Frederick to ask for his help in fabricating new pins.

Jeff Kowell, our resident tree climber has offered to climb trees for all members to retrieve crashed planes in the "Jungle" for a 40 point reduction in dues. Since Jeff has been doing this for several members already for no compensation to Jeff, the idea was enthusiastically endorsed by all.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 PM.

Respectfully submitted by Phil Leech

The following is a list of persons that are currently in flight training and haven’t soloed yet. Let us know if we missed anybody.

Lou Winnard, Ollie Burns, Stuart Dobbie, Bilal Maqsood, Robert Sherrill, Bill Boitano, Jordy Strong, Jerry Williams, John Stoufer

Our first trip to SAL Lake included a "work party" to clean out the sea moss and a day of float flying and boat running. Ralph Grella, John Stoufer and myself formed a group to clean out the sea moss on the west bank of the lake. John brought his little 2 man boat and a big blade to drag on the bottom while Ralph and myself pulled the blade to shore. After 3 hours of cutting moss we were ready for some fun. John brought his boat, a 4 ft.. "V" hull, with a .22 cu. In. gas engine. He was having too much fun so Ralph and myself took a turn at the wheel. That boat is almost impossible to turn over. I flew "Sea Dog", my Sea Master amphibian float plane by Ace. It was a maiden voyage and everything went ok> It flew great and the Lake is just perfect. That plane was so easy to take off and land and so easy to fly I would recommend it to anyone. It would be an excellent plane for a first time float flyer. I did a few loops and rolls so it is capable of aerobatics. Float flying is really fun so come on out and try it. At the next work party we will concentrate on clearing out the sea moss around the dock.

So let’s fly-----------see you there.

Sid Maxwell

The Lake Committee has found a lake for float flying and model boats. As of July 17, 2003 the Wine Country Flyers can use "SAL" the Salvation Army Lake, just across the Freeway from Alexander Valley Field at the Salvation Army Center off of Lytton Springs Road. Here are the Rules for flying at SAL. Remember---this is a Rehab Center, consideration and respect is expected.

Happy Float Flying

Sid Maxwell Ralph Grella John Stoufer

Lake Committee

1. Flying is allowed from sunrise to sunset
2. Pick up frequency pin at Alexander Valley field and take it with you to SAL
3. Leave your AMA card and a card with your cell number or a cell number of someone in the group.
4. You must have a cell phone or someone in the group when you fly at SAL
5. Before 9am and after 3:30 pm there is no need to pick up frequency pin at Alexander Valley field.
6. Go to main building at Salvation Army. Go in front entrance, turn left and sign in at the window. Window is open 24 hours.
7. After flying at the lake return to main building and sign out.
8. There is one gate to open and close behind you. Cattle at large.
9. No alcohol allowed and no smoking.
10. Keep lake and surrounding area clean.

Happy Float Flying!!!

This question was asked at Alexander Valley Field on July 27, 2003.

"What do you think of "SAL" the float flying lake and the frequency pin set up?"

"I think it’s awesome. We’re going to have a good time. It’s going to open up more avenues of flying for us and get a lot of people float flying that haven’t been float flying before. I have a little HERR kit and a Piper Cub that I have built floats for. Now I’m building an Eagle 2 with floats. I think the cell phone is mandatory"

sTevo smith

"Time will tell on the frequency pins but I think you will see a bunch of guys using the float site. The frequency issue is something we’ll overcome. I don’t think it’s going to be a serious thing. Let’s see how it works out. I do plan to fly over there as soon as possible."

Phil Leech

"Time will tell on the frequency pins but I like the proximity of the lake. I am going to put floats on a Tiger 2 and we’ll fly that. I’m itching to go"

Larry Childs

"I was excited to hear about the lake and now that we have the site I’m going to go get some floats and put them on a nice plane. I think the frequency pin board is going to work. We’ll try it and adjust it if we have to."

Gary Child

"I think it will work just fine. I think the lake is great. We can go over there with friends and have a picnic. This place is Paradise anyhow, it’s just a bonus/ I have a miniature float plane that I will resurrect out of a Cub that I was building floats for. I’ll get something going".

Des Shapiro

Sid Maxwell

Reporter

Timely Tips

By Sid Maxwell

If you are looking for a good airplane wall rack. Go to the hardware store and get a set of adjustable 12" bookshelf brackets and mounting hardware. Cover each bracket with pipe insulation to fit. Adjust the brackets to what ever size you need and even put a shelf up for storage if needed.

Insiderc.com-------------R/C television shows

Decaljunky.com---------Decals

Runryder.com------------All Aircraft

This month I wanted to address something that may not seem like that big of a deal but it does affect the club as a whole. The other day I heard that someone had asked if they find a plane out in the jungle does that mean it is finders keepers. Well lets turn this around. What if I find a plane of yours and it was a very nice plane with all servos intact and a 120 satio in the nose. You see me walking up the hill with it and you say to me, Hey, that’s my plane and I say to you, Tough sh$# I found it. How would you feel. Come on friends, that’s not how we want to treat one another. If you find a plane or misc. part, let someone in the newsletter know, or post it at the shed. We have a lost and found drawer in the impound shed which is probably the best place to put it. What ever you do remember we are all doing this as a club and it is a damn good club if you ask me. So lets treat it just like you would if you found someone’s wallet and return it to the rightful owners, just like you would hope someone would do for you. Lets keep the field a place where we know we are among friends.

Well that’s all the blabbing I have for this month. See ya at the field.

Later friends,

STevo

For Sale:

(2) FunBat .15 size combat airplanes complete hardware incl. motor mount, hinges and 2 oz gas tank. 37" wingspan $32.00. I ordered 6 and have 2 left

Sid Maxwell (707) 584-4428, (530) 832-4548