First off, we would like to thank everyone who participated in the 2004 Elsinore XC Meet. This fund raiser is important to the survival of hang gliding and para gliding here in Lake Elsinore. As a matter of fact, ALL the fund raisers are VITAL to the very exsistance of recreational flying here. Now, above all we need money in order to continue the fight to keep our landing area and our launch sites. Both are now threatened more then they have ever been in past years. We now have two entities who want to do away with our sport in the Elsinore Area. As we struggle to keep up the counter offensive on both flanks we still manage to include some fun in there along the way and we seem to have managed to do it again. But not without a major mishap at the start of the race.

As mentioned on the front page, a paraglider pilot severely injured himself immediately after launch at the E on the frist day of the race. The rescue operations shut down the launch to further activity untill the victim was rescued and all the emergency equipment and vehicles were out of the way. Fortunately for us the wind continued to blow up long enough to get most everyone off the hill even though two hours were used up for the rescue. Fortunately for the victim, the emergency people performed to the highest standards of thier professions and got the badly injured pilot off the hill alive and into a rescue chopper in serious but stable condition. I'm sorry but I have not received any further updates about his condition at the time of this posting.

Once off the hill with dust devils chomping at thier heals, the sky quickly became crowded with little dots of colorfull flying machines and the majority were able to get up. People actually made it to goal at Soboba Wash that day and everyone had a good time. The second day was pretty much the same but the third day turned out to be outstanding with gains of 10,000 feet reported along with unexpected out and returns.

There were some pretty good whacks to help keep people in the LZ entertained but no injuries to the competitors. All in all it was a great meet and everybody enjoyed themselves to the max. Thanks to Bill Soderquist and his wife Marilyn for working so hard to put this meet on. Thanks to all the drivers who did such a good job of getting people up and down the hill and retrieving those who landed out. As Always, thanks to Bruce Carr for the outstanding awards he produced.

Paramedics Struggle To Retrieve The Victim Up The Hill	The Medivac Leaves With The Victim	The Emergency Vehicles Prepare To Leave	Bill Conducts The Pilots Meeting
The Meet Begins	Getting Crowded	The Cause Of Inflation	A Para Gagle
No Whacking Here	No Pounding Here Either	The Awards Cerimony Begins	Chris Palmer Receives His 1st Place Award
The Whack Award Goes To	Bill Gets A Suprise For His Birth Day	Victim Arrives At The Top	Loading Victim On The Chopper

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