South Wales Soaring Association

A few days ago, on the Slope Soaring in Wales Facebook group page, someone asked if the SWSA (South Wales Soaring Association) was still in existence.

This was a good question, because most of the guys locally didn't know, and the website hadn't been updated since 2009.

However, someone was still paying the land owner at the Bwlch for official access to the flying areas, and someone was still organising the annual Welsh Open F3F competition and the winter league competitions. So it appears that the SWSA was only being used for organising F3F competitions and keeping a place to hold them.

After a lot of banter on Facebook, and making a few enquiries myself, I managed to contact a couple of the clubs committee members, and it transpires that they are ready to hand over the reigns to more local guys. (The chairman now lives in Scotland).

There is still a lot of discussion to be had with the existing committee before a hand over can take place, and work to be done developing a new website, new committee members to be chosen, should this be required, and many other details to discuss. It will take time but we will get there in the end.

I feel this is a good thing for slope flying in S Wales as it appears the SWSA had become stagnant. It will be good for the local fliers, to bring them closer together. Good too for promoting S Wales as a flying venue. Good for promoting slope soaring to new fliers. Good for F3F competitions at the Bwlch.

Once all the details have been sorted, and a new website is available, I will add a page to this blog and create a link to the new SWSA.