New blood in CIVL Bureau and Subcommittees

With elections each year for the CIVL Bureau and the Subcommittee chairs, there is always the opportunity for new faces to bring a new perspective to CIVL activity. This year’s elections saw a number of changes. Fernando Amaral (Portugal) and Giovanni Vitola Sutter (Guatemala) both join the CIVL Bureau for the first time as vice president and treasurer respectively. They join re-elected vice presidents, John Aldridge (UK), Leonard Grigorescu (Romania) and Agust Gudmundsson (Iceland) and secretary, Louise Joselyn (UK). Flip Koetsier was returned unopposed for another year as CIVL president. In the Subcommittees, there was no change in the chairs of the Hang Gliding (Dennis Pagen), Paragliding (Chris Burns), Paragliding Accuracy (Jurij Vertacnik) and Sporting Code (John Aldridge) subcommittees. Leonard Grigorescu takes over the Safety & Training subcommittee, while Iris Vogt (Austria) and Dennis Pagen co-chair the Aerobatics subcommittee. Records & Badges is now the domain of Richard Westgate (UK). CIVL president, Flip Koetsier, extended warm thanks to those stepping down, and not least to Scott Torkelsen, who has served as vice-president for many years, taking on a variety of roles in this time, including chairman of the Paragliding, Records & Badges and Safety & Training subcommittees. He also thanked retiring treasurer, Wayne Sayer, as well as Stewart Midwinter for his contributions on Records & Badges. The CIVL Plenary said good bye and good luck to Paula Sayer, CIVL coordinator for many years, and primary contact for pilots and organisers concerning WPRS issues, uploading results and sanctioning competitions. Her successor is Brian Harris.