Welcome to The East Sussex Soaring Association (ESSA)
Introduction to the Club
East Sussex has some of the best hill sites in the south of England for radio controlled glider slope soaring. To find out about the local glider based club please see 'About ESSA' above.
Long Man Permits
As you may know the BMFA has changed the way it funds the Areas. Up to now the South East Area has funded the licences for the Long Man, with assistance from ESSA and the competitions that we run. But these changes to Area funding mean that the full cost of the licences will now have to be born by those who use the site.
As of 2020 if you fly at the Long Man site and you are NOT a member of East Sussex Soaring Association** or Slope Soaring Sussex then you will need to purchase a Permit to fly.
The Permit will cost £10 per annum per site and can be purchased online from the Area website at https://southeast.bmfa.org/ under the “Area Flying Sites Tab” “Purchase Ashdown Forrest/Long Man Permit”
**NB Essa membership per annum is only £10 per annum at present.
ESSA fees for 2024
The ESSA fees for year 2024 is £10 for seniors and £1 for juniors.
BMFA fees – Adults £47 . The mandatory CAA fee of £10.33
There are two ways to pay:
1. As in previous years you can pay the BMFA through ESSA (same as before). Fees may now be paid via BACS/internet bank transfer, please contact Pete or Ray for details.
2. Do it yourself through the BMFA ‘Go Membership’ portal https://bmfa.org/renew (this is available to everyone and also replaces Country Membership) If you choose this way then, after paying, please also go to the ‘My Membership’ page and on the righthand side under ‘My Clubs’ select ESSA. If you are a member of 2 or more clubs then you can select one of them as your ‘Primary’ club
NOTE: If you have not paid BMFA fees then as of 1st January you are NOT insured!
Obviously, if you pay BMFA direct then you are insured immediately, however, if you wish to pay through ESSA then as ESSA is an affiliated club you are insured as soon as you have paid your fee.
How to join ESSA
For ESSA Membership contact the membership secretary by text, voice or email. For details see contact us
If you are new to slope soaring then please see New Members FAQs
Pictures
If you have any nice pictures of model gliders that you would like displayed on the website then please send them to Pete Burgess