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 Pete Alexander - a retired Silicon Valley refugee started flying gliders at the age of 14 at Sky Sailing in Fremont, CA where he flew his first solo flight in a SGS 2-33. Since then he has accumulated about 4900 hours in gliders including a 6.5 year sting as a full time glider flight instructor at Sky Sailing while in college. He started flying competitions in 1986 and has since flown in numerous Regional and National contests on the East and West coasts. He had the privilege to be a crew member for Rick Walters (3R) on the 1995 US Team at Omarama, New Zealand. He was also a volunteer at the 2012 WGC at Uvalde, TX as a sniffer and photographer. His home field is the Williams Soaring Center in Williams, CA. He is looking forward to representing the US Team at the WGC in Leszno, Poland and will be flying his ASG-29.
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 Gary Ittner is an engineer and part owner of a small company that specializes in welding services for the aerospace industry. He resides in Los Angeles and splits his glider flying among several Southern California gliderports, including Inyokern, Santa Ynes, and Warner Springs.
Gary's passion for soaring began in 1975 and was initially satisfied by flying radio controlled model gliders. His switch to full size gliders started with flying lessons in 1983, buying his first glider in 1984, flying his first Regional contest in 1985, followed by his first National contest in 1986. Eventually pulling himself up from the bottom half of the score sheet, he has won 9 Nationals and flown in 7 Worlds with a best finish of 4th in 15 meter at Mafikeng, South Africa.
In his 6600 hours of glider flying, Gary has learned that glider racing is, by far, the most effective way to improve XC soaring skills. And he has found that improving his skills has always resulted in increased enjoyment of soaring.
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