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Van Tassel. During the first race the wind failed, and both balloons were forced down on mud flats on what is now the Alameda Naval Air Station. To satisfy the people who had wagered on the race, the balloons ascended again. They reached the mainland almost simultaneously but with "The Pride of San Francisco" enough ahead to win by a slight margin.

Geneve is also credited with being the first woman glider pilot in the U.S. She made her first solo flight on August 1, 1909, in a glider built by her brother Cleve. She worked with Cleve in his Shaffer Aero Manufacturing Co., also, serving as secretary and chief rigger.

Geneve's glider flights were such sensations that to keep from being constantly pestered by the press, Cleve had two signs made with four-inch high letters, which he would hang in front of their house: "SHE WILL FLY TODAY" and "SHE WILL NOT FLY TODAY."

Perhaps the most unusual flight by a woman in those early days of aviation occurred at St. Louis in November 1910. Helen Mallard became the first woman in the world to ascend by means of a kite. Mrs. Mallard sat in a swing-like