| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| Follow @flybc |
FlyBC "Site of the Day April 2013 Archive Page"
Woodside looks good all day with little chance of Overdevelopment
|
| 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
@ 3000' in knots |
Rate °C/1000' |
Base in Meters |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
 12°C Rain mixed with snow ending early this morning then mainly cloudy with 40 percent chance of rain showers. High 12. UV index 4 or moderate. By the time we got up to launch it had overdeveloped and pilots were running downwind to escape the storms. Reports from Bridal had Kevin & Derek heading to Annis Road to land going up at +5 m/s with `big ears & speed bar`! Martin N was landing at Seabird Island when he caught a low save and climbed out heading to Ludwig where it was getting windy. Brett H picked up his new Ozone R12 race ship, and he and Alex R were doing the triangle to Bridal and back arriving over Woodside high, good thermals over the Chilliwack flats brought them and Guy H home to Woodside.
The last pilots to launch Woodside were forced to head to Harvest Market for smooth landings.
|
| 10°C Rain ending this morning then cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Wind west 40 km/h gusting to 70. High 10.
San Juan Island Report - James & Stephen went to the San Juans for the weekend in WA State and were rewarded with some nice soaring that started lightly and came in full-on requiring ``big-ears and speedbar`` to stay out front!
|
|  12°C Cloudy. 40 percent chance of showers this afternoon. Rain beginning late this afternoon. High 12. UV index 4 or moderate. It just got windier after that but a good day for chores, thanks to Derek & Thomm for all the help cleaning gutters, mowing and shovelling. Reports from TJ said that Blanchard was soarable later in the day.
|
| 13°C Cloudy. Rain beginning in the morning and ending in the afternoon then 60 percent chance of showers late in the afternoon. Becoming windy in the afternoon. High 13. Reports from the interior said some trucks were blown off the road in strong winds, as Kamloops reported 70+ kph winds.
|
|  20°C Sunny. High 20.
Back to Heritage Park where we waited a bit and gradually the winds came South too and both students got 8 flights down the training slopes. We packed up as the winds calmed around 3 pm, hoping for a Woodside Tandem for each of them, but when we arrived back at the Ranch it was howling on top. Oddly the winds on the ground were quite nice as they were burning near Harrison Bay and the smoke was lazily moving towards Hemlock, but that was the NOAA forecast too. Owen & Theresa kited and mastered reverse launching while we waited for the winds to drop on top. Tom & Joe Chromy were out kiting too. I sent Theresa & Owen home at 6 pm and later the winds were still strong even at 8 pm. A very productive day for ground school, but now we need to fly. We may have to wait til Sunday and Cache Creek for these folks. Elk Gloat Report - You know its going to be good Elk trip when you get on the radio at 7:40 am and Eddy has been flying for 1.5 hours in smooth ridge lift. I hiked up arriving at 9:30 and Steve D was enjoying the air as well about 100 meters over and higher at times. Launch conditions were strong but doable from the south switching slightly from east to west. Once in the air, it was spectacular. I flew to Thurston getting up to about 1600 m in ridge and strong thermals and then flew back to Elk to a strong W wind. Flying west, towards Prest road where my truck was, I was crawling and concerned about big rotor if I dropped too low north over the ridge so I started out towards Annis road (Freeway overpass) wondering how I would get back to my truck. As I got about a km away from the ridge, the air seemed smooth, so I hit full bar and aimed west to get as far as I could to shorten the walk. It was a slow journey but the Delta 2 has great into wind glide and I made it back to Prest to be rewarded with a thermalling experience with two eagles over my car for five minutes gaining another 100 meters. Flight time? I guess an hour. All of this in a hiking harness and no instruments! Gotta start remembering a camera - Kevin A Bridal Gloat Report - Karin, Laura, and I launched off Bridal starting at 2:00. There was definitely a strong west wind but nothing unmanageable. After we gained altitude on the Bridal ridge we struck off towards Gloria. Karin and I tagged Gloria, Laura was in the upper launch area for some time. Some cloud development dissuaded Laura from joining us. Eventually Laura landed, Karin and I tried top landing. Karin got in first so I flew out. All in all a couple hours of nice flying. The winds died down around 3:00 and there was buoyant lift everywhere. A nice afternoon - the other Martin
|
| 20°C Sunny. High 20. There were building cycles and I had the Delta 2 Large to test fly for an Alberta Pilot before shipping it out, and I was really looking forward to a great flight. I brought up the Delta 2 without even a proper layout just to see what it would do, and it assembled itself immediately and was waiting to fly, so off we went. Oddly with all the wind I had to run several times to get off and kept getting dropped back onto launch. Layered air apparently, as I started going straight up and back but with nice control. I was soaring around and the thermals were sharp and jagged, about +3 m/s up. It was too windy to "360" but one could "figure-8" in them to go up. I ventured to the South Knoll to soar but that wasn't very productive. I went back to the thermal off the lower launch switchback and it worked well. I got to see John M launch and it was scary as his wing came up 90 cross to the north and he launched over the trees! He was followed by Will with a much nicer launch and we were all soaring around together. An un-named pilot was on launch but she packed up her wing and drove down.
Once I established a good climb and saw the others heading out toward the Ranch, I bailed over the back to Harvest. One problem was that I was lower than I have ever left for Harvest and I thought maybe land at the dykes (nope, too rotory), the next option is a hayfield with trees behind it (was on a good glide so kept going).
I kept pushing out to the sandbars because they were forming clouds, and I saw John M come scooting into Harvest Market field.
The Ozone Delta 2 is a sweet ride! Great glide and even greater climb ability! Excellent rough conditions for a 50 minute test flight!
|
| 20°C Sunny. High 20.
I took Janice, the lighter passenger, on Colleen's Magnum 38 and we soared with ease along the north cliffs getting above launch. I opened the trimmers fully to head out and was getting lift all the way out as the winds increased. We did some lazy spirals over Duncan's and came in to try to spot land on the circle but kept getting lifted up all over the Eagle Ranch LZ. Not violent lift, just lazy thermals popping off requiring patience. I finally gave up and headed down the path towards the Pro-Circle and landed there instead as it was in the shade.
|
| 18°C Sunny. High 18. We arrived on launch just around noon and they both got good flights into the Ranch, with some bumps along the flight path to give them some height.
We packed up fast and headed back up as we heard folks assembling at Bridal, and I had to take Miguel's Delta 2 MS to him. We did a Bridal LZ briefing but opted to go back to Woodside as they only had 3 flights and we feel it is imprudent to bring beginners into Bridal LZ until they have about 15 good Eagle Ranch landings. We drove straight up and Emily took off first in nice conditions. Denis had top-landed and didn't like the air higher up at 1100 metres as it was leeside. NOAA was showing west all day at launch heights and NE higher, but TJ was showing the NE trend all the way up?
Emily had a smooth ride and Bruce was in the launch slot when he tried a launch but it overshot and frontalled so we reset his wing. After that it was all SE or cross and not student launchable so we drove down to the Ranch. By the time we got down to the Ranch at 3 pm, it was very strong from the North, so we started kiting practice. It blew NW until dark but lightened up around 7 pm. Only 2 pilots flew Bridal and apparently the first launch was "pretty hairy" and the next one better but they both hit big sink and got 9 and 6 minutes of airtime. at least their trucks got driven down but the other pilots not wanting that flight!
|
| 15°C Sunny. High 15. Collee & Bruce went first and they had some thermaling over the switchbacks which are clearly bigger and should produce better lift after the recent road widening. Colleen then handed over the controls to Bruce so he could fly out and practice the approach. East winds in our field as normal. Next I got Emily ready as Derek and Martin N were going to fly next if we got some lift. Emily and I soared in front of launch for some time, but the thermals were weird to track (some drifting north, some west). I had Emily put her hand on the controls too to feel the thermals thru the brakes. After some turns we headed out a bit towards the Construction Site area with Emily flying and there was gnarly lift there, not very controllable, so I took over the flying til the Duncan's field. Emily flew the approach nicely and smoothly and we had a perfect swoop-landing onto our feet just near the circle in very light east winds. Derek launched next after waiting for some cycles and he said it blew down hard a few times before he got off and it was rough in front of launch. Martin never got a chance to fly as it was so strong over the back so he drove the FlyBC Bus down for us. Al, Alex, Nicole, John M & Claudia all headed up as Martin drove down and only Al & Alex managed to get off before it blew down hard for the rest of the crew. Al & Alex got high and headed west to Sasquatch and we last heard them at Dewdney Mtn. as we lost radio contact. They eventually landed at Durieu School near Al's new house. The rest of the Woodside crew went to Bridal where it was oddly launchable due to strong thermals cutting thru the leeside winds which were apparent once in the air. Alan D was already in the air reporting 10-15 kph of NE winds. Reports from different sources at Bridal said "I am at 2400 metres over the Lakes/Butterfly/Laidlaw", so the lift there was good everywhere. As we knew it would not be student friendly til later we sent the students for lunch and then we did some kiting til 3 pm. Jason joined us and we headed up the mountain for first solo flights as we saw some hope in the socks on top. We had to wait for an hour before Gary P & Colleen could launch and they both got great, smooth lift in front of launch. Gary made a run to Sasquatch with ease. Colleen flew for 15 minutes and then headed out on her M4 and hit the Ranch at 780 metres. We launched Emily first, perfect reverse launch for her first solo in 15 kph winds! She climbed most of the way out and Colleen guided her into the circle for a perfect landing. Next up Bruce did a forward launch and had a perfect launch as well after days of kiting practice and Mission Hills. He too climbed out and had a perfect approach into landing under Colleen's expert guidance. Next up Jason & I were to tandem after Derek launched, and we ridge soared for 30 minutes before letting Jason fly the approach. We saw zero winds on the socks at the Ranch. I mean not a breath of air? This with 5 minutes of circling right over the field. So I took over and we flew an approach over the quonset hut next door around the maple tree to the west and dropped right into the pro-circle dead centre on our feet! Yeah, Jason can run! By now it was 7:30 pm and we had to do a retrieve run to get the Bus and the students were beat. Long day with excellent results in the end!  Bridal Delta 2 Report - Once again, my flying experience was magnificently enhanced on the D2 today during the epic Bridal conditions. Effortless launch, quick climbs, stress free thermalling (5.7 m/s ) to 2445 m and easy glides generally keeping up with NCL on her IP6. The highlight of this almost 4 hour flight was the 20 minutes spent with Alex Raymont and Nicole McLearn ridge soaring the north face of Mt. Cheam just below the summit in perfect light ridge lift, our wings and our bodies were practically touching the cornices and Nicole was dusted with some light avalanche powder as it broke off in the evening sun. I call this "face of God flying" - Kevin A
|
|  11°C Showers ending this afternoon then clearing. Windy. High 11. We had breakfast and chatted about flying related itemes til around noon, when we bailed and headed to the Ranch for some ground school and simulator sessions testing out many harnesses. It was not raining at the Ranch but still wet from the rain overnight, so we headed back to Heritage Park for training hill practice. Emily had been kiting all day Saturday, Karim has been out and flown a few times at Woodside but Bruce was brand-new. We parked at the top of the south facing hill off 7th Avenue and we had east winds but we saw cycles straight up the front, so we setup. Everyone did really well, except for poor Karim who is flying a Little Cloud 19 and he needed much more speed to even clear the slope. Meanwhile, Emily & Bruce on Ozone Elements were going high & far landing down in the flats of the park.
Amazingly strong North winds here, I don't know how we flew at the south hill? Must have been good thermal cycles but it was smooth and good launching for 2 hours.
A couple of U-Turners arrived and were having fun kiting and flying (Jeremy & ?) at the Cherry Hill too. We all commented on how nice the winds were, straighter and stronger than I have ever seen! Ozone Mantra M5 UPDATE At the moment we are working on 3 exciting new designs in the M5 series. First, the M5 3-Liner, which is now in the final stages of development. This 3-Line design has an Aspect Ratio of 6.9, a SharkNose Profile, and significant improvements over the M4 in almost every respect; the R&D Team reports that this new design has much nicer handling, with a more precise feel, a better climb, and increased stability in accelerated flight. The feeling, according to Dav Dagault, our chief test pilot, is “Delta-esque, rock solid, with excellent sail cohesion”, and even the standard version is lighter than the M4. With Chrigel’s help, we have developed a wing that is designed from the ground up to perform in the world’s toughest adventure race, the X-Alps. The LM5 will be used by a record number of Ozone pilots in the 2013 X-Alps race. We chose this design based on its exceptional stability in turbulent conditions which the X-Alps pilots are forced to fly in. the 3L design is comfortable and easy to launch, even in difficult circumstances, and our current prototypes are exceptionally light! After the completion of the 3L designs mentioned above, which is imminent, we will release a 2-Line Mantra M5 as well. This version is aimed at pilots who are looking to transition to the competition class of modern 2L designs. With a slight performance increase and the inherent benefits of a 2L design in flight (rear riser control, increased speed), the M5 2L is the perfect step for pilots looking to move up to the highest level of competition wings. Many pilots will now be asking themselves, “Which M5 is for me?” We think that most M4 pilots will find the 3L best suited to what they need, whilst the most ambitious ones may opt for the 2 liner. On launch, the 3L is significantly easier to handle, and is generally a more forgiving wing. The comfort and ease of use of the 3L will yield the highest “True Performance” for many pilots. The 2L offers a performance advantage and more efficiency at high speed thanks to the precise rear riser control. In return, it requires more active and precise piloting in turbulence. We will continue to post news here on the progress made with the M5 series. Please refrain from emailing us (The R&D Team in particular, please let them work) regarding this project as we truly need to dedicate all of our time to this project. We are later than we had hoped to be due to uncooperative weather in the south of France, but we’re very happy with the results so far and we are confident that you will agree it is worth the wait. Cheers, from all the Team.
|
| 12°C Showers. High 12. New student Emily came with me in the Bus and we met Jason there at Heritage Park. The conditions were due west, and a bit gusty so we stayed on the flat fields below and practiced reverse launches. Jason has been out many times before and was doing most of the line sorting and wing management by himself and was looking good. Emily was doing really well to for her first time clipped in to a glider. By the end of the session at Heritage Park they were looking pretty darned good, and we quit when both of them got "yarded" 2 meters into the air by rogue gusts right after each other! They landed fine. We headed to the Cherry Street School Field after that and the wind was better behaved with occasional strong gusts, and Jason had to leave for town leaving Emily & I to kite alone. She started having some trouble and I thought it was cause she was getting tired after 5 hours of kiting, so I took her kit and was kiting and I too was taking frontals and collapses due to rotory air, so we bagged it and headed back to the Park and had a snack. After a snack we tried again, this time with Emily kiting "FrankenBuzz" and she was amazing. Good smooth inflations everytime and perfect form once turned around into a launch position. Magic! Next step is some actual training hill flights on Sunday if the winds cooperate and some tandem flights. Colleen later reported heavy showers all day at Woodside, so we didn't miss any flying at least. Derek reported snow in Merritt around noon, so taht would have been a bad call too! Blanchard Boat Fest Report - Beautiful day at Blanchard. Wind about 15-20k from the south. Smooth out front with base about 500 m over. Had a nice boat around for an hour to 700 m. Strongish winds (26 k) with lift everywhere, even over the lz (no sun). Several hangs and a few paras who didn't journey to Oregon. Thanks to TJ for picking me up to go flying - Kevin A. Coast Mountains skiing 2013 from Richard Teszka, intrepid adventurer and fellow paraglider pilot on Vimeo.
|
| 10°C Periods of rain. High 10. Good day to test out the wood chipper and plant the garden. The plates came off the Suburban and it is officially retired now that the Bus is fully operational. Anyone need a lightly used Suburban? Make me an offer.
|
| 10°C Periods of rain. High 10. Baixo task 1 part 2 from Philippe Broers on Vimeo.
|
| 14°C Increasing cloudiness. 40 percent chance of showers in the afternoon. High 14.
Martin N & Derek were out too, and we loaded up the Bus and drove straight to launch with Jason & two tandem girls hoping for a tandem too. Unfortunately the NOAA was right and we had over 18 knots of wind on launch and none of the passengers were very heavy including Jason. So after freezing in the wind we drove down to try another day.
I went down to Riverside with Martin N to get the WCSC Mower working and left him there so he could mow a few passes. Martin was back in short time cursing about "burned belts", "POS", etc. not happy as it died on the runway where it was left.
After Jason went home I burned off the old grass around the training hill, and caused quite a bit of smoke that blew towards Woodside but oddly never climbed up? High Pressure?
|
| 15°C Mainly sunny. High 15. UV index 4 or moderate. Brave souls flew Bridal and got some good lift but also hit some strong headwinds requiring landing in some alternate fields. Some OD-ing happened all over the valley.
Twin Falls Fazer roll over from Carson KLEIN on Vimeo.
|
| 13°C Mainly cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers early this morning. 40 percent chance of showers this afternoon. Risk of thunderstorms this afternoon. High 13. UV index 3 or moderate. After working on replacing the rear door of the shuttle Bus, I got the new Keurig Coffee System installed and started reorganizing the Barn for spring, need some help reinstalling the couches at some point.
|
| 11°C Mainly cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. Risk of thunderstorms this afternoon. High 11. UV index 3 or moderate. Ben had a nice approach, just too low to get into the wind but he had a brilliant downwind landing on his feet. James launched next and had a perfect launch, flight and landing with some expert guidance from Colleen. James was flying his new Ozone Element II/Oxygen 2 Harness that he just purchased. Mark C launched on his Ozone Buzz Z3 and was soon thermalling under the black clouds doing really well but he was on the ground with intentions to write his USHPA P3 exam.
We restarted student flying after 3 pm, after all the "big guns" had headed east under snow clouds on their way to their assorted goals. Reports of "getting snowed on" were coming over the radio waves. Alex R's response "well that is better than rain!". Again, Ben & James had great launches for flights #3, #4, and #5 and more thermalling practice as the sky cleared up and looked less threatening. at no time did either student require any "big ears" or maneuvers to maintain VFR. It was just super smooth lift out over the flats further out. Reports even after 3 pm of cloudsuck and strong lift was from pilots that ventured high behind launch. Guy H reported +9.3 m/s lift on his last flight! The last flight had the students landing at 7:45 pm, just enough time to get back to their Diamond D-40 and takeoff before legal dark for their flight back to Pitt Meadows.
Just as I was getting back from the Sandpiper run, I got a text from Frederic who had just landed on the sandbar just east of Riverside after doing a Woodside to Bridal triangle. Unfortunately the river had risen enough that it was no longer attached to the main shore. After some walking around he found a narrow channel of water to wade through and managed to undress and get his gear to the other side (barely) and hike back on the train tracks towards the Ranch. I drove down the road along the tracks almost to Riverside to pick him up as it was very dark by now. Check out the great flights from Woodside today here.
|
| 9°C Showers. Wet flurries over higher terrain early this morning. Risk of hail and a thunderstorm this afternoon. Windy early this morning. High 9. I was installing the Ham Radio in the new Shuttle Bus and got it working just as Martin N called to see if it was flyable. I looked out and it was in fact flyable after some heavy rains and wind! He headed over from Chilliwack and Colleen got her gear ready and I took them up the mountain. The bus worked well, especially on the newly upgraded Woodside Road, even through some snow past 3.5 kms.
Martin was ready first and took off cleanly, followed by Colleen.
Martin had to hike back from Riverside as I didn't hear him land out there, I guess my radio wasn't hooked up yet? It looked good right til dark but no one else came out.
|
| 8°C Cloudy. Rain beginning early this afternoon. Amount 5 mm. Becoming windy this afternoon. High 8.
|
| 11°C Mix of sun and cloud. High 8. The road is in good shape with deeper snow at the last 500 meter mark so a nice hike in. Launch is completely clear of snow and looks nice and green.
Everyone was trying the demo wings I brought up and Chris loved the Delta I and Matt flew and loved the Gin Rebel so much that he bought it, a nice transition wing after flying the Element II all last season. We regrouped in the LZ and made another trip hoping to beat the Whistler Express winds that were forecast by some models. This flight was even liftier and we saw the winds switch from west to east rather abruptly and a few people had vertical landings but not too rough. Steve is now up to 20 high flights and looking great. Later reports from Guy and Joe indicated west winds gusting to 35 kms on launch? But I was back in Whistler safe in Dusty's Pub. A nice Pemby Day for the students and local pilots.
|
| 11°C Rain at times heavy ending early this afternoon then cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Amount 25 mm. Wind becoming southwest 40 to 60 km/h this afternoon. High 11.
|
| 12°C Cloudy. 60 percent chance of showers late this morning and this afternoon. High 12. He arrived at 9 am and we were soon on the hill dodging excavators, rock trucks and steam rollers as they are upgrading Woodside Main Road all the way to 14 kms. Conditions were superb as his first flight had him landing at Bill Best's field. Then a bunch of flights into the Ranch trying to hit the circle, with some lift over the flats. It rained around lunchtime, so off the the Sasquatch Inn for snacks. After lunch it opened up again and we got 3 more flights before 4:45 pm. Derek even joined us for a flight mid-day as it looked lifty. At the end of the day we had logged 6 more flights so Steve is up to 17 supervised flights and we are heading to his home site, Pemberton on Thursday for some more training and a site orientation before we unleash him.
|
|  13°C Rain ending early this morning then cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. High 13.
This flight we were joined by Martin N and Denis, who were hoping to get some cloud-suck. I briefed Steve on the use of Big-Ears for cloud avoidance and he seemed pretty scared of the thought but I reassured him that it was a stable and easy maneuver(especially on an Element II).
I asked Martin & Denis if they were launching before I left. They said no, waiting for Sun, and I left for the Ranch. When I arrived at the Ranch; Sid, Delvin & Becky were here to pick up Sid's new Ozone Rush III XL and to fly. We loaded up the Suzuki and headed up and heard that Martin & Denis were both in Riverside apparently hitting lots of sink all the way in? Odd after Steve's great flight? For Steve's third flight it was another reverse launch and a easy flight to the Ranch. He said he hit a few bumps along the way that un-nerved him but it looks smooth to all of us. The WA pilots flew and had short flights as the air blew from the North. Back up again with a full load, this time Kevin & Ihor came up with us and Gary P arrived on launch by himself. Al arrived with the WA guys in tow. Steve launched first again and had some more thermalling practice, as the others followed him and all climbed out nicely getting to base at around 1200 metres. Kevin & Gary were flying their new Delta 2s and looking great. Al & Martin headed east and got a surprise coming back as they hit a strong headwind coming arund the South Knoll, and almost didn't make it back. Something about pinecones in Martin's boots. But they both climbed back out from the low point on the Knoll. Al was flying his M4 and the plan was for him and Kevin to fly and then top-land and swap gliders in the same airmass. Kevin top-landed first, followed by Gary and then Al. Nice work. And then they all relaunched as Sid offered to drive Gary's rig down and went playing in the clouds. I drove down again and got Steve and he flew again. By the end of the day Steve had logged 6 more flights for a total of 12 supervised flights on top of his 12 prior solo flights in Frobisher and he is flying very well. Soon to be released into the wild spring air of Pembie once he decides on a wing.
Biff's Delta 2 Report - Delta 2 flight #2 and #3 Today I had the first flight on my new Delta 2. Two weeks ago I flew a demo D2 and had a significant XC flight but I had difficulty comparing it to my M4 because I have only flown my Swift 2 since last November. Today I flew the D2 for one hour forty minutes, top-landed and fifteen minutes later was flying Al T's M4 for a great A/B comparison.
These conditions were great for getting to know the wing. A bit windy from various directions due to the huge clouds. Pretty punchy near launch. Some big surges all easily dampened. Significant sink (4.4 m/s) and surprisingly big lift (7.3 m/s, the strongest lift my B1 Nav has ever recorded). Actually, unsurprising since there were three occasions where I spent close to minute IFR'ing my way out of the white room.
The superb handling became even more apparent when I switched back to the M4, which was the best wing I had ever flown . . . until today. In my last report, I commented that I found the D2 to have significant brake pressure - compared to my Swift 2. Well, the M4 has more brake pressure and doesn't respond as quickly as the D2 which not only has less pressure but gives a smoother, faster response requiring less work. Secondly, the D2 feels the air but doesn't kick you around as much as the M4 (same harness). I was used to always getting knocked around on the M4 and I didn't mind it but there isn't any of that with the D2. Best of all the glide, sink and speed seemed very similar so I was ecstatic to realize that I had gained a whole lot of ease of flying without giving up any performance. Today's flight confirmed what I wrote a few weeks back. This is a fantastic all-round wing in every respect and will bring much satisfaction and joy to anyone with some experience who likes a sensitive but stable paraglider that will go places. Way to Go, Ozone! - Biff R
|
| 9°C Cloudy. 40 percent chance of showers early this morning. Rain beginning this morning. High 9. Good time to reorganize the barn after the bringing everythong back from the reserve clinic. Sea Gull from Brett Hazlett on Vimeo.
|
| 11°C Periods of rain. Amount 5 to 10 mm. High 11.
After an hour of the Clinic we headed out to leave and the sun had come out in Agassiz so we went back to the Ranch. By the time we got to the Ranch it had OD'ed and it was raining so into the Barn for Ground School for an hour or so. When the rain abated, we headed out with our newly fitted harnesses and Ozone wings and the guys started kiting at the main circle area. Within a few tries, these guys had mastered the forward launch technique and were running all over the field in east winds. As the winds switched to south we started doing reverse launches and they were doing well with these launches too.
Cynthia tried to go up the mountain around 5 pm and the road was blocked at 3.5 kms due to rock blasting.
|
| 12°C Rain. Amount 10 to 15 mm. High 12. Don't forget the WCSC Reserve Clinic is on Saturday April 6th, 9 AM - 2 PM at the Kent Elementary School at 7285 McCullough Road, Agassiz. $40 cash or cheque. We have had a few dodgy deployments recently so come and make sure your kit is okay!
|
| 12°C Cloudy. Periods of rain beginning early this afternoon. High 12. The rain came in from the south and as I drove towards Surrey it got worse, but Derek was working til 3 pm and said it was dry til then. Don't forget the WCSC Reserve Clinic is on Saturday April 6th, 9 AM - 2 PM at the Kent Elementary School at 7285 McCullough Road, Agassiz. $40 cash or cheque. We have had a few dodgy deployments recently so come and make sure your kit is okay!
|
| 17°C Mainly cloudy with 30 percent chance of showers. High 17. UV index 3 or moderate. We did more kiting in the Eagle Ranch LZ in superb NW winds of up to 20 kph, honing their kiting skills. We also watched Performance Flying early on while cloudbase was low for a perspective on thermalling which paid off later (read on). Zoltan came out for his first lesson too and was doing really well forward launching FrankenBuzz but he had some issues running as he is a bit out of shape (not bad for 75 yo though). As usual, if it is NW in our field it is not launchable at Woodside (outflow), but with patience we kited until it switched to E wind and sure enough it was blowing in at launch. This area is pretty predictable based on the flow on the Ranch LZ. We headed up with Steve & Brad and their Ozone Element IIs and they launched around 1:00 pm and had perfect launches and perfect approaches using the normal technique of losing height at the Duncan Maple and an aircraft approach. Steve hit the circle first time and Brad was close too.
Steve & Brad both got soaring flights with Steve thermalling perfectly over the Construction Site and climbing back to launch altitude before doing his approach, very smooth and coordinated in his thermal turns! Brad did not even have to turn and he was 200 metres over launch in the smoothest lift with little wind.
Gotta love the Element II! Derek & Martin came back up around 4 pm, Martin had to land after 2:30 to lose some ballast on an earlier flight but was ready for a last flight. They had great flights getting to 1100 metres with ease. Watch out for logging trucks as they are hauling out of the block north of launch. One of the trucks lost its brakes and hit the ditch near our road and was being winched out on our last flights.
|
| 14°C Mainly cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. High 14. UV index 3 or moderate. The students arrived on time and we were on the training hill doing two hours of ground handling waiting for the ceilings to lift when the sun started to come out on Mother Woodside. A quick check of Sumas Windtalker showed light winds and launch was in the clear and light cycles were coming in so up we headed to try to fly. Steve & Brad have been flying in Frobisher Bay so Woodside seemed easy and a lot warmer. After an intensive briefing and walk thru of the approach, off flew Steve and he had an amazing flight and landing at Eagle Ranch. Brad followed Steve and had an amazing 30 minute flight climbing out over the flats with another great landing.
Martin launched first and was doing really well above launch, and we were getting excited but then he lost it and was soon heading for Riverside.
Later we headed back up and both guys flew again and Brad had another 30 minute flight on Element II L, amazing!
|
| 20°C A mix of sun and cloud. High 20. I waited to launch Karim as another P2 pilot was duffing launches as he was rusty and not committed. After he finally cleared the hill after 4 tries, Karim took off first time despite failing to stabilize the Element II. He had another awesome flight (his second solo) as it was both ridgy/thermic and he was still climbing over the Construction Site as Colleen masterfully talked him through the approach. Cynthia took off next and had a nice launch and was soon soaring the north face. Unfortunately she went too north and was in sink and heading out low. She almost made the Ranch but Burt forgave her as she was within 5 metres of chimp creek. I took Justin tandem next and we had a good launch and were climbing out front with Eric. Andy had launched just after us and he was climbing further back on the hill, but the strong thermals were out front. we were getting +3 m/s climbs but it was windy. After 25 minutes of soaring around, we headed out to the Ranch and it was windy but we could penetrate fine arriving at the Ranch at 300 metres. We headed out over the Fraser and got strong climbs there off the sandbars. Eric joined us and climbed out to 600 metres as I looked for sink to get into a landing approach. The wind socks showed steady South winds in the field. As we descended and came into the LZ the winds switched to steady East winds and we did the classic aircraft approach and had a slow forward speed and then 2 metres off the deck the wing surged and we dove into the circle and Justin tripped and fell down. Grass stains were the only proof of his tripping. We watched Eric coming in west of the goal post trees, not a good spot in strong winds and he just made it over chimp creek and got dumped on final. Video at 11 pm. We packed up and headed back up to take Justin's Dad, Zoltan, for his tandem. We arrived to less wind than before but more cross, at 2:40 pm. We were ready to launch and had a good inflation but Zoltan got pulled off his feet and sat down. This happened a few more times and I got Aaron to ballast Zoltan and we finally got off and were climbing at the South Knoll nicely with a flock of immature bald Eagles. Eric joined us after a few minutes and we were soon above launch. Easy soaring, not so easy to thermal as the wind was breaking off the thermals. After 25 minutes we headed to Harvest Market for a smoother landing and even though it was a no stepper, Zoltan sat down on me. No problem as the field is soft and we didn't get dragged. Zoltan is in for lessons later this week and will get more practice with his balance on the training hill. We were done for the day and Karim headed home; but a last group of Josef, Eric and Norm went up at 5:30 pm and were seen above launch and they all made it out to the Ranch for smooth landings later. Folks were also overheard at Bridal but no gloat reports came in other than a third-hand report of Martin N at the Saddle or Upper Launch.
|
| 22°C A mix of sun and cloud. High 22. Looks like Pembie had similar conditions as some pilots went skiing instead. When we arrived at Colleen's sister's house on the Nicola River, we saw smoke on the hills near Soap Lake Provincial Park and it was growing in volume. We drove down the road towards the fire and it was not near any roads so we called it in. The fire crews had already been up there and couldn't get near the fire due to snow so they left it and are heading up tomorrow morning with more crews. Odd to have a forest fire this early? |
FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day Reports click to select the month and year you wish to review.
|
Box 79, Harrison Mills, BC Canada V0M 1L0 Mobile: 604-618-5467 Skype: flybcpg E-Mail: FlyBC E-Mail |