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FlyBC "Site of the Day" - April 2018 Archive
FlyBC was busy in April
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| 4-30-18 |
 Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: 10% Precip. / 0.00 mm Mostly Cloudy. High 14C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h 1000 metres I gave him directions to the Barn and headed home and we started the ground school lessons. Sergio is a sky diver so he had a good grasp of canopy control and approaches, so we quickly moved out to the LZ for ground handling lessons. Sergio started on the training hill and had flawless forward launches and as the winds picked up we started doing reverse launches and he picked that up quickly too. The winds switched to more southerly so we went to the landing area and kited for a few hours and by 1 pm Sergio was doing well and with good acceleration was getting airborne too. Launch was just starting to clear so we went for lunch and returned to find Martin and Andrei ready to fly. We drove up at 2 pm and launch was in and out of clouds but nice cycles and smooth conditions when Martin launched.  We launched Sergio and he had a great launch and was on his way to the LZ at Eagle Ranch and I tried to get him to thermal in one spot but he was hesitant so he flew out and did the standard approach. He overshot the Landing Circle somewhat and apologized for landing in the mud, but he was on his feet at least. I raced down dodging logging trucks (150.080 MHZ is the road frequency) as they are hauling actively. When I arrived Martin was just landing and he said it was lifty only by the trees but that is where clouds were forming so it was hard to stay VFR. We went up for a second flight and Sergio again did a flawless reverse launch, and this time he started to thermal on his own getting more comfortable when he hit lift. This time he landed near the training hill again in the newly plowed soil. Practice makes perfect so we went back up at 5 pm for a last flight. Sergio had to do a forward this time as the winds were lighter and he did perfect again. More thermalling on his way out and this time a perfect circle landing! Yay! A very productive day with one-on-one coaching and good conditions! 4-29-18
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|  Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: 70% Precip. / 2.50 mm Showers. High 9C. Winds light and variable. 700 metres 4-28-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: 80% Precip. / 1.24 mm Light Rain. High 11C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 400 metres Derek and I went down to retrieve the POS lawnmower from Riverside and it quit raining for that project, now if we can just find the keys? And then it got flyable but Derek had no wing with him.  Brett and Andrew were at this FAI Comp in Brasil a few week back and we finally saw Brett's video of his trip. We were here in November but the weather never cooperated to fly this site so we have to live vicariously through Brett's lens. Baixo Guandú II | 3rd FAI Pan-American Paragliding Championship from Brett Hazlett on Vimeo. 4-27-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Sunny. High 28. Becoming windy in the afternoon. UV index 6 or high. 1200 metres On the second round martin N, Bev, Norm and a few other experienced pilots came up too and we had nice cycles at launch but the smog from Vancouver that was far in the distance on the first round was now over Chilliwack? Hmmm? Must be geting windier out there but all signs on launch were positive and it was easy flying until Ryan started to head out and he hit a wind layer at about 400 metres. The arriving HGers also said it got windy in the valley as they were loading up, but did not give us a reading on speeds. Then the air started getting turbulent the lower Ryan got and his forward speed was dropping. But he kept the glider flying out to the Ranch but alas did not make it landing in one of Duncan's field. I advised Travis to head to Riverside and he was up for a good 30 minutes not moving forward but he was upwind of the LZ and it was smooth so he just hung out as two other signed-off pilots made their approach into Riverside. I missed the final approach of one of the pilots as he came in on final and got pushed back into the east treeline and was dangling 3 metres off the ground. The other pilot was Paul H and he had a safe but thermic landing and he went to help the un-named pilot out of the trees. Meanwhile Travis was still hanging out over Riverside and he eventually got down to a safe landing too. Martin N & Norm were still in the air and super-high when they headed out on a SW track but when I came down to the Lower Launch Switchback I saw Norm in Duncan's field just south of Hwy 7 and Martin N was hovering over the HG LZ where Nelson had landed earlier. Eight pilots launched and three ended up in Riverside and the rest were scattered all over the valley. Undeterred, the HGers flew but the landings were not so nice for them as the air was turbulent. Darren H and his wife went to Blanchard to fly, and the plan was to have lunch on launch and then Darren would fly off. But they arrived to launch to find the air very cold as the front rolled in and it got very foggy so Darren could not fly.  4-26-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Sunny. High 28. UV index 6 or high. 1200 metres Our wind tech today was Travis on his third day of flying and he took off on our demo Blackhawk 125 Lite motor for his first motoring flight (he is a commercial pilot so I expected he would do fine!). After the motoring flight we went up to launch and had two really nice flights for Travis, Jackie & new student Ryan. I even got to fly Jackie's wing down on flight #2 as she was feeling burned out from the heat, trying to fool Dennie but he was not to be fooled today. Martin N was out and flying and was still up after 2 hours desite the inversion. 4-25-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Sunny. Becoming windy this morning. High 26. UV index 5 or moderate. 1200 metres We got some kiting for a new student but only Denny got to fly off the speed wing ridge top. We had to race back to the Ranch for student evening commitments and everyone left by Jacquie who was kiting later in nice winds as I worked on the training hill west section now that the dirt has dried out. 4-24-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Partly Cloudy. High near 25C. Winds light and variable. 1200 metres And by noon the launch winds looked good so we went up for a flight and got more solo flights in for paramotor student Travis and also two high flights for Clark who had done some hours on Diefenbaker Park with us in late February. And around 5 pm we went up for a last flight and I even got to fly! I launched and headed out towards Riverside where I saw a flock of birds climbing fast earlier, but found nothing but sink. Ali had launched earlier and headed north and was above launch so I dove in there and climbed out with her and Delvin, and we all got up to around 900 metres. Some very nice lift over the clearcuts, and I overheard Martin N and Alan chatting about the good lift at Bridal. I flew for an hour and then headed out to the sweetest landing conditions in Eagle Ranch. I think the tree removal project last year has made a huge difference in air quality. 4-23-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mostly Sunny. High 22C. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 km/h. 1200 metres Oddly, when I went out to setup the tow winch the winds were the normal SE direction in the LZ. I had a new PPG student, Travis here for lessons and he already has his Commercial Licence so he should be an easy student. He caught on to the reverse As-Cs technique fast! We did a couple hours of ground handling and then he was ready for the tow rig! We were joined by Ryan who has done towing and high flights and the two guys kept me pretty busy towing them up and we did 5-6 tows each in the SE winds. The towing is making the students much more skilled at launch trajectory and keeping a good track while flying. Also landings from a tow release requires glider stabilization due to the surges, and it gives them thermal stabilizing skills early on too. And it saving a lot of road time and parawaiting on launch. We went to hookup Daniela, a swiss pilot who had never towed and just then the wind quit and we started getting NW winds so we headed up the mountain. Norm, Derek, Andrei, and a few others took off and climbed out to join Martin N who had already been up for a few hours having launched earlier. The air looked smooth so I launched Travis first and Ryan second and the cycles were decent despite the RASP and reality showing strong NE winds on the ground in Harrison and Agassiz. My guys had decent approaches and good thing it was not windy as they were doing their "figure-8"s in the wrong field but made it in to the Ranch okay. Travis was pretty burned out so he declined the second flight but Ryan was keen for another one and this time he had a great approach and landed near the ProCircle area to save the walk in. Martin N was packing up after 4 hours of flight time going from WOodside to Bear to Sasquatch and points in between, and Jacek was also very happy after two hours of thermalling around. They are both on matching Red Ozone Swift 4s and the only way to tell them apart is that Jacek is in a pod harness. 4-22-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: A mix of sun and cloud. Clearing this morning. High 17. UV index 5 or moderate. 1500 metres I was out in the LZ with the students towing and we got many tows in two different directions as the winds switched to NW in the LZ. Once the students looked ready to fly we loaded up the Van at noon and headed up with the first of two tandems. Colleen launched with her passenger and soared around until the passenger wanted to land, cold & scared. I launched the students and they had nice long flights with Brad M landing them. I took the last tandem after all the students had flown down and we got in some nice thermals but my guy was also glad to land, and the conditions were very nice with 15-20 kph of NW wind.  I went back up with the third tandem up and left the students to kite with Brad & Colleen. It was Alex's 14th Birthday present so we planned a big flight. He was also quite light so we went on Colleen's Gin Osprey 43 metre tandem, but getting high was no problem. I think there was an "alien tractor beam" in this cloud.  We got to 1600 metres and Alex was so excited he kept looking down and I only got this one shot off his helmet cam while he looked up towards Harrison Lake.  I started to head towards Bridal as the thermal drift was in that direction bt the logitistics of getting back to the Ranch seemed complicated so I turned around at about halfway to the Rosedale Bridge and we took a long time to get back to Harrison Mills.  It took us about 20 minutes to get back to Eagle Ranch where landing conditions were again stellar with the NW winds. More towing with students getting them tuned up for one last flight at 6 pm. Colleen launched first and went to about 1300 metres at the North Cliffs and abandoned the students so I guided them from the top. Nice long flights with odd approaches despite some long briefings about landings?? But everyone had a good launch! Highlight of the day was Scotty West on his new Kangook paramotor trying out his 12 metre Fazer 2! 40-60 kph ground speeds but it worked and he had a good landing. 4-21-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: AM Showers. High 12C. Winds SW at 15 to 25 km/h. 600 metres The two new students, Noah & Mike, were looking great by days end. They mastered reverse launches despite the switchy, gusty winds. I was so busy running back and forth for gear and supplies that I forgot to take any video. 4-20-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mainly cloudy. 60 percent chance of showers late this afternoon. High 14. UV index 5 or moderate. 1000 metres On the way back from Sumas I stopped at Chilliwack Airport and fueled up the C337 and took of for Pemberton. GPS said 32 minutes direct route over the rocks, and I took that route past Banjo Launch but cloudbase was too low to go direct so I rerouted north of Hemlock to Harrison Lake at 4500 feet and flew that route. The valleys get pretty narrow at 4500 feet and at Lillooet Lake I was getting light rain showers but they dried up near Pemberton.  I overflew Pemberton Airport and over Upper Launch and it was pretty grey up there, no PGers flying.  I decided not to push my luck and get weathered in if I chose to land at Pemberton Airport and go for lunch at the golf course, so instead circled back the same route as Whistler looked socked in. Total time to Pemberton was in fact 35 minutes with the rerouting for cloud. I was talking to Brad M later in the day and he saw me fly over Pemby but did not connect that it was me! I flew back over Harrison Lake all the way to the village and along the Agassiz Mtn route back to Chilliwack, same time back aided by some nice thermals over Harrison Lake (push the nose down and get more speed while maintaining altitude in some 500 feet per minute lift.  Back at Chilliwack the winds were "all over the place" according to a flight instructor in a C150. I had taken off from 07 earlier and the smoke out by Vedder looked west so I set up for Runway 25. On final I got a big thermal push to the north just as I crossed the the threshold and had to stab the left rudder to correct but I had good speed and a smooth landing. It has to be pretty strong to push a 4000 pound airplane around. I headed back to Woodside as the desperados were meeting after 3 pm to fly. We went up in Bev's shuttle. Martin N, Derek, John W and myself and we arrived to strong winds (prefrontal). I launched first and climbed to 900 metres pretty fast. Martin headed to the North Cliffs and was heading out and it looked okay . . . but no! When I started to push forward I was down to 5 kph but still going up. We soared in front of the launch for 20 minutes and I felt the wind was getting stronger and we were not climbing above 1000 metres, so I headed East towards Mark F's house near the Esso Crossroads. Oddly the downwind speed was only 45 kph but it was lifty as I was getting -0.3 m/s down at my highest sinkrate. I passed over Cemetary Hill at 600 metres and arrived over Mark's house at about the same altitude and it was black all around me. It took some time to land in the cornfield next to Mark's house which is now covered in a grass cover crop and my landing was uneventful despite it being vertical as it was windy on the ground. I packed up quickly and moved to a dry sport on the grass near the road. Derek and Martin appeared overhead and started making their approach, but Martin tried to tag Green Hill and was having a hard time to move forward to our field.  Derek landed first and had some gyrations on final due to the gustiness of the air as it started to rain. Martin's landing way down the field was a bit more dramatic as it was full on raining now and gustier. We packed up their gear fast as Bev and John arrived. John was amped because it was his first XC flight and he got plucked and twisted at launch but flew it away without panicking. Flight #32 for him! He said he was glad his Ozone Speedster had trimmers to get him into Harvest LZ as he was getting pushed back. Nice day and I got to fly PG solo three days in a row! I have to keep this up and fly with the students too! 4-19-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mostly Sunny. High 16C. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1300 metres We had a new/old pilot come back to start flying again. Will Craig used to fly around here a lot in the late 1990's and then went stateside to Utah for Med School and has since returned to North Vancouver. He just bought an AirDesign Rise 3 and SupAir harness from us and he is back in the air. The air was not as nice as yesterday with lots of sink and wind-blown thermals. It did get over 25 kph as predicted by CanadaRASP around 3 pm but folks were still soaring. We also had some great kiting conditions for the new students in the LZ but it was too gusty for towing. They were pretty tired by 5 pm. Kevin, Alex, Derek, Brad (on his new Alpina 3) and I flew Woodside after 6 pm and it was sweet/cold soaring to 1000 metres with mixed thermals. The plan was to fly to Mark F's house near Agassiz but we did not have enough height so Alex top-landed and drove the Van down, thanks for that! Here is Derek on his Alpina 2 as he passes by Alex near the north cliffs.  We flew for an hour and my hands were frozen by then and it was lifty all the way to the Ranch arriving at 600 metres on the Swift 4 L. On to the Sasquatch Inn for dinner and Music Bingo where Alex won the prize.  Wow, I got to fly two says in a row! This is way better than teaching! Note to self: wear mitts not gloves. 4-18-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: 0% Precip. / 0.00 mm Mostly Cloudy. High 14C. Winds light and variable. 1700 metres  We arrived on Launch to light cycles and we could barely see shadows as it was quite hazy.  But everyone got ready and we soon had Alex & Igor in the air showing us it was lifty without sun. I got ready and I was 8th in the air and by now folks were on their way east or west, with the exception of Igor who headed due north to Banjo. Igor had the least conventional route today north to Banjo and then direct to Benny, down to Dewdney and then back to the Ranch on his shiny new Ozone Zeno.  Easy climbs over Woodside and not rough despite the north wind aloft. Norm, Sam & I were the lone pilots over Woodside as everyone else headed XC. I entered the whiteroom at 1550 metres but it was easy to stay VFR if you stayed on the outside edges of the clouds. I was flying the Ozone Swift 4 L with the SupAir Strike harness and loved this combination, warm and cozy with no extra layers of clothes needed at my altitude.  Reports from Dewdney area had pilots having to use techniques to stay below 1980 metres (and Class C airspace). I flew for an hour contemplating flying to Chilliwack Airport where the new Cessna 337 is tied down and going for a flight but did not have a retrieve organized. It would have been easy from 1500 metres with the tailwinds we were getting heading SW (+50 kph Groundspeeds). In the end I just flew to Harrison Knob and then back to the mountain before landing by the Ranch to get a ride back up to retrieve the Van. Derek and Kevin flew this round and Kevin hit a "boomer" with +8 m/s lift right to 1980 metres over launch at 4 pm. Alex took this shot as he was making his way back from Bear Mtn. later in the day.  Very interesting that we had more NW wind in the Eagle Ranch LZ all day long, which always makes for a nice approach and landing. 4-17-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: 100% Precip. / 2.78 mm Showers. High 8C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 700 metres Colleen was receiving a prestigious award at UBC this afternoon so I joined her at the Reception for a change of pace. Congratulations on the Killam Award for Excellence! 4-16-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: 80% Precip. / 3.18 mm Light Rain. High 6C. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 700 metres It was nice to have a dry, organized workshop in the Barn to build a paramotor with Blake (a new Blackhawk 125 Lite). Here we are adjusting the prop angle in the new simulator.  4-15-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: 20% Precip. / 0.00 mm Cloudy. High near 10C. Winds light and variable. 700 metres First round of flights went off around 1 pm and Colleen got to shake the Mexican sand out of her wing. Here we have Linda sorting at launch as Bev, Colleen and Tom are already flying. Colleen climbed out above launch height soon after this shot.  It was taking a while to get folks off as the north wind was pretty strong but the air was smooth. I drove down as I had some old friends dropping in to visit at the Ranch. The second round of flights offered up 2 hours plus of soaring well above launch with some top landings to retrieve trucks. Pilots were flying til almost 6 pm and the rain started after everyone was packed up. Pemberton offered up some great flights too but there were reports of hail later in the day. 4-14-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: 90% Precip. / 3.62 mm PM Rain. High near 10C. Winds light and variable. 800 metres Bev drove a shuttle up at 1230 pm with John W, Mo M, Norm and Andrei and everyone flew but Norm who drove down. Not epic flights but they flew while all the mountains around us were socked in. Mo got to fly his new Swift 4 and looked very happy. John landed just as Jackson took off on his first paramotor flight today with his newly rigged Kangook with low swing arms. Winds were quite shifty in Eagle Ranch today but we managed 3 flights for Jackson and Scotty got his first three paramotor flights on his new Kangook too. By the end of the day Scotty was swooping and doing "touch & gos" and having a great time, big smiles all around. 4-13-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: 90% Precip. / 10 mm PM Showers. High 8C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 200 metres We picked up another Blackhawk Paramotor at Sumas WA destined for the skies over Chilliwack. The paramotor shop is now complete with a new hoist for weight and balance that is more centalized. 4-12-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: 30% Precip. / 0.43 mm PM Showers. High 8C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1000 metres 4-11-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Cloudy. Wind becoming northeast 20 km/h. High 12. 600 metres Bev did the wind tech duties and had a sledder landing in NW winds in Eagle Ranch. Derek tried a few times but the outflow was too strong so after waiting an hour they all drove down. Meanwhile I was still working on cleaning up the Barn Workshop area and had another truck box full of junk to recycle. 4-10-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Cloudy. Rain beginning this morning and ending early this afternoon then 40 percent chance of showers this afternoon. Wind becoming southeast 20 km/h then southwest 40 to 60 late this morning. High 12. 600 metres 4-9-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mainly cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers early this morning. Clearing this afternoon. High 16. UV index 5 or moderate. 900 metres I flew over the Ranch, up to Dewdney to check out the new Bench Launch, back over the Ranch to buzz Brian kiting and then into Chilliwack Airport where it was still blowing east. Derek and the crew of Desperados went up Woodside in Bev's truck and everyone flew. Mixed results with Bev doing the wind tech routine and she landed first at the Ranch, while the others sniffed out some nice thermals out over Harrison Mills flats. Derek claimed 1:30 of airtime. This is Jacek's tracklog, and you can see the thermals were all out over the flats. His flight was his maiden voyage of his new Gin Genie Lite harness and probably contributed to his comfort in the flight.  I missed the shuttle up but I helped Chris L build his new Blackhawk 125 Lite paramotor, and it started up and ran perfectly. We did some run ups near the barn and then we took him out for a flight to test it out and do the run-in required, 4-8-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: 40% Precip. / 0.19 mm Showers. High 13C. Winds light and variable. 700 metres At 3 pm, Derek organized a group of pilots and they went up but it was deemed too windy. There were rain cells in Agassiz and Chilliwack that were affecting the winds. I was swapping harnesses and reserves around and did some repairs to get caught up in the shop. Meanwhile, folks in Pemby got 2-3 hour flights! Sometimes you just have to have faith and a desire to drive a bit. 4-7-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: 90% Precip. / 3.50 mm Rain. High 13C. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 km/h. 700 metres Scotty came out to help build his new Kangook/SkyEngines 110 lite unit and we figured out all the pieces and got it balanced in the simulator. Great thrust with the DG wooden prop and way cheaper to replace than a carbon model. Next sunny day Scotty will be out for his first test flights.  4-6-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Periods of rain ending in the morning then cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. High 13. UV index 3 or moderate. 800 metres The rain quit around 2 pm, but we had low clouds and outflow winds. Ever hopeful, Derek and the usual band of desperados met here at 3 pm and we all headed up in my Van as I had 2 students itching to fly. We arrived on top to nice cycles despite the winds on the ground showing moderate outflow winds in the smoke from various burnpiles. Bev, Martin & Derek launched and went up in various spots. Martin disappeared to the east of the South Knoll for some time.  It was still strong outflow winds in our LZ as Bev parked into the wind over the Maple Tree. I launched Regent after a thorough radio check and he was having too much fun over Harrison Highlands (formerly known as the Construction Zone) and he forgot his approach and landed short by a country mile. Bob also launched and was going up everywhere and he follwed the flight plan and it was even windier as Derek reported 20 kph from the NW in Eagle Ranch. Bob did not have to do many turns to lose his height, and he had a nice landing. As I drove down it started to blow down so the day was done. Martin was "sky pig" today with 35 minutes of airtime. I got a call later from Homer who was in Savona trying to kite but he said it was too windy! Good thing we stayed in Harrison Mills today. 4-5-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Periods of rain. Amount 10 to 20 mm. High 9. 400 metres 4-4-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mainly cloudy with 30 percent chance of showers. High 8. UV index 3 or moderate. 1100 metres We arrived at Ashcroft to find SW winds, which are not good for Coyote Ridge, so we kept going to Savona. We arrived in Savona to find perfect NE winds which favour the Dump Ridge. It was perfect for kiting and flying all day long. New students Bob & Regent have spent that last two days kiting and towing, and they were ready for some higher and longer flights. We did the flight briefings and landing approach briefings and they were soon off and flying. I was brutal on them, making them hike back up but the 10C temps made it bearable and it was much more productive than waiting for the Van to come and get them and having to pass through 2 gates to get back on top. Here is Bob on one of his first flights flying the AirDesign EAZY.  And Regent was flying the SupAir EONA.  By the end of the day we got these guys eight flights to add on to their three towing flights yesterday so really great progress. Bellingham Jim got seven flights making his flight total 17 now so he is getting close to signoff, just some more thermalling and high flights and his exam. Norm & Bev joined us after lunch and enjoyed the sunny day and Norm even got a bit of soaring at the Dump Ridge before we tried to drive to Uppoer Launch. The road is still snowed in as you get to the flats before the meadows, maybe 2 feet deep still. We retreated and tried the lower launch road and found it closed by someone depositing trees on the road near the entrance. We heard that Woodside was flyable, but just a small window around 2 pm before the rains came in as Andrei flew and Martin drove down. I think we had a super-productive day despite 4 hours of driving but we would have not gotten this many flights anywhere else! 4-3-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Showers ending near noon then mainly cloudy. High 10. UV index 3 or moderate. 1100 metres I had three eager students and after 2 hours of ground school we headed out to kite as the rains held off. Bob was having problems with forward launches but once I showed him our revers technique, he got very proficient at that method! Jim & Regent were doing well with forwards & reverses, so I got the tow rig set up and we did 4 tows each before taking them up Woodside. Conditions looked good on the webcam, but when we got to launch it seemed stronger. Jim duffed his first attempt and by the time we got the wing sorted out, it had become too strong. Norm flew off and got up to 1100 metres immediately. There was little penetration as he got higher, as the RASP had forecasted. Norm flew out to the Valley high and lost nothing. Apparently that was to warm up as his blood is still thin from Mexico. Derek & Martin N arrived an both launched and got high too and they hung out longer than Norm.  We waited an hour and decided to drive down to warm up and wait out the winds. After waiting til 6 pm, we decided it was good to wait til tomorrow for the high flights. Maybe we will have to drive to Savona or Cache Creek to fly as rains are forecasted. 4-2-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: PM Showers. High near 5C. Winds SW at 15 to 25 km/h. 600 metres Colleen was working with new students Bob & Regent in the LZ while I took Ian C, Patrick & Andrew up for high flights. Patrick got two flights in while Andrew had to wait for wind but he got a really long first flight as he and Patrick got "hoovered by the nice lift". Later flights by the pros were cut short by Overdevelopment coming over from Bridal, and it rained for a short time while we were towing. Busy day at the Ranch! Lots of Hangies out today too and they had nice flights after the OD'ing and after snow fell on launch. Scottie West got his first paramotor flight on the G6 powered motor but I think we will wait until his Kangook arrives to do more sessions. 4-1-18
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| Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: PM Showers. High near 5C. Winds SW at 15 to 25 km/h. 600 metres |
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