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Bridal Report - a sweet day for Alan and Derek as Alan flew the Elk to Ludwig route several times. Derek was there later and enjoyed smooth lift.
Mara Report - Andy flew from Mara Launch halfway to Vernon and back to Enderby School, really strong lift and nice cloudstreets. Muller SIV featuring Chris Santacroce is on too! Apparently, the Willow Shores Manager called the RCMP in case anyone lands there on the private beach??
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Fraser Valley Report - Norm went fishing and caught two sockeyes! - Bev
| FlyBC Towing Update - I finally picked up the new winch in Calgary and it looks beautiful. 5000' of line, 6 hp gas rewind, under 200 lbs so it is easy to change from boat to truck, hydraulic dump valve for lock-out release. We have also received the new Ozone tow-bridles for testing with the new rig. Now all we need is a jet boat.
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Fraser Valley Report - a good day for fishing, still windy around 6:00 pm.
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Fraser Valley Report - Derek K called to say the Valley was blown out most of the day.
| Sun Valley Report - Nicole, Jeremy H, Rob S, Will G, Keith McC, Ryan L and a few ex-pats (Pat H and Danny C) are in the US PG Nats. First day was pretty good with 40+ pilots in goal!
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Woodside Report - great student day all day, but to break tradition we headed to Bridal for a flight at 4:00 pm. I had to do a tandem there for a local Rosedale fellow for his birthday, so we did it at 5:00 pm. Wouter had his first Bridal flight and soared for an hour before we headed back to the Ranch. Nice soaring conditions on the knob, Derek and Norm climbed past Upper Launch before Derek chased Alan to the Butterfly.
3 tandems for me on my birthday. |
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Woodside Report - we flew many flights in the morning with students, and then they went kiting at Eagle Ranch until it mellowed around 6:00 pm. Our last flight at 6:30 pm, was amazing. Great glass-off started and lasted until past dark. Andy and I flew past 8:00 pm, trying to top-land but it was too lifty and thermic for a safe approach so we flew to the Ranch. Garry H showed us how to SAT from 800 meters over the Ranch with 15 rotations! Too bad nobody caught it on video.
| Can Am Report - Derek and Martina caught the action at Black Mountain, only 6 Canucks today.
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Woodside Report - from 5:00 pm when we arrived at the Ranch, it was very windy. Windy enough it seemed to be able to blow a small Chevy Tracker off the road at times! Later around 7:00 pm, it mellowed but no one stayed out.
| US Nationals Report - Hi, it's the week before the US nationals, here in Sun Valley, and the flying has been pretty interesting. Thin air and strong winds have put all the competitors on guard. No big xc flights for me yet, but just getting off the hill at 9010' is fairly exciting. Yersterday I broke my personal hight record with 11,500', on two seperate flights. Thankfully my new oxygen system is working well, because last week everyone was getting right up to 18,000'. Wish Rob S and me luck, go Canada! - Jeremy Jeremy's view of the world - photo by Jeremy Hanen
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Bridal Report - after landing at Abbotsford, I was sure no one would be flying Bridal because it was very windy. But about five gliders were flying despite low cloudbase and the wind). Must have been students from the Island!
| Klaus's cartoon swallows (they are all flying alone now!) - photo by Kelly, cartoon by Klaus Waldhor
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Woodside Report - Derek P flew after hiking up after work and said it was quite rough and windy.
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Fraser Valley Report - calls came in from the Valley, noting the high winds today. No pireps, but the weather looks like it will improve this weekend for the Can-Am south of the border at Black Mountain, call Delvin at 360-305-9953 to get details.
| Vernon Report - Norm came home, as the weather went stable. He logged a 7 minute flight off Vernon Mountain yesterday!
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Mara Report #2 - from Derek Peters: Thanks for ruining my life, I had more fun doing SAT's than I've ever
had skiing! That wasn't suppose to happen. suddenly all those crazy's in the
"Never Ending Thermal" aren't looking so crazy!
| Rob Rae in a perfect full stall (I thought Skywalk wouldn't stall???) - photo by Terry Butcher
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Mara Report - more fun over the lake. The first flights were a review of the spins, spirals and stall recoveries before moving on to the SAT. Carl was entertaining us with SATs all day Saturday, so the SIV students wanted to try them too. | First up for the SAT was Derek P on his new Vulcan, and he pulled off the first one flawlessly with a perfect exit, next was Jeffrey on his Zoom and again a perfect entry and stable SAT. All the SIVers did the SAT perfectly, including Gary (Mr. SAT) Hachey! Again, two more flights, lots of radical helicopters, stalls and spins and SATs, and no one got wet. The wildest recoveries this day was on a SOL DHV I glider, and again the forward surges were huge, but no frontals or snagged lines! Oh, and Ian: don't grab your risers with the brakes locked in. Apparently, that makes a wild helicopter instead of a spin recovery!! Last flight, we decided to go soaring, so the boat could be sent home with Derek K. Thanks to Derek and Martina and Kelly for all the help! Beautiful Mara Lake (topless beach to the left!) - photo by JPR Lumby Report - Derek, Martina, Kelly and Kamloops Derek headed to Cooperd ofr a few early morning flights, good conditions with Derek K getting an hour, but not able to top-land.
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Mara Report - Colleen was good enough to take the guys to Skyline Launch so they could start the maneuvers after an intensive briefing session. Everybody was nervous, but they all had fabulous launches. We had 10 pilots flying SIV and another 6-7 free-fliers so the air was very busy over Mara. | We started out slowly on the first flights; asymmetrics, B-stalls, exploring speeds and wing-overs. But then the fun started; incipient spins, helicopters, full stalls all beautifully executed by all. Oddly, the worst recoveries came from a Skywalk Mescal (DHV I) - in fact the glider dove so far in front in most recoveries that the pilot was seeing the horizon above the trailing edge! Perfect winds all day, light north in landing. Mid-day flights were a bit rowdy close to the mountain (reported by Klaus and Andy), but the SIV students flew out through the crap and came out over the lake at launch altitude. When it got too windy to launch around 4:00 pm, we had lunch and waited for the evening flight. Three flights in total for the SIV folks, and no one ended up in the lake. Andy and Norm made an out and return flight to Sicamous before landing at the local LZ.
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Mara Report - when we arrived the sky was choked with smoke due to a WA state forest fire and southerly winds. Flying wasn't great due to the smoke flitering the sun. But we had to prepare for the SIV clinic and get camp set up.
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Woodside Report - we left for Mara at 11:00 am, and no one was flying before then. Andy and Norm were up country already.
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Woodside Report - Jack & I went up Woodside at 10 this morning. Cycles were light & slightly cross from the west and we figured it would be a quick 6 minute flight down to Riverside. We managed to find some bumps above the clearcuts to the east of launch to stay up for about 20 minutes! Each beep was rewarding as you couldn't quite 360 or you'd fall out of the lift (always when pointed at the mountain, of course!) We landed at Riverside when we saw the wind lines picking up on the water, and by the time we drove back to Agassiz it was already quite windy by Harvest - Martina
| Mara Report - Norm has been flying around Lumby and Mara and had a great flight from Mara Launch to King Eddie LZ (60+ kms), apparently it only took about 1:45! The day before he flew from Lumby to Lavington and had to fly back to Lumby because he lost communications with Bev, another great flight out and return.
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Bridal Report - apparently the Fraser Valley was blown out all day. We left by 10:00 am and it was still okay then, but within an hour it was howling! All Day!!
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Bridal Report - reports were coming in of windy, bumpy conditions as I headed to Bridal for a few tandems. Woodside was blown out, but when we arrived at launch at 6:30 pm, it was hardly launchable. Everyone took 3 tries to get off, and I finally had to resort to a forward launch to get us off the hill. We were able to soar just at launch height for 40 minutes or so before landing in fairly strong south wind at the Swamp. Others who flew earlier made it over Elk and Upper Launch.
| Vernon Report - Norm and I arrived in Vernon, and met up with the group from the States, lots of ladies to fly with. I made Norm test fly my buzz, (I wanted to see her in action with a pro on her) He did a lot of complaining but did fly my Buzz. He got her up high while everyone else sunk out. Although it became quite windy and no one other than one of the girls made it to the lz ( That's a high 5 for us woman) Anyway Norm couldn't penetrate my wing over the lz, since the wind picked up. Guess it was hindsight for me not flying? naw just chicken feathers. Anyway I am flying tomorrow since the old feeling of excitement came back today. Anyway can't wait to see you all up here, if you need a driver for the maneuvers I can drive for you - Bev Chelan Flats Report - apparently the ATOS V flies pretty well . . . Martin is submitting a claim for a 200 km triangle that looked geometrically correct! Congratulations!
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Woodside Report - busier than ever with a new group and some advanced students. James logged another 2+ hours over Woodside. New students Robert and Charlyn from Victoria flew several great flights. It got too windy for students for a couple of hours but it glassed off nicely around 4:30 pm.
Four flights for most today, good altitude on the way to the Ranch (in fact looking for sink to get them in to land for the next flights). | Bridal Report - quite a few good flights with Alan, Rob and Derek top-landing to retrieve. No mention of how high they got, but I am sure Upper Launch was achievable.
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Woodside Report - we started flying at 11:00 am after everyone was tuned up on their ground handling,
and new student Robert was soaring on his first flight on the way to the Ranch,
by the time we got back to the top, it was too strong for newbies so I did two tandems flying with Garry H,
almost signed off student James C (Mr. 3 hours+ today), Rob S and Andy. It was very strong in the air with huge surges of lift
and associated sink. We couldn't fly students again until 7:00 pm, but we flew until dark. Total studnet flights - 3.
| Bridal Report - I overheard pilots at Bridal but Alan was done and packed up by 3:00 pm, so I expect it was a bad day there (too windy).
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Bridal Report - Derek launched too early before the sun heated upo the slopes, so he had a short flight. | Woodside Report - Andy was overheard soaring Woodside so Derek headed over for a flight around 6 pm.
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Golden Report - despite one good day, Andy (90 kms), Norm (80 kms) and Mark F all headed back to the Fraser Valley. Too much wind and rain forecasted. But the Willi had a semi-valid day according to Nicole flying to Harrogate I believe?
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Fraser Valley Report - no pireps, but it looked ugly!
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Woodside Report - great weekend for a bunch of new students, lots of ground handling in higher winds,
hours of kiting on the only training hill left in the Lower Mainland after Burnaby Mountain was lost to paraglider training this week (probably too many complaints from locals trying to walk and enjoy the view without instructors yelling at the top of thir lungs>).
Some of the students logged 4 flights and several tandems. Apparently, they all want to come back for more fun this summer.
| Karen and Rob sent some shots they took this weekend. Karen on the FlyBC Training Hill - photo by Rob Dalsanto Rob solo off Woodside - photo by Karen Dalsanto Some new residents have moved into the barn, non-rent paying types too! New baby swallows at Eagle Ranch - photo by Kelly Rand Golden Report - so far Alan Dickie has has the longest flight with 102 kms to Invermere (flying an Ozone Mantra). Honduras Landing Zone Hazards Report - Hola todos! We have not had a lot of good flying for a while now, seems most weekends we have been blown out and I have also been travelling lately. I got back from the states last Friday looking forward to good weather reports for the weekend. Saturday looked good so, as usual I headed out to Yuscaran in the afternoon and was rewarded with a beautiful two hour flight landing at el Llano, our regular landing field. In almost the same moment that I had turned to bring my wing down I noticed some movement in the bushes about 50 meters away and looked up to see 2 men wearing ski masks (its about 34 celsius) and carrying machetes and switchblades. If you've never been in this position yourself you really can't imagine what it was like, to be attached to your wing, not a soul anywhere near and two idiots slowly approaching with machetes. Needless to say if there was an Olympic medal available for packing your equipment . . . I could have easily won gold. The thieves made off with my reserve, including vario and gps, my wallet with a small amount of cash and my ID. I got away without harm but I am really shaken by the experience and probably won't fly until I have some serious security figured out - Happy flying, safe landing fields, Jeffrey
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Woodside Report - the students flew a few flights early, as the sea breeze kicked in again around noon. Gary was having a heck of a time trying to get off launch (trying Kelly's Oasis) due to bad techniques. He finally got in the air in super conditions, and then despite being told to stop squirming into the seat, he turned right toward the north and then caused a frontal collapse which he let spit him into the trees. No injuries, just embarassment. Ian and I hiked down with a rope and belayed Gary down from 30 feet. We had him throw his reserve down to us, then we could pass a line through the reserve for him to pull up the rope and climbing webbing. We used a biner for a pulley and had him down in a few minutes. Glider was surgically removed later by Dr D (local arborist), with only a few small holes which are now repaired on Gary's new glider.
| Woodside Report - Martina said the air at Bridal was disorganized and she flew out while Derek logged an hour. Apparently, my report of Al and Kevin a few days ago were wrong, they flew to Elk and back to Cheam several times before landing (2+ hours).
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Woodside Report - we had six newbies starting today, and they all got in the air by dark. After four tandems I was getting pretty tired, but the last flight we were entertained by an osprey playing with the lower windsock ribbon.
| Osprey soaring Woodside - photo by Kelly Rand Osprey Games - photo by Kelly Rand Osprey has the ribbon - photo by Kelly Rand Osprey happy to be above the tandem - photo by Kelly Rand
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Woodside Report - after flying in from Calgary, Colleen and I headed to the Ranch. WestJet actually overflew CYA132 at 10,000 feet and letdown over Mission before landing on Rwy25 (maybe the word is out from the Chief Line Pilot to avoid this Alert Area (I hope).
| The first of this weekend's new students arrived and we were ground-handling until 7:30 pm, then we went up for Barbara's tandem flight. We logged about an hour of soaring before starting to sink out. Derek and Martina joined us, and Colleen watched from launch wishing she was in the air. Bridal Report - we heard Kevin and Al flying Bridal, but it looked like they were below launch heading east? Golden Report - forecast was for thunderstorms and rain. When we flew out of Calgary it was very bumpy through to 20,000 feet, when we broke out of cloud. Golden looked socked in below, and it didn't clear up until Kelowna. The rest of the weekend looks great through to Thursday, fly smooth out there.
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Calgary Report - great cloud streets, but east wind all day. Then a huge hailstorm developed around 5:30 pm and lasted 2 hours ripping trees and branches apart.
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Calgary Report - east wind all day. |
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Grouse Report - apparently the lift was quite strong according to Nicole. No Fraser Valley reports.
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Cochrane Report - great SW winds probably made HGing fun, but a bit gusty for PGers. We are here all week so maybe it will become flyable.
| Lumby Report - Norm just called and said it was great at Lumby really nice lift, Norm and Andy did an out and return from Cooper's to Mabel Lake and back. Andy had a huge grin on his face. They had 3 hours of flying. They went to Mara but no go there because it was too North - Bev |
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