FlyBC "Site of the Day Archives" - August/2008
"The good thing about flying solo is it's never boring." - Steve Fossett
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Woodside Report - we had to wait til 11 am to get to launch as it was very low cloudbase earlier. Colleen launched first and managed about 45 minutes in light lift on her new Addict II XS, she was cranking it pretty good to stay in the smaller bullets. Later we launched Scott on the Mojo 2 L and he was staying up despite not able to hear the radio very well due to "adrenaline buildup" in his ears and the wind noise. Most of the first launchers got some "cloudsuck" and there was a lot of big ears being pulled to stay clear of the "whiteroom". By the time all the students had launched and the others had flown out, it was just my tandem and Miguel in the air and there was some lift over the construction zone at Harrison Highlands but otherwise a sledder. The landing conditions were perfect. The next cycle of flights had Justin and Darren duking it out on their new wings. Darren commented "Those new Addict colours sure look good from up here!" as Justin hit a sink cycle. Later Justin returned the comment as he climbed out from Riverside. Alex W commented that the air was spicy just as I launched the tandem with Tara, and we were soon climbing with Chiu, Wouter and others at the South Knoll. I found the lift further out was stronger and the climbs better so we headed out away from the South Knoll and we were soon at 1000 meters. I noticed a huge rain cell starting to form over Harrison Bay and started to head out to the construction zone to get closer to the Ranch, when we went weightless and the Magnum frontalled . . . reopening without turning and we returned to normal flight. Just one pocket of turbulence and then smooth again all the way to the Ranch. Hmmmm! Probably the instability caused by the closeness of the cell. It never materialized and went north to Harrison Lake. The last flights were conducted with concern over the thunder near Hemlock but Wouter took Martina tandem and all went well so off went Scott, Derek, Colleen and most everyone else except Norm, Chiu, Kelly and Veronica who drove down cause it looked like sledders. We went to Jack's (a new restauraunt on Pioneer Avenue in Agassiz), which is very nice and reasonably priced. Forecast is one more good day Monday at least.
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Woodside Report - strong conditions after noon, but the students got to fly earlier. | Jason from Boise showed up around noon and was out kiting and was going to go tandem later and was up at Woodside launch with us when we found out he had been dropped off by a "Deimosian" at the Ranch and was at the wrong school! Tom was calling on the radio to try to locate him. The End of Summer party went famously, with about 45 pilots showing up and we danced to Jason's DJing til 1:00 am, and after the diesel fueled bonfire I went to bed. There was a huge tent-city that formed overnight in the Stonehenge LZ behind the barn. Thanks to everyone who cooked and organized the Party. Wouter's Party Pictures and last weekend in Canada album.
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Woodside Report - the rain was so heavy in the Fraser Valley, you could have used a row-boat to get around. | Good thing we have a Unimog, in case the roads wash out at Woodside or Bridal. The new seats are installed and ready for a truly comfortable ride. The Barn is clean and ready for the Party tonight.
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Woodside Report - I was out at the Ranch installing the new passenger seats in the Unimog, while it was raining and I got soaked! Heavy downpours most of the afternoon. | All the wet reserves were repacked with Martina's help. Derek Peters and Bill Goglin: please send an email with which bus depot you want them sent to and your phone numbers. The Barn is being cleaned for the End of Summer Party on Saturday night, drop by if you are bored to help out. Kevin's Salt Lake City Report #2 - Some days you are lucky and others . . . . so Judy and I drive 1800 km to Salt Lake city so I can finally have my Point of the Mountain Cherry popped and the darn site is closed! Yes, first a wildfire required local helicopters to pick up liquid at the reservoirs below launch and then the local RC glider clubs have reserved the entire site for this coming weekend. As Tony Soprano would say, "what are ya gonna do?" Anyway, I called the Cloud 9 Paragliding school and their guy, Kevin told me to meet up with them at 5 this afternoon. Judy's uncle Garry and I followed these two trucks out of SLC at about 85 mph to a lonely, long ridge sticking up to receive the winds directly from the Great Salt Lake. The ridge is 150 feet above the flats and wind at 6:30 pm was between 25 and 30 km/hr. I don't know what it's called. I watched`the two lead instructors demoing some great "Chris Santacroce-type" wingovers for awhile butt skimming the tumble weeds and then I pulled out my Mantra and got off efficiently but without the local's grace. Just before I pulled up, one of the instructors said, "oh by the way, I'm flying a 20 sq. metre wing so watch out for the wind on your big wing. Anyway, it was fine . . . . smooth laminar lift that got me at least double the height of the ridge where I too could do a few wingovers, and top land etc. but mostly enjoy the view way out over the Great Salt Lake. After 30 minutes or so, the sun went down, the wind mellowed and I landed, packed up and drove away satisfied to leave my Utah virginity at this unnamed lonely little place. Gary took some video but I can't access it until my return to Canuck land. Anyway the weather down here is perfect: clear and 86 F. Tomorrow we hike! - Ciao, Kev
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Vancouver Report - the only flying around here was commercial aircraft as cloudbase was at the Cut at Grouse, still launchable but no one uses it anymore (that will all change with the new chairlift going in at the peak). | End of Summer Party at Eagle Ranch - Kelly was kind enough to remind me that we forgot to have a Party this weekend, so it is now officially on for Saturday night. Weather looks fine for flying so far, so come an join in the fun. Pot Luck Dinner and bring a tent to sleep over so you are not tempted to drive home. Cheland and Point of the Mountain Report from a roving reporter - Judy and I are in Salt Lake City to visit her aunt and uncle and of course to fly the Point . . . NOT! the Point was`closed yesterday due to a nearby fire and on the weekend it is closed for an RC glider comp!!!! Trying to get a plan B going right now. Might just go and join the choir at the tabernacle and sing about flying in the great by and by. Rock on Dude! I did have a nice flight at Chelan enroute. Launched north for a sledder at 9:45 am and caught a nice thermal up and over the Butte to play for about fourty minutes before landing to hit the highway for Salt Lake - Kevin A
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Fraser Valley Report - blown out again according to mid-day reports from the ground, so I stayed in town to pick up some new Ozone gliders soon to grace the skies around Bridal and Woodside. | Scroll down to Aug 23 for more Revelstoke photos! New gliders from Paratoys (MacPara copies) are available at great prices. Call or email for a quote and see how you can save big $$. Scroll down to Aug 23 for more Revelstoke photos! Jocky Sanderson takes a BBC Reporter Tandem Paragliding - a great video introduction to soaring paragliders and hanggliders, and of course they are on an Ozone Magnum glider. Sea Hornet for Sale in Pitt Meadows - The Sea Hornet is a completely redesigned Rebulic Seabee and has a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-20 turbine engine, turning a specially built Hartzell 3 blade full feather, reversing propeller. The engine has been de-rated to 450 SHP. This "owner maintained, one of a kind" experimental aircraft can take you and 4 of your friends to any lake in Canada or the US in safety and style. Cost to purchase is $225,000 USD plus taxes.  CGNVS Sea Hornet on a California Lake - photo by JPR
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Woodside Report - after 3 hours of sorting out gear and wet reserves from our Revelstoke SIV Clinic (swimming clinic), I was ready to fly. It looked lame at launch through the telescope, but there were CU towering on all four quadrants so it has to be lifty. |  The sky west towards Sumas Mountain looked scary - photo by JPR Norm and I headed up with Derek K and Dennis and his friend Alex were already in the air getting bounced around. I launched first and was ridge-soaring in pretty smooth air and managed to get up to 1000 meters pretty quick while Norm and Derek were getting ready at launch. We were soon five gliders in the ridge lift, but it was too windy for thermals to properly form. I was flying the Rush M and I was able to maintain 8-10 kph upwind without bar even at the north most ridge near the towers.  Norm over Harrison Mills at 1100 meters - photo by JPR About 45 minutes into the flight the Harrison Bay looked okay, but as I creeped closer to the north I noticed huge rollers going up the river and lots of white caps?? Our ground speed was around 16 kph at this point so not too windy up high. I thought it might be appropriate to fly over the back to Agassiz Mountain and top up there, but when I pointed that way the air felt very strange, and very windy so I pushed across the top to the Fraser River now going 49 kph sideways. I pushed out to the normal Harvest Market route and once over the Fraser I was going 70 kph. This is going to be interesting! Once I hit Cemetary Hill and pointed upwind I was going backwards. I pushed full speedbar for 4-5 minutes to get upwind of the LZ and even setup in the mowed field west of Harvest so I had options if needed. The wind was whipping the poplars and the corn pretty hard, so this was going to be turbulent too. I backed into Harvest Market and setup my final with my hands on the As to frontal the glider after landing to save the drag-fest for others. Norm and Dennis landed at the back end of the field, Alex got blown a kilometer downwind near some powerlines! And Derek landed in a heap near the railroad tracks. All safe and accounted for as Scott drove in to find us as they saw from the Ranch that we turned tail together.
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Princeton Report - we headed towards Mara Lake as everyone was done their SIV moves, but we arrived to cloudy skies and forecasted strong south winds. | The decision to head to Princeton to see Iron Mountain was made and we headed down Hwy 97 thinking that was the best route with the trailer. One small problem we didn't check was the road report - it is the IronMan triathlong weekend! Road closures and single lane alternating traffic on Hwy 3 cost us an hour, but a nice drive otherwise. We got to Princeton around 4 pm, to see Jonathon and Matt J in the air over Iron Mountain and we headed up.  Jonathon soaring Iron Mountain - photo by JPR Matt J was flying James' Addict as James was sitting one out as he hurt his leg running into a log at Sale Mountain after a brilliant launch. Matt had his reserve handle dangling but his Gin Harness kept the reserve intact luckily so I suggested a top landing, it was quite strong as we could barely stand on the edge of the hill but they managed to land on the flats a bit leeside. The air was turbulent as it can be post-frontal, and there was rain in all quadrants. we decided it was time to head home and try this site another time. Punch Bowl Report from Harold - East Kamloops Punch Bowl Video .
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SIV Report from Sale Mountain, Revelstoke BC - Day 2 and we lost a few fliers but gained 2 drivers as John and David sat out the day. |  Colleen chilling between launches at Sale Mountain - photo by John James and Matt J arrived last night and were raring to go with much briefing before from Al T. Flight number 1 was more advanced maneuvers for the fliers from Day 1 and beginner maneuvers for James and Matt. Sherry was booked for a maneuvers tandem as her hubby Chris has been flying PGs this year and trying to get her interested. We launched first and tested the air with a dynamic SAT and big wing-overs whith lots of screaming!. She loved it! The maneuvers were getting wilder and wilder and as many were flying their new Ozone wings it was a good chance to try out the preformance and stability. The new wings just keep getting better and more stable which is great for the sport. James overbraked an incipient spin, and had a hell-ride with 6 twists on his Addict. After untwisting, he did another incipient spin that also wound up almost like a "misty-flip", after landing he sai "if that is the worst that can happen I am fine with the maneuvers".  Un-named pilot who made dry land and overbraked on the left dropping his wing in a small tree - photo by Brigitte McDonald We managed 3 flights this day, and pilots were getting tired. Justin said it well as he stood down for the last flight "my adrenal gland has been milked enough today!".  Justin getting "milked" at Revelstoke - photo by Brigitte McDonald Derek's new Geo II is amazing in all maneuvers, the new Rush II and Buzz Z also great in the required moves. Bill G was flying the ATIS M on this set of flights and did some amazing stalls and SATs, with his last SAT being a bit low and he locked into a spiral after exiting and came out about 20 feet over the middle of the lake. First rescue of the course as I raced out with the boat. As the wind switched to light north, many pilots were tired and not calculating the glide in very well. First Bill was in the boat, then Derek misjudged his final and was in the lake but close enough to swim in. Rick M from Valemount was on a good final when he flared more on the left than the right and he spun himself into the lake in ankle deep water. Then Matt J was having too much fun doing wingovers into shore when he too ended up in the lake. Colleen flew in after Matt and was on final high and dry when we said don't disappoint us and she too spiraled into the lake. 5 wet kits and lots of repacking for me this week! Day 2 and everyone was "SIV'ed out". Introducing the "Bob's" from Revelstoke  Bill G getting rescued from the Lake after an exciting SAT - photo by John  Derek P on final, still smiling - photo by Brigitte McDonald  Derek P swimming to shore with his new Geo II - photo by John  Matt J almost made it to shore with his Vulcan except for the last wingover - photo by John  Rick M had the landing made when he flared too hard on the left and spun himself and his new Buzz into the lake - photo by John
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SIV Report from Sale Mountain, Revelstoke BC - we headed up with 10 pilots and gear and arrived to nice cycles and some south winds as the sky cleared out. | I flew down with Colleen's Mantra S to test the air/winds and flew some maneuvers and it was a little windy at landing. I miscalculated my last ground spiral near the shoreline, and forgot how well the Matra spirals! As I exited the spiral, it kept going around and I got pushed back. I was on final parked and had to go for the shoreline north of the LZ and land in ankle deep water with the wing on the shore. This set the pace for the rest of the weekend. One by one the SIV'ers flew out and did their baby maneuvers to get oriented on flight #1, except Julie who was content to just get a flight in after having Finn and not flying since November 07. Nice maneuvers from everyone and a few "pooched landings" in the water. No names to protect the parties! There were 2 harder than necessary landings that involved a sore ankle (David) and a sore thigh as John bounced off a log on final. As it got windier and not good for maneuvers, the wet wings got dried out by kiting them and the harnesses hung upside down to drain most of the water for later flights. And Justin got out his water kite for David to show him how do do it.  David on Justin's 12 meter Naish Kite - photo by JPR Both David and Justin gave the kiting a go until the wind calmed down and we headed back up Sale Mountain for Flight #2. I came up again and took Melissa (David's friend) for a tandem to test the air again and we did a SAT, big spirals and some wing-overs landing on dry beach in nice 15 kph winds. Everyone can fly again! Notable maneuvers for Darren W (first SAT on the Zoom), Justin (great SAT and full stalls), Annette (solid B-stalls and baby spirals), Derek (super SATs with locked in spiral exits!), and many other great maneuvers. The evening wound down with food around the campfire and some beer.
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Revelstoke Report - we arrived to set up camp before dark and found a beautiful spot on the beach at Martha Creek and secured #23 and 24. | Lots of spots available as the weather has been so ugly and most campers had fled the area. Good for us as the weather is turning for the good.  The view from campsite 23 at Martha Creek as we arrived - photo by JPR The crew is starting to arrive at 5 pm, and it looks like 10 participants for Friday morning!
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Westbank Report - we went past the turnoff to Blue Grouse and it was sunny and fairly calm, but decided to go shopping instead and feed the kids. By the time we got to eat an hour later a full-on thunderstorm had started with lighning and thunder so no flying. | Later we hiked up to a new site Colleen and Megan found 4 months ago, below Hwy 97C that give about 500 vertical feet over Peachland facing east, possibly soarable in the mornings. Tight beach landings below but there is a big school field if you could glide there??
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Peachland Report - nice driving conditions but stormy on the lake. | I had a nap in the trailer around 3 pm and woke up to it shaking and there was thuder and lightning all around. Gusts on the lake to 60 kph and the seagulls weren't liking it much. We bumped into Bernie Scherler in the local coffee shop, not even aware he lived here now! He hasn;t flown since Mexico in January so he is needing a fix. Jason and Scott - we have room for you. I brought the Mojo2 and the big boy harness for Scott - $150 per day for all the stunts you can stomach! Woodside Report - Ha. We went up to Woodside today, Norm, me, Martina, Derek and Wouter. Cycles were coming up and so I layed out my wing and went, First one off to be the wind technician or better yet the wind dummy. Anyway I launched I landed. I was told the cycles were not as good as the one I got, but everyone launched first me, then Norm, we three landed al together so I said the Gin family, then the Ozone's launched and landed to not soar-able but I flew (woo hoo) Grin Grin - Bev.
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Woodside Report - it may have been flyable early but by 10 am it was rainy. | I picked up the new seats for the Unimog, custom bus seats for 10 in a conversation pit further up front of the box, with the gear at the rear. Should be installed after the 25th of August for a better ride experience for the FlyBC gang.
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Woodside Report - we started flying around noon waiting for the east wind to subside and in the end 3 flights for the students and 2 more tandems each for Colleen and I and one for Claudio helping us out for a ladies party. | Annette got to fly her new Rush II XS a few flights, and is really liking it, "it is so maneuverable, like a sports car". Colleen had the most frightened one of the group, and I had to pull them off launch as she planted her feet in cement and refused to move, good thing a cycle plucked them off. I suggested a butt landing (like the Firts Flight Guys at Grouse) so she didn't plant the landing injuring herself. She was Colleen's first "hurler"! too. We had some soaring flights and some interesting turbulence at lower levels. I had sent Jennifer off on her last flight in nice launch conditions and she had a bouncy approach but liked it. I followed her our with Michelle on tandem and we were having multiple collapses between the ridge and the maple tree that were dropping us pretty good but we landed safely.  Unidentified US bomber flying near Riverside yesterday, going about 150 mph, which then flew over Eagle Ranch at exactly Jennifer's altitude - photo by JPR A nice family from Coberg ON were driving around and saw us flying and tracked us down to the Ranch and waited around hoping for a tandem. Ian Wallace had flown after my tandem and ended up getting blown over to Harvest, as it got windier. We decided it was worth the trip to take Mom and 10 year old Ryan for a tandem, so another load up the mountain at 6 pm. The only student left was Rick H, so we got ready in 20-25 kph winds, and Colleen/Ryan was off first on the Mojo2 and soaring at 900 meters.  Colleen and Ryan soaring Woodside last night - photo by JPR We all launched and eventually landed at Harvest Market, definitely strong in the air near the South Knoll, but nicely soarable north of launch. Easy landing conditions and it started to rain after we landed so off to the Market to hide under the canopy until the retrieve came to get us. Black Mountain Can-Am Report - About 75 pilots and in total over a hundred people at the CAN-AM this year. Spent 2 hours waiting at the border, and I thought it was a shorter drive to black mountain than to woodside! Got three flights in on saturday in stable conditions. Some pilots scratched for over an hour.  Ozone pilot launching Black Upper - photo by Wouter The food was well arranged, and the party went on till late with people playing music. Sunday maybe a dozen pilots flew before it started to blow over the back and even rain now and then. So most people left in the afternoon. I followed some Seattle pilots to Blanchard but it wasn't flyable there. But it was a nice event and Black Mountain is pretty, tricky launch though, but lots of altitude over the LZ - Wouter
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Woodside Report - it was a hot and productive day. | Students flew 5 flights in light conditions, while Colleen and I knocked off 7 tandems (not long flight die to the stable air, but good introductions to the sport for newbies).  Colleen and Robert - photo by Robert Claudio and Zdenek had some students at Woodside, as the island sites are closed for fire hazards, and they were flying into the Best field which has a far better turnaround.
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Woodside Report - east wind in the forecasted upper levels, but we flew Woodside all day. | Dan logged 5 flights landing in Bill Best's once and the rest at Eagle Ranch. Many others flew during the day but no one stayed up for very long as it is so stable. Good launch conditions until later as the east wind started up.  Unidentified waterbomber flying near Riverside yesterday, going about 200 mph - photo by JPR Ivan did a "ride & fly" to test his new Geo II rather than hike Elk for the second time today. Look for him on the Orange and Red one.  Ivan T flying his new Geo II towards the South Knoll - photo by JPR
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Bridal Report - while I was out on the Tsawwassen Golf Course enduring 18 holes (and shooting an 88 apparently a good score despite my lack of enthusiasm), many pilots were at Bridal. 20-30 minute flights were the norm, getting to stay just around launch height, no toplanders today. |
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Woodside Report - good day for a "Shakedown Cruise" for Colleen's new Addict II XS. After years of forcing her to fly a Small glider on the light side of the weight range, we succumbed and got her a properly sized ship. | She took off first around 1 pm and was climbing fast in her house thermal, Al and I chose the north face route and no matter where we all flew we could not break thru 1100 meters. You could see the inversion layer and even feel the cool air at times at the top of the layer but none of us could clear it after an hour of thermalling. We all landed at the Ranch and I took another load of hopefuls up around 4 pm. Al took off for Bridal. Colleen launched again and this time climbed to 1250 meters and tried Agassiz Mountain but it was not working later. Rick H followed her over for his first Harvest Market landing after soaring for 30 minutes on flight 20. Dennis stayed calm and did some nice thermalling out front climbing to 1100 meters before heading to Harvest too. Kelly and Norm hadn't launched yet when I drove down to retrieve. Bridal Report - Arrived at Bridal 4 pm hoping to see Colleen's new wing arriving from your planned XC. I took Tonya and someone else up in the red landcruiser and we launched in perfect conditions. Lots of gliders all over the place so it was a really good day with people flying laps from Elk to the butterfly probably. Flew for one and a half hour and almost up to Elk together with Martina. We met Nicole (on Alex's Addict2), Rob Samplonius, someone on a red and yellow Niviuk Icepeak and lots of other high flyers on the way. I toplanded around 5:45pm, afraid it might shut down, and drove down. Sorry, no pictures this time since I seem to forget my camera on nice flights like this - Wouter Bridal Report #2 - Bridal was beautiful yesterday! By the time Klaus drove Monica & I up around 3:30, a group was already in the air headed towards the butterfly. We launched & headed west as the lift was fairly light. Monica got high right away, and Wouter & I scratched along the saddle trying to find that magic thermal. I hooked one that was a fighting me a bit but stuck with it. Finally it smoothed out & up I went until it started getting hazy. I thought I was at the inversion or something but soon realized a cloud was starting to form around me. Cool! I flew out through the mist & made a dash for Gloria, sinking all the way (grr). Nicole was below me surfing the ridges & magically maintaining, but my cajones aren't big enough yet for that kind of scratching so I turned tail & ran back to launch. Arrived at around 600 meters & soared the knob for a bit. Monica tagged Gloria & went a bit further - big smiles all around at the LZ! - Martina
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Woodside Report - after receiving Colleen's new Addict II XS, I raced out to Woodside to get her a flight to test it. | It was a bit windy on the way out on Hwy 7, and Martina arrived mentioning the clouds looked a bit weird, but we headed up anyway. Rick H joined us hoping for a flight. At launch the cycles were light with occasional gusts, so I was voted most likely to fly. I took out the Rush M demo and was off soaring the north face for 15 minutes getting up to 800 meters. I spiralled down to top land to say it was probably okay and I missed my approach by 2 meters, going around again after climbing up on the South Knoll. At times I was not penetrating on the South Knoll? I tried a few more passes and got low in front and then couldn't penetrate forward at all and no ridge lift. I went to the clearcuts and nothing was working there as I got even lower. Even trying to get over to the South Knoll would have put me in a worse location with the wind stronger down low. I was parked heading to Riverside hoping for the wind layers to get less as I descended. As I was heading to Riverside on full bar (the only way I could move forward), Martina said "it is only 15 minutes from Riverside to the Ranch by foot", reflecting on her arduous hike a few weeks back to the Ranch via the train tracks. Screw that, I am not landing at Riverside! I was getting in the lee of the hill that has the construction site on it and kept full bar on through the turbulence and was soon rising, checking out landing spots on top (just in case). I was soon on the windward side of the hill where it smoothed out for a few minutes, so I released the bar and was soon going backwards again, back on the bar. I was low over Duncan's field but it was bubbling off thermals and turbulence so I rode it all the way to the Ranch on bar until over the fence and into the "rodeo ride" for the last 30 meters, landing next to the windsock. Flight time was probably about 50 minutes, no vario and no one else flew - Jim Dennis' Spin captured from Aug 8/08 - Dennis's spin-o-rama captured by Lihora Hachey by accident. Despite spending hours in the air and listening to seminars, sometimes students forget the premise of keeping the glider overhead in balanced flight. This is a classic example of not waiting for the glider to come overhead after entering a thermal and aggressively starting a turn to stay in the thermal. Wait 3-4 sceonds before applying brakes, sometimes longer so the glider can speed up and flatten out before cranking a turn. Dennis then applied opposite brake when he felt the spin making things worse. Fortunately he had enough height to recover after 4 spins and finally going hands up.
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Woodside Report - finally good weather after a windy and wet weekend. The forecast for cloudy skies was wrong as the clouds were gone by 10 am. | David, Rob H, Rick M and Dennis were out flying Woodside with us from 9 am on and they had 3 awesome flights before lunch in Agassiz on the way to Bridal for their last flight of the day. Nice launches and even some thermalling for all 4 pilots. Justin K was out too and he hit 1300 meters around 1:30 pm, showing the guys where the thermals were. Dennis did pretty well catching the same thermal and was getting near 1000 meters out front. One "corn-husker" at Eagle Ranch, when Dennis mis-judged his approach. The corn is definitely taller than he is! Bridal flights went very well with Colleen guiding in David for his first Bridal flight, followed by Rick and Dennis all landing within a meter of the kiddie pool. Norm and others were seen thermalling far away from the saddle, so I suspect the lift was ratty and being pushed from the south higher up? Rick and David had to bail to head home with 4 hour drives ahead, so we went back to Woodside for a last flight before sunset with Rick H who showed up after work, and he and Wouter were thermalling around for 30 minutes. Stewart WA Report - Soared for almost 2 hours getting to Cloudbase at 5200' and spending a lot of time around 4800'. Shared the sky with 6 hgs and 3 pgs. Chad and JW went cross country to Deming and points East. Awesome. It seemed somehow odd to be above launch as I flew over the LZ that just yesterday I barely made it to . . . - TJ Stewart is near Black Mountain where the Can Am races are being held this weekend, so conditions look great. Jennifer Update - Jennifer had her first flight last Sunday and as reported she had a lot of enthusiasm! A picture is worth a thousand words.  Jennifer after landing her first solo at Eagle Ranch - photo by Rick M (a little fuzzy as it was pretty dark and she was buzzing)
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Woodside Report - a windy and long day. | But everyone flew by the end of the day. Rain in the morning, clearing by 11 am, when I went up to do the first Tandem with Joyce. It was howling at launch and it took 4 people on the wing to keep it from flying and Colleen helped with ballast but the lulls came and we were off and straight up for the clouds. No need to do any defensive maneuvers to stay out of them but it was pretty windy and we were getting parked on the South Knoll and going backwards at times!  Joyce on tandem with Jim - photo by Wouter We flew for 20 minutes before heading over to Harvest Market, where we soared above Cemetary Hill until Joyce felt a bit ill. Landing was windy and turbulent but she kept breakfast down. We landed softly but a gust hit us as I was killing the wing and Joyce got her brand new coat all dirty (never wear white paragliding). She had a ball and her friend Elizabeth was quite mad that she gave up the first flight to Joyce in the end. Justin K and Wouter followed us out to Harvest as the rest of the pilots stood down. Justin reported 70 kms on the downwind run to Harvest and they too were parked over the LZ. We went for Lunch and waited for the wind to die down, it didn't but it was kiteable at Eagle Ranch and we watched the kiters from the top as I tried to get Elizabeth a tandem. We waited for an hour and finally gave up around 5:30 pm. While kiting with strong NW winds, the wind started to die down around 7 pm, so we loaded up the remaining pilots: Wouter, Colleen, David, Jennifer, and Rick. Arriving at launch it was launchable so Colleen headed off to test the air and was soon soaring up high. Glass-off was setting up. Wouter took off behind Colleen and was not as successful and was getting low on the way out due to NW winds and sink, so Rick's flight path was toward Mill Road and he made it in fine to the Ranch (as did Wouter ultimately). Once Colleen was on the ground David launched and landed fine with a pretty long flight as he was above launch over the construction site. Jennifer got her first solo flight launching at 8:30 pm, nice launch and super smooth on the controls also getting above launch for much of the flight landing just before legal dark. She whooped all the way in on final glide into a standup landing!  Jennifer on the Mojo2 heading out to Eagle Ranch . . . nice sunset - photo by JPR
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Woodside Report - it rained and then after the Novice Exam ground school and seminar was complete, we went for lunch. | When we finished lunch it was sunny and very windy at the Ranch so off to Agassiz Rec Centre to kite. After an hour or so of awesome kiting, we headed back to the Ranch just in time for another rain cell to hit us. I would take all this bad weather personally . . . but the organizers at Grouse Mountain and the Abbotsford Airshow have more to do with this rain than I can take credit for. Maybe tomorrow? Rob Kells - Rob Kells passed away on August 9th, 2008 after battling prostate cancer for nearly two years. Rob was our friend and business partner for more than thirty years, and our sense of loss at his passing is inexpressible. For those of you who knew Rob personally, we know you will understand, and we know that you share our loss. Wills Wing will go on. The company will, of course, not be the same without Rob, but we remain strongly committed to what has been our mission for the last thirty-five years - to design and manufacture the highest quality hang gliding equipment, and to provide the best possible service to our customers, all of whom we consider to be our friends. At this time we have no information regarding possible memorial services. As additional information becomes available, we will post it on our web site at www.willswing.com Thank you for your support, now, and always. Mike and Linda Meier and Steve Pearson SUP AIR SAFETY NOTICE N°3 A few harnesses equipped with light quick release buckles have experienced involuntary releases of the locking mechanism in flight and primarily with the front ( red ) Safe-T buckle. Priority : High Publication date : August 6th 2008 Reason : The two small protruding release mechanism on the female side of the buckle, do not come back in place to secure a fully locked position. Q : Which harness model can be affected ? Here are the harnesses equipped by the factory with these quick release buckles: 2008 models : ALTIX - VAMP - HYBRID - ALTIRANDO XP - VAMPAIR - X-ALPS - EVASION - XC - KINDER Airbag 2007 models : in addition to the previously mentioned harnesses : ALTIPLUME Airbag - ESCAPE Airbag - X-Ride - X-Ride Airbag. Note: if your harness was upgraded with the light quick release buckles, make certain to verify the stamping on the buckles and find out if they are part of the above potentially problematic series. This problem is not relevant to the harness itself but rather to the quick release light as well as the " Safe-T " buckle. The possibly malfunctioning buckles are stamped with the following markings : A08 or B08 which corresponds to their manufacturing date ( date also indicated on the harness's label ), valid between January 2008 and July 2008. The defect is located on the female part of the buckle. Q : What should I do if my harness is part of the list ? Make certain the locking mechanism works smoothly and properly. To do so, proceed with the following opening and closing sequences : 1 - From a Closed / Locked buckle : symmetrically depress the two ( 2 ) release protruding levers located on either side of the female buckle, pull the male buckle out then, push / lock it back into place. The two ( 2 ) protruding levers on the female buckle section, MUST extend out FULLY again ( see graphics ). Repeat the whole sequence three ( 3 ) times. 2 - From an Open / Unlocked buckle : symmetrically depress the two ( 2 ) release protruding levers located on either side of the female buckle, and push / lock the male section into place. The two ( 2 ) protruding levers on the female buckle section, MUST extend out FULLY again ( see graphics ). Repeat the whole sequence three ( 3 ) times. Note : Regarding the red Safe-T buckle, the test sequence MUST be repeated for both female sections on either side of the central male insert or twice per Safe-T buckle. If, in any case, one ( 1 ) or two ( 2 ) of the protruding small levers do not come back to their initial locked position, we will ask you to contact us in order to choose the best shipping solution to send your harness back to our facility via your usual dealer or to us. Sup'Air will cover all shipping costs ( both ways ) including the necessary repairs. Note : SUP'AIR takes pride in its manufacturing process, top quality gear and quality control. Please accept our apologies in advance for any possible inconvenience you may encounter with your harness. We will work to the best of our abilities to correct the problem and make certain you will resume flying as soon as possible with full confidence. IMPORTANT : in any case and regardless of the quick release buckles used, you MUST and prior takeoff, run through a systematic pre-flight check list to insure for all to be properly locked and secured in place. Pay especially attention to the locking sequence and mechanism in a snowy or sandy environment. Always be VERY careful and aware of your gear's functionality. Blue skies ! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SUP'AIR AFTER SALES SERVICE E-mail : info@supair.com - Tel : +33(0)4 50 45 75 29 - Fax : +33(0)4 50 52 78 70
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Woodside Report - every now and then you have to look out the window versus looking at the Weather Forecast! | We started kiting at 10 am and new students David and Trevor were doing fantastic by noon. We headed up with Colleen who had volunteered to fly down wth Trevor as David has had a tandem before and they had a perfect launch on the new Ozone Magnum and soared around for a while. Sky condition hazy but no towering CUs. David also got his first solo flight and Rob flew down for flight number 21. Dennis took off followed by Gary H on the Rush demo and they were thermalling around when Dennis got "greedy" and instead of gently entering the thermals, stabbed on one brake and started spinning. Despite my commands to go "Hands UP!", he braked the other side doing a near perfect "helicopter" with 4 rotations before he listened to my nagging voice and went hands up avoiding the trees. Gary H had a front row seat for the event which Lihora captured on video. After the acro, they headed to Harvest Market. Dennis's spin-o-rama captured by Lihora Hachey by accident. We headed up after several hours of lunch, more kiting and waiting for the winds to calm down. Again Colleen volunteered to check the air with Alex W (fresh from a line stretch), and they soared well above launch in ridge lift before heading out. Rob had already launched after them on the Rush demo and was soaring a bit but started to sink out so he was the "offical wind technician" for this round landing nicely. Alex and colleen reported some turbulence and wind at different layers but the Ozone Mojo2's the guys were flying are pretty solid so off went David for Flight #2 and Trevor for Flight #1. Perfect launches and landings. I am pretty glad we didn't call the day due to the Severe Thunderstorm Alerts that were issued after 10 am! Cheam Report - local para-hiking legend Kevin A climbed Mt. Cheam today with neighbours and landed at Bridal LZ around 2 pm. Last thing I heard was that Kevin was at Tim Horton's in Chilliwack trying to get a lift home. Willi 2008 Results finally posted - Willi 2008 - congrats to Robin Sather for a clear win. Hats off to everyone else who endured a week of rain to participate.
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Woodside Report - Jason showed up at 4 pm, but no one was around. We were in Vancouver doing errands to get ready for the weekend. |
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Woodside Report - Rob and Rod were out flying all day. Rob was perfecting his light wind launches and flew to Bill Best's twice and once to the Ranch landing close to Stonehenge. | Rod went for two tandems and is coming back for Novice Lessons next week. We got bored of sledders and loaded up for Bridal with high hopes of awesome air. Bridal Report - we loaded up a bunch of hopeful fliers; Norm, Bev, Rob S, Colleen, Jason, Rob H, and myself and headed up Bridal in the Big Blue Van. We watched some "interesting approaches" as some other students were trying to figure out no wind landings in the swamp. Colleen got the honours of first launch of the no wind category and was off soaring, folowed by Rob S. Rob H got his first Bridal launch out of the way and was flying around enjoying the bouyant air and had a very nice landing in the mowed area. Jason had a pretty decent takeoff despite not having to do a forward for 2 months. Decent landing too. He just has to write his Novice exam and he is "signed off". When we left, Rob S was still "duking it out" just below launch and it was getting sunnier, but I had endured enough sun so I sent everyone home. Black Mountain WA Report from August 5th updated - Rob S and I met Delvin, Pam, Guy and Sid at Black Mountain. Sid and Guy were just installing some carpet on launch. Pam and Delvin said they could see it reflecting from Demming! Cycles were 10-20 km/hr at launch, I flew east and got into some very nice lift that eventually got me about 300 metres over launch. The air was clearly lee side and so a little weird. Eventually I decided to fly north towards Columbia Valley (Canada) and toyed with the idea of flying home to Cultus but with all the cameras and sensors I've head about, I decided not to. By the time I'd headed back to launch I was about 150 m below and back in the inversion so I heard not a beep all the way to landing. Everyone else flew for about another thirty minutes and then it down to socialize in the park. Very nice to get above that inversion even if for a while! - Kevin Ault New World Record from a BC Local Pilot - FAI has received the following Class O (Hang Gliders) record claims: ================================================================ Sub-class :O-5 (Hang Gliders with a rigid primary structure / movable control surface(s) without pilot surrounding structures and fairings.) Category: Feminine Course/location : Mansfield, WA (USA) Pilot : Mia SCHOKKER (Canada) Aircraft : AIR Atos VS Date :02.08.2008 ==================================================================== Claim number : 15104 Type of record : Speed over a triangular course of 150 km Performance : 29 km/h Current record : no record set yet ==================================================================== and ================================================================ Claim number : 15105 Type of record : Distance over a triangular course Performance : 150.5 km Current record : no record set yet ==================================================================== The details shown above are provisional. When all the evidence required has been received and checked, the exact figures will be established and the record ratified (if appropriate).
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Woodside Report - We flew and flew and flew all day at Woodside. | Rob logged 5 flights landing at Bill Best`s twice and the rest at the Ranch before heading home at 5 pm. Bev flew two flights getting back in the Saddle after a 2 year hiatus. Martina, Derek and Colleen even flew a sledder late in the day, hoping for some lift but there was only one thermal Colleen and I blundered into near the highway. Black Mtn. Report - we heard Kevin at Black Mtn., and the vario was screaming and he could not talk, so he must have found something strong to climb out in!
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Woodside Report - we flew and flew all day at Woodside, with the Unimog full to capacity with fliers (12+). | Dan, Rob and Heiko got 3-4 flights each to round off their weekend adventure. Neil sat out today cause he bruised his knee on his crash at launch, but is scheduled to continue lessons next Saturday. No one got very high today and I think the longest flights were 30 minutes. James M had a personal set of drivers (Al and Kevin) and logged about 7 or 8 flights trying to get close to sign off after being away for 6 weeks. Wylie's Hike to Yak Peak Report - Well, today I hiked up Yak peak for the 12th year, or something like that. But today I packed 45lbs of paragliding gear on my back! It still took just a couple hours to get up.  Yak Peak - photo by Wylie By the time I decided the wind was right to launch, it was actually a little too strong. One gust yanked my glider and me about 15 feet in the air, and then dropped me on my rear! I decided conditions were a little strong, and I couldn't tell what the wind sock was doing at the landing I was hoping to reach.  The view from takeoff meadow towards Yak Peak above the Coquihalla Hwy - photo by Wylie I decided to wait until I was a little more experienced, and could come back with another pilot to test the site with me. At least I wasn't afraid to hike back down. Ugh! - Wylie Upper Bridal Report - Based on the forecast and the obvious low level inversion, I decided when I got to Bridal, to hike up to Upper Launch. I got Klaus to drive me to the end of the road and took an hour hiking up. Launched at 5:12 pm into 15-20 kmph cycles. Lift was moderately strong and a bit sporty near upper launch. Because of the wind I couldn't get much over 1600 meters there and going over toward Gloria was slow. With the height that I had at Upper Launch, I crossed the saddle and got to Archibald. At Archibald the lft was a bit smoother and not as wind blown. There I managed to climb relatively easily to 1830 meters ASL before gliding back to Upper Bridal and then to Gloria. The glide to Gloria as expected did not produce much lift. I got one lethargic thermal at Gloria before falling into the inversion layer and going on glide to Lower Launch. I got to Lower Bridal at 650 meters, but managed to get just enough height to top-crash and drive my truck down. Fight time 1:27:18 - Rob It may be a typo but Rob's report said "Fight Time" not "Flight Time" so I suspect the flight wasn't that easy or fun? - Jim TJ's Black Report - nice pictures of the Fraser Valley from above Black Mountain, in WA State. Launch is above the inversion today so it should be good there on August 16-17 for the Can Am races.  The view from Black Mountain towards the Fraser Valley - photo by TJ Last night I said "It's one of those days where it's even a gamble whether Black will be above the inversion. The RASP soundings for Black show it as having a good negative lapse rate and even a positive (but small) CAPE for the whole afternoon. I plan to fly Black or not at all." In nutshell, it was fabulous, clearly above the inversion. Delvin collected me Harry and Kirk and took us to the top and Pam drove down with their granddaughter and Kirk's daughter. It was up and away all the way down the ridge. I was eying the notch at the end of the ridge, never having ventured that far North. Given the North wind, it should be a funnel with a local jet going vertical at the end. I was too chicken to go there first. Delvin hadn't gone there and he knows Black pretty well. Finally Harry launched cruised North and through the notch. I watched anxiously for signs of trouble. None. But, the expected elevator was on! After that, whenever I got a little low, I'd just cruise back there and ride the elevator up again. It didn't have a ceiling, it just petered out. It's a good thing too, I'd hate to hit the ceiling at that rate of ascent, been there done that. There were a couple of other local elevators working as well and most of the time it was zero or better to cruise along the ridge about 200' above it. Harry managed 900feet over. I only got 650 over, but that was good for views of Woodside, and Bridal sitting in the smog. After an hour at the top, I grew weary of being "on edge" and decided to finish off with a freespace fly out, no ridges, no scratching. It was sooooo relaxing after the ridge. I was still at 2700' when I overflew the LZ the first time. Black Mt. ... closer to Vancouver than Woodside - TJ
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Woodside Report - we started early and were launching at 10 am. | One un-named `princess` was seen outlanding at the Duncan`s field near the Maple Tree as she fixated on the construction site and sunk out when she was test flying Martina`s Rush. She was aided by an un-named `prince` who carried her up and over the fence into Eagle Ranch over the blackberries. Wouter and Gary H were "tandeming each other" towards their tandem ratings on Gary's new Magnum (the original FlyBC Black/Red one). Students were all doing well today (Heiko, Dan, Neil and Rob on their second day, Rick and Dennis are past 18 flights each and doing amazing flights!). Neil had one crash at launch where he overbraked a left turn into a log below launch but he was dusted-off and back on launch fast, not wanting to miss a flight! There were many pilots flying Woodside today and after 1:30 of hard flying no one broke through 900 meters,where the inversion was capped. Rob S and Al were working hard but could not get away. I borrowed Kelly's Rush and worked at it for awhile too, but no getting above the inversion. Over at Bridal pilots were staying close to the Knob, and finally got to 1200 meters later in the day, Alan worked hard for 4 hours before finally landing. Chelan Report - two valid tasks at the Chelan XC Comp, Nicole had a possible Women's World Record with a 100+ km triangle making it to goal on the last day. The weather finally got epic, after the comp and lots of contestants stayed to have some fun free flying. Sky Divers lucky in Plane Crash Plane crashes near Pitt Meadows Airport Sunday, August 03 - 04:06:33 PM Erin Loxam PITT MEADOWS (NEWS1130) - A group of skydivers are lucky to be alive after witnesses say their plane crashed near the Pitt Meadows Airport this afternoon. It's believed there were engine problems during take-off, forcing the pilot to crash land in a nearby blueberry field about one kilometer west of the airport. RCMP say 8 people were on board the Pacific Skydivers plane. One passenger suffered serious injuries and was taken by air ambulance to Vancouver General Hospital. The remaining divers walked away from the plane shaken up but suffering only minor bumps and bruises.
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Woodside Report - we had a great day. Everyone was here at the Ranch early and we went out ground handling using some older wings as the grass was very wet from the fog. Within 2 hours everyone was a "kiting star". | We went up to launch to watch Gary H takeoff and immediately get sucke up into the "white room". Thank goodness for GPS. He top landed after an hour to warm up and pt on a flight suit (he was flyung in shorts). Wouter also took off to test the air for the students and he top-landed to report bumpy conditions and lots of lift.  Gary and others soaring Woodside - photo by Wouter Darren was out flying his new Zoom, and he and several others including Al, Matt and Gary K were having a great time in the strong air. Some other signed off pilots flew and reported gusty landing conditions so we waited and went down to get Colleen to have her fly and test the air. She decided Harvest Market was the flight path and she flew over there after soaring for 20 minutes and reported it was good for the students, but by then launch was too gusty (many interesting launches!). We drove Kent's car to Harvest along with the Van and still were packed beyond capacity as 12 pilots landed there plus the students.  Al "the Hammer" Theilman landing at Harvest Market - photo by JPR Back to launch with the students and finally they got to fly at 7:30 pm, still very bouyant as Rob had the first and best flight of the students. Next was Neil, followed by Heiko and Dan, all pretty good launches for first time solos for Heiko and Dan, Neil and Rob were out 2 years ago and had 6 flights each in 2006. Welcome back to Mother Woodside! Saltspring Island Fly In - I was over-hearing conversations on the radio from Saltspring, many pilots in the Pub waiting for conditions to improve, at launch it was cross and "over the back". Mara Report - Norm flew the Zoom, yes Norm flew not me, he is always my test pilot for whatever needs testing. Launched off of Mara beautifully, and then did a bunch of soaring getting up to 7,000 feet It was really spicey he said, But after landing he said waht a sweet ride. He really likes the Zoom, why did they quit making it?? So my turn tomorrow off of Lumby - Bev
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Woodside Report - rain, hail and overdeveloped conditions most of the afternoon, but nice around 8 pm when we went to the Sandpiper for dinner. | Blanchard WA Report - Timing is everything with post frontal Blanchard. I got to launch at 11:15 but it was too gusty and too east, so I just read my book for a while. About 12:00 it mellowed and went due south. I launched, followed by half dozen hang pilots then later another half dozen paragliders. As seems to happen, only the first few off the hill got up above some mystery level that allows you to stay up and keep going up. While we yo-yoed between 1400 and 2600 anywhere we wanted to, the later launchers yo-yoed between 800 and 1400 close to the hill. Three times I thought I'd lost it and headed out, only to encounter wonderful smooth thermals coming from the bottom of the hill that carried me back above the top of Blanchard Mt. Finally, the cumulus overdeveloped, blocking all sunshine and the lift slowly diminished. Really late launchers got mere buoyant sled rides landing within 15 minutes of me - TJ
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Woodside Report - while it was flyable early, rain started around 2 pm, so I stayed in town. I will be out preparing things for this weekend on Friday afternoon, however. | Ozone Addict II Report - My Addict 2 is beautiful! I love it. My first flights on it at the Revelstoke SIV course showed there is no reason to fear this wing in strong conditions. It recovered from all events with no drama. So when I got home all full of confidence on my new wing, I flew a couple of XC flights from Slocan Ridge and Mt. Dundee, and I really fell in love. It's fast and stable on full bar, even in raunchy air. Also, I like being a bit heavy on this wing, it feels so quick and responsive. Thanks Jim & Colleen! - Rob Rae  Flying to Mt. Tipi at about 10,500' and heading back to Lazy Lk. after a days flying. - photo by Rob Rae  We camped at the top (north) end of Lazy Lake. You can land a PG there. - photo by Rob Rae |
FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day Reports
June 2008 Site of the Day archives - a few good soaring days at Bridal, lots of new students this month.
May 2008 Site of the Day archives - the cost of gas is keeoing pilots at home and the weather isn't helping either. One good XC in May for me, leaving Woodside with Norm and Martin H and ending up at Elk at 1600 meters before landing by Hopyard Hill. 3 hours and 85 kms later by the GPS.
April 2008 Site of the Day archives - worst weather in years but we flew every day we could.
March 2008 Site of the Day archives - more snow and still hiking to launch at Woodside! But some major airtime for the locals committed to coming out to fly.
February 2008 Site of the Day archives - more snow in BC than I can remember in 25 years of living here. We are still hiking to launch at Woodside!
January 2008 Site of the Day archives - worst weather in years so we went to Mexico and logged many hours of airtime, while it snowed heavily in BC.
December 2007 Site of the Day archives - worst weather in years so we went to Mexico on Dec 29th for three weeks.
November 2007 Site of the Day archives - Colleen and I went to California to fly the new Falcon A-16 Advanced Ultralight prototype and it flew very well. Some good soaring days at Woodside, some folks were still trying to fly Bridal but that is a waste of time this late in the season.
October 2007 Site of the Day archives - mid-air at Woodside caused Martin H some paraglider damage, some great soarable days. The Women's Fly In was a success with the Canuck Team taking top spot for the theme of "Celebrities in Rehab".
September 2007 Site of the Day archives - we re-discovered and flew 'Horsefly' Launch for the first time, some mayhem at Woodside due to tree-suck, lots of good soaring in afternoon glassoffs, a great Indian Summer until late in the month when the rains came early. Derek, Martina, Robin and Diane went to Europe. Kirill went to Australia for a paramotor Fly-In.
August 2007 Site of the Day archives - fun two weeks at Mara Lake, followed by steady flying at Woodside and Bridal, making up for the dismal spring and summer.
July 2007 Site of the Day archives - good flights at Bridal, some mayhem at Woodside from visiting pilots.
June 2007 Site of the Day archives - more crappy weather on the weekends. Some awesome flights between showers as Norm and Thomm flew to Mission on the last day of the month.
May 2007 Site of the Day archives - flyable every weekday, but the Fraser Valley XC Comp got crappy weather on the weekends, although it was student flyable.
April 2007 Site of the Day archives - good flights are starting. Some complete triangles from Woodside to Bridal and back, some "musical triangles" from others.
March 2007 Site of the Day archives - fifth month of crappy weather on the Coast. We went to Santa Barbara for some flights, and to dry out. Some good days were also recorded locally.
Febuary 2007 Site of the Day archives - fourth month of crappy weather on the Coast. So we stayed in Mexico.
January 2007 Site of the Day archives - third month of crappy weather on the Coast. So we went to Mexico to fly Colima, Tapalpa, and San Marcos, while Brad and gang headed to Tenacingo, Mexico.
December 2006 Site of the Day archives - more ugly weather on the Coast. Severe winds damaged trees and property so not much flying happened. Some good flight reports from local PGers travelling world-wide.
November 2006 Site of the Day archives - the wettest November on record. We flew a few good flights but mostly we were rained out.
October 2006 Site of the Day archives - lots of good days with 3-4 hours airtime. The Women's Fly-In was on again in Chelan with about 18 Canucks, and a good day Saturday with 85 registered pilots.
September 2006 Site of the Day archives - still soarable in the Fraser Valley, little or no rain. Colleen is back flying! Some mayhem in the valley.
August 2006 Site of the Day archives - a great flying month everywhere, we had a super successful SIV clinic at Mara Lake with everyone SAT-ing and heli-ing.
July 2006 Site of the Day archives - road trip to Lumby, then on the 8th Colleen spun in below Gloria cancelling her summer plans (but she is recuperating well).
June 2006 Site of the Day archives - the Valley dried out, and we flew most days and every weekend.
May 2006 Site of the Day archives - more rain that ever imagined in the Fraser Valley. Very few soaring flights and even less XC.
April 2006 Site of the Day archives - the Easter Bunny was "run over" on Kilby Road, plus the train wreck on April 1.
March 2006 Site of the Day archives - a new pilot was born, Chloe. We also flew a few days between showers, some long flights up to 4 hours. A few Out & Return Flights to Deroche and Bear.
February 2006 Site of the Day archives - another wet month with some soarable days (2).
January 2006 Site of the Day archives - some flying on Elk and Woodside, smart pilots headed South for great Mexican or Chilean flying.
December 2005 Site of the Day archives - some flying on Elk and Woodside, smart pilots headed South.
November 2005 Site of the Day archives - rain, snow and not much flying.
October 2005 Site of the Day archives - Women's Fly In in Chelan yielded two soarable days before the snows hit.
September 2005 Site of the Day archives - dry most of the month. Some great 4 hour flights at Woodside getting to cloudbase most days. Three crash-landings in the same clearcut by pilots scratching too low, but no injuries.
August 2005 Site of the Day archives - road trips to the Interior gave us an opportunity to rag out some gliders at FlyBC SIV 2005 (Part II). Also a great road trip to Savona.
July 2005 Site of the Day archives - good flying all month, no rain but some windy days shut us down. The Willi started in Golden with a few good days, but one tragedy as Charles Warren perished in a crash near Harrogate.
June 2005 Site of the Day archives - too much rain, but good days to fly between showers.
May 2005 Site of the Day archives - our Instructor/Tandem seminar yielded some good flying. Our May 2005 SIV Clinic had a good turnout, with many wet wings/pilots! Many nice flights at Woodside and Bridal, with some long "out & returns" at Bridal.
April 2005 Site of the Day archives - some great soaring at Woodside and Bridal. Sad news from the US Hanggliding Nationals as Chris Muller crashes at goal.
March 2005 Site of the Day archives - we had to head out of town to Savona a few weekends due to wet weather on the Coast. Wetter than normal according to Environment Canada.
February 2005 Site of the Day archives - some good soaring despite early time of year. Flights as long as 3 hours at Woodside, some good flights at Whidbey Island for first timers, too!
January 2005 Site of the Day archives road trips to Mexico, not much flying locally due to strong north winds and rain. Record rain kept Eagle Ranch quite wet for kiting.
December 2004 Site of the Day archives a dry month with some good soaring including a fantastic day on Dec. 11 where we thermalled for 2+ hours!
November 2004 Site of the Day archives more record rain. We installed a fireplace in the barn to keep pilots warm between winter flights.
October 2004 Site of the Day archives more record rain, but sweet soaring between showers. Many new students signed up and making quick progress. We missed the Women's Fly In for the first time in 9 years, and there was some interesting flying on the Sunday!
September 2004 Site of the Day archives rainiest September on record for the first 3 weeks, made flying difficult. But Alan and others logged some pretty nice flights later in the month. Lots of student tandems for both Colleen and Jim.
August 2004 Site of the Day archives Great Maneuver/SIV/ACRO course at Mara. Jack got wet! Some great soaring at Woodside. Norm made it 68 km from Mara to King Eddie, Derek made it from Lumby to Enderby the opposite direction for 67 kms. We also did our BC roadtrip from Ashcroft to New Denver, and flew everyday.
July 2004 Site of the Day archives the Willi was on at Golden. We missed the mayhem due to work and school commitments but Norm did a great job representing the West Coast.
June 2004 Site of the Day archives Canadian Nationals came off with many great rounds. Pemberton-Whistler Championships were blown out most days so we headed to Cornwall.
May 2004 Site of the Day archives great flying at Woodside and Bridal. We held a very successful SIV Course at Mara Lake, and hope to run another one in August if they keep the forests open.
April 2004 Site of the Day archives good flying in the Valley. The Fraser Valley Cross Country PG Series was successssful.
March 2004 Site of the Day archives Nicole won in Brazil, otherwise the month sucked for flying time.
February 2004 Site of the Day archives some local flights extended to an hour with vigourous scratching above the trees. Good paramotor month.
January 2004 Site of the Day archives Mexican road trip yielded 20 hours of flight and a wet Canadian January kept most local pilots on the ground.
December 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew a few times but it got really cold at the end of the month as we prepared for a gala New Year's Party for 40 of our close personal friends and neighbours.
November 2003 Site of the Day archives windy and wet with the odd good soaring day, not many pilots out these days.
October 2003 Site of the Day archives Women's Fly In was great fun, some good soaring days mid-month, most of the students are signed off.
September 2003 Site of the Day archives good conditions until the last days of the month when it got stable. Most days were flyable at Woodside or Bridal.
August 2003 Site of the Day archives Forest closures made the end of the month a non-flying period unless you headed to Blanchard. FlyBC SIV 2003 was a great success with 9 stunt pilots and no deployments or crashes.
July 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew most days early at Woodside until it got windy, then over to Bridal. Good Golden flying reports from the "Willi".
June 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew most weekdays at Bridal, Woodside worked most weekends. Bridal Air Races had one great day with only two tree landings!
May 2003 Site of the Day archives not a great weather month on the coast, especially on the weekends but a few pilots managed to get some great airtime at Bridal. The Nationals were held in Lumby and it didn't rain!
April 2003 Site of the Day archives rain for 28 of 30 April days, but we managed to get a few flights in between showers. Even the golfers were complaining!
March 2003 Site of the Day archives some high spring flights in early March, but not a great weather month. Still no HPAC Insurance!
February 2003 Site of the Day archives some nice long spring flights in late February. HPAC Insurance expired on Feb 14, so many pilots stayed home instead of getting USHGA coverage.
January 2003 Site of the Day archives lots of rain all month in BC so we bailed and headed to Tapalpa Mexico for three weeks. Norm and Lucille had a great XC flight the first day we arrived.
December 2002 Site of the Day archives lots of rain all month.
November 2002 Site of the Day archives not a great flying month, lots of rain in the beginning and then super stable and inverted for the balance of the month. Even the Savona Road Trip wasn't that great. Looking forward to Mexico!
October 2002 Site of the Day archives Still soarable some days, great fun at the Women's Fly In 2002 in Chelan. Allan logged 15 hours and only flew a few days. Most of the students are ready for signoff soon to get ready for Mexico trips!
September 2002 Site of the Day archives Still soarable most everyday! Some scary incidents at Woodside. Fun flying at Ashcroft.
August 2002 Site of the Day archives More spring-like days with super lapse rates, great fun up-country at Revelstoke and Mara, with some good XCs for all.
July 2002 Site of the Day archives Some spring-like days with super lapse rates, but still rather wet at times.
June 2002 Site of the Day archives another rainy and windy month with great lapse rates, some great flights at Bridal with some getting above Cheam Peak. The Club Cup was nearly rained out but they got one valid task in on Sunday June 30.
May 2002 Site of the Day archives an extremely rainy month with the more spring mayhem, another reserve deployment at Lil Nick and a pilot crashed at the top of Deroche Mountain, uninjured but with a ripped glider and long hike down the mountain. Colleen placed 5th place at the Canadian PG Nationals in rainy Lumby!
April 2002 Site of the Day archives a rainy month with the usual spring mayhem, one reserve deployment at Woodside and a pilot hit a parked car at Bridal LZ, fracturing his leg.
March 2002 Site of the Day archives a few great days days with lots of snow and rain mixed in.
February 2002 Site of the Day archives two epic days already (4.5 hours and 2.5 hours!).
January 2002 Site of the Day archives Mexico vacation shots, some local flying but it was wet on the coast.
December 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, wettest December on record, some good days sprinkled thru the month.
November 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, had some good days at Woodside +2 hours, lots of rain later in the month.
October 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, but great flying at Chelan at the Women's Fly In.
September 2001 Site of the Day archives starting to get pretty stable, more sled rides forecast for October.
Aug 2001 Site of the Day archives Mara, Bridal, till some great flights locally
July 2001 Site of the Day archives Road Trip Month, Golden, Mara, points east!
June 2001 Site of the Day archives Great Month, 3 hours of airtime for some pilots every time they flew Bridal Lower! Some getting up to 6 hours in a single flight!
May 2001 Site of the Day archives Unstable Month, 2-3 hours of airtime for some pilots every time they flew Bridal Lower!
April 2001 Site of the Day archives Rainy Month, not as much airtime for some pilots
March 2001 Site of the Day archives Spring has Sprung!
February 2001 Site of the Day archives Spring is in the Air!
January 2001 Site of the Day archives - Mexico Flying Trip
December 2000 Site of the Day archives
November 2000 Site of the Day archives (great month for airtime!)
October 2000 Site of the Day archives
September 2000 Site of the Day archives
July - August 2000 Site of the Day archives
June 2000 Site of the Day archives
March - May 2000 Site of the Day archives
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