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FlyBC "Site of the Day Archive" - August 2013
Woodside was wonderful all month long
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 28°C Agassiz: Sunny. High 28. UV index 6 or high. Mike M was back for Day 3 of his Novice Course and newcomer Donovan was here for an Intro Course. We spent the morning on the training hill and it was getting pretty warm at 11 am when we packed up after the guys showed me how well they could launch. Colleen took Donovan tandem and he did very well after some thermalling near Riverside. The outflow winds made for some interesting thermal out further and some folks stayed up for over an hour. Mike M had three good flights today and is working on his landings and not looking at the ground. Donovan got his first solo just before 6 pm and he had a great launch and landing on the Ozone Buzz Z4! We kept hearing reports from Mt Cheam as Kevin took a group up there and they soared and top-landed a few times before landing at Bridal LZ. Highlight of the Day: Bev flew after a 7 year hiatus piloting her new Ozone Element II! Welcome back to the air over Woodside!
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|  22°C Agassiz: A few showers ending near noon then mainly cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. High 22. UV index 4 or moderate. By noon I had the entire shed down and all the remains in the big burn pile near the east windsock, as it came down in 4 rather large pieces that were drag-able using the tractor. It has now motivated me to take the rest of the junk down behind the big barns. Around 3 pm, Martin N arrived and Derek was just heading up the mountain to brush out launch so we all went up. Martin was trying out our new Ozone Buzz Z4 ML demo and I flew his Ozone Rush III L. A rare day when I get to fly solo too! We watched Derek work his magic on the trees below launch and as we started to get cycles, Martin N launched and went up immediately to the north. Derek was now upset that he left his wing at home! I had to wait for cycles as it went north, but eventually I got a good cycle to launch into and was going up too. Martin was now at launch height and we worked some stuff together, but the best climbs were off the Lower Launch switchback! Probably a good 4-5 m/s thermal there and sharp enough edges to blow out a Rush III a few times. Also good enough to take me to the white room once or twice.
It shaded over right after Kevin launched and Derek had to wait for cycles for 20 minutes as Kevin was given a short ride to Riverside. Derek got a cycle and was soon way above launch motivating Colleen to go for a flight too. Colleen got a cycle immediately after getting set up and she was soon above launch enjoying the smooth lift on her nearly new Ozone M4. She also landed to the west at the ProCircle after over an hour of soaring.
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|  22°C Agassiz: Rain. High 22. Joe C picked up his new Ozone Buzz Z3 L this afternoon so watch for him over Woodside soon!
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| 21°C Agassiz: Rain ending this morning then cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. High 22. Smooth flights and nice landings for all. The forecast was way off as it called for rain.
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| 21°C Agassiz: Cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. Rain beginning late this afternoon. High 21. After I got the tractor down, I was getting ready to drive to Chilliwack when my noon tandem showed up. I forgot I had booked them because the forecast looked so bad for today, hence the chores. Patti was here for a few days from Edmonton and is a friend of Lucille D, so I was happy to drop everything and head up the mountain. Some CUs over launch and light winds so lets go. We were clipped in fast and off in a good cycle and we circled the clearcuts for 15 minutes before heading out to tour the valley. I flew over the Ranch to find light east winds so I lined up for the ProCircle but on final we got "hoovered up" above the fir trees so I circled back and landed on the training hill. I am planning to level the back half of the LZ this fall so I want to keep checking the air at the south end of the field in all kinds of conditions to make sure it will be safe for beginners and advanced pilots too during the work and re-seeding. No one else was out but Derek was planning a flight later in the day, but no flight reports came back yet.  Brett Hazlett was the only pilot to make goal on the first task at the Canadian PG Nationals in Quebec this past week, and he made a video of his flight on his new Gin Boomerang 9. Yamaska from Brett Hazlett on Vimeo.
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| 21°C Agassiz: Cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. Rain beginning late this afternoon. High 21. Cold higher up and nice and warm on the ground, hands-off smooth flying even in the thermals. Feels like fall already. No winds materialized as forecasted so no problems making the LZ even lightly loaded. As I packed up after the last tandem it started to rain in big droplets, perfect timing! Click here for the Canadian PG Nationals Facebook Page . Click here for the Final Results at the Canadian PG Nationals 2013 in Quebec . Yay for Brett Hazlett on his Boom 9!
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|  23°C Agassiz: Sunny. High 23. UV index 5 or moderate.
Colleen & Denis took Christine & Wayne tandem for very long and high flights and did not get "puked on". And once pilots started launching they stayed up for many hours so the air was busy too.
Later in the day some of the Cheam Hike & Fliers (Alex, Peter, Claudia) were back at Woodside after getting retrieved and had nice flights here too.
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| 21°C Agassiz: Mainly cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. High 21. UV index 5 or moderate.
Click here for the Canadian PG Nationals Facebook Page . The PG Nationals is over with Brett Hazlett in 1st place, Torsten Siegel 2nd and James Bradley 3rd.
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| 28°C Agassiz: Sunny. High 28. UV index 7 or high. We kited til 1 pm and then everyone went home to regroup another day. Back at the Ranch tandems were arriving without calling so Denis & I took up the first two ladies to fly and I ballasted Denis & Aline off and clipped in with my little passenger Nita (45 kgs) and we waited an hour for a lull to launch into. Finally we got off and it was windy in the air and smooth until I took a big frontal collapse and we fell about 30 metres before reopening! We soared the South Knoll for 15 minutes but Nita was getting cold as she left her jacket in the car. All the way to Harvest Market LZ we were climbing and she was then complaining of feeling ill, so I spiralled down over the Fraser River and backed us into the LZ where Kevin reported +25 kph gusts. Smooth landing though and no dragging as I used my technique of dropping the wing tip n the ground first so no drag-chute action. Denis was already back at the Ranch washing off his harnesses and pants as Alina got sick in the air! Wecancelled all the other flights for the day as it was pretty windy later too! Click here for the Canadian PG Nationals Facebook Page . Click here for the Results at the Canadian PG Nationals 2013 in Quebec . After several days of wind and/or thunderstorms, today the comp had a 65 km task to the south with goal just north of the US border. 25 kph north wind on launch so several turnpoints around the volcano and then a downwind dash to Frelighsburg. Cloudstreets ~1300m all the way to goal. About 10-12 pilots made goal (James Bradley of the USA was first), many of them personal bests and Michel Majkowski in goal with a grand total of 24 hours flight time under his belt! Brett Hazlett, Torsten Seigel, and Fred Bourgault overflew goal and then tried to fly back to Yamaska, landing just east of Bedford for a BBQ and beers. Some photos from the day are added to the FB photo gallery above (scroll to the end). A late night retrieving so results may take a while to come out, watch here for results. Tomorrow, the last task day, is forecast for more post-frontal conditions!
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| 28°C Agassiz: Sunny. High 28. UV index 7 or high. We started on the FlyBC Training Hill and they were doing perfect forward launches for hours and hours. Perhaps a dozen or more forward inflations in light to cross winds and they were always perfect. No frontals, no big course corrections, and they brought the wings down well too. We then went in to the classroom area for ground school lessons and the theoretical lessons were grasped well. Back to the field for some last minute kiting and we were soon heading up the hill to fly solo as none of them wanted a tandem flight first. Colleen flew a tandem down with a passenger to test the air and deemed it safe for "newbies" and waited in the LZ to receive the students and they all had great first flights although the takeoffs were a bit wild. Phil launched first both times and was having a ball on his Ozone Element II paraglider.
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| 28°C Agassiz: Sunny. High 28. UV index 7 or high. Today I had two tandems booked, one came later at 1 pm and I headed up to find one lone HGer setting up on launch and huge thermal pulses coming through launch and then going calm for 2-3 minutes before another pulse came through. Mis-time your launch and you could be on the ground fast! I clipped Brent in and we got a cycle right away and we were off and climbing immediately and got to 1100 metres quite fast. Not smooth thermals but kind of punchy until you got higher. No drift either despite valley winds below. No birds either? Too bad as Brent is a Wildlife Biologist that specializes in Birds. We flew for 30 minutes over Woodside and then I let Brent fly us out to the Ranch where we had smooth south winds and a perfect touchdown in the big circle. The HGer did not launch for another 15 minutes and had a sledder? He was ready when I got to launch and should have followed me as I marked the thermals, oh well! Click here for the Canadian PG Nationals Facebook Page . Click here for the Results at the Canadian PG Nationals 2013 in Quebec . No task as they got blown out again on Wednesday.
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| 24°C Agassiz: Mainly cloudy. Clearing near noon. High 24. UV index 7 or high. I saw some eagles climbing east of launch under a big CU so I headed over there and was rewarded with sink and NE winds aloft. Back to the house thermal and we were back in the game at 1100 metres. Scott flew us out and it was getting choppy over the Construction Zone so I took over and we come over the Ranch to see the winds shift from East to West to South on the approach so we landed at the foot of the training hill facing the Barn. After the flight I had a few minutes to kill so I worked on the Suburban yet again to fix the front hood/fender issue and I think it is finally secure. Despite Woodside Road being improved, it still wears out trucks fast. Denis arrived at 2 pm to help with a set of tandems that kept getting cancelled due to weather and we were soon on launch to pretty strong conditions. My passenger Gemma was fairly small and was having a hard time to get moving forward and we had a few aborts but once in the air we chased Denis and Rod around. Strong +5 m/s thermals and some SW winds, and when you hooked a core you went up fast! Lots of fun going to the South Knoll, back to Launch, head out to the Ranch and then back with no problems. The biggest and strongest thermal was over the new clearcuts north of launch and they were sharp-edged. Denis was at around 1250 metres and we were catching up to him, but it was this last thermal at around 30 minutes that finally got to Gemma. I had her fly to calm her stomach, but that didn't help so we flew out to the Ranch. We were still going up even over the Fraser River but it smoothed out and she kept her sushi down. We had a sweet approach and super-soft landing but Gemma face-planted and kissed the ground. After the retrieve Denis headed home and I started on more chores and I was over-hearing folks at Bridal saying it was smooth at 1500 metres as they headed west towards Elk. A few weeks ago our new Yukon student Saadi got his first flights and he made a nice video of the experience here at FlyBC. Too bad the music overrides the audio from Colleen's excellent coaching into the circle! My First Flight from Saadi Alkouatli on Vimeo. Click here for the Canadian PG Nationals Facebook Page . No task as they got blown out again today. Click here for the Results at the Canadian PG Nationals 2013 in Quebec .
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| 23°C Agassiz: Mainly cloudy. 40 percent chance of showers this morning and early this afternoon. High 23. UV index 6 or high. Rob & Blake were here for another set of tandems to prepare them for their eventual solo flights later this week, and as soon as they arrived . . . so did the rain. It wasn't heavy but it stopped us from kiting. My noon tandem showed up and forgot to phone ahead, but the rain stopped and we headed up the mountain as the students went kiting on our training hill. We got Jose clipped in and waited for some wind. The forecast was saying +15 knots from the west but we had barely a breath of wind. Finally we got a cycle and we were off and soaring the north cliffs and it was also mildly thermic despite Jose's 220 lb load on the wing. We had to skirt north around a rain cell but made the Ranch with ease landing beside the training hill as the students were packing up.
The guys both got to fly the approach and are almost ready for their solo flights on Wednesday. I took Jose for another flight later in the day and it was nicely thermic and again nice landing conditions after we thermalled around for 35 minutes. Jose is in for the full course, perhaps in Mexico this winter. We headed to the Golf Course for dinner with Derek and were treated to a nice sunset over Woodside.
Click here for the Canadian PG Nationals Facebook Page . No task as they got blown out today. Results are still not up for the rest of the field.
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| 26°C Silver Lake: Forecast Overcast with a chance of rain in the morning, then partly cloudy with a chance of rain. Fog early. High of 73F. Winds from the South at 5 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Belated Woodside Report - Woodside provided nice lift for Martin N , Thomm M and others as they soared all day while we waited for clouds to part at Black. Click here for the Canadian PG Nationals 2013 in Quebec . A 50 km crosswind task was completed by Brett Hazlett, with Torsten Siegel was 5 kms back and Eric Olivier 10 kms back in third place. Results are still not up for the rest of the field.
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| 26°C Silver Lake: Forecast Overcast with a chance of rain in the morning, then partly cloudy with a chance of rain. Fog early. High of 73F. Winds from the South at 5 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Every time the sun came out it OD'ed and the clouds covered upper launch. Karin, Andrei, Laura, Harry S, and Bill N were all here hoping to fly but only but only the first three pilots got a flight from Lippie's Launch (the lower south launch). A great BBQ was executed by Stacy & Jeff and the campfire ban was lifted this week so we got to roast marshmallows too!
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| 26°C Silver Lake: Overcast in the morning, then mostly cloudy with a chance of rain. Fog early. High of 24C. Winds from the SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. Lots of old friends here despite poor forecasts. Fire ban was lifted so we can ave a campfire.
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| 26°C Agassiz: Cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers this morning. A few showers beginning near noon. High 21. UV index 3 or moderate. We arrived at Heritage Park to strong north winds so off to Cherry Park where the guys did well kiting on that hill. Blake is ready to launch and has a great feel for the wing and brakes.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! COMING SOON! CALLING ALL PILOTS! CANADIANS, AMERICANS and THE REST OF THE GLOBE! THE 37TH ANNUAL 2013 CANAM—BLACK MOUNTAIN FLY-IN A PREMIER PACIFIC NW FLYING EVENT Hang Gliders, Paragliders, Family & Friends Come on Out and Hang with Us (or Para) Campground reserved for pilots, but spectators are welcome. When: August 16-18, Fri-Sun Noon Where: Silver Lake Park—Group Camp 9006 Silver Lake Road, Maple Falls, WA (360) 599-2776 http://www.co.whatcom.wa.us/parks/silverlake/groupcamp.jsp Fee: Registration/Camping—$40.00 Food: Potluck Dinner Saturday Night Bring your best side or dessert! Main Dish Provided by Guy’s “BarbeChoo” Pancake Breakfast provided Sunday Morning Pilot Meeting: Saturday—10:00 am Must Bring: USHPA MEMBERSHIP Must Sign: Silver Lake Park Waiver (this is new) All pilots will be asked to show USHPA MEMBERSHIP at Registration. IMPORTANT CHANGE— Silver Lake Park is requiring a signed waiver from all Pilots. Please do not go up the Mountain without checking in and signing waivers first! Thanks for helping us maintain a great relationship with one of the most beautiful Landing Zone owners around! Who else mows us a landing strip? Monies collected will pay for campground with balance going to support Whatcom County foot-launched Site Development, Site Preservation and Advocacy Efforts. Silver Lake Campground is great for kids and non-pilots! Hiking, fishing, lake, paddleboats, horse camp, bike trails, nearby wineries, etc. Volunteers Welcomed— If interested in helping make this a fabulous weekend, contact Stacy or Jeff Beck, 360-739-5649, enes14@wildblue.net.
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| 26°C Agassiz: Mainly cloudy. Clearing late this morning. High 26. UV index 6 or high. As the cycles got better Richard started the first of 4 flights today with a perfect light wind reverse launch. Thanks to Norm, Bev, Blake, Richard, John M, George and others that helped stitch the carpet down. We left the old carpet down so we have a nice spike free surface now.
There is thread and needles behind the sign on launch for others to finish the sewing when you are up on launch, any help is appreciated.
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| 26°C Agassiz: Mainly cloudy. Clearing late this morning. High 26. UV index 6 or high. Good thermals that were not too bouncy or strong so they could enjoy the lift without too much turbulence or wind. By the end of three flights Colleen was just watching and not having to guide them into the circle, great improvement today in both launching & landing approaches. Joe C was out test flying the Buzz Z3 L and he really likes it after two good flights. At the end of the day around 7 pm, I took Colleen up for a flight as well as Richard T and Derek & Candace. Great soarable conditions as it "glassed-off" and Colleen reported +3 m/s over the sandbars and having to do "big ears" to get down to go to dinner. Derek reported that he & Martin N logged three hours earlier at Bridal going to Elk and back at 1500 metres. So a good day for everyone apparently!
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| 26°C Agassiz: Cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Risk of a thunderstorm this afternoon. High 21. UV index 4 or moderate. We probably had a dozen runs each completed by noon and we went to Subway on the way to the Ranch to refuel. Back at the Ranch we did a 2 hour ground school session and then went out kiting for a few more hours as it was too strong to fly students. he guys were doing pretty good at reverse launching by 5 pm, so we decided to head up to fly Harley & Chuck on tandem and Miguel wanted to fly solo. David was beat so he offered to drive for us. Rob & Blake had dropped out already due to other commitments. Colleen took Chuck tandem and I launched Miguel after Joe C flew down on the Buzz Z3 L. Colleen received Miguel as I got ready with Harley. Harley is pretty light so we soared with ease before giving him the ctrols to fly the approach to the Ranch. A very busy day but highly productive for the new students!
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| 26°C Agassiz: Cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Risk of a thunderstorm this afternoon. High 21. UV index 4 or moderate. Sure enough, as soon as the students left the conditions improved . . . sunny and calm winds arrived?? All of the tandems called and we told to rebook, except the two booked at noon who arrived so we took them up and Denis & I flew them for 35-45 minutes in strongish thermic conditions. It definitely was not student conditions so we made the correct call for the students to go home. A group of solo pilots went up in Gord's truck and all flew and Gary P top-landed to drive the truck down later and they all said the air was interesting. Landings looked pretty "bubbly" at the Ranch. After 6 pm we were getting dinner ready when the power went out after a big clap of thunder right overhead, but it came back on moments later as we were treated to a huge lightning storm centred over Harrison Mills for over an hour.
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| 26°C Agassiz: Mainly cloudy. Clearing near noon. High 26. UV index 7 or high.
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| 26°C Agassiz: A mix of sun and cloud. Becoming sunny this morning. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High 26. UV index 7 or high. We then had to leave to head to Spences Bridge for "Desert Daze", a great outdoor festival featuring local acts and we saw Mavourneen & Jim Ryan playing a set. We also dropped off Chloe to her mom there. It was "stinking hot" at 39C there and no wind and the CUs looked awesome. The local story is that the mountain sheep come down once the music starts playing and sure enough, a whole herd came bounding down the hillsides right into the school field.
Revelstoke Report - while the Fraser Valley is getting more stable reports of awesome flights at Revy are coming in as Chris D. just flew from Mt Mackenzie to Kicking Horse Resort in Golden on his Delta 2!
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| 26°C Agassiz: A mix of sun and cloud. Becoming sunny this morning. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High 26. UV index 7 or high. Next tandem, I took Kym for a flight following Thomm M and the plan was to thermal out and land at Kilby Farm for lunch. Well Thomm was soon heading to the Ranch in strongish S winds and we headed towards School Road and as we got there it was weird and sinky and not many good fields (mostly blueberries now) so we diverted to Bill Best's field where it was bubbly and rotory in the S winds but we had a nice landing on our feet. Kym should be back for lessons too soon!
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| 26°C Agassiz: Clearing. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High 26. UV index 7 or high. I had a few tandems to do as well, and the last tandem was in spicy conditions so Colleen was guiding John W while I was getting ready to fly and John W found a few nasty thermals that collapsed his Swift a few times due to less than effective braking . . . before he headed out to a nice landing at the Ranch. Cheryl & Justin were out test flying a new tandem and they had a nice soaring flight and decided to buy it. Even Thomm M flew today landing at Harvest Market as planned. Another odd day as we quit by 4 pm and took Chloe to Harrison Beach where she swam til dark.
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| 26°C Agassiz: Sunny. High 26. UV index 7 or high. I was doing tandems with Denis helping out and we had 4 very excited ladies going flying today. I had a nice soaring flight with Natalie and we were coming over the Ranch when I had a huge blowout, but by the time I looked up the Magnum II had reinflated and we had a normal approach - these inverted days are causing it to be very punchy at times. I too John W's missus tandem later in the day and apparently she took her Gravol too early? We took off and started sinking but caught a nice set of climbs off the South Knoll and were soon above launch, but the punchy air and her propensity to look down caused her to get a bit dizzy, so I gave her the controls heading east to Harvest Market where she climbed out in three turns over the Fraser River and took us to the LZ. Denis came in below us and had a nice landing with Theresa from Germany (who is now considering quitting her Veterinary Studies to become a Paragliding Pilot!).
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| 26°C Agassiz: Sunny. High 26. UV index 7 or high.
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| 26°C Agassiz: Clearing this morning. High 26. UV index 7 or high. I had one tandem to do with Christie who was denied a few weeks ago when it blew out on us before we could get in the air. The plan was for her hubby and son to take video of our launch and then they would race down to the Ranch to video our landing. Jeff S had launched first and showed us where the lift was but then hit some sink so we where not sure whether we could pull it off, but we launched anyway and we were soon way above launch, of course because I decided to fly in short sleeves with no gloves.
We had a nice landing near the circle and the family got our landing on video too as planned. I took Jeff up for another flight and a few others for test flights and free flying before heading to dinner with my family, early for a change. Thanks to Thomm M for driving for us on the first round. Click here for the Willi 2013 Scores . Some pretty long flights in Golden including Al & Andrew's O&R flights, congratulations to Al & Andrew for their placings in First & Second for Paragliding.
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| 26°C Agassiz: Cloudy. Becoming a mix of sun and cloud this afternoon. High 23. UV index 6 or high. Click here for the Leonardo Tracks from Canada . Some pretty long flights in Golden including Al & Andrew's O&R flights, and it looks like Al is still in First Place.
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| 26°C Agassiz: Showers. High 20. UV index 3 or moderate.
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| 26°C Agassiz: Becoming a mix of sun and cloud this morning with 30 percent chance of showers this afternoon. Risk of a thunderstorm this afternoon. High 25. UV index 7 or high.
It was flyable at least 4 separate times today but John W was camping at Old Ochard and he said it was very windy there, so he stayed home. We had ample jobs to do getting the Farm ready for Sarah & Thomas' Wedding on Saturday.
Willi Report from Golden - rain kept most pilots on the ground today, but yesterdays flights were high and long with Al the Hammer in First Place for Paragliding, and some honourable mention for a FlyBC Alumni - Lee S who broke 100 kms today! Climbs to 4000 metres and fairly light winds. South of The Line from Brett Hazlett on Vimeo.
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| 26°C Agassiz: Mainly sunny. Increasing cloudiness this afternoon. Risk of thunderstorms near Hope late this afternoon. High 26. UV index 8 or very high.
We quit early and went to the Golf Course for dinner and saw a thunderstorm develop over Chilliwack around 7 pm.
Click here for the Leonardo Tracks from Canada . Some pretty long flights in Golden today at the Willi! |
FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day Reports click to select the month and year you wish to review.
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Box 79, Harrison Mills, BC Canada V0M 1L0 Mobile: 604-618-5467 Skype: flybcpg E-Mail: FlyBC E-Mail |