| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| Follow @flybc |
FlyBC "Site of the Day August 2014 Archive Page"
Woodside has some forecasted rain coming the next two days but the weekend looks stunning.
“Enjoy the little things, for one day you make look back and realize they were the big things.” - Robert Brault
|
| 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
@ 3000' in knots |
Rate °C/1000' |
Base in Meters |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8/31/14 |
 Agassiz BC Cache Creek: Mainly cloudy. 40 percent chance of showers early this morning. Wind becoming southwest 20 km/h late this afternoon. High 22. UV index 5 or moderate. We started at 10 am with Gabe & Lucian and we headed to Savona's Lower Launch. Nice cycles with east prevailing winds and Lucian launched first and worked the lift all the way to the Toilet Bowl. Gabe was soon afterwards and rode the Bolero home to the same spot. Bill G & Juan arrived just in time to see the guys fly and they retrieved them while I drove down.
Rod had texted that he was on the way so Juan waited at the Hat Creek turnoff for 35 minutes and we then headed up to launch. The road is chewed up in a few places with some ugly cross ditches but Juan powered through in 2WD in his F350. We arrived to perfect cycles even though it was now 3:00 pm! Colleen launched first with Lucian & Gabe following her to the Ashcroft Manor where they arrived quite high.
Juan & Bill flew off next and Juan was getting some nice cloudsuck and they headed towards Cache Creek.
Then a patch of sunlight broke through, and I laid out the demo Gin Carrera and waited for the cycles to come in. After several minuted I got a puff up the slope and I yanked the Carrera into the air and was flying! By now all the sun was gone in the valley so I rode the ridge NE towards Cache Creek and was getting little bits of lift along the ridges and when I got to the Drag Strip where there was some sun, I turned towards the Ashcroft Manor.
I drove Juan back up in the Atlas with his mini-bike and dropped him off at the Cornwall Forest Service Road. We then loaded up and headed to Woodside but arrived to too strong winds and impending darkness so we drove down. A very productive & relaxing weekend for training and worth the drive, the season is far from over! 8/30/14
|
| Agassiz BC Cache Creek: A mix of sun and cloud. 30 percent chance of showers this afternoon with risk of a thunderstorm. High 23. UV index 5 or moderate. Gabe & Lucian rode their motorcycles and Colleen & I were in the Altas and somehow we beat them when Lucian's GPS sent them to Lillooett? Russell & Diane were also following in their rental car as he wanted to try his new Ozone Delta 2 before heading home to the Yukon. By the time we got ready to fly the forecasted SW winds became NE so the boys got a Dump flight showing how well they can reverse launch. It was a short flight but they did well with all phases of flight. It started to rain so we headed to Upper Launch to wait it out as it looked like a blue hole was coming from the South. I fell asleep in the truck while the guys waited on launch, and when I awoke it was sunny and the cycles were cming in perfectly. Russell got ready first and launched in nice cycle and headed east towards the Crash Pad LZ but he hit headwinds and sink and landed short and had a small hike. Lucian launched next on a borrowed Rush and had a similar flight path and landed near Russell. Gerry L launched on his Delta 2 and headed west and started to climb out! I told Gabe to follow Gerry and he did and they were soon above launch.
When I got down to the LZ, I saw Gabe packing up on the rim of the Toilet Bowl, while the HG was in the middle of the LZ. Apparently the HGer had a straight glide here with no turns and barely made it. Gabe hit some strong headwinds over the LZ and barely made it in but he kept his cool and flew as fast as possible and killed the wing afer he touched do so he would not get dragged off the bowl. After we regrouped, the winds got really strong from the NE so back to the Dump Ridge where Gabe got dragged a few times and Lucian decided not to even try kiting. Russell took off on his new Delta 2 but the winds were too cross to soar. It rained on us here again, and Mother Nature treated us to a nice rainbow before we packed up and headed to the Pub.
8/29/14
|
|  Agassiz BC Increasing cloudiness early this morning. 70 percent chance of showers. High 19. UV index 4 or moderate.
8/28/14
|
| Agassiz BC Increasing cloudiness early this morning. 30 percent chance of showers early this afternoon with risk of a thunderstorm. High 24. UV index 4 or moderate.
Kevin called around 3 pm and mentioned the winds in Chilliwack had died down and he was coming to fly Woodside, so we got Gabe ready and headed up the mountain when Kevin arrived. Kevin launched his new Ozone Mantra M6 first and started climbing out smoothly, so Gabe got ready and got the Rush I into the air equally smoothly and he started thermalling so I drove down.
Gabe & I headed into Vancouver later and we saw Kevin over the HG LZ about 90 minutes later so he had a good flight! 8/27/14
|
| Agassiz BC Mainly sunny. High 28. UV index 7 or high. We still have Sabrina, Gabe, Greg, Roy, Lucian and Harley here finishing off their lessons and their hard work the past 6 days is showing. We bagged and early flight at 10 am and it was already getting windy. I was sure we were going to get shut down as the forecast winds were supposed to pick up by noon and as Denis flew off with Arlene on tandem he radioed back that it was picking up but he made the Ranch with lots of height. Greg launched first after a few duffs and got "hoovered" off launch but had a great long flight, so one by one we got everyone off but Sabrina. Everyone had fun but Roy who got a bit low trying to thermal and landed in Burt's backyard. Denis came back up in his car and we took the last two tandems and Denis ended up in Riverside as he hit sink but we were able to take off tandem on the Gin Fuse and climb with ease and even had to look for sink as it was thermalling off the flats. The LZ has just been hayed so it is dry brown and thermic and we got popped on final pretty good, as I decided to try the circle instead of the training hill. The students all had good landings and were super happy to get the second flight in stronger conditions. After that we went to Jack's for lunch before heading to the Agassiz Rec Centre for some kiting.
8/26/14
|
| Agassiz BC Mainly sunny. High 28. UV index 7 or high. Sabrina, Gabe, Greg, Roy, Lucian and Harley all flew and Sabrina & Greg are both flying their new Ozone Geo 4s and loving the handling. 8/24/14
|
| Agassiz BC Sunny. Becoming a mix of sun and cloud this afternoon. High 25. UV index 5 or moderate. We had some light leeside cycles but the students are very skilled at no wind forward launches and everyone got 5 flights in today. The new Van is working well as many loads were 10+ pilots and gear and everything was safe and secure in the Van. The last flights were pretty late but it was still cycling in and almost soarable (at least for a few passes for Darren on his new Gin Atlas X-Alps).
8/24/14
|
| Agassiz BC Sunny. Becoming a mix of sun and cloud this afternoon. Risk of a thunderstorm late this afternoon. High 25. UV index 5 or moderate. Somehow we also booked in 8 students and I managed to put together 8 full kits including many new gliders we just received in stock. Nothing like treating a student right with brand new gear! Denis, Derek, Andrew & Colleen were the most Awesome Tandem Team while I managed the guiding & driving duties. Colleen was also tasked with landing the students as some were brand new to the sport, as usual she provided top quality guiding! Add to the mix another 20+ pilots on launch at Woodside and it was pretty crowded but we managed 4 student flights each, and the tandems were able to stay above launch until the passengers got dizzy!
8/23/14
|
| Agassiz BC Mainly sunny. High 27. UV index 7 or high. We then did a set of 8 tandems with Denis, Derek & Colleen piloting and when we thought it would calm down around 6 pm we went back up with the students and got Derek off before it blew out really strong til dark. Derek flew over to Harvest to show the students how to approach and land there for their future XC flights. 8/22/14
|
| Agassiz BC Mainly cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. Risk of thunderstorms this afternoon. High 24. UV index 5 or moderate. We had many good flights with no aborts but these folks have either kited or flown a few small flights with friends, so they were pretty easy. Sabrina had one problem when she started to bring the Bolero 4 up too slowly and it drifted left into the only bush on launch. I came over to get some lines out of the top of the bush when I stepped on an underground wasp nest and they became very angry and attacked my sandaled feet. Yikes! I did the crazy dance trying to kill the ones that were still attacking me but they won and I ended up with about 20 stings. They even followed me 40-50 feet away still attacking. Meanwhile, Sabrina was attached to the bush and they started stinging her. She had to ditch the wing by unclipping and running away too. After attending to our stings we still had to go down and get the wing out and bravely Karen went down and got the lines off the tree by avoiding the nest but as she was walking up the hill with the wing one wasp stung her. My radio was still sitting on the nest where I dropped it but Greg managed to get it without getting stung. Nasty beasts these wasps. We packed up and headed to Woodside where hopefully there are no wasps. We went back to Woodside and had lunch and did some landing briefings and went up to launch around 5 pm to perfect cycles and light winds in the LZ. One by one the students flew off with perfect launches and Colleen & Karen were in the LZ to guide them in for their maiden Woodside flights. When I got back to the Van to drive down, I found I had a flat tire so Colleen drove everyone back up in the Nissan Atlas (with some tire foam to get me back down). I drove straight down to the Ranch while Colleen got everyone ready to fly and I was in the LZ for their second flights and everyone did really well on flight #2. A very productive day for the students who are here for 5 more days, so they should look like superstars when they leave (hopefully with their P2 ratings). 8/21/14
|
| Agassiz BC Cloudy. Becoming a mix of sun and cloud near noon. 30 percent chance of showers near Hope late this afternoon. High 23. UV index 5 or moderate. Gabe flew off solo as I readied the tandem with Kate from the Island who came all the way over to fly with us so I did not want to disappoint her and give her a sledder. A few others flew off too and Mark C was doing well above launch so after a few duffs we were off (I think Kate was really scared and her legs would not move). We got lucky and were soon above the towers and it was easy soaring and smooth all over the mountain. After 30 minutes we flew out and even the ridge near Duncans was working as a gaggle of vultures soared with us. I was concerned that Kate might not be able to run when we landed but she surprised me and had a great standup landing and dragged me into the circle to pack up! By now Gilbert & his brother had arrived and I was to take Dennis tandem. It was getting stronger and when we arrived on launch it was pretty strong with gusty cycles rolling through. Good thing Dennis is a heavy boy. Degas had launched and then Cornell from the Island and they were soaring around easily. Cornell is on a nice Ozone Delta 2 and he climbed like a rocket to the north. I inflated the Magnum II and oddly I could not move forward. Ah, Dennis is pushing back on me. I popped the brakes to unglue his feet from the ground and we were free of terra firma and climbing. A few turns and we got to 1000 metres but could not catch Cornell. It was clearly too strong for beginners so the students drove down and I contemplated Harvest Market but with no plan in place I flew us out to the Ranch after 30 minutes. Strong south wind in the LZ, so I tried my new approach into the training hill area and we had a super soft touchdown with no need to run. Dennis was standing up and then fell over on his back, no pull from the glider. He just fell over! He was giggling from excitement! Another new student for paramotoring as Dennis does not like the idea of running off the mountain but loved the flying part. Meanwhile Cornell & Degas flew out to Harvest Market and softer landing conditions that Riverside in the strong conditions. We gathered up the students and headed to Bridal as it is usually less windy there and some of the recently signed off pilots have not flown there either, and we arrived to see Martin N up high heading to Elk. It was strong in the LZ from the west, and we waited for Derek to drive up. It looked like easy soaring on the Knob near launch. We arrived on top at 6 pm and there was no wind and it clouded in. I was taking Ryyan for a tandem and we got clipped in and waited for a cycle . . . and waited some more. We got one decent cycle but Ryan was too slow on the initial inflation run and the glider dropped to the side. Next cycle we got the wing overhead but not enough speed and ended up in the bushes at the end of the runway. We bunched up and let the solo pilots go next and we waited about 30 minutes before we got any cycles that were not down? The better launch position was the upper launch and Sam A got off first, followed by Etienne and then Gabe. Mark C got off too and they were able to soar with Martin N who came back and was still in the air 3 hours later.
Bridal is a special place to fly tandems and you really need good cycles as the runway is short. Meanwhile back at Woodside it calmed down enough for Karen to launch and get a 45 minute glassoff flight. Never leave Mother Woodside, at least for tandems. 8/20/14
|
| Agassiz BC Mainly cloudy. Clearing this afternoon. High 23. UV index 5 or moderate. Gabe launched just at 9 am, and he initially started going up and was on a good track for the Ranch when he hit a sinky patch of air that made it look like he would barely make the swamp. I had him angle out towards the HG LZ and he caught some nice lift at the bailout area and was on track for Bill Best's field. Good thing we stopped there and did a briefing this morning. Gabe did a great job piloting his way over to the alternate LZ and had a nice touchdown mid-field and I drove down to get him. By now Bill M & Gilbert had arrived and we headed back up the hill to have another flight. Gabe launched first and was ridge soaring for a few passes but I was concerned whether it had gotten windier. All signs; Harrison Bay, Sumas Windtalker and the launch cycles said it was calmer but you never know, so I sent him out to the Ranch.
Gilbert and I were going to go tandem but it picked up pretty strong and he is a small person so we drove down to do some kiting.
At 5 pm, we went back up with Derek, Martin N, Bill & Gabe and they had a super time thermalling all over the mountain for about an hour.
8/19/14
|
| Agassiz BC A mix of sun and cloud. Fog patches dissipating in the morning. High 24. UV index 7 or high. But not until Gabe had 4 really good flights practicing "big ears" and a few other required skills. At 3 pm, Gabe had a few duffs (getting tired and gusty conditions) so we bagged his wing and I flew Lydia off on a tandem flight, and it was a sweet tandem thermalling on the South Knoll with the vultures and out over the Construction Zone too but it got nasty out over the flats! Good thing Gabe didn't get off! We had a nice approach into the Ranch but the bottom dropped out on final so we butt-skidded into the circle. Next time I am aiming for the training hill area when it is gusty, it is usually smoother there (where Gerry L always lands). We did some de-briefing in the Barn and called the day at 4 pm. When I headed over to Agassiz, I saw an un-named Icaro pilot walking out from the Dykes LZ, so I assume it was too windy to make it to Riverside?? 8/18/14
|
| Agassiz BC A mix of sun and cloud. Fog patches dissipating in the morning. High 27. UV index 7 or high. I took the time off to head in to PoCo to pick up an additional shuttle vehicle as we are so busy and we hate to leave anyone behind. I took Norm's Honda all the way in and it ran far better after blowing out the carbon (plus a can of carb cleaner & premium gas too). After finishing up the deal the poor salesman had to help me load in the Honda so I could get back to the Ranch, he earned his commission today.
 Kevin, Eddy, Carl & Larry - our intrepid para-hikers do Baldy! Baldy, Bacon and Bogs from Kevin Ault on Vimeo. Chrigel the Eagle, flying an Ozone LM5 glider showing us how to do a death spiral. 8/17/14
|
| Agassiz BC Cloudy. Becoming a mix of sun and cloud this morning. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High 26. UV index 7 or high. We had Gabe, Moto and Andy flying as students. It was Andy's graduation day and he had four flights pretty much unassisted by us. Gabe was doing well on Day Two and was often seen above launch thermalling unassisted on the Gin Atlas.
Denis, Colleen, Derek & Andre formed the Awesome Tandem Team today. Somehow we managed to do 11 tandems and they were all soarable tandems too!
Thanks to all that helped out today! 8/16/14
|
| Agassiz BC Showers ending near noon then a mix of sun and cloud with 40 percent chance of showers. High 24. UV index 6 or high. We encountered light drizzle on the way to Heritage Park and when we arrived the LZ was full of cars as there was another music festival in the Park.
Now we had good winds and Gabe showed me what he had learned kiting with friends in Nelson over the summer (apparently spending 25 hours or more kiting his old Freeex wing). I had him on the new Gin Atlas and he had many perfect launches on our training hill and got his feet off the ground several times too when he ran aggressively. We had tandems coming at noon, so we loaded up the truck and headed up the hill so Colleen & Denis could fly the tandems and I would manage Gabe at launch, while COlleen could be in the LZ to guide him in. When we got to launch it was socked in, but it lifted enough for Denis to go first.
We had one more tandem to do and Colleen stayed down on the ground as Denis flew the tandem. Martin N joined us and found one small thermal off the Construction Site but otherwise it was "sleddie time". I launched Gabe and this launch was perfectly timed and Gabe was in the air again. Another good landing for Gabe, just a bit high on final, but he is getting the pattern. We went up one more time around 4 pm, and Gabe was the only student and he had another perfect launch and landing to end off his first day. Three solos on Day One! 8/10-15/14
|
|  Agassiz BC Sunny. High 35. UV index 8 or very high.
Many thanks to Derek & Martin N for mowing the grass after the past days of rain! Apparently the lawns came back to life with the rain, cause they looked dead when we left last week. 8/7-9/14
|
| Agassiz BC Sunny. High 27. UV index 8 or very high. Bridal was working for Martin & George, not so well for another un-named pilot as they flew out. 8/6/14
|
| Agassiz BC Sunny. High 27. UV index 8 or very high. 8/5/14
|
| Agassiz BC Sunny. High 27. UV index 8 or very high. 8/4/14
|
| Agassiz BC Sunny. High 31. UV index 8 or very high. I had one tandem to do at 1 pm, and we got some soaring on the South Knoll and the new clearcut before a perfect landing in the big circle with Jurg who wants to come and do lessons next spring. Tobias, Janna & Matt F were also out flying and had a nice afternoon flight logging about 1.5 hours. 8/3/14
|
| Agassiz BC Sunny. High 30. UV index 8 or very high. We did get in 4 rounds of student flights with some thermalling late in the day as Matt F as trying out his new SupAir Acro3 Harness and Tobias was flying his new Ozone Buzz Z4.
Congratulations to Jason N who completed his P2 Certification today after 8 days of flying here at FlyBC. He left with a shiny new Ozone Geo 4ML as he is planning some big "hike & flies" with his pal Darren. Un-named pilot also showed up at the Ranch with "treed paraglider" from last nights incident and it did not fare well as he fell through the trees breaking branches and tearing the wing. Wing was already in bad shape as it would tear in any direction with little tension so 14 years of use had made the fabric brittle.
8/2/14
|
| Agassiz BC Sunny. High 30. UV index 8 or very high. Andy had a few aborts on the mid-day flight so we drove down some of the trucks. He redeemed himself on the last flight by test flying a Rush that he is interested in. Launch, flying & landing conditions were perfect all day but it was pretty stable. Jason did manage to get above launch for 15 minutes on the last flight, piloting a nice new Ozone Geo 4. Wiley & another pilot went up Woodside later after we were done, and the other un-named pilot somehow ended up in a tree below launch. Wiley had to borrow the Atlas to get back up the mountain to retrive the pilot & glider but they were back at the Ranch around 10 am so it must not have been too serrious. Report to follow I am sure! 8/1/14
|
| Agassiz BC Sunny. High 30. UV index 8 or very high. We also had Andy D here from Bellingham getting back in the air after a 1 month work hiatus, and he logged 3 flights today test flying the Gin Atlas & Gin Bolero 4. We had two tandems at noon and COlleen & I completed them with little fuss as it was nice launch/landing conditions. Not quite so nice 2 hours later when I took Dylan tandem as it was very gusty at launch and turbulent in the air, but we had nice landing conditions arriving in the big circle in east winds. Ninety minutes, it was great on launch as Derek did the "wind dummy" work and it was soarable at 6 pm. Colleen followed and progressively it got lighter when Andy & Dylan launched.
Squamish Chief Report Longest chief flight yet, 45 min of soaring the Chief this morning in 15+ km wind . . . on the Zero 17. Launching the Chief in 15km feels the same as my Buzz Z4 in 5-8km. Its awesome! - Dale Willi Report Nicole reported big air today for those who are still racing. Results are Here. Nic's Blog. |
FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day Reports click to select the month and year you wish to review.
|
Box 79, Harrison Mills, BC Canada V0M 1L0 Mobile: 604-618-5467 Skype: flybcpg E-Mail: FlyBC E-Mail |