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FlyBC "Site of the Day August 2015 Archives"
August 2015 Archives
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@ 3000' in knots |
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| 8-31-15 |
 Agassiz BC Rain. Amount 15 to 25 mm. Windy. High 16. Hard to believe some un-named tandem pilot was complaining about the rain cancelling a few tandems, while thousands were without power and others had trees crash into their cars & houses. This has been the best weather years I can remember in 20 years of paragliding, and BC needed the rain to quench forest fires.  Annecy Report - Conditions looked south at the Doussard LZ and we saw a few pilots flying off the Planfait Launch. We had a beautiful hotel next to the Doussard LZ and Colleen went for a run around the LZ this morning while I slept in.
We came back to the LZ and found a big sign pointing towards Montmin Launch where we knew we could get lunch and possible a flight. We had a huge burger each and some beers before tackling the hike up to Montmin Launch. We could have driven as the gates were open but needed the exercise in 32C heat as Eurpoe is in a heatwave. I arrived on launch to find 10 PGers waiting on top. It looked strong but launchable and I started to lay out but the Launch Monitor cmae over and said "it is going to be shit, too much south wind". He also said no one flew to Doussard yesterday either because fo the strong south winds.
As we drove south we saw pilots launching Montmin and staying high. That is Paragliding - one needs patience and time. 8-30-15
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| Agassiz BC Periods of rain. Amount 5 to 10 mm. High 17. St. Hilaire du Touvet Report - Conditions looked calm in Nimes til late afternoon so we headed NE to Annecy, stopping at St. Hilaire to check out the conditions. The winds on the highway north were very strong so we though no way anyone would be flying but when we arrived there were 30+ gliders in the air soaring around. We took the Funiculaire Vertical Tram up. This train was built in the 1880s to service the towns above on the plateau and is still in service. Great way to get to the top so you don't have a retrieve issue with your card - 10 euros one way.
The South Launch was working well and many pilots were taking off despite it being a bit leeside from the north at times (not collapsing paraglider in the attached shot).
8-29-15
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| Agassiz BC Rain. Amount 20 to 30 mm. Becoming windy near noon. High 17.
Maybe another time when it is soarable, we may fly. Woodside Report - sunny skies early on but then the winds hit and there were power outages and a small earthquake too near Mission, guess we picked a good time to be away! 8-28-15
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|  Agassiz BC Periods of rain. Temperature steady near 18. Organya, Spain Report - I got to fly Organya today, home site of the Rodriguez Bros. from the SAT Team. I was flying once at San Marcos on a really strong day with Horacio Llorens (another SAT Team pilot) and he said he likes it strong so he can do lots of acro and then climb back up to do it again, just like his home site of Organya. That is what we had today but it was a light day according to the locals. We had to wait til 2 pm to launch and then it got really difficult to get a good wing as it is so cliff-like. I flubbed two inflations even using the C's to control the Carerra. But then I got off cleanly and climbed fast.
Launch is at 800 metres ASL (400 AGL) and I was soon over 1880 metres thermalling with some Spanish vultures (wondering if they were friendly or territorial, and they were very friendly!). Our hotel is 18 kms away in the town of Arvell. If you look at the photo below towards the east you will see an L-shaped feature which is the Arvell Aeroport on top of a bluff in front of the hotel.
I flew out after an hour and landed at the Parapente Organya LZ near town and it was blowing +25 kph on the ground but smooth all the way in.
8-27-15
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| Agassiz BC Mainly sunny. Hazy. High 26. UV index 5 or moderate. A bit smoky in the Fraser Valley but rain is coming to break up this weather pattern and wash away some of the smoke. There is a heavy rainfall advisory warning of flooding due to overly dry soil conditions. Santa Pola Report - Conditions looked perfect at noon as we drove by the launch on our way to Organya (home of the Rodriguez Brotheres). As it was a 6 hour drive we decide to skip flying today. Here is the Organya Site on google maps: http://goo.gl/maps/IXOfv 8-26-15
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. High 28. UV index 6 or high. Santa Pola Report - we had light winds in La Herradura & Carchuna Spain so we headed towards Organya (the home of the SAT Team) and stopped in Santa Pola to check conditions and when we arrived the tandems were aready soaring. I got ready and took off from the back of launch and pushed forward in 20 kph winds and was easily soaring towards the Lighthouse.
The tandems were cobra-launching with helpers teasing the wingtip into the air while another helper ballasted out front. No drama. I was cruising by launch when Colleen launched and went straight up and was above everyone as I top-landed almost landing on a spectator that walked right under me as I approached final (spectators never look up). Colleen flew for about an hour and top-landed at 7:45 pm and there was still aboundant lift as the tandems kept flying tourists. Great site to make a few euros on a good day, no drivers or retrieves needed.
8-24-15
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. High 28. UV index 6 or high. Carchuna Report - we went up to a launch in Carchuna Spain that I found on PGEarth, but it was light and the launch was a dustbowl with tangle bushes and I gave up (missing Mother Woodside and carpets). 8-24-15
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. High 28. UV index 6 or high. 8-23-15
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. Becoming a mix of sun and cloud late in the afternoon. High 28. UV index 6 or high. There is a lot of smoke coming from WA State fires as they are in a mess down there with the drought and high winds.
They also had several students, existing and brand new to manage and they got several flights in despite the lack of wind earlier. I went up to the launch at La Herradura here in Espana, but it was howling strong. My balls are not that big! 8-22-15
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. High 28. UV index 5 or moderate. Benny Report - We had a large group of pilots (14) at Mt. St. Benedict today and conditions were really good.
Danny Virtue is a very welcoming landowner and is allowing pilots to land on his property at the base of the mountain. The road is in excellent shape and you can drive straight to launch now! - Nicole Santa Pola Spain Report - we happened to find a nice launch called Santa Pola west of Barcelona and there was no one there but it looked good! As I was setting up a group of tandem pilots arrived with an eager group for tandem flights, so I waited to see how it was working. It was working well as the first two tandems went off to the west to the lighthouse.
8-21-15
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| Agassiz BC Mainly cloudy. 40 percent chance of showers in the morning. Clearing late in the afternoon. High 23. UV index 5 or moderate. 8-20-15
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| Agassiz BC Mainly cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers overnight. Windy near Hope early this evening. Low 15. 8-19-15
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. High near 30C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 8-18-15
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. High 32. UV index 6 or high. Reports from the students "Had a great day with 4 flights and lots of kiting practice. Andrei let me do some light cross-wind launches and they went well" - Paul. Bev was helping Katie kite and shared driving with Norm (who as later seen 1000 feet over Woodside showing the students how to fly in light lift). Thanks for the help everyone as we are away for a few days. The students appreciate it! 8-17-15
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. High 29. UV index 6 or high. Thanks to Bev for training Katie and driving for us! 8-16-15
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| Agassiz BC Mainly cloudy. Clearing this afternoon. High 25. UV index 6 or high. Denis & Tonya ran the show doing tandems and organizing student flights and it all went well except that it got windy in the PM restricting student flights. 8-15-15
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| Agassiz BC A few showers ending near noon then cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. Windy early this morning. High 19. They were wrong of course and we had to so ground school and video reviews until around 2 pm. It was also much lighter winds than forecasted, so we went up top with Paul & Katie and Paul did his first Woodside solo flight, after having 4 flights at another school previously. We had Colleen in the LZ guiding Paul and somehow he unlocked the radio and changed channels near the end but he managed to land safely on his feet (by 5 flights most students can master this). We drove down to pick up Paul and the other new students Tobi & Max arrived, so we took them up for their first solo flights. Conditions were light but definitely straight and inflow, so I sent Tobi first and he had a great launch thanks to Bev's coaching a few days ago.
Paul went next and had another brilliant takeoff and approach . . . right to the end when he switched channels again??? I think we need another radio placement for him. He landed well again but was a long way from the spot. Max was up last and had a perfect takeoff too! Colleen gave Max a lot more coaching as his English is not so good and our German is even worse. Max too was in the circle and had a great time. Katie and I waited for a long time to launch our tandem as it shaded over and went tail and cross for 40 minutes.
We waited for another puff and we had a good inflation but Katie forgot to keep running and we had to stop (no winder launches need power). Finally as it went cross from the North, we got a better cycle and we had a good inflation and Katie ran strong and we were off. Beautiful buoyant air with some thermal bubbles made for a perfect first flight for Katie, and as we came into the LZ the wind switched to light SW so I approached from the NE corner and we had a perfect landing in the circle with the guys cheering! 8-14-15
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| Agassiz BC Rain strating at noon. High 24. UV index 5 or high. We then had a brief patch of sun at the Ranch and the new students were getting excited, but it was very windy in the trees and soon we had rain. The forecast was for heavy rain here and in the Interior so we sent the students home and I did chores getting ready for the Euro Trip. We are hoping we can start training by noon Saturday. 8-13-15
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. Local smoke. High 31. UV index 7 or high. Students arrived at 11 am, and Bev took them out to the training hill and by 2 pm they looked like kiting superstars. It was a busy tandem day and thanks to Al & Denis we got 13 tandems done by 6 pm! My first tandem flight was very soarable and we got to 1100 metres for 30 minutes before heading out as Tiffany's friends were waiting on the LZ.
The husband was a tiny guy, only about 250 lbs, and yet we were able to thermal out over the Construction Zone in the haze.
8-12-15
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. High 32. UV index 7 or high. Lame launch conditions until around 1 pm when it blew out strong! Denis was in the air with a tandem and had to chose Riverside LZ. It is very smoky in the Valley and Environment Canada has issued an Air Quality Advisory for the elderly to stay indoors . . . I don't think I can do that? 8-11-15
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. High 31. UV index 7 or high. I could smell the smoke when I went out in the morning, but did not see it until we got up top. I had Pascal, Lisa & Nathaniel out today training and we had a great day, no stress and lots of flights despite the smoke.
The first flight I had the students fly to Bill Best's farm, a great new LZ for them in stable conditions. After that it was all flights to the Ranch, and we got 5 flights finished by 630 pm.
8-10-15
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| Agassiz BC A mix of sun and cloud. Clearing early this afternoon. High 30. UV index 7 or high.
We drove down to capture the landing but we were a bit late. Despite Gravol we had another near sick episode with Aurora and it was not even bumpy? No students today and later Tommy arrived to write his P-2 exam and he aced it with a 90% score! Report from Alan at Bridal suggested it was pretty stable there too, and we saw one glider near launch at 7 pm. The smoke from the Wood Lake fire is not too bad at our place right now.
8-9-15
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| Vernon BC Sunny early this morning then a mix of sun and cloud with 30 percent chance of showers late this afternoon. Risk of a thunderstorm late this afternoon. High 30. UV index 7 or high. Dale drove this round as he was SIV-ed out, no adrenaline left apparently. I waited for an hour in the boat while an un-named female pilot was a "launch potato". When pilots started launching they were going up fast all around launch and on the way out too as it started to develop behind launch. Good maneuvers from everyone with little coaching needed as some are on their 4th day of SIV and looking good. I completed another tandem with a 6 year old girl from the same family that lives in Sicamous and she had a fun flight looking at the sights over the Lake and we landed right in front of the family boat on the beach. The SupAir EONA Large student glider works well for small kid tandems. We decided to forgo the third round of flights as everyone was headed home and by the time I had packed up the trailer and boat it started hailing in the campground. It has to be blind luck and not good planning as we had a perfect run of weather for 10 days with some late afternoon and evening showers, but otherwise perfect SIV conditions with light winds in the maneuvering box and on the beach LZ. 8-8-15
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| Vernon BC Sunny early this morning then a mix of sun and cloud with 30 percent chance of showers late this afternoon. Risk of a thunderstorm late this afternoon. High 30. UV index 7 or high.
Bill launched Dean first and Dean flew out to the regular LZ to get him oriented with the site. We had some pretty good maneuvers with Steven S doing "the World's Longest Full Stall" on his Gin GTO after he got 3 riser twists and it took some time to get the twists out. By the end of the day after 3 rounds he got the Full Stall figured out. Bill & I did a set of tandems that we picked up on the Beach, a 12 year old Birthday girl and her 8 year old sister, with Grandpa driving the Van down for us. Good way to make $300 on the spot! We got shaded out and tailwind ensued and only Steve D got off launch before the rain hit.
8-7-15
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| Vernon BC Sunny. High 28. UV index 7 or high.
I was in the boat at 11 am and . . . I waited and waited as the big cloud behind launch shaded launch in and it went cross. Soon I had multiple paragliders in the air doing various maneuvers as I watched. Carlos is becoming a "full stall machine" on his new Ozone Buzz Z4! He can do them easily now with no drama.
Bill & Matt did their annual Acro Tandem Flight and had some sick moves including a failed loop attempt to slack lines. We did three good runs today and were finished by 530 pm as we headed to the Grindrod Pub. 8-6-15
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| Vernon BC A few showers ending this afternoon then cloudy with 30 percent chance of showers. Risk of a thunderstorm this afternoon. High 23. UV index 4 or moderate. We went up at 2 pm after dropping the boat in the water, and we saw some storms to the south & north quadrants. Plus it was very cross. Rain on all sides and the threat of thunderstorms made us drive down. After an afternoon nap, we went back up. Just Bill, Eric & Matt were around as others ran errands etc. I drove the guys up and raced down to do the rescue driving on the water but it was not needed. Eric threw down some sick moves including a spun-up SAT before an uneventful beach landing.
Too many wingovers caused Matt a near water landing but he managed to stuff it into the beach and kept dry.
8-5-15
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| Vernon BC Increasing cloudiness. A few showers beginning this afternoon. Risk of thunderstorms this afternoon. High 22. UV index 3 or moderate. We got one round in with Claudia as driver and I waited in the boat, but it was not needed as everyone is now doing the maneuvers by themselves!
The new clearcut is launchable now if not for a storm raging, so we may come back later this week. We went to the Ramp to check it out and found a paraglider in the trees to the left of launch, some story here?
8-4-15
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| Vernon BC Mainly cloudy. Clearing this morning. High 29. UV index 7 or high.
No one got wet today!
8-3-15
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| Vernon BC A mix of sun and cloud. 30 percent chance of showers this afternoon. High 32. UV index 7 or high.or high. The forecast showed strongish SW winds but on launch it was light south and cross when I dropped off the team. I was down at the Lake in 25 minutes and ready to receive the SIV pilots in the boat and they all got off after a few tries. First out was Matt on his Delta 2 L and he had a good full stall with a cravatte that he had to work out. Diana & Tobi are new to SIV so they only did assymetrics on this flight, and Tobi found the Buzz Z4 does a 180 on accelerated assymetrics. Carlos has done an SIV before but no full stall so we started there and he had a nice stall with an assyemtric release that was a bit wild. Andrew was doing assymetrics on his M6 and he got a huge cravatte that took 1000 feet to sort out, but he kept it flying straight. Al was practicing stalls on the Peak3 when one went wonky but he showed the wing who was "the Boss".
We went straight back up and I dropped off the team again and it was still cross. Carlos & Matt got off again but the rest were denied as it started to blow down. 8-2-15
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| Vernon BC Sunny. High 36. UV index 7 or high. Carlos got the best lift of the day earlier.
Woodside Report - Denis was doing our tandems today and it looked less busier than Saturday. Sometime around 4 pm the webcam system went down, I suspect more solar panel theft? Maybe we need a boobytrap around the panels? 8-1-15
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| Vernon BC Sunny. High 36. UV index 7 or high. We got to the Whispering Pines Resort at 11 am and I hooked up the trailer and unloaded the Van, lots of gear for SIVers and new pilots here to test. We had a leisurely day of camping and looking for an LZ. The Provincial Park Beach near the boat ramp looks nice and it is large enough for beginners.
We drove Carlos up to try his new Buzz Z4 and ran into Alex W & Doug N as they were retrieving from their 2 pm flight. They said it was rough due to strong SW winds rolling over the hills. When we arrived at 7 pm it was calm and Carlos had a nice sledder into the normal LZ.
Woodside Report - Conditions look good for tandems today, and Denis & Andrei were seen on the webcam taking care of our clients. 7-31-15
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. High 33. UV index 7 or high. We got two rounds of flights in but the weird sinky air convinced me to end the day early. We loaded up the FyBC Caravan of boat, trailers and gear and headed east to Mara Lake late last night, see you in 10 days back at Mother Woodside. |
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