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FlyBC's Paragliding Site of the Day Archive Page - February 2011
We spent some time in New Zealand and Mexico in February 2011
“I’m tired of pretending I’m not a total bitchin’ rock star from Mars." - Charley Sheen
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Tandem wanging around over Torrey GliderPort - pic by JPR Torrey Pines Report - I awoke around 1130 am, still on the NZ timezone I guess and went to pick up the truck at the repair shop. I checked the weather and it said flying at Torrey Pines today was going to be awesome. I drove straight to the Gliderport and saw one lone PGer and a HGer taking off after them. I checked in and paid my $7.50 fees and signed 8 pages of waivers and was soon clipped in and ready after all the high wind NZ flying, only this time I flew the Mantra I Medium and it was smooth and easy to get off with no rotors. I flew to the norther boundary following the tandems and a few solos and hit a nice thermal in front of the golf course and rode it up while the others looked like they were sinking. They were fine and they passed me heading back south and they daringly went pretty far south! I flew for an hour and watched several tandems takeoff and top-land and it stayed the same, whitecaps out front and DHV I-IIs struggling to get off before landing myself and heading north towards the rain and cold. 
Tandems and gulls heading north from the Torrey GliderPort - pic by JPR
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Brisbane, looking sunny with great CUs - pic by JPR Brisbane Report - I had an early flight out of Auckland at 7 am, slightly delayed due to crew shortages caused by so many flights out of Christchurch. I had a 4 hour layover and met a fellow Paraglider pilot, Stu Pollock, from the Bay Area who was flying around Christchurch when the quake hit. He was unscathed and heading home today too. Stu said hi to Norm and Laura who he met in Golden. We had an odd thing happen in Raglan a few days ago that I forgot to mention: we left Raglan at 10 am toward karioitahi and just past the Raglan bridge into town we hit a Police Check Stop that was making everyone blow into the breathalizer unit. I of course passed buit when we asked why they did this in the morning, they said "Kiwi's around here have a habit of going out drinking til 4 am, then catching a few hours of sleep before heading into work and they are still over the 0.08 limit". The cops had several cars pulled over writing them up!
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Colleen on her XS Addict II over Karioitahi
click on the picture for New Zealand Pics & Videos - photo by CMV Karioitahi Report - for the second day in a row, Karioitahi yielded great lift and it wasn't as windy today so we got there and flew immediately after hiking up and landed in time to get back to Auckland to return the rental car too before 5 pm. Colleen and I hiked up at noon and a few HGers reported getting 1 hour flights earlier. They landed when it got softer. The hike up is steep but safe and we have it down to about 10 minutes. Colleen launched first as I was waiting for it to get stronger. Bad choice for me as she got off clean first try, and I had more rotor and issues getting off as it got windier. Finally I forgot good style and just yarded it in the air with As & Cs and got yanked off! Colleen was enjoying the ridge & thermal lift waiting for me and I soon joined her and the 2 HGers flying the north ridge. We tried going south but there was no lift across the gap formed by the road. We watched the topless HGer try a few times and he came back pretty low both times. I went a few kms north, but the high tide and lack of lift that way didn't make me go far. But everytime we came back to launch we got back up! Colleen flew for 43:43 and I was in the air about 30 minutes and we landed to head to Auckland as planned. Better than a sledder and we flew in shirt sleeves. I am afraid we are in for a cold shock when we get home!
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Jim soaring at Karioitahi on Colleen's XS Addict II
click on the picture for New Zealand Pics & Videos - photo by CMV Karioitahi Report - we headed up to Raglan launch by 11 am, but it was already blown out from the south. We had already checked out of the Solscape resort and had plans to fly Karioitahi and stay near Auckland for our last 2 nights here, so we headed up Hwy 22 which Google Maps recommended as the shorter route. They hadn't counted on the large cattle drive we encountered part way up which delayed us for 10 minutes but the drive was much prettier than the Expressway. When we arrived at Karioitahi we had lunch and then headed up to the south launch, where 3 HGers were just taking off. They were parked at times and it was way too strong on launch for my liking with trees behind launch to get dragged into and a deep gorge behind the trees (gulp!). I had a nap on launch while Colleen hiked back to the car for a book. The Hangies were having fun heading north out of sight, and then heading just as far south. I decided this was folly as it was getting stronger, so we headed down and I hiked up the north launch cliffs with Colleen's XS Addict II (figuring me being 20 kgs over the placarded weight will give me more speed). I arrived on one of the launch spots and the rotor was severe as I laid out the wing and it was blowing down the hill. Bad spot here, so I moved up and to the north. At the higher launch spot it was gusting to +30 kph and lot letting up. At least here I would just get dragged up a hill! I tried kiting a few times and didn't like what the wing was doing overhead because of the gusty conditions. So I waited for it to calm down. Five more HGers launched and were in the air. A local speed-flier arrived on launch with a Gecko 16 speed wing, and without much-ado, launched and was soaring easily doing wingovers and 360's above launch. One other guy arrived on a sky-diving canopy and went even further up the slope and had a lot of trouble and finally hiked down as he was getting dragged on a 14 meter canopy (he admittedly was a beginner not used to foot-launching). The Gecko pilot landed and came back up with a 12 meter Gin speed-wing and promptly sunk out. He said he was too slow on the Gecko hence the early landing. Hmmmmm? That didn't inspire me! A rain cell blew through the area and most of the Hgers landed before that leaving me to wonder what the cell would bring in terms of gusts, but after it passed it got sunny and the whitecaps dissipated somewhat. I grew some testicles and kited the Addict II a few times and it seemed fine. One last kite and I was off and climbing with little forward speed. Good climbs to the north but parked heading south, even with some bar. If I climbed too high I was going backwards. Perhaps my apprehension on launching was appropriate? I flew for 40 minutes and it was still sunny at 8 pm. I watched the last HG land and an Ozone Kite-Boarder just headed out to the surf and I played with the lift band, I could fly out past the surf line and still climb. Amazing place. Alex R told us about his great flights here flying 35 kms north and back several years ago, also on an Addict II XS. We agree with him that it is a must fly site, when here in NZ. I decided it was time to land after 4 hours of waiting, I was sure Colleen was itching to leave. I headed out to the south and hit a beach thermal that was lifting me up at a great rate and parking me in the core, I played in that area for 5 minutes and wasn't going down despite being at the surf line. Interesting! When I popped out of the thermal I was going straight down in at least 30 kms of wind and had to land on the black sand as I couldn't make the grass packing area, even with some speedbar. Strong conditions! We packed up and headed to Auckland where it was still blowing +30 kph in the airport area at 945 pm. We may have to go back to Karioitahi tomorrow as SW is predicted again and it is our last flying day here. Colleen flies back to Vancouver and I fly to LA to retrieve the Suburban before heading home to BC.
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Jim trying to kite above Raglan Reserve Launch in SE Winds with Mt. Karioi in the background
click on the picture for New Zealand Pics & Videos - photo by CMV Raglan Report - a lazy day in New Zealand for us, late breakfast in the eco-Bach before moving to Surfer's Cottage in Solscape. Then shopping in Raglan town before driving up to Launch. Colleen opted for a swim in the surf, while I watched the RC guys fly several different gliders in south winds. They said it was quite bumpy as south winds flow over Karioi Mountain to the south and disturb the seabreezes. They packed up and left as I hiked to launch and just as it got safe to kite the winds completely switched to SE or lee. I kited a few times and got yarded off my feet, fortunately Colleen didn't have the video camera going! While I was getting ready I saw two kite-boarders far out in the sea having no problems, despite the south winds. We retired back at Surfers Cottage and I headed over to start the communal Brazilian BBQ pit in Solscape. One must light a fire on the grill on the left and transfer the coals as they drop through the bigger grill to under the normal BBQ grill on the right. Sounds easy except we had a 30 kph wind blowing out the fire for some time. I eventually got the grill ready but not until I had drank several glasses of a new mate's Bourbon! Great way to meet people in these YHA resorts. Tomorrow we head back towards Auckland with a planned stay in Karioitahi Friday, as I fly out to LA on Sunday morning.
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UK Pilot Soaring above Raglan Reserve Launch
click on the picture for New Zealand Pics & Videos - photo by CMV Raglan Report - New Zealand is in mourning after the big 6.3 earthquake in Christchurch on the South Island, 1000 kms away from us. Last night's news on TV One reported 71 dead and 300 missing persons. Live goes on in Raglan as most appear unaffected other than listening to the news. We headed up to Raglan Reserve to fly after breakfast and Colleen did a few bunny hops as it got stronger, top landing before packing up to go into town to print some reports for work, leaving me to hike or fly. I did indeed fly about 20 minutes after Colleen left as whitecaps started to form further out on the Tasman Sea. I launched and headed south to the far car park with good lift, then I headed to the north cliffs to see of I could fly to the kite-boarding beach for Colleen to pick me up and got good lift along the way, but there was no beach to land on as it was high tide. So I headed back to the main launch area to soar around. As I flew again back to the south area I was losing height even with higher winds coming straight in so I did a precautionary top-landing and then re-launched. I got about 30 minutes of soaring and then re-landed on top to pack up as the UK pilot showed up and walked up to launch. He got about 30 minutes before Colleen arrived to pick me up. We headed down to the kite-boarding bay and met up with Ozone Kite designer, Rob Whittal, who has recently moved to Raglan permanently. Matt Taggart is also here testing kites, with a large group of Ozone Team Riders. Lots of prototypes being tested. There is a video up of some of the kite-boarding action on Picasa (click on the picture above to enter the album). We headed south to look at an acreage that was for sale, and cross over the Te Toto Gorge which is a Nature Reserve on the west coast here. The gorge is a huge cut down the mountains here and a tourist lookout there offers a great view of the area. It is a cantilevered deck out over the gorge and I took some pictures but could not go to the edge! Derek would have loved it! We got to the acreage but it was not as advertised, so we are on the lookout for more property to start FlyBC.NZ's new location. Late at night back to our beautiful eco-Bach house for dinner and drinks. Beautiful night sky and stars.  Woodside from Agassiz - photo by MKL Woodside Report - we kidnapped Alan today & made him drive for us :) We laid "first tracks" on the drive up Woodside, although Dennis had already hiked up about half way when we got to him.  Woodside Road - photo by MKL  Woodside Launch - photo by MKL The sun peeked out & it would overdevelop, then the clouds would clear enough for a flight. Despite the lift-y looking clouds everywhere we only got extended sledders, but Bob came out to see us when we landed & entertained us with lots of stories of catching mice.  Woodside Bob - photo by MKL Looks like more snow & outflow winds for the next week so we're happy to have nabbed that little flying window today! - Martina & Derek  Snowy Eagle Ranch - photo by MKL
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Soaring above Raglan Launch
click on the picture for New Zealand Pics & Videos - photo by CMV Raglan Report - we checked the forecast and SE winds didn't bode well for ridge soaring the west coast, so we went for a drive to see Bridal Veil Falls & The Windfarm. The Windfarm is a Government sponsored windmill power generation plant that cost $200,000,000 to build and is now in the hands of the Power Companies. We counted 26 windmills, but they may not be all online as we saw cranes being assembled at the construction site. We didn't hike into Bridal Veil Falls but there were busloads of people heading in their when we drove past. It is situated in a jungle near the Windfarm, but all around is bare hills covered in sheep and cattle. On the way back to town I turned on the radio and heard about the earthquake devastation in Christchurch as a quake hit at 12:51 local time. Last report said 65 persons were dead, and many missing in collapsed buildings. We are far from Christchurch and safe but still concerned for those affected. Yahoo NZ report here We stopped in town for lunch and watched the wind switch to inflow. After lunch on the main street we headed back to the soaring ridge, about 10 minutes away. On the way there we saw kite-boarders heading out the channel to hit the stronger winds. It looks good! We arrived to launch and I set up and it was pretty strong, probably +30 kph. I got the wing up nicely and it started to drag me north towards a fence before I corrected it and got forward and into the lift band. Soaring was smooth and easy, with a few thermals off the beach to pop me higher. I flew around for 10 minutes and top-landed to help Colleen get in the air in case it got stronger, which it ultimately did. As we were setting up Colleen's gear we saw a local pilot launch from the car park a few hundred meters away and start soaring and "wanging it around" on an aging Bagheera in bare feet. He top-landed near us and introduced himself. Dean lives in a house on the road into town, and can see launch from his bedroom window. Soon another pilot from the UK arrived and he and Dean were in the air, when I relaunched. Windier but not as strong liftwise, oddly. We all flew together for awhile, then Dean top-landed back at the car-park and the UK pilot back on launch and I landed after the UK pilot and it got very gusty and thermic as I was approaching. It took 10 minutes of careful close flying to get down and stall out the Mantra. I got picked up 15 meters several times just as I was touching down. As we packed up it got much stronger, so Colleen and I went for a hike to the "Trig", the geodetic survey point on the ridge. As we hiked it got much windier and windlines on the water showed it wasn't letting up but we had a good day of soaring despite the SE forecast. Dean says that often happens here. Another local pilot was flying in similar conditions recently and got to 4000 feet over the launch in a convergence setup as the SE winds hit the sea breezes and it was thermic enough to climb up above the convergence. Fortunately there is no airspace restrictions here like Auckland or Kariotahi.
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Raglan Launch
click on the picture for New Zealand Pics & Videos - photo by CMV Raglan Report - we woke to a forecast of strong east winds and threat of rain but by mid-afternoon it was hot, sunny skies and in-flow sea-breezes so we went for a long walk on the Raglan swimming beach. We headed up to launch to see one student kiting in the lee, which wasn't very productive. I got my wing out on the launch proper and was able to kite and do little bunny hops, but not enough lift to soar. An RC glider was soaring from the car park to the south but had to stay in very close to maintain height. This town is amazing for all its activities and quiet location: an airstrip right in town is busy with ultralights and aircraft, surfers everywhere, a boat in every yard for fishing and cruising, great B & Bs (not cheap), lots of backpacker hostels (cheaper and clean), nice paragliding launch in a nature preserve on the ocean, farms, and a recent addition to the landscape is a Windmill Farm ($200,000,000 investment by the NZ Govt.). Woodside Report - Thomm McE reports 12 or so desperadoes were out yesterday for extended sledders at Woodside. Hopefully the new snow falls won't affect road travel up to launch?
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Raglan Ridge
click on the picture for New Zealand Pics & Videos - photo by JPR Road Report - we left Whitianga around noon, as it looked like no flying sites were available around there. Pretty place though on the east most coast. We headed out to the west coast of Coromandel Peninsula and found one place one could launch but landing was "dicey", so we continued on to Raglan, legendary for surfing and kite-surfing. We found a holiday motel and got settled before looking for the flying site. We drove south of town and found many kite-surfers enjoying the winds on the bay. We also found a beautiful eco-resort, that we are moving to with cute cabins made from old railway cabooses, and some very nice self-contained cabins with a great ocean view and right next to the flying ridge! We talked to some locals with an Ozone windsock assuming they were fliers, but they said they just know Robbie Whittall who is wintering here and he gave them the windsock, but they did give us directions to the drive-up ridge.
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Whitianga Report - We followed Vicki & Gary up to eastern New Zealand to a town called Whitanga. | Beautiful coastal and forest drive but no launches found on the way, we did find a soarable beach though and the forecast is for E winds at 12 knots, perfect for this location so stay tuned. Mother Woodside back in BC worked for some folks on February 17th
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Low tides at North Head Park
click on the picture for New Zealand Pics & Videos - photo by JPR North Head Report - the wind forecast was for calm winds . . . not what you want for coastal soaring. Great for thermal flying, but that is many kms away in the Paeroas. So we stayed in town and flew the North Head site again. Gary got a short flight down to the second level, and some valuable kiting, while I napped. The tide was out and people were walking way out on the flats enjoying the day, while Gary kited. The TV Show `The Bìggest Loser`, is filming here in Auckland and took over the North Head location for the morning and were packing up when we arrived. We stayed one last night in Auckland and I got to complain once more about the prices. Soon we head north to 90 Mile Beach where there are fantastic dunes! Ozone Progress - the new Rush III and Mantra M4 have been released for ordering and the Paragliding Forum is full of comments and discussions. You can place orders now for Mid-March deliveries if you hurry!
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Soaring at North Head Park
click on the picture for New Zealand Pics & Videos - photo by JPR North Head Report - lots of driving today to ultimately fly at an interesting flying spot called North Head only a few kms north of Auckland. The forecasts were off by 180 degrees again? North Head is an old WWII fort with gun placements similar to Whidbey Island WA, except that they left most of the obstructions in place so it is rather hazardous to touch down in certain places. It has west and north facing launches, and today the wind was coming in from the SW and W. It was gusty and strong when we arrived. Whitecaps and CUs overhead. Trees were showing the gusts too, but the birds looked smooth and they were soaring further out. I kited for a bit when I got calm cycles, and ultimately launched for a really short flight and top-landing as it wasn't that lifty and it was gusty in the air. Gary decided to leave his wing in the bag. Tomorrow we leave Auckland, the city of $35 parking, $30 Internet, and very expensive meals.
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Kite Surfer at Mangawhai Heads Beach
click on the picture for New Zealand Pics & Videos - photo by JPR Mangawhai Head Report - we drove up to Mangawhai Heads in 2 cars in case the girls wanted to go back to their conference reception early, but as it turned out the winds were too strong and blustery to even take a wing out of the bag. The winds however were straight in all afternoon. I am trying to arrange a Bullet XT16 for the balance of the trip, as we have had 2 blownout days where speedwings would have been great. Beautiful day with a spot of rain and high winds, a nice hike and great seafood at the Magawhai Heads Takeaways Restaurant. "Livin' the Dream" and Soaking up the New Zealand Sun.
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Gary Kinney at Karioitahi Beach high launch site
click on the picture for New Zealand Pics & Videos - photo by JPR Karioitahi Beach Report - After extensive weather analysis, it was determined that the forecast was for SE winds. We headed SE to Duders Peninsula Park, and at the highway we saw SW winds so we headed back to Karioitahi Beach. We arrived to almost soarable SW winds, and Gary K set up and was soon off launch after some "fumbling", "swearing" and "turtle-ing". He had a short flight down to the beach with an interesting last minute turn into the wind! He said cars are now navigating around his impact point as there is a huge divot. I flew down to heckle him, landing on the grass parking point and we hiked up to Castaways Restaurant to eat lunch. After lunch Colleen, Gary and I hiked up to the Upper Launch Cliffs and we all had extended flights, I got above launch a few times and then we were all on the beach. We needed another 10 kms of wind to make this soarable, but it was straight in.
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Karioitahi Beach
click on the picture for New Zealand Pics & Videos - photo by JPR Karioitahi Report - we headed to Karioitahi Beach to fly as the winds were forecast to be SW at 10 knots, perfect. I even checked a local weather site that reported SW at 12 knots steady at one of the buoys. Alex Raymont has bragged about this site with 35 kms of ridge, but donèt sink out as it will be a long walk back! We stopped for lunch at Castaways Restaurant right on the beach and had a nice feast and as we were in the middle of lunch when we saw a yellow paraglider blow past the restaurant and get pinned on the ridge to the north. He was going up and backwards when he pulled big-ears and landed on the beach. Flight time was about 2 minutes! After we finished lunch we headed down to talk to the pilot and another local was there that was heading up to launch and offered us a briefing. His name was Martin (orignally from Spain, but settled in NZ many years ago). We headed up to launch hiking as the rental car we had was incapable of getting up the slippery hill. But it is a short hike, just a few hundered meters. Sure enough as we were at launch, it was quite cross from the south and getting stronger. Lots of whitecaps on the ocean out front. The shadows from the clouds were moving fast, much faster than the wind on launch was showing. Martin continued his briefing with Colleen as I took pictures and we headed down to the beach for a briefing on how to hike up to the high launch to the north. We left and headed south to Maioro, and had trouble finding the access road. Later we found out that this is a private road and the farmer is reluctant to let pilots cross his property, so most folks drive down the beach 8kms south from Karioitahi and hike up to the ridge. When we were driving around we clocked the cloud shadows at 55 kph, so it definitely was not safe to fly anyway. Tomorrow is forecast to be SE so many new sites to explore as Gary K and Vicky arrive for the Health Care Conference that Colleen is attending here on the 17th.
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Dragon Boat Festival in Sydney Harbour
click on the picture for new Aussie & New Zealand Pics & Videos - photo by JPR Sydney Report - I had a 12 hour layover in Sydney so I did the tourist thing and headed to the Harbour on the train. I didn't know that this was the last day of Chinese New Year celebrations in Sydney and they were having the Dragon Boat Races. Lots of Corporate Teams: IBM, Grant Thornton, et al. and some Grannie Teams from Peterborough Ontario! Lots of stuff going on downtown as I went shopping and looking around. So this is what normal people do on a Sunday? Super expensive here: $25 for Eggs Bennie & Tea, Movies are $18.50, gas is $2.09 a litre, small studio apartment - $360,000, rent the same apartment for $600 a week! I boarded a late plane to Auckland at 7 pm, arriving in the hotel after midnight in Downtown Auckland. Flying tomorrow hopefully as the weather looks good in NZ. Click here to find out more about FlyBC's Mexican Tour running through til Feb 15, 2011 . or Click here to see the FlyBC's Mexican Tour 2010 Picasa Album or Click here to see the FlyBC's Mexican Tour 2011 Picasa Album currently underway and counting down.
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Salton Sea Report - I packed up the car and headed to the paramotoring site we flew at in December, and quickly unpacked the Paratoys HE120 motor and was laid out on the sand with perfect winds. | I launched to the north and flew around the area watch the ATVs and Dune Buggies below kicking up the sand and saw the winds switch to SW. I saw several other gliders in the air south of me and after a bit I was the only one in the air. I landed and packed up and headed south to see who was flying, and met some guys from Everett WA who were still here after the ParaToys Fly In which started February 3. 
Everett WA paramotorist base camp at Salton Sea RV Park
- photo by JPR I was then off on the last leg of my CA Road Trip thru Borrego Springs toward LAX where I fly out to OZ and NZ tonight.
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Road Trip Report - after 2370 kms of driving I was in Salton Sea by 7 pm. | There were many Mexican Road Blocks (check points), run by Federales and local police checking for gangs I guess. Once in the US of A, there were another 3 road blocks run by Border Patrols looking for mexicans I guess. View Larger Map
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Mark H on his new Ozone Addict II over El Chante Launch
click on the picture for new Mexico Pics & Videos - photo by JPR Last Mexican Flying Day Report - we had been planning to be flying El Chante and San Marcos all day hopefully as this is the last flying day in Mexico. True to the NOAA forecast for S winds in the AM, switching to SW by 4 pm, we headed to El Chante first around 11 am. The gate we modified with our own lock was back to one lock (not ours), so we had to hike in a kilometer or so. We arrived to perfect +15 to 20 kph cycles and Mark H took off first, and climbed out immediately. Lee had left his radio on all night and the backup radios had no batteries either so Lee drove down with me. We bumped into Jorge on the drive to my house to get more radios, and he came back up with us when he heard how good it was. Mark landed at San Juan Cosala's Malecon for a nice Mini-XC. We were back up at launch around 1 pm, to even stronger cycles and this time everyone flew but me. all solid launches, and immediate climbouts. Jorge was up and gone for the Raquet Club in 15 minutes, Mark & Lee flew around for 45 minutes util I mentioned a gust front coming on the lake, so they headed out to land. On the way up, I noticed a new "clunk" in the front end and a shock absorber had failed. I drove down carefully after my 3rd hike of the day, and got the shock replaced near the guy's hotel, while we had a snack. While we were eating, the wind switched right around 4 pm to SW. We finished fast and headed to San Marcos launch, for one last "glass-off flight". More solid launches and Mark & Lee were soon back to 3000 meters and soaring the length of the ridge, while I drove down. I waited at the bottom as they packed in the dark at Pedro's LZ. This set of flying sites, including Tapalpa are very reliable. Offering options for most wind directions all within an hour drive.
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Jorge Mendez launching his Summit III at Tapalpa in nice launch cycles
click on the picture for new Mexico Pics & Videos - photo by JPR Tapalpa Report - we had an excellent day flying Tapalpa Launch. Jorge joined Mark H and Lee S today in flights at Tapalpa main launch. Some personal bests today with everyone having at least one flight where they were "top of the stack". Notable flights: Mark's 1:40 flight getting to 3100 meters and a top-landing on his shiny new Ozone Addict II. Lee scratched up from the gulleys to at least 3100 meters and heading pretty far north before landing at the main LZ on his new SkyCountry Discovery III. Jorge on flight 3 also climbed thru 3100 meters and over the back where he got even higher before landing at the bottom. Some of the locals were out: Bob, Beto, Juan Carlos, and another pilot on a comp wing and they all climbed out and top-landed after an hour of close thermalling. Local Instructor Miguel took a group to San Marcos around 4 pm, as we started our last of 3 flights here. I didn't think San Marcos would work, and sure enough they had tailwind at launch and were skunked. We got back to Joco before dark which is rare these long flying days. Miguel was headed to El Chante Launch just before dark but the lake looked pretty calm so I doubt they had good cycles to launch and I didn't see any wings in the air. Tomorrow is our last flying day before I start my long trek back to LA and then on to New Zealand for more flying adventures.  Dennis R wearing a nice T-shirt at Monarca 2011 Monarca preWorldCup 2011 Blog by Brett - Click here for Brett Hazlett's Blog. Monarca preWorldCup 2011 Overall Results - Click here for the final results. Brett Hazlett ended up in 4th place overall after 6 days on a FlyBC supplied R10.2!
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San Marcos Report - we drove straight to San Marcos and as soon as we arrived at launch at 10am, it was blowing South and East. We waited for 20 minutes and no improvement so down the front of the mountain towards Tapalpa. | As we arrived to down cycles there we saw three wings leave La Ceja: 1 student and 2 tandems. We got ready but got perhaps one lulled cycle and the rest was strong downwind. We watched as Herminio climbed out on the last tandem and was trying to make it back to top-land. After a few tries he looked like he was bailing, but apparently he had a cheerleader on board saying "we can do it!". He kept trying and eventually made it into the back field into strong winds from the west. We drove down towards San Marcos and arrived back on launch to be the first launchers there for the day. Mark H and Lee S both flew and had some fun thermalling in the north wind and landed in a soccer pitch near Pedro's LZ. By the time I collected the guys and got back up to launch, it was 3 pm and many trucks had arrived with HGs and PGs. The launch was covered in setup HGs, and many PGers were clipped in and ready to fly. Some pretty horrendous PG launches and near misses. Mark unfortunately was one of the bad launches and he didn't miss as he got hoovered into a tree beside launch. Twisted risers off the bat but he and the wing were okay and the locals helped him get his Ozone Addict II back on terra-firma. At one point there were 30 gliders in the air around 5 pm, when Mark relaunched and climbed out. Lee waited too long and had an extended sledder landing in the dark. The highest Hger reported 3100 meters ASL at one point. No pictures in my camera as the battery konked but I will post Lee's pictures later. Valle de Bravo Waypoints for the Monarca preWorlds  Monarca preWorldCup 2011 Blog by Brett - Click here for Brett Hazlett's Blog. Monarca preWorldCup 2011 Overall Results - Click here for the current overall results. Brett Hazlett ended up in 4th place overall after 6 days on a FlyBC supplied R10.2! Monarca preWorldCup 2011 Task VI Results - Click here to see Task VI results. Monarca preWorldCup 2011 Task V Results - Click here to see Task V results. Monarca preWorldCup 2011 Task IV - Task IV was called off mid-flight due to turbulence and high winds. One competitor blogged that he had 96 kph on his GPS downwind towards the Lake LZ after the task was called! Monarca preWorldCup 2011 Task III Results - Click here to see Task III results. Monarca preWorldCup 2011 Task II Results - Click here to see Task II results. Monarca preWorldCup 2011 Task I Results - Click here to see Task I results.
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| Silver Lining from Kym Fielke on Vimeo. San Marcos Report - we drove by San Marcos at 9 am, it was leeside. By the time we got to Tapalpa it was also leeside. We headed back to San Marcos and the winds were howling as we saw three tandems take off and get hoovered into the clouds, landing on the salt flats in high winds. We went for lunch and when we came back we waited for 2 hours at Pedro's hangars, and then headed up for the glass-off. It did glass-off but we waited too long to get in the air and it got dark so no flying today. Woodside BC Report - Forecast was for rain but did not materialize. Arrived at Eagle Ranch to see only two desperadoes,Colleen and Gary. Headed up and launched into nice cycles, the air was fat but not consistent enough to provide enough lift to soar. I was planning to head home and thought Gary might been keen for another flight so offered to drive his truck down so he could fly. He managed to convince me to throw my wing in the back”just in case” He couldn’t have been more correct. He launched and immediately fluffed up above launch. Another pilot on an Icaro was next and pretty much had a sledder into Riverside. I launched and fluffed up in steady 0.1 to 0.4 and milked it to about 100 meters over launch. Really smooth and the odd ripple from a thermal to keep your attention but overall sweet. Buzzed around and top landed, just because there was no one on launch to get in the way. Popped in nicely in lifty conditions nicely and re-launched again shortly after. Flew again in nice conditions and top landed again.This time I packed up as I saw Gary fly out to land. As I was packing up ,it seemed to pick up a bit and looked soarable again. Drove down to pick up the Icaro Pilot who was hiking back up (Ozone- 2 ,Icaro-0) Derek and Martina headed up as I was leaving and watched them launch and as suspected, they were able to soar above launch quite easily. Gotta love Woody!! - Thomm
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The clouds forming at San Marcos, but unfortunately too windy in the afternoon
click on the picture for new Mexico Pics & Videos - photo by JPR Tapalpa Report - Lee & I headed out early at 9 am towards San Marcos as the day was forecast to get windy. We were driving over the backside of San Marcos and it was SE on the ground, so we continued on to Tapalpa. SE winds all the way there and the windmill near the top was showing east winds, which are great for this site. As we drove into the launch area it was showing SW (or leeside). We continued in to launch for a briefing anyway. At launch the cycles were coming in nicely at times, followed by the prevailing SW winds. A few powerful dust-devils broke off in the trees behind launch, but I recommended Lee get set up quickly. It was now nearly 11 am. Lee was clipped in and ready and he duffed one attempt in a light cycle, and as we were resetting his wing a huge "dustie" broke off and was vacumming debris from all around launch as I pounced on Lee's wing. I got wrapped up good but the wing stayed on the ground, fortunately. After I realigned Lee's SkyCountry Discovery III, he had a perfect launch and was soon out over the hump climbing. Unknown to me he had bumped off his audio on his Flytec 6020 vario and was having to resort to feel in the thermals. I was guiding him from launch and he was having some issues getting centered in the thermals on the ridge, but once out on the flats Lee became an expert! Lee was nearly back to launch height and over the crossroads LZ when I started driving down. He unfortunately didn't fully have a grasp of his location and where to land as he flew back upwind to the main LZ about 5 kms upwind and then started hiking even further south rather than making it back to the crossroads where I was driving down. To make matters worse he said he was north of the crossroads, so I spent 15 minutes looking in the wrong direction until Lee mentioned he was directly below launch hiking on a grave road. Lee's flight stats: 28.5 minutes aloft. +4.3 m/s lift, -5.4 m/s sink, 63 kph ground speeds downwind. By now it was completely blown-out from the south so we headed to Zocoalco for lunch. After launch we drove to San Marcos, and the entire Laguna was a dust storm. Dusties were forming and getting sucked up to cloudbase all over the Laguna. A nice cloudstreet from Tapalpa to here formed but only a few vultures were brave enough to fly after 1 pm. We headed back to the Raquet Club for a Pot-Luck dinner with the gringos and then back to Lee's hotel for an early night.
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San Marcos Report - Lee and I got up to San Marcos launch early at 10 am, and Lee bagged one good sledder to get the "rust off". | After Lee's many attempts to get off at 11 am, the winds picked up on Laguna San Marcos and we waited and waited. Ultimately, only Horacio and Sean (from Colima) launched and had a windy acro flight into Pedro's LZ. After lunch at Acatlan, we headed towards El Chante to kite in the Malecon to clean off the dust from Lee's wing. Good kiting conditions til dark there.
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Horicaio Llorens on his RR Radix at San Marcos, swooping launch
click on the picture for new Mexico Pics & Videos - photo by JPR San Marcos Report - I headed to San Marcos at 1 pm, but no one was flying. Cycles on launch looked a bit tame too, and Pedro was leaving for Guadalajara so I was on my own to drive up and risk top-landing as I had to be at GDL airport at 5 pm to pick up Lee S who arrives today. I waited for about 30 minutes at the bottom near Chela's store for the Tapalpa crew but they never showed til 3 pm and I was long gone. The TomTom GPS told me I would take an hour to get to the airport, so a flight was not in the cards for me. Lee arrived early and we headed straight back to San Marcos and arrived at 6:15 pm to storng launch cycles and watched Juan Carlos take off tandem with eduardo clipped into a D-bag below him. When he deployed they were in the sun and we didn't see the opening. Lee decided it looked too strong for his first San Marcos flight so we watched the sunset and Juan Carlos trying to get down and forward on his unloaded tandem (again). We didn't hang around to hear about the landing as we headed back to Lee's hotel on the libramento.
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Herminio Cordido flying tandems at San Marcos
click on the picture for new Mexico Pics & Videos - photo by JPR San Marcos Report - I headed out to fly San Marcos all day arriving there at 1 pm to see Herminio doing the first of 4 tandems. I drove up alone from the back side, and was hoping it was good enough to fly and get high and top-land. Herminio was coming in for his first top-landing and it was lifty but smooth to setup a top-landing. I helped him clip in and ballast off the second flight, and watched for 15 minutes until his second toplanding. Then I got ready to fly! I selected the Gin Rebel M and Supair Acro II harness combo, still "gun-shy" after the R09 blowout. I got ready fast and was getting ready to inflate when Herminio tried his third top-landing but had to fly away to try again when it picked up. Then he was below launch trying to get up. I didn't need to worry about top-landing as Florenzia offered up a driver from the tandem passenger pool, and they were heading to Pedro's LZ where the passenger's cars were waiting. Excellent! I took off and climbed fast along the north ridge, getting above the peak quickly. I flew south for 5 minutes and noticed Herminio on flight 4 was grovelling to the south, so I turned around back to the peak. But this time I was sinking all the way north? It was slightly shaded but not enough to cause this, so I pushed out from the ridge and found a "doozy" of a thermal that I suspect was a steady +5 m/s up. I was only flying with the IQSonic audio vario so no display. This thermal took me to an estimated 3200 meters, based on the terrain to the north. It was smooth and getting pretty big as I climbed out. I looked south and saw a "tolverneros" or dust storm forming on the north end of Laguna Sayula about 30 kms away. I started to experiment with the thermal and tried to find the edges as I got high and I found the leeside edge quite far back, but when I pushed out I was almost to the cuota highway, 5 kms west and still climbing. It was idiot lift at this point, and a few ruffles but overall smooth. I saw Herminio setting up a landing at Pedro's LZ with "ears pulled". I suspected it was very lifty over the flats, and the dust storm was closing in. It turned out passenger #4 was feeling ill, hence the "ears". Click on the picture link above to see the photos of the dust storm bearing down on us. I was almost at the cuota when I started spiralling and goofing around to lose height. The Rebel locks in to a nice spiral without much brake input, mostly weight shift. Landing was smooth with a thermal on final to mess me up, but there was lots of room to bleed off the last pulse of lift. It was west in the LZ. By the time I said thanks for the landing beer from Florenzia, and packed up the dust storm was at San Marcos town. Nice flight, no one to "duke it out" with though as the Tapalpa crew never showed up. Lee arrives tomorrow and we will get to fly together and hopefully do some XC flying to get him signed off. Brad H's Oahu Report - Brad is Hawaii flying his Swift which apparently works well in +25 kph winds at Kahana. 
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Morning flight at El Chante Launch over Lake Chapala
click on the picture for new Mexico Pics & Videos - photo by JPR San Marcos Report - we should have been flying El Chante in the morning as San Marcos got blown out early. I did see the NOAA Soundings show 220 degrees at 13 knots at launch later and ignored it, but it materialized early. I was driving towards San Marcos at noon and the dust storms had already formed, so a side trip to Villa Corona to see the lake where they kite-surf was in order. It never calmed down til past dark, and I never saw any gliders later. First no-fly day for the trip, I think. Andy McRae's Blog as there are still no official results up? Monarcaparagliding OPEN PrePWC Mexico - Hola and first task of Monarca paragliding open PrePWC is behind us. It was quite tough day and long task for this kind of conditions. I made it luckily second today 13 minutes behind Penso. I must say I was pretty happy 'cause I almost landed two times on the way and at half of the race I had 40 gliders in front. It started from Penon with start gate 5km over Piano (landing in front of take off) with waiting over Crazy thermal and Gspot. At take off a LOT of wind and pilots had trouble taking off. First point was antennas at Divisadero. I was pushing in front with Penso and made 1st tp first and Penso behind. After that going back for me was bad and I was stuck 15 minutes over Maguey and I saw whole bunch of pilots flying over me to Cerro Gordo. After a while I got something to jump to Cerro but I got there very low and almost bombed out. Again scratching and nothing and then I went away in lee towards Valle. I got to Casa Vieja very low and I saw pilots already at next tp at Saucos (they stuck there). I found a group and we made it over valley to Saucos very high so we caught pilots in front which were scratching low and landing. Way back was tough with 35 km wind but we got some nice climbs to make last TP La Casa. I went first from the group as I saw that I can make it (my LK8000 worked perfectly) and pushed bar a lot. I escaped my group and came to goal to Torre very high and landed in Valle. It was turbulent and few pilots ended in the trees :-( Marko Hrgetic Hrga FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day ReportsDecember 2010 Site of the Day archives - weather was so bad in BC, that Colleen and I had to book 5 days in LA to get a flight. November 2010 Site of the Day archives - we had some sweet soaring flights at Woodside, and a really cold cold snap that limited flying for a week or more. October 2010 Site of the Day archives - we had some sweet soaring flights in October at Woodside, and Robin flew to Hope in less than an hour!. September 2010 Site of the Day archives - the wettest September in history had us running up to Savona and points east to fly, but we "got-er-done". August 2010 Site of the Day archives - unstable conditions made for some great days at Benny and Woodside. Al & I had a Delta Day with me stealing Colleen's Small Delta and he on a Large one and we went over the back to Seabird on a strong day. July 2010 Site of the Day archives - fantastic road trip to Revelstoke for 11 days of SIV Training and super weather. June 2010 Site of the Day archives - wettest June on record so road trips to Savona a few times. Deltas are rolling in now! May 2010 Site of the Day archives - nice flying in the Valley. April 2010 Site of the Day archives - worst April in years weatherwise but we managed to do some awesome tandem groups and some nice flights with Justin, Nicole and Norm flying to Mission late in the month. March 2010 Site of the Day archives - Crappy weather in the US on my return trip from Mexico. But when I arrived back at the Ranch there were some great days soaring Woodside. February 2010 Site of the Day archives - super flying in Mexico for the FlyBC Mexican Tours. Good XCs. The locals were already flying at Mother Woodside back in BC due to the warm weather! January 2010 Site of the Day archives - nice flying in Mexico for the FlyBC Mexican Tours. Good XCs. December 2009 Site of the Day archives - our first time in Mexico for a full December and we flew everyday. 40-50 km XCs from Tapalpa. November 2009 Site of the Day archives - very few flights as we had record rains and high winds. October 2009 Site of the Day archives - Women's Fly-In in Chelan WA with the Barbie Theme, took first place honours again! More good soaring flights of 2 hours plus on special days. September 2009 Site of the Day archives - more decent flying weather with a few road trips to escape wind by heading to Savona. August 2009 Site of the Day archives - best flying conditions in years with little rain. My first hike up Cheam with pals went well. July 2009 Site of the Day archives - the FlyBC SIV in Revelstoke was a blast, 280 SIV flights and only one wet pilot intentionally that is. Jeremy wished he had landed in the water. June 2009 Site of the Day archives - dry all month locally so lots of flying, Al has been test flying the new ShotGun launch near Stave Lake having great flights out to Woodside. May 2009 Site of the Day archives - local flying is getting great with nice XC's! Bridal was working well. The new bathroom was installed in the Barn at Eagle Ranch enriching the FlyBC experience. April 2009 Site of the Day archives - we escaped the local weather by flying in New Zealand for 3 weeks. We will be heading back soon! March 2009 Site of the Day archives - we were flying locally in snow, relying on Derek's sleds and chains on the 'Mog to get up Woodside. February 2009 Site of the Day archives - the Worlds PG Championships in Mexico was hard work for the Canucks, the tasks and speeds were unreal. January 2009 Site of the Day archives - Manzanillo, Mexico was a BLAST, many new sites flown and we have a new tour Destination for 2010. December 2008 Site of the Day archives - the annual FlyBC Christmas Party was a cold success with Head over Heels entertaining us all night. And we left early for Manzanillo, Mexico on Dec 28th. November 2008 Site of the Day archives - some soaring between rain storms, and it was pretty dry in Agassiz. October 2008 Site of the Day archives - we went ot the Women's Fly In on Chelan for the annual Halloween Costume Fly-In, great conditions there to offset the wet month on the West Coast. Steve Fosset's crash site was found in Nevada after a year of searching. September 2008 Site of the Day archives - great student conditions at Woodside and Bridal all month, with 10 students getting signed off this month, a record. August 2008 Site of the Day archives - our second SIV Course of the 2008 season went well at Sale Mountain near Revelstoke (except for a few water landings and minor injuries). Wet all month at Woodside except the weekends. July 2008 Site of the Day archives - our first SIV Course of the 2008 season went well at Sale Mountain near Revelstoke. 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 keeping 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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