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FlyBC "Site of the Day Archives" - January/2011
Tapalpa Mexico
“It is not dying that you should be afraid of . . . it is never having lived in the first place" - Green Hornet 2011
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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
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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 El Chante Report - we planned to be flying San Marcos all day, but when Jorge and I left the Raquet Club around noon, there was a lot of east wind on the lake. So another plan was hatched. As we headed up the back roads to El Chante Launch we came upon a burned out wreck of a car. It looked pretty new and I suspect it was a stolen car that some kids had burned to hide any evidence. I got the licence number and coordinates to pass on to the local police. The road up to El Chante (Joco) Launch has a gate partway up and the gate was locked last time I went up. All the local pilots say they had permission from the local Ejidal council to pass over the land to get to launch which is on federal land (like Canadian Crown Land). That said, Jorge& I organized a combination lock and a hacksaw and we cut the chain in half and installed the combo lock in the middle, so all parties can have access but keep it locked from the partiers who leave garbage and also neglect to close the gates. After the lock installation we drove up and cleaned up the launch area: removed the big rocks, removed the fire pit, threw firewood over the edge and pulled some roots out. I told Jorge to get ready and I would fly only if it looked soarable, as we had no retrieve vehicle. He launched and was getting a few meters above launch but I think it was too cross and the thermals weren't forming yet as the birds were not getting high either. As he sledded into the newly renovated Malecon below, I drove down. The Malecon is a boardwalk created in the low areas to protect the towns from flooding as Lake Chapala's rejuvenation has been so successful that it is overfull at times. Look back at picture from SiteoftheDay 2002 to see how far down the lake was then. The Malecon now features a grassy futball field for an LZ, with lights should one happen to get stuck in the air at night. Jorge had organized for his friend Fritz to meet him at the Malecon, and drive him back thru Joco and they met me at the crossroads of the highway and we headed back up to take Fritz's girlfriend AnnaLou for a tandem at San Marcos, but it was still east wind so back up El Chante. We arrived back at launch to nice inflow cycles, and we were clipped in and hopeful. A perfect "snag-free" inflation and we were off on the Magnum tandem and heading east to the birds. Unfortunately the same conditions awaited us as Jorge's last flight and we were hunting for lift and not finding any. I headed out to look for a valley or town thermal but no luck and we were setting up in the Malecon in only 15 minutes, for a perfect no step landing. The local packing crew ran up and was accordion-folding the tandem quickly. Jorge flew in behind us and had to train his crew as we got the trained kids first. We headed back to La Vita Bella Restaurant for lunch as it was still east and San Marcos would not be working yet. San Marcos Report - we headed back to San Marcos at 3 pm, and arrived to see some hangies just launch, and also the Belgian PGers were in the air doing some acro. Horacio Llorens was on launch doing filming and there were some PG tandems in the air and a PG student that was very high on the north peak. El Huevo launched with Dominic (Quebec base-jumper) and they didn't get high and we kept watching for the base jump but they never did it because Dominic was having trouble getting out of the harness and then they were too low. Then Horacio launched and disappeared south and it looked like no acro show for us. It got windy from the south again and dust storms formed and the HGers were thermalling just above the dust but staying up. After about 45 minutes, we saw Horacio come back high from the south and he started his routine. Infinity Tumbles, SAT to heli with reversals both directions, parachutage, you name it he had it dialed. He had this mountain figured out better than some locals who have flown here for 10 years. He claims it is like his home site in Spain with different trees. It calmed down enough for some of el Huevo's students to fly and Beto & I helped them off. Beto was bagged and not flying as he flew XC here from Tapalpa earlier today. The students were off and climbing in the glass-off, and Jorge joined them as I drove down. Another set of nighttime landings at Pedro's LZ where there is one light. Everyone survived and looked happy when we left.
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Sunset at San Marcos, where we were treated to a three hour acro show by Horacio Llorens
click on the picture for new Mexico Pics & Videos - photo by JPR San Marcos Report - as forecast we were flying San Marcos all day. I missed a ride up around noon as I waited at Pedro's LZ for the HGers to arrive, but none came as they thought it would be too windy. I had a nap at Pedro's in the Suburban and after 2 pm drove to the beer store to wait for others to arrive. Sure enough around 2:30, I saw Herminio landing near Chela's store and he was excited after doing 3 tandems (for pay) and having 2 awesome photo solo flights. About the same time the El Huevo crew showed up with students and the Red Bull Team (Horacio, Thomas, Eduardo). We headed up to launch arriving to strong cycles at 3 pm. Horacio launched his 18 meter RR Radix acro wing and was "hoovered off" launch and he was soon starting his show for us. This went on til dark. Every trick in the acro book was practiced and re-practiced. No matter how good a pilot you think you are, you have to bow down to someone who can perfect these maneuvers to this level! Click on the picture link above to see some videos I took of Horacio's moves. El Huevo braved a tandem launch with Frederico (the Quebec base-jumper) and they flew around for about 30 minutes trying to get far enough upwind to release Frederico and not get blown back in the unloaded Magnum tandem. Frederico's base rig is as big as a solo PG too so his penetration would be an issue too. In the middle of one of Horacio's acro sequences the base-jump occured over Los Pozos, and I only caught the opening as they were so far away. Both survived the strong NW winds landing at Pedro's LZ. Frederico experienced "going up" over the salt flats, something he has never done in Quebec. Eventallly the rest of the Red Bull group launched and it was "idiot lift" everywhere. Great for acro practice as they acro'ed below launch and were soon 300 meters over launch to go again. As the sun was setting, El Huevo started launching students and I had a volunteer driver so I launched with the students and I was soon 300 meters over launch too. The problem for the students was that they had no experience in canopy reduction techniques and were not following instructions well when told to pull "ears" or "B-stalls" to get down before dark. I was having a flashback to a flight here in 2002 with Glen Taylor where we were stuck in the air well after dark trying to top-land as the rented VW was on the upper launch and we did not want to hike in the dark. Glen flinally plopped in after he suffered a 50% collapse on a turn into fnal and that dropped him onto launch. I flew out and spent another hour trying to get down over the lake. Not so much fun that night. And here I was again trying to descend 9 years later but it was much easier this time as it wasn't as lifty and the Mantra I has ears that stay involved even with full speed bar. I watched Thomas & Horacio doing heli's into the LZ, no problem descending for them. I did some spirals and SAT's to get down and there was a strong 25 kph NW wind all the way into to final, and at 50 meters the wind was zero so I had a long final onto the salt flats. Not as long as the students who landed in the middle of the lakebed somewhere in the dark. I think we pamper our students as we never make them fly in the dark! Tomorrow promises to be even better as the winds are calming down. Monarca preWorldCup 2011 - many Canadians are registered but only Brett H, Pawel B, and Zak have paid the fees. Click here to follow the action starting on Feb 30th.
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John & Cheryl from Victoria at Tapalpa today without a wing
click on the picture for new Mexico Pics - photo by JPR Tapalpa Report - apparently the orange glider I saw landing at San Marcos last night flying from Tapalpa. Eduardo is a Belgian, flying an Axis XC glider and he was almost in the designated Tapalpa LZ when he caught a steady climbout at Tapalpa that turned into a +10 m/s ride to his XC route. He stayed on the west ridges and crossed over at Los Pozos mistaking it for San Marcos but they radioed him where the LZ was when I saw him. Today I got to launch around noon, to find no one flying and the forecast was right-on. Strongish South winds at launch and few birds. When the birds did come out they flew in pairs or threes, bit never formed a gaggle. They did look smooth however? I brought the R09/Shamane combo out today, as I haven't flown the R09 this trip. I kited on launch waiting for a good steady cycle, but mostly the wing was getting trashed around once in the air due to the south flows. Gradually the audience formed as I got a good cycle and was soon climbing off launch following a good line to the North when I caught my first good climb. It was a very tilted thermal due to the south winds, and if I pushed upwind I got much better climbs than just circling fast. There was a huge dustie forming a half kilometer to the west over the plateau and it was growing fast. I was keeping my eyes on it's trajectory but it appeared stationary. I was 300 meters over launch now and in a steady climb in the core when the R09 turned into a ribbon of nylon and I was falling fast. I waited for the re-opening and it wasn't very positive, rather mushy so I full-stalled out of the collapse as I was getting twisted left. Good clean full-stall with a smooth exit to find a left cravatte fully involved. Opposite weightshift and brakes didn't clear the cravatte so I re-stalled quickly and was back in flying mode. I was also back below launch now, so I started climbing again back in the monster that tried to "eat me". The climbs were not as good as the turbulence, and I didn't like the odds of getting pasted against the Cross ridge north and there were no CUs today, and I hadn't organized a retrieve for my truck, so I decided to top-land on the main launch. I wasn't interested in heading over the back to top-land as the huge dustie was still there to the west and could come into the top-landing field by the highway. I was lined up perfectly into the south wind on the main launch, and plopped in sideways on the nice grass. Eduardo had just launched and was circling overhead and you could see the strong tilt to the thermals in his wing too. I packed up and Pedro was driving out and I caught a ride back to La Ceja. Everyone saw the collapse, and one of the guys commented on my nice stall recovery and exit. It turned out it was Horacio Llorens from Spain (one of the stars in Never Ending Thermal). No one else flew and Eduardo disappeared to the north. We were organizing a San Marcos adventure with two Quebec base-jumpers wanting to jump from our tandems, so off we headed to arrive there at 4 pm. There was already a lot of dust forming on the lakebed when we drove up, but it was forecast to switch to westerly. On launch I got to preview the new SupAir Base System - a harness with a 3 ring release similar to tow bridles, that releases the main canopy (and speed system) and deploys a Base Rig all in one handle pull. Horacio has tried it and he said it works in all configurations even twisted risers. click here and scroll down to the later images to see a high res photo of the harness On launch we met Herminio, still trying to capture the perfect still shot with his flying camera rig. He launched into the dust storm and he was working hard to get up, when he top-landed on the ramp to change the camera angle and he relaunched and was soon fighting the turbulence way down low. Horacio also launched and we assumed he too was on the ground, when Miguel drove up and said he saw a glider working the south bowl. It was Horacio and hour after launching, and he soon flew over our heads high heading to the north peak. Horacio led off his show by doing an "infinity tumble" right on the north peak. I captured it on video but we were pretty far away. Pretty amazing! Tom (the other Belgian) launched and was soon at the peak with Horacio and they were doing some maneuvers together. The strong south wind and dust storm never let up and we bailed and headed down as it was getting dark soon. Our plan was to climb out to 3200 meters minimum so one of the skydivers could do a wingsuit jump and deployment over the lake, but no one was getting over 2500 meters today. At the bottom in San Marcos, we found Eduardo who had made it back here again for the second day in a row despite the strong south winds. He was disappointed as he wanted to go 100 kms today and only did 70. It looks west all weekend, so San Marcos will be the venue for the next few days. Woodside Report - Martina, Ihor and others were out flying Woodside after days of rain. 
Martina captured this view of Woodside - photo by MKL
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Paramotoring Report - I headed out at 10 am, hopefully to be flying Tapalpa. I hit a road construction traffic jam that delayed me by 20 minutes and then a herd of vacas on the San Marcos shortcut that took another 15 minutes and by the time I got near Tapalpa there was the same overcast skies and no birds soaring, so I turned around and headed back to San Marcos. | The winds were supposed to switch to westerly after 3 pm, so I just had to wait to see if anyone showed up to "bum" a ride with. By 4 pm, the dusties were forming and lasting up to 10 minutes, some pretty large too. Still no one showed up on the road up, so I went to Pedro's LZ and readied the ParaToys HE120 rig. My wing of choice today was the Gin Rebel, cause I thought the brakes were too long on the ParaToys Momentum wing and I didn't feel like experimenting today. The winds dropped down to less than 1 kph and that made for tough, hot launch attempts. After three aborts, I was wishing I had the Momentum wing! The Rebel is a great paragliding wing, but not trimmed for motoring. I took a water break and then the winds picked up again to +15 kph and I had a short takeoff run and was climbing in the LZ thermal. While I was flying a wing came out of nowhere, heading toward the south end of the salt flats near town, straight line for the LZ? Did they takeoff from San Marcos and I missed the launch? Or did they fly all the way from Tapalpa? If they did they had a really weird line from the NW. I will find out Friday morning when I see Juan Carlos. I had about 30 minutes for paramotoring at different throttle settings to "break in" the HE120, and it performs well. I took off at half throttle to keep my flight path straight and it still climbed well. Using this Density Altitude Calculator for the following conditions (25C temp, 8C dewpoint, 1020 kpa pressure, 1500 meter elevation) came out with a 2000 meter density altitude. Both the Rebel and the HE120 felt good at this altitude with a takeoff wind. No wind takeoff was another story as the Rebel is trimmed slower and wants to hang back, whereas the Momentum wing feels lighter and faster in a light wind takeoff and has a faster trim speed in the air. Both good wings but the Rebel is designed as an efficient thermalling wing for free flight. I haven't taken the Momentum for a thermal flight yet to report on that aspect of flight.
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High overcast at Tapalpa today ruined my XC hopes
click on the picture for more Mexico Pics - photo by JPR No Fly Report - the dream of flying a Tapalpa XC fizzled with some high overcast taking over the day. I met Juan Carlos at La Ceja Launch and he had 2 students fly 2 flights before they left to go to Tapalpa for tourist activities. I went to Sayula for some knives for Annette at a world famous knife maker, and to look for my 4x4 parts and then back to San Marcos to try to fly there. No Pedro at the LZ, no other fliers around and the same nagging overcast with no birds made me think it wasn't worth the trip up. It was perfect for students and first flight folks just arriving, but not soarable or top-landable. Spanish Phrase of the Day: "Quisiera mis suturas quitadas" - means "I would like my stitches removed". And they did, so I back healed apparently after slipping on the tree. I look like I was in a knife fight, great story to tell later.
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San Juan Cosala Report - a lazy day getting new tires (llantas) for the Suburban. 8000 kms and many trips up San Marcos in 2WD took their toll and the rear tires were shredded. | Jorge told me about a llantera in San Luis Soyatlan on the south side of Lake Chapala, where they had good deals on new & used llantas. 800 pesos for used or 1400 pesos for new, so I went new. The same tires in Guadalajara were 2200 pesos each. I also found a mechanic to take out the 4x4 actuator solenoid and it was dead. New one here is 2500 pesos, vs $60 in the US. I am going to wait til I get home to change it as I only have to do a few more trips up San Marcos. After all that I was needing a nap and decided to go flying Wednesday instead. UK Helicopter pilot fined for illegal D-Bag jump - Ozone Team Pilot Felix Rodrigeuz D-Bags in UK for a charity event but heli pilot charged for lack of paperwork.
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Guadalajara Road Trip - I took Ray to the airport early after breakfast at the Ajijic Waffle House and continued in to town for some needed car repairs after 3 continuous weeks of hard flying and retrieving. | Oil change, suspension repairs to front end, full car wash and detailing, new seat covers and some tire shopping kept me busy until 5:30 pm. When I drove back to Jocotopec, I saw a huge dust cloud off San Marcos lakebed, and it looked blown out for the first time in 22 days, so I didn't miss anything. Van Isle Paragliding Accident - un-named PG pilot injured . the real story on the Island Soaring Website . Sounds like I wasn't the only one to fall from a tree this month?
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San Marcos Report - Jorge, Ray & I headed towards Tapalpa as we saw east winds and Juan Carlos said it was flyable there.
| We arrived at launch at 1130 am, and it was howling over the back! Apparently we missed a student tree landing off launch earlier. We didn't wait long and we were back on the road. I had a slow leak in a rear tire so we stopped at the Llantera near the cuota and the man repaired the tire, but it is looking pretty thin so new tires (llantas) this week. At San Marcos pilots were flying HGs, so up we went and Jorge launched and was soon at 3300 meters. Ray launched and was not so fortunate. Jorge went over the back while Ray had a shorter soaring flight. I drove to get Jorge as my wounds are not healed yet so no flying until Tuesday. We picked up Ray at Pedro's LZ and we headed home as we saw others sinking out. Ray has now achieved USHPA P2 status after this week, congratulations. Ray is all packed and ready to fly home to Toronto in the morning, and i don;t have any more clients until Feb 2 when Lee S arrives to coplete his novice course. 
Nicole chasing the pack in Colombia - photo by Nicole McL. Colombia PWC Report - Well the 2 comps are over and I'm all flown out. Over the past 2.5 weeks I've gotten 46 hours of airtime and flown over 700km XC. Flown some really awesome terrain, had some landing-out adventures, made goal a few times, and also landed in town to the cheers of the crowd. This place has it all! In the PWC managed to hold onto 100th place overall. The final day was a pretty epic flight but I just didn't have enough daylight left for the final glide...I landed 12km short and in the middle of nowhere on the wrong side of the main valley. Fortunately I was picked up after dark by some farmers and met up with the retrieve who were searching for me (no cell reception and issues with Spot and the Tigo cellphone network). Just part of the daily life an XC pilot :) I will definitely return some day to fly here again! - Nicole
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Ray thermalling out at San Marcos today
click on the picture for more Mexico Pics - photo by JPR San Marcos Report - we had to get Steve one last flight flying San Marcos today before he and Carlos headed home. Carlos was done flying after Thursday's tree incident so he did the tourist thing in Joco, while Steve & Ray went with me to San Marcos at 11 am. Light east winds despite NOAA predictions of west winds, but we waited for cycles and we were rewarded by noon. Steve had another perfect forward launch and a short sledder with a nice approach into Pedro's LZ while Pedro was ATV towing a HG student. Ray took off a bit later and managed to soar for 35 minutes and I beat him down the mountain in the Suburban. We hung out at Pedros' hangar BSing until we had to leave for lunch and Steve's cab to the airport. Carlos was gone as he had planned to take a bus back to GDL. Back at the El Chante Spa Hotel, we had lunch and bid Steve adieu. Then back to San Marcos for Ray's big flight hopefully. Steve logged 9 solos and 3 tandems on this 7 day trip. We flew everyday and he didn't stand down once, but the conditions were perfect for students and experienced pilots alike. Hopefully he can continue on his return to Canada. The HGers that went up as I was driving down earlier had launched and all but one landed by 3 pm. The Quebec group headed by Vincent Vaillancourt from Yamaska was setting up on San Marcos launch and one of their team was already at 3000 metres above the peak. Looks good so far. Strongish cycles blew through but Ray picked a good cycle and floated off launch and was soon climbing thru 2700 metres when I drove down. I was going to fly but one of my sutures ripped out and I was concerned about my finger cut getting separated and infected so I just drove today. On the way down, Juan Carlos was coming up with a load of new visitors including Ryan Koss from Ft. McMurray who we trained last summer. I said hi and drove past them to the LZ, Ray was still in the air but an experiment in finding a new thermal fizzled and he only got 45 minutes on the second flight. We headed back to the clinic in Acatlan for another stitch in my finger but the nice Doctor said it was okay and made a butterfly bandage for me, the other laceration is looking good but I will never be a "hand model" again as I will have an ugly scar where the tree poked me! This time it was only 20 pesos.I was attended to by a young femal Doctor, another female EMT tech, and a female nursing student and Ray was quite excited to get pictures with them! 
Colleen needed some help with her zippers on her aging flight suit - photo by Claudia Woodside Report - Colleen joined Claudia, Peter, Martin N and a few others at Woodside Launch to wait in the cold for the clouds to part. She got cold and bored and drove down and eventually the others got to soar above launch. Bob is lonely so please drop by and get her a treat or a nuzzle when you are out at the World Famous Eagle Ranch.
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Steve and Ray thermalling out at Colima today . . . sweet
click on the picture for more Mexico Pics - photo by JPR Colima Report - we headed out early to try flying Colima but did not get there until 1 pm. Kind of late for beginners, but the conditions were perfect. There were 3 Paragliding Quebecers above launch when we arrived and they were doing well and we had moderate cycles on launch. Ray duffed a few launches and finally took off and was soaring to the north of launch. Steve did a forward launch and got "hoovered" off launch and was soon far out when I started talking him thru 360s, and he was soon 300 meters above launch and climbing. The winds held off and they flew for 30 minutes before they headed out to the LZ. Carlos is not flying so he drove down a truck for a local ex-Canadian HGer who has lived in Colima for 32 years. Steve has now flown 3 sites and has 11 flights to end the trip. He is continuing his course when we return in March. We dropped off the HG truck to the north before retrieving the guys in Piscila, and then we stocked up the beer cooler and headed to Manzanillo for lunch. We arrived at the restaurant on the beach in Manzanillo and everyone had fish and then we walked out to the surf. Beautiful light winds. If it hadn't been so late I would have called the local who has the key to El Toro Launch and we could have flown down. Next time. On the way back to Joco, we stopped on the shore before Colima and the guys went swimming as the sun set. Beautiful beach and no people at all. Next year I am going to figure out how to get an ATV in the truck so I can cruise the beach and do some tow training. I didn't get back to the room until 10 pm, and I was pretty tired after driving 500 kms or more today, but the tour is going well this week and the guests are contented.
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Carlos' wing in a tree beside San Marcos Launch
click on the picture for more Mexico Pics - photo by JPR San Marcos Report - we had a hearty breakfast in the Bodega Parking lot on the tailgate as there were no restaurants open early. We then headed up to Joco Launch as it was east in the valley, but when we got partway up there was a chain on the last gate? I need to bring some bolt cutters and insert another lock I guess? I will probably just hike this site anyway when the tours are done so I don't have to retrieve. We continued on to San Marcos Launch and waited for a few cycles to build before launching Steve for his 6th solo flight. He had a flawless forward launch and was soon setting up a nice landing approach while Pedro was ATV towing out on the flats w ith a student HGer. Next up was Carlos and he didn't commit and tried to stop once over the edge and kept running diagonally until he was hanging a few inches of the ground in a tree! Crap, it is steep down there. Ray & I climbed down and got Carlos unhooked and only his pride was damaged. Tip of the Day: when you are helping someone get a glider out of a tree . . . wear gloves! We had most of the glider in a stuck sack except the left tip was up pretty high in a tree and we couldn't pull it out from the ground. I climbed up this tree and got most of the lines free when the branch I was standing on broke and as I held on tight to the other branches a line went around my fingers and cut them deep. Also, as I slid down the branch to the ground apparently a part of the branch lodged in my right wrist. I thought it was just a thorn. but it kept bleeding as I drove down the mountain to retrieve Steve. Ray flew down while Carlos was sorting out his gear and I retrieved Steve & Ray who insisted I go see a clinic as I was still bleeding. So on to Acatlan where I saw a Public Health Clinic a few days ago. Arriving there, I met a young doctor who spoke english and he started to get me in a room and when the nurse came in it was clear there were some operational problems. Main problem was their autoclave sterilizing oven broke last week and was still in the shop. Second problem was they had no antiseptic wipes (which we had in our first aid kit). Finally he gave up and sent us to another clinic a few blocks away where the older doctor had everything he needed and worked on me fast. He froze my wounds as they all needed to be stitched up. Then he started working on my wrist where I thought a thorn had gone in, but he was just getting bits of wood out so he cut me open about 3/4 of an inch and started digging and pulled out a large chunk of wood and that really hurt. He stitched that up with two sutures after washing out the wound and started stitching my middle finger with another two sutures and cleaned me up and bandaged everything. His cost for the surgery - 110 pesos (about 9 bucks). He sent me to a pharmacy for antibiotics and I was soon back on the road. Elapsed time from picking up Ray to getting back to get Carlos was 1 hour 20 minutes. Once back in San Marcos, we bumped into Ross & Cathy Hunter from Calgary when we saw a VW Camper with a HG and AB plates. They were going to try driving up with the van and I said it would be better to come up with us so he loaded his gear on the Suburban and we wwere off to launch after finding Carlos hiking down. It was getting sporty around 4 pm when Ross launched his topless HG and he was sinking fast when he found a scrappy core near the gravel pits and he took it to 11,200 feet. He was just staying high when he caught a good one to 12,500 feet and was soon radioing Cathy to follow him to Tapalpa . He radioed back to me that he was at the south end of Laguna San Marcos still at 12,500 and his vario was beeping heading straight. I suspect he may have made Tapalpa LZ with that performance and there was still some daylight left. We decided to drive down for an early night when we saw Bob the local PGer launch and promptly sink out. Another adventure filled day in Mexico. I may be wearing my gloves for the balance of the trip just in case! Nicole's Colombia Report - Just looking at options for non-flying things to do next week. The comp finishes on Saturday but I don't fly back to Vancouver until Wednesday. Thinking of a beach someplace to even out my tan and get rid of my ridiculous sock tan line. Ozone gliders are alll over the place here :) Maybe 50% of the field is R10.2's. The rest is Boom 8's. All 2 liners. There are few 3 liners here, and fewer serial gliders. I think Jim and myself are 2 of maybe 10 pilots with serial gliders here. We are getting killed - Nicole
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Steve in front of San Marcos Launch
click on the picture for more Mexico Pics - photo by JPR Jaime's Mexican Tour Report - we had a super-slow start because all the restaurants were closed except for the El Chante Spa Hotel on the libramento to Ajijic, and they took a long time to get us 6 breakfasts. Derek & Martina are flying back to Seattle today so we had a spacious truck with just the 4 of us left. We drove over the San Marcos hill after seeing the wind on the pond was east (as NOAA forecasted), and headed to Tapalpa arriving there at noon to perfect cycles. Ray was raring to fly, while Carlos and Steve wanted to work on their kiting skills on launch. A few wings flew off Le Ceja launch, but we are opting for the much safer and cleaner Tapalpa Main Launch especially for students. Ray took off and was having trouble getting centred in anything strong, and was soon headed out the the LZ. On the way over the cornfields, a tractor was working and he was rewarded with some nice flatland thermalling for about 15 minutes, until the vultures led him into sink. He had a nice landing right near the fence. Carlos then took off after kiting for a bit and he wasn't managing his pitch through some thermals, despite my coaching. I finally gave up because he wasn't responding quick enough to my commands anyway. He is going to figure out why we control pitch soon enough. It is a feel thing. I then saw him go thru a nice pulse of lift out over the hump in front of launch and he left the wing surge 45 degrees in front of him and it frontalled symmetrically and recovered instantly like any DHV-I wing should without input. He exclaimed on the radio "did you see that"? I responded, "yes and now you now why I am ragging on you about pitch control"! After that he was smooth all the way to the LZ and a planned long final. I drove down to get the boys from the LZ for another flight as it was still cycling strong from the east. Carlos spent 15 minutes in the simulator going over pitch control simulations, and Ray took off and wasn't getting much to turn in on the way out until the sunny side of a gulley where he could "figure-8" in some lift until it grew and he was soon climbing thru launch height out front. He was managing the wing well and the birds were helping him centre in the lift too. He was soon thru 8200 feet, so 100 plus feet over launch and tracking north. There was a wing over the north ridge near the plateau and a huge dusty was forming on the farm fields there that lasted 15 minutes as we drove down. It turns out it was Beto (a Tapalpa Local who flies almost everyday), who we met at San Marcos later when he flew XC there for a plus 70 km flight. Ray misinterpreted our radio call to head north along the highway, as we started heading north we couldn't see him at all and we lost radio contact. He was fumbling with the radio while trhermalling and powered it off, then changed channels on it and he landed at the regular LZ so we wasted about 45 minutes looking for him. But he had an excellent thermalling flight! On to San Marcos, where Steve went off first of the group. I set him up for a forward behind Juan Carlos's brother who was duffing launch attempt after launch attempt in perfect straight cycles. When he duffed off to the side, I launched Steve over them as it was getting late. Steve flew straight out after a few passes and it was "glassing-off" nicely. Steve was soon 500 meters above launch out over the salt flats looking smooth. Ray followed Steve and was getting just as high when we drove down. Steve managed his own landing tonight as we drove down (Carlos was still processing his frontal). Back to town for grits and sleep. Another perfect day in paradise and truly productive training environment for the students.
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Derek and Ray thermalling together in front of Tapalpa Launch
click on the picture for more Mexico Pics - photo by JPR Mexican Flying Tour Report - we started flying Tapalpa too early and had to wait 45 minutes for cycles and had a nice flight there with Derek & Martina wind tech-ing for us. We raced back up for one more flight and Martina climbed out high and soon Derek and Ray were thermalling together while Carlos and Steve had another great Tapalpa flight. Steve made the main LZ with ease, but Carlos was unsure so he landed in the adjacent corn field rather than risk the powerlines. Excellent decision making. Ray hit some sink while Derek kept climbing and we thought he was on track for the restaurant north but he opted to land with everyone else to save time. We had a mid day snack at Zocoalco enroute to San Marcos and we got to San Marocs launch at 4 pm to great cycles, not too strong and only the odd dust-devil on the flats. Derek launched and was soon at 3050 meters over the north peak. Martina launched and had to work to get up but she was reporting that it was rough at 2400 meters, but that didn't disuade Ray who launched and only got a few passes before heading out to land. Steve had a great first reverse launch and flight but the landing was a bit hairy as he misjudged the wind and almost landed in the parking lot at Pedro's! Carlos flew next and was just getting the start of the glass-off and arrived over the lakebed with tons of altitude to burn off. Later Derek reported being at 3200 meters over the saddle and getting +7 m/s lift! Yet it was smooth for students by launch and into the LZ. Great training venue for beginners thru experienced pilots here. Ray got a ride up and was just back on launch as I was packing up to drive down, and he launched into the glass-off (his dream flight), and was soon above the peak worrying about getting down before dark so he practised "big ears" all the way to the LZ. We stayed in Jocotopec tonight and the guys got to sample authentic mexican food on the midway in town as the festivals are on again.
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Martina Tuesday`s Birthday Girl, flew today here at San Marcos
click on the picture for more Mexico Pics - photo by JPR San Marcos Report - we started the day out with ground school in the hotel restaurant with a presentation on San Marcos landing approaches. As we drove north we stopped and we reviewed the Tapalpa LZ from the bottom today before heading to San Marcos because it felt westerly on the ground. When we got on top at San Marcos it was blowing over the back and we had to wait an hour for the cycles to start flowing up the west side. Derek & Martina launched and thermalled around for a bit and Martina headed out to Pedro`s LZ. Next Ray flew and he also landed at Pedro`s, followed by Steve on his first solo flight, with a great launch followed by too much brake but he released the brakes and flew a nice flight and a perfect landing. Derek found a thermal to the south and was soon back above launch buzzing us. Carlos went last and was soon above launch thermalling around and he too had a great landing. I raced down and picked everyone up and we headed to lunch in Acatlan as we thought it might get too strong mid-day for the beginners, but at lunch it stayed calm and we could see no dusties on Laguna San Marcos. We ate and headed back up to launch arriving there at 4 pm. We arrived to nice healthy cycles and still no dust and Derek & Martina suited up and thermalled away, while Ray got ready. He had a brilliant launch and was soon thermalling to the SW and climbing nicely. Steve got ready for launch No. 2 and we had a few duffs, but he was soon running off launch with style and grace. He got in a few turns before a cross-wind landing which he recovered from nicely. Carlos went last and we flew him into a nice dust storm, where he had his first high wind landing coming in vertically and he managed it well on flight No. 10. By the time I was down and everyone packed it was 6 pm and too late for a last flight so back to the Hotel for dinner and margaritas before an early bedtime. Great progress from the 3 students today, everyone did super and had great flights.
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We flew today here at San Marcos
click on the picture for more Mexico Pics - photo by JPR San Marcos Report - all wind forecasts said that we would be flying San Marcos early & all day til dusk, so we left the Hotel de los Patios the earliest ever to arrive on launch at 9:30 am. We arrived to perfect launch cycles for the last flights for Evelyn & Andrew who have to fly back to Vancouver tonight (sadly), and for Carlos' and Steve's beginner flights. Martina kindly agreed to fly out to check the air and be in the Pedro LZ as a landing coach, and Derek volunteered to be driver as I took Steve tandem twice in the morning. Evelyn was the "sky queen" as she got to 2700 meters on flight number 2 while Andrew couldn't even make the LZ, and Steve and I barely made it but for a last minute thermal on the way out. I dropped off the rest of the team at the Monte Coxala Spa Restaurant while I drove to the Guadalajara Airport to exchange Evelyn & Andrew for new guest pilot Ray W from Toronto. We picked the team up at my little casa in the Raquet Club and we headed back to San Marcos Launch for a perfect glass-off flight til dusk. Martina & Carlos drove down as they were tired from the morning excitement, as Derek, Ray flew solo and Steve & I flew tandem. Derek topped out at 2500 meters and we got about an hour of airtime with the local Mexican pilots, but we had to do a SAT and many Spirals on the tandem to get down before dark. We lost Ray for a while as he got too far back in the rotor and had to take evasive action to get back out front. a few pilots were fooled by the conditions and landed downwind as the air on the ground was blowing east from the mountain. Another awesome day, and this week we have 3 student pilots flying with 0 to 8 flights - with Ray having 100s of paramotor flights, so it will be a productive safe training venue based on the forecasts. Normando's Gloat Report - Facebook posts are bragging about 20 straight days of flying 3+ hours per day in Valle. Unfortunately, his trip is over and he is headed back to cold, wet Hope. Te Mata Peak, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand- where the next leg of the FlyBC Adventure is headed on Feb 13, 2011. I tried a few times to fly here but the launch is very tricky with a small layout area that ends in a shear-cliff that crops 1000 feet straight down!
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The dusties were forming at 11 am today on Laguna San Marcos
click on the picture for more Mexico Pics - photo by JPR San Marcos Report - a busy day for me, getting up at 4 am, to drive to pickup Carlos and Steve in Guadalajara, and then back to the hotel in Sayula to collect the rest of the group to head to San Marcos. As forecasted, and with the locals knowledge that said the winds were going to blow strong in the afternoon, we arrived at San Marcos launch at 11:30 am and we watched a few launches and many bad launch attempts when our group all stood down. It was blowing 20-30 kph on launch and getting stronger. Lots of ``turtle-ing`` from the US Group before they also stood down. The winds on the ground looked good for kiting so we went down to Pedro`s LZ and spent a few hours getting Carlos back in tune after a 3 month hiatus caused by Williams Lake weather. Also, new student Steve is here and this was his first day learning how to Paraglide, and he perfected his forward and reverse launches! Check out a video on the Picasa Link by clicking on the picture above to see his progress. Be had to quit when the gusts got too strong in the LZ. Dust devils were forming on the flats just a few hundred meters away, and they were tracking right to cloudbase. Before long the entire lakebed for 40 kms was a dust storm, so we stopped and got ready to go to Acatlan for lunch and watched the winds get worse. We were packing up when a dust devil formed right in front of us, and I yelled at the Coloradoans to stop kiting and they all did except for Dennis who was kiting alone near the fenceline, and he got hit - turtled and dragged into the fence & trees. Several rips in his beautiful Rush ocurred. This was their last flying day so he can get it repaired on his return and he didn`t get hurt too badly. You have to watch for dusties! This was the first day we got shutdown by weather in 2 weeks, and if we were here earlier we would have been able to fly. Many that did launch before we got there landed early as they said it was ``powerful strong`` in the air, so we may not have missed much, On the way back to the hotel we experienced strong winds and watched the vultures getting buffetted on the tree lines, so an early night was the plan. Woodside Report - Kelly reported that Thomm and several others flew Woodside and the road was drivable to launch but there is snow in the parking area. Claudia & Peter soared but otherwise sledders all around. Glad folks are still trying to fly despite the cold!
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The CU to the north was developing fast and shading parts of the mountain at Tapalpa today
click on the picture for more Mexico Pics - photo by JPR Tapalpa Report - we headed up to Tapalpa Launch at 11 am as per usual, and arrived to sweet cycles but a bit of shade as it was already developing over the back on the plateau. Everyone stalled until about noon as no one wanted to be "wind dummy", but eventually everyone launched and were thermalling around but it shaded in and sink soon won over thermalling. Everyone was in the designated LZ but Evelyn as she made a safe choice landing on the hill side of the powerlines on a corn field. We were quickly loaded and back in the Suburban for another try at finding lift. Andrew launched first and quickly followed by Evelyn taking the direct route NE to some sun-soaked black fields, and they were soon way above launch and tracking back to the NW under the CUs. Derek took a similar line and was also soon coring up under the others. Martina joined Derek as I lost track of the McLellan team. Andrew took the rim route to the north and Evelyn played it safe trying the valley route and she landed about 12 kms from launch right next to the highway. Derek was in the crossroad LZ so we got him first after picking up Martina in the normal LZ. We followed Andrew north towards Zocoalco and lunch at our favourite lunch spot. Andrew landed at about 25 kms north in a perfect alfalfa field next to the highway. As we headed north to lunch we radioed the Coloradoans and they were on San Marcos with 14-18 mph cycles right up the front. They were standing down for awhile so we didn't miss out on any flying by eating lunch. We arrived on top of San Marcos at 5:30 pm, and the Coloradoans were just launching as were 3 local PGers. The first launchers except for Steve got flushed, but we timed it perfectly as the last launchers and caught the Magic San Marcos Glass-off (or restitution as the locals call it). I drove down and waited in Pedro's LZ and watched Derek, Andrew and Evelyn land in perfect NW winds. As they were packing up a lighning storm started falshing on the Tapalpa side of the range. I was commenting on the lack of a gust front associated with the storm and we had an orderly packup and exit south over the salt flats when we did encounter one small dust storm before the Toll Highway. Once on the highway, there were many areas of low visibility due to dust storms, and by the time I got near Sayula, there was a full on monsoon rainstorm. The rain stopped the dust storms. In Sayula the streets were filling with water. Tomorrow is forecast to be clear with west winds so hopefully we can fly San Marcos all day.  Practice day in Colombia - photo by Nicole Nicole's Colombia Report - Well after 1 week, the Roldanillo Open is finished. We've got 4 Canucks here: Amir, Pawel, Jim Orava, and myself. The flying is fantastic and we fly XC every day, anywhere from 40-100km. Today we are between comps so pilots went free flying...cloudbase today was somewhere between 2600-2800m and people flew all over the place. The PWC practice day is tomorrow and the comp starts on Sunday; all the top pilots from around the world are showing up and putting new lines on their 2 liners at headquarters. It's sunny, hot, beautiful skies, and the flying is awesome. This is what winter flying should be like! - Nicole
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Martina took this picture just before landing at the goal field in Sayula
click on the picture for more Mexico Pics - photo by MKL Tapalpa Report - another gorgeous day flying Tapalpa in the AM. The logistics are good here in Sayula, with a 35 minute drive up to launch after breakfast at the Hotel, arriving at launch around 11 am to perfect cycles every day this week. Tapalpa is typically an early morning site as later around 2 pm the sea breeze starts to blow over the back, but this week we have been able to launch til almost dusk. We bagged two flights today with an XC to Sayula for dinner on the last flight. I drove down and started the retrieve by driving down the back gravel road past the designated LZ, to find Andrew, then Evelyn, then Mark (CO) before heading to the hotel as Derek said they were almost to the hotel after landing in the soccer field. He was mistaken as it is quite a hike, but I was already into my first margarita. Out of 10 pilots only Derek, Martina and Jeff from CO made it to Sayula goal field. This is a small XC but with the stable day it was a decent task. Martina's Tapalpa Report -Not again! Today Derek & I had the EXACT same km & he still beat me on Leonardo! It was kind of a stable day but we decided to fly over the powerlines & crop-filled landing fields to the hotel (about 8 1/2km). I launched first & Derek pimped off me the whole way. After I showed him the 2 best thermals of the day he had enough height to zig or zag enough to beat me by .53 points. Not that I'm competitive....
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The team in the Tapalpa LZ
click on the picture for more Mexico Pics - photo by JPR Tapalpa Report - flying Tapalpa in the AM, again as the winds are Easterly this week, so less driving. After a hearty breakfast in the Hotel de los Patios, we were on the road up to Tapala Launch around 11 am. We saw a few wings in the air doing sledders, probably the coloradoans. Great launch cycles all day but the lift was a bit sporadic and an inversion at around 2100 meters kept folks near launch but still getting over an hour of airtime. We went back for a second flight with Sayula as the goal field, where our hotel is located. after everyone got launched, and it looked like they were struggling out front, I started to drive down. I fully expected everyone to be in the designated LZ when I got there but only Andrew landed there and the rest went XC to the south. Martina saved the day with a super low save (200 meters AGL) that got her above launch and the others "pimped off her" to take them XC towards the hotel in Sayula. In distance she flew the furthest, but thru the magic algorithms in Leonardo, Derek managed to get more XC points. Evelyn "Adventure Girl" made us all wonder what had happened when she asked "How do you say sorry in Spanish"? after she landed. She landed by some guys that were shouting, but I think they were just excited. She was the first retrieve as she caught a ride from the foothills in a mexican farm truck (all part of the FlyBC experience), and by the time we got to the Hotel . . . Derek & Martina had caught a ride with a local in his truck right to the hotel. As we were home early, I took the Suburban to a repair shop because the front sway bar was clanking where the connection to the A-arm had broken. I expected we would have to wait for parts but we walked a few doors down to the parts store and I understood the mechanic asking in spanish for a sway bar connector for a Suburban (no year specified) and the parts guy reached under the counter and handed him the correct part! It was in fact a performance type with urethane spacers, much better than original equipment. After an hour of fiddling to remove the old rusted part and replacing the new one, we also replaced a missing bolt on the dipstick retainer and I asked for the bill. Part was 100 pesos ($8.50 CDN) and labour was another 100 pesos. Pretty fair price for a repair that would be $150 or more in Canada. The forecast for our area is dry and hot with easterly winds for a few more days so we should be flying Tapalpa all week.
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Martina above Tapalpa Launch
click on the picture for more Mexico Pics - photo by JPR Tapalpa Report - we were up at Tapalpa Launch at 1130 AM, and the cycles were perfect but we had a high overcast layer. We let the Coloradoans fly first and we watched some sledders occur, so a bit of kiting on launch and when the clouds burned off, Evelyn was the first to go off. She was starting to get up after 15 minutes of thermalling to the SE in a gulley, but got impatient when she saw Andrew & Derek & Martina climbing faster to the North. She left lift and headed towards the ridgeline and took a collapse that "cravatted" and last thing I saw of her was her sinking fast into the gulley and a certain jungle landing. Fortunately she did a great job keeping her wing flying straight and she terrain-hugged all the way to a cornfield below and the cravatte never came out. Mark from the Colorado group was reporting on her position from above thankfully as we had no radio contact (she forgot to turn her radio on before she launched). Martina was "top of the stack" over Lagunillas to the north at 2300 meters when she started getting nausea again, so she flew out to the designated LZ. Andrew took off to the north ridge and was soon over the plateau rim as I drove down. Derek was much lower and grovelling below the highway, but he was patient and caught his ride to the rim too. It took a bit of driving to find Evelyn high on the foothils, but she was packed up when I got there and we started the long retrieve process. First we stopped to get Martina at the LZ, then headed north to Zocoalco where we ate lunch yesterday to find the boys who reported landing near the highway there. First we got Derek and he made about 30 kms, and Andrew wasn't much further along for about 32 kms straight line distance and 2 hours of flight. Derek reported topping at 3050 meters, and Andrew got 3250 meters. Nice job! Lunch was again excellent and cheap and we decided to head strainght to the new Hotel in Sayula to check in as it was 4:00 pm and a sledder was likely. The new hotel is fabulous and warmer and there is a SPA here for your sore muscles after a long day of flying (not included in the room charges). The Festival of Quadaupe is still going strong and we have nightly fireworks as well as fireworks in the morning to signal early mass here too. It should be over after the weekend.
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Tapalpa Launch
click on the picture for more Mexico Pics - photo by JPR Tour Report - we had a normal start with breakfast in Tapalpa Centro, and by 11 am we were flying Tapalpa, using the original launch. Derek flew first of our group following Granger's group (who mostly had sledders for their first flights). Next was Andrew and then Evelyn. Martina was battling Montezuma's revenge and didn't fly today. Andrew hit a patch of nasty sink and was soon headed out to the Vulture Zone (a feedlot where the vultures hangout), and he had a bit of a hike to the highway. Evelyn and Derek were "duking it out" to the north on their Addict II's, and she was getting really high when we started driving down to retrieve Andrew. By the time we got down, Evelyn was reporting she had landed at the foot of the hills and gave us her GPS coordinates and we started searching. We came to a few dead-ends and eventually after getting another proper set of coordinates we were at her location. Tip of the Day - when you land on an XC flight, hit "MARK-ENTER" on your GPS to save your current waypoint and location while you still have a good GPS signal. Then transmit that waypoint location to your retrieval team on the radio. While we were getting Evelyn, Derek reported that he had top-landed and that the winds were shifting to SW as it does at Tapalpa in the mid-day. He re-launched in a southerly cycle and was soon on his way down to meet us in the designated LZ, for our trip to San Marcos. We got up to San Marcos launch around 4:30 pm, to good cycles and the launch to ourselves. Derek, Andrew and Evelyn launched again while Martina stayed at Pedro's LZ to recuperate. Not as smooth as yesterday's Glass-Off, and the group all got to 2700 meters in different places with Derek landing at Pedro's after 1:30 of flight time. Evelyn went XC south along the ridge and I saw her heading out to the dry lake after the third saddle. Andrew waited until Evelyn landed to head that direction and he had to overfly her location before landing. 
XC Team McLellan on the San Marcos Lake Bed looking back towards San Marcos Launch
click on the picture for more Mexico Pics - photo by JPR
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Hangglider Parking Lot at San Marcos Launch
click on the picture for more Mexico Pics - photo by JPR San Marcos Report - we had to fly San Marcos early today as it was west at Tapalpa. Lots of HGers here today as vacations end tomorrow for the locals. Evelyn & Andrew had their first flights here and managed 2:00 before landing at Pedro's exhausted due to travel and fireworks. Derek & Martina had a flight for the same airtime landing to go to lunch. We went back to launch after 5 pm, and the glass-off had setup and many pilots were in the air til dark or past dark! Juan Carlos brought a group and Herminio was here too doing some swoops of launch for the cameras. Long day - 3+ hours of airtime to 2800 meters at San Marcos. Valle Gloat Report - Normando reporting from 3800 meters at Valle, blue day with no CUs.
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Jim at San Marcos
click on the picture for more Mexico Pics - photo by MKL San Marcos Report -we headed straight to San Marcos today as we woke to westerly winds. We went to Pedro's LZ to see if we could score a ride up, but no one was there to fly so we drove up after hanging out for awhile as it looked like lame cycles on launch. When we arrived it was just starting to cycle up and there were 3 dusties forming on the lakebed so we knew it would be thermic. I was elected first to go to check the air, and top-land if I could so Derek & Martina could then fly. I had a nice launch despite it being southerly and cross and was sinking to the south, and when I came below launch they thought I was done for as I was so low. There was some good thermals in the gulleys just north of launch and I was soon just at launch height so I made a pass from the back and was lifted up a few hundred meters going straight . . . hmmm, perhaps a top-landing may not happen today? I gave up after doing spirals and still going up, so I concentrated on climbing and I was soo thru 2700 meters (800 meters over) and noticed I had no forward speed. A dust storm started forming on the lakebed from a few dusties that gathered together, so the winds had picked up. Martina recorded 39 kph on her windmeter at that time so they weren't going to fly. Some hangies that showed up as I launched were still setting up to fly but I never saw them in the air. I hit speed bar to move forward and started heading south to the saddle to fly over the back as D & M chose not to fly because it got so strong. South took me to the dust storm so I was glad I had on a balaclava to filter the dusty air as I climbed out. I continued thermalling as the winds took me to the NE and closer to Guadalajara where we ultimately had to be at 5 pm to get Andrew & Evelyn when they arrive. I couldn't connect with the Joco ridge as the wind was driftng me too far north and I picked a field near the smaller highway to land and came in vertically in nice laminar winds. Pretty windy over here too, but safe. I was packed up and on the road when D & M found me. Thanks for driving. Flight stats: + 4.5 m/s lift, -3 m/s sink, 45 minutes airtime. After we picked up Evelyn & Andrew we stopped at La Vita Bella Restaurant for a dinner snack before heading to Tapalpa for the night.
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Martina at San Marcos
click on the picture for more Mexico Pics - photo by JPR San Marcos Report - Derek & Martina arrived late last night and we had a lazy morning getting breakfast and repacking as we were heading to Tapalpa launch this morning and as we crested the hill over San Marcos to cut over to Tapalpa there was west wind already and the vultures were soaring. We drove straight up to San Marcos Launch and the road is better than ever! Perfect cycles and vultures marking the lift so the plan was to see how Derek & Martina did, and if it looked epic I would launch and top-land later. We were pretty early and the thermals were working but not strong and they managed a 1 hour flight landing at Pedro's LZ on the nice grass runway. They said they could have stayed up for 3-4 hours but they were tired from their trip. We met the Northern BC fliers at the Tapalpa crossroads as they were heading to San Marcos and we were heading to Tapalpa to get settled in the Posada Hacienda. The "Festival of the Guadalupe" in Tapalpa was going strong and after several tequilaa con fresca, I was back in the room to call Colleen and I missed all the fireworks, but I am sure everyone had fun by the screams of glee! Valle Report - Normando was gloating on facebook about flying toward the Butterflies following the Norweigans before heading back to the Lake, I guess the Delta is working well.
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The goal was to hike to this beautiful viewpoint
click on the picture for more Mexico Pics - photo by JPR Joco Report - I got another late start but wasn't going to miss hiking Joco today. It was hot at noon when I started at the trailhead, but I was hoping for some shade on the way up as the trail traverses the forest. I was taking the APCO Chairbag and the Mantra I which weighs in at 15 kilos, not superlight but comfortable. The valley is 1500 metres, and launch is 2200 metres, so similar to Bridal or Woodside hikes. It took me 1:30 to get up, with several breaks and water stops and as this was the first time I have hiked the trail I made a few wrong turns into dead-ends but at the end I recognized the road at the back of the mountain that we normally drove up on, so I found launch quickly. I arrived at launch and was setup by 1:40 pm, with good cycles right up launch. Unfortunately, no one has been maintaining launch after my great cleanup December 2009 so it was coverred with rocks, firepits and many snags. I tried to get a clean wing 8 times but kept picking up crap. Finally, I got it up and was off and climbing to the east with the vultures. They took me halfway to the Raquet Club to the east but the thermals were strong in the inversion but not too big so lots of cranking turns near the rocks. I decided to fly back to the LZ near the truck to lessen the hassle of retrieving as I couldn't get above launch. When I was flying I saw smoke indicating light east winds, but it switched when I landed and there are no telltales in this field so I landed tail, but no problems as I skidded to a stop on my ass and one elbow. Great adventure today. One and a half hour hike, one hour in the air, 2.5 m/s lift. Later I saw the Smithers & Euro guys at San Marcos, with Juan Carlos, as they had a nice rdge soaring session. So San Marcos was working later too.
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Motorhead Report from San Marcos - when I started heading towards San Marcos for a possible flight I noticed east wind on the little pond near Joco which usually indicates tailwind at San Marcos. Rather than waste a trip up I headed to Pedro's Shop at the foot of the mountain to arrange landing passes for our many guest pilots. | Pedro was working on his off-road racer and offered me a ride. Who needs wings! We flew around the desert course he mapped out, thru the trees and some roads for 20 minutes. 
Pedro's racer heading off for another circuit as I readied the Paratoys PPG rig - photo by JPR We checked the windsock on top a few times and the Smithers Boys were up there on top but I had no radio and Pedro's was dead. Eventually Mark took off in a cycle and was soon climbing fast in the leeside air (the CUs were forming out over the flats beeing drifted by the east wind). Next was Tom from Belgium who flew over 100 kms on the 4th, he also got high and was practising acro waiting for the others. I don't think everyone got off as I only counted 4 gliders in the air. I got the Paratoys HE120 ready and although the winds seemed due west on the ground between the hangars, when I took off it was more northerly and it was drifiting me left. Add to the mix a left P-factor torque pull and I was fighting to get into the wind so I just throttled up into a left hand turn to climb out downind for a bit (there is desert everywhere to land, even downwind). I was soon 300 metres over Pedro's in a nice thermal and I backed off the power as I am breaking it in for a few tankfulls. Before 10 minutes of reduced throttle climbing I was over launch watching a few botched takeoff attempts. I was at flight idle (prop stopped) and climbing at 2 m/s in the leeside thermals. The new Paratoys Momentum II glider seemed solid in the turbulence (good thing as I had no reserve), and good speed in the north winds aloft. I circled around for a bit waving at Tom and the others before heading out to the flats to descend and cruise around in less thermic air. When I came into land there was little wind and I noticed the brakes were definitely tied too long (Paratoys suggested shortening them before flying as the manufacturer sends them long) and I had no flare authority so I used a burst of power to land and that worked out well. My first impression is that this is a strong motor: I was taking off in 27C temps at 4500 feet elevation and I had a fairly short run into the air and a super climb rate outside of thermals on a 27 metre wing. Using this Density Altitude Calculator for the following conditions (27C temp, 3C dewpoint, 1020 kpa pressure, 1500 meter elevation) came out with a 2200 meter density altitude. I would normally recommend a heavy pilot use a MZ34 for these conditions but this HE120 motor did well getting my ass into the air and up to launch quickly. I didn't have earplugs and it was noticeably quiet during the flight too. After I landed I noticed I had used hardly any fuel but this could be in part due to the nice thermals near launch. One of the nice things about motoring is the self-reliance: No having to coordinate rides up the mountain, not having to drive 2 hours for a sledder, just taking it out for a flight off a flat field and cruising around. Some interesting paramotor antics in New Zealand.
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Wolfie from Whitehorse trying to top-land at La Ceja
click on the picture for more Mexico Pics - photo by JPR Tapalpa Report - I got a late start and decided to drive to Tapalpa to check out the facilities instead of hiking Joco Launch. I had a nice 45 minute soaring flight "duking it out" with the vultures and Mark (from Smithers BC), before top-landing at the back field to go into Tapalpa town. Wolfie is here from the Yukon too and had a nice flight getting flushed a few times but eventally landed near Pinares about 4 kms west of launch. I think most of the northern BC pilots are here in Tapalpa, avoiding the northern weather. Tapalpa was buzzing with people and party preparations. After doing some business there, I headed back to La Ceja launch to see if they were going to San Marcos, but instead Juan Carlos was taking the Smithers group to San Gabriel - a new semi-finished launch west of here. After a long bumpy ride we were at the trail-head (yes, this is a hike-up site!) and we were hiking for 35 minutes to arrive at the top to perfect cycles. I was first ready to go and after a few tries I was soon way above launch. Even with the perfect cycles, it took most pilots 3-4 tries to get off to clear twigs or to get a solid wing. In the end 7 of us flew and soared til dark landing at the designated football field LZ. Click on the picture to the left to see the pictures and the landing video.
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Road Report January 2/2011 - made it to San Juan Cosala by 2 pm despite many traffic jams due to holiday travellers. | View Larger Map Not nearly as much fun as Normando flying Valle de Bravo where he reported on FaceBook - "SUPER DAY!!!!! paragliding in valle de bravo went to the antennas and back to three kings (3 reyes) got high 3300 metres and then to the lake fun fun fun !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Valle de Bravo Google Earth waypoints - photo by JPR or not nearly as much fun as Louise in Hawaii either flying off a nice crater Looks like a long glide out!
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Road Report for January 2/2011 - drove from 7 am til 10 pm and made it to Maxatlan (1328 kms) where I found a nice secure hotel to park the Suburban in for the night. | View Larger Map 
No Tell Motel (great for gear laden trucks) - photo by JPR
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CA Road Report - headed east after kissing Colleen goodbye at the Airport Shuttle as she is heading back to work in January. | Not much traffic thankfully as LA can be a nightmare to get out of at the best of times. I was soon in the desert and averaging 75 mph and getting passed by motorhomes? Gas in LA topped out at $3.35 per gallon but in the desert it is $2.89, so pretty cheap to drive even a land yacht like the Suburban. Normando's Valle Report - Normando reports trying a different line on the Mesa for an "out & return" but hits rain on the return leg and has to share the "Ride of Shame" with a Norweigan. Other reports from Tenancingo reported forecast cloudy skies but it turned out okay for soaring later for Daniel.
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New Years Eve - we were headed to Marshall to fly when we stopped at the Proud Bird Restaurant to check out what was happening there for New Years. | What a great place for an aviation nut! Static displays of war birds from WW I thru to current fighter jets all around. By the time we finished lunch we ran out of time to head to Marshall and it looked very stable despite the rains. 
P-38 in front of the Proud Bird Restaurant - photo by JPR We had New Years Eve dinner there and had a nice time for New Years but could not get a cab home so we hitch-hiked. 
Colleen in front of the Proud Bird Restaurant trying to get a ride - photo by JPR |
FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day Reports
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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