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FlyBC "Paragliding Site of the Day January 2012 Archive Page"
San Marcos de Evangelista, Jalisco Mexico!
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Tapalpa Report (plus some other sites) - we drove to Tapalpa after a Gloria's Breakfast in El Chante. | This time Granger beat us up to launch and his guys had a sledder and we only saw one wing in the air. When we picked up Sean in the LZ we saw some kiting action but no one launching, so we bailed and headed to Mazamitla. Mazamitla has yet to yield a flight this Tour as it has been North, too Strong South, and again North today. But it is a beautiful drive thru Pine Forests and a picturesque town, but we are here to fly so we headded to San Marcos. On the way out of town we hit a tropical rainstorm for a few kms, good thing we are leaving. We dropped off Gary at the hotel as he apparently ate too much at La Vita Bella last night and needed a nap, and headed to San Marcos. Light tailwind at launch, but it started to come in so Sean laid out his wing and got clipped in but before he could launch it started to spit. There was 0% POP in the forecast but Mother Nature had other ideas. We bunched Sean's gear into the Suzuki and headed down the mountain, glad he wasn't packing his wing in a rainstorm. The rain actually packed the San Marcos road nicely, as we were worried it might start running down the road as there are no cross ditches. We took Sean's gear to the condo to pack it properly under the Palapa roof, and as we were doing that, a large thunderstorm started with lightning and thunder. Hopefully this is the last of the rain we see on this trip. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. SuperFinal Report from Valle de Bravo - The official results are in and posted here . It rained hard last night in Valle too, and a task was run and despite epic clouds and some OD'ing there was not much lift and no one made goal. valle task 6 the flight from broers philippe on Vimeo. Click here for more pictures from Nicole's Picasa Album. More details at Nicole's Blog. More details at Brett's Blog. Click here to find out who kicked butt in Mexico today!
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Tapalpa Report - we woke up to wet streets as it rained all night, for the first time in +60 days here. We then headed to Tapalpa after a nice Waffle House breakfast hoping for Tapalpa flights early on. | We arrived at launch to cloudy skies but the birds were soaring at noon and Granger`s gang had flown already. So Sean & Gary unpacked their gear and got ready to chase some thermals. Good cycles and lots of vultures overhead at launch cheering them on to come and play. Both guys had super launches and were soon thermalling around as some blue holes peeked thru the overcast. But alas, the thermals were small and weak and they were in the LZ after 20 minutes so we drove down to get them as Grange`s group relaunched a second time. We decided to go into Tapalpa to see the town and have a snack and it rained on us again there and it was cold on the plateau. Our old friend Paulino now has a hotel in Tapalpa - 200 pesos para 2 personas, 300 pesos para 3 personas, 400 pesos para 4 personas and it looks good in the pictures but we could not find someone to open the door when we stopped there. After lunch, our two new Americans showed up on Tapalpa Launch (Don from OR and Eric from VA) and they were flying around launch when we arrived and they both top-landed to save the retrieve - so it was mildly soarable if you were smooth. Sean launched a second time and Gary had some issues trying to get off and he had to packup for the drive down and back home to El Chante. A good day despite the weather that rolled through. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. SuperFinal Report from Valle de Bravo - The official results are in and posted here . Same cloudy skies and no task I assume as the blogs are quiet and there was a mandatory rest day to be completed at some time during the Comp. Click here for more pictures from Nicole's Picasa Album. More details at Nicole's Blog. More details at Brett's Blog. Click here to find out who kicked butt in Mexico today!
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Tapalpa Report - we headed to Tapalpa after a nice breakfast at Zocoalco. | First cloudy skies as a cold front moved into Mexico from the east coast. But we continued on to Tapalpa Launch to see what was happening and saw some folks flying. Sean got his first Tapalpa LZ briefings, and Gary had already flown here so they launched and got a few thermals to play in before heading out to the LZ. Ralph is here from the Queen Charlottes with his girlfriend and he also landed at the Piano. Miguel's girlfriend Olga flew down too so we had a full truck heading up to launch. We stopped at La Ceja Launch and saw El Huevo and he is doing pretty well despite breaking his femur in 4 places in a car wreck last month. Eric Ams from Virginia (the guy posting all the Valle flights), was here and doing really well as he got high enough to top-land, as did one other local pilot. David from Gravity Sports is here with some hangies from eastern Canada, and they flew down getting some turns, while Sean & Mark "duke-it-out" for a while with Mark getting 45 minutes. The forecast said it should shift to south & west later so we headed to San Marcos, but it was strong east on the launch so we had an early night in Jocotopec. As we walked thru the square in Joco, we felt a few rain drops, and it was raining in Guadalajara according to the weatherman. First precip in 60 days, so no panic. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. SuperFinal Report from Valle de Bravo Task Day 5 - The official results are in and posted here . Same cloudy skies and light lift with the winner only going 27 kms, which is a "Valle Sledder". Click here for more pictures from Nicole's Picasa Album. More details at Nicole's Blog. More details at Brett's Blog. Click here to find out who kicked butt in Mexico today!
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Mexican Adventure Report - We headed up to El Chante with Mark, Gary K and Wolfie; while Steve, Britt, Lee & Chris went shooping in Jocotopec on their last day here. | Nice launch conditions at El Chante, not many birds but a few taunted us at launch including a nice red tail hawk. Gary launched first and flew out to a nice football field in El Chante to practice kiting in the laminar lake breezes. Mark later flew out to kite with him before walking back to the hotel. Wolfie flew out to the Joco Malecon, none of them got more than 20 minutes as it looked inverted. I then met up with the shoppers and headed in to the GDL airport to pick up a new guest, Sean from ON, here for a week of thermalling fun. We made it back in time for a run up San Marcos to find Pedro and Mille on launch, also Dave from Gravity Sports was here doing a briefing with some HGers from ON as well. In the end Mille, Gary K, Sean, Mark & Wolfie flew San Marcos with flights from 25 - 45 minutes, with Mark landing over the back as he found a 6 pm thermal to 3100 meters. Nice launching conditions earlier with catabatic flows for Mark & Wolfie but they got off finally. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. SuperFinal Report from Valle de Bravo Task Day 4 - The official results are in and posted here . Another reserve toss today and no injuries. Luc Armant (Ozone Designer) is first today and also Task 3 yesterday. Herminio Cordidio is filming the comp for Cross Country Mag on Day 4 of the SuperFinal PWC. Click here for more pictures from Nicole's Picasa Album. More details at Nicole's Blog. More details at Brett's Blog. Click here to find out who kicked butt in Mexico today!
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Mexican Tour Report - we headed to Tapalpa for flights around 11 am. Steve, Camilo & Gary K launched and had Steve & Gary caught some nice flatland thermals getting over 2500 meters and getting nearly an hour of airtime. Camilo got Piano-Suck and made a few turns. The others waited too long and it blew over the back by 1:30 pm and they were denied. | We packed up and headed to San Marcos with Wofie in tow as he had been trying to get to San Marcos but had no rides. As we rounded the turnoff to San Marcos we could see a fire on the top-launch area (abandoned for many years and overgrown), which was pretty big. As we drove up to launch we could see the fire spreading over the top towards the Joco highway but the south winds kept to flames away from the main launch area, although we saw some pretty good flare-ups. Camilo, Lee & Chris launched and were soaring and giving us reports as the Bomberos (2) arrived. We had Camilo explain the situation over the radio and the Bomberos went up the hill with a rake and fire extinguisher. Wolfie & Mark launched and were soon way up above launch and following Camilo towards Joco reporting in at 3500 meters. camilo sunk out behind El Chante Ridge and was soon hitch-hiking home. Mark reported Wolfie had landed at the Lighthouse at Roca Azul on the west shore of Lake Chapala where he dropped in on a huge Fiesta where he was served beer and snacks and a nice Oregon couple drove him back to the Hotel. Mark landed at the Malecon and was soon back at the Hotel as we arrived there. Day 60 of the tour and still flyable everyday with 10 days of perfect weather forecasted for us! Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. SuperFinal Report from Valle de Bravo Task Day 3 - our two Canucks - Brett (Ozone EnZo) & Nicole (Gradient XC3) were flying the third task today and had good flights. The official results are in and posted here . Three more reserve tosses today and no injuries. One of the leaders, Jack Brown, missed the first turnpoint and Nick Greece (USHPA Mag Editor) was one of the three on reserve. Herminio Cordidio is filming the comp for Cross Country Mag. Watch Feliz Rodriguez throwing it down over the Lake at Valle de Bravo after finishing a task! valle day 3 from broers philippe on Vimeo. Click here for more pictures from Nicole's Picasa Album. More details at Nicole's Blog. More details at Brett's Blog. Click here to find out who kicked butt in Mexico today!
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Tapalpa Report - After breakfast at Hacienda San Jose in Zocoalco we went to Tapalpa and perfect conditions. | Granger's guys had already had 2 sledders, but two of the guys top-landed as we arrived. Also, Ralph from Haida G'waii was packing up after top-landing (small world). Mark took off first followed by Lee, Steve and finally Chris. Lee and Steve worked the thermals out front with Mark before flying out to the Piano LZ. Chris took off into a beautiful thermal and was soon at 2700 meters and Mark joined him from out front as we drove down to retrieve the guys in the LZ. Mark was trying to get Chris to follow but Chris was on another channel, so it was pointless. Mark took off to the North and the Cross area reporting being at 3000 meters there. We bundled everyone into the Suzuki at 3 pm and headed north to the hotel as I had to pick up another vehicle and Gary K. We drove into the hotel parking lot at 4 pm, and unloaded the gear to head off when I tried calling Mark and he was within glide of the Hotel already! Britt & Lee went to the Joco Malecon for a walk and saw Mark landing there, unaware that he had made it home after a 50 km XC flight. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. Click here to find out who kicked butt in Mexico today! SuperFinal Report from Valle de Bravo Task Day 2 - our two Canucks - Brett (Ozone EnZo) & Nicole (Gradient XC3) were flying the second task today and had good results. The official results are in and posted here . Three reserve tosses and no injuries, I guess EnD ships still have cascades into unrecoverable situations? valle day 4 the flight from broers philippe on Vimeo. Click here for more pictures from Nicole's Picasa Album. More details at Nicole's Blog. More details at Brett's Blog.
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| View Larger Map Colima Report - Hoping for Colima flights early on, we left Jocotopec at 8 am with a Bodega Aurrera breakfast of pastry and takeout stuff. We were making good time til Ciudad Guzman where they are widening the highway and traffic slowed to 10 kph. we continued on the Cuota and made it to Colima by 11 am, too early to fly so breakfast at the Hotel Costena (the pilots hotel where the Quebecers are staying). After breakfast we headed up to La Cumbre Launch and we had perfect cycles. There was a German Couple flying that came up with Alex & Marie-Elle (?) and were setup on launch. Steve, Lee, Chris & Mark setup and were soon all off with brilliant inflations and were climbing fast. Not rough, just steady climbs as they passed the ridge to the south slopes and once they were all established in nice climbs Birthday Britt and I drove down to Piscilla and the LZs. The LZs are still pretty rugged with lots of thorns but some recent work has given us some sandy areas. Britt & I enjoyed a mid-day beverage in the +30C temps while we watched the guys come in one-by-one after leaving the lift band. While they were packing up the seabreeze kicked in and it may have become too strong without a faster glider, but they were all safe and happy after the perfect Colima flights. We then headed to Manzanillo on the coast for lunch and more drinks. After lunch we headed to a flying site just west of the power plant that Colleen and I scoped out 4 years ago, but it was gated and the guard said no entry. From there we headed out to Campos where there were dunes, but when we got there construction for the new CNG Gas plant has wrecked the dunes and the old shortcut to Colima - as they have removed a bridge and dredged a channel for ships to come to the plant. So we had to turn around. I saw a sign that said "Manzanillo Colima" off the Campos road and followed it and we were soon inside the Power Plant past and open gate and figured out we were lost, so we back-tracked and found the gate locked and the Security Guard asking what we were doing here. After some explanations that we were lost in Spanglish, he let us out without calling the cops. My new name is Jaime Bin Laden according to Lee. We had to drive back through Old Manzanillo and over 45 speed bumps to get to the Cuota and we were soon whistling east at 120 kph, except for the many bladder stops as everyone had many cervezas. Except Mark & I where designated drivers. More highway stops due to construction but we arrived back at the hotel by 11 pm, for a long day but a great tour of the surrounding countryside and some flying too! Derek reported in stopping at Hermasillo about 2 hours from the US border for his first day of travel back towards Canada. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. SuperFinal Report from Valle de Bravo - our two Canucks - Brett (Ozone EnZo) & Nicole (Gradient XC3) were flying the first task day and had really good results. The official results are in and posted here . Oddly, Jack Brown is listed as having an Ozone Mantra R11 as his glider but I thought they were banned? Must be a typo or a joke? Click here to find out who kicked butt in Mexico today! Click here for more pictures from Nicole's Picasa Album. More details at Nicole's Blog. More details at Brett's Blog.
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El Chante Report - we drove past the pond and decided to fly El Chante rather than waiting on San Marcos for a few hours and it worked out well! | We waited on launch till 1130 am, and then as the cycles got stronger I thought we should start launching before we gott blown out. I had a nice inflation on the Nova Factor and was soon above launch but it was a wild ride at first. I tried a east push but nothing there. some birds were climbing out front so I went up with them but the lift was all concentrated in the Cross Gulley. after 20 minutes I headed to the Joco Ridge to find the thermal there was not forming so I headed in to the Joco Malecon. I did a straight in approach into the closest field to the shops and scared a gardener who didn't see me coming! I had to buy him a beer to relax him after that landing. Still no one else launched as they were having some issues at launch but soon I saw Mark & Steve in the air thermalling together. Mark headed to the Raquet Club on top of the ridge, as Steve came and landed in the Malecon Football fields. Chris was next in the air and he also got some good climbs over launch and was getting some good vertical as Mark came back from the east point. Soon they were both coming over to the Malecon too. There was a local film-maker named Martin that was filming the landings and he says they will be up on YouTube at Jocopilion's Channel soon. After we packed up we headed for lunch at Ruben's new Restaurant in Joco, and then on to San Marcos where we saw a huge dust devil forming in the gravel pits behind launch. Our first clue that it might be unstable here! When we arrived on launch at 3:15 pm, it was howling and huge dust storms were covering the dry lake bed. Nap time to see if it would calm down. an hour later it was just as bad so we called it an early day. Reports from Tapalpa said it was un-flyable there all day, so we made the right call to fly El Chante early. This was the first windy day in over two months of flying here, and forecasts say it will be fine later in the week as more fliers arrive to sample the Mexican Thermals. Nicole sent us a Spot Message that she landed at Goal at the Lakeside LZ at Valle on the first practice day today, so the SuperFinal is on! Brett had a Facebook picture of spiralling over the Lake so he made goal too on his new Ozone EnZo. Valle Practice Day from broers philippe on Vimeo. Click here to find out who kicked butt in Mexico today! Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. Click here for more pictures from Nicole's Picasa Album. More details at Nicole's Blog.
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Click on the picture for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventure.Tapalpa Report - we drove to Tapalpa in two trucks today as we are pretty full with fliers this week. A quick breakfast at the Bodega and some supplies and we aere rolling. At launch we bumped into Granger from Colorado, here with some tour guests too, They had done an orientation sled-ride flight and were back on top when we got Camilo, Chris, Lee, Steve D, and Derek ready to fly as Britt was driving for us. The guys first flight had a few turns but great chance to check out the LZ and surrounding fields and powerlines. Britt found the guys after a few wrong turns and they were back on top for the perfect conditions at 1:00 pm. Lots of birds soaring around and soon about 12 paragliders too! Both teams were soaring nicely, but there were sinky spots in the gulleys that caught some people by surprise. Steve D got low and was heading to the LZ when he hit a nice thermal and he stayed with it to 2500 meters. He was still working it when we drove down to find everyone. Britt went to the LZ to find some of the guys, and I followed Mark & Derek as I knew the XC route. Apparently one of Granger's pilots did not deal with the gulley suck too well and was last seen in the trees moving around collecting his gear, but with sporadic radio contact. I had Camilo take the Dodge full of pilots to the restaurant at Zacoalco while I found Mark and then we lost contact with Derek due to a dead battery. We met the folks at the restaurant and then headed east to find Derek who was somewhere between Tapalpa and San Marcos. We were almost at San Marcos Launch when we heard Derek talking to the folks in the Dodge, as he finally changed his radio battery after landing behind San Marcos. Congratulations to Derek for his third Tapalpa-to-San Marcos Crossing, in the last days of his trip! We were going to drive down to get him when he got a ride with a pickup full of San Marcos locals up to the 4x4 road, where we met and continued on to launch. When we arrived at 5:30 pm, all but Chris were in the air and climbing nicely in the San Marcos glass-off. Chris was soon off and climbing too as Mark got ready to fly. Derek drove down the front road to Pedros' and we watched as the sunset and decided who was going over the back and in the end only Mark & Lee flew east where we retrieved them with cold beers by the highway at 7 pm, just after dark. Click here to find out who kicked butt in Mexico today! Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. Click here for more pictures from Nicole's Picasa Album. More details at Nicole's Blog.
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San Marcos Report - we headed up to San Marcos after a great Gloria's Breakfast in El Chante. | When we drove past the flag and the pond it was slightly east which is normal, but the IBIS weather viewer said west by 11 am, so we kept on to San Marcos Launch. Sure enought whenw e arrived we had light inflow cycles and when I checked the air with Steve's wing it had some power to it, so I encouraged everyone to get ready. Derek arrived after us in the big Dodge with Claudia and her posse - Paolo, John and Pepe who were here for tandems today. Derek launched first with Pepe and found some nice thermals out front and had a 20 minute flight landing at Pedro's while Claudia drove down to retrieve. Steve and Lee flew next with perfect inflations and launches and Lee was getting high above launch but chose to fly out and grabbed a ride with Derek back to the top. It looked really smoth and lifty and it was only 11:45 am. Chris was sitting out the first flight as he had an injured ankle from a snowboarding crash at hemlock around Christmas, and he was waiting for the muscle relaxer to kick in. By the time the Dodge got back up cycles were getting much stronger as predicted, and Derek took Paolo for her tandem and it was good that I was ballasting as there was some power in the cycles for sure! They soared around for 15 minutes before Paolo got dizzy and the flew out to land at Pedro's. Our guys decided they were hungry again, so we drove down to Acatlan to Guero's + for seafood tacos and refreshments. It was hot with temps hovering around 28C in the valley but nice in the shade. We left Mark T on launch as he wanted to go soaring. We had live entertainment with a band at Guero's and the food was amazing. Back on launch at 4 pm, we had at least 25 Hanggliders set up on launch and another 4 were already at Pedro's after short flights. More hanggliders here than in all of Western Canada combined! Mark T was above launch and then above the Saddle at about 3000 meters before he headed over the back. He had already flown as far north as Acatlan, then south to the southern point for this leg, and then he flew towards Chapala along the lake shore, before retuneing back to the Joco Malecon. Derek took John for his tandem and while it started strong with them above launch, they were soon in the south airstrip within about 6 minutes? We waited while Pedro sent off a bunch of students hoping the 5 pm launch window would be more productive. The guys all had amazing launches now that they are all tuned up, and the cycles were strong too! They all got above launch too for quite some time. Britt drove a truck down following me to Pedro's and we were all packed up and on the way by 6:15 pm, so we missed the dark drive home. We regrouped at 8 pm for dinner and saw a huge brushfire on the Joco ridge as we went into town, but it was out when we came back from dinner. Fortunately, all the houses are brick and concrete so I hope nothing got damaged. Click here to find out who kicked butt in Mexico today! Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. Click here for more pictures from Nicole's Picasa Album. More details at Nicole's Blog.
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El Chante/San Marcos Report - we drove past our famous wind forecasting pond to see east winds around 11 am, so we drove up to El Chante for a morning flight. | We pulled the rusty hang ramp up the slope with the big Dodge and stashed the pieces by the fence. Chris got to fly his new Ozone Rush III and he did really well launching and thermalling with it. We are going to work on landings tomorrow. Next off was Steve D on his Buzz Z3 and he had a super-launch and small thermalling flight with a super landing, as it seemed to get lighter rather than stronger thermals as the day went on. Last off El Chante was Lee on his Discovery 3 and he headed straight for the Jocotopec Malecon for a footbal field landing. The rest of us drove down to retrieve as we were hoping for a great San Marcos flight or two. We arrived at San Marcos Launch at 1 pm to see perfect cycles with moderate strength so we were hopeful. We had a time constraint for Lee as he had to pick up Britt at the airport at 5 pm, so he had to back at the hotel by 4 pm for the cab lady. We took up two trucks to launch to facilitate retrieves. Mark T, Lee, Chris, Steve & Ray flew the first time and everyone got at least an hour soaring session, except Mark who was still in the air when I took Lee to the hotel. I picked everyone at Pedro's and drove them partway up to meet Derek at the 4x4 road, and took off with Lee & Chris to the hotel. Mark was reporting being at 3200 meters over El Chante and heading east so I suggested he watch for Red Buses for the retrieve back to the hotel. Steve & Derek flew and Ray volunteered to drive as he was totally satisfied with the day and his past week of flying here as he is leaving tomorrow AM back to Toronto and work. Derek hung out waiting for Steve to launch and finally took off south to find the Jocotopec Thermal and home. I saw Steve in the air and guided him from the back of the ridge and got him a good climb to fly over the back towards home. Around 3 pm, I received a Spot Message from Nicole that she had landed safely so she was flying again in Valle with some other comp pilots practicing. By 7 pm, we had all showered and regrouped (including Mark who had a super Out & Return flight) and had a special last meal for Ray at La Vita Bella, where Claudia joined us from Guadalajara too! More flying tomorrow. Colleen called to say she had the Ranch driveway plowed out as there was 3 feet of snow drifted in there, and the propane was almost empty so we used $300 of propane in the last month without even having the heat turned up so it must have been really cold in Harrison Mills! Click here to find out who kicked butt in Mexico today! Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. Click here for more pictures from Nicole's Picasa Album. More details at Nicole's Blog.
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San Marcos Report - we headed to San Marcos at 11 am and it was blowing in nicely by that time. Derek launched first and managed a 30 minute flight into Pedro's LZ, followed by Steve & Ray. | I raced down to get them while Mark & Lee waited for stronger cycles. Around 1:30 pm, they all were in the air and getting to about 2500 meters when Derek said "it is getting rough out here", and soon everyone was heading out to the south airstrip as it turned north and was hard to penetrate upwind. Easier retrieve too! But they mostly got an hour of soaring at that point. By 4 pm, it was looking really good with lots of birds soaring, so everyone relaunched and were soaring the "glass-off" and it was so smooth and slow heading north that both Mark's & Lee's varios turned off thinking they had landed. The guys today got 3 flights and almost 3 hours airtime . . . not bad for Day 1 for Mark T, and the others too. I drove down to Pedro's after the last launcher, and talked to some of the hangar owners about their deals with Pedro. Pretty sweet deal - buy a lot for $7500, build a hangar for $5-10K, and you have a deed for 99 years with no maintenance fees. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today.
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San Marcos Report - we headed to a leisurely Waffle House breakfast in Ajijic and then headed to El Chante but could see the winds were lame so on to San Marcos in overcast skies. The first real overcast day in Mexico this trip. | We arrived on San Marcos Launch to leeside conditions so everyone lazed about for an hour or so and at 1 pm; Derek launched, then Ray and then Nicole. Ray climbed out fastest and was hanging out on the north point. Lee launched last and I turned to look for my camera and he was soon down low looking for lift - we tried for 10 minutes but he was soon on the ground while the others climbed out fast. Nicole reported climbing thru 4500 meters, Derek at 3600 meters and Ray using feet was 11000 feet as they headed east. Due to logistics, they all landed at the Jocotopec Malecon, so Nicole could pack up for her bus trip tonight to Valle de Bravo and the Superfinal. I drove Nicole in while picking up Steve Duncan at GDL and then dropped her off at the Centro de Autobuses, before heading to Jocotopec to check Steve in. When we arrived at the Hotel, we finally found Mark Tulloch who had to overnight in LA due to late plans and weather issues. Ray Waraich says: "Just did my first climb out at San Marcos, to 11,850 feet followed by a mini x-country flight of 15 kms over a ridge line to land close to the hotel in Jocotopec." Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. Click here for more pictures from Nicole's Picasa Album. SupAir Delight Harness explained - available now from FlyBC
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El Chante Report - we headed up El Chante around 11 am as there were east winds on the lake, ponds and flags and Tapalpa looked too far away for the conditions. | We arrived at the "roja puerta" and were unloading when a cabaillero arrived on horse back with his two trusty dogs and he was opening the puerta and he showed me where the key was hidden. No more hiking this trip! Unfortunately the road is overgrown since last season so we had to do some pruning to save the paint on the Suzuki, so Nicole drove in while Derek and I pruned. At launch we installed the new windsock and Derek got ready to be the wind tech. Off he went at 1145 am and managed to get about 15 minutes of bobbly airtime in the east winds. Ray followed and made a run for the Joco Malecon landing at the football fields. The rest of us drove down as we knew it would get better. We did a Walmart run and visited Camilo in his housing development to look at open houses with Ray and Lee before going back to the condo for a swim, where Niocle and Derek were sun-tanning all afternoon. Later we headed towards San Marcos to arrive there around 4 pm, but the east winds still looked strong so we drove to dinner early. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. Click here for more pictures from Nicole's Picasa Album.
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Tapalpa Report - we drve to Tapalpa after breakfast after dropping off Derek's truck to the car wash. | We arrived on launch to perfect cycles despote north wind forecast. Nicole was taking the day off as she flew hard for 4 days straight and many hours of thermalling took its toll. She offered to drive so we could all fly together, so Ray launched first followed by Lee and then Derek took off with Pedro (Tapalpa's guard) on tandem. I drove down to retrieve them and Nicole stayed on launch fixing her tan-lines, and we were soon back on launch. Derek took off first followed by Ray, and then Jim. Lee waited for some time as we thermalled around. Derek got a climb above launch pretty fast and said the good climbs were off the microwave towers. I was in the air in front of launch thermalling and went there to find less lift than where I was. Rule #1: Never leave lift! I went back and got a good climb off the toe of a gulley and started taking it back but noticed a lot of shade on course to the north so I stayed in front of the shade line caused by the clouds and it worked well climbing to 2800 meters with good speed north. Derek was at 3200 meters at one point along the ridge and then he started plummeting fast in the shade and had to take a gulley out to the valley where I was climbing along the powerlines near Techaluta. He was setting up to land when he joined my thermal and we climbed together. I kept pushing north to the cross and had great climbs, very smooth through to 3400 meters. I had it made! Nicole had collected Ray & Lee from the normal LZ after they had a great 1 hour flight, and was headed to San Marcos motivating us to make it there too! I went over the Cross and pushed east to another CU and I was in trouble. -3.5 m/s down on the way to the CU and little forward speed, down to 15 kph at one point. I just could not reach the CU but worse was the gulleys crossing my courseline are deep and rotory.... I had to bail out to the sun again and it was then that I felt the north wind. I was trying to fly straight out to the valley but I was being pushed sideways. and still going down at -3.5 m/s. I didn't think I would clear the powerlines to nice fields. I then got a few beeps and was able to come over Techluta with enough height to setup a landing in a nice field at the 21 km mark, when I hit some thermals over town. I worked the "town thermals" for 45 minutes back up to 3100 meters but the winds were pushing me south so while climbing I lost my forward advantage and the only CUs were far ahead. Derek stayed at the Cross for the entire time I was struggling and left at 3800 meters and got over the towers in the middle of the valley at 3100 meters but also hit the north winds up high and finally dove onto the San Marcos ridge where he later reported landing in the back somewhere. I finally decided to head across the dry lake hoping for a thermal and to get closer to the crossroads, but I was going less than 20 kph so it took a long time to move forward and the climbs were slow, and I finally picked a nice alfalfa field to land in near the Libramento at 29 kms. No one was interested in a dusty gringo hitch-hiker so I had to walk to the crossroads to the Cuota and called a cab. Interesting exchange with the cabby, I asked how much to San Marcos and he said 280 pesos after the locals said it should be 200 pesos. I argued that was too high and sasked how much to Los Pozos near Pedro's LZ? He said 200 pesos to Los Pozos whcih is further? I headed to Los Pozos as Nicole was trying to locate Derek who was hiking out of the hinterland. She had driven Ray & Lee up to San Marcos and they had another hour there before landing at the south airstrip. The plan was good except that after they picked me up we headed out to the Libramento to home to find a big accident and the cop said "3 horas" to clear so we had to turn around and backtrack to San Marcos. We headed to Jocotopec for tacos at the fair and another early night to bed. Click here to find out who kicked butt in Mexico today! Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. Click here for more pictures from Nicole's Picasa Album. More details at Nicole's Blog. Wouter's Tandemonium continues in France in the neige
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Tapalpa Report - we got to Tapalpa Launch about an hour earlier today to good cycles and birds soaring in several places. We saw Wolfie above launch on the start of the drive up the mountain and saw him top-landing after we were preparing everything. | Ray launched first and was soon marking the thermals for Derek. They thermalled up and over the club house at launch for sometime until Nicole launched. She got flushed and was gulley surfing until she caught a thermal out front and she was back in the gaggle with Ray & Derek and they were soon at 2800 meters. Derek announced he was going on glide north and the others followed, except Ray waivered and headed back to launch just as Lee launched. Lee climbed out nicely for soem time but then quit listening to the vario and I had to coax him back to the hill and a good thermal which got him up high. Ray and Lee thermalled out front for an hour with Ray landing at the Piano LZ and Lee went to the Crossroads HG LZ, where I got them both. By now Nicole & Derek were over the Cross at 3200 meters getting ready to head east. We headed down to the Cuota and were driving north when Derek announced he was landing in the same spot as last month near the antennas, so we had to backtrack to locate him as Nicole flew over to the San Marcos ridge and sunny slopes with huge CUs. Once Derek was on board we headed to San Marcos Launch where we saw Nicole fly over at 3800 meters (just a speck). Ray launched first and soared for a bit then got up on the north point as Lee got ready. After a few aborts Lee was off but sinking as it shaded over. I launched and headed south to sunny spots but it too was sinky and I spent 15 minutes road and rock surfing but never got a solid climb so I landed at the south airstrip after watching Lee land in a cornfield earlier. Ray came south too, and was soon on the ground after breaking 2800 meters to the north. We last heard from Nicole over Jocotopec heading east, and later got a Spot SMS that she was north of Chapala. After regrouping and showers, we went to Viva Mexico in San Juan Cosala for a huge dinner. Another successful day! ps: we still have tour space in January and February 2012, if the cold weather is getting you down! Click here to find out who kicked butt in Mexico today! Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. Click here for more pictures from Nicole's Picasa Album. More details at Nicole's Blog. BC Ski Report - Alex says "cuarenta centímetros de nieve es muy maravilloso!"  Alex skiing up the Coquihalla with Peter & Claudia Abbotsford Report - Sure, You sissies can head off to Mexico.... takes guts to face winter head on! - Comrade Martin & Mia  Enjoying a cerveza on the deck in Abbotsford
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Tapalpa Report - Ray & Lee are now joining the entourage for a few weeks and got their 2012 Maiden Flights here today. | Conditions were good for launching at the main launch, a bit south but kiteable and soarable if you were good. When we arrived Miguel was doing the first of 4 tandems, and was high enough to top-land but lost it and was soon in the Piano LZ. Ray launched first and with some coaching found some thermals, but lost it in the south drift and was soon in the Piano. Lee followed and had a similar flight, maybe 15 minutes landing in the Piano. Derek also flew and soon sunk into the Piano too, after I saw him getting battered around by the thermal near Tepec (similar conditions to my flight at San Marcos a few days back). Nicole stayed on the La Ceja Launch and waited til almost 3 to launch when I had everyone else picked up and delivered back to the main launch. Ray launched first again followed by Lee and the south wind was stronger and the "rustiness" was showing as they were bounced around by the thermals. I saw Lee getting punched around by a thermal out over the flats and got him to turn in it and it was +5.5 m/s and he held on to it til he was back above lanch altitude when I quit guiding him and focussed on Ray's progress. Unfortunately, Ray came up a bit short of altitude and landed in a corn field full of thorny seeds, which he was still picking at at dinner! I drove down to get the guys and head to San Marcos as Derek & Nicole were "duking it out" over Launch, and heard them heading north toward the Cross at 2800 meters. We followed them along the Libramento and across to the Cuota, and as we heard they were crossing to the San Marcos south ridge where there was sun, I headed to San Marcos Launch. Dusties on the flats signalled good lifting conditions there. When we reached launch, it was light tail with up cycles and I was trying to get Ray & Lee motivated to fly but by the time they setup it was flat. Ray elected to do a forward and he was soon off soaring for 45 minutes. Lee didn't have much energy left so after a few tried he packed up. As Lee was packing we heard thunder come out of the virga on the Zocoalco side, but missed the lightning. We drove down to get Ray at Pedro's while we heard Derek & Nicole reporting on a glide to El Chante Launch. There was an airliner coming into GDL that had to divert under the cloud over Cero Viejo, so perhaps that area is in controlled airspace? Derek landed behind the condo, and Nicole made it to the San Juan Cosala Malecon and took a bus home. We regrouped at the hotel and headed to La Vita Bella for dinner. ps: we still have tour space in January and February 2012, if the cold weather is getting you down! Click here to find out who kicked butt in Mexico today! Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. Click here for more pictures from Nicole's Picasa Album. More details at Nicole's Blog.
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Tapalpa Report - it was a slow day getting organized as high cloud made it look pretty lame, but blue holes to the west were suggesting Tapalpa might work, so off we went (just Derek, Nicole and I). | We met up with Stefan & Wolfie at La Ceja Launch to hear how Beto and & Juan Carlos were responding to treatment for their various accidents, and heard they had been flying the last 4 days. Not long distance flights but 2-3 hours of boating around launch. At launch, Jose Luis (Juan Carlos' brother) said they had a tandem passenger but no pilot so Derek took her to the main Tapalpa Launch for safer conditions. Alexandra had come all the way from Culiacan to do a HG tandem but the pilot cancelled at the last minute, so we were called in to make her day. Good launch conditions, we had seen Wolfie take off before at La Ceja and he was still in the air above launch. Derek & Alexandra clipped in and were soon off and thermalling around out front, while Nicoel got ready. Miguel Lopez had his nearly finished student Scott in the air for flight #2 today and then he launched too. Nicole was busy prepping her gear in the shade and was soon in the air too, and she climbed fast in two different thermals but hit the top at 2900 meters (800 meters over launch). As Derek and his passenger were already landing, and had a ride up, Nicole top-landed in the big field near the main road to save a retrieve. When everyone arrived back on launch later we went to Stefan's house in Pinares Tapalpa to see the construction progress. Pinares Tapalpa is an eco-community just behind Tapalpa Launch that has hundreds of home scattered around in a pine forest up on the plateau. No power is allowed so everyone is on solar or wind power. We then headed back to Jocotopec hopeful for San Marcos around 4 pm, but when we got near the dry lake at the bottom it looked pretty cloudy with north winds, so we headed to Joco for a light taco dinner after picking up Ray (who just arrived from Toronto this afternoon for an 8 day tour). The festival is still on but it was pretty quiet early on. Last night Derek was in town til 1:30 am with Cynthia and her friends and it was packed and one could barely move, he said. Lee also arrived tonight and he is here for 14 days, so we are expecting to have some pretty nice flights her starting on Sunday when the conditions are forecast to be all sun and light winds. Click here to find out who kicked butt in Mexico today! Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. Click here for more pictures from Nicole's Picasa Album. More details at Nicole's Blog. Eagle Ranch Report - Colleen and Aaron were out taking care of plants and the cat food for Bob, and awoke to 12 inches of snow! Forecast looks like 5 more days of snow too, so winter is holding on despite the nice days in December and January preceding this weather.  Yikes! And more to come over the next week!
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San Marcos Report - we were car-less for a few hours with Derek's truck in the car wash and mine in the tire shop to replace the rear springs as we are anticipating some heavy loads this week. | Unfortunately the shop brought in the wrong parts, but I caught it before they started so they didn't have to redo the work but it means two more days of waiting with the car on the hoist. We walked into town and did some errands, and at 1 pm Derek's trucks was still not done so we grabbed it and headed to San Marcos. We arrived to strong cycles but they didn't last. Clue #1 - that it might be rough and sinky. I laid out the Nova Factor 23 and got everything ready, but the cycles completely died for a time. No birds either. Clue #2 that it might be sinky. Cycles started again and I clipped in and was off to the house thermal to the north at 2:40 PM. Nope it wasn't lifting there! I headed back to launch and was sinking at -3 m/s all the way. I have flown this mountain enough to know that when this happens head south to the sunny ridges and gulleys and you might get up. It was a slow drive south with a few ratty thermals in the lee of the gulleys. When I got to the same point as my tandem with Alejandra, a gulley wth a big rock outcropping I could climb and stayed there til I was above launch. It was a rough ride with the thermal drifting every direction but up the slope, so occasionally I would drop out and start sinking fast. I climbed back up to launch a few times but not higher and I thought maybe things improved to the north after 25 minutes of sun, but as I headed north all I got was huge sink. On the way back I felt like I had a north headwind, and GPS was saying 22 kph groundspeed, weirdly it looked south on the ground and launch. I came in under launch really low and thought I might find a field thermal further out where we saw some birds much earlier climbing out, but all I found was the same -3 m/s sink all the way to final in the cornfield near Pedro's. I didn't see the cows until after I landed and they were very curious, but Fernando the Bull was the boldest coming within 8 meters and staring at me. And me with a red wing to pack up! I put the wing behind the gate to fold it as Fernando made sure I didn't mess with his harem. Derek & Nicole drove down to get me as I jumped into a Camionetta Orbas Publica (Public Works Dumptruck) as he offered me a ride to San Marcos, saving the drive along the bumpy main road and i met Derek at Chela's store. We saw them pulling the wreck out of the forest where the crash occured yesterday. They had to drag it over two stone fences so the thing should be really mangled by now. At launch the cycles were less strong but continuous, so Derek clipped in and was off at 4:15 pm and found the missing house thermal and was climbing out nicely in a smooth thermal. Nicole was soon off too and soon outclimbed Derek in his first thermal and she reported crossing the gap at 2800 meters leaving Derek in the dust. Nicole was soon reporting that she was at the south point at 3400 meters and heading to the intersection into Jocotopec over the back. Derek was just climbing through 2800 at the south point and topped up there before heading east. Nicole was now reporting over the Joco Cross as 3400 meters flying fast. I waited til I saw Derek before driving east. Nicole is easy to find as she has a Spot Tracker and it SMSs my cell after landing and we put the coordinates into the GPS in the truck and it directs us right to her (except that some of the roads are not in the GPS). Derek was high but decided the Real Chapala Hotel LZ (5 Star) looked good and he landed there as I drove east. At some point along the Chapala Ridge Nicole reported getting to 3800 meters and seeing the runways of Guadalajra Airport to the north. Nicole was now on final glide at 3600 meters heading east and she overflew her LZ from the 11th, to land 5 kms further on the shore of Lake Chapala. By the time she was packed up, I was there and it got dark within 15 minutes as we coped out LZs further east. Click here to see Nicole's Friday the 13th flight! Click here to find out who kicked butt in Mexico today! We picked up Derek at the "5 Star Hotel" and headed to La Vita Bella for Dinner, exclaiming what a great late site San Marcos is. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. Click here for more pictures from Nicole's Picasa Album. More details at Nicole's Blog.
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San Marcos Report - We were just minding our own business driving up the San Marcos road after retrieveing Derek & Olivia for the second time, when a Toyota pickup almost had a head-on collision with us with full locked brakes. We were on the high side and Derek swerved to the rocks and the other dude drove right off a 100 meter cliff and disappeared. Shit! We did not hit anything and we were stpped at that point. | We raced to see over the edge to see what happened and one guy was thrown free of the truck and was racing up the hill. His buddy the driver climbed out of the wreck a few minutes later and also scrambled up the hill too. The truck was full of live bees and it was destroyed. We checked ou the guys and they were scraped and a few small cuts but otherwise in good health. After the bees started to find us and their owners, we decided to move to town fr some water while we tried to contact their boss in Ciudad Guzman. After all the excitement, none of us felt like risking another flight, so we headed to Jocotopec for the big Fiesta in town. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. Click here for more pictures from Nicole's Picasa Album. More details at Nicole's Blog. Normando's Valle Report - Normando is reporting good flights. Today he made it to 4080 meters ASL and to the Butterfly Sanctuary and back to the Lake LZ. No pianos for the M4, he says.
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El Chante Report - Hoping for an Tapalpa flight after breakfast, we had to bail on that idea as our tandem passenger had to leave by 2 pm to head back to Guadalajara. So we flew El Chante instead. | It was Angie's 24th Birthday and her boyfriend bought her this tandem present and the conditions proved very nice as we climbed out over el Chante Launch for 20 minutes before landing at the Jocotopec Malecon right by the aqua park. Camilo flew first and headed out at the same time as us as he had 2 big collapses over launch that frightened him, we had no collapses but a few bumps. We flew out to make sure Angie didn't get airsick but she felt great even in the bumps. Nicole flew her for the first time and had a great out & return to Ajijic and almost back to San Marcos where we picked he up on the way. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. San Marcos Report - we drove up to San Marcos at about 3 pm and launched Derek right away, and he almost sunk out! But `Bruce Willis`, came back and was soon at 2900 meters over the south ridges calling for Nicole to follow him to Jocotopec. Nicole had a much quicker climbout after launching a bit later, and was soon past the 2 gaps following Derek as I chatted with Vincent and his crew from Yamaska Quebec, wintering in Colima but flying here for variety. He said Tapalpa was lame today so our plans worked out well. I drove down as Derek & Nicole were "topping up" to fly east over Jocotopec town. I followed them and saw them at 3100 & 3400 meters respectively as they thermalled over town. I headed east following Derek at 60 kph and he was beating me as he flew toward San Juan Cosala where he decided to land as he wasn't familiar with LZs further east. Nicole was undaunted and she reported similar speeds but climbing all the way and leaving the ridge as it drops back past Chapala, reporting still at 3200 meters. I picked up Derek and we headed east as it was getting dark and we got Nicole's Spot Message with her coordinates which showed her 19 kms further on from our position! Straight line to San Marcos was 47 kms, but Leonardo scored it as a 90 point score. Click here to see Nicole's second flight today! Click here to find out who kicked butt in Mexico today! Click here for more pictures from Nicole's Picasa Album.
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San Marcos Report - we opted to fly San Marcos all day as it started out with west winds and a lot of marine cloud layers. | Derek launched first and had a nice little soaring flight with a smooth top-landing on San Marcos Launch. Nicole was in the air when Derek landed and shortly after that she got flushed down into Pedro's LZ. We went for lunch in Acatlan at Guerros Restaurant (now with wifi) and watched the sky until we decided it was time to try again. After shopping for groceries and doing some errands we arrived back on launch at San Marcos to lame conditions but possible soarable if you are light. So Nicole said she would be Derek's tandem victim tonight and off they flew and were soaring above launch for almost an hour landing before dark on the south end of the lake bed. We had some radio issues and I didn't see or hear them in the air when I drove down so it took me a while to find them as I apparently flew underneath them across the dry lake at 100 kph heading to Pedro's. Later we stayed in Jocotopec for dinner and to see the Fiesta in the town. Lots of fireworks and people milling about. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. Click here for more pictures from Nicole's Picasa Album.
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Mexico Report - Colleen flew home today after breakfast, but we didn't fly San Marcos later. It looked totally soarable but we had chores and errands to run. Nicole arrived after 9 pm and Derek picked her up at GDL airport while I slept. Expect some big flights from Derek & Nicole over the next few weeks as the days heat up. |
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San Marcos Report - Derek, Jim and Colleen were planning on flying El Chante today after breakfast, until we saw the clouds form and be blown over the back of the hill. So we headed to Mazamitla for another try. | When we got to the town, it was pretty gusty and south? North at El Chante and strong south 45 kms away. We drove up anyway and it was in fact strong on launch and cross. But Colleen saw the site and the LZs. We drove back to the condo to pickup Alejandra and Raul who were scheduled to take a tandem & perhaps lessons and headed up San Marcos. It was strong south on the lakebed too, but we continued on as we saw some hangies in the air staying up. At launch it was slightly cross but with boomer cycles up the front but we unpacked the tandem and I clipped in Alejandra for her first tandem. We had a good launch despite her falling over near the edge but she weighed about 45 kilos so we were off fast. When I turned left into the wind we were parked and if I got too close to the hill it was turbulent, but once on the south face we were climbing smoothly and going about 5 kph. We flew for 20 minutes before Derek launched and maintained launch height for most of the flight. At about 30 minutes Alejandra got quiet, so I knew it was time to head out to land. It still took 15 minutes to get forward to a nice grassy part of the lakebed and down but she kept her stomach intact and we had a perfect vertical landing. My first tandem in about 2 months as Derek & Wouter have been having all the fun tandem down here. We decided it would be better to take Raul on a less windy day so we headed home by 6 pm. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. Valle Report - Normando is flying in Valle de Bravo and reported a sweet flight to Divisadero (antennas). His Report: All days are good but today was great to the antennas then to butterflys and then to the lake LZ. Luvin the M4. Pics will be downloaded when at home because I don't have a laptop computer. Oh did I say that when I went to the lake I had so much height that I crossed lake, turned around and was stiil over el torre. Oh, did I say Luvin' the M4! - Normando 
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San Marcos Report - we headed to Tapalpa as the IBIS weather viewer said east for a few hours switching to south and then west but as we arrived at the turnoff from the Cuota to the Libramento, the winds were already west. | NOAA must have been confused today? We turned back to San Marcos and sure enough as we arrived on launch it was straight in from the west, and Colleen launched first and climbed out nicely. Later it was sufficiently strong that I ballasted Claudia & Derek as they went tandem. They flew around for an hour and Colleen announced that she was not enjoying the air and she flew out to Pedro's followed by Derek later. Claudia had a work appointment around 5 p so we drove back early to find east winds on the lake again, odd weather patterns here this year but totally flyable and soarable everyday. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. Tomorrow is Colleen's last day here in sunny Mexico, as she has to get back to the grindstone at UBC.
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Mexican Report - we went to a new site (for us) near Mazamitla today after breakfast. It is about an hour from our condo and it faces SW like San Marcos but it is in the Sierra del Tigre (above 2300 meters). | Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today. We got there at 3 pm, the sweet spot for this site but it was too north so we just took some pictures and visited the town. Another adventure spot for sure. After that we headed to San Marcos to meet Colleen who worked all day instead of driving around for a reconn mission. Up at launch it was light to tail wind, but Derek & Claudia took off tandem followed by Jorge. Flights were short but enjoyable as we drove down to retrieve and head for dinner. Another late dinner that was delightful at Chaclan Restaurant in the Raquet Club. Normando's Report - apparently Normando had a great day in Valle doing a big triangle and landing at the Lake, no track logs yet.
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Mexico Report - Derek and Colleen went flying at El Chante today after breakfast while Jim went wheel shopping in Guadalajara. It turns out the XL-7 is a special fit and they couldn't get me any new rims, but instead repaired the bent one with a torch and finesse. While I was at the wheel shop, I saw two other rims being fixed and it was amazing what some heat and a few bangs with a pipe can do, in Canada we would just replace the bent rims. | While I was enjoying the smog in Guadalajara, Derek flew El Chante first and while he did get above launch the strong east winds were making the thermals ratty. When he headed out to land, Colleen opted to drive down to save the retrieve. We reconnected at the Pemex behind San Marcos Launch at 4:30 pm; with local Jorge, Colleen, Derek and I driving up in the big Dodge. Super-nice launch cycles and birds climbing out on every gulley. I laid out and launched into some pretty strong lift and was soon at 2500 meters over the north point. Jorge and Colleen launched right after me and they were soaring and getting up nicely too, when I decided it would be nice to top-land for Derek to bag a flight, but after 15 tries it was clear that it wasn't going to let me land without some acrobatics! Colleen and Jorge were trying to top-land too with the same results, so Jorge and Colleen headed out to land at Pedro's LZ just before dark while I headed over the back to retrieve my car landing in the field next to the Pemex, packed up also before dark. We headed back to La Vita Bella for dinner as Jorge needed a ride home and had another fabulous dinner before heading back to the condo. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures today.
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Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventures.San Marcos Report - Colleen & I went to look at a new launch possibility near Milpillas, where a gas pipeline was installed last winter. It looks very usable with lots of hay fields below and high sierra behind it. Derek texted us that he had arrived in Joco around 2:00 pm, and we made a plan to meet him at San Marcos at 3:30 pm. We headed up the mountain arriving on San Marcos launch to light tailwinds with strong cycles up the front. Derek launched first and scratched around to the south before climbing out to 3200 meters. Colleen launched next and had a similar struggle before getting above launch. I had an empty gas tank so I drove down to the Pemex behind San Marcos and finally had to go into Jocotpec as the first Pemex was dry "no Magna". While in Joco I heard Derek and Colleen saying something about top-landing, but they stayed in the air until 6:30 pm, landing before dark with plenty of lift. derek said he flew to the Cuotoa and back and did not lose any altitude. Thermals between 1 and 2 m/s and smooth despite it starting out leeside. I heard from Miguel at Tapalpa that it had been too strong to fly there the past three days that we decided to be tourists, so no wasted gas driving there this past week. A new concept single surface paraglider, similar to the Ozone XXlite
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Jocotopec Report - Jim and Colleen went shopping in Guadalajara today as it looked cloudy and lame (we are so spoiled). Derek & Normando were in Valle de Bravo scratching hard there too, as it was also cloudy. | Click here for more pictures from the Mexican Adventure.
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Valle de Bravo Report - Derek & Normando are in Valle de Bravo flying hard. Derek reported another great day. | Started our slow with north wind. People started launching around 1230 going right to base at 3800 meters. First pilots in town in 40 mins. I played around at base for a couple of hrs then landed in town. Overdeveloped at about 4 pm raining hard. Lake Chapala Report - Colleen & I had a super lazy day hanging out at Lake Chapala watching whitecaps and frothy water. Click here to find out who kicked butt in Mexico today! Looks like we missed Stefan's great flight on New Year's Eve Day - Camilo mentioned someone following him over the back of San Marcos towards Cerro Viejo and it must have been Stefan who ultimately scored a 135 km OLC score for his flight that day.
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No Fly Report - we had a "chill" day for New Years, driving around shopping and looking at real estate. The forecast was for moderate east winds, and we saw some of wind on Lake Chapala as we had breakfast at La Vitta Bella Restaurant. | We heard that El Heuvo (from Le Ceja Launch) had a car accident yesterday and is in hospital with a broken femur requiring surgery due to be completed on the 3rd. No details of how it happened yet. Valle de Bravo Report - Norm and I and a few others drove down Didn't want to get stuck at the piano with the other 100 pilots High cloud made for very light lift - Derek & Normando
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Click on the picture for more pictures from the Mexican Adventure this last day of 2011.San Marcos Report - the gas man was called as we ran out of gas again, and we waited til after 3 pm for them to arrive and refill the tank and check for leaks. By then Camilo had arrived and we loaded up the XL-7 for San Marcos with lots of puffy clouds around. We arrived on launch to find light SW winds and the lake bed was being lifted off by many dust devils so it looked like a dust storm but with no wind. Camilo launched first and after scratching here and there for lift he snagged a good thermal and was soon very high as I napped in the car resting my sore left foot after yesterday's great flight. Colleen wasn't feeling like flying either so we drove down trying to see Camilo but he was too high to see at 3800 meters over Cerro Viejo. We weren't getting him on the radio either so he must have been busy, as we drove towards the Joco Bypass. We got one garbled transmission about being near El Chante Launch so we continued on towards home. He apparently sunk out behind El Chante but managed to find a ride in a truck right to his house later, so no hiking. In Mexico it is much easier to get a ride than Canada as many people pick up hitchhikers here. Colleen and I had a nice New Year's Eve Dinner at El Chante Spa Hotel and I even managed to stay awake til Midnight! I hope everyone had a great New Years Eve too! Normando's Valle Report - Normando posted another great day in Valle, but he lost the Norweigans somewhere. A typical cryptic Normando message but the flying there has been good too. Apparently there was a break-in at one of the Hotels in Valle and a group lost their wings, passports and laptops from a room on the lower floor as they slept on the second floor. No night time security there I guess. Hopefully the police find the culprits soon as these pilots will need a passport to get home.
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FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day Reports
November 2011 Site of the Day archives - we had amazing thermal days at Woodside this month getting to cloudbase at 1400 meters many times.
October 2011 Site of the Day archives - another 100 tandems done this month by the Awesome Tandem Team! Road trips to Pemby, Hedley, Savona, Cache Creek to round out our students skills when the coast got rainy.
September 2011 Site of the Day archives - another 150 tandems done this month by the Awesome Tandem Team!
August 2011 Site of the Day archives - another 200 tandems done this month by the Awesome Tandem Team! Almost done the Groupons!
July 2011 Site of the Day archives - another 120 tandems done this month by the Awesome Tandem Team!
June 2011 Site of the Day archives - over 100 tandems done this month by the Awesome Tandem Team!
May 2011 Site of the Day archives - another rainy month with more road trips.
April 2011 Site of the Day archives - many long XCs in the Fraser valley by many pilots, and we roadtripped to the Ashcroft area many times to get flights between rain storms and snow storms.
March 2011 Site of the Day archives - got home from 2 glorious months in Mexico & New Zealand to try to fly in the Valley, but due to rain & snow we roadtripped to the Ashcroft area many times to get flights.
February 2011 Site of the Day archives - last days of the Mexico Tour went very well and then I headed to New Zealand to meet Colleen in Auckland and we had a great time flying there for 2 weeks.
January 2011 Site of the Day archives - Mexico Tour went very well with 8 attendees getting great airtime and safe guidance from us at FlyBC.
December 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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