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FlyBC "Site of the Day January 2018 Archive"
Mexico has been very nice this year
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@ 3000' in knots |
Rate °C/1000' Cloud Base in Meters |
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| 1-31-18 |
 Manzanillo Mexico Colima Forecast: Cloudy. High near 25C. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 km/h. 2400 metres Unfortunately, the sun never same out and the SW winds never materialized. We left Manzanillo in the rain and arrived to cloudy skies in Colima. There was the odd "up cycle" but the prevailing wind on the wind vane was NE.  The birds were soaring way out front and getting high but we did not try to launch as the cycles were very short. 1-30-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Manzanillo Forecast: Sunny. High 28C. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 2400 metres We arrived on top at 1230 pm to find perfect wind and a Coati Mundi rummaging around the launch spot. I got pretty close and when I siad "I hope he is not mean", the Coati looked right at me and ambled off down the slope, never to be seen again. Richard got ready and flew off to the north side of the mountain and found some ridge lift but no real thermals. Nice winds for landing on the beach. It seemed pretty light for Pelican Bay so we went back to the condo for a nap and arrived on Pelican Bay Launch around 5 pm to find "super strong gusts". We waited til sunset and it got even windier. 1-29-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Manzanillo Forecast: Sunny. High 28C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 2400 metres We arrived on launch at 1 pm and it was blowing SSE and we had to wait. There is an old launch spot we used to use the faces that direction but I had not clened it out this season as the sinds have been consistent for the normal launch spot. Maybe next year we will reactivate that launch too. Around 2 pm it started to blow up, as the thermals took over the prevailing winds. Richard got off on the second try and scratched his way out to the beach as I drove down. You can see his flight on the video I posted from yesterday. 1-28-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Tapalpa Forecast: Sunny. High 28C. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 km/h. 2400 metres We arrived at noon to find very gusty and strong NE winds. We waited and waited and finally some HGers arrived and set up their wings. They launched and climbed out but penetration was even an issue for the topless gliders! We gave up and drove towards Colima as it was reporting SW winds. We arrived on La Cumbre Launch at 4 pm and it was blowing +35 kph and the birds were the only ones flying. We drove to Manzanillo in time for a sunset dinner at Bigotes. 1-27-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Manzanillo Forecast: Sunny. High 28C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 2400 metres Richard arrived at 830 pm at GDL airport so I raced there to get him and drove through some rainstorms and hailstorms to get there. GDL Airport was cold! 1-26-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Manzanillo Forecast: Sunny. High 28C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1400 metres Damian got called back to Canada a few days early so it was just Blake here today. Stefan met up with us at Indio's and he showed Blake where the lift was for about an hour. Apparently there was an inversion setting up just at tower altitude as they could not get higher than that height.  Easy landing at the beach with light winds and lots of altitude.  Woodside Report - Derek called around 4 pm as he was heading up Woodside with Brian B and Alan D. Soarable wind forecast and no rain so they took a chance and got 35 minutes of soaring.  Mother Woodside delivers again! After flying many different sites around the world, I know we are very lucky to call Woodside home! 1-25-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Manzanillo Forecast: Sunny. High 28C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 2400 metres Radar from Quadalajara, Guzman and Colima showed rain while we just had some high clouds here. We got to launch around 1230 pm, to find SE winds coming across launch. But the sun was coming out and thermals were building so we had faith. Smoke from the powerplant stacks was also turning to SW so it had all the signs of a good day. Some pilots from Van Island called to hook up with us but too late as we were already on top. Blake was ready first and off in the first cycles and going up. Damian was next and he went up even faster and they were circling around overhead and getting way above the towers in smooth lift.  I decided to drive down as my cold is not any better and I was feeling somewhat "light headed", so I radioed to the boys to have a good flight as I drove over the back in the Van. When I got to the beach they were packing up so they found their way out here. The Van Isle guys headed to Pelican Bay to soar and it looked good there, but we got a report that they were looking for a private hospital as one of the group broke their wrist flying? Bev reported that Norm flew Tapalpa and only made it to the Cross Roads LZ packing up just before it started raining. The weather has been different this year and looks wet next week too near Guadalajara. 1-24-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Manzanillo Forecast: Sunny. High 28C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 2400 metres Good conditions and no bees! Damian launched first and was climbing out front under the CU. Blake launched next and went in all the wrong places to find lift. The CUs were showing the right places. I launched last and it was easy soaring over the rocks and under the CU. I never got "whited out" but the CUs were small puffy ones anyway and away from the hills. I had to warn both Damian and Blake to get out from where they were trying to soar as they were far from the beach LZ. Perfect conditions for launch, thermalling and landing on Santiago Beach. After lunch and flying I took the guys snorkelling at our condo.  1-23-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Manzanillo Forecast: Sunny. High 28C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 2400 metres We arrived a bit later and the guys were diddling on launch rather than getting ready roght away and they ended up in some seriously strong winds . . . but they survived. Damian launched first and was looking good.  Until he let the glider surge out of a thermal and the glider had a few collapses.  Blake had a good launch and was going up fast but slightly backwards, so speedbar was needed. Meanwhile Damian flew out to the Piano LZ. Blake got super high and after he managed to penetrate out a few kms, I had him head to Mesqua LZ where he parked into the wind and hovered in to a nice landing. 1-22-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Manzanillo Forecast: Sunny. High 28C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 2400 metres We arrived to a really crowded launch and tailwinds so no rush to get ready. I had to lend a kit to Blake as his gear was in transit due to a flight delay yesterday. I lent him my AirDesign Rise 3 and my tandem pilot harness and he got ready. Gilles had launched first and had found some nice lift and Blake was soon out looking for thermals too after a perfect launch! Unfortunately Blake forgot where the house thermal was and was heading the wrong way to the north, but I got him on track and when he hit the ridge and the house thermal he was soing fine until he let the glider surge into a 40% collapse which he did not manage at all. After some coaching to get it opened and back into the thermal he had headed straight to the Piano LZ. A bunch of folks had launched and were orbit-ing around and Damian got ready. Another brilliant launch and Damian was off and soaring.  He got about a 1:30 flight and got high above launch but did get a bit far back behind launch and risked getting into the rotor zone for a bit.  Damian elected to stay around launch rather than head off to the XC LZ and then all of a sudden the lift stopped. Within 20 minutes everyone was on the ground and the day was done. 1-16-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Manzanillo Forecast: Sunny. High 28C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1400 metres Thomm is here on vacation and offered to drive as he is still unable to fly due to injuries suffered in a car wreck a few years back. Drivers are like gold! I arrived on launch after 1230 pm and a few gliders had launched and were groveling down low and one ended up in the Piano LZ. The other guy on an Advance managed to get up to the inversion layer and was hanging out front while I set up my gear, carefully checking for bees. I had a nice launch and got hoovered off into nice soarable cycles. I was soon 1000 feet over the towers and about 6 minutes elapsed time so I pushed out to the Advance guy and it was slow going upwind. The smoke in the Valley was already laid down. Colima is subject to the seabreezes with NE winds in the AM switching to SW winds after noon and getting typically stronger by 3 pm. This was happening today. I made it out the house thermal where the other pilot was hanging out but the lift was better back near launch so I went downwind and climbed back out again. I headed North towards Mesqua LZ and caught some nice climbs over the normally sinky riverbed. All the way across I was going up at +0/5 m/s and I just kept pointing upwind making slow progress but the lift was always out front. Remember in these windy thermals that the lift is better upwind and resist the urge to 360 as you lose the lift in the downwind part of the turns unless is is really strong lift. This is because the thermals are tilted more than 45 degrees due to the wind. I could hang out all day long here and was higher than the guys hanging around launch. I saw Jonathan launch his Ozone Alpina 2 and he hung out in the house thermal for sometime with the other gliders and then they all disappeared, perhaps in the back bowls. I landed at Mesqua LZ, a nice soceer field near a beer store and Thomm arrived just as I was kiting sand out of my wing. We drove back to Manzanillo for dinner with Colleen and then the next 5 days went dark as the bee venom took over my body. I slept for 3 days straight with a fever and headache and it seems like what bee venom loads can do to a person. We tried all the remedies: benydril, ibuprophrin, soda washes, and ultimately found that just getting the stingers out was the trick and let the blood pass through the toxons. It wasn't until the 21st that I could do much of anything so we just chilled around the condo, leaving Thomm to explore Manzanillo. Sorry to leave you all hanging but there was not much to tell here. Meanwhile at Tapalpa, Derek & Norm managed to soar back to Jocotepec for a nice 60 km+ XC flight in light winds. 1-15-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Manzanillo Forecast: Sunny. High 28C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1400 metres We arrived on top around 1 pm, and cycles were perfect as Colleen laid out her gear and I started unpacking just off the carpet. Colleen walked up to her left wingtip to fold it out and the first of what turn out to be African Honey Bees started to sting her. They followed her down to the harness and she had to start running and they followed her up to me. I had a hoody in my hands and started flailing it to get them off Colleen and myself. We retreated up the hill and they followed us all the way to the Van. We waited 15 minutes and then suited up with flight suits and balaclavas and headed back down to fly off or pack up and they were all around us. They were lying in wait for us. Colleen got into her harness and flew off despite the swarms of bees around her face. Oddly they swarm the head and face and ignored our bare skin when we first got attacked when we had shorts and t-shirts on. I had no gloves so they started attacking my hands and getting inside my balaclava so I dragged my stuff up to the Van as I could not undo tangles with them attacking my hands. Colleen had a nice flight into the misty clouds and said it was the best lift she had experienced here at El Toro. She flew for almost an hour before heading out to the beach arriving at 400 metres ASL. Later we spent a few hours pulling stingers and appying aloe vera cream to various bites and stings. I am going to have to go locate the nest and move it or dismantle it as many people come up here to hike and will also get attacked. I think they are living under our new carpet. 1-14-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Manzanillo Forecast: Partly Cloudy. High 27C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 2500 metres He is here escaping the ice storms for a few weeks and he is driving for us so we can fly as he is unable to fly due to a car incident. We got him settled at his hotel and it was too late to head to Colima and it got blown out here at El Toro. Reports from San Marcos said it got blown out early too. 1-13-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Manzanillo Forecast: Partly Cloudy. High 27C. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 km/h. 2500 metres IBIS predicted strongish E winds all day and 4000 metre top-of-lift.  We arrived and saw several pilots packing up in the Piano LZ, and one of them was Bev. She launched earlier and got really high fast but decided not to top land so she flew out where Norm went to retrieve her and Harris.  Norm said she was getting "beamed up" by aliens! Colleen launched first and got high fast too, and she said she was loosing her lift so she made a beeline to the top landing field after 30 minutes. I picked her up and brought her back to launch to watch me fly. The plan was to fly and try to land back near the Lake in Tapalpa as there was a property I wanted to check out back there. I executed part of the plan . . . the part where I was to climb out and go west. The part that did not work out was the fact that the lift over the plateau was shredded up by 20 kph NE sotory winds and you could maintain but not climb high enough to cross the first ridge line with enough height to not be in the rotor. I hung around maintaining but never climbed high enough so I landed south of La Frontera where Colleen came to find me. 1-12-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Manzanillo Forecast: Partly Cloudy. High 29C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 2500 metres 1-11-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Manzanillo Forecast: Partly Cloudy. High 27C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 2500 metres 1-10-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Manzanillo Forecast: Partly Cloudy. High 27C. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 km/h. 2500 metres I got there too late to catch a ride up with Jonathon and so I drove up and we waited for 2 hours for the north wind to switch to SW. Jonathon launched first and almost sunk out, not too motivational for me. Ryan from Vermont launched and almost didn't clear the ridge out to the house thermal and was grovelling for some time before he caught a climb. Richard caught a thermal right off launch but none of them got very high and headed north to Mesqua LZ fairly low, and I had no driver so I just drove down and heded home.  1-9-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Manzanillo Forecast: Partly Cloudy. High 27C. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 km/h. 2500 metres 1-8-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Manzanillo Forecast: Partly Cloudy. High 27C. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 2500 metres That sounded too dangerous so I went exploring beaches to the north. Playa de Oro is between Manzanillo and the Aeropuerto and it is a 15 minute drive in from the highway on a rugged road. It may have been a vibrant tourist destination once but now there is only a deserted hotel and the powerlines have been removed from the poles.  South of the hotel is a small hill that the vultures were soaring at 2 pm. It looks like a climber's paradise with cliffs and rocks to scale but not sure how to best get on top where it looks launchable.  One small problem is that this beach is in the ZLO Control Zone (Class D) and the airplanes setup on the northbound approach over this island called "Piedra Blanca" or "White Rock" because it is all white from bird droppings. It may be possible to fly here with contact to the tower as one won't get high off this rock.  The beach here is amazing white sand with nice low dunes, so it might be fun for kiting and student training with the right winds. 1-7-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Manzanillo Forecast: Sunshine and a few afternoon clouds. High 32C. Winds E 10 kms switching to SW 15 kms. 1200 metres This is a new unit with about 2 hours of break-in time so it was tough to start at first as it was not run for a few months. We went out to El Eden which is a beach south of town on the Cuota that is deserted and you can drive right down to the sand. I chose the AirDesign Rise 3 for today's motoring as it is lightweight and it inflates easily. There was enough wind that I did not even need to use the A's and the Rise 3 came overhead with ease. My first attempt to take off was twarted when the engine sputtered on full throttle application, then re-fired and then sputtered again. It seemed hot but the radiator was full and the overflow tank too? I did a few checks and then restarted the engine and took off fine, so it was air in the fuel line or something like that as it flew fine for the short test flight. Thanks to Colleen for camera work and starting support! Tapalpa Report - Normando & Camilo were flying Tapalpa today and "sky-ing out over the HGers" before flying home to San Juan Cosala. This about a 60 km XC flight and the first this season! 1-6-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Manzanillo Forecast: Sunshine and a few afternoon clouds. High 32C. Winds E 10 kms switching to SSW 15 kms. 1200 metres I was doing some research on Android Tablets and came across a Swiss Mobility Tablet with a 7" diagonal display for 999 pesos (about $60 CDN) that is available here. XC Track is an Android App that is compatible with XContest (actually written by that development team) that connects to external vario sensors. It is a free App. The SkyDrop vario I use for tandem and free flight has a bluetooth output compatible with XC Track. You can put together a slick package with 7" or 9" display for around $500 CDN that is expandable, contains terrains maps (also free) and is compatible with XContest for uploading your flights. SkyDrop vario info here. FlyBC has SkyDrop and SkyBean varios in stock normally so let me know if you want one.  1-5-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Manzanillo Forecast: Sunshine and a few afternoon clouds. High 32C. Winds E 10 kms switching to SSW 15 kms. 1200 metres We biked around town while the Van was being serviced and did some errands, but it was too late to go flying so we went swimming instead. Life is Good! 1-4-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Manzanillo Forecast: Sunshine and a few afternoon clouds. High 32C. Winds E 10 kms switching to SSW 15 kms. 1200 metres 1-3-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Tapalpa Forecast: Sunshine and a few afternoon clouds. High 27C. Winds light and variable 3200 metres Colleen made me fly first and it looked easy as Bob took off and climbed out and top-landed in 10 minute on a 15 year old Epsilon 3! I took off after kiting the Zeno for a bit waiting for a strong enough cycle to get me up right away. Easy climbs but only about 1.1 m/s but steady but the drift of the thermals was very unpredictable and I saw others launch & land quite fast as there was big sink between the narrow thermals. This precluded the plan to fly south to Ciudad Guzman over the jungle! I got to 2400 metres or 400 metres over launch in 6 minutes and watch a few gliders top-land in the back field but Colleen was driving so after 45 minutes I headed out towards the LZ testing my flat-land thermal skills. Unfortunately I left my Spot on so my XCFind tracklog shows us driving all the way to Manzanillo including a dinner stop.  I packed up and met Chris F (HGer from Lumby) in the LZ and he said he hit no lift taking off from La Ceja. We drove out to the coast and arrived home after 6 pm.  Actual GPS tracklog from my SkyDrop Vario with all the flight and no road tracklog. Yak Peak Report - Just solo ski flew Yak today. (editors note: Yak is the big granite slab on the Coquihalla Hwy between Hope and the Big Bear Snowshed) Great flight. I had to wait for winds to calm down at launch but finally got great conditions and was able to ridge soar nice laminar wind for a while along the SE face.  You could have stayed up there indefinitely. Outflow winds in the valley above LZ were strong and gusty which has been common in the Duffey too.  Huge credit to John Rowsom for the beta and the motivation; his plan worked perfect. We’re gonna go back and repeat and extended version of the flight soon. Great powder in there too! - Brian B  1-2-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Tapalpa Forecast: Sunshine and a few afternoon clouds. High 27C. Winds light and variable 3200 metres Norm called with a wind report at 3 pm and they were on launch and it was cycling in. We got up to launch around 5 pm and it was just light cycles as Colleen got ready for her first flight in Mexico this trip (working too hard in December to come out with us). Colleen launched and got up over launch quite fast.  There was nice cloudsuck to the north but to the south it was all shaded in. She got to 2400 metres to the north but only about 2200 metres past the saddle. The landing options over the back are cut corn fields which are not so nice to pack up in. It is amazing how berry growing has taken over this area in the last 5 years! There are more greenhouses than corn fields now, and the corn is just starting to get harvested.  We had already discussed landing out at Kordich's airfield rather than packing up her now SupAir Taska in a corn field so she flew out there at sunset. Many new hangars since last year and a new flight park just next door with a nice grass strip for the ultralights has opened. Guess I better fly the Buzzard down next year! 1-1-18
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| Manzanillo Mexico Chapala Forecast: Sunny. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 3200 metres Norm & Bev were planning on going up San Marcos at 3 pm so we met them at the new launch spot (which had not been maintained by the locals and Norm has not had time to clear it). Unfortunately all the way there and at the spot we met we had east winds so we waited a bit and then drove home rather than wait. Colleen and I went down to our pool area and it was still east there at 5 pm so the forecasts were wrong so no first flight of 2018 yet. |
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