FlyBC's Paragliding Site of the Day January 2020 Archive Page - from the Universe's Largest Paragliding Centre :-)

Date	Site	Forecast	Winds @ 3000' in kilometers	Lapse Rate °C/1000' Cloud Base in Meters	Comments
01-30-2020 to 01-31-2020	FlyBC and the Eagle Ranch LZ are now closed until March 2020 as we are on our Mexican Vacation	Manzanillo, Mexico Forecast Manzanillo Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of heavy rain. High 8.	Woodside: 240° @ 15 kph Manzanillo: 250° @ 10 kph	-3.0°C (unstable) 2000 metres	Manzanillo Report - no fly days as we ran errands and chilled by the pool after getting a much neede oil change in the new Suburban after all the road trips.
01-29-2020	FlyBC and the Eagle Ranch LZ are now closed until March 2020 as we are on our Mexican Vacation	Manzanillo, Mexico Forecast Manzanillo Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of rain. High +7.	Woodside: 240° @ 15 kph Manzanillo: 250° @ 10 kph	-3.0°C (unstable) 2000 metres	El Chante Report - Derek said they hiked El Chante again today. Derek said it was gusty and strong at San Marcos so they all got 2 hours of San Marcos soaring today.
01-29-2020	FlyBC and the Eagle Ranch LZ are now closed until March 2020 as we are on our Mexican Vacation	Manzanillo, Mexico Forecast Manzanillo Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of blowing snow beginning this morning. High -7.	Woodside: 240° @ 15 kph Manzanillo: 250° @ 10 kph	-3.0°C (unstable) 2000 metres	El Chante Report - I left Joco early and headed to Puerto Vallarta Airport via the non-toll roads, while Derek and gang hiked El Chante. El Chante was a favourite morning site here in Chapala, but one of the landowners closed the road in so it is only hike & fly now. Derek said it was soarable but he took tools up and worked on launch instead of flying. My drive was uneventful and traffic light and the mountains were gorgeous. Derek said it was gusty and strong so they all got 2 hours of San Marcos soaring later today.
01-28-2020	FlyBC and the Eagle Ranch LZ are now closed until March 2020 as we are on our Mexican Vacation	Manzanillo, Mexico Forecast Manzanillo Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of blowing snow beginning this morning. High -7.	Woodside: 240° @ 15 kph Manzanillo: 250° @ 10 kph	-3.0°C (unstable) 2000 metres	Road Trip Report - I travelled to San Marcos today to join up with Jay to get him his new Delight 2 harness that I got used in Colima last week. The plan was to fly with the guys there at San Marcos Lower Launch and stay overnight at Norm's casa befor eheading to Puerto Vallarta to pick Colleen up from her Winnipeg flight. One by one the pilots all launched with Mike landing after 5 minutes. Not inspiring! Jay was the last to launch and it looked promising but alas he too was headed down to the front LZs. Norm drove down to retrieve everyone and I watched Derek & Rainer make their way south but low. They did get up and headed east so I got into Derek's Dodge and followed them to Joco. Rainer and Derek landed 3 hours later in san Juan Cosala and we headed out for dinner. Norm flew later and also landed in San Juan Cosala.
01-26-2020 to 01-27-2020	FlyBC and the Eagle Ranch LZ are now closed until March 2020 as we are on our Mexican Vacation	Manzanillo, Mexico Forecast Manzanillo Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of rain. High 8.	Woodside: 240° @ 15 kph Manzanillo: 250° @ 10 kph	-3.0°C (unstable) 2000 metres	Mexico Report - hanging out with no one to fly with as Colleen headed to a conference in Winnipeg.
01-25-2020	FlyBC and the Eagle Ranch LZ are now closed until March 2020 as we are on our Mexican Vacation	Manzanillo, Mexico Forecast Manzanillo Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of rain beginning this morning. High +7.	Woodside: 240° @ 15 kph Manzanillo: 250° @ 10 kph	-3.0°C (unstable) 2000 metres	El Toro Report - Thomm, Wolf, Renald and a friend came up to El Toro today. We heard one pilot had flown off El Toro a week ago so we were confident we could find a launch spot clear enough to get off safely. We were wrong! We hiked down to the normal launch spot by the fence but it was overgrown. Stuff grows fast in the tropical rainforest. I laid my Ozone Alpina 2 on top of some brush and tried one inflation but the right wing tip got caught so I had to abort. Thomm helped lay out my wing and next attempt was good and I was off and climbing. Wolf was laid out next as I climbed above the antennas about 300 metres over. There was nice CU developing and we flew around under the clouds going here and there. Wolf headed a bit too far east and dropped out of the lift. I could see the winds had picked up on the ocean from the SW so I stayed out front. I flew out keeping my eyes on Wolf who was pretty far east but going forward and not losing much height. We soared the hump near the beach for some time and then I pulled "big ears" to get below Wolf so we were not landing together. I had 60 minutes on the clock when I landed vertically on the beach, winds were +25 kph. Wolf soared the hump for a few more passes and he landed with 40 minutes airtime. Thomm, Renald and pal arrived to Indio's Restaurant for a refreshment and Thomm made it down with no problems (despite the many washouts on the road).
01-24-2020	FlyBC and the Eagle Ranch LZ are now closed until March 2020 as we are on our Mexican Vacation	Manzanillo, Mexico Forecast Manzanillo Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of blowing snow beginning this morning. High -7.	Woodside: 240° @ 15 kph Manzanillo: 250° @ 10 kph	-3.0°C (unstable) 2000 metres	Pelican Bay Report - Wolf was arriving in Manzanillo today after sending his wife Janna home to Whitehorse YK after a week long yoga retreat. His plan was to meet me at Pelican Bay around 5 pm. I arrived just in time to see him struggling to get forward as he kited his wing to the edge and then he got plucked and was going up and backwards! All the while he was flying he looked like he was parked and it was quite gusty on launch so I watched him fly. Even the vultures were not going into the lift bowl as it looked turbulent. Wolf came in to top land after an hour and said he was using lots of brake to sty in the lift band which explained his slow forward speeds. We went for dinner after he packed up in the sunset.
01-22-2020 to 01-23-2020	FlyBC and the Eagle Ranch LZ are now closed until March 2020 as we are on our Mexican Vacation	Manzanillo, Mexico Forecast Manzanillo Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of heavy rain. High 7.	Woodside: 240° @ 15 kph Manzanillo: 250° @ 10 kph	-3.0°C (unstable) 2000 metres	No FLy Report - FlyBC stayed home a few days as it was cloudy and light winds.
01-21-2020	FlyBC and the Eagle Ranch LZ are now closed until March 2020 as we are on our Mexican Vacation	Manzanillo, Mexico Forecast Manzanillo Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of blowing snow beginning this morning. High -7.	Woodside: 240° @ 15 kph Manzanillo: 250° @ 10 kph	-3.0°C (unstable) 2000 metres	Colima Report - I headed to Colima to pick up my new Delight 3 harness from Gilles (the local SupAir rep) and hoped to fly with Sasha & Ishmael, here from Saltspring Isalnd. Unfortunately Gilles got here late and I missed the shuttle truck, so I went to the Piano LZ in Piscila to setup my new harness/Beamer 3 combo while Ish & Sasha flew. The local pilots got up and headed north toward town, but Sasha headed south and was rewarded with 1:40 of airtime and he topped out at 7600 feet! After he packed up we headed to Pelican Bay but it was a bit light there, but at least Sasha got another flight. He managed a few passes but he was on the beach while the vultures heckled him.
01-18-2020	FlyBC and the Eagle Ranch LZ are now closed until March 2020 as we are on our Mexican Vacation	Manzanillo, Mexico Forecast Manzanillo Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of blowing snow beginning this morning. High -7.	Woodside: 240° @ 15 kph Manzanillo: 250° @ 10 kph	-3.0°C (unstable) 2000 metres	Tapalpa Report - Thomm and I drove to Tapalpa to swap some gear and maybe fly but we arrived to rain and some hail. After 3 hours of para-waiting we headed back to Manzanillo and we saw some gliders finally launch and get a sledder . . . in the rain still around the LZ.
01-15-2020 to 01-17-2020	FlyBC and the Eagle Ranch LZ are now closed until March 2020 as we are on our Mexican Vacation	Manzanillo, Mexico Forecast Manzanillo Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of blowing snow beginning this morning. High -7.	Woodside: 240° @ 15 kph Manzanillo: 250° @ 10 kph	-3.0°C (unstable) 2000 metres	Tapalpa Report - FlyBC stayed in Manzanillo as the forecast lloked like rain and Over Deveoping clouds to the east.
01-14-2020	FlyBC and the Eagle Ranch LZ are now closed until March 2020 as we are on our Mexican Vacation	Manzanillo, Mexico Forecast Manzanillo Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of snow beginning this morning. High -7.	Woodside: 240° @ 15 kph Manzanillo: 250° @ 10 kph	-3.0°C (unstable) 2000 metres	Tapalpa Report - rescue mission for Dave B who lost all his gear in a Taxco robbery last week. I had the exact same kit here with me and I supplied him with an Ozone Swift 5 L, SupAir Delight 3 harness with Beamer 3 reserve so he could fly. I have an Ozone Alpina 2 ML here and I am getting a new Delight 3/Beamer from Gilles in Colima on Monday, so everyone can fly! Customer service from FlyBC even down here in Mexico! Pilots enjoyed great flights today with the SE winds. Jay is here from Squamish enjoying the sun while it is -10C and snowy back home. We have pilots from Oregon, Colorado, California, Whitehorse (Wolf) and of course BC.
01-13-2020	FlyBC and the Eagle Ranch LZ are now closed until March 2020 as we are on our Mexican Vacation	Manzanillo, Mexico Forecast Manzanillo Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of rain beginning this morning. High 7.	Woodside: 240° @ 15 kph Manzanillo: 250° @ 10 kph	-3.0°C (unstable) 2000 metres	Tapalpa Report - Bev, Norm and Derek are hosting a bunch of pilots and they all flew Tapalpa. Thanks to Phil Ibis and his weather app IBIS listed on our Weather Page, which has been the most accurate forecasting tool for site selection this year. Normando made it home again and Derek drove for the gang who all got +1 hour flights.
01-12-2020	FlyBC and the Eagle Ranch LZ are now closed until March 2020 as we are on our Mexican Vacation	Manzanillo, Mexico Forecast Manzanillo Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of rain beginning this morning. High 7.	Woodside: 240° @ 15 kph Manzanillo: 250° @ 10 kph	-3.0°C (unstable) 2000 metres	Mexico Report - Colleen and I had a lazy day at the pool but did get Thomm a Birthday Cake for his birthday which we presented at Indio's on the beach. Meanwhile pilots were getting to 3600 metres! at Tapalpa but no Cross Country flights as everyone stayed local. Greg reported in at Colima where he has been flying with the locals and he got a 90 minute flight and got quite high.
01-11-2020	FlyBC was flying Tapalpa today	Manzanillo, Mexico Forecast Manzanillo Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of snow beginning this morning. High -1.	Woodside: 240° @ 15 kph Manzanillo: 250° @ 10 kph	-3.0°C (unstable) 2000 metres	Tapalpa Report - Colleen and I headed to Tapalpa, a 2 hour drive inland. We arrived late but Normando was just getting ready to fly. waiting as Jay had a quick sledder down to the LZ earlier. Norm took off and hung around launch for sometime before chasing Francois (from Quebec) north to the Cross. Colleen took off and I was driving as my bronchitis is not quite healed yet and she climbed well over the Valley. Norm reported in crossing the salt flats and he made it 60 kms back to his house.
01-08-2020	FlyBC and the Eagle Ranch LZ are now closed until March 2020 as we start our Mexican Vacation	Manzanillo, Mexico Forecast Manzanillo Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of rain beginning this morning. High 7.	Woodside: 240° @ 15 kph Manzanillo: 250° @ 10 kph	-3.0°C (unstable) 2000 metres	Non Flying Report - stuck in bed with bronchitis despite the 30C temps outside? Derek said San Marcos was working as he flew home after waiting for the east winds to stop.
01-07-2020	FlyBC and the Eagle Ranch LZ are now closed until March 2020 as we start our Mexican Vacation	Manzanillo, Mexico Forecast Manzanillo Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of rain beginning this morning. High 7.	Woodside: 240° @ 15 kph Manzanillo: 250° @ 10 kph	-3.0°C (unstable) 2000 metres	Colima Report - I stayed home in bed while Greg went flying again in Colima. His resourceful wife flagged down a truck and he got a lift to the top so she could wait at the bottom in the shade. He got a 12 minute sledder.
01-06-2020	FlyBC and the Eagle Ranch LZ are now closed until March 2020 as we start our Mexican Vacation	Manzanillo, Mexico Forecast Manzanillo Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of rain beginning this morning. High 7.	Woodside: 240° @ 15 kph Manzanillo: 250° @ 10 kph	-3.0°C (unstable) 2000 metres	Colima Report - Thomm and I headed to Colima to fly with a couple of hitchhiker - Greg & Ishmael. Ishmael launched first and was doing well with the local parapente pilots. Greg took a few tries but got off cleanly and was thermalling well with some coaching and he headed north to the alternate LZ. I was feeling dizzy as I was coming down with something so we drove down to find Ishmael in Piscila.
01-05-2020	FlyBC and the Eagle Ranch LZ are now closed until March 2020 as we start our Mexican Vacation	Manzanillo, Mexico Forecast Manzanillo Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of rain beginning this morning. High 7.	Woodside: 240° @ 15 kph Manzanillo: 250° @ 10 kph	-3.0°C (unstable) 2000 metres	El Toro Report - I tried going up El Toro and gave up about 3/4 of the way up. The rain on New Years Day turned the road into a river bed. I parked the new Suburban and walked up the road a bit but it looked very eroded. Solimon came by in his Toyota pickup with 4 worked and kept going. I will try again in a week or so when I have a spotter to watch for holes.
01-04-2020	FlyBC and the Eagle Ranch LZ are now closed until March 2020 as we start our Mexican Vacation	Manzanillo, Mexico Forecast Manzanillo Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of rain beginning this morning. High 7.	Woodside: 240° @ 15 kph Manzanillo: 250° @ 10 kph	-3.0°C (unstable) 2000 metres	Manzanillo Report - not flying yet as we get settled in Manzanillo. Conditions look lame on the coast but it is early.
01-01-20 to 01-03-20	FlyBC is now nicely settled in Manzanillo Mexico and the FlyBC is now closed until March 2020	Manzanillo Forecast: Sunny. High near 29 C. Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of rain beginning this morning. High 7.	Manzanillo: 250° @ 10 kph Woodside: 240° @ 15 kph	-3.0°C (unstable) 2000 metres	Manzanillo Report - we arrived on New Years Day at 5 pm and got into our new condo on the beach and were all settled when a huge thunderstorm unleashed a lot of rain all night. We were feeling some food poisoning from New Years Eve dining so not much happened the next few days as we recovered but there was no local flying except Stefan snagged a late night flight at Pelican Bay to start off the new year. He said it was too gusty before 5 pm but when it calmed he flew til sunset.
12-29-19 to 12-31-19	FlyBC and the Eagle Ranch LZ are now closed until March 2020 as we head south for our Mexican Vacation	Woodside Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of rain beginning this morning. High 7. Manzanillo Forecast: Partly cloudy. High near 31 C.	Woodside: 240° @ 15 kph Manzanillo: 250° @ 10 kph	-3.0°C (unstable) 2000 metres	Road Trip Report - I travelled south on American Airlines on Dec 29th arriving to buy the new Mexican Shuttle truck - a bright shiny 1987 Chevrolet Suburban that has been perfectly restored to Collector Status and is legalized for Mexico. And it is a 4x4! Colleen and Bev arrived in Puerto Vallarta on the 30th and Normando and Camilo drove there in Normndo's 4Runner to get them while I did the Suburban paperwork and money transfers. We headed up to San Marcos Lower Launch on December 31 for one last flight of 2019 and conditiones were a but light but everyone flew but Bev (who offered to drive retrieve). This launch was developed by us about 4 years ago and the local HG Instructor warned us that many HGers had crashed trying to use this location in the past, but we paid a local tree faller to brush it out and we did many test flights and rarely sank out as this gulley is a trigger point for the first thermals of the day due to the angle of the sun at noon. We seeded grass seed on the first year of use and the grass has grown in well choking out the snaggy bushes that normally grow here, but thanks go to Derek for bringing down his weed whacker and mowing the entire area. Our flights went well but after Camilo and Norm both clipped trees on their departure on New Years Eve Day, Derek went back and brushed out below launch with Normando's help. If you are interested in speed flying, we can get you trained up on EN-A paragliders first. HPAC does not condone training on speed wings but you can do what you want once you are a signed off P-2 pilot. MAGNETIC - SPEEDFLYING in NEW ZEALAND from Nuit de la Glisse Films on Vimeo. I cringe when I see these maneuvers so close to terrain but these guys are professionals. DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME!