FlyBC "Site of the Day Archives" - July/2008
"The good thing about flying solo is it's never boring." - Steve Fossett
Aloft @ 3000' NOAA Sounding CYXX | Rate /1000' | Forecast calc using SOAR8.XLW | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| (unstable) |
Woodside Report - while it was flyable early, rain started around 2 pm, so I stayed in town. I will be out preparing things for this weekend on Friday afternoon, however. Ozone Addict II Report - My Addict 2 is beautiful! I love it. My first flights on it at the Revelstoke SIV course showed there is no reason to fear this wing in strong conditions. It recovered from all events with no drama. So when I got home all full of confidence on my new wing, I flew a couple of XC flights from Slocan Ridge and Mt. Dundee, and I really fell in love. It's fast and stable on full bar, even in raunchy air. Also, I like being a bit heavy on this wing, it feels so quick and responsive. Thanks Jim & Colleen! - Rob Rae  Flying to Mt. Tipi at about 10,500' and heading back to Lazy Lk. after a days flying. - photo by Rob Rae  We camped at the top (north) end of Lazy Lake. You can land a PG there. - photo by Rob Rae
|
| (unstable)
Woodside Report - it looked like one might get a flight if desperate, but most stayed away today. The weekend looks good for training and flying right through Monday. | Chelan Report - Tuesday and Wednesday were too windy for tasks, only a few brave free-fliers flew. Martin and Mia are breaking records on the Manfield flats. Pembie Report - a fellow called to say he is coming flying in the Fraser Valley as Pemberton has been consistently getting high winds, he also kite-surfs and he said that has been great for 6 weeks in Squamish.
|
| (stable)
Vancouver Report - heavy rain most of the afternoon. Derek said it looked flyable at Woodside around 3 pm. |
|
| (unstable)
Golden Report - Speaking of Norm, his car battery is dead! He headed to Radium hot springs
yesterday (it was raining here), but left his lights on . . . Now he'll
actually have to WALK to the washhouse! :-) Robin | Woodside Report - Decided to head out, as tomorrow looks like it's going to be wet. No one around but me and two HG's. I waited until they launched to see whether it was worth flying at all, as I did not have a retrive and my truck was up top. Greg B got pretty high over the south knoll and flew out over the valley to cross without too much loss of height,so I was insipired to go. By the time I got set up there were really strong cycles and had to wait for a lull.By the time I got off he was heading back (later conversation revealed it was sinky over there) I got to about 950 meters at the knoll and flew back an forth from there to the cliffs a few times to see if it would work over there to get high . . . nope! Buzzed launch a few times to test the air to topland when another PG arrived and hogged launch and missed a couple of opportunities to land during a few passes to get in. It was quite lifty on approach so you had to really nail it when you did not get popped up. He flew off and sunk out and I landed to save a retrieve. I was also glad to topland as opposed to landing down below as the Harrison Bay had long catpaws and was frothing up pretty good by then. I sure would like to be out there one of these days to be able to get high enough to cross the valley.I agree with your post yesterday. Crappy air and no height to go anywhere! - Thomm. Vedder Sledder - After working and watching conditions all day at the base of mount vedder I got a ride halfway up the mountain and hiked for 45min.  Wouter at Vedder Launch - photo by Wouter Nice launch conditions, but it took me a few attempts to take off because of the sketchy launch there. Blue skies when I hiked up but it got cloudy fast so 20min flight time was the best I could do before landing at a friends backyard 2.5km to the west. After 'washing' my glider in Revelstoke now it's all dirty again because of the ashes of campfires on launch, but it was worth it. I understand why this site isn't that popular, the road is very rough and launch is 'dedicational' :) - Wouter  Wouter looking back at Vedder Launch - photo by Wouter Kamloops Traveller needs info Hi Jim, can you please send me info on launch sites around kamloops. If you have GPS coordinates it would be great! - Thanks, James email is: jhchan10@hotmail.com can someone out in Kamloops hook up with James, he is an awesome pilot and would love to fly when he is there this weekend? - Jim
|
| (unstable)
Woodside Report - I have to find another line of work, the weather sucks around here! | Reports of high winds at Pemberton all year and others changing to alternative activities vs "parawaiting". Conditions have been rougher than I can remember. XC flights have been short and far between. Today at Woodside, forecasted upper level winds were 6 knots at 2300 feet. We arrived at launch at 11 am, and it was howling and cloudbase was just above launch: a bad combination for getting "whited-out". We drove down as TCC and Co. arrived looking hopeful. My tandem passengers arrived at noon and we went up hoping for calmer winds. TCC had launched his tandem and was just maintaining at the South Knoll briefing Patrick (BlackBox) on using his speedbar after launch. Patrick launched and was hovering without bar, but penetrated away fine after a slight bar application. My passsenger was 190 lbs so if we can get off launch no problems! Colleen ballasted Nathan and we tried once and I had to stop a huge overshoot and we got off in attempt #2. Not much lift for all the wind? TCC and Patrick had run to Harvest West already and it was just Nathan and I trying to survive at the South Knoll. We maintained just below the peak for sometime and then started slowly sink despite strong winds in the trees. We ran to Harvest Market from about 500 meters and just a few bumps over the river, and we made it in with one turn to the mowed field at Harvest Market. Flight time was 15 minutes. I shut the day down after that, too risky for little reward. If you want to know how to get to Harvest Market, the preferred route for Ozone and Gin gliders with good glides, click Harvest Map . Head south from the South Knoll to Hwy 7, then drift over the Fraser River's north bank to Cemetary Hill. Try to soar Cemetary Hill, if that doesn't work, fly north to land at Harvest Market, the red dot field. Remeber to lose your height upwind of the field as it is usually strong SW winds there.
|
| (unstable)
Woodside Report - the day started out nicely with good cycles at launch and light winds at the Ranch. | Mark and Rick were excitedly unwrapping their new gliders, Mark got a Geo II and Rick got a Buss Z. After some kiting to get tuned up, we were up the mountain. Colleen took new student Carl for a tandem, and Carl flew the majority of the flight which was already soarable. One flight to Eagle Ranch and the guys were all ready for Harvest Market as the winds had picked up. Peter G and I flew a set of tandems and the winds at launch were measured at up to 28 kph, and gusty. But lulls did occur and we got off cleanly (except that my passenger had skater shoes on and they weren't tied tight and he lost his runner, and Martina tried to put it back on as she was ballasting us) and were climbing with Miguel who had launched just before us. I topped out at the ridge at 800 meters and jumped to the Towers were the climbs were good but the groundspeed was very slow. Out front we caught a nice thermal and climbed through 1100 meters and watched everyone else plummet. Nice strong thermal with no drift. After 40 minutes we followed Alex W over to Harvest Market to test the air for the students. We landed on the west field at Harvest as the grass is cut and it would be easier for my passenger to walk out "sans runners". Nice gentle touch down in 25 k winds. The students were good to fly here. Mark was off first and climbed above the South Knoll easily as did Rick, and they both left at 800 meters plus. As Rick was flying out the winds really picked up and I had him do his 360s above the west field and he was going backwards on final but handled it well. The last flight of the day around 7 pm was also very windy, good time to test speed bars. I traded Rob for his M2 and flew for a bit to test the air and it was chunky coming over the ridge but the guys: Mark, and the 2 Ricks were ready for it. Everyone made it into the field, some with more height than others with all good landings in semi-strong east winds and thermals still breaking off. Unfortunately, it picked up before Carl could get off the ground. He will have to come another day. Bridal Report - an un-named pilot flying a "very slow Vitamin" was seen geting blown back to the 2 way stop sign area at Bridal. No landing coach in the LZ to remind them to stay upwind of the LZ I guess?
|
| (unstable)
Woodside Report - after a quick trip to WA state to get Mike's new glider and clear it through Customs, I was off to the Ranch. | Mike, Gary K, Petr, Darren, and a few others were already congregating at the Ranch hopeful for a flight. Derek and Petr had already flown once and Mike drove for them as he was not quite signed off yet (11 flights since last Friday - a new student record!) Mike kited the new Paratoys glider and had a nice flight into some interesting turbulence near the ground but the wing was solid. Darren and Gary had some nice collapses near the ground too! But we kept flying after that heading to Harvest Market instead. Conditions got pretty strong later with lots of good soaring to 900 meters but no higher, again windy turbulent air like the past few days. I suspect the coastal winds are affecting the Valley, and the inversion didn't help. Last flight Colleen joined the group and got high immediately, there was some "cloud-suck" occurring and everyone who launched got into it. Colleen pushed out to the Ranch at 900 meters and could not penetrate out there even "full-bar" on the Mantra! She landed safely with big-ears all the way to the deck in strong SE winds, the others wisely chose Harvest Market again where it was strong SW winds. One more PPG for Morons video - Teaching yourself how to kite
|
| (unstable)
Woodside Report - Derek, Martina and Petr (from Holland) flew Woodside around 10:30 am and Derek was immediately at cloudbase at 920 meters (note cloudbase calculator was accurate today, folks). | I arrived around 1 pm to get Mike more solo flights and his first exercise was a flight into Bill Best's field (Bill is planning a retirement home on his property and a horse barn so the filed may become much smaller for our use if he lets us use it at all after putting horses up?). Mike did a great job on setting up his approach and landing and we were soon back up the hill for more flights. I did a tandem for a 15 year old kid from Winnipeg, and we climbed to the inversion layer at 900 meters and maintained there, while Greg H took a fellow Pacific Coastal Pilot for her first tandem flight and she looked pretty green at the bottom even without any stunts! Thermals all the way over the construction zone and the Duncan's allowed us to float forever on our tandem. Mike completed 5 solo flights by 7 pm, and was reversing every launch and landing nicely on his feet in all kinds of conditions. It never got really windy today, just slow layers to punch through. Mike had two thermalling flights and looks super-smooth in the air! Derek and Martina joined us for the last two flights and were above launch commenting the air was much smoother than Bridal earlier. Derek top-landed to tell some guys to get their dirt bikes off the carpet.
|
| (unstable)
Woodside Report - Mike arrived later than planned due to traffic, but he logged 3 nice flights after kiting several wings at the Ranch. Derek and Dennis joined him for some flights to check the air before we sent him off for his first Woodside flights on the Mojo 2. Some others were at Bridal but it looked pretty socked in over there. | Bear Warning  Sign seen at Fort Steele Campground - photo by Jack
|
| (unstable)
Woodside Report - I had a tandem booked for Dave (for his birthday) and they were supposed to be there by noon, as it looked like it could get windy. Unfortunately, they forgot to check News1130 on the way out and there was a crane over Hwy 1 at 152nd Street. They didn't get to the Ranch until 1:45 pm and it was pretty "spicy" by then. | Derek and Martina had hung out for awhile, but Martina got tired of "feeding our mosquitoes" and they went home. Jason stuck around and came up the mountain with us to see if it would be flyable for him. We arrived at launch and there were lulls, otherwise it was +25 kph in the trees. We clipped in and waited, and waited and waited. Finally a 30 second lull, and I pulled up the Magnum and it was solid and a thermal cracked off and took us up and away. As we climbed and penetrated forward I looked down to the right of launch and there was a pink paraglider stuck in the trees at the cliff below launch. Yikes! Quite scary to see that and not know what happened, so I kept hovering over the location trying to see if anyone was still connected to the glider. I called Jason on the radio but he had the volume down, so I kept working the lift to see if anyone was hurt. I was having issues with the lift near that spot so I went to the South Knoll to climb out and we found a "boomer", straight up for 300 meters without turning. Jason now had the radio on and had no idea there was a glider in the trees below launch, but volunteered to climb down there in his "loafers". He arrived at the bottom of the cliff and could not see anyone, then he climbed back to launch and found a trail down and fresh tracks from the crash site so someone hiked out okay we assume.  Crashed Edel Saber below Woodside Launch - photo by Jim/Nokia We flew for another 20 minutes before heading to Harvest Market getting 71 kph ground speed, so it was getting windier and we hovered straight down in the middle of the Harvest field for a soft touchdown. Derek came to get us with his gear and we were soon extricating the glider. It is an Edel Saber Small, built in 1994. Light pink top with a bright pink Stripe underneath. Korean Lettering on the left underside "X0X0 something". There are 4 ripped cells near the trailing edge and this glider is not servicable as the fabric looks too UV'ed out for flying off high sites. Perhaps it went parachutal after launching? No idea who the owner is but they shouldn't have left the glider there as it could trigger 911 calls and Search and Rescue activity. Thanks to Jason and Derek and tandem passenger Dave who all helped retrieve the glider. Always an adventure with FlyBC!
|
| (unstable)
Savona Report - we tried Mara Lake with the Horsefly Guys but it was too south already, so on to Savona. | We arrived at the General Store at 2 pm and it looked good, no wind on the lake and we loaded up Juan's F350 and headed to Upper Launch. I grabbed the wrong bag as stuff was very disorganized and was standing on launch with a Mojo2 L but the right harness. Oh well, I guess I should try the stuff the students fly once in a while! At launch we had super nice straight cycles, so I laid out and launched and was soon climbing straight above launch. No display on the vario, just an IQ-Sonic beeper, so I have no clue how high I was but the gliders on launch looked tiny. and I was at cloudbase in 10 minutes, but was worried about the wind forecast. I tried penetrating forward hands up and was rewarded with a collapse (on a Mojo?). Very tough to move forward so I crabbed over to the Towers near the Lake and had the General Store on glide but that would place me over the lake. I instead skirted over the Bridge and downwind over the town and got some "Pub Suck" as I crossed over and had to land near the school we kite at. Pretty breezy but not dangerous yet. I heard Bill was in the air on a Rush demo and he was setting up to land at the Crash Pad when he snagged a low save and climbed to 'base. He was heading toward the Pub Bill came across the lake from the towers and landed at the spit near the Pub, followed in by Colleen who almost made it to dry land (she was that close!). Wet harness and dry wing. Eric flew and sunk to the Valley and Juan drove as it was too spicy for him at 6 flights. We had lunch and then headed home.  Bill approaching the beach at Kamloops Lake - photo by Jim
|
| (unstable)
SIV Report Day Three - the Horsefly Boys showed up we were getting ready to go up for flight #1 when a great flurry of activity happened at the boat ramp. | A guy ran up screaming about getting a chain and a truck down there as someone was submerging their truck as it slid down the ramp. When we arrived the top of the truck was still visible, but not for long!  No parking zone! - photo by Wouter We hooked up the Van to the Dodge, but it was past the ramp with a 2 foot ledge and it was in gear and the brakes locked so I could not get enough traction to budge it. Fortunately, the guy driving got out fast enough to not drown and he and Mark were doing the "chaining up". Thanks Mark for helping out! Horsefly Juan brought down his Turbo Diesel F350 and lit up all four tires to haul the Dodge out but it was soon on dry land draining out. This is going to be an expensive fishing trip for this guy! After all the excitement, I headed to the beach to wait for the SIVers to get off launch for day 3. A couple from Revelstoke came by and she desperately wanted a tandem flight, and she had planned to go to Golden, but took up the chance to go here instead so we were booked for later in the day. Sorry Hugo, I took your passenger instead! Angela and I flew tandem and it was a bit windy but we got out with lots of height and I didn't want to scare her too much so I was fdoing lazy turns over the lake when she said "are we going to do any loop-the-loops, I don't want to just float down?". That was all the permission I needed to wind up a nice -12 m/s spiral dive into big wingovers! She screamed all the way to the beach, loving every minute of the G's! As we setup up the landing I noticed 20 mountain bikes strewn on the LZ so we had to pick a nice line close to the playground equipment and we landed past the bikes (the bikers moved their stuff after I asked them politely). Wouter came in for a death-spiral and overbraked it near the end and got wet on the first flight, but it entertained the sun-tanners. Juan and Mike flew in for their solo flights, no maneuvers and semi-decent landings given no wind at the beach. We managed only one flight for everyone before it blew hard from the south suspending operations until much later, when it "glassed-off" and Gary was in the air for over an hour thermalling above the lake! A few low flights in to the beach due to mixed-up communications but just wet runners. In the end everyone got their maneuvers perfected and are ready to tackle the "big-air" now. We may run another SIV course in August at Sale Mountain, we feel it has better potential than Mara and is a safer launch now. Canmore Report - David and Larry hiked and flew off Lady Macdonald Peak near Canmore, AB on their Ozone Ultralights.  Nice photo of the Canmore Range - photo by Larry
|
| (unstable)
SIV Report Day Two - a few more pilots showed up and logistics were getting tight with only one truck but we acommodated everyone. | Dave S from Revelstoke brought his wife out for a tandem and we launched first to test the air for the SIV attendees. Mike from revelstoke got in his first solo this morning landing rather fast on his first flight but he had a lot of fun!  Heather and Jim on tandem off Sale Launch - photo by Wouter We climbed above the ridge and were soaring nicely but the goal is to do SIV not soaring, so off we headed to the Lake. Heather flew on the way out and she had good aggressive turns and weight shifting, a natural pilot. Over the Lake I did a SAT and huge wingovers but she didn't like the weightlessness feeling. We had a nice touchdown in south winds and we were back to guiding SIV'ers. We had a good set of very advanced stunts on this flight and again no wet gliders or pilots, Al was working on his SATs as was Justin, Wouter was heli-ing, Wiley was SATing and Gary was spinning up his Rush so everyone was pretty pumped. And then the wind came thru for a few hours suspending flight #2 until 5 pm. The second flights were equally good and everyone had mastered full stalls, spins and B-stall which are the core maneuvers for safety. A few pilots were practicing SATs on their second days and doing well. Off to Revelstoke for dinner with daughter Megans (with Chloe and Remy), Gar & Vickie, Rob and Wouter (birthday boy - 27 today!) so he got free cake and a song from the waitresses. Justin and Julie brought Finn out for his first camping trip and he had a lot of fun and we got his present to him finally!  Finn likes his new blanket - photo by Julie
|
| (unstable)
SIV Report Day One - we had a great turnout and all 11 pilots were on time and motivated to learn. | We did the equipment checks with life jackets in the simulator before heading in to the Picnic Shelter for the video briefings.  The SIV attendees thinking "He wants me to do that, forget it!" - photo by Wouter We then moved down to the Lake to do landing briefings. This is a lot smaller area than most have landed in and there are obstacles: picnic tables, trees, playground equipment and logs and rocks near the shoreline. But the beach area was clean and had nice pebbles to pack up on.  After a few flights the jitters were gone. - photo by Wouter We started out the maneuvers slowly (big ears, speed bars, mild assymetrics, and B-line stalls on flight one. Some like Al and Wouter went right for the SATs and full-stalls. We had a huge storm blow through just as Vickie finished her first set of maneuvers, required to get he down before the clouds dumped. She was getting some cloud-suck so it was appropriate to do B-stalls and spirals to get her down faster. After lunch and some debriefing, the skies cleared and we headed up for Flight #2. Alan Polster came out to watch with son #2, and made sure we didn't abuse the Park too badly as this is their #2 favourite spot to fly. 20 minutes from town and the road up is in great shape. Flight number two we got down to spins, stalls and recoveries. Everyone did amazing! No water landings although Jeff had some interesting issues trying to recover from a spin (he kept the glider, a Sky ATIS 2 in deep stall because he would not let the glider surge out of the stall), so I had to tell him to throw the reserve. When he let go of the brakes to throw, the glider started flying so he put the reserve between his legs to fly into the beach but it fell out as he put his legs down to land and it ended up in the water but he and the rest of the gear was dry. Mark was flying a Mojo2 from the FlyBC student fleet and had an interesting spin/stall recovery where the glider surged in front of him and he mis-timed the brake input but ducked as his head passed near the leading edge with a huge bang as the wing re-inflated. Landings were interesting from a few pilots, with low glides across the lake to overshoots but again no one got wet.  The video de-brief after day one, we had a surreal image on the TV as Wouters camera is PAL output to an NTSC TV, but it had the important audio and video info we needed - photo by Wouter We finished the day with a BBQ at the camper for most and a few beers to finish the night.
|
| (stable)
Road Tripping - Colleen, Wouter and I drove to Revelstoke via the Coquihalla in the GMC Van pulling the TrailCrusier trailer fully loaded with all our gear, slow going up the snowshed but pretty good elsewhere due to a tailwind. We arrived at Revelstoke with enough time to have dinner with Gary and Vickie at the Regent Inn Pub, before heading to the Martha Creek Campground. |  This was the view as we arrived at Martha Creek, stunning! - photo by Wouter
|
| (unstable)
Bridal Report - windy again so most pilots waited until 7 pm to fly and had extended sledders at best. Derek, Martina and Jack launched much later and fortunately had a driver to save the retrieve time. |
|
| (unstable)
Woodside Report - we heard about all the wind at Bridal over the radio and Jason and I decided to kite at Woodside at the Ranch. Lots of "lennies" up higher. | Jason had to go home but Rick H, Dennis and Ken F stayed around and when Verina & Robert from Germany arrived (they have been travelling around Western Canada trying to bag a few flights for a month), we went up in Ken's truck. We waited around for about 30 minutes, while Derek & Martina & gang went to the WildCat for dinner. And when it calmed enough I launched the Addict M, and started to climb fast (ridge and thermals). I was at 900 meters when I saw Ken launch and he was soon "waking me". Robert also launched and although the plan was to fly to Harvest as Ken had never been there, Robert stayed in the air as long as possible as he had been denied any flights at most of the flying sites on this trip (due to wind/weather). Ken and I went over to Harvest Market with Dennis to follow us in the truck. When we landed at Harvest, I called Derek to tell him it was good at Woodside. He was there in minutes with Martina followed up by Brad, Kevin, Al, Jack who were all "jonesing" for a flight. One by One, Ozone gliders filled the sky and were soon at 1000 meters in beautiful glass-off conditions. Even Rick and Dennis flew off and had great flights finally after waiting so long. Ken, Verina and I drove the shuttle vehicles down so no retrieves. The mosquitoes were ferocious as everyone landed at dusk and got eaten alive. Bring deet when you fly later. The Mosquito Patrol folks say they can't do anything about the adults so we have to wait 2.5 weeks for them to die off. Ride Share Revelstoke - Hi Jim, If anyone is looking for a ride to Revelstoke, I will be driving the Toyota 4runner up. I have room for at least one person (possibly 2 people) with gear. I am planning to leave Friday around noon (flexible), and return home late Sunday evening, or perhaps Monday afternooon if there is a driver. Call Wylie at 778-808-2986 afternoons or evenings.
|
| (unstable)
Woodside Report - we stayed out at the Ranch and had private lessons with Don H, who did some reverse kiting before we headed up with Martina for a tandem flight at 12:30 pm. | For us at Woodside: Perfect launch conditions with thermals booming through and we were soon in the air on the tandem. Don't turn right, it was sinky there! We headed over the clearcut and the house thermal. Still sinking. It is now "thermal-hunter time". We scratched over to the South Knoll and caught a few bumps by the slide, and started turning in it. I disturbed an eagle sun-tanning on a dead snag and it started climbing with us. We were soon getting enough height for 360s with the eagle, and then th thermal took all three of us up to 850 meters and heading east. I didn't feel like making Martina drive to do a Harvest run, so we edged forward and kept in front of the South Knoll for 15 minutes, when I got the bright idea to try to top-land as the cycles were so good. We came over launch a bit high as the cycles died so we were coming in too fast for a smooth landing, so we flew over and then I was in the same sink again. When we got back to the South Knoll, no thermals and the eagle was long gone. We flew out to the Construction Zone in -2.5 m/s sink and got a few turns there before landing at the Ranch. Martina was so motivated by our first climbs that she took off and was soon scratching her way into Riverside, looking for Derek's "rabbit" from yesterday, but she dodn't find it. After packing up we drove up in the Van to retrieve the Suzuki, and Martina. Bridal Report - At Woodside launch we overheard Derek and Mark talking to Alan on the radio. Mark and Derek hiked Elk earlier and when they arrived at launch it was cross and Mark suggested a "short hike" to Bridal Upper Launch, as he knows the trails from quadding up there. They were apparently only 30 minutes from Bridal Upper at this point. They were however 5 hours into the hike and had run out of food and water! They had managed enough energy to launch and flew out immediately to landing as they were so tired. And headed for a beer at the Clubhouse as Martina was coming to get them. Alan and Ihor had driven up to Bridal Lower at this point and Ihor launched first and was soon out-climbing Alan who never caught up to Ihor cause it shaded in. After 1:30, Ihor top-landed and drove down when it calmed down at launch. Alan was already packed up in the Swamp. Ihor doesn't usually top-land so there must be a story here?
|
| (unstable)
Woodside Report - we got a few flight in before noon and then it got very windy, good for kiting at Eagle Ranch but not very safe in the air. |  Kelly and Wouter going tandem for his first supervised flight as a tandem pilot, nice launch and landing according to Kelly - photo by Wouter Rick got a fight in before noon and then I took Annette's mom, Ray, for a tandem. Now I know where Annette gets her mannerisms! We had the longest run in history, getting off just beforre the ramp, and sinky air until the bailout swamp, but we got some lift and landed softly at the Ranch. Derek had launched just before us and I caught sight of him near Riverside low, and I assumed he was setting up to land there. He pulled a "rabbit out of his hat" and climbed back to launch and was last seen heading to Harvest Market. Martina followed us out to the Ranch and did not hear of the Rodeo conditions until it was too late. Good thing she just returned from WoodRat where the LZ there makes the Ranch look smooth in thermic conditions.  Ray going tandem, with ballast help from Claudio - photo by John Claudio took Ellie tandem to Harvest and a few others flew but the day was pretty much shut down as Chilliwack reported gusts to 32 knots all afternoon. Three HGers went up to launch around 2:30 pm, and did not launch until after 8 pm. Cheam Update from Alex R - his pictures are up at Alex's Cheam Album .
|
| (unstable)
Cheam Report - Kevin, Al, Alex R, Dr. T all drove to Spoon Lake and hiked the front of Mt. Cheam for a brilliant flight. Alex text'ed me that he hit 2300 meters above Cheam and flew back to land near Mt Agassiz, Al landed on Harrison Beach. | Apparently the Addict II XS is working well as Alex is not losing anything in sink rate and can maintain 45 km airspeed when he wants to. Woodside Report - I flew an early tandem with Scott (for his Stag Party) and they wanted him to go early because they had a 1 pm tee-off at Mission. We had a nice takeoff and a few thermals to play in, but Scott flew most of the flight exclaiming "this is awesome" all the way to a smooth landing at the Ranch. I think we got the only smooth air of the day at Woodside! Later Woodie flights were strange, Colleen had a nice flight getting above launch and inspiring Norm. But last thing we saw was Colleen setting up to land in Riverside (where she claims she wanted to land to congratulate Ellie Mota on her pregnancy). Wouter was behind Colleen and I saw him clear the fence at the Ranch by mere inches. Student Rick from Valemont was flying the mojo 2 and he was hitting some pretty severe sink around the bailout so I took him over the highway where he got some lift and made it out to the Ranch for a smooth landing. Others including Norm claimed -7 m/s sink sustained with little lift and strong headwinds. We packed up the 'Mog and headed to Bridal. Bridal Report - we arrived at launch to see some pretty hideous takeoffs due to the South wind. It was looking windy as Carl flew out west to the new clearcut and climbed fast without turning before he cranked some nice SATs on the 6907. His SATs took him back to the LZ because of the winds. I decided to launch and test the air on the Addict with the intention of top-landing to get the students off. I flew for about 45 minutes at times getting below launch and having to "top up" to the North in the lee. Several approaches before I got in by full stalling just behind the Rock. I then drove down to check out the LZ and be there for the students and others. It was quite windy and Alan had landed after 2:30 because he didn't ike the air. Some landings looked gusty and rough but Gary K, and Kelly flew in and made it look easy (except for the pilot who landed in front of Kelly and decided it was cool to kite his wing in the LZ after landing and she had to change course at the last minute - if you want to kite . . . go to the driving range out of the way of traffic). After 20 minutes it calmed down enough for Rick to fly and he has some soaring and landed a bit long just past the mowed part but safely. Launches were still pretty horrendous according to Colleen as several un-named pilots headed for the Stump but missed it. I was parched and hungry so I went to the WildCat Grill while Colleen and Thomm thermalled around. Three cheers to Rob S for brush cutting the road and launch yesterday forgoing some nice flying for the team! Hip Hip Horray.
|
| (unstable)
Woodside Report - arriving at noon, we flew until 8 pm. Three cycles of student flights with some soaring and thermalling for Grant, Phil, James, Russell and Dennis. Colleen came up for the last flight and flew for an hour plus trying her new SupAir AltiX Harness (very light and comfortable, she says). Excellent back protection with a pre-inflated airbag system. | Interesting conditions with strong cycles straight in at launch all day, no wind in the air, good thermals on the ridge and further out and not thermic at the Ranch, maybe the corn planted west of us is moderating the thermals in that field? Bridal Report - I was overhearing conversations at Bridal indicating that the lift started later than normal, perhaps to the outflow, but later pilots were getting pretty high. Around 7 pm, Kevin A was asking if his truck was still at launch as he was waiting on Upper Launch. The usual group were out doing "Sammy's" and "half Sammy's".  Alex Raymont's new ride, an Ozone Addict II XS, apparently he had the flight of the day according to Miguel - photo by Miguel
|
| (unstable)
Revelstoke Update - everything at Sale Mountain is perfect! | Check the pictures at SIV 2008 info The lake level is down with a huge beach LZ and clear approach from North or South. The road to launch is 12 kms long and in great shape with a gain of 1200 meters for lots of stunts before landing. The campground is beautiful and clean. There was a huge storm blew threw yesterday when I was on launch and there was lightning and thunder but no blowdowns at Sale Mtn. Mara Lake is unusable, as the lake is high and the road is very rough to launch.  Mara Lake Provincial Park blow down caused by storm today - photo by JPR  Mara Lake Provincial Park beach is very small - photo by JPR
|
| (unstable)
Woodside Report - it was very gusty in Chilliwack around noon, and it continued until 8 pm, but there were no pilots out today (except Norm kiting Bev's Bolero). | Vancouver Island Report - Just thought I'd let you know that I've been flying the QuadCat with my Rush at a local farmer's field over here on the Island - Dale.  Dale flying in Victoria - photo by Dale
|
| (unstable)
Bridal Report - When I arrived at Woodside to get my gear it was very windy, so the call to meet folks at Bridal at 3 pm was set. | Ihor, Klaus, Monica were waiting at Bridal for Wouter and I, and Lukas was also looking for a ride. Al was too impatient and drove Jonathon, Garci (Jonathon's wife) and Matt J up in the FJ before we got there and he was in the air first. We got up fairly fast and watched Matt J launch and plummet as he failed to stay in close enough. After a quick field repair on Jonathon's brake lines he was off to the side to watch Klaus launch. Pilots had some hairy launches as cycles at the launch looked good but there was a strong south component once in the air that was slapping some wings into submission (Wouter had a frontal near the edge and almost "bit it"!) Once Klaus and Wouter got in the air, I readied the tandem for Garci and me. We had an uneventful launch and good climbs near the Knob, but everytime I tried to head to the Saddle the south winds made it tough to get to the ridge with any height. Nothing was working very well. Al was already gone towards Cheam and was apparently "getting hammered" in the lee taking multiple collapses, so I guess we weren't missing much! We made a few attempts to get up on the first toe, but always had to come back to launch to top up and eventually we were down to 300 meters, setting up to land.  Our view of the LZ from 300 meters - photo by Garci We hung in close to the ridge in the North Bowl and were patient and got enough lift to start a gentle climb; others joined us including Al, Matt J and student Jason who Brad launched later and we were all scratching in close in figure-8's.  Our view of the later launchers from 500 meters - photo by Garci We kept working it and made it up to launch and witnessed Al's top-landing and now we were in easy lift, Jason and Matt also made it up encouraged by our progress. Wouter had also top-landed earlier and was offering to drive the 'Mog down but I was too busy to answer him.  Is Garci having fun yet? - photo by Garci We made 3 passes and top-landed softly in front of Annelies as she was getting ready to launch. Annelies launched and we packed up out of the way as Matt J came in and top-landed too. Great safe top-landing conditions around 7 pm. Our total airtime was 2 hours, including the 1 hour scratch-fest. Jason logged an hour and a "hole-in-one" :-)  Top-Landing Bridal with Garci, note her excellent landing form ready to run - photo by Wouter Bridal Update from Miguel - on Monday Al and I top-landed at Upper Launch (my first upper landing), and the wind was "howling" and we had to wait 45 minutes to relaunch.  Al and Miguel at Upper Bridal Launch - photo by Fido Phone
|
| (unstable)
Alex R's Flight Report - Flew Woody at 11 and Miguel and I got to base at just under a 1000m. Got a band of upper shade which shot down Miguel and I sunk to lower cutblock before the sun started to work again. Toplanded, then off to base again and then SATs to Harvest because Al T, Miguel, RGS, and RBN where on there way to Bridal. 1:30 and less than 10km of wind there? Why are we going to Bridal? | Bridal was windy mid afternoon as you know. I had a decent early flight though despite some wind and turb. Got super sweet after 7, I got to 1600 M after 7:30 on my late flight - Alex Jim's Bridal Report - Woodside was gusty at 2 pm, so I loaded up my gear and haeded to Bridal. When I arrived the US contingent of Delvin, Murdoch, Chad, Interstate Tom and several others were eagerly waiting to go up Bridal. It was howling in the LZ when Rob S, Alan and a few others landed around 3 pm. I watched Robin getting yanked up by Archibald and it looked violent. We waited for an hour and it didn't calm down but we went up to chill on launch. Kevin launched first when it did calm down and was soon climbing in the bowl. I was setting up the Addict when Rob offered up his Mantra M2 to me. Not quite sure of his motivation, I jumped at the chance to fly a wing that I had sold 5 or 6 of to experienced pilots, but not had a ride on yet. I was beamed up off launch a few hundred feet and was soon climbing with Tom and Chad near the bowl when we lost all the lift and were scratching the Knob. Several minutes went by with no one launching until we started to climb out. Then Robin launched and showed me the way, classic Bridal ridge soaring all the way to Gloria. He did a few turns below Archibald and the slides near the road but after that it was "tree-hugging commitment". I gotta fly Bridal more and teach less! I flew for 1:07 getting to Upper Launch before realizing that I was supposed to be in Vancouver for dinner soon! I headed straight out to the LZ from 1600 meters, spiralling and stunting all the way in. Flight Log: 1:07, 5.5 m/s up, -16.0 m/s down (spirals). Nice ship Rob, you trained it well. Very stable in the bumps, and turns sharp when you need to - Jim Dr T's Lion's Flight Report - My friends Pam, Ramin and I climbed West Lion Mountain yesterday. It took 4.5 hrs to reach the summit due to great amount of snow and difficult route finding in blown-down area of old growth forest. It was initially cloudy, but at 2 pm clouds thinned out and I was able to launch in perfect 10 km/hr straight-in-your-face-breeze, soon able to soar well above the summit of West Lion. I landed in the Lions Bay on a nude beach just north of the village. There were three ladies enjoying the sun, whom I eagerly joined. (the contacts were forwarded). We chatted about the sport while awaiting my ride and I soon realized that our paragliding master, Jim will likely have new clientelle. If you ever going to land there, please remember the beach exists only at low tides (read the table for Point Atkinson), preferably below 4 ft. It happened that the tide at 1435 hrs yesterday was 2.7 ft and the beach was at least 30 m wide and 200 m long when I landed at 1600. The video (appropriately edited..;)) will be posted on Youtube soon. In the meantime, here are the images taken during my epic parahike to Golden Ears and 2.5 flight that followed 7 hrs of tough ascent: Richard's Picture Albums - Cheers, Richard
|
| (unstable)
Woodside Report - pretty big day for everyone at Woodside. | We had 5 new students start on Sunday, friends of Stephen F who he has taken kiting several times and a few of them even tried his Gin Nano in the back-country last winter, so they were pretty good right from the start. Colleen was out cracking the whip on the ground, getting them ready to fly when I was guiding the intermediates off Woodside early. Alastair from Nakusp flew another four solos today to get a total of 8 flights this weekend, ending up getting over an hour of ridge soaring at 7 pm, climbing to about 850 meters. He finally headed out to land to warm up after 8 pm. Gotta love the Mojo2! He was reverse launching well by the end of the weekend - another candidate for Eagle of the Month!  Mark lost his loaner Mojo2, loaned to the new students and was forced to fly a museum piece - Profile 27 from 1995 - photo by Miguel Colleen was busy taking the new students tandem later, as did I to get them all ready for solo flights. Stephen's brother James managed to get 2 solo flights, Christina had two tandems, Phil, Russell, Grant all got one solo flight each during day one. The last flights were soarable and they all got over 20 minutes on their first flights!  Colleen taking Grant for his tandem flight - photo by Wouter Later the "big guns" showed up: Rob S, Martin N, Norm, Ihor, Evelyn and Andrew and they were all soaring between student flights getting 1-2 hours depending on their comfort level on scratching close. Rob managed a top landing to retrieve his car as he was concerned about having to ride up in the 'Mog. Wouter was logging more air time today, he has accumulated more airtime in three days at Woodside than in two years towing in Holland. Welcome back.  Wouter at Woodside, soon to be our next tandem instructor, looking for passengers with HPAC ratings - photo by Miguel For Sale - Ozone Rush Medium - Justin K's Rush, 2 seasons use, under 120 hours, excellent shape, no damage - $1750 plus tax.  Justin at Woodside on his Rush Medium - photo by Miguel
|
| (unstable)
Woodside Report - what a successful day! Jason brought out 20+ Swing Dancers from his group Suburban Swing and 8 of them went tandem thanks to Colleen, Kevin and Brad helping. | One of the group was Joe, who is in a wheelchair but is a para-athlete, who went tandem with me.  Joe getting clipped in for his first tandem flight, wearing a SupAir Radical Harness - photo by Jason Fond memories of bashing my shins with Lars Taylor came back from 2000. We had a sweet launch thanks to the wind-gods and Colleen and Kevin stabilizing the chair. No soaring but Joe got to fly all the way to the LZ where we had a smooth landing right in the circle where I rolled in on the chair too!  Joe launching with his normal chair - photo by Wouter New student Alastair got one tandem and 4 solo flights with the last flight being very windy just making the LZ while Dennis had to find Harvest Market for the first time, arriving there with Wouter. We had so many students we had the Unimog full (12 pilots), the Chevy Van (8 pilots and drivers) and we even used Scott's F350 crew cab for the many trips up the mountain today. At one point all three of my vehicles were up there on launch.  Wouter's view of the action on launch, note the many shuttle vehicles needed for the group - photo by Wouter One of the best investments in a Unimog is to replace the oil-bath air filter with a K&N Air Filter which clamps on directly to the carb air pipe (2.5 inch OD). This adds tremendus power and revs to the little 2.2 litre powerplant, we can maintain 35 kms all the way up Woodside now vs. having to shift up and down many time with a full load with the old stock airfilter.  The UniMog Troop carrier in action - photo by JPR The party got into full swing at 6 pm, when it was raining, so we went to dinner at the Sasquatch and Brad and Kevin went home. Then around 7:30 the skies parted and we went back up for a few more tandems. Colleen clipped in with Glen (Jason's Dad) and I was taking another guy. Colleen got off in a strong cycle with some ballast from me and was soon soaring the front ridge and climbing fast. Off right behind her was Wiley flying solo. He also climbed fast but didn't have the keen protective skills Colleen has and he was soon getting pushed back and up and entered the "white room". Colleen was further out and said the clouds started forming all around them and she had a few white moments but kept it on course with a left lean to counter the ever present SW winds and she and Glen popped out north of the bail-out. Wiley got disoriented and headed over the back and found a nice 12 meter tree right at the gates at 8 km to land in, soft and safe (Guardian Angel on duty today). He called me on the cell and we located him on the ground at 8 pm. He was insistent on getting his wing out so a few of the tandem guests stayed with him as my Van was low on fuel and we had to go get some ropes and chainsaw. Norm went back and took the supplies to Wiley for a successful wing retrieve. Thanks to the helpers! Woodrat Report - We're having a great time at Woodrat so far! Today was a practice day for the Rat Race, 2 U.S. comp pilots did GPS talks today which were worth the entry fee alone. Then we ran a task to make sure we could all use the info we'd just learned. It was my first time flying in big gaggles (see photo) and I loved it! You know I love my Rush, but it sure feels like I'm standing still when I'm thermalling with a couple of Boom Sports! It was a bit tough to fly today, some high cloud moved in (see photo again) & most pilots sank out. I think only 9 pilots made 'goal', but everyone had a great time and appreciated the practice task. We're living like royalty up here - we got an awesome goodie bag & free dinner & margaritas tonight care of Gail & Mike Hayley who are hosting the event, and will get free rides, retrieves & lunches for the whole week. We may never come back! - Martina & Derek  Rat Race practice day gaggle - photo by Martina Great XC flight in the US - Ballonist makes a long flight
|
| (unstable)
Woodside Report - when we arrived a pilot was kiting a Gin Gangster in the LZ, doing quite well. As I got closer it was Wouter
(long lost in Holland for two years). Wouter is back to fly and work in the area for the summer, escaping the flatland towing that the Dutch have to endure. | Wouter helped clean up the Barn for Jason's swing dance party planned for Saturday evening, and as Jason arrived we decided to go up the Mountain. The telescope showed brisk cycles but straight in! It took two weeks but someone has already started a fire on the new Nylex carpet! This was not a campfire but an intentional attempt at starting the carpet on fire from the leading edge. Good thing it didn't catch on fire.  Some f*ckwits started the Nylex on fire using fireworks and the plastic pole that held the streamers on the southside of launch - photo by JPR Once I got over the vandalism, we set Wouter up and he flew off to test the air for Jason. As Wouter got hoovered off launch, Jason decided to stand down and drive for us. I got clipped in to the Addict M (back on the market as Bev is back to horses) and waited for a lull. The lulls came with north wind, so it took three tries to get a solid wing and I too got hoovered. A bit rough right in front of launch, then "baby butt smooth" everywhere else. We flew together for about 30 minutes when my phone started ringing 3 times, and I noticed the wind on Harrison Bay got stronger so we headed out on speed bar to the Ranch. A few rough shear layers but smooth landings in the circle. Colleen had been calling as a new student had arrived for kiting lessons and she was on the Training Hill with Alastair kiting when we landed. Alastair was ready to fly after 7 inflations, all perfect forward launches. Gotta love those Mojo2s! Kevin Ault arrived later and was rewarded with a nice ridge soaring flight ending up in the Agassiz High School LZ (perfect for a high school teacher, can't stay away even on holidays!).
|
| (stable)
Woodside Report - the free FlyBC WebCam only saw launch once around 3 pm, otherwise it was rainy and socked in all day. |
|
| (stable)
Bridal Report - Alan was in the air when we loaded up the Unimog: Derek and Martina, Alex and Nataliya and Rick all endured a bumpy ride. | Very smoggy and inverted around Chilliwack. Very light cycles at launch with everyone doing fabulous forwards! By the time Derek launched it was light tailwind, so I decided to just drive down. Alan logged 30 minutes, with the rest getting around 15 minutes.
|
| (unstable)
Woodside Report - lame conditions, and despite strong south winds we had no ridge lift and even fewer thermals. Two tandems with landings at Harvest West and another field on the way to Harvest Market leaving the South Knoll at 380 meters! Not as exciting as James C's flight through the gulley between the Launch and South Knoll! But he made it out to Harvest West. | There were huge towering CUs over Hope and Harrison Lake, but we had no effects from them. Derek said it was hailing in Merritt when he drove through at 4 pm. How to not be a mosquito magnet - Yahoo
|
| (unstable)
Woodside Report - another stable day with the odd punchy thermals, but I did two tandems with some ladies from Toronto, friends of Kelly. | We got some nice lift on tandem 1, soaring with Norm for a bit until the usual lift at the South Knoll turned into big sink and we had to leave for the Ranch rather low, arriving between the goal post trees! Tandem 2 was stronger and windier and the passenger was only 100 pounds,and we got to thermal with Norm some more as he was still up from his first flight. Much raunchier landing conditions with strong south winds, no one else flew until later. Last flight of the day had all of us in the air around 8 pm, a bit of ridge lift but still strong south all the way out with fence scraping approaches into east wind on the socks. But everyone got a last flight. |
FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day Reports
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
| FlyBC Home | APCO Glider FAQ | Paragliding History |
|
Box 79, Harrison Mills, BC Canada V0M 1L0 Mobile: 604-618-5467 E-Mail: FlyBC E-Mail |