FlyBC "Site of the Day" - July 2005 Archive
Mara Lake, BC
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| /1000' (stable) | 7170 feet |
Woodside Report - a carbon copy of the day before, except less windy. Student Al logged 5 flights, with two over the back to Harvest following Colleen. His first mini-XC took him to 1100 meters before I sent him east because traffic was heavy and disorganized. On the same flight Derek, Andy and I headed towards Cemetary Hill to see if we could soar it, problem was we arrived at the Hill at 1200 meters (and it is 350 meters)! I picked up a sandbar thermal flying the Vulcan L, while Derek got a dike thermal om my Mantra and we tracked these back towards Green Hill (the previously un-named ridge behind Agassiz). Andy headed to Harvest LZ, while I tried to thermal off Green Hill getting just a few bumps, but I saw Sea Bird Island gas bar on glide and Ice Cream! What a great XC motivator. I thermalled all the way to Sea Bird Island and comtemplated the south cliffs at Bear, but I would have to hike if I sunk out. Meanwhile Derek climbed out to 1700 meters in front of Green Hill, eventually landing with me at Sea Bird where Colleen picked us up the the Suburban. We then went back for a final flight and it was even windier but everyone got off for another flight to Harvest before dark. Tomorrow promises some rain and I am going to take it easy and do some brush cutting in the AM.
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| /1000' (stable) 7170 feet
Woodside Report - we headed up the mountain early for Al's first solo flight and he wasn't
disappointed after 2-3 days of ground-handling 'cause it was too windy to fly students. | We picked up "para-hikers", Jack and Derek about 50 feet up Woodside Road, they looked tired already! The early flights went well with Al getting to thermal a bit on flight 2 and a lot on flight 3 waiting for Colleen to land on the Mantra M, she was a bit light on it. Then the tandems started showing up (4 in total). And I went until 7:30 pm, each one getting a 45 minute to hour flight getting up to 1100 meters most flights. The last flight was with Kieth (back from 2 years of rehab after a nasty plane crash), who flew for 1:30 and Leonardo (HG) who flew for 1:20 and we went to Harvest Market. I soared Cemetary Hill for 30 minutes watching Leonardo break down his Falcon and we were climbing the entire time in thermals. Red Bull X-Alps Report from an old FlyBC Student Benn Kovco - Benn is representing the Aussie Team and is doing training flights. Nice to see someone go so far in less than 5 years! Red Bull X-Alps Web Site where you can follow teams fly and hike 800 kms across the Alps. 
Benn flying Austria
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| /1000' (unstable) 7700 feet
Woodside Report - I took a load up the mountain around 3:30 pm; Barry, Andy, JB, and new student Al. Too windy for Al but the rest had good flights with Andy landing at Peter's airstrip near Hopyard Hill (requiring ears to get down near the mountain). | Bridal Report - we missed the ride up but we heard the flying was rough down low, not good for Max and Al anyway. Arriving back at Woodside we heard launch was quite strong so we quit for the day.
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| /1000' (unstable) 7700 feet
Bridal Report - after a few sledders at Woodside, the crew headed to Bridal where they had great soaring for 2+ hours getting to 1200 meters only. |
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| /1000' (stable) 7700 feet
Woodside Report - it has become stable in the air and unstable in the Eagle Ranch LZ. Barry, Kelly, Derek and Andy flew three flights up to 1:00 pm, then headed over to Bridal. I arrived after 3:00 pm to do some brush cutting at the Ranch, and was witness to a great "dive and catch" by a hawk circling the field after I flushed out a fat mouse. The forecast winds never came? | Bridal Report - when we arrived at 4:00 pm, Dr Dick was soaring the knob on an old Williwaw. Ihor, Monica, Barry and Rob S launched first; then Mike, Derek, Andy and I (thanks Kelly for driving) launched. No one got up fast but Rob scratched the furthest away toward Gloria. Eventually it got easier to climb but no one got over 1300 meters. Most flights were 2 hours +, and the Swamp was bubbling off thermals on final. It is just so hot and dry making the landings more challenging.
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| /1000' (unstable) 7000 feet
Bridal Report - I just finished uploading my flight to OLC. Had a little trouble, since the server was confused because I launched at 00:00:54 UTC (5:00:54 pm PST). I'm pretty proud of it, since given my late start, I covered a lot of ground (launch-Elk-Ludwig-launch). Total flight time 2:45:50 and a distance 41.3 km out and return (flat triangle). Most of the time the wind wasn't a problem, except when I was between Lugwig and Butterfly. The water level in the Fraser is finally dropping again, so there are a couple of wet sandbars that I could have landed on. Some nice lift along the way (3 m/s), but didn't spend too much time maxing out on height (1679 m ASL max) - Rob S. | When we arrived; Rob, Klaus and Monica were up at the Saddle. Later, Jack logged an hour launching last, Derek about the same time, Andy and I had shorter flights looking for lift but not coming up with much. Not windy at the LZ, but weird punchy thermals getting blown about in the air near Lower Launch. Woodside Report - Derek and Kelly flew around 1:00 pm and it was windy on approach to the Ranch, but no appreciable wind at launch despite forecasts. Golden Report - Sunny in the morning, but a couple of "lennies" to the east and a touch of cirrus told me something was up. A glance on the aviation weather informed me that a cold front lay on the divide. by noon the cirrus had thicked to cirrostratus and then stratus. A cool N wind blew up the north slope and a few, mostly non-local, PG pilots flew. Others of us didn't like the fact that you couldn't see past Donald; memories of past gust fronts suggested we forego the small pleasure of a sleigh ride as it started to spit a few drops. In the evening, a few PG pilots went up to fly, as the sky was improving, but suddenly it turned hard E, so they were skunked. This morning, Day 6, the sky is once again clear. Hope it's a good day! Check OLC for some of the tracklogs from the flights here - cheers, Stewart Midwinter
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| /1000' (unstable) 7000 feet
A Bridal Story - on July 16 (the day Kevin Ault and Judy were getting married), I was guiding students off Woodside when I overheard Kevin on the frequency talking about great conditions and how nice it was to be flying. I thought to myself "that selfish bastard is out flying when he should be preparing for the wedding and party!", but I didn't broadcast my feeling back as I was busy. | Later that evening I discovered an elaborate hoax: Kevin had given a radio to the preacher and while Judy was at the altar waiting for the ceremony to start, Kevin had radioed that he was flying and just coming in to land. And then he threw a large water bomb on the roof of the church from outside which made a large bang, and shortly after appeared at the door with his glider over his shoulder in his flight suit! His formal garb was under the flight suit. Well, the joke was on Kevin, because he didn't think anyone could hear him from Cultus Lake on low power. Bridal Report - Andy, Derek and I flew Lower Bridal. We did the shift change at 5 pm with Andy top-landing to drive my truck down after 3 hours airtime. I launched at 5 and flew for 2:39. Elk and back to Cheam. Winds were relatively light, especially at Elk. We have to keep pilots in the air or the falcons at Bridal won't get used to paragliders! Rob S. Golden Report - Alan D and Annelies in Fairmont for 118 kms. Norm and Nicole in Edgewater for 82 kms. Hugo and Mark F made it to Spur Valley for 77 kms. Charles Warren made Canal Flats for 140 kms. Zak was in a tree near Parsons, not a good day to be on an older Boomerang (very leeside and rough). Brett H went to Invermere and back to Nicholson for 200 kms O&R! (on a topless HG)  Area Map courtesy of MapQuest.com
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| /1000' (unstable) 5400 feet
Woodside Report - a few good flights in punchy lift, and then it started to blow out.
Many pilots left to go to Bridal at 3:00 pm.
One lone pilot waited it out until 7:30 pm and bagged a flight getting high with little penetration into Eagle Ranch.
Lots of kiting practice for new student pilots at the Ranch in the heat. | Bridal Report - Kevin reported strong southerly conditions at launch, with pilots getting 4-5 m/s up! right off launch. Last thing I heard he was over Upper Launch on the Mantra sounding very calm, so it must have smoothed out. He ultimately made it to Elk with relative ease despite the strong inflow winds. Golden Report - unstable conditions made flying a pure timing issue. Some sled rides, no one got away from the mountain for XC. Balance of the week looks good, sunny and warm.
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| /1000' (unstable) 7739 feet
Woodside Report - a so, so day at Woodside: Andy only got 8 hours? | Actually, it was an awesome day! I flew two tandems from 11:00 - 14:00 and got over 1100 meters both flights with some rough flying conditions (very punchy). Mia said she would go tandem with me after 3:00 pm, and we had one of the roughest flights I have experienced at Woodside. Small tight punchy cores, with huge sink around them. Lots of weightless moments, and huge pitches on the Sherpa. We climbed out several times, even getting above Alex R (which doesn't happen often). We headed over the back towards Agassiz Mtn., on glide with a few thermals along the way which weren't needed We had smooth huge lift at Agassiz and we got lost in clouds for a few seconds while Alex arrived below us. We flew east straight to Bear Mtn., while Alex headed towards Bridal, where he saw a cloud street forming. We got low in the Harrison Gap and Mia started asking where would would land when a few beeps started slowly . . . then more steady as we turned a big flat turn and we started climbing much faster and a cloud formed above us and we were soon over Bear! Alex gave up his cloudstreet as it disappeared and headed to the un-named Agassiz Ridge where he got high enough to ridge soar Bear. We headed towards Hicks for a few minutes and then I gave up the heroics because I couldn't tell how windy it would be east of Hicks and headed to Sea Bird Island Gas Bar where we had a nice touchdown. Alex followed us in, and Colleen retrieved us after we packed up. When we got back to Woodside, pilots were still soaring and we took another load up for the last flight. Good soaring right til dark. Bridal Report - clouded over most of the day, flights were short according to a pilot who flew there mid-day. Golden Report - The Willi XC Challenge starts Sunday so a large group is descending on Golden. Norm, Nicole, Mark F and Alan D are featured Fraser Valley locals to watch out for.
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| /1000' (unstable) 7739 feet
Woodside Report - Kelly, Barry, Martina, Derek, Andy and others were out flying Woodside. Mostly sledders, but they flew while you were at work! |
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| /1000' (unstable) 7739 feet
Woodside Report - when I arrived at 5:00 pm to drop off the Suburban; Barry, Andy, Yevgeni and Rob S were just congregating at the Ranch. Andy logged 3+ hours in light lift, over at Bridal Petr was seen scratching on the Knob. A stable day with not much wind. |
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| /1000' (unstable) 7700 feet
Woodside Report - Andy was out again after his epic 10 hour flight yesterday, but he only logged 3 hours before heading to Bridal. After 7:00 pm, a new student arrived to test fly a Fiesta and he bought it. Nice smooth sled ride into Eagle Ranch, which has just been mowed . . . so watch for baling operations in Eagle Ranch and the field west too. | Bridal Report - Derek and team got Andrew's wing out of the trees. And then went flying! Good lift for flight #1 and so so for flight #2, but Derek managed to top-land to drive down around 7:30 pm.
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| /1000' (unstable) 7700 feet
Woodside Report - when I arrived after 6:00 pm, Andy was at 1000 meters and staying up with ease. It was a windy couple of tandem launches for me, with passengers that liked to sit! Very windy at launch, but safe in the lulls. 2 x 1 hour + flights over to Harvest Market as Harrison Bay was "capping". | Andy launched at 11:30 am and was still going when we got back from the tandems, I installed some sidewalk blocks and did some other chores, and Andy was still in the air! I finally turned on the Landing Lights by Stonehenge, but he landed before dark (just). Total flight time - a new Fraser Valley record - 10 hours and 13 minutes!  Andy landing at Eagle Ranch
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| /1000' (unstable) 7700 feet
Woodside Report - clear all day, a little windy but no pireps. |
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| /1000' (unstable) 5300 feet
Woodside Report - we had students flying from 10:00 am on, despite outflow winds early on. Shawn duffed a launch and had to be driven down, twisted ankle but he was watching the action from Eagle Ranch and was walking around later. | I flew three tandems testing various gliders and had a nice flight to Peter's airstrip east of Woodside, oddly landing to the south in a downwind condition while Colleen landed at the same time at Harvest into wind flying the same direction? Must be a rotor off Hopyard Hill but more testing is required. We went to Harrison at 6:00 pm for dinner with Colleen's sister and overheard the action at Bridal! Norm and Andy were still duking it out at Woodside around 7:00 pm. Bridal Report - Hi Jim, by any means I claim the day at Bridal today! I logged 4 hours and 13 minutes non stop which is my longest flight, and I climbed almost to the upper launch elevation. It was a terrific flight! Having set two personal records I decided to outdo everyone, Rob included, and I stayed up until everyone landed and left. The Buzz works and behaves incredibly well in thermals. I have been in strong thermals and in quite rough air and it handles great. Thanks Jim, Jozef Andrew M had an incident at Bridal today and by all reports he is very lucky (this is tree-landing #8 for the Fraser Valley this year, so we should be okay for the balance of the season). Apparently he had a collapse that turned him several times and he pulled his reserve handle just as the glider started flying. He stuffed the handle back in the velcro but the reserve pin must have released and the reserve finally fell out just five trees away from Crazy Craig's shredded glider remains from years ago. If you pull the handle and then decide you don't need to throw: You must take the full deployment bag and hold it in your lap or stuff it into your jacket until landing. If it is properly rigged it should not deploy until it is thrown away or falls. Thanks to Ihor, Kelly and other "On Scene Commanders" for rescuing Andrew.
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| /1000' (unstable) 3840 feet
Woodside Report - we started flying around 1:30 pm, when cloudbase lifted. We had some clear breaks prior to that, but you had to be off launch quick! | New student Shawn flew 2 flights and learned the #1 rule about approaching a landing field: Never turn your back to the windsock (ie. never do a 360 close to the ground). He ended up sinking out into the field west of Eagle Ranch and landed right in front of a 20' tree but unfortunately didn't flare hard enough and the wing was up in the tree. Other than that he had a great flight! 
Shawn thermalling over Woodside at 6:30 pm! Flight #2. Quite a few pilots out (15+) with some rough air at times. I borrowed Natalyia's ATIS for a flight and duked it out with Norm and Alex W for 30 minutes before top-landing to let her fly. Lots of airtime for Rob S, claiming 3 hours. Alan must have had about the same time (as usual). All day Bridal was under a solid cloud deck, looked like the forecast 1200 meters, with an inversion layer trapping smog below it. Woodside was clearer with CUs popping.
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| /1000' (unstable) 3840 feet
Woodside Report - we were conducting a ground school course and the weather was improving enough to fly except cloudbase was too low. I sent everyone home at 8:00 pm, and just afterwards it opened up perfectly to fly. Except the students were all gone, so hopefully tomorrow will be better. |
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| /1000' (unstable) 5800 feet
Woodside Report - a great day unfolded for Martina, Barry, Andy and others. Good soaring without getting windy. | An un-named pilot overflew Kent Maximum Security Prison under the 1100 foot CVR limit and caused a "lockdown", and an RCMP officer showed up on Woodside Launch to see if we knew who it was. For verification on this CYR location we have a link on this page called Vancouver VTA, which is a downloadable JPG file we scanned a few years ago. Lou was driving as he was nursing a "bruised tailbone" from yesterday's launch crash, beware of the clearcut south of launch!
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| /1000' (unstable) 4800 feet
Woodside Report - the day started out ugly, but soon shaped up according to all reports. The forecast upper level winds never made it to Woodside. | I arrived late around 6:00 pm at the Ranch to hear tales of 2-3 hours of airtime, top-landings, over the back XCs to Agassiz's un-named ridge. I had a few other projects I was working on and missed the flying, but it was nice to see 5-6 gliders out mid-week. The new clearcut to the south of launch claimed its first victim . . when Lou got blown over the edge while bringing the wing up and didn't fly away. He walked out with Barry's help, but he was a bit bruised up. In the old days we would have called it a tree-landing, now it is a "crash".
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| /1000' (unstable) 3100 feet
Woodside Report - Derek, Barry and Martina were headed up the mountain around 6:30 pm; windy, rainy, over-developing and cloudy at times. But they headed up. No reports received as of 10:00 pm. |
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| /1000' (unstable) 3100 feet
Vancouver Report - low clouds, rain and high SE winds most of the day. Some sun later, but still not flyable. |
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| /1000' (unstable) 4300 feet
Woodside Report - the weather was fabulous with CUs popping early. We headed up the mountain at 9:30 am and Jim L and Gord took off for their first flights of the day. Good launch and landing conditions. | Later some cloud came in from the east started to block the thermals, but not enough for the 20+ pilots in the air to stay up for 2+ hours. I broke out of the gaggle on Kevin A's Vulcan L (which is for sale at FlyBC) and climbed to 1100 meters with Andrew, Mark D and we headed to Agassiz Mtn. Smooth climbs at Agassiz Mtn., but as we were climbing there we saw Brett H fly straight to Bear Mtn., arriving low but he made it to Ruby Creek. Mark and Andrew chose to fly south from Agassiz Mtn., but didn't get far as the winds had picked up to 30 km/hr+! I was higher and took a more direct line to Harvest Market on full bar and made it within 300 meters, as they landed at McCallum Road at the base of the Mountain. To quote Mark "These paragliders don't glide worth shit!" (compared to a topless HG). As I packed up reports of pilots unable to penetrate or descend were coming from the launch side of Woodside. We recommended coming to Harvest Market and even the faster gliders were parked into the wind descending at the Market. Three cars were required to retrieve all the pilots in the end. As we returned to the Ranch it started to rain. One last paraglider pilot and one HG pilot were seen landing at the HG field in light rain, unfortunately the HGer landed hard and cut his face.
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| /1000' (unstable) 4300 feet
Woodside Report - they thought I was "mad" calling Woodside yesterday! | The day started late with light showers until 11:00 am, but we spent the early morning in Ground School in the Barn. By 11:30 we were at Launch for the first solo flights for Jim L and Gary G. Gord has already done 15+ solo flights so he was voted first off following Colleen. The first flights were buoyant and not windy so good heights over the Ranch for approach training. Back up the hill for flight #2. Everyone had a soaring flight in huge abundant lift, Jim L was above Alan and Norm for some time on his second flight! Flight #3 was more of the same, with great conditions for students and experts too. Norm claimed cloudbase at 1400 meters, I think Gary G's last flight had him at 1100 meters going straight out front! Alan and Norm were heard debating who had the longest flights (something about "Norm, buy a watch! from Alan). But I am sure they both had 4 hours. Rob S was trying to duplicate Alex and Nicole's flight this past week and landed at Peter's Road near Ludwig on the Hwy 1 side, Barry and Ken on HGs flew a triangle near Woodside landing at the HG field. Big smiles from everyone who flew! Bridal Report - we watched someone doing "pooched acro" over Bridal LZ late Saturday night. I assume they were over the water hazard and wearing a lifevest?
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| /1000' (unstable) 1900 feet
Woodside Report - heavy rain all day. |
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| /1000' (unstable) 4300 feet
Woodside Report - another awesome day according to all reports! Alex R and Nicole flew a box circuit from Woodside to Hicks, over the Fraser River back to Bridal Falls, from the Saddle to Agassiz Rec Centre for 43 kms total distance (almost back to Joe's where they started!) | Derek and Alan flew Bridal for 3+ hours also.
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| /1000' (unstable) 3700 feet
Woodside Report - a few pilots were out yesterday, Natalia was getting back in the air after a 6 week hiatus and Josef was trying out his new Buzz! | Good soaring later in the day with Josef logging 2.5 hours. I flew a late flight with Colleen, Martina, Derek and Josef. Quite strong conditions with little penetration, with mixed thermals. We decided one of us was going to top-land to drive Derek's truck down and I made the first approach and made it first time with a full-stall landing. I was very happy to not have to drive up to retrieve, and as I was packing up . . . in comes Josef with a "fly-on-the-wall" approach and he landed perfectly running up launch! He relaunched after as I drove down. Rain everywhere else in the Valley, only Woodside was in the clear. Oh . . . and Martina completed the 'New Wing Challenge' and finished a 1:20 flight earning her a new glider! Congratulations! Of course she was higher than everyone else as usual, Derek had to ask her to pull "ears" so he could fly with her.
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| /1000' (stable) 5400 feet
Woodside Report - Derek was heading out to fly when I called, apparently quite windy in Agassiz. |
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| /1000' (unstable) 4550 feet
Woodside Report - despite a gloomy forecast, Captain Jack and Kelly had a flight at Woodside.
Jack said he kept working the lift getting above launch several times before flying out to the Ranch. Kelly reported interesting landing conditions with +15 KPH gusts from different directions.
Then it started raining later. |
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| /1000' (unstable) 4550 feet
Woodside Report - welcome new Novice pilot Julie Kuhneman, to the skies. She is flying a beautiful turquoise Fiesta. Julie completed her 30th flight today at Woodside. | Oh, and husband Justin flew Woodside today and logged 3:40, too! Gerry L had a big grin after climbing to the top of the stack and staying there! Alex R, Andy, Thomm M and I flew over the back to go somewhere, anywhere after hitting 1400 meters. Good lift at Agassiz Mtn. Good glides over to Bear Mtn, hitting the slope above the rocks where Andy and I worked for a while to get up. Andy broke thru first, then I made it while Alex was patiently waiting for us at the peak of Bear. We went on glide to Hicks arriving at the "toe" near Hwy 7, with a good climb that took us back to 1400 meters. Here is where Alex was ultra patient and soared the slope until he climbed to 1700 meters. I chose (actually had to) fly east because I couldn't find anything on the slope and was sinking fast with on LZ in site, Andy followed me and we caught some nice lift along the way going about 55 kms/hr. Andy was headed to Squawlik but we were getting low and there are limited LZs past that point if you get low, so I suggested landing at Ruby Creek (Andy had already passed it so had to fly upwind on bar to make it). We had nice landings in very tall grass! Alex crossed over the Fraser to the south side and soared the slopes across from us going between 1100 and 1700 meters but not getting much forward speed towards Bridal. As we watched Jack M arrived with the Suburban to retrieve us, and Alex elected to fly back to Ruby Creek for a ride. Nice flight, Alex.  Heading towards Agassiz at 1200 meters  A great view of Agassiz from Agassiz Mountain  Heading towards Bear Mountain, Alex R is somewhere under the CU?  Alex R heading towards Hicks, just above me, but I am gaining!  Ruby Creek LZ is on the right, Andy has passed it heading towards Squawlik before turning back. This is roughly 25 kms from Woodside. Fraser River is just showing on the right.  Alex Raymont's track log. Later Jack M was rewarded with a nice soaring flight (#10) at Woodside getting higher than the local pros. He followed Colleen to Harvest Market for his first mini-XC flight on his new Ozone Buzz, he was seen later still 5 feet off the ground with a big grin! Andy checked his flight time for Sunday - a mere 8 hours? What a great day! Rain forecast for the balance of the week, but at least we have the memories! Pictures will be posted later, when I download them from my camera.
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| /1000' (unstable) 3774 feet
Woodside Report - we arrived at the Ranch around 1:45 pm, after seeing Justin and Julie turn back to
North Vancouver in Deroche (too bad for them!). After completing a round of chores, thanks to Jack C
for mowing the parking lot and front lawn, we headed up the mountain, good cycles . . . definitely soarable.
Colleen went first to test the air for Jack and I. Up up up, beep beep beep.
We all climbed to 1100 meters and flew for about an hour before Colleen got cold, and wasn't penetrating,
so Colleen and Jack flew over the back towards Agassiz. Colleen overflew the private airport at the toe of
Hopyard Hill, electing to land at Harvest Market instead as it was closer to the highway
in case she had to hitch a ride. Jack landed at the private strip. | My plan was to top-land and chase after them in the F-150, but as I big-ear'ed down to launch, Andy and Leonardo (on his HG) were standing down cause it was too gusty? Maybe not a good time to top-land. So I flew out to the Ranch where Jack's vehicle was waiting. I went on bar to speed up the progress and the Mantra (DHV 2-3) sped up nicely to 25 km/hr on GPS and felt very stable at speed. As I approached the ridge before the flats, where it usually gets bumpy I let off the bar. The Mantra felt more twitch off bar, so I pushed it again and sure enough it felt more stable at speed. More testing to follow. I landed in a NE wind at the Ranch and packed up fast to go retrieve C & J. As we got to the top of Woodside to retrieve the truck; Andy, Josef and Leonardo had launched and were climbing fast. So Colleen and Jack flew again, Ian J was flying his Rans Coyote ultralight over Woodside chatting on the radio to Jack as I drove my truck to the Crossroads Esso to get fuel. They got above 1200 meters this time and while Andy and others flew to the Ranch, Colleen decided to fly to Agassiz High School. Again the Mantra (with Jack at the controls) passed the Zoom and got to the high school much faster on trim speed. No wind landings in the school, nice and smooth. Vernon Mountain Report - Bev and Norm flew Vernon Mountain, with a bit of soaring as the son-in-law drove for them.
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| /1000' (unstable) 3774 feet
Bev & Norm's Interior Report - we stopped off at Savona and it was very windy up top,
Norm attempted a launch and it picked him up and draped a small part over the tree, he climbed up and released it,
it was hanging on by one line. So we packed it in and began our way. Oh mosquitos are terrible!
We went to Lumby this morning and it was blowing over the back, no go, so we went to Mara and Norm launched in
45 degree he got off of launch and stayed up long enough for me to get down and watch him land,
it was windy and choppy out there. So this evening we went kiting in strong winds in the school field in Vernon.
Anyway lets see what tomorrow brings - Bev | Peter & Jack's Woodside Report - we had a nice 1.5 hour soaring flight! and then had our asses handed to us on landing at Eagle Ranch! Windy and thermic in the LZ. But we flew - Jack Colleen & Jim's Landscaping Report - we started shovelling bark mulch and rocks around 9:00 am, finished in time for dinner and a movie. Some rain, and many phone calls to see how flying was. You can't fly everyday? or can you? |
June 2005 Site of the Day archives - too much rain, but good days to fly between showers.
May 2005 Site of the Day archives - our Instructor/Tandem seminar yielded some good flying. Our May 2005 SIV Clinic had a good turnout, with many wet wings/pilots! Many nice flights at Woodside and Bridal, with some long "out & returns" at Bridal.
April 2005 Site of the Day archives - some great soaring at Woodside and Bridal. Sad news from the US Hanggliding Nationals as Chris Muller crashes at goal.
March 2005 Site of the Day archives - we had to head out of town to Savona a few weekends due to wet weather on the Coast. Wetter than normal according to Environment Canada.
February 2005 Site of the Day archives - some good soaring despite early time of year. Flights as long as 3 hours at Woodside, some good flights at Whidbey Island for first timers, too!
January 2005 Site of the Day archives road trips to Mexico, not much flying locally due to strong north winds and rain. Record rain kept Eagle Ranch quite wet for kiting.
December 2004 Site of the Day archives a dry month with some good soaring including a fantastic day on Dec. 11 where we thermalled for 2+ hours!
November 2004 Site of the Day archives more record rain. We installed a fireplace in the barn to keep pilots warm between winter flights.
October 2004 Site of the Day archives more record rain, but sweet soaring between showers. Many new students signed up and making quick progress. We missed the Women's Fly In for the first time in 9 years, and there was some interesting flying on the Sunday!
September 2004 Site of the Day archives rainiest September on record for the first 3 weeks, made flying difficult. But Alan and others logged some pretty nice flights later in the month. Lots of student tandems for both Colleen and Jim.
August 2004 Site of the Day archives Great Maneuver/SIV/ACRO course at Mara. Jack got wet! Some great soaring at Woodside. Norm made it 68 km from Mara to King Eddie, Derek made it from Lumby to Enderby the opposite direction for 67 kms. We also did our BC roadtrip from Ashcroft to New Denver, and flew everyday.
July 2004 Site of the Day archives the Willi was on at Golden. We missed the mayhem due to work and school commitments but Norm did a great job representing the West Coast.
June 2004 Site of the Day archives Canadian Nationals came off with many great rounds. Pemberton-Whistler Championships were blown out most days so we headed to Cornwall.
May 2004 Site of the Day archives great flying at Woodside and Bridal. We held a very successful SIV Course at Mara Lake, and hope to run another one in August if they keep the forests open.
April 2004 Site of the Day archives good flying in the Valley. The Fraser Valley Cross Country PG Series was successssful.
March 2004 Site of the Day archives Nicole won in Brazil, otherwise the month sucked for flying time.
February 2004 Site of the Day archives some local flights extended to an hour with vigourous scratching above the trees. Good paramotor month.
January 2004 Site of the Day archives Mexican road trip yielded 20 hours of flight and a wet Canadian January kept most local pilots on the ground.
December 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew a few times but it got really cold at the end of the month as we prepared for a gala New Year's Party for 40 of our close personal friends and neighbours.
November 2003 Site of the Day archives windy and wet with the odd good soaring day, not many pilots out these days.
October 2003 Site of the Day archives Women's Fly In was great fun, some good soaring days mid-month, most of the students are signed off.
September 2003 Site of the Day archives good conditions until the last days of the month when it got stable. Most days were flyable at Woodside or Bridal.
August 2003 Site of the Day archives Forest closures made the end of the month a non-flying period unless you headed to Blanchard. FlyBC SIV 2003 was a great success with 9 stunt pilots and no deployments or crashes.
July 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew most days early at Woodside until it got windy, then over to Bridal. Good Golden flying reports from the "Willi".
June 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew most weekdays at Bridal, Woodside worked most weekends. Bridal Air Races had one great day with only two tree landings!
May 2003 Site of the Day archives not a great weather month on the coast, especially on the weekends but a few pilots managed to get some great airtime at Bridal. The Nationals were held in Lumby and it didn't rain!
April 2003 Site of the Day archives rain for 28 of 30 April days, but we managed to get a few flights in between showers. Even the golfers were complaining!
March 2003 Site of the Day archives some high spring flights in early March, but not a great weather month. Still no HPAC Insurance!
February 2003 Site of the Day archives some nice long spring flights in late February. HPAC Insurance expired on Feb 14, so many pilots stayed home instead of getting USHGA coverage.
January 2003 Site of the Day archives lots of rain all month in BC so we bailed and headed to Tapalpa Mexico for three weeks. Norm and Lucille had a great XC flight the first day we arrived.
December 2002 Site of the Day archives lots of rain all month.
November 2002 Site of the Day archives not a great flying month, lots of rain in the beginning and then super stable and inverted for the balance of the month. Even the Savona Road Trip wasn't that great. Looking forward to Mexico!
October 2002 Site of the Day archives Still soarable some days, great fun at the Women's Fly In 2002 in Chelan. Allan logged 15 hours and only flew a few days. Most of the students are ready for signoff soon to get ready for Mexico trips!
September 2002 Site of the Day archives Still soarable most everyday! Some scary incidents at Woodside. Fun flying at Ashcroft.
August 2002 Site of the Day archives More spring-like days with super lapse rates, great fun up-country at Revelstoke and Mara, with some good XCs for all.
July 2002 Site of the Day archives Some spring-like days with super lapse rates, but still rather wet at times.
June 2002 Site of the Day archives another rainy and windy month with great lapse rates, some great flights at Bridal with some getting above Cheam Peak. The Club Cup was nearly rained out but they got one valid task in on Sunday June 30.
May 2002 Site of the Day archives an extremely rainy month with the more spring mayhem, another reserve deployment at Lil Nick and a pilot crashed at the top of Deroche Mountain, uninjured but with a ripped glider and long hike down the mountain. Colleen placed 5th place at the Canadian PG Nationals in rainy Lumby!
April 2002 Site of the Day archives a rainy month with the usual spring mayhem, one reserve deployment at Woodside and a pilot hit a parked car at Bridal LZ, fracturing his leg.
March 2002 Site of the Day archives a few great days days with lots of snow and rain mixed in.
February 2002 Site of the Day archives two epic days already (4.5 hours and 2.5 hours!).
January 2002 Site of the Day archives Mexico vacation shots, some local flying but it was wet on the coast.
December 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, wettest December on record, some good days sprinkled thru the month.
November 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, had some good days at Woodside +2 hours, lots of rain later in the month.
October 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, but great flying at Chelan at the Women's Fly In.
September 2001 Site of the Day archives starting to get pretty stable, more sled rides forecast for October.
Aug 2001 Site of the Day archives Mara, Bridal, till some great flights locally
July 2001 Site of the Day archives Road Trip Month, Golden, Mara, points east!
June 2001 Site of the Day archives Great Month, 3 hours of airtime for some pilots every time they flew Bridal Lower! Some getting up to 6 hours in a single flight!
May 2001 Site of the Day archives Unstable Month, 2-3 hours of airtime for some pilots every time they flew Bridal Lower!
April 2001 Site of the Day archives Rainy Month, not as much airtime for some pilots
March 2001 Site of the Day archives Spring has Sprung!
February 2001 Site of the Day archives Spring is in the Air!
January 2001 Site of the Day archives - Mexico Flying Trip
December 2000 Site of the Day archives
November 2000 Site of the Day archives (great month for airtime!)
October 2000 Site of the Day archives
September 2000 Site of the Day archives
July - August 2000 Site of the Day archives
June 2000 Site of the Day archives
March - May 2000 Site of the Day archives
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