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FlyBC "Site of the Day Archive" - June/2014
We are flying at Woodside
“Enjoy the little things, for one day you make look back and realize they were the big things.” - Robert Brault
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| 6/30/14 |
 Agassiz BC Sunny. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High 27. UV index 8 or very high. Tessa had some previous ground handling on the flats up in the Yukon, but never had her feet off the ground before. Mission was perfect for this today. All the way to Mission I saw east or north winds on the ground and in the clouds. We arrived to find perfect up hill cycles at Heritage Park and both Josh (10 high flights) & Tessa (0 flights) did about 10 laps on the hill. By the end of the session both were flying past the running track easily! We headed back to Woodside and Colleen took Tessa tandem for her first high flight - tandems are the best way to test a students reactions with full safety. Josh was flying the new Ozone Geo 4 today and did really well with some very nice thermalling on flight #3 today and about 2 hours of total airtime today! Denis, Derek, Kevin & I managed another 8 tandems in total with some very nice soaring on the mid-day flights. My mid day tandem with Rachel had us climbing to 1100 metres with a couple of Ozone M6s and an Ozone Rush 4 chasing us, nice to get above launch and into the cooler air.
6/29/14
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|  Agassiz BC A few showers ending late this morning then cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. High 19. UV index 3 or moderate At around 5 pm, we took a load of pilots up and everyone had a nice soaring session. Bev got above launch on her Buzz Z4.
6/28/14
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| Agassiz BC Showers. Risk of a thunderstorm late this afternoon. High 18. UV index 3 or moderate. It turned into a thunderstorm and took out the power in several businesses in town. We were trying to work on the garden and installing some new eavestroughing when it hit here a second time. Lots of thunder but not much lightning, it must have been embedded. I am glad I called the day early so as to not waste anyones time driving out.  Rat Race Report - while we were sitting in the rain here, a few Canucks attended the Rat Race in Medford OR. Results here. Congrats to Simon B on his most excellent placing! His new Alpina 2 is coming this week so his well trained Delta 2 MS will be available for sale. 6/27/14
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| Agassiz BC Showers. Risk of thunderstorms this afternoon. Amount 10 mm. High 18. UV index 3 or moderate. 6/26/14
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| Agassiz BC A mix of sun and cloud. 40 percent chance of showers late this afternoon with risk of thunderstorms. High 24. UV index 7 or high. Martin N was at launch at noon and had a short flight before heading to Harvest Market as it picked up. I had 4 tandems booked at noon, Kevin & Denis were here to help. Bad news was that they trusted their in-dash GPS rather than my directions and they got lost for over an hour and when they arrived it was blown out. Not just a bit windy but the trees on the river were swaying pretty hard in the gusts. This was not going to let up til tomorrow so we sent them to Harrison for a hike. We have had a great run til today so maybe it is time to do some chores? 6/25/14
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| Agassiz BC Mainly sunny. High 25. UV index 7 or high. It was such a good day that by the end of the day he had over 2 hours of thermalling (a first) and 4 flights including one towards Harvest Market. He is flying a new Gin Bolero 4 (the same as the 2 new ones we ordered for our school and it performed well).
Lots of graduated students out flying today and no mishaps. Thanks to Camilo for driving a few rounds as his arm heals up from saving Richard on the weekend. We finished at a late 8:45 pm finishing off the last tandem with Sally and we noticed Al's Truck was still here after he failed to return from a planned XC flight. After checking in with Kevin, we saw he had outlanded in the Chehalis Valley (via his SPOT Tracker).
Kevin's Ozone Mantra M6 Report - My Mantra M6 ML arrived today, the first in Canada to my knowledge. After flying three tandems, I finally unpacked my new wing and launched from Bridal Falls, Canada at 5:00 pm for a 2.5 hour XC flight in familiar territory. Launch conditions were light and a little changeable so three tries were needed (I took the glider out of the bag for this first flight so it was very compressed). Once it inflated I had a nice launch into nice smooth, fairly strong thermals. After flying an Alpina 2 for the last six months, I noticed immediately the significant increase in brake pressure. It was no surprise that the wing moved around more and required more effort to turn than the A2. However, the sink rate and glide were also significantly better. I flew this flight very close to a friend on an Ozone Rush 4. For the first twenty minutes, I flew at trim speed and there was no appreciable difference between the two wings. However, I applied 50% bar when we had to cross a valley with a 13km/hr headwind, and the M6 left the Rush in the dust enabling me to clear a ridge and get to cloudbase while my friend grovelled down below. The longer I flew, the more bar I applied. I had heard the reports of pilots having difficulty getting their speed system adjusted,so I had set up my I3 harness so that I was immediately able to achieve 100% on the speed system and as I flew for the next two hours, this became very impressive. No collapses in pretty strong headwind turbulence. Later in the calm evening air, it appeared that my full speed was about 53 km/hr. The glide was very obvious when I came in to land at the relatively small LZ and had to apply brake to prevent overshooting. After 2.5 hours, I know that I will need to work on increasing the efficiency of my turns and I doubt that the M6 will ever feel as "fun" as the A2 but this is clearly a "mile-munching" paraglider and I look forward to getting to know it better in the days to come. Sorry, no pictures today! But it's a beauty - Yellow, Black,White, Red. My Flight Stats here. 6/23/14
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|  Agassiz BC A few showers ending late this morning then cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. High 20. UV index 3 or moderate. I was in Vancouver and had to run errands and took my time getting out to Chilliwack for supplies and banking. I arrived at the Ranch and took Camilo to lunch at Agassiz, all very civilized like normal people and when we got back to the Ranch the tandem passengers, Marlene & Chelsea were here for Marlene's Birthday Adventure. since the weather was a bit iffy, I suggested the other tandem pilots stay home and I elected to do both late day tandems myself. Camilo offered to drive. Rob W & Peter came up for a flight too. Fairly strong launch winds but not the 17 knots forecasted, and I was off and flying and soaring above Woodside with Marlene.
The truck arrived just as we landed so we headed back up with Chelsea for her flight. Meanwhile, Rob & Peter both flew and made it to the Ranch with no issues despite it being pretty windy. The last flight with Chelsea looked like a sledder, as the winds dropped off and Gary P had flown and top-landed as he thought it was shutting down. We launched in a light cycle and were scratching around near the Lower Launch Switchback when I caught a sharp pulse of lift and cranked the Magnum up and started climbing. Light at first but then it really picked us up and we were above Launch and still climbing. Gary relaunched as we had a spare driver to drive his truck and he managed another 30 minutes of soaring around with us. The next two days look really nice and then rain for the long weekend. 6/23/14
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| Agassiz BC A mix of sun and cloud. Becoming cloudy this afternoon. Becoming windy late this afternoon. High 26. UV index 8 or very high. Jeremy managed to get 3 flights on the Geo 4, Nova Ion and decided on the Nova Ion as his wing of choice (loved the Geo 4 but budget said Ion was better for him). He left with completing the HPAC P1 Level of Certification with 11 flights and 2 hours of airtime. Not bad for three days! Denis, Kevin & I did some tandems today and my first tandem with Birthday Boy Caden (13 yo) was interesting, as he said he was 80 lbs but I doubted it as we floated to 1000 metres without a turn and took 30 minutes to reach the Ranch! The second round of tandems had all three tandems floating over Woodside with ease! Nice video footage of us ridge soaring at 800 metres before heading over to Harvest arriving there even higher as we found some nice thermals over the river and the sandbars. Kevin was soaring Cemetary Hill and we came in even higher using those thermals. Meanwhile . . . Tom C, Joe C, Normand and Norm were flying solo and Tom C logged 3 hours alnding at the Dykes to help Normand find the LZ as he left low. Denis took the last tandem as I was doing Jeremy's paperwork and his passenger Ben came in with a huge smile saying "I will be back, this is way too much fun!". Thanks to Bev & Rob for driving today! I owe you guys some rides in return. And for the record . . . our friend Camilo is here for to summer earning his Instructor/Tandem Ratings and is going through the HPAC Instructor Certification Program as per the HPAC PRDs. We have sent in his Membership Forms and also we sent in his Rating Application for P-3 as he has had a New Zealand P-3 Rating since 2010. Next item to get for him is his HAGAR and renew his First Aid. He has been doing tandems in Mexico for 3 years and wants to get legally certified. Once he has his HPAC Card he will be doing the required 20 tandem flights with rated pilots. Revy Report - Chris D just sent me a flight report 136 kms to Mica Dam on his Ozone Alpina 2! He said the Alpina "crushed the thermals"! Tracklogs here from Canada on June 22 Found on Facebook - can you Identify the ATOS in this Google Street View? It is Marv from the Island from 2 years ago! Ozone Octane 2 Wingovers 6/22/14
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| Agassiz BC Mainly sunny. Becoming windy near noon. High 25. UV index 8 or very high. Denis & Colleen helped with the tandems, and Camilo was helping with launching students & Lee was helping with the landings, as both Apprentice Instructors are working toward their Instructor Certifications. We had student heading for the gulley with a riser twist as he tried to reverse launch, and Camilo tackled him down and they both got bruised up. Folks need to do more ground handling before they try to reverse launch on a busy launch area - ratio of kiting to flying is 5 hours of kiting to each hour of flying to keep current! At the end of the day . . . Jason logged 6 solo flights (with some nice thermalling over launch), Jeremy logged 5 solo flights and some of the others logged 2-3 flights depending on the launch sequences.
Most of the tandem flights were soarable today and the last evening flight we caught the Woodside Glass Off, very smooth. Again, the weather forecast said "Windy in the afternoon" and it stayed nice all day. Great for students and tandem passengers alike. Elk Report - Elk hosted a Summer Solstice Overnight Party with many hike & fliers camping out and flying down in the morning.
6/21/14
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| Agassiz BC A mix of sun and cloud. Becoming windy near noon. High 21. UV index 7 or high. We has been kiting up north with Steve J and had a great tandem with Russell B at the March Fly-In at Dawson this year, and it showed as he was super confident kiting the Nova Ion. He had purchased a used harness at the Fly-In so all he needed was one of our front mount reserves and he was ready to fly. He made his first flight at 11 am and it was a perfect inflation into 10-15 kph inflow cycles and he was off and flying. He somehow managed to turn the volume down on his radio as he was turning over the Maple Tree, so he drifted off course without friendly reminders . . . but remembered our Ground School landing breifing sessions earlier and had a perfect landing with Colleen shouting out instructions. He came up for one more flight around 12:30 pm and was able to thermal above launch from above the Construction Zone in a big fat thermal. At this time everyone that took off got way above launch with smooth thermals all over the place. We started doing the first of 13 tandems as well, with help from Denis, Kevin, Colleen & myself.
John & Annette, Camilo, Rob W, Jeff S were also out flying and Rob made his graduation flight #25 today! He passed the P2 Exam with 86% too, so he is ready to fly alone on his beautiful new Ozone Buzz Z4.
Some pretty big flights up in Pemby & in the Interior too. Tracklogs here 6/20/14
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| Agassiz BC Cloudy. 60 percent chance of showers early this morning. Becoming a mix of sun and cloud near noon. Windy. High 18. UV index 6 or high. Rob W, Andy & Sean flew and it was Sean's first flight and it lasted 30 minutes, with a solid landing near the circle. We were able to make 3 tandems each for Denis, Kevin & myself throughout the day ending at 8 pm.
6/19/14
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| Agassiz BC Cloudy. Periods of rain ending this morning then 30 percent chance of showers this afternoon. High 18. UV index 5 or moderate. Andy is up from Bellingham, and Rob is here again and almost finished his P2 rating as he is now over 20 flights and launching like a pro! The winds were light enough that the guys could approach from every direction with zero turbulence. The forecasted 30 kms of wind never happened today, but we worked with the differing conditions. Jeff arrived late and managed one light wind reverse launch & a nice flight to the Ranch before it shut down around 6 pm. 6/18/14
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| Agassiz BC Mainly cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers this morning. High 19. UV index 6 or high. We had a sledder on the first flight and then the air turned "magical" and the lift was everywhere. Good thing the students knew how to do "big ears" as they were getting some decent cloud suck at times. Rob was having way too much fun on his new Ozone Buzz Z4 as he was buzzing launch and hooting & hollering with glee! Rod was trying out our Gin Atlas M demo, and loving it. We may have an Icaro WildCat trade in soon.
The late set of tandems at 6 pm had a nice extended sledder into nice landing conditions, and after they went I took my grandson Remy for a flight and we had beautiful conditions landing in the new ProCircle (which I think has better airflow than the old one). I used the used Nova Ion L today for our tandem, a great beginner ship with little airtime and the last porosity test revealed between 240-300 seconds good to 130 kgs all up. 6/17/14
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| Agassiz BC Mainly cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers early this morning. High 21. UV index 6 or high. I took Rohan (6 years old and 80 lbs!) using the Magnum 41 and had a very nice sink rate. Denis took Shirely, and finally Kevin took Shiraj and we had super conditions at launch & landing. Later Denis took one last tandem at 430 pm and it was also nicely soarable.
6/16/14
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| Agassiz BC Showers. High 15. UV index 3 or moderate. Camilo arrived on the weekend from GDL and he is here for 45 days earning his Instructor/Tandem ratings from HPAC & USHPA. Camilo was flying my Skypper harness with the Gin Atlas and he learned about our site in differing conditions from light to strong winds.
Mother Woodside delivers again with a blue hole overhead and rain in all four quadrants around us. 6/15/14
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| Agassiz BC Showers. High 15. UV index 3 or moderate. Denis and I took Thomas & Carrie tandem at 12:30 pm and I launched first and hovered over the clearcuts for 15 minutes waitng for Denis to launch. I got lowere and lower and had to make a run to the Ranch. Carrie noticed and remarked that "we are just suspended here" as in parked over the Construction Zone. We were making some forward progress but very slowly but the vario was still beeping so all is good. Then we hit the ridge and got really parked. I contempleted the HG LZ and even shifted a bit to the North to head that way and found some lift and calmer air and started heading to the Ranch (slowly). We came into the NE corner and got popped up and had a nice smooth landing. Denis was now in the air and got above launch before heading out as his passenger (a sailor) started feeling woozy. They had lots of height but apparently Denis had to go full open trims to get out here even with a heavy passenger. Despite our nice approaches and landings both passengers failed to run and landed either on their butts or faces. Our next passengers were waiting so after downloading the videos for Carrie & Thomas, we were back in the truck heading up to Launch. We now had a blue hole over Woodside and I thought it might get windier so I clipped in Nicole fast and we were off after a 7 minute wait for a lull. We climbed out pretty fast and waited at 900 metres for Denis to launch with Devon. Devon's hubby Brad was driving for us. Brad is an ex-HGer that used to fly in the Okanogan with Don Glass but he quit after he moved down to the coast 20 years ago. He seemed interested in getting back into the flying game. After 20 minutes of soaring out front of Woodside, Nicole looked down and sideways at launch and said "they are looking very small down there!" and then she looked up and said she was not feeling very good. Damn!
There was still a blue hole over Woodside as we set up our approach and landed to the South near the road at the Harvest Market LZ. Nicole kept her lunch in but it was after we landed that she mentioned she had to take Gravol just for the drive out and then again before the flight. Denis was in the air now with Devon after waiting a long time for a lull and they got "hoovered off" when they did launch. We packed up and Nicole was feeling better now as she filmed Denis & Devon come over the LZ. Oddly, the wind switched from SW to SE as Denis approached and I didn't notice it, nor did Denis and they landed somewhat downwind. After that we had steady east winds, perhaps from the cell over Agassiz? Brad arrived after Denis packed up and we drove back to the Ranch, still dry here in our Magic Valley while everywhere else was getting drenched. Our last set of 6 passengers was canceled due to the winds, so they are coming back Friday instead. Camilo G arrived today from Mexico, and he came out with Derek from Vancouver. He is staying to get his Canadian/USHPA Tandem Ratings and will he here for 45 days. 6/14/14
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| Agassiz BC A few showers ending late this afternoon then cloudy. High 15. UV index 3 or moderate. By 1:45 pm, the launch reappeared and it looked possible to fly the rest of the day but it would not have been that enjoyable for passengers as it was damp & cold. 6/13/14
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| Agassiz BC A few showers ending near noon then cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. High 17. UV index 3 or moderate. We marked the exams together and although Rob thought he did poorly, he managed a 85% pass mark! The others passed too with Curtis getting a record 92%! We also managed to be here for Fedex to drop off some great new kit for Rob as his Ozone Buzz Z4 XL arrived as well as some other gear that is going out on a bus tomorrow. We waited until 4 pm but the launch never opened up until later, and it was quite windy. Probably a good day to stay on the ground with a full moon & Friday the 13th too! Congrats on the progress the students made this week, with many interesting flights and landings & passing the P2 Exam. Meanwhile . . . in the Alps, Hardy H & Alex R had a nice XC outing. Stubnerkögel thermic flying with Austrian XC cracks from Hardy Hall on Vimeo. 6/12/14
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| Agassiz BC Cloudy. 60 percent chance of showers. Risk of thunderstorms and hail late this afternoon. High 19. UV index 3 or moderate. In the end it was a good call! Miquel & Curtis were camping on top and we watched them trying to decide whether to fly or not (through the telescope). We went up to join the boys, and started flying Woodside at 9:00 am and it was cycling in nicely and the air was clear with a few misty clouds at launch altitude. Darcy went first as we thought it was going to get windy early on.
We were back up at 11 am, with the addition of newly signed off student Rod F. This flight Darcy got to thermal his Element II near the construction Zone, as did Rob and Rod.
We went back up at 1:30 pm, and everyone had nice flights landing at the Ranch after Miquel showed us how to stay above launch.
The road up to Norrish Creek is good as they are logging up there, but the road to Lil Nic is a bit rough in spots. The Atlas pulled through with ease through the rough sections. Launch is a bit overgrown but we had a tarp to lay on the gravel and we cleaned off a firepit.
We now have too much information! In the old days we would throw Tom Hasek off first and see if he survived, and he always did. After waiting 30 minutes we drove back down and arrived to the Ranch to see the same gusty launch conditions at Woodside so the day was done with 3 rounds. A good day of not road-tripping. 6/11/14
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| Agassiz BC A mix of sun and cloud. High 22. UV index 5 or moderate. We got up to launch as soon as we could load up the Atlas and we arrived to light inflow cycles. Curtis was camped in top and said earlier, the winds were all over the place as it was leeside. We got Curtis, Samuel and Rod off and Rob waited for stronger cycles. Rob got set up and flew off last. Perfect conditions for a morning sleddy to clear the head and practice precision landings as Samuel nailed the circle. I raced down and grabbed the students and we were back on top for a repeat performance befre it got too thermic. I suspected we would have to stop student flights around 1 pm, but a high cloud cover came in and blocked enough sun to keep the thermals mellow and the winds light all day. Denis & I took Severin & his Dad tandem at 1:30 pm and we barely got a beep but had nice launch & landing conditions following the students out on flight #3. Loving the new Gin Fuse tandem! On the next round Norm was in the air already and he was at 995 meters but could not break 1000, while reports at Bridal said they were at 1400 metres. Curtis showed us the way to thermal again as he piloted his new Ozone Swift 2 up above launch and got an hour flight while everyone else was "sledding". Samuel launched his new Nova Mentor 2 perfectly every time today, and on the last flight found a nice thermal near the lower clearcut and he was soon at 1000 metres so I suggested he fly to Harvest Market. He has done that flight on his Hangglider so I figured he could find the field on a paraglider.
We had Darcy join us later from Revy as he missed out the morning flights, but he looked good getting two flights in today after a long winter hiatus. The last flight had everyone fly a nice sledride launching in light winds and landing softly at the Ranch. We logged five flights today for the students that got here early and stayed all day, a very productive day indeed! Ozone News - in the latest Ozone News there are some nice flight reports from everyday pilots (like you). 6/10/14
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| Agassiz BC Mainly cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. High 19. UV index 5 or moderate. As I am an optomist and trust Environment Canada forecasts, we hung in and did 3 hours of "speed to fly" ground school and other paperwork. And then it started to clear up around noon. We could see launch and the winds looked good in the telescope, so we loaded up the Atlas and headed to launch. When we arrived it had fogged back in but it was a thin layer according to our new webcams.
By the time we got Josh ready to fly it had fogged back in as Curtis made his way to the Ranch arriving quite high as it was buoyant and we had light valley winds. We got a nice window after 15 minutes of waiting as the air was warming up and we could see the thermals as the mist was rising and condensing. Josh took off in a perfectly executed forward launch on a new Gin Bolero 4 and he was on course for the Ranch again with lots of height to burn off, perfect for practicing figure-8s over Duncan's field.
Curtis found some nice thermals and was above launch on the last flight for over an hour on his new Swift 2, very nice with no electronics. We repeated three rounds today and the guys were pretty tired by the end of the day around 5 pm. 6/9/14
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| Agassiz BC A mix of sun and cloud. Windy. High 22. UV index 7 or high. Rob & Walter were ready at 8 am, and we headed straight up the mountain. Rob on his Nova Ion L and Walt was trying out the Gin Atlas so he was better loaded for the forecasted 15 knots of wind (which did not materialize until 1 pm). Rob flew off first and was enjoying his valley tour so much he almost forgot the approach to the Ranch, fortunately he had lots of altitude as it was very lifty at 8:30 am. Walter flew a straighter course and had a nice landing although although he is now a "corn-husker" as he misjudged his turn into final. Good thing the corn is only 6" high today. We raced back up and decided it was time for these guys to learn the Harvest Market run, in case it was too windy after takeoff. Conditions on launch were 10-15 kph straight in, but you never know how windy it might be after climbout. And they both climbed out well. Walter was off first and got nice lift out at the South Knoll, Rob got lift all the way out and chased three bald eagles soaring the South Knoll and was at 1000 metres when he flew to Harvest Market.
We all went back up with Magalie from France who was here for a tandem flight but it was way too strong as we got "turtled" once as I decided not to take ballast assistance. We went for a drive to find David from Gravity Sports Hanggliding a suitable tow field near Dewdney to kill some time as I figured it would mellow out later. We found a nice field that we often land in coming from Benedict Launch and they seemed receptive. At 6 pm we went back up Woodside and we found a lull to launch into with Magalie and we were soon at 1200 metres and it was very cold, good lapse rate! After 30 minutes soaring Woodside and making it out to the Ranch and back a few times, we headed east. Andrei & Elena were going to go tandem too but it got stronger instead of weaker so they drove down. Rob was driving my rig. I knew we had enough height and Derek was planning a trip over to Woodside later so I flew to Agassiz where we set up to land at the High School where we had a super swoop landing on our feet right in the Oval Track.
We got a rie with Derek and we headed back up Woodside for a late evening flight but as we got to the top it was much windier than when Magalie & I flew a few hours earlier so we drove down as we were running out of daylight. 6/8/14
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| Agassiz BC Mostly cloudy. High 22. UV index 6 or high. We also had many other students flying and we managed 2 rounds before it got too windy and thermic. Colleen expertly guided them threw their approaches and landings. I then took Eric, Blake's son for a tandem and we had some small thermals on the hill and over the Construction Zone but not much to gain height in and we had a rough approach with some turbulence and winds coming from all four quadrants but we landed on our feet in the middle of the big Circle. After we landed Rod & Martin N took off and they climbed immediately over launch . . . and then it blew out and Derek, Gary K and others were forced to drive down. Martin flew straight to Sasquatch Inn and didn't lose anything on the crossing but the westward push was slow and rotory. Rod flew to Harvest Market and Blake picked him up. Later we got to see Martin landing at the Ranch and it was "spicy" but he did a great job. After that it was more kiting and no more flights, as it was still windy at sunset. 6/7/14
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| Agassiz BC A mix of sun and cloud. High 24. UV index 7 or high. We had a really good session with Walter from 2 weeks ago showing the students how to do it right. He is back from a work vacation and ready to get his P2 Rating completed. After three hours in the sun running up and down the hill the students were ready to fly, but the winds were way too strong by now, so we went kiting at the LZ at the Ranch. Lots of reverse kiting practice and they all have a good grasp of the concept required in higher winds. We stopped training at 7 pm and headed in to Chilliwack to buy a new lawn mower as the old one has expired - blown ring in one of the cylinders as it pumps out blue smoke and has no power. Good for mosquito killing while mowing, but not gonna last long that way. We are starting early to beat the forecasted 18 knots of wind tomorrow. 6/6/14
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| Agassiz BC Mainly sunny. High 24. UV index 7 or high. Ali was super excited after being away since last fall after her first solo. We had done a tandem last week to reinforce the landing skills (the best way to train) and she showed the others how to launch perfectly every time today. Flight #2 had some thermals and Paul was working the Construction Zone Thermals pretty well. Ali sat out flight round #3 as it was getting too thermic but the other guys with 20+ flights were loving it! Rod caught a low save over the Construction Zone and thermalled above launch and chased Colleen on tandem over to Harvest for a mini-XC flight. Colleen was flying new student Andy for his first lesson. By now it was getting quite windy and Colleen took the students out kiting in the LZ here. Denis & I had a set of tandems to do and I ballasted off Denis & passenger Shaun in a lull. Good climbs but later Denis aid he did not like the texture of the air. I was with Mehreen and we clipped in and unclipped several times before calling it too unsafe and we drove down to Harvest to pick up Denis & Shaun. Better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than the other way around! We waited til 6 pm and then called the day. Several pilots waited on launch til after 8 pm and it never calmed down. 6/5/14
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| Agassiz BC Mainly sunny. High 22. UV index 7 or high. We had a first flight at noon and it was normal little bits of sink & lift over the Construction Zone for the students with nice landing conditions. After the students flew off I took Lance for a tandem and we soared above launch and to the North Cliffs chasing a bald eagle. We flew for 30 minutes before having him fly me out to the Ranch. Flight #2 was very different! Paul launched first and was soon above launch flying his wife Ali's Element 2 Small. Paul definitely had some skills as he out-climbed everyone!
Rod was enjoying ridge soaring more than thermalling but he found some good cores and also climbed out.
We arrived over the Ranch at 700 metres and tested some spirals! Landing at the Ranch was fairly thermic but we had a nice touchdown on our feet in some gusty winds. We packed up and headed to Harvest to get the guys who were pretty pumped, before heading to Bridal as a group was assembling there. We drove to the top to watch Derek launch and decided right then that it as too strong for the students as he hoovered off launch and got parked! I watched Klaus head out to the LZ and he also was getting tossed around in some windy thermals. Most everyone bailed and headed out to land except Kevin who braved the winds and got to 2200 metres.
6/4/14
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| Agassiz BC Mainly cloudy. Clearing late this afternoon. Becoming windy this afternoon. High 21. UV index 6 or high. We arrived to some low clouds but Sam was able to launch and fly around them, all the while I was still able to watch his flight path and it was light SW winds all the way out with good lift (even that early).
The third flight I thought might be pushing the boundaries but we repped for a possible Riverside Landing in case of strong winds but that plan was not needed as the students flew over the Ranch at 300 metres with ease and little turbulence. We held off any more flights as it looked like it could get very windy and instead went to our training hill where we had perfect East winds and strong enough to reverse launch and pop off the ground for a few seconds! Later it got very strong as I headed to Chilliwack Bus Depot to ship gliders to some very excited pilots up in Whitehorse (Wolf & Stan). I could barely get the Nissan Atlas above 80 kph there and very fast back to the Ranch on the return run. Belated Golden Ears Hike & Fly Report - We arrived to strong NW thermals creating clouds at the summit.
We launched at 5:30. I think I had about 45-60 min of soaring at the peak and then out over the UBC Research forest.
from Sunday June 1, 2014 Pemberton Report - from Saturday May 31, 2014. Some very big flights from our local pilots . One of the very big flights was posted here by Fred B More guts than a pork sausage! 6/3/14
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| Agassiz BC Mainly cloudy. 40 percent chance of showers near Hope. Risk of thunderstorms. High 21. UV index 6 or high. We had low clouds and light winds here at the Ranch so we did some ground school and set up harnesses and packs for Mike M, Josh L & Rod F.
We went back up one last time after surveying Riverside LZ just in case they were getting parked and figured out a flight & landing plan for them. Oddly we had east winds in the LZ there with strong SW flow everywhere else? Woodside has some interesting back eddies in the air. We got to launch and it was clearly too strong for students so back to the Ranch for a debrief before heading to Mission for some training hill flights. It was windy there too and mostly cross so we just kited and learned how to reverse launch with Mike & Josh. 6/2/14
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. High 24. UV index 7 or high. Curtis & James stayed another day and some other students arrived that were not scheduled and I somehow had 10 students at the Ranch. Fortunately the senior students got 2 flights before the newbies arrived, so by noon I was done ground school with Sam 1, Sam 2, Josh & Shaun and we headed to Mission with Ali to do the training hill duty. Bill G took the senior students up with Denis as they had tandems to do, and launched them and they got another flight and some soaring too while we sweated on the training hill. After 2 hours the new students were looking good and had done many runs both on the hill & the flats so we headed back to check conditions but the over-development near Bridal looked ominous. All the way back it was very windy near the Fraser River, so we took a break until 6 pm as the students went to lunch or just hung out. Reports from Bridal said it was windy but doable. We went back up the mountain at 7 pm and got everyone a flight including Sam W, Sam A, Shaun for their first solos and the other guys had very nice soaring conditions.
Everyone was pumped to get another flight and were packed up when I arrived back at the Ranch, so back up the hill and everyone was off and back on the ground by legal dark. Five student rounds on a windy day is pretty good for Woodside! Good time for repetitive skill building with multiple flights in differing conitions.
6/1/14
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. High 24. UV index 7 or high. Mike M was back for followup lessons and had a nice set of thermalling flights on his new Ozone Geo 4 (all new for 2014 and it looks amazing). Everyone had 3-4 flights depending on their schedules, and Denis & I did a few tandems too in strong winds mid-day. Loving Harvest Market these days! We went back up for a late flight around 8:30 pm and Woodside was "glassing off" and everyone stayed up for 30+ minutes before a very smooth landing at the Ranch! |
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