FlyBC's Paragliding Site of the Day June 2017 Archive Page - from the Universe's Largest Paragliding Centre :-)

Date	Site	Forecast	Winds @ 3000' in knots	Lapse Rate °C/1000' Cloud Base in Meters	Comments
6-30-17	Woodside is looking flyable after noon when the clouds lift	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Partly cloudy. High 23C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h.	230° @ 8	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Roadtrip Report - Chippewa County has a nice pilots lounge, where I slept again because cloudbase was too low for safe flights to the west and thunderstorms forecast throughout Michigan. I was washing the bugs off Lil Buzzard when this other small Canadian Plane arrived. Later in the day it cleared off with a 1800 foot ceiling, but there is a SIGMET for the entire state and into North Dakota, so I am parking the Lil Buzzard in a hangar and flying home on Delta until the weather gets better in a few weeks. Plus I didn't want to miss Canada's 150th Birthday here in the States! "If you have time to spare . . . go by air!"
6-29-17	Woodside is looking soarable after noon	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Partly cloudy. High 23C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h.	230° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Road Trip Report - I was weathered in in Gore Bay last night, and arrived at the airport around 11 am as there was no rush with 300 foot ceilings and the temp/dewpoint at the same level until 3 pm. When the clouds did lift I checked the next airport, Drummond Island MI, just an hour north and it was forecast to lift at 3 pm too and slight chance of a shower. After some maintenance on a fuel line, I lifted off and headed North climbing to 3500 feet to cross the two stretches of water between Gore Bay-Cockburn Island-Drummond Island. Crossing Cockburn Island I noticed an old runway that looked like sand and grass and it had two intersecting runways. I got well over Drummond Island and at least 4 miles from Drummond Island Airport and US customs when a thunderstorm formed and started dropping big rain and hail! I turned around and headed back toward Cockburn Island and looked for a way around the storm but the entire Drummond Island was covered in cloud, so back to the unimproved runway at Cockburn Island. I landed on the shorter runway into the wind and it was bumpy but I had a safe landing. After contacting Flight Service to close my flight plan when I found a cell signal, I walked around the airport and found some old logging equipment in the hangar but no one around. I waited til the storm cleared through the area and decided to head south back to Gore Bay Airport because I had missed my customs window. As I approached Gore Bay, there was a new thunderstorm appearing there! Back towards Drummond Island Airport which was now clear, and taking my chance with US Customs, I landed at KDRM and found some fuel but no customs agents. I called US Customs in Sault and they said fly to Sanderson Field to clear or alternately Chippewa County Airport, so I headed off for the last leg of an exciting trip. It was now near legal dark and I was bucking a headwind but I saw the runway lights of KCIU and made a straight in approach on Runway 25 just as the lights went out but I could see the runway fine as it was still dusky. The runway lights are turned on by keying your mike but turn off after 15 minutes, so they were on from a previous aircraft. I called US Customs to report in and they sent an agent out from Sault but I had to remain in the plane til he arrived. After buying a recreational decal and declaring my citizenship we were finished. Sault is 30 minutes away and there is a nice pilots lounge with couches, TV and Internet so I stayed here for the night. Saves some money for fuel too. Meanwhile back in Vancouver, James F had an amazing Paragliding flight over Indian Arm! And Igor flew off Mt Curry in Pemberton after spending the night vol-biv and landed in Whistler somewhere!
6-28-17	Woodside is looking soarable after noon	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Partly cloudy. High 23C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h.	230° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Roadtrip Report - finally got the Lil Buzzard out of Edenvale Aerodrome when the weather cooperated today. I flight planned a direct route from Edenvale - Gore Bay - Chippewa International but decided to land in Gore Bay for fuel and a rest as the radar was showing rain and a storm near Chippewa. Despite this being a basic ultralight, the addition of an app in my iPad gives me a glass panel display of my flight and what is ahead. And I had wifi coverage the entire way thanks to my Fido hub. It was windy enroute and my airspeed indicator was saying 75-80 mph but my ground speed was more like 50 mph. I had a sweet approach and landing at Gore Bay in +30 kph gusty wind but the wind was "right down the pipe" and the touchdown was soft and straight. I closed my flight plan with US officials after they called asking my location, because I was overdue. Oddly, I had called London FSS but they said I had no flight plan as I fuelled up. More technology to make flying safer is the SPOT Tracker. We have been using it for years in Cross Country Paragliding, but it is even smarter for private pilots. Saving many searches, when pilots fail to close a flight plan. Nice manager at the airport, Robbie, offered me the airport van to get into town after refuelling and checking the storms ahead. Robbie also called for a room in a nice apartment next to the Legion. Looks like I might get a weather window tomorrow to head into the US.
6-26-17 & 06-27-17	Woodside is looking too windy today for student flights based on the RASP, but Degas is heading to Mission for new student orientations	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Abundant sunshine. High near 25C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h.	230° @ 25	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Aircraft Adventure - I am in Barrie ON to pick up a new plane for our Ultralight Training. It is a Lil Buzzard Basic Ultralight with a Rotax 912 motor and it carries two persons. It does not have IFR nav equipment so I am stuck here while the rains pass through the area. I did a test flight last night and it was gusty and cross so it was an exciting landing! Tomorrow looks good to get out of here and into Michigan State for the trip home.
6-25-17	Woodside is looking good today for student flights after 11 am	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Sunshine and clouds mixed. High near 35C. Winds light and variable.	230° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - we flew at Woodside today, after 11 am. We got 4 student rounds in in light to no wind conditions thanks to Denis for the launch guidance. I was working with Glen on the paramotor and after demonstrating how to launch, he had some issues and never got off the ground. I think the heat affected the density altitude and made it hard to get enough speed to get off the ground even after changing him to a larger wing. Next month we will try again. Four more signoffs today with 25+ flights and thermal & ridge practice too! Thanks also to Kevin who flew two tandems wile I was out in the paramotor field.
6-24-17	Woodside is looking good today for student flights	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Sunny. High 33C. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 km/h.	230° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - we were flying at Woodside today, after 11 am. We decided it was more important for everyone to write their P-2 exams than fly as they were mostly done but 2 flights. We had a marathon writing session and everyone passed with 85% or more due to the awesome ground school sessions this week on windy days. By the end of the day around 7 pm, most students had logged 4 flights. Kevin & I did a tandem at 1 pm, and it was hard work to stay up for 20 minutes, very stable at Woodside. Kevin did the last tandem at 2:30 and it was even lamer conditions. Bad news as the mosquitoes have hatched at Eagle Ranch, it was unbearable after 7 pm with no wind and the hay just cut so they have no where to go but to attack. Bring Off or Deet if you are coming to fly.
6-23-17	Woodside is looking good today for student flights	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Plentiful sunshine. High 29C. Winds W at 10 to 15 km/h.	230° @ 7	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - we were flying at Woodside today, after 9 am, as the outflow in Agassiz never hit Woodside in the AM. We had a big crew of 6 students and Degas kept running them up the mountain until they had logged 6 flights. In between their runs, I was doing tandems and I got above launch on each flight with not much problem. I did three tandems by 6 pm. Jen & I had a nice thermal with a bald eagle over the South Knoll as it climbed up with us to 1100 metres on the SwiftMAX tandem.
6-22-17	Woodside is looking good today for student flights	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Abundant sunshine. High around 25C. Winds light and variable.	230° @ 7	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - we were flying students at Woodside today, after 9 am and they got 6 good flights in. They wanted to do 7 flights but their Instructor had to go home for a rest, too much adrenaline! Brad & I did some tandems and we managed to get above launch, but it was hard work. Martin H is pictured here on his ATOS finally getting away after a 2 hour grovel, while we were climbing out under him. He reported that the lift was quite strong and rough at Benny. Same reports from Bridal where pilots got to 2200 metres. Meanwhile, Igor took off from Pemby and flew all the way down Harrison Lake landing at Bridal LZ!
6-21-17	Woodside is looking good today for student flights but it will get windy by noon	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 19C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h.	230° @ 15	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - we hoped to be flying at Woodside today, after 9 am but the gusty winds were a concern so it was back to kiting and ground school for the students. Denis was up on launch at 7 am with his guys and they only got one flight which was soarable for a short time. Measured winds were 29 kph gusting to 41 kph around 3 pm, so it was definitely a no-go. Meanwhile I was flying an ultralite over Glen Valley trying to keep it at 2400 feet clear of cloud while the thermals were pulling us into the clouds amking it interesting doing slow flight and forced approaches. Two more hours on the logbook to get recertified. Landings at King George Airpark were gusty too but the wind was straight down 23 so no issues.
6-20-17	Woodside is looking good today for student flights but it will get windy by noon	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Rain showers early becoming a steady light rain for the afternoon. High around 20C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 60%.	230° @ 20	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - we hoped to be flying Woodside in the morning but low cloudbase appeared and when we could see launch it was gusty, so we concentrated on getting Scott a quick 10 paramotor flights before the rain hit around noon. It was too windy for aircraft operations at King George so I stayed at the Ranch til late afternoon. Degas took the crew to Mission and Agassiz for kiting but it was pretty gusty at both places.
6-19-17	Woodside is looking good today for student flights	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: More clouds than sun. High around 25C. Winds light and variable.	230° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 900 metres	Woodside Report - it was outflow at Woodside today, with strong North Winds. I was out at King George doing circuits on a Beaver 550 ultralite to regain my currency with TC and it was going well until the engine developed a sputter so we landed right away. Meanwhile back at the Ranch Degas & Dennie were herding the students. The students went to Agassiz with Dennie and had a great kiting session, getting dragged a bit at times. They came back at 3 pm to find launchable conditions, but just enough to get off Woodside for sleddies. Delvin & Tim came up for a few flights and Tim took Colleen's Swift 4 home so she is gliderless again! By 6 pm, the students had logged 4 flights off Woodside and were looking great as I got Scott one more paramotor flight on his Blackhawk Quad.
6-18-17	Woodside is looking good today for student flights if the clouds lift	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: More clouds than sun. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 18C. Winds light and variable.	230° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 900 metres	Woodside Report - we were flying at Woodside today, but it was after 3 pm when we had good cloudbase. In the meantime students went to Mission to kite and practice reverse launches until it started to rain. When they came back launch cleared but the winds were light to nil, but they all launched with powerful forwards under Dennie's supervision. Great landing conditions in NW winds in Eagle Ranch!
6-17-17	Woodside is looking good today for student flights	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. High 19C. Winds light and variable.	230° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 1100 metres	Woodside Report - we were flying at Woodside today, after 11 am and had a super day. It turned out nicely thermic for the pros to climb out and top-land multiple times, while the students enoyed 5 flights in smooth air. Colleen, Dennie and I took three girls for a birthday tandem celebration and we had great conditions to soar above launch for over an hour. Colleen's passenger got a bit queasy after that long so she was the first to land in nice conditions if not a bit switchy. We did have one incident on the fourth flight when a student decided to do 360s too close to the trees north of launch and ended up in the trees! This is the first time in over 11 years that this has happened and it was due to inadequate knowledge of aerology and that he forgot to always approach a ridge at 45 degrees. It happens to the pros too, but remember to aways "figure-8" near the trees. Glider is wrecked but the student is unscathed and went back up to fly the fifth flight but it was deemed too cross for that last flight. Claudia saw a flock of pelicans fly through Woodside airspace oblivious to our CYA, heading NE to the Cariboo.
6-16-17	Woodside is looking windy today for student flights, but good for Ground School and preparatory ground instruction-	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Mostly cloudy skies. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 19C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h.	230° @ 15	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - we could not fly at Woodside today, as it was too thermic and windy even as late as 7 pm. Scott however got one paramotor quad flight at 5 pm, and it was not nice air so he landed right away. Not so turbulent but just a layer of mixing air that did not allow for a good climb rate. Degas took two newbies to Heritage Park and they worked hard geting back to the Ranch at 7 pm. They are ready to fly Woodside tomorrow if conditions are good.
6-15-17	Woodside is looking wet today for student flights, see you on Friday for Ground School and preparatory ground instruction-	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Rain showers early will evolve into a more steady rain for the afternoon. High near 15C. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near 6mm.	230° @ 25	-3.0°C (unstable) 600 metres	Woodside Report - we were NOT flying at Woodside today, at all. It was raining heavily later in the day, good for the crops.
6-14-17	Woodside is looking good today for student flights	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Cloudy early with peeks of sunshine expected late. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 18C. Winds light and variable.	230° @ 13	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - we had a keen crew flying at Woodside today, after 11 am. Degas was handling the show with 5 students and lots of nice reversible wind on top to play with. The students got 4 flights and were able to practice "big ears", "rear riser turns" and spot landings next to the firepit when it started to rain. Stuart got to land next to Linda's car in the parking lot as he was the last and was going to be the wettest. omoorw looks like a day off with 100% chance of rain.
6-13-17	Woodside is looking good today for student flights	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: A few showers this morning with mostly cloudy conditions during the afternoon hours. High 16C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 30%.	230° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 1200 metres	Woodside Report - we hoped to be flying at Woodside today, after 10 am, but at the Launch Coaches discretion it was deemed too gusty for students. So it was a good time to head to Mission for reverse launch training in Heritage Park. After a few hours there, the students came back and we headed up to Woodside Launch. We had Norm & Martin here as "wind techs", and they took off in the NW crossing wind and soared up to 1000 metres right away. All the students had great launches despite the crosswind, some getting their first high solo flights! Degas was landing the students on this round. Degas then took the students up for flight #2 and again they all got off but Ken who was frozen by now, as it was darned cold on launch all day.
6-12-17	Woodside is looking good today for student flights	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Sunshine and clouds mixed. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 18C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h.	230° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 1200 metres	Woodside Report - we hoped to be flying at Woodside today, after 10 am. It was clear at 7 pm, and launch was open and calm. But by 9 am, it started drizzling and we did some ground school prep work. We had four intermediate students flying today; Jacek, Billy, Ken & Trevor and they got three flights each before it blew out around 5 pm. Degas had three more newbies in Mission working there on perfecting their launch & landing skills. Derek & Martin N had a nice little "scratchfest" landing at Riverside where Derek had parked as Billy flew straight out and was way above them on his new Ozone Ultralite 4. On the last flight of the day it calmed down enough for us to launch Ken & then Rob (newbie) and they went to cloudbase immediately at around 1100 metres and headed out to the Ranch. The winds were different as they went through a NW layer all the way to the LZ, but it was a standard approach with landing to the East? It got too strong again for 30 minutes and we gave up and drove down. We get a few more good days before the rain starts for the weekend.
6-11-17	Woodside is looking good today for student flights	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Partly cloudy. High 21C. Winds light and variable.	230° @ 7	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - we were flying at Woodside today, after 10 am. The two newbies, Greg & Dave, spent the day with Degas at our training hill and in Mission and were ready to fly last night but we ran out of day and energy. So they came up this morning and got off the mountain for the first time! By the end of day Dave had 4 flights and Greg had to sit the last one out due to food poisoning/stomach ailment. Jacek also got four flight and he missed the Ranch twice due to scratching for lift, Burt is gonna be rich! Scott flew a few different wings today, a Swing and the new SupAir Leaf Light, he liked the Leaf Light a lot better. Dominik is doing well too, now up to 19 flights in just a few weekends and he was rocking a Rush 4 today. The last flight of the day at 5 pm was very nice with Derek, Kevin and Norm skying out and getting 90 minutes of airtime landing at the Ranch. Too busy for photos but I am sure there will be some good GoPro footage from some pilots as a group headed over the Bridal doing some new routes. Gary P flew straight across the river over Rosedale connecting with Bridal. Peter flew the same route and landed near Little Mountain on his way back to Woodside but he looked like he made a good triangle.
6-10-17	Woodside is looking good today for student flights	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Overcast. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 18C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h.	230° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - we were flying at Woodside today, after 10 am. Scott managed to get 4 more flights before it got too windy, newbies Dave & Greg spent the day kiting and were ready to fly but it got too strong so we will get their first solos tomorrow. Micah came and got his first two flights on his new Gin Sprint and got a few hours of airtime in the strong stuff. And the grandkids got to come up to launch a few times before we had a nice BBQ in the firepit and still no mosquitoes.
6-9-17	Woodside is looking good today for student flights	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 18C. Winds light and variable.	230° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 800 metres	Woodside Report - we planned to be flying at Woodside today, after 10 am, but the two students here needed tuning up so Degas took them to Heritage Park til 3 pm. In the meantime a group of us went up to Woodside and it was strong! Big climbs to +5 m/s and fairly light winds and we all got to 1200 metres with ease. Dennie was test flying the Gin Explorer L and quite liked it. Norm was flying Bev's Geo 5 and Altirando3. I was flying my Zeno and a new Gin Genie Lite pod harness. After flying for an hour I saw Martin N head over the back to Harvest. I headed that way too followed by Andre, Dennie and Norm. We found out that Martin had landed cause it looked ugly over Cultus but it never amounted to anything on our side. We saw a rainbow forming on the last flight and the development at Bridal had subsided. Thanks to Bev & Paul H for picking us up. We headed back up at 6 pm to get the students a flight and Colleen came out too. Trevor & Scott took off after everyone else and went straight up to 1000 metres all the way to the Ranch, to find nice landing conditions. I later took Scott's Blackhawk Paramotor Quad for a test flight and it was quite trashy over the LZ with latent thermals kicking off and turbulent winds so I shut it down after a few passes.
6-7-17	Woodside is looking wet til Friday	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Cloudy with periods of rain. High around 15C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around 6mm.	240° @ 20	-3.0°C (unstable) 800 metres	Woodside Report - we were NOT flying at Woodside today, as the rain started falling by 6 am. Heavy rains from Harrison Mills to Surrey and strong SW winds. But it looked like it would clear up by dark, so Friday may be good.
6-7-17	Woodside is looking okay for some flights after 9 am	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High near 30C. Winds light and variable.	240° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 800 metres	Woodside Report - we got up early to launch and had Brianne in the air at 8:15 am. She needed 6 more flight to complete her P-2 and her boss wanted her back at work in Lake Louise on Thursday morning so we had to hustle today. By the end of the day she had completed her 6 last flights, wrote her P-2 exam and got a nice 87% score and she is now a signed off pilot! The other students only got 5 flights but by the end of the day everyone looked pretty tired with the 30C heat and lots of packing and unpacking. Ian D, and Endre both finished their required flights sometimes mid-day, but kept on flying til we quit at 6 pm. Newest student Scott from Sudbury got 5 flights too and he is up to 11 flights in only 2 days.
6-6-17	Woodside is looking okay for some flights after noon as there is outflow earlier	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Sunny to partly cloudy. High 29C. Winds light and variable.	240° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 1200 metres	Woodside Report - we spent the morning kiting and doing ground school with new students Scott & Dino, getting them ready for their first high flights. Then we started flying Woodside after noon when the outflow stopped. We had 6 students today and they got between 3 & 4 flights each depending on the timing. Scott & Dino got 3 flights in today looking very good for Day One. Here is Dino on the downwind leg flying a SupAir EONA. Bianca made a breakthrough today and actually enjoyed her flights, wanting to stay in the air. We quit flying at 6 pm, as everyone was hot & tired. Derek flew from Woodside to Agassiz, got a ride to Bridal and then flew to 1800 metres flying back to Harvest Market (which is still an LZ) where Bev picked him up. Meanwhile, John R was playing with a flight off Cypress Bowl in North Vancouver and he headed north. He made it to Britannia Mines and kept on going. And he eventually made it all the way to Squamish! He says he loves his Ozone Alpina 2! And it was high tide the entire route so no beach landings!
6-5-17	Woodside is looking okay for some flights after 10 am as there is outflow earlier	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Plentiful sunshine. High 24C. Winds light and variable.	240° @ 6	-3.0°C (unstable) 1400 metres	Woodside Report - we were flying at Woodside today after 10 am. I was doing admin duties and doing Landing Guidance for 8 students today. I knew I should have bought a bigger Van, but I though 8 seats would be more than adequate 2 years ago. Dennie was launching the students and they were all doing very well, getting them all off easily in an hour. They managed to get 5 flights in today in nice conditions. On the last flight, I launched my AirMax 125 paramotor and flew up to launch to watch the students fly off and it was mildly thermic so it didn't even take 10 minutes to get above launch. I love the SupAir EONAs on a paramotor! I launched from next to the firepit so I didn't have to haul the stuff out too far and was in the air in 3 steps in light East winds and climbing fast over the Ranch before aiming at Launch. Whistler Report - while the students enjoyed mild conditions here in the Valley, Alex & Paddy & Scott F had very nice flights launching off Rainbow Launch (formerly called Claude's Folly) and flew a great distance to the NW before landing at the School Field in Pemberton. Here is Alex & Scott's tracklogs overlaid, they only deviated a few times off the others heading. Alex is on a Gin Explorer and Scott is flying an Ozone Alpina 2.
6-4-17	Woodside is looking okay for some flights after 9 am but it will get windy later	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Sun and clouds mixed. High 18C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h.	240° @ 15	-3.0°C (unstable) 1400 metres	Woodside Report - we were flying at Woodside today after 9 am. Good thing too as it got windy early today, but only after we got two really good flights - one to the Ranch & one to Harvest Market. We went back up for a third flight but it was pretty strong by now. We tried one inflation with Chris W, and there were two un-named PGers in the air but they were parked and sometimes going backwards. After the one inflation we had to bag up the glider, and we watched Bill B wait forever in his HG as it went very North and strong gusts on launch. After 30 minutes we headed down and hatched a plan to hike Lil Nic. We arrived around 4 pm to see a paraglider in the air over Lil Nic. But it was gusty in the LZ. We headed up anyway down the trail on the east side of Norrish Creek. This is the first time hiking up Lil Nic in many years and I knew there was a new tril but I missed the trailhead and blundered my way up the creek til we hit the logging road. I called Dennie and he said we missed the trailhead so we were already at 200 metres so we bushwhacked a few kms til we found the actual new trail and finally got to launch after 2 hours of rock scaling and bushwhacking. We got to launch around 7 pm and it was strong yet I could not kite a solid wing due to the north wind here too. We waited til 8 pm and it never went straight and I kited an EONA for the entire time and never got a solid wing. We had to hike back down, but we stayed on John Weiland's trail and it was just an hour down to the Van and Beer! This it the first time I have ever had to hike down, although once in the old days circa 95 we had to wait til almost dark to fly down one time.
6-3-17	Woodside is looking okay for some flights after 10 am	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. High 18C. Winds light and variable.	240° @ 9	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - we were flying at Woodside today after 11 am when cloudbase lifted. It was a classic ground school moment while discussing the relationship between Temperature & Dewpoint in a real world setting, and comparing the forecasts to the actual cloudbase. The forecasts predicted a lifting trend at 11 am, and we were on launch at 11:15 am and it was safe to launch. We had quite a few students today, some who had not flown since last fall due to work commitments but they had been kiting. I managed to get 8 students off in less that 35 minutes, and Yves was down in the Eagle Ranch LZ guiding their landings. It was soarable from the first flight on throughout the day. Here is Ivan soaring in front of Launch on one of our SupAir EONA gliders. We got 4 flight rounds in today and some of the students got to fly to Harvest after we decided the Ranch was a bit turbulent for beginners at 3 pm. Here is Dominik soaring on his new Ozone Rush 4 before heading to Harvest. We had out last flights at 5 pm, and I decided that was enough for one day and it was perfect timing because just after I launched the last student and drove down, the winds went SE for almost an hour making plots wait on launch. Big thanks to Paddy and the crew who worked on Bridal Launch all day cleaning out the firepits, cutting trees and mowing the launch proper.
6-2-17	Woodside is looking okay for some flights after noon	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy this afternoon. High 19C. Winds light and variable.	240° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 1100 metres	Woodside Report - we bailed on Savona as it looked too windy in the forecasts, and that was confirmed by Marc as he drove down from Kamloops for lessons. It was a good kiting day for Blake & Marc in the Eagle Ranch LZ, with 15+ kph of east wind. Around 3 pm it calmed down enough for students, and we saw Denis in the air on his AirDesign Volt and he top-landed to go to work, so we went up with Marc for his first flight of 2017. I guided Marc from the top but he did not need it as he already has 15 flights. He did get really high out front. We went right back up with Derek, Colleen, Yves, Marc & me and we all flew. It was nicely thermic out front and I managed to snag a few good climbs and everytime I came in to top-land I was too high and then sunk out. I finally nailed a good top-landing just below the sock cross-wind touching down on the gravel and the wing was on the carpet. No retrieve tonight! Derek made a few passes too for practice and he would have landed easily too. The water is very high in the Fraser and Harrison Rivers. The farms on the south banks of the Fraser that are on the wrong side of the dyke are flooded. The water is right up to the dykes on the south bank of the Harrison River too. All the gear is moved up to the hay loft in the Barn just in case. Martin H had a super weekend - he cleaned the Parking Lot on Woodside Launch, got 7+ hours on the Buzz Z4, did the Bridal Milk runs both days (Launch - Ludwig - Elk), got over Cheam both days, Mia much the same, loving her Geo5 - Martin H.
6-1-17	Woodside is looking wet for two days so we are heading to Savona	Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Rain. High 17. Savona Forecast: A few showers this morning with overcast skies during the afternoon hours. High 22C. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 30%.	210° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 2100 metres	Woodside Report - we hoped to be flying at Savona for Thursday but we rechecked the weather and it looked too rainy so we stayed home. Woodside was clear but very windy between rain showers. 2016 in Review - we had our busiest season every in 20 years! Thanks to all of you that supported us in 2016! We started out in January with our biggest Mexican Tour with many guests improving their skills at El Toro, Pelican Bay Soaring Site, Colima and Tapalpa. February brought us more Tour guests with me returning to Canada on March 1 to start lessons. March brought on some great spring conditions with some excellent XC flights in the Faser Valley. April brought out many new student pilots and we had up to 7 per day requiring some additional manpower to help out with Degas in Mission with newbies while I was sending students off Woodside. April enjoyed the first tree-landing of the season as an un-named P-2 pilot 360ed himself into a 200' tree just before dark. May brought out many pilots doing XC flights from Benny to Woodside. This site was improved in 2016 with WCSC & BCHPA funds so we are going to take advancing students there in 2017. We also ran our Annual FlyBC Instructor Course and had many new candidates working with our students. We had to go to Coyote & Mara many times to avoid the weather. June was an awesome month and we had many signed off P-2 students by now. Thanks to all who helped us get them through their courses! July was a productive month but also brought some sad news as a local Bellingham Pilot who had flown Blanchard hundreds of times had a fatal crash while paragliding on a mellow day. TJ had been flying since 2000 and had created a Weather Page that was very useful in predicting the conditions. August took us to Mara Lake for our Annual SIV Course and we had 25 participants over 10 days with only a few wet wings. Either we are getting better at guiding, or the gliders are getting safer, or the pilots are doing more studying prior to the Course . . . or all three but it is a pleasure to put pilots through the maneuvers and see them cain confidence in their gear. September was flyable most days but we did do the odd road trip to Merritt and Coyote. I think we are up to 200 flyable days now. We also had one weekend closed to students and pilots at Eagle Ranch while we married off Aaron & Christy! October turned out to be a complete bust as it rained everyday, as did November. Odd as this is usually our busiest training time. It was okay because we had planned a trip to Australia anyway, but I felt bad for the students that did not get finished in 2016. December was also bad weather-wise with record snow falls, so I went to Mexico to get our winter condo ready for the winter season, and Derek & Norm & I had some nice flights. Thanks again to the 40+ students we signed off in 2016. Thanks also to the pilots that bought a record number of gliders from Gin, Ozone & SupAir from us in 2016. Stay safe in 2017, and we will be here to support you in your flying endeavours.