FlyBC's Paragliding Site of the Day June 2018 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
6-30-18	Woodside is looking wet & windy later today, so we are cancelling classes for the weekend	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Cloudy. 40 percent chance of showers early this morning. Periods of rain beginning this morning. Becoming windy late this morning. High 17. UV index 2 or low.	240° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 600 metres	Woodside Report - the local forecast was predicting rain and high winds after noon. And that is what we got, heavy rain in Chilliwack while shopping. Windy too at the Ranch until 3 pm. Mother Nature is sure to give us this on a long weekend!
6-29-18	Woodside is looking wet & windy later today, so we are cancelling classes for the weekend	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Showers ending this afternoon then cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. High 19. UV index 3 or moderate.	240° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 600 metres	Woodside Report - the local forecast was predicting rain and high winds after noon. It did rain part of the day but the winds never materialized. Later the Desperado Team went up the mountain and Derek, Martin, Norm & Bev all flew and they said it was just light lift. Nice landing conditions too.
6-28-18	Woodside is looking wet & windy later today, so we are starting early at 9 am and will decided if a road trip is the plan	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Becoming windy near noon. High 18. UV index 5 or moderate.	240° @ 12	-3.0°C (unstable) 600 metres	Savona Report - the local forecast was predicting rain and high winds after noon. So we headed inland at 9 am checking out Merritt and then on to Savona when we found the Merrit access road was washed out in spots. We encountered low clouds on the Coquihalla Hwy at the summit but it cleared up in Merritt for a bit and then started raining in spots so we headed to Savona. Later we found out a Cessna 182 from Calgary went missing after reporting in over Merritt enroute to Hope. An ELT signal was located but the weather is too bad for helicopters to search for the aircraft. Two persons on board. We arrived to Savona to find light SW winds which are perfect for the Toilet Bowl for real "slope soaring". James & Josh added 3 more flights to their log book, while new student Chuck got his first three flights after days of kiting. Chuck has amazing wing control and we had him flying the Ozone Atom 3 Medium as it was a bit gusty. Henry joined us today and had an amazing flight soaring way out over the highway for 30 minutes well above the Toilet Bowl/Crash Pad elevation. Back at the Ranch, Colleen noticed five trucks in the parking lot and I saw Martin N had a Woodside Tracklog so it must have gotten flyable.
6-27-18	Woodside is looking windy later today, so we are starting early at 9 am	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mainly cloudy. Becoming windy near noon. High 22. UV index 6 or high.	240° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - the local forecast was predicting clouds and high winds after noon, so we started our rounds at 9 am. Josh, Henry and James logged two very nice flights before it blew out. Josh & James were getting acquainted with speed bars and "big ears" today. Both flying the new Ozone Atom 3 trainers. The North Shore Paragliding Tandem Team was here getting recertified and their acro star Petar was flying and gave us a little acro show next to Bev. We did a road trip up Miracle Valley to see if the winds were any better and while it was calm on the ground and on Lower Benny, we saw Alex take off and get hoovered to 1200 metres in a few minutes. At which point he was advising others not to go back as far as he did as it was windy. This is what it looked like at Lower Benny. Out in the Fraser Valley it was strong. We went back to the Ranch to kite and found the EAZY glider had been removed from the tree by Scott's Tree Care and it was mostly intact except for the cut limes which are now on order. It should be back in service in a week, ready for the next small student.
6-26-18	Woodside is looking windy today, so we may do a road trip to Savona	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mainly cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Becoming windy this afternoon. High 20. UV index 5 or moderate.	240° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Savona Report - the local forecast was predicting more rain and high winds. So we took a chance and left the Ranch at 10 am and headed inland. It was gusty all the way to Cache Creek with SW winds. We continued on to Savona and when we reached the International LZ, the wind was NE. We went straight to the Dump Ridge and the fun began. Dennie worked with Josh & James who were flying the Atom3s today. Henry was flying the Alpina 2, for a change from his Zero 19. The free flight students got between 6 & 7 flights in before it got light and switched, at which point we stopped for a beer before driving back to the Ranch. Richard T was flying his Buzz Z4 on his paramotor and he had 5 flights with a bunch of "touch & goes", perfect conditions for paramotoring despite the thermic conditions. Five hours of driving and six flights per student matched what a normal day at Woodside would produce, just a lot more kms on the odometer. But the experience levels of students goes up rapidly here in Savona as they can prepare their own gear, launch unassisted and set up their own approaches in tight terrain. The local Fraser Valley pros went to Blanchard today, which was impossible as the students left their passports at home. Derek claimed three hours of saoring today at Blanchard up to 1200 metres.
6-25-18	Woodside is looking wet and windy today	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: 30% Precip. / 0.00 mm AM Showers. High 16C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h.	240° @ 15	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Woodside Report - the local forecast was predicting rain and high winds. That is what we got so we worked indoors til it got sunny, then out to the field to kite in gusty winds. No paramotoring for Richard T today as he had planned. ps: the glider is still in the goal post trees, as it was too windy for the tree climber arborist to get it out the past two days.
6-24-18	Woodside is looking possible from 10 am til 6 pm	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: A mix of sun and cloud. High 25. Humidex 27. UV index 10 or very high.	240° @ 7	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - the conditions were exactly as forecast with light winds until after 4 pm, so we flew four rounds with many students getting their first one hour long flights in smooth thermals. We had a lot of students and lost track of them as they came and went during the day. Most got at least three flights, and newest student Killiam was doing fantastic with great committed launches and precise landings. Dennie & I did a tandem with a father-daughter team from WA state and we had extremely nice thermals during that flight, with thermally landing conditions. We went back up for another tandem, this time Derek & Dennie flew tandem while I guided the students. Killiam launched first again and went straight up and out and he was still at 1000 metres over the Ranch. He missed all the nasty layers that were forming as the front rolled in. More experienced students like Mike & Noah went through the "washing machine" leeside of the Harrison Highlands, and Noah had to go to Riverside. Dom was having massive collapses over Harrison Highland (he is a signed off P2 with 60 flights) but he and Mike made it out to the Ranch low. Killiam was still in air over the Ranch and not going down so he just hung out until he got down to tree top height and the rowdy air. He took a few collapses but had a nice landing. Derek & Denie took student Greg over to Harvest Market for his first XC and the last three students did not fly after seeing all the action from Dom & Noah. Meanwhile, Jacek called me to say his Iranian Buddy Amin had gone missing over the north ridge line (another one!), despite Jacek radioing him to get out of that area. Jacek saw him go into the water and of course his electronics were wet and dead, so of no use to him. I told Jacek to go to the Harrison River Campground to commandeer a boat to go looking for him but someone had already rescued him from Wilson Point pictured here on the map with a red arrow. Launch is marked with a yellow arrow for reference. Earlier in the day Amin had been scratching too low and ended up in the Bailout Swamp too, so his new nickname is . . . wait for it . . . "Waterboy". It was far too windy to go anywhere north this afternoon.
6-23-18	Woodside is looking possible from 9 am til 6 pm	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mainly cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers this morning. High 22. UV index 7 or high.	240° @ 7	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - Dennie took a group of new students up for their first flights after a entire 8 hours of kiting yesterday. I gave them the landing briefing last night before they went to dinner and reviewed the video several times. The launches did not go so well as there were many seat jumpers, except Katie who had a perfect launch! I was watching Katie come out to the maple tree area, but someone asked me for a dfferent wing so I raced in to the Barn on my quad as Denis was guiding Katie. Next thing I hear is from Noah who was waiting in the LZ that there was a glider in the goal post trees. Apparently Denis gave Katie a wrong heading command and she followed it faithfully straight into the tree. This despite our many briefings and statements that said stay away from the goal post trees. She was 80 feet up on a solid branch and hanging on, and Denis and Greg went an got ropes and harnesses and sthey started up the tree. It was looking difficult to get to her and they were near the branch that Katie was on, when the cops arrived and ordered them down. Search & Rescue was on the way but they had to call in Chilliwack SAR because Agassiz SAR could not locate an arborist. This took several hours and after a lot of rigging and ground work the tree climber was up the tree and securing Katie for the ride down. She had been complaining about her left arm being numb so the paramedics thought she had a dislocated shoulder and took her to Chilliwack for observation and she was released a few hours later. Hats off to everyone involved in helping. We stopped flying in case a helicopter was needed, but there were other pilots flying to Riverside. Tip of the Day: If someone tells you to turn right (or left) into an obstacle . . . ignore the command. It may be for another pilot in a different location.
6-22-18	Woodside is looking possible from 10 am til 1 pm, but the local forecast says windy after that	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mainly cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers late this morning and this afternoon. Becoming windy near noon. High 19. UV index 7 or high.	240° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 800 metres	Woodside Report - we had a batch of five new students start at 9 am today, and by 1 pm they were having 30% success rate with their launches. Conditions were okay but all the bad habits one can do were being practiced, so as they were looking tired and frustrated I sent them to the Sasquatch Inn for lunch. When they returned and got clipped in again, magically they were now getting a 99% successful launch rate! Was it the food or the reflection time? We kited til 5 pm when the clouds finally cleared off launch and after we saw Derek, Logan & Martin N soaring up to 800 metres. We watched Derek and Logan land at the Ranch and Martin N top-landed to drive Derek's truck down. They siad it was a bit windy but nice launch conditions so we loaded up the truck and headed up. Colleen, Derek and Samuel had driven up in Sam's car and we arrived on launch to see Colleen launch and get "hoovered off". She was going backwards and up before she got on speedbar! Logan got ready and had a similar experience getting "plucked off" while twisted and he calmly went into flight mode, Yukon-Style! Reports of 3-7 kph Ground Speed and Derek having to do "big ears" to escape the clouds made us want to drive down and not risk any student flights tonight. Pictured here is Derek just under cloudbase and Colleen to the left. They also reported some nasty shear layers as they descended into the Ranch so not first flight conditions. But we had an awesome day of ground handling and everyone is ready to fly.
6-21-18	Woodside is looking possible from 10 am til 1 pm, with a 10 am paramotor session til noon	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Partly Cloudy. High 24C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h.	240° @ 15	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Eagle Ranch Report - we tried paramotoring at 10 am but it was too blustery, with big wind direction changes. So just some kiting with the motor on Travis' back until he could not stand up anymore. And then later it got really windy for the balance of the day. No pilots seen all day.
6-20-18	Woodside is looking possible from 10 am til 6 pm, with a 10 am paramotor session til noon	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Sunny. High near 30C. Winds light and variable.	240° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - the local forecast was predicting good conditions after 10 am, with a possible nice soaring session at 3 pm. And that is what we got! A nice paramotor session for Zack, Mitch & Travis except that Travis broke a prop. Zack was having trounble hearing me but did fly the Blackhawk 125 up to launch and back. After that we went mountain flying and got three rounds in with a super soaring session at around 5 pm. While we were soaring at Woodside, I looked over at Bridal because I knew folks were flying there and saw lightning strikes behind the saddle! A quick radio call got Kevin acknowledging that they were heading out to land, and soon everyone was safe on the ground. Despite the strong soaring winds on launch at Woodside, the student all made it out to the Ranch and had nice landings!
6-19-18	Woodside is looking possible from 10 am til 6 pm	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Sunny. High near 30C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h.	240° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - the forecast was right and we started flying at 11 am after a ground school session in the Barn. We had a full bus for four rounds today and everyone got a chance at thermalling despite the inversion today. It got a bit windy in the afternoon but there were no outlandings. We stopped around 3 pm for a lunch break after the third flight when the thermals were better and before it blew up to 20 kph. We got another set of flights in around 5 pm and the condiions were still lifty. We are very happy with our new student fleet of Ozone Atom3 gliders! Easy launches and good thermal hunters with a short aspect ratio making them easy to turn. Ozone claimed that they made the glide ratio worse than the Element II to make the landing approach steeper but I think the Atom 3 has a better "into wind glide". The new SupAir EONA2 is also proving to be a great trainer glider with a shark nose profile and better glide into wind too, and we are planning to replaces these ships every three month so keep the fleet fresh.
6-18-18	Woodside is looking possible from 11 am til 6 pm	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Sunny. High 32. UV index 8 or very high.	240° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - the local forecast was predicting good conditions after 11 am, with a possible nice soaring session at 3 pm. And that is what we got. You gotta love getting up to the door bell ringng and there are 4 new students that you forgot were coming and they all weigh the same! Out to the barn to start weighing the students, and getting them geared up. Fortunately our latest shipment of Ozone Atom3s arrived this month and we had everyone on brand new gliders. The new students have done some paramotor lessons in London ON so they were good to launch for freeflight with just a few kiting sessions, we had to stop by 11 because it was just too hot. While we were kiting the paramotors were being put away by John & Scotty West after a 2 hour session in the air. Of course, Marwan arrived late as usual and did no kiting but he has his own gear. With Travis #1, Ryan from the weekend, another Travis (who is a P2 already, the 4 Gordon Boys and Marwan we had 7 students in the Van! I also had one tandem to do at noon, who came with Mickey (another student who wanted to do one flight with his sister going tandem) so I got Andrei to do that tandem. Mondays are getting busy around here! We managed to get two student rounds in before it got too windy. No outlandings but it was close for the last few flights. We took a lunch break from 3 to 5 pm and then resumed operations and got two more flights for a total of 4 student flights and no mishaps. Meanwhile back in the Yukon . . . Wolf was trying his new Ozone Spyder Paramotor wing at Marsh Lake, nice colours!
6-17-18	Woodside is looking possible from 1 til 6 pm	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mostly Cloudy. High 18C. Winds light and variable.	240° @ 3	-3.0°C (unstable) 1780 metres	Woodside Report - we started flying the students at 11 am, once we saw wind on the webcam. We had three students of mixed experience and one new student working on the training hill. Great kiting conditions in the Eagle Ranch LZ all day and I think the removal of the one clump of trees on the upwind side of the LZ has made the air flow better and smoother. New student Liam started flying yesterday and was self-landing himself perfectly on flight #3. We had one incident today when a un-named signed off pilot made a "too sharp turn to final" and crashed himself into the ground requiring a visit from the BC Ambulance folks to get him to Chilliwack for observation. Later he called to say he was released with a stable fracture of a vertebrae. After the Ambulance and Firetruck left the LZ we continued flying and we did six tandems as well as three student rounds. Thanks to Bev for driving, and to Colleen, Andrei and Denis for being tandem jockies. I did get to do one tandem too with a nice french lady who despite not speaking english was having a very good time flying with her son below us as we got above launch. In this screen grab from our flight video, you can see the climbs near launch were the best. Norm flew right after us and got to 1200 metres over Woodside and landed about an hour later. Our newest student Ryan was also able to get two flights today after his training hill and ground school sessions and he had two great flights and landings! Reports from Bridal indicated a slow start to climbing out but eventually folks got over 2000 metres, in part because the high wind warnings never materialized and it was pure thermals. Brendan has been taking some video footage of his flying pals while training here at FlyBC, thanks for sharing it with us.
6-16-18	Woodside is looking possible from 3 til 6 pm	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mostly Cloudy. High 28C. Winds light and variable.	240° @ 3	-3.0°C (unstable) 1780 metres	Woodside Report - Denis was the acting Instructor while Colleen and I headed from Williams Lake in the T337. Clear skies until Lilooett and then we had to skirt some clouds until Harrisom Lake making us 10 minutes overdue. We flew along Harrison Lake and got some good turbulence south of Mt. Buchanan as we descended through 9500'. We crossed over the Ranch at 3000' and saw about 6 gliders kiting in the outflow winds. We had an interesting and turbulent landing on Runway 07 at CYCW requiring some throttle application at the last minute due to sinky air. Back at the Ranch the RASP was being proved wrong, as the winds in the LZ switched to the normal SE flow, and oddly the windsock on top was blowing in by 1 pm. Denis took a van load of students up with some experienced pilots as wind techs and they were all soon in the air . . . skying out! Noah had the best flight on his Gin Bolero, getting way high for over an hour.
6-15-18	Woodside is looking possible from 3 til 6 pm	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mostly Cloudy. High 18C. Winds light and variable.	240° @ 8	-3.0°C (unstable) 780 metres	Woodside Report - the local forecast was predicting good conditions after 11 am, and Denis was the acting Instructor while Colleen and I headed to Williams Lake for a kids concert. Denis got them a couple of good flights, and as we passed over Woodside heading north in the Skymaster we saw one lone orange Ozone wing in the air soaring. We had to dodge thunderstorms and thick clouds and had to fly at 8000' up to Lilooett Lake and then over to Lilooett before heading north, which take about 10 minutes longer than a straight run. There were rain cells and no thunderstorms up in WL, but we did see on Facebook that some pilots had to spend the night in Kamloops as they could not fly west due to lightning.
6-14-18	Woodside is looking possible from 3 til 6 pm	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mostly Cloudy. High 18C. Winds light and variable.	240° @ 8	-3.0°C (unstable) 780 metres	Woodside Report - the local forecast was predicting rain in the AM and good conditions after 3 pm, with a possible nice soaring session at 6 pm. Colleen and I were running errands in Abby when Derek called to say they were heading up, and when we arrived back at the Ranch they were still soaring at 900 metres. Martin N flew and top-landed to drive Bev's rig down while she flew to the Ranch. Colleen & I then went up around 6 pm with Bev driving the Van down while we launched and had extended sleddies (yes, we actually get to fly sometimes too). I was test flying a new/used Nova Mentor 3 L for our used stock and it launched beautifully. Colleen was on her own SupAir Taska and she soared for a few passes. The LZ is greening up nicely where we reseeded, thanks to all the rain.
6-13-18	Woodside is looking wet all day	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Ran heavy at times. High 14. UV index 6 or high.	240° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Woodside Report - the local forecast is predicting rain all day so no flying planned. But they were flying in France at a World Cup event. La Nostalgie Camarade. Music: Serge Gainsbourg. Cloud surfing spot: Passy, France. from Yassen Savov on Vimeo.
6-12-18	Woodside is looking good after noon	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Increasing cloudiness late in the morning. High 18. UV index 6 or high.	240° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Woodside Report - the local forecast was predicting outflow winds in the AM and good conditions after noon. We started launching Brendan in light to no wind around 1 pm and by the end of the day he had done four runs. Martin N & John W did a best glide contest and Martin ended up at the Community Centre and John came in a bit lower and landed in Wenworth's hay field just west of Bill Best's. Ryan showed up for an afternoon sledder and tried out our newest used wing, a Nova Mentor 3 Large. We quit flying at 5 pm when it started blowing down but Mother Woodside provided!
6-11-18	Woodside is looking like rain and thunderstorms, despite a beautiful morning	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: A few showers ending this afternoon then a mix of sun and cloud. High 15. UV index 3 or moderate.	240° @ 15	-3.0°C (unstable) 1600 metres	Woodside Report - the local forecast was predicting rain in the AM and wind later so I told the students to stay home til Tuesday, and it was a good thing as it was too strong even to kite in the LZ and we had many rain cells come through. Even later in the day it was too windy to launch off the top.
6-10-18	Woodside is looking like rain and thunderstorms, despite a beautiful morning	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mainly cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Risk of thunderstorms late this afternoon. Windy. High 16. UV index 5 or moderate.	240° @ 20	-3.0°C (unstable) 1500 metres	Woodside Mosoon Report - the local forecast was predicting rain and wind later and that is what we got between sunny breaks.
6-9-18	Woodside is looking like rain and thunderstorms, despite a beautiful morning	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mainly cloudy with 70 percent chance of showers. Risk of thunderstorms this afternoon. High 16. UV index 4 or moderate.	240° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 1500 metres	Woodside Report - while it initially looked good in the morning, there were big thunderheads growing over Agassiz and Bridal Falls. And then the wind picked up on launch and on the ground, the webcam has been tampered with by some nosy hacker so I had to change the password and change some of the configurations so it will be down for some time. And then later in the afternoon it started raining hard. Colleen took this picture just before the storm hit us. While I am sorry the rain kept pilots away, our hay crop really needs the rain. Meanwhile the Applegate Open in Medford is getting rained out as did the Lumby Days Fly-In for part of the week. Big system taking its time to clear out.
6-8-18	Woodside is looking okay til around 1 pm, and then rain is forecasted	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers this morning. Rain beginning early this afternoon. High 18. UV index 3 or moderate.	240° @ 7	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Woodside Report - the local forecast was predicting light winds and rain later so we started flying at 8 am. I had four students and they showed me how to "no wind launch" as we arrived on top to find catabatic winds that lulled occassionally. Big congrats to Joe who really needed the wind to help him launch on previous days but today had two beautiful no wind launches on the Gin Osprey glider. Most improved student award! We only got two flights in before it started to drizzle and then it was full on monsoon weather for the rest of the day and all night.
6-7-18	Woodside is looking good all day long	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Cloudy. High 22. UV index 5 or moderate.	240° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - the local forecast was predicting light winds and cloudy skies so we started flying at 10 am. It was a busy day with 6 students and they all did quite well with some with 20+ flights and some with just 4 flights. Clark & Neumann were here for just one flight test flying their new Ozone Ultralite 4 wings, and they raved about the UL4's ability to float up in light winds. The wind picked up around 3 pm so we took a lunch break til 4:30 pm. And then . . . magic air happened with flight of over 40 minutes just "boating around" Harrison Mills. We finished flying around 6 pm.
6-6-18	Woodside is looking good all day long	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mainly sunny. High 24. Humidex 25. UV index 7 or high.	240° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - Denis was managing five students today while Colleen & I flew to Kelowna to pick up Aaron & Christie in the Cessna 337. The students had four flights including some thermalling but they had to take a break around 3 pm when it got too windy. Some of the pros were doing runs from Benny to Woodside and beyond. Interesting tracks made by Igor & Andrew (both on Ozone Zenos) as they battled the winds back from Bear Mtn. Peter also made it back on his SupAir Taska, going back through the venturi between the South Knoll and Launch. Others had to land at Harvest or the Dyke LZ. We flew back over Hope and Woodside in the T337B losing altitude as we descended into Chilliwack, and we saw all the thermallers getting high. Nice way to go to Kelowna and back, 45 minutes there and 51 minutes back due to SW winds aloft.
6-5-18	Woodside is looking good all day long	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Partly Cloudy. High 17C. Winds light and variable.	240° @ 15	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - the local forecast was predicting light winds and clear skies so we started flying at 9 am. Brendan had a full day of kiting and ground school yesterday and was ready to fly. We got him off the ground at 10 am, and by 4 pm he had flown 3 times and was doing well with his forward & reverse launches. Meanwhile the other two new guys, back from a 10 year hiatus, were working in the LZ kiting and were ready to fly by 3 pm. We had strongish but perfect cycles to kite at launch and they all got to fly at 3 pm. The flights were long and Derek & Bev got to about 900 metres. Bev flew to Harvest? Derek flew for an hour and landed at the Ranch with the students. We stopped flying at 4:30 pm cause everyone was tired and the conditions were fine til dark, but it is best to not fly tired.
6-4-18	Woodside is gonna get a good soaking today and we need it	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Cloudy. Rain beginning early this morning. Amount 10 to 20 mm. Becoming windy late this afternoon. High 16. UV index 1 or low.	240° @ 15	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Woodside Report - I had a new student start today and Brendan had a thorough ground school session in the Barn while we waited for the winds to turn around for some kiting practice. We had perfect winds on the Training Hill and Brendan did well on his forward launches. We moved to the Landing Circle for reverse practice and he got in some good runs. Tip of the Day: Move under the low side . . . and brake the high side. We knew it was getting too windy to tow so we went to Mission Heritage Park but it was too cross and gusty there by noon. Back to the Ranch for more kiting and I left Brendan to kite while I mowed the tall grass that was missed in the last haying. We did go up the mountain at 6 pm and Rob W and Derek flew and it was lifty and windy, too much for a student's first flight so we drove down. Tomorrow looks perfect for first flights. The new grass is very happy after the rain Sunday and the field is almost all green now after months of brown caused by the levelling of the runway and the east fence line. Looks like more rain coming this Friday and through the weekend, so pilots won't be so happy but the grass will be. There is always Lumby Days this week and Woodrat Oregon is hosting the Applegate Open Comp this weekend too. Roadtrip time!
6-3-18	Woodside is gonna get a good soaking today and we need it	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Cloudy. Rain beginning early this morning. Amount 10 to 20 mm. Becoming windy late this afternoon. High 16. UV index 1 or low.	240° @ 15	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Woodside Report - I was planting fruit trees with Colleen, then mowing and fertilizing the landing circle and training hill and just got finished as the first rain drops fell and then it got very wet by 2 pm..
6-2-18	Woodside is looking good later today for some soaring after the sun comes out	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: AM Clouds/PM Sun. High 21C. Winds light and variable.	240° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 1400 metres	Woodside Report - the CanadaRASP forecast was predicting nice calm winds and a good lapse rate which usually makes it soarable for paragliders. We didn't go up until we saw cycles in the top windsock as there was outflow predicted til noon. Kevin went up for a tandem at 11 am and could not launch til noon, so we did not miss anything by staying down in the LZ and doing some kiting. I had four intermediate students with 5 to 15 flights each and they did very well today! We got in four runs and there was lots of thermalling action today for all the students. The highlight tonight was launching my new Ozone Alpina 3 and spending an hour thermalling with the students in magic lift, that was pure thermals and little wind. Thanks to Mike K for taking this footage and sharing it. The Alpina 3 is red/orange. Despite all the talk of the A3 not turning like the A2 and D2, I have to say it was pure pleasure to fly the A3 with the new Ozone Forza harness. I need a larger bag though, maybe a tandem bag as I don't want to crush those rods! Some big triangles and Out & Returns today with Andrew having the purest Raymont Challenge triangle on his Ozone Zeno, check XCFind for the route.
6-1-18	Woodside is looking good later today for some soaring	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mainly cloudy. High 18. UV index 6 or high.	240° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - the CanadaRASP forecast was predicting +20 kph of SW winds which usually makes it soarable for paragliders, but it was mostly thermals today that kept us up. I was training in the Eagle Ranch LZ with Clint on his paramotor quad from 8 am on and we got four flights in before it got too thermic by 10 am. Very bumpy over the corn field to the west doing his circuits on the last flight but smooth over Duncan's and our LZ. Folks were flying from noon on and I went up to do a tandem at 2 pm with Ed for his birthday. It took some coaxing to get Ed to stand up and run vs. sitting down on launch but we had good cycles and the SwiftMax just waited overhead for Ed to help out. We were at 1000 metres within a few turns and it was nicely thermic with a big radius so not so hard to stay up. Denis is just launching here as we circled over launch. After 20 minutes I headed out and there was a big thermal over Harrison Highlands too that we played in for a few turns. Nice landing conditions with 15 kph of SE winds and the grass in the circle is mowed and good for packing up. Another set of tandems was supposed to arrive at 4 pm but they never showed up?