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FlyBC "Site of the Day" - March 2012 Archive
I am hoping for a San Francisco flying day today as it is clear and sunny outside with light winds.
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San Fran Report - we woke up in San Francisco to see horizontal rain and howling winds outside the hotel, so Colleen went off to her conference and I watched a movie til noon. | After noon I headed out for a cable car ride to Fisherman's Wharf and a visit to the Cable Car Museum. Just outside the Museum two mechanics arrived and the drivers announced that they had to do a "grip change", perhaps because the grip was slipping? Or perhaps this is a standard routine to show the tourists how the system works? Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC March Album showing the grip change process, all hand labour like the old days. Tomorrow looks soarable at the Dumps!
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Dumps Report - I hung around the hotel until I saw the flags downtown start to move from the west. | A quick check of the SFO airport conditions sid it should be flyable so I headed to the Dumps in Pacifica CA, about 15 minutes from downtown San Francisco. I arrived to see 3 pilots hanging out at the southmost launch spot, a series of cliffs and gulleys with little beach below especially with a high tide and high surf advisory today. One pilot got out his Little Cloud Speedwing and was kiting but it was too south for any lift, so he was waiting. I headed to Fort Funston, a HG only site to the north about 5 kms, and arrived to see a HGer fly off and get 2 passes and land on the beach. Marv was there from Victoria, and he has been wintering here with his ATOS. He flew yesterday and had a flew flights landing back on top, with interesting landing approaches with south winds. We chatted for a bit and a few other Hgers arrived and setup. One launched and was headed south doing pretty well til Westlake, where he turned around and flew back with great speed arriving below launch but he benched back up. As this site is not PG friendly, I decided to head back to the Dumps. Dragging out a PG here can cause major fights, even USHPA has tried to change the rules but the HGers have a stranglehold on the Park here. No logic as Torrey Pines works well with both aircraft classes? When I arrived back at the Dumps at 5:45 pm, a few gliders took to the air - dirt-surfing close in to avoid sinking onto the beach. This ridge is very small in south wind, and I had to be back at the Hotel soon so I took a few pictures and left the ridge to the locals. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC March Album.  Click here for news about the Ozone EnZo coming in first at the Brazilian PWC last week! OZONE PILOTS ON TOP AT PWC BRAZIL Ozone EnZo pilots at the first PWC of the 2012 season in Castelo, Brazil, have dominated every task of the event and taken first place overall. French Team pilot Yann Martail took top honors.
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San Francisco Report - low clouds and chance of rain with NE winds made it a tourist day as we slept in, rode the cable cars all over San Francisco and went to Chinatown. | On the last ride to the hotel, I noticed soarable west winds on the flags downtown, so maybe the Dumps would have worked later. Maybe tomorrow? Interesting that in this day of concern over transportation safety that we can still hang out of a cable car whizzing down the streets of San Francisco. Reminds me of Mexico. No rules! For a complete history of San Francisco Cable Cars: Click Here. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC March Album.
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Woodside Report - Woodside was not rained out but it was windy as I headed out to San Francisco for the weekend. | Interestingly, not too bumpy on the flight out at 7 pm, despite 30+ kph winds at YVR. Trip highlights: 1 . Nice on-time flights with no lost baggage. 2. Cheap rental car with Payless Car Rental - $16 a day 3. Arrived at the Marriott Downtown to find the $200 a night room does not include parking for cheap rental car - add $58 a night for parking! WTF! 4. Got into the room to find internet is also not included - add $14.95 a night for Internet! WTF! 5. Arrived to review the Conference Agenda for "Futures without Violence", to find I am in a balanced relationship after answering their questionnaire. Nice!
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Woodside Report - Woodside got some sun today but also strong outflow winds, no pilots or birds out today. |
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Woodside Report - Woodside was flyable from 11 am on, but the conditions did not yeild much lift as the sky "milked over". | Some un-named russian pilots were seen landng at the HG LZ and they were reprimanded on launch. Apparently they did not know that the HG LZ, Swamp and Riverside were all owned by Duncan`s and subject to the same rules? I spent the morning cleaning out the barn for our expected business license inspection tour. We were contacted by Kent Municipality last fall and told that we need to have a business license to operate within their boundaries. I applied for it last week and after many questions I think the inspection will happen soon. I had my first 2012 Groupon Tandem arrive at noon and we flew around 1:30 pm, waiting for 30 minutes for the cycles to build. About 25 more pilots flew including some Hangies, but no one got more than 20 minutes of airtime. Peter & George went down into the bush and found the missing carpet, but we need to reattach it with spikes asap. Perhaps even a new set of carpets should be installed soon?
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| Guadalajara: Clear. High of 29C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 260° at 6 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
Tandemonium Report - I had booked 4 tandems today but when I left in the morning for the Intro to Competitions Course organized by Martina Lang, I was sure we were not going to fly as it was gusting to 30 kph from the North. | I was leaving the course at 1:45 pm when Colleen called to say the first set of tandems had arrived and gliders were in the air over Woodside. I raced home but arrived somewhat late and Colleen had all the gear ready, waivers signed and logistics ready. Derek was test flying Thomm's Ozone Mantra M4 and Thomm took my Nova Factor 21 out for a flight with Martin N and they had some nice thermals that got them to 1700 meters and off to Sasquatch, wherer they ultimately landed at Squakum Beach. At the Ranch it was decided that Colleen was taking Ryan for his 30th Birthday Flight and I was taking Katherine for her 40th Birthday Flight. We drove up fast and got to the top parking and left the Suburban there as Katherine;s hubby was babysitting and was doing the retrieve drive, perfect! Colleen launched first after waiting for a cycle and they were off and climbing fast. We had to wait for a cycle and each time I brought up the tandem it felt mushy? On the third inflation we had a good solid wing and we ran and we got in the air halfway to the ramp, and then we got dropped just before the ramp in sink and we had to run again and hard brake to get off right next to the ramp. And then we started climbing! A nice leeside thermal out front got us to 1400 meters and we were soon on our way to Hopyard Hill where Katherine's farm is. We were halfway to Hopyard when I noticed the air was sinky and textured and not in a nice way. The smoke in the valley was laying down from the NE, and we were making slow forward groundspeed, so a quick mental calculation showed we might only get to the airstrip on the south toe of Hopyard Hill, and a difficult retrieve for Katherine so I headed back to Woodside. We got back low and at one point not even sure if we could make Riverside (sandbars are handy). Then past Riverside we passed Miguel trying to thermal out of a sinkhole he launched into before us so we knew there was lift. I saw a Sky Glider down low over the construction site, not looking good and they ultimately landed in the bailout swamp (now flooded by a beaver dam). We now had the HG field on glide and it was north wind there and as we crossed the ridge heading that was we found a nice path of lift that took us to the Ranch where we laded soft as a feather in the ProCircle. Nice flight after a hairy launch, mini-XC towards Agassiz and a deathglide home! 35 minutes in the air was a gift. Our last tandems were there as we packed up and we got them up to launch around 4:45 and we still had decent cycles and nice thermals on the mountain and a really nice thermal over Duncan's that lasted 15 minutes before landing. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC March Album. Imagine soaring in T-shirts like Jeffery does in the Honduras every day!
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| Guadalajara: Clear. High of 29C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 260° at 6 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
Woodside Report - Woodside was flyable today after 1 pm, and everyone had a good time. | I went up with Lee for a flight after 2 pm, and arrived as most were just getting setup on launch. A nice excavator operator cleared the snow into launch, and Rob & Lee braved the drive in. Good lift everywhere and good sink too, and lots of thermal markers with so many gliders in the air. I was waiting around the Woodside fishbowl expecting a call from Colleen to come and get her as she was on a teleconference when I left. The call never came so after 1:30 of thermalling around I got up to 1791 meters duking it out with Claudia (who I could never catch), and made the jump to Sasquatch Mtn. and saw Alan climb out in the shade in the back bowl as I arrived at 655 meters and got nothing, so not wanting to land at Rob's Squakum LZ I headed back over Kilby Park towards the Ranch and never got a beep. I landed at the Kilby Community Hall so I didn't risk making it over the blueberries and such on the way home. There are alternate LZs at the mouth of the Harrison River, the Native Community, and even the dyke but I had not walked in there for some time so I chose the nice safe field. after I got back to the Ranch Colleen was embarking on a walk around the dyke so I joined her and the alternate LZs were all good today. Colleen even got a flight later today and she climbed above launch easily just after Tom Chromy & Miguel got up after flying back from Deroche. Many good XCs today. Some made it to Benny and beyond, some flew back from Big Nic and made it over to Bridal too. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC March Album. See who has been flying around lately here in Canada. .
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| Guadalajara: Clear. High of 29C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 260° at 6 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
Woodside Report - while I was driving grandson Remy back to Williams Lake after his short visit, a number of folks were flying Woodside. | Kevin & Kayden (his grandson) went cloud-kissing to 1800 meters, Tom Chromy took off and landed at Hope, Rob & Al flew later also getting pretty darned high.  My view of Woodside from a cafe in Spences Bridge - photo by WebCam Canucks in Suisse - After playing in the spanish dirt on bikes for a week Derek and Jack flew back to Munich and decided to visit me in Scuol, Switzerland. They stayed two nights in the hotel I'm working at. On Tuesday we had a great day on the slopes of Scuol. A good combination of flying and skiing. Perfect weather and good times were spent with Derek and Jack! - Wouter
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| Guadalajara: Clear. High of 29C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 260° at 6 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
Woodside Report - I updated the forecast for the Site of the Day Page at 4 am, and Environment Canada changed the forecast many times after that but I didn't update this page as I was busy doing errands in Agassiz. | The local desperadoes - Denis, Alan, Martin, Martina, Norm, Kevin and finally Gary P did not believe the forecasts and came out after seeing the blue skies. I took Martin, Martina and Norm up as far as I could drive in the Suburban (about 3.5 kms) not quite to the flats and they hiked in as I drove down as I had grandson Remy along for the day. As I drove down I saw Denis & his son Vanya thermalling above me, and Alan was just getting ready to launch. After some chores I took the Suzuki down to Riverside to check out the road and the LZ, picking up Denis & Vanya for the drive up to his car, left at 3 kms. This time I made it to almost 4 kms and Scary Corner where the culvert drops off. I am sure Al would have made it all the way in to launch. When I left the Ranch to head into Vancouver, Martina was just coming in to land and it was a brisk 25 kph out of the north at the Ranch. Woodside Report - Today was an unexpected surprise! With rain in the forecast and snow as I drove to the ranch I had a feeling I'd been duped by your "it looks good" advice. Especially when Martin N & I found ourselves moving couches in the barn instead of driving to launch, ha ha. But you were right, and after hiking up we still decided to wait a little longer for the next blue hole. We watched Alan plummet and then take an elevator ride back up several times, then I couldn't take it anymore and launched. Martin took the same cycle as me and Norm a few minutes later. I got over 800 right away, then found Alan's sink ride of death…over -3.5m/s for an uncomfortable length of time. But over the construction site the other side was waiting and boom! A smooth thermal took me back over 800. Decided to try flying over the fields as they were in the sun with a big flat-bottomed cloud overtop, but the shade got me and I landed. Cycles were NW on launch but not much drift in the air, so I wasn't expecting the 25 km/hr North wind at the ranch! Nice high-wind landing in the circle, then I took the opportunity to kite my wing all the way over to the pro circle to pack up. The boys soon joined me and we traded "there I was" stories about our spring thermals (ask Martin N about his "skipping rope" story) and are excited to come try again on Friday. Thanks so much for the ride up Jim. It took Norm & I about 20-30 minutes to hike in…not sure exactly as I was delirious from hiking with all my warm winter clothes on (but happy I had them once I was flying!) - Martina  Martin N coming in to land - photo by Martina  Martin N & Norm kiting (notice the North wind) - photo by Martina  Alan swooping in hot-shot style right beside me. - photo by Martina Tom's Woodside Report - Fantastic day! It begun with, do I install the new washer and dryer or do I go flying. The forecast for the valley wasn't that great. Rain and snow showers - 60% but, looking at the web cams and aviation forecasts I decided to give it a go. I had to pickup some of my stuff from my Mom in Agassiz anyway. The drive through Abbotsford was not inspiring. Dark clouds looked like they were going to over develop early and cloud over. I pressed on for at least a sledder. At the Eagle Ranch it was sunny and not looking all that bad. I found Martin N. napping on a chair with Bob (the resident cat) curled up in his lap. I asked if he would rather go flying - he said "hell ya!" We headed up Woodside. It was around 1300h. We took off and climbed fast all the way up to 1600m. Original plan was to cross the valley to Bridal Falls. Taking different lines we met up at Mt. Agassiz and crossed over to Green Hill (over the town of Agassiz). After a little search we both hooked into good thermals and climbed out. At this point Bridal Falls, Cheam all the way to Elk was shaded in by thick cloud that was not about to dicipate any time soon. Looking towards Hope, the clouds were not as thick and there was lot more sunshine. I decided to head for Hope. Martin stayed and tried to cross over to Bridal but eventually returned to Green Hill. After the climb at Bear Mt. I started to believe that this was actually possible today. I pressed on! Had some good climbs ( 3-4 m/s) and some really bad sink (-5m/s WTF! It doesn't correspond!) Over all it was great, I found the thermals where I envisioned them. The scenery was spectacular, unfortunately my helmet cam was dead and my brand new Panasonic had an operator issue. :) Several hours later I reached my new goal. Climbing to 1700m over Hope, I was tempted to see how far I could make it back but, soon after starting high level cloud shut thing down. I headed for the Hope Airport. Calm winds made the landing uneventful. Soon after touchdown I had to get out of the way of a MEDEVAC helicopter landing. It was a treat to run into some of the Medics that I work with. Matt Cochlin and Richard Prevost. Matt cracked a couple of heat pads for for me to bring the two "ice blocks" that I called my "hands" back to life. :))))) - Tom Chromy. Kevin's Woodside Report - Kevin only sent me this link so enjoy reviewing his flight today. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC March Album. Blanchard Report - Today I checked one off of the lifetime achievment list. I flew from Blanchard Mt. to Sumas, today. What a flight! Great conditions. Started out a little rowdy, but got high enough where it started to smooth out. Almost two hours exactly. - Doug M. Colima Mexico Report from a Canuck - One of my favorite flights ever today. Up and down 5-6 times, thermal max @ 6.7, sink at -6.5! felt almost like falling. had to negotiate going backwards over the antennas in the sink, landed vertically, climbed over 400m over the Madonna, caught some extreme turbulence over the Piscila valley, climbed a nice big thermal with Robert Blais watched Gilles take off from above. Awesome day! Thank you Felipe Ruiz for the lift, and there`s nothing like yelling Ì love you`to your loved one from 300m above!Learned soooo much today. A very cerebral flight, and I am very proud of me! Bring on Yamaska! It`ll feel like a bunny hill! - Alex Delude.
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| Guadalajara: Clear. High of 29C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 260° at 6 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
Chilliwack Snow Report - It was snowing in Chilliwack when I arrived to pick up the Suzuki, and it just got worse as the day wore on. | I drove up to Cache Creek to pick up Remy for the week, and decided the #1 was a safer bet, and it turned out the Coquihalla Hwy was closed due to avalanches and heavy snow so traffic got busier on the #1 but a good pace. It was sunny and very windy in the Interior and a nice 9C degrees, but hideous on the drive back with mixed rain & snow all the way to Harrison where we stopped for a swim in the hot pool.
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| Guadalajara: Clear. High of 29C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 260° at 6 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
Woodside Report - Woodside was mobbed today with many pilots coming out of the woodwork. | They were not disappointed! Some crossed over to Bridal, some west towards Sasquatch, some out & returned. Some like myself just boated around Woodside enjoying the scenery at up to 1500 meters where it was coldddd. March 19, 2012 (Woodside to Bridal Falls) from Miguel Bertello on Vimeo. The Perfect PG Soundtrack from Ihor Trufyn on Vimeo. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC March Album. See who has been flying around lately here in Canada. . Torrey Pines Report - After two days of cold, stormy weather, I woke to, surprise cold, rainy weather. With nothing to lose, I took a leisurely drive through Mission Bay checked out the storm damage at La Jolla beach and eventually ended up at TP where the owner was bitching about how his employees had not shown up for the past two days and still weren't there today. I lolled on one of the decks, reading with one eye on the flags and sure enough at 1 pm, it started to work. The first flights were cautious forays north but not far as it was on and off and no one wants to sink out here. By 2:30 it was perfect. Maybe 15 k almost straight in and best, there were really nice thermals at many points in both directions. I flew out and return several times, dropping in for a coffee or a chat and finally calling it at 5:30 (dinner reservation). I feel like I've been spoiled by all this stress free flying. Hopefully, I will be able to handle the big spring air back home. TP rocks! - Kevin A. Click here for more pictures from Kevin's Adventure.
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| Guadalajara: Clear. High of 29C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 260° at 6 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
Woodside Report - it was wet and cloudy at the Ranch today but desperadoes kept arriving: Denis, Roger, Chris and finally Al. | I left for town around 3 pm, and I kept checking the webcam for updates and it looked launchable around 4 pm, but no flight reports or road reports. Monday looks promising if the sun comes out.
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| Guadalajara: Clear. High of 29C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 260° at 6 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
Woodside Report - Woodside had mixed hail & rain today, but by 5 pm it was clear and flyable. No one was out though, so we don't know how bad the road is to launch. | Whidbey Report - Claudia & Peter made the trek to Whidbey and got some soaring in South winds, before heading to Blanchard for an evening flight. Some Hangies were also flying Blanchard and got over an hour mid-afternoon. Another Stellar Day At Torrey Pines from Kevin Ault on Vimeo.
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| Guadalajara: Clear. High of 29C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 260° at 6 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
Woodside Report - Woodside looked windy in the AM, but it calmed down and got sunny around 4 pm. Gary P showed up and got a sledder despite it feeling strong on launch. | One must hike from the 3.5 km mark as the snow is quite deep at that point in the shadows.  Woodside from the Ranch via the WebCam
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| Guadalajara: Clear. High of 29C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 260° at 6 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
Chilliwack Report - it actually got sunny around noon in Chilliwack, but that was followed with gusty winds and hail and then heavy rain. | Some forecasts say sun on Monday though for one day? Torrey Pines CA Report - For the past two days, I've been hanging out at Torrey Pines and although ridge soaring can be a bit boring, TP definitely has it going from an aesthetic point of view: beautiful pacific coast, surreal mansions, and a manicured launch site perched above a nude gay beach offering all kinds of incentive not to sink out. Add to this the bonus of running into pilots such as Washington State's Doug Marshburn and you have a recipe for al kinds of fun. This video was taken today at the point where we were all ready to pack it in and head home - in fact Doug did after squeaking back to top land - barely. I stayed around chatting with a Denver pilot and at 5:30 it suddenly turned on and all the young hotshots and hooners lept into the air and began to play. Brandon from Denver and I joined them and were delighted to be able to soar to Bathtub Rock, come back to top land and then do another mansion cruise to the south. If you're already down in California to ease the stress, I recommend Torrey Pines - Kevin A.
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| Guadalajara: Clear. High of 29C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 260° at 6 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
Valley Report - Woodside received lots of new snow & rain, as did Agassiz and Chilliwack. | Very windy too at the Ranch! This seems to be a never-ending winter despite several months in Mexico.
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| Guadalajara: Clear. High of 29C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 260° at 6 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
BC Road Report - if you don't have to drive to the Interior this week . . . DON'T! | I went to Peachland to deliver gifts to the grandkids as they were there visiting from Williams Lake this week and Peachand is a lot closer that WL. Hwy 5 was hideous, and I contemplated turning around at the old toll booth, but continued on and it got worse!  This accident was between the toll booth and Merritt as you head down the summit. I brought a wing as I hoped it would be better there than here but it was "whitecapping" on Okanogan Lake all day and snow was down to the ground. Nice visit with the kids, then on to Vernon to check out a new shuttle truck. The drive back thru Kamloops was worse on Hwy 5, as I got to the toll booth traffic was running at 40 kph or less all the way to Hope. Stay home if you can til the weather improves.
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| Monday..Periods of rain ending in the afternoon then cloudy. Wet snow over higher terrain early in the morning. Wind southeast 60 to 80 km/h becoming south 30 to 50 in the afternoon. High 8. Guadalajara: Partly cloudy. High of 29C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 290° at 7 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
BC Report - Woodside was windy today, but not as windy as the Georgia Strait with measured winds of 120 kph and lots of damaged trees, houses and powerlines. | Lots of rain here, with snow dropping late at night. I thought we were supposed to get global-warming by this decade?
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| Guadalajara: Partly cloudy. High of 29C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 290° at 7 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
Woodside Report - it was raining horizontally today so we headed in to Vancouver for errands. |  Thomm said it looked flyable today but took pictures instead Whidbey Report - Claudia & Peter lucked out with a 4 hour window where it switched W after being SE most of the day and got to soar with the eagles at Fort Ebey.  Flying Fort Ebey with the Eagles - picture by Claudia.
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| Guadalajara: Partly cloudy. High of 29C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 290° at 7 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
Valley Report - Woodside was wet today, so just errands and chores. | I talked to Derek over in Germany where he and Jack are setting out on a 1 week dirt biking trip in Spain to celebrate Jack's retirement from Air Canada.
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| Guadalajara: Partly cloudy. High of 29C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 290° at 7 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
Woodside Report - Woodside looked so wet today that we stayed in Vancouver for the evening rather than risk the traffic. | See who has been flying around lately here in Canada. .
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| Guadalajara: Partly cloudy. High of 29C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 290° at 7 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
Woodside Report - NOAA said we were going to get soarable winds today but I think they came too late. | It was launchable around 1 pm, but the inversion offered up no thermals, just buoyant air out to the Ranch for Brock, Miguel, Roger & Lee. It was warmer than Tuesday for sure and the road to launch is almost free of snow aallowing one to drive right in to the Parking Lot. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC March Album. Woodside to Eddy's for Beer on Tuesday March 6, 2012 from Kevin Ault on Vimeo.
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| Guadalajara: Partly cloudy. High of 29C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 240° at 5 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
Woodside Report - Wednesday looked good on the forecast models for a Woodside flight after noon, but it stayed cloudy and windless. Denis was out hoping for a repeat of the day before but it never happened. | It was flyable but it would have been a sleddy for sure. A recap of the electronics I was testing on my flight on the 6th at Woodside. I was trying out a set of ZealOptics Recon Goggles that I bought at MEC on sale last weekend. These goggles have a built-in GPS with Heads-Up Display of speed and altitude. Primarily designed for skiing and snowboarding, but the GPS worked well for lying and I was constantly comparing it to my FlyTec 6015 (which we sell here at FlyBC). Speed and latitude seemed accurate at most points in the 2+ hour flight, but oddly the GPS seemed to turn off and blank out at times. I thought it was the battery, but later on downloading the tracklog, I found it had separated the flight into 6 Runs (skiing related). When combined the entire flight was there but I doubt CompeGPS scoring software would allow for splitup tracklogs. A bit expensive at $400 retail but there are new versions that are Android Compatible (and soon iPhone) thru Bluetooth connectivity. They are also compatible with Contour Blluetooth enables helmet cams. My tracklog converted to .kml is here . Right-click to save on Windows. Aside from the GPS functionality, it was great to fly with goggles when it was -12C at 'base. Elk Report - Superb conditions on Elk today for Biff, Larry, Eddie, & Steve. Mellow thermals, gentle ridge lift allowed for 3 top landings and four trips to Thurston. A little chilly, though - Biff R Elk Report #2 - Four pilots flew Elk this morning, Eddy, Larry, Kevin and myself. Super smooth ridge lift but bloody cold, I gave up after about 30mins and flew down to land at Eddy's in perfect light westerly wind for a 45min flight in total. Landed minus most fingers and toes, too cold for brass monkeys. Could be flyable again tomorrow........"Go for it !" - Steve D Some nice shots of San Marcos in this Video - scenes from Herminio's Video last year with Horachio Llorens doing the Infinity and some nice shots of New Zealand's West Coast too!
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| Guadalajara: Partly cloudy. High of 29C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 240° at 5 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
Woodside Report - Alex R and Hardie showed up around 11:30 am to try some kiting in the strong northerly outflow at the Ranch. Hardie was doing pretty well on Harry's old Profeel and it gradually started to calm down as many others arrived hoping for a flight. | Al and Rob were going to try his new secret outflow launch but decided it was too calm there and headed east to join us and we soon had two full trucks heading up to launch. I had driven up around 9 am to check the road and it was good all the way to the parking lot with just a few cms of snow. It was blowing hard over the back when we arrived but everyone was hopeful and we waited and chilled. Tom M arrived by himself having missed the convoys and was hopeful for a maiden flight on his new Niviuk. And we waited and told stories. And waited. Within 30 minutes some strong SW cycles were recorded, and Al got his stuff ready. Al is a great wind technician! Al launched and started climbing right away and the lift looked strong! Everyone was scrambling now and off went Rob, Alex, Kevin, Matt J, before I clipped in and launched. Most went to the right and were soon heading to cloudbase (which I estimated at 1800 meters, but turned out to be actually more like 2000 meters today). I lost track of who launched next but Alan, Tom M soon in the air. I saw Tom M from my vantage point at 2010 meters launch and head right to take a few minutes to find a core, but he was soon up with me at 'base. I watched Alex core up to 2100 meters to the north almost over Harrison River before heading west to Sasquatch Mtn., and after climbing out I too chased him west. I lost only about 300 meters getting to the Harrison Bridge area. Ther I could see Alan & Rob down low near Squakum Park looking for lift while Alex was higher and nearer the peak of Sasquatch but he wasn't climbing yet. He continued on west and as I didn't see much point in being at Squakum Park with Rob & Al I turned back to Woodside where I topped out again before heading back. Alex did find a climb and on my return back to Sasquatch I lost even less height and saw Alex at 'base near Sasquatch Peak as Matt J also landed at Squakum Park. Martin N had been back & forth to Sasquatch too and this time he went in to the Ranch to land and retrieve the Squakum Team. I was frozen solid now and I was heading to the Ranch at around 250 meters over the blueberry fields thinking I was going to not make it home as I was in big sink, when a red-tail hawk cored up past me? Hmmmm! I followed the little hawk and was soon starting a climb, just little beeps but it was solid. I kept tracking the thermal over the Ranch and Scary Corner when the thermal got stronger and I was soon tracking past the bailout swamp and onto the face of Woodside. As I considered top-landing to drive Matt's truck down, I hit a +5 m/s core that said forget top-landing. I was warmed up now from my low save and continued to climb out where I joined Derek, a late launcher after work and we flew with Mom & immature bald eagle for a bit. I watched Mom Eagle hand over training duties to Derek and the immature bald hung out with Derek thermalling with him for many turns just off Derek's wingtip. Derek was an unpaid babysitter for at least 5 minutes before Mom took over again. I was frozen again and headed out to the Ranch arriving at 950 meters and wanting to get down to warmer temps so I spiralled the Nova Factor down to land at the ProCircle. Flight Stats: +5 m/s lift, -2.9 m/s sink, 2052 meter top altitude, -12.0 C degrees at 2052 meters, 2:15 airtime. Hands were nearly frozen after the flight but everything else was warm & toasty in my SupAir Delight Harness with pod. Nice to not have frozen legs and feet too after a cold flight. Even folks with handwarmers were still getting frosty fingers today at 'base. Al landed near the base of Elk after flying to Ludwig, Bridal, Elk but found no climbs at Elk so landed where Matt picked him up. Kevin flew to Elk and landed at Eddie's where Edddie drove him to the bottom of Ryder Lake Road where Martin N retrieved him. Nikolai flew east and landed at Harrison Beach when he found no lift over Bear. In the end of the day all pilots accounted for with big smiles! Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC March Album. See who has been flying around lately here in Canada. . Woodside to Eddy's for Beer on Tuesday March 6, 2012 from Kevin Ault on Vimeo.
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| Guadalajara: Sunny. High plus 28. Light winds from the SW. Guadalajara: 240° at 5 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
Woodside Report - very windy at the Ranch most of the day but around 3:30 pm, the winds dropped as did the reports from the Suams Windtalker. But AlexR said it was still honking in Vancouver. | I didn't even try to head up the road today as it was so windy I didn't want a tree to fall on my car.  Webcam Shot from Jericho Beach with nice whitecaps today - courtesy of Claudia S.  A great tracklog from a HGer this past Sunday at San Marcos, Jalisco, Mexico - courtesy of FaceBook All the way to Tapalpa Launch and back to Pedro's LZ! 120 kms out & return for sure.
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| Guadalajara: Sunny. High plus 28. Light winds from the SW. Guadalajara: 300° at 11 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
Valley Report - Sunday was darn wet all day, as I tromped back to the barn many times to prep gear for shipping! Maybe Monday will be drier, and Tuesday looks really sweet. |
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| Guadalajara: Sunny. High plus 28. Light winds from the SW. Guadalajara: 300° at 11 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
Woodside Report - wet & windy at the Ranch so I stayed in town. | Mexico Tour Recap - we had an awesome three months of tours this season and everyone felt really safe on our tour, according to all reports. Mainstream Media is trying to publicize many crime incidents in Mexico, I believe in order to keep tourist dollars in the USA. A recent article was written about this media treatment of Mexico. Next year we are going to run our tours exclusively in the month of January 2013, which offer 4 weeks of the best thermalling weather in Guadalajara and surrounding areas. Book soon as we are going to have more limited spacce next year.
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| Guadalajara: Sunny. High plus 28. Light winds from the SW. Guadalajara: 300° at 11 knots Guadalajara: -2.9° (unstable) Guadalajara: 3500 m
Vancouver Report - wet and windy and a good day to go shopping. |
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Woodside Report - I arrived at the Ranch around 10 am after a no-hassle border entry where I fully disclosed all purchases and the border guard clearly did not want to deal with charging me any extra taxes for my car repairs! Dulce! | After saying hi to Bob, I started unloading all my sh*t and was amazed that it all fit into the Suzuki. I noticed the suspension rose a few inches after it was all removed. First time in 3 months that the car was empty I guess? Cloudbase was super-low, but it was dry. A few times I saw blue skies but it kept OD'ing and dropping so I left for the city around 3:30 pm. Sure enough, I got a text from Derek around 5 pm that launch was clear. I am sure it would have been flyable til dark if one was dressed warmly. 
Woodside today courtesy of the FlyBC WebCam Remembering Mexico in 2012 with FlyBC at El Chante, San Marcos, Colima and Tapalpa |
FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day Reports click to select the month and year you wish to review.
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