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FlyBC "Site of the Day Archive" - November/2014
Hola Mexico y Tapalpa
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| 11/30/14 |
 Agassiz BC Sunny. Windy this morning. High minus 1. Wind chill minus 20 this morning. Andrei arrived to borrow our generator to power up Ryan's jackhammer, as they planned a work party on the Bridal Road to remove the sharp rocks that keep damaging trucks. Martin N & Alan D helped also and they made good progress on the road. Andrei & Ryan came back after dropping off the generator and flew off Woodside landing at the Ranch. Oddly, it was still gusting +20 kph in agassiz from the NE? Gotta love Mother Woodside!
 Elk Report - Kevin also braved to cold and hike & flew Elk today, some snow on top from the last dusting and the snow line is quite low on that side of the Valley. 11/29/14
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| Agassiz BC A mix of sun and cloud. Clearing this afternoon. Windy this morning and early this afternoon. High minus 5. Wind chill minus 21. Tapalpa, Mexico Report - Norm reports on 4 hours of thermalling at Tapalpa while Camilo completed 5 tandems while we freeze our butts off in Canada. Only a few more weeks til we join them! 11/28/14
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|  Agassiz BC Rainfall warning in effect. Rain at times heavy. Amount 20 to 30 mm. High 9. It is very wet in the Harrison Mills peninsula as it had been raining very hard lately.
Martin launched first on his Gin Atlas and headed SE and got "nada" and he headed to the Ranch.
Martin took Samuel up for another flight as I continued renovations. After Samuel landed the winds got very strong from the NE. Looks like a cold weekend ahead with snow and NE winds. Alex Raymont's Chile Report - flew 214 km yesterday (Thursday), launching just north of Antofagasta and flying north towards Iquique. Flew with a juvenile Andean Condo for part of the flight.
Flight Stats here. 11/25-27/14
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| Agassiz BC Rainfall warning in effect. Rain at times heavy. Amount 20 to 30 mm. High 9. San Marcos Mexico Report - Looks like Normando & Pedro were "duking it out this week", as I found this photo on Pedro's facebook wall.
11/24/14
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| Agassiz BC Cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers this morning and early this afternoon. Rain beginning this afternoon. Temperature steady near 7. Volvo has a new SUV and they used a paraglider to promote it! 11/23/14
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| Agassiz BC Rain at times heavy ending early this afternoon then cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Amount 10 to 20 mm. Wind becoming southwest 40 km/h gusting to 70 this morning then diminishing to 20 early this afternoon. High 8. Blanchard WA Report - rumours have it that only a few PGers flew Blanchard but the hangies were out in full force in post frontal conditions. Doug M was out over the sea!
11/22/14
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| Agassiz BC Showers ending late this morning then cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Amount 5 mm. Windy early this morning. High 8. Ecuador Report - We are having a great trip, arrived in Quito safe and sound, had upgraded seats for the last leg from Atlanta, and the plane was not completely full so we were able to get a complete row to ourselves for sleeping. Spent a couple days in Quito sightseeing then came to the coast. Arrived around 4 and it was fly able so of course we went up. It was quite strong but doable ( I've been getting some practice at higher wind tandem launches). We've been flying everyday we've been here from 20 mins to a couple hrs it just depends on my passenger . . . if she has to pee or gets cold. Our last day here then back to Quito and then to Peru for a few days - Derek Mexican Tours San Marcos Report - Norm reports the new Suburban Shuttle makes it up San Marcos with ease and no overheating after the radiator modifications.
11/21/14
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|  Guadalajara, Mexico Abundant sunshine. High 26C. Winds light. The plane left for Phoenix on time at 7 am, with a nice 2 hour layover to get breakfast in PHX.
Just one problem . . . it was raining heavily in Vancouver and dangerous driving conditions after being spoiled in Mexico for a week.
Mexico Shuttle Update/Report - Normando took the Suburban to the welding shop to have the new rack installed as it wasn't ready yesterday.
The engine & transmission are strong and ready to conquer San Marcos, El Chante & Tapalpa as well as some road trips to Colima.
11/20/14
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| Guadalajara, Mexico Abundant sunshine. High 26C. Winds light. We then went to the Government Office in Chapala to register the Suburban in my name. We had everything but the clerk rejected the Referendo form that showed the registration paid for 2014 because the serial/VIN number was just the last 10 digits not the full VIN. The referendo copies dating back 4 years were all paid just a paperwork issue that had to be fixed in Guadalajara at the office that made the mistake. This was try #2. We drove in to Guadalajara and traffic was light . . . until we got to old town and the traffic was stopped because there was protest parade regarding the 43 students killed in Iquala. It is a holiday called the Day of the Revolution and people were marching against the government who is being blamed for the killings. We got rerouted and finally got in to the main Government Office and there was a big lineup . . . kind of similar to any ICBC office at home. We waited and got the paperwork corrected and the registration was put in my name at Camilo's Chapala address and I paid the 1160 pesos and we were headed home. As with all our dealings with the Government, we had to do 3 tries, but we got it done! I am now a legal owner of a Mexican Built 1987 Suburban and the last step is to get insurance to be fully legal as Mexico now requires a minimum of 300,000 pesos liability coverage (new laws). We decided to forgo trying to fly San Marcos today as it was late and we had SE winds on the lake, but it looked great for El Chante as big CUs were popping everywhere. 11/19/14
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| Guadalajara, Mexico Abundant sunshine. High 26C. Winds light. The landlords are gone for 10 days so Camilo said we could do it in Chapala after he made me a new contract in the next day. So off we went in the new Suburban on a roadtrip to Tapalpa to sort out mechanical issues and we got the first one just the other side of Zocoalco. I noticed the temperature rising despite going down the long hill to the sayula Laguna, so we stopped at Pepex and the fan belt had fallen off the water pump. We had to get one of the Llantera guys to help reinstall the belt and it was a quick fix but the alignment of the alternator pulley is way off centre. We drove to Sayula to buy some tools just in case it happened again where there was no help. We made it almost to the top of Tapalpa and at the last bend in the road it happened again so we stopped at the top landing field and reinstalled it again. When we got to launch the cycles were very light and no birds were climbing out in the hazy sky, so I decided to forgo a flight even though we had Andres here to drive for us. He was watching Keana so he would have his hands full if the belt popped off again.
The new truck goes downhill very controlled with the standard transmission which holds her back well even in high gear. We drove back to San Juan Cosala with no belt issues after another 100 kms, but I stopped at Samuel's Shop and he started working on aligning the alternator by cutting a mounting spacer.
11/18/14
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| Guadalajara, Mexico Abundant sunshine. High 26C. Winds light and variable. Ready to conquer San Marcos with 9 pilots! Only one seat left! LOL!
11/17/14
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| Guadalajara, Mexico Abundant sunshine. High 26C. Winds W at 10 to 15 km/h. The road is very bad this month after the rainy season, and will affect my car buying decision (that and the fact that I already have some booked up weeks). We managed to squeeze in with Pedro in the Bunker II and it made it all the way to the top with 8 pilots, gliders but no trailer.
I got ready first and the cycles seemed light on launch but not to be fooled I lifted the Delta 2 softly to gain control if the thermals grabbed it . . . and it did get grabbed and I was going straight up and back after inflation, and was soon at 2500 metres at the north peak. I watched Normando get body slammed at launch by a gust and then Camilo took off on his Chispita and was soaring with me for a while. Fabio was already in the air and he and I thermalled a bit as I waited for Normando to launch and get up to my altitude, now about 2800 metres. Lift everywhere and very smooth but windy with 8 kms of forward speed. Normando launched but was not able to climb as high as me on the north side so he headed south past the Saddle. I lost sight of him as he climbed and drifted towards Joco, but he must have come forward and I missed him because he got to the end of the South Ridge where the CUs were forming all day (and he saw some HGers playing in the clouds at 4000 metres estimated). He said he caught a good strong climb there and was at 3700 metres when he headed east. Of course his radio was not working so I dod not know where he was so I flew back to Pedro K's LZ and all the way back I was climbing through 3200 metres when I was trying to get down before dark!.
Good time to try B-stalls as the spirals were pretty tame -6 m/s as I was light on the Delta 2 L. The B-stalls were pretty easy as long as you don't over pull the B's (cause then it goes wonky but is totally recoverable). Big ears work pretty well too, cause they stay in without holding the outer A's . . . but slowed me down too much and I was going backwards. Still pretty windy from the NW but oddly the wind in the LZ was from the east. Classic San Marcos restitiution (glass off) with catabatic flow down the mountain, yet launch had inflow cycles and it was +30 kms/hr in the air. There was going to be a nasty shear layer somewhere and I spiralled through it but it was still pretty rough. I saw some guy on an Icaro below me hit the shear layer, unprepared and apparently he had a hugh collapse or frontal and ended up way short of the runway. I landed and Camilo handed me a cervesa and it was already getting dark. 2.25 on the vario and sweet flying as about 20 pilots flew and everyone stayed up as long as they wanted! 11/16/14
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| Guadalajara, Mexico Abundant sunshine. High 26C. Winds W at 10 to 15 km/h. We arrived to see some HGers launch and soar around noon. We met Pedro K at the Club but he was not going up until some others arrived in aboyut an hour . . . Mexican time. The others arrived at 2:30 pm and stood around for another hour. Then they started loading gliders on the trailer. Another 45 minutes passed. We were finally rolling in the Jeep Wagonneer called the "Bunker II", with 8 of us crammed in and 2 on the trailer with the gliders.
Ten minutes later he was still trying to get the cravatte out. He finally did get it out by pulling the outer A to release pressure and then the stabilo line popped the rest out. I fumbled around with tangles and no good cycles and finally bagged my Delta 2 as I could not see anymore. The Jeep died again on the way down the hill with an apparent carburetor problem. It's alway an adventure in Mexico. 11/14-21/14
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| Guadalajara, Mexico Sunny. High 25C. Normando & I flew on November 14th arriving at midnight and stayed at Casa de Marina until the house was ready for us to move in gear. Nice casita in the Raquet Club one block from the pool & clubhouse area.
There was barely room to lay out a wing as Red Bull tents and spectators lined launch.
One of the local hot PG pilots, Atuk, was already in the air and I was following him but I gave up as I found a stronger climb as he headed south and was sinking. Normando had launched by now and was also headed south to the sunny areas. I stayed in my climb remebering the sage advice "Never leave Lift". The climbs were ragged and spiky and it was best managed on a paraglider as we can turn tighter. The 3-4 HGs below me were just bombing through the small thermals and not getting up. I flew for 30 minutes and watched folks starting to sink out all around and I was 300 metres over launch so I headed in for a top-landing. It had gone SW on launch so I opted for the big fields in the back rather than miss an approach and then sink out. It was sinky over my field, and later I heard the field by the road was very rotory, so I am glad I bailed on trying that field (plus I was closer to launch & food & beverages). Normando had landed at the bottom LZ, but I could not get him on the radio (what a surprise?). He eventually caught a ride with a pilot from Victoria (whose name escapes me). Pedro was running pony rides for the kids and everyone was having fun at the "Party in the Sky".
11/12/14
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. Windy. High plus 4. 11/11/14
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. High 7. 11/10/14
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. High 7. Not much fun working out in the winds doing renovations, but at least it wasn't raining. 11/9/14
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|  Agassiz BC Rain at times heavy ending this morning then cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. High 10.
More info here Now available here at FlyBC. 11/8/14
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| Agassiz BC A mix of sun and cloud. Becoming cloudy this afternoon. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High 12. We did not even go up to launch until after a few hours of ground school as it looked pretty calm. When we arrived, we saw one un-named pilot had caught her wing on a small tree below launch and tore her wing. We waited and waited as it blew SE, and then magically we got some cycles and 4 pilots that were ready flew off (running madly). And then it blew down some more so we headed down.
Mexico is looking better every day as the weather locally turns sour! 11/7/14
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| Agassiz BC Cloudy. 40 percent chance of showers early this morning. Clearing this afternoon. High 13. Eric wanted to test fly the Delta 2 ML so I got it for him and I was getting my gear too when I noticed Rudy was geting ready to hang a french door in the garage reno. So I sent Eric up by himself and helped Rudy. I went out to check how everyone was doing and watch Joe top-land (or top crash?) as Eric was getting set up. Joe got up and drove a truck down for Degas. Martin N was still soaring around and we heard later he got 2:45 total airtime in one flight (not bad for November!).
A big shout out to Dale who came out with his concrete cutting equipment and blasted some rocks off the launch road, the launch proper and then flew down on his new Ozone Swift 4! Thanks, Mr. Dale! Meanwhile back at the Ranch I was finishing reno stuff as the sun set pretty damn early these days. Jan K was out and got some great photos today and drove for Andrei & Rod on the last flights. Jan's Album Here
11/6/14
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| Agassiz BC Rain. Amount 10 to 20 mm. Wind becoming southwest 60 km/h gusting to 90 this afternoon. High 15. 11/5/14
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| Agassiz BC Rain. Amount 10 to 20 mm. High 13. These folks have Mad Skillz . . . or maybe they are just mad? Do not try this at home! #Speedflying #barrelrolls #swooping #speedwings Follow my gaze .. from Jan Thinoks on Vimeo. 11/4/14
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| Agassiz BC Rain ending this morning then mainly cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. High 14. The Kamloops Fliers were soaring the newly trimmed Toilet Bowl today on their Ozone Fazers.
11/3/14
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| Agassiz BC Rain. Amount 10 mm. Temperature steady near 10. 11/2/14
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| Agassiz BC Rain starting after noon. High 12. 11/1/14
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| Agassiz BC A mix of sun and cloud. High 12.
Great kiting winds as Richard & Moto were practicing reverse launches at the Eagle Ranch LZ. I had mowed the training hill & landing circles earlier and it paid off as the grass was nice and dry. Later we took Moto up for a flight to try his new SupAir Altirando RS harness and he had a great launch but kept drifting downwind as he almost disapppeared in the clouds. Derek & Kevin were soaring just below the clouds and both got several hours in nice lift.
Saltspring Report - Denham & Eileen went over to Saltspring Island this weekend and found a nice launch on Mt Erskine.
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Box 79, Harrison Mills, BC Canada V0M 1L0 Mobile: 604-618-5467 Skype: flybcpg E-Mail: FlyBC E-Mail |