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What's new around the Vancouver Flying scene. | Date | Site | Forecast | Precip. | Winds Aloft 3000 ft. | Comments | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| November 2 | Woodside (if you have nothing better to do than hang out waiting for the cycles) | showers in the AM | 40% POP | 170° at 12 knots, soarable |
Check the FlyBC Used Page for fall sale specials! We have new gliders in stock: FBC Paramotor Big Boy Model 340 cc. twin cylinder - $3500 CDN!, APCO Allegra Large 100-120 kgs new, APCO Allegra Small 75-90 kgs slightly used 10 hours, Ozone Octane Large 95-115 kgs demo, APCO Futura Tandem 140-210 kgs, used, APCO Prima Medium 75-95 kgs demo all available for demo and special purchase prices available on all these gliders to clear out our inventory for winter. Call 604-618-5467 for details. November 1
| Woodside
| rain tapering to showers in the PM
| 60% POP
| 220° at 12 knots, soarable
|
Looked windy and rainy so I don't think any one flew. I got the Upper Level Winds from the early report and after 8:00 am they reforecasted 220@20 knots. Even the airlines were having problems penetrating west as they were all running late! - Jim
| October 31
| Whidbey Island
| Winds southwesterly 25 to gales 35 knots easing to southwest 15 this afternoon.
| 30% POP
| 240° at 15 knots
|
Another no fly day, Ian J headed with a group to Woodside as the forecast west winds never materialized at Whidbey. Woodside was blown out at 40 k/hr +. Oddly Blanchard was on all afternoon with south winds - Jim
| October 30
| Sumas (or stay home)
| rain developing
| 70% POP
| 140° at 12 knots
|
Rain all day! :-(
| October 29
| Sumas BC
| cloudy with sunny breaks
| 20% POP
| 140° at 11 knots
|
Sumas Report - no one reported their flights, but the upper level clouds appeared to be moving in a perfect SE direction. I am sure Sumas was working. | Point of the Mountain Report - Kelly was on her way back from Utah, with Ian J/Dean sleeping in the truck as she drove. It was either too light or too windy for the past 5 days but they got 1.5 hours of air-time. October 28
| Chelan WA | for the Women's Fly In Sunny!
| 0% POP
| light and variable
|
Chelan Report - We awoke to a sunny day with an excellent lapse rate! We arrived at launch at 12:00 noon, and there were people soaring the north ridge landing in the Chelan Falls Park. | Then the wind switched to east, and pilots started launching of "Ant in the Pants" launch, and climbing out rapidly. I drove down to leave the Suburban in the Park leaving Colleen, Nicole and Jack to fly, Colleen later mentioned that the lift was very strong and there was no problem getting high (just avoiding other gliders that were not allowing her to climb thru them). I eventually got a ride up with Pam and Harry, and there was a huge line up at launch so I launched to the west (it was coming up on all sides). I overheard on the meet channel that retrieve drivers were available for those who landed out, and discovered later that 10 pilots couldn't make it out to the LZ. The great lift was accompanied by great sink! After I launched, I went up quickly circling with about 6 gliders with little drift, all in tight formation. One HG was below us climbing nicely for about an hour. Then the gaggle started to spread out, Tom Clark heading west, others to the north over the towers, some south over the river - still all going up. I had never made a run to the Airport before so I ventured north, and got a few bubbles on the way. But I was bucking a NE headwind flying a new Allegra L and not making great progress but I got past town and was on a good glide into the airport when the sink alarm started screaming - 2.8 m/s down for a long time and I was now over the highway and powerlines near the airport. I soared the highway for a while just not getting high enough to dare cross the powerlines into the airport and finally landed in the bailout LZ just at the foot of the hill below the airport. A great day to end the Women's Fly In! - Jim Grouse Report - Derek and I flew Grouse on Sunday and it was real nice, I got 45 min. in some nice smooth thermals. There's about 6 to 8 inches of snow up on the peak - Glen Taylor October 27
| Chelan WA | for the Women's Fly In showers in the AM
| 30% POP
| light and variable
|
Chelan Women's Fly In Report - 45 pilots signed up for the event, and they were not disappointed Saturday.
Steve "Sled Ride" Skogmo logged 6 flights, while everyone else got at least one flight. Gumby flew in full costume but the pictures were not available at press time.
At 4:00 pm it got strong from the west and pilots were soaring the gust front until the party started. The pot luck supper was great. Where were all the Canucks? - Jim
| October 26
| Stay Home
| showers in the AM
| 60% POP
| 140° at 12 knots
|
It rained all day in Abbotsford, but, . . . . . there are about 10 Canucks at Point of the Mountain and they are flying everyday.
| October 25
| Sumas
| showers in the AM
| 30% POP
| 140° at 17 knots
|
Pemberton Report - Jim O called to say he got high over Copper Dome and flew for hours. Some localized high pressure seemed to keep the rain away and genrate nice lift for the Pembie Locals.
| October 24
| Stay Home, plan a road trip for the weekend (Chelan or Point of the Mountain)
| Rainy and Windy, heavy rain warnings!
| 100% POP
| 200° at 15 knots
|
It rained all day in the Fraser Valley with new snow down to Lower Bridal!
| October 23
| Stay Home
| Rainy and Windy, wind warnings everywhere!
| 100% POP
| 290° at 29 knots!
|
Van Isle Report - Ian J and Alex R ferried a boat from Comox and had a wild ride but no para-flying - Jim
| October 22
| Stay Home
| Rainy and Windy
| 100% POP
| 260° at 35 knots!
|
Victoria Report - Bruce got 20 minutes during his lunch hour! Then back to the grind - Jim
| October 21
| Stay Home
| Rainy and Windy
| 100% POP
| windy
|
Great day to get some housework done, it rained heavily all day - Jim
| October 20
| Woodside in the PM
| misty on the morning
| 30% POP
| light and variable
|
Woodside Report - 10 pilots including HGer Martin Henry flew Woodside today. Martin flew for "just under an hour" before we arrived and most of us got sled-rides. Rob S found some bubbles of lift to the east and squeaked out 14 minutes. Satelite Tim was the last to launch into a fog bank and he managed to soar for a few passes. - Jim
| October 19
| Stay at Work
| rainy sometimes heavy
| 100% POP
| 280° at 14 knots
|
Victoria Report - Bruce, Claudio and Jayson flew Dallas Road at lunch time, for about an hour before heading off to work, etc. (Bruce says "Try that in Vancouver!" - we do Bruce, it is called Grouse Mountain).
| October 18
| Stay at Work
| rainy sometimes heavy
| 70% POP
| 280° at 14 knots
|
Woodside Report - rain all day! | Cochrane Report - 25 mph all day, even the 737s had problems landing! - Jim October 17
| Whidbey Island
| windy
| 40% POP
| 280° at 14 knots
|
It was on all afternoon at Whidbey Island, did anyone fly? - Jim
| October 16
| Stay Home
| rainy and windy
| 100% POP
| 280° at 18 knots
|
Winnipeg Report - nice cloud streets at 4000 AGL. Looked very lifty, but I saw no gliders in the air - Jim
| October 15
| Sumas
| clear
| 0% POP
| 130° at 15 knots
|
Sumas Report - Ian J, Ihor, Norm and I flew Sumas thanks to Beverley for driving! 30 minute soaring in a narrow lift band with some thermals mixed in. Then back to work for the balance of the day, the last fix for the week as the weather turns nasty Tuesday. Stay tuned for our new weather briefer, George Jetstream, joining us from recent work at The Weather Network. George can be reached at george_jetstream@hotmail.com - Jim
| October 14
| Sumas
| clear
| 0% POP
| 060° at 15 knots
|
Sumas Report - we drove around looking at places to fly and giving up, we headed to Sumas for a drive. We collected about 12 lost souls at the foot of the mountain and drove up to sweet soaring conditions - from 1 hour to 2 hours depending on how cold pilots got. Everyone flew down, thanks for driving Thomm and Ihor! - Jim
| October 13
| Woodside
| overcast
| 30% POP in the morning
| 260° at 7 knots
|
It was good in the morning at Woodside, but by the time everyone showed up it started to rain and get windy. Forecast was backwards.
| October 12
| Stay Home or at Work
| rainy all day, windy
| 100% POP
| 270° at 28 knots
|
Water Wings Report - it was wet all day, high winds on the coast.
| October 11
| Woodside | showers in the AM, clearing
| 10% POP
| 290° at 16 knots
|
Woodside Report - Allan D and I drove up to launch, while trying to talk others into joining us. As Allan launched into moderately strong westerlies and started climbing straight up on speedbar; Ian J, Kevin A, Klaus and Monica showed up in the parking area. | I spent a while adjusting my speedbar, sitting on my glider so it didn't blow away and I watched Allan pull big ears and head out to land. I caught a lull and launched heading straight up and back. Hit the speedbar but I had misadjusted it so I had no tension, tweaked the A's and still climbing got in front of launch and had to ditch the brakes to re-tie the speedbar lines in the air! Now I can penetrate! I spent 1:16 flying straight out, once heading to the north cliffs which had me stuck for a while but I was at 1040 meters ASL so I could always head to Agassiz. Landing was smooth and uneventful in the proposed LZ with slight west wind just above the trees, no rotor. Apples are very tasty and won't last. Kevin, Ian and Klaus flew and had smooth lifty flights til dark, still pretty windy aloft. October 10
| Stay home | heavy rain
| 90% POP later
| 290° at 16 knots
|
It rained a lot all day - no problem getting work done! Road trips need to be planned now!
| October 9
| Blanchard WA | Sunny w/cloudy periods
| 40% POP later
| 210° at 8 knots
|
Blanchard Report - Ian J, Delvin, Doug Beer and I all flew Blanchard today in changing conditions. I had the shortest flight launching first with Ian getting SkyPig honours for 35 minutes and 1000 feet over launch. Some said it would not happen and to "stay at work" but we persevered and flew. Doug and Delvin had pretty good flights after Ian landed. | Fraser Valley Report - it was raining hard in Mission at noon, as I left the tire shop for Sumas Crossing. Tough getting into the US now, take your passport and remove all un-necessary items from your vehicles - Jim October 8
|
Savona | Sunny/cloudy periods
| 40% POP
| light and variable
|
Hi Jim, had a good thanksgiving dinner and time with my kids.
Monday we went over to Savana on our way home, it was sunny and nice so we went up to Deadmans launch, Norm had a great launch and
soared for awhile. I drove down as we were the only 2 there, and I am not the wind technician he is, anyway he landed over at the dump launch
where we all practice, he had a great time flying but it got a bit strong and we decided to head home - Bev | Woodside Report - It rained, then it cleared, then it blew too strong . . . so we all went home early :-( October 7
| SunPeaks | Savona Sunny/cloudy periods
| 40% POP
| light and variable
|
Savona Report - Colleen and I flew the Dump Ridge on the east side until it got too light. Good kiting and soaring practice, and we got home early enough for Turkey Dinner! - Jim
| October 6
| SunPeaks | Mara Lake Savona Sunny/cloudy periods
| 0% POP
| light and variable
|
Woodside Report - Rob S reports lots of fliers including HGs out at Woodside, soaring for 3 hours in ridge lift. | Mara Lake Report - It was raining when we arrived to pick up Harvey, the RV. Back to Kamloops to soar at Savona hopefully. Happy Turkey Dinner everyone! October 5
| Sumas or Woodside possible later
| Sunny
| 0% POP
| 160° at 8 knots
|
Woodside Report - we soared for hours . . . actually I worked, and it looked really stable in Vancouver - Jim
| October 4
| Stay Home
| Sunny
| 0% POP
| 070° at 45 knots
|
Fraser Valley Report - I called the Chilliwack Windtalker at 1:00 pm and it was 050° at 11 knots gusting to 22 knots! I guess no one flew yesterday.
| October 3
| Sumas
| Sunny
| 0% POP
| strong outflow winds forecast
|
Woodside Report - Jack was at Bridal and it was light south on the ground, on the way to Agassiz it was howling from the NE, and at Woodside it was blowing over the back - leeside conditions so he didn't fly. No other reports.
| October 2
| Bridal
| Sunny
| 0% POP
| 290° at 6 knots
|
no pireps from Bridal
| October 1
| Vedder Mountain
| Sunny with cloudy periods
| 0% POP
| 320° at 11 knots (soarable if this is true)
| Bridal Report - Flew @ Lower Bridal, very light lift (0.3m/s) resulted in 14 minute
flight, light valley winds from SW, developement near Vedder & Deroche
(might have been good) - Rob S | Vedder Report - we had to hike part way in because of a road washout, to find the wind SW/S and it was not launchable. Prety view though - Jim & Colleen |
September 2001 Site of the Day archives starting to get pretty stable, more sled rides forecast for October.
