What's new around the Vancouver Flying scene. | Date | Site | Forecast | Precip. | Winds Aloft | Comments |
| September 29 | Lil Nick or Blanchard | High 17 | P.O.P. 90 percent, cloudbase forecast is 2200 feet | 220 degrees @ 15 knots at 3000 feet | Pilot reports graciously accepted here! |
| September 28 | Woodside | High 20 | P.O.P. 20 percent, mostly cloudy by noon, last flyable day for 4 days! | 260 degrees @ 7 knots at 3000 feet | Woodside Report - Checked your site of the day and took advantage of getting out to Woodside for a flight before it turned ugly for the weekend. All three of us had a good flight, Dad and I boated around for a while in major lift, and Norm had 1 hour and could of had more if he didn't have to go to work. The winds picked up quite a bit, as the storm was rolling in. Otherwise it was great to be in the air - Bev. |
| September 27 | Woodside/Grouse | High 24 | P.O.P. 0 percent | 160 degrees @ 7 knots at 3000 feet, standard lapse rate. | Woodside Report - Woodside didn't look too promising today, it was leeside yuck. Norm laid out but ended up bagging it because what thermals did come up were weak - Bev. Grouse Report - Colleen and I flew at 3:00 pm and we got some sweet soaring at the cliffs and below the Cut; Justin, Thomm, Darren and Ian Mitchell flew at 4:30pm. Really trashy by the cliffs for the later pilots, it sounded like they were glad to be on the ground when they landed - Jim |
| September 26 | Woodside or Sumas | High 23 | P.O.P. 0 percent | 140 degrees @ 5 knots at 3000 feet | Woodside Report - Flew Woodside today, Dad went first, then myself, it was coming up nice, I got lift straight off of launch, but I flew out. After that it was a sledder , smooth ride down but no stress involved, relaxing, enjoyed it. There was a big logging truck coming down loaded with logs, and a huge grader going up, smoothing the road and levelling it out nice. - Bev |
| September 25 | ? | High 24 | P.O.P. 0 percent | 110 degrees @ 10 knots at 3000 feet, gusty northerly outflow winds forecast for Fraser Valley | Grouse Report - No lift - sledder - light cycles fwd launches only - Ian Johnson |
| September 24 | Woodside | High 23 | P.O.P. 0 percent | 110 degrees @ 6 knots at 3000 feet | Woodside Report - We flew a morning sledder at Woodside and decided to try Eagle Launch for a first! See News link above for a flight report! |
| September 23 | Woodside | High 21 | P.O.P. 0 percent | Light and Variable at 3000 feet | Woodside Report - Saturday was a busy day with little complications, no waiting for cycles even at 10:00 AM. Approximately 30 pilots flew 3 - 4 flights throughout the day, some new pilots getting 5 flights! Thermals were small and hard to track - Norm, Allan D, Brett and David S did the best staying up above launch for up to an hour. |
| September 22 | Stay at Home | High 21 | P.O.P. 10 percent | 050 degrees @ 16 knots at 3000 feet, Locally windy at times, all locations reporting Northerly outflow winds | Kelly and Hans called from Woodside LZ. It was outflow at 20 knots and gusty, no flying in the Fraser Valley. Oddly, it was calm in Vancouver and I heard Peter Graf was heading up Grouse at 4:30 pm. |
| September 21 | Stay at Home | High 21 | P.O.P. 10 percent | 050 degrees @ 16 knots at 3000 feet, Locally windy at times, all locations reporting Northerly outflow winds | Pilot reports graciously accepted here! |
| September 20 | Blanchard WA (Bellingham) | High 20 | P.O.P. 30 percent | 260 degrees @ 11 knots at 3000 feet, switching to 300 @ 10 knots later. | Pilot reports graciously accepted here! |
| September 19 | Bridal | High 21 | P.O.P. 40 percent | Light and Variable 5 knots at 3000 feet (northerly above) | Woodside Report - It was a difficult day to fly Woodside! Monica reports she got one hour of airtime, but most people got extended sledders. It was so leeside that pilots were having to wait an hour to launch! |
| September 18 | Woodside | High 19 | P.O.P. 10 percent | 290 degrees at 10 knots at 3000 feet | Pilot reports graciously accepted here! |
| September 17 | Woodside (Friendship Fly-In) | High 24 | P.O.P. 10 percent | 250 degrees at 5 knots at 3000 feet | Woodside Report - Sunday was overcast but soarable by 11:00 AM, several pilots got great flight with Alex Raymont earning the "Sky Pig" award for most airtime (and the wettest glider). It started to rain as the last three gliders flew out to land at about 1:30 PM. |
| September 16 | Woodside (Friendship Fly-In) | High 24 | P.O.P. 10 percent | 250 degrees at 5 knots at 3000 feet | Woodside Report - Saturday was an exceptional Woodside day! Everyone behaved themselves and stayed out of the trees. There were 30 gliders in the air over launch for over an hour. There was a close call when a visiting PG Pilot let herself get blown downwind and she landed very close to the south side of Harrison River (the wind gusted up to 17 knots). There was also a car accident as a pilot pulled out onto Hwy 7 without looking and he got T-boned. No injuries, just two written off vehicles. The barbeque and party afterwards was well attended and special thanks go out to Klaus and Monica and Jeff and Denise for arranging everything. |
| September 15 | Woodside | High 24, Chance of Showers | P.O.P. 30 percent | Light and Variable at 3000 feet | Woodside Report - Lars and Arlana were flying Woodside accompanied by a Video Crew doing a feature on Lars' chair, they bagged a couple of flights. Allan Dickie soared most of the afternoon at Woodside. Brian got a good soaring flight in, too. Later in the afternoon it got too strong to safely launch until about 6:00 pm. |
| September 14 | Woodside/Sumas | High 20, Chance of Thunderstorms | P.O.P. 60 percent | 160 @ 10 knots at 3000 feet | Grouse Report - Launch conditions turned out to be ideal today, with steady cycles supported by a gentle southerly breeze. It was really warm up there, so thermal activity was weak and staying up required too much work. Thomm and I both had less than half an hour, but the glide out was smooth, and visibility was super. No cruise ships - the season must be over. - Thomas Hasek |
| September 13 | Woodside/Sumas | High 25 | P.O.P. 0 percent | 120 @ 5 knots at 3000 feet, going to need some cycles to get off and the thermals will be rough (option 2 is Sumas) | Woodside Report - Woodside was flyable, but Ian J could only milk 20 minutes out of a flight so it wasn't working. Grouse Report - Thomm, Thomas and Justin got about 30 minutes in light lift, the SE flow aloft wasn't as bad as forecast. |
| September 12 | Bridal Lower | High 20, partial clearing this afternoon | P.O.P. 30 percent | 290 @ 5 knots at 3000 feet | Blanchard Report - I met Russ down in Blanchard and he got a couple of sled rides in, no lift, mild in-flow breeze at launch and landing. The launch at Blanchard is in bad shape, too many parties over the summer. If you are going down there take a few garbage bags and haul out some cans and bottles. |
| September 11 | Grouse Work Party | High 20, Sunny | P.O.P. 0 percent | Light and Variable | Woodside Report - Woodside was quite nice, Alan Rob, Klaus, Andrea, Paul, Brian, Norm, Alex and I got anywhere from 1 to 3 hours. Alex flew to the other side of Ruby Creek. Thermals at first, then later in the afternoon ridge too. My best was 5 m/s up. A little slow coming out though. Glen... Grouse Report - Mark D, Brett H, Russ and I flew at 4:00 pm. Lots of turbulent air, some cloudsuck and bouyant air all the way out to land. The fence is back up so the LZ is about 50% normal size and it was busy coming in today! Justin, Thomm and Thomas Hasek flew later and had a smooth ride out. |
| September 10 | Pemberton | High 20, Cloudy with afternoon sunny breaks | P.O.P. 20 percent | ? | Colleen and I arrived at Pemberton at 10:45 to clear skies! We waited around til 12:00 and then met up with Jim Orava and Ty and went to Mackenzie with some new students. Paul Higginbotham got his first flight, and Brad tried his new glider. About 15 pilots flew and Orava had the longest flight at 1 hour. No big XCs but good flights when the wind came up the launch. |
| September 9 | Stay Home or Work | High 16, Heavy Showers | P.O.P. 80 percent | Locally Windy | Pilot reports graciously accepted here! |
| September 8 | Stay Home or Work | High 16, Heavy Showers | P.O.P. 80 percent | Locally Windy | Pilot reports graciously accepted here! |
| September 7 | Stay Home or Work | High 16, Heavy Showers | P.O.P. 80 percent | Locally Windy | Pilot reports graciously accepted here! |
| September 6 | Woodside earlier, then Bridal if the sun pops through | High 20, Cloudy with Sunny breaks | P.O.P. 40 percent | light and variable (9900) at 3000 feet, northerly flow aloft | Pilot reports graciously accepted here! Hopefully it won't look like the picture above! |
| September 6 | Woodside earlier, then Bridal if the sun pops through | High 20, Cloudy with Sunny breaks | P.O.P. 40 percent | light and variable (9900) at 3000 feet, northerly flow aloft | Pilot reports graciously accepted here! Hopefully it won't look like the picture above! |
| September 5 | Lil Nick | High 20, Mainly cloudy with Sunny breaks | P.O.P. 20 percent | 260 @ 13 knots at 3000 feet, too windy for Woodside. | Review of the Abbotsford NOAA reports showed it never got windy as forecast, so Woodside may have been okay for sled rides, no pilots reported in. |
| September 4 | Woodside | High 19 | P.O.P. 80 percent | light and variable at 3000 feet | Woodside Report - it was raining when we arrived. But patience and a few blue holes kept us at Woodside. After 13:00 the sky opened up and Colleen showed us where the lift was. We were having a great day until we heard "GLIDER IN THE TREES!!". Ihor (experienced pilot) had experienced a spin that wouldn't recover and he had to throw his reserve. He was hanging around for a few hours until Search and Rescue got him a rope. He was okay. |
| September 3 | Woodside | High 18, Mainly cloudy with a chance of showers. | P.O.P. 60 percent | 290 @ 6 knots at 3000 feet | Woodside Report - low cloud obscured launch for some time but one pilot got 5 flights in. Light thermals, one new student had a 45 minute flight showing us how to thermal the right way, while others plumetted to the LZ (ex-HGer from WA). |
| September 2 | Woodside | High 17 | P.O.P. 60 percent | 230 @ 5 knots at 3000 feet | Woodside Report - We had a great day at Woodside, most pilots getting 3 flights in soarable conditions, Thomas Hasek and Thomm McEachryn both got over 1 hour flights. No high winds, no vicious cloud-suck, just smooth thermals and ridge lift. |
| September 1 | Sumas Mountain | High 17 | P.O.P. 80 percent, Risk of a thundershower. | 180 @ 12 knots before noon at 3000 feet, 160 @ 6 knots afternoon | Woodside Report - As I told you every one had excellent soaring flights, Allan Dickey got 4 .5 hours and made it to cloud base, Norm got 2 hours and also made it to cloud base, Rob Samplonius almost made it to cloud base, and Dad and Beat both got sledders because they flew out. But they enjoyed themselves, South winds today. I kited and was killing myself on no wind forward launching but oh well practice helps improve ones skills and I definitely want to improve *S*; Anyway that is all folks; ttyl; Bev |
| August 31 | Woodside | High 20 | P.O.P. 70 percent, if the rain doesn't let up head for Blanchard/Whidbey as an alternate. | 280 @ 6 knots at 3000 feet | Grouse Report - Eric and I flew at 5:30 pm, good reversible launch cycles, some lift on the cliffs. Very cold with freezing level at 1400 meters, nice to have warm gloves and a good flight suit. |
July - August 2000 Site of the Day archives
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June 2000 Site of the Day archives
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