FlyBC "Site of the Day" - October 9/2003
new table look suggested by Ted de Beaudrap
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What's new around the Vancouver Flying scene. |
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/1000' (stable) | 6330 ft. |
Woodside Report - I arrived at Eagle Ranch and Alan and Kevin were above launch.
Fred had sunk out after 45 minutes and was on his way back up.
I decided it was too chance-y to try to top-land so I fired up the DK Whisper and motored up to launch on the Vibe.
While I was getting set up Kevin had landed at Riverside and Alan was on his way down too after 1:30.
There was a definite inversion layer that bounced you back down as you hit it . . . unless you had a motor.
It was smooth above the inversion and much clearer. Lots of haze and smog in the valley.
/1000' (unstable) 6330 ft.
Fraser Valley Report -
I drove out to Woodside and didn't find anybody there so I went over to Bridal and drove up to launch to see what conditions looked like. I wasn't that confident that I'd be able to top-land to drive down, but at least it looked like it would be an extended sled ride, so I launched. Ended up with over an hour in light lift (and wind), before landing in the 'swamp' at 6 pm. Packed up quickly so that I could hike up to get my truck before it got too dark - Rob
| /1000' (stable) 6330 ft.
Savona Report - it started out windy from the west so we soared the "Toilet Bowl Ridge" doing practice flights and when it moderated we flew the Upper Launch. We thought we lost Kirril but he soared north and top-landed in a meadow to be safe and couldn't reach us on radio. I had to fly a Search & Rescue flight flying all over the mountain but I couldn't see his wing in a tree or on the ground so I assumed he was okay, and he was found by our driver walking down the road. We flew three flights but couldn't match John the HGer who logged 3+ hours all alone landing at the Crash Pad.
| Chelan Bike and Fly Report - Lots of people at the fly-in this year...we had a Canadian contingent of about 10 pilots. Saturday we all had good flights off the North launch on the Butte, it was strong enough to ridge-soar at times. Lots of bomb drops and spot-landings at the Chelan Falls park. Most of us got 3 flights in. Registration included Saturday night dinner, which was an all-you-can-eat pig roast buffet. Next morning one of the Kelowna pilots who had flown down in his Cessna-172 gave some of us a ride. We went up the end of Chelan lake and over the Cascade range, heading towards Baker and flying over some of the local glaciers. Got back in time for the first morning flights off the Butte; north wind again and some pilots opted to head to Saddle mountain instead. Most stayed and we all launched into sometimes-strong, sometimes-not lift off the north launch again. Nice flying later on in the day. Most pilots did 2-3 flights. End of the day the prizes were handed out for both flying and biking events. What a nice weekend-hot and sunny just like the summer months! - Nicole /1000' (stable) 6330 ft.
Savona Report - we headed to Savona to escape the high winds on the coast and we were rewarded with sweet soaring flights. Five students and Colleen, Kelly and I all flew. It never got windy and the thermals were smooth.
| Bridal /1000' (stable) 6330 ft.
Woodside Report - quite a few good flights with Bob and Kelly "duking it out" for top gun!
| Bridal /1000' (stable) 5300 ft.
Woodside Report - Alan and Nikolai started flying around 2:00 pm and struggled at times to stay above launch as clouds kept rolling through. Ian J and I launched around 4:00 pm and there was strong lift everywhere, ridge and thermal. Alan reported +5 m/s at times, I only had an audio vario so no display. I followed Alan out over Riverside and we climbed all the way out, Ian went further North past the bailout swamp and was 500 meters over launch. A few times trying to top-land I got way below launch and I just flew out towards the LZ and climbed back up? Around 5:30 pm Alan and I were both trying to top-land and I made one pass from the north and dropped right onto the green tarp in a "sink cycle", Alan kept trying and finally gave up. His total airtime was 4:00, Nikolai logged 4:30, Ian and I logged 1:30. I took Derek up later to retrieve Nikolai's truck and Derek logged 0:08 in ratty leeside air - Jim
| /1000' (stable) 2600 ft.
Fraser Valley Report - I was returning from Calgary and the jet flew an approach straight in to Abbotsford Airport between Bridal and Woodside.
I saw a sailplane high above Hope with another on downwind into Hope Airport.
No pilots seen flying Bridal but one pilot was observed just above launch at Woodside.
Nice thermal bumps over Hope so it was probably nicely soarable for a PGer.
| (stable) 3600 ft.
No pilots seen at Bridal today.
| (stable) 3600 ft.
No pireps.
| (stable) 3600 ft.
Woodside Report - a crowded but safe day at Woodside. There was barely enough room to walk on launch with 15 HGs set up and lots of PGers. Later in the day there were 30+ gliders in the air all over the place getting lift so no concentrated gaggles were formed so separation was not a problem. Our students managed 3 flights in light to moderate lift and again Jeffrey was above all the experienced pilots on his Fiesta Light. Colleen and I fit three tandems into the middle of all the traffic. Thanks to everyone who cooperated at launch today! - Jim | Bridal Report - Alan and Derek flew Bridal after 3:00 pm and had the mountain to themselves, not getting high but they had nice flights. Telluride CO US PG Nationals Report - sad news from the US Nats. A long time PG Pilot, Bruce Tracy from Omak, was killed during a task over the weekend. Bruce started paragliding in 1988, so he was a true pioneer. We met Bruce at many of the Saddle Mountain events when we started flying in 1995 and he was a great personality in the sport. He was an avid hike and flier. It is times like this we need to remember that Paragliding is as safe as we make it, and competitions make people push their limits (last year two pilots were killed in the US Nats). Fly safe and enjoy!  Dr. Bruce Tracy Deroche (unstable) 3600 ft.
Deroche Report - we arrived at Deroche with 12 eager pilots in the Suburban and Nicole and Bob flew first and within 15 minutes the launch was in fog. We decided it wasn't worth the wait based on the conditions and headed back towards Woodside. Nicole logged 40 minutes in light bubbles. | Lil Nick Report - the remaining 10 pilots voted on flying Lil Nick and the road up there is like a highway now. You may not even need 4WD and a Cherokee might even make it! I launched all the students as Colleen was out enjoying herself and one by one everyone had nice soaring flights. The last few to go: Jeffery, Kirill and Barry had almost an hour and we encouraged Jeffery to fly back to Deroche and he landed past the Deroche LZ for his first XC (not bad for 16 flights)! Woodside Report - we arrived back at Woodside at 4:00 pm to hear Kelly's maneuver flight description (yikes), and other tales of high flights. Alan logged his normal 5 hours. There were three tree incidents (all non-injurious to gliders and pilots). It looked like Christmas at Woodside there were so many decorations in the trees! The students all got one more flight in soarable conditions before we had a big bon fire and cooked up Norm's salmon. Lil Nick (unstable) 2400 ft.
Woodside Report - Alan, Ian, Nicole and Alex flew Woodside in moderately strong winds. Rob came up with us and launched in a lull and climbed right out. Flights between 1:30 - 2:45 in length with windy approaches. Too windy to fly even advanced students so we drove down. | Lil Nick (stable) 2400 ft.
Fraser Valley Report - rain and wind all day, low cloudbase even at 7:00 pm when I landed at Abbotsford. | Lil Nick (unstable) 2400 ft.
Fraser Valley Report - a little rain in the pm, but otherwise flyable.
| (unstable) 2400 ft.
Towering CU Report - More towering CU reported, rainy and windy in the Fraser Valley. | Alberta Report - summer was short! Snow warnings for up to 25 cms this week! (unstable) 2400 ft.
Towering CU Report - Lucille couldn't talk anyone into flying because there were towering CU to 20,000 feet. Alan, Rob and Kevin did fly Woodside later and experienced strong ridge soaring conditions with light winds at the LZ.
| (unstable) 2400 ft.
Woodside Report - we waited all day in the rain, and then the clouds until it cleared around 4:00 pm. Derek, Colleen, Nicole and Lucille headed up to launch around 5:30 pm and were rewarded with flights from 25-45 minutes in ridge lift. Patience pays off again as winter closes in. | (unstable) 3300 ft.
Woodside Report - we started flying by 10:00 am and it was very buoyant all day. Great student flights until 1:30 pm when the high winds kicked in, and the experts started flying. Quite a few Hgers, but many more PGers stayed up for 1.5 hours, before fighting the headwinds out to Eagle Ranch. After 6:00 pm it moderated and Ian J went motoring while I took a load of students up for a last evening flight. Jeffery was last off into the sunset. The last flights were very lifty with pilots coming over the Eagle Ranch LZ at launch height. | Bridal Report - Alan and Kevin flew Bridal for a couple of hours. Kevin said it was sweet! Woodside (stable) 3300 ft.
Woodside Report - after two weeks of flying drought Woodside handed us an almost perfect day. We launched our first student at 12:30 and he had a short but pleasant flight as conditions were not too strong, and then the cycles picked up and many intermediates were not launching. | Alan, Fred, Alex and Norm launched into the strong stuff with me and flights lasted from 1 hr - 5 hrs (Alan). I landed cause I was frozen with summer gloves. Good climbs +5.0 m/s up, with associated -6.0 m/s sink. Interesting air, not predictable rather it was just like spring flying. Cloudbase was about 1000 meters and well defined. (unstable) 2700 ft.
Seattle Report - I was down visiting Marc at Seattle Paragliding and it was windy and rainy there too. I picked up a copy of the "Try Hard" blooper tape and our local hero Lars is featured on it (not crashing!). | (stable) 2700 ft.
Rain and wind all day, hopefully the Chilliwack Forest will open soon.
| (unstable) 2500 ft.
No pireps.
| (unstable) 2500 ft.
No flying reports
| (unstable) 3900 ft.
Woodside Towing Report - we had a good day of ground handling and towing until Alex decided to do his own thing and ignore our requests to "go hands up" and thought it a good idea to do a full stall from 6 meters by pulling full brakes on his Fiesta (DHV I). Fortunately he had a harness with a huge back protector on and he tested it well. He walked out of the clinic very sore but under his own steam. Please respond when someone yells "hands up", it could save your butt! | (stable) 3900 ft.
Blanchard Report - about 30 pilots showed up at the work party in the LZ to landscape the landowner's yard and they worked until noon before heading up to fly. Many flights were undertaken but none lasted more than 20 minutes as it was very stable. Even the forecast gales didn't materialize to allow for ridge soaring. | Our students got 2-3 flights with the exception of Garry (recently signed off) who duffed launch number 1 and had to sort out his wing, and also had an asymmetric off launch number 3 and ended up cutting his knee quite deep when he touched down below launch (there is a lot of broken glass and sharp rocks below the south launch). He can't wait to get back in the air, several stitches in his knee and antibiotics to ensure the "crap" below launch doesn't cause infection. Blanchard (stable) 3900 ft.
Grouse LZ Fence Party Report - Mission accomplished by 12:00 noon! Fence reinstalled with some extra poles and parts that have been broken over the years. | Thanks to Darren, Fred, Ivan, Kelly, Derek, Greg, Jeff, Mark, Mike, Russ, Rob S, Justin & Julia and anyone else I may have missed in the excitement. The flying afterwards was good too! Derek made it to 1500 meters and logged an hour and it was a good XC day to go to Seymour if you had balls. 5 m/s up, -4 m/s sink. The Cut launch is always exciting too! (stable) 3900 ft.
Woodside Report - we were towing new students at Eagle Ranch and getting above 300 feet in ideal towing conditions. While these flights are technically "high flights" we do not log them as such, just good practice for when the mountains open up. | (stable) 3900 ft.
Blanchard Report - west 5 knots all afternoon should have made for nice soaring, but no pireps. | (stable) 3900 ft.
No flight reports from WA. | (unstable) 3900 ft.
Blanchard Report - we decided to stay in Canada but Gary H headed to Blanchard and had a 45 minute flight before the high winds kicked in. Local reports said "Surf's UP!". Whidbey pilots didn't have much luck. | Woodside Motor Report - I launched at 11:30 am on the SkyBike 250 and hit a boomer of a thermal over the neighbours hay field and was recording +6.0 m/s up at idle. The plan was to fly to Hemlock to see if a glide out to the valley was viable but it was too rough in the thermals to continue so I landed. August 31
| (unstable) 6000 ft.
Woodside Report - we were towing students all afternoon in moderate winds until 3:00 pm. The higher winds kicked in and we were kiting for a few hours. Nice CU on Woodside most of the day, pity we can't drive up there. | Tiger Mtn WA Report - Ian J. and I went to Tiger Mtn as more NW wind was forecast. Strong cycles on launch but the local tandems were doing ok so launched into sweet lift. Went over to the North ridge but bumpy so stayed around the Kingdome instead. Lots of wind and later on it got stronger on launch, so later-arriving pilots had to wait it out. When it mellowed out the rest of the pilots launched and I top-landed for a break, then relaunched just as it got strong again. Flew around some more with the locals until it got really strong and blown out on launch, then landed after about 3 hours total airtime -Nicole |
August 2003 Site of the Day archives Forest closures made the end of the month a non-flying period unless you headed to Blanchard. FlyBC SIV 2003 was a great sucess with 9 stunt pilots and no deployments or crashes.
July 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew most days early at Woodside until it got windy, then over to Bridal. Good Golden flying reports from the "Willi".
June 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew most weekdays at Bridal, Woodside worked most weekends. Bridal Air Races had one great day with only two tree landings!
May 2003 Site of the Day archives not a great weather month on the coast, especially on the weekends but a few pilots managed to get some great airtime at Bridal. The Nationals were held in Lumby and it didn't rain!
April 2003 Site of the Day archives rain for 28 of 30 April days, but we managed to get a few flights in between showers. Even the golfers were complaining!
March 2003 Site of the Day archives some high spring flights in early March, but not a great weather month. Still no HPAC Insurance!
February 2003 Site of the Day archives some nice long spring flights in late February. HPAC Insurance expired on Feb 14, so many pilots stayed home instead of getting USHGA coverage.
January 2003 Site of the Day archives lots of rain all month in BC so we bailed and headed to Tapalpa Mexico for three weeks. Norm and Lucille had a great XC flight the first day we arrived.
December 2002 Site of the Day archives lots of rain all month.
November 2002 Site of the Day archives not a great flying month, lots of rain in the beginning and then super stable and inverted for the balance of the month. Even the Savona Road Trip wasn't that great. Looking forward to Mexico!
October 2002 Site of the Day archives Still soarable some days, great fun at the Women's Fly In 2002 in Chelan. Allan logged 15 hours and only flew a few days. Most of the students are ready for signoff soon to get ready for Mexico trips!
September 2002 Site of the Day archives Still soarable most everyday! Some scary incidents at Woodside. Fun flying at Ashcroft.
August 2002 Site of the Day archives More spring-like days with super lapse rates, great fun up-country at Revelstoke and Mara, with some good XCs for all.
July 2002 Site of the Day archives Some spring-like days with super lapse rates, but still rather wet at times.
June 2002 Site of the Day archives another rainy and windy month with great lapse rates, some great flights at Bridal with some getting above Cheam Peak. The Clup Cup was nearly rained out but they got one valid task in on Sunday June 30.
May 2002 Site of the Day archives an extremely rainy month with the more spring mayhem, another reserve deployment at Lil Nick and a pilot crashed at the top of Deroche Mountain, uninjured but with a ripped glider and long hike down the mountain. Colleen placed 5th place at the Canadian PG Nationals in rainy Lumby!
April 2002 Site of the Day archives a rainy month with the usual spring mayhem, one reserve deployment at Woodside and a pilot hit a parked car at Bridal LZ, fracturing his leg.
March 2002 Site of the Day archives a few great days days with lots of snow and rain mixed in.
February 2002 Site of the Day archives two epic days already (4.5 hours and 2.5 hours!).
January 2002 Site of the Day archives Mexico vacation shots, some local flying but it was wet on the coast.
December 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, wettest December on record, some good days sprinkled thru the month.
November 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, had some good days at Woodside +2 hours, lots of rain later in the month.
October 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, but great flying at Chelan at the Women's Fly In.
September 2001 Site of the Day archives starting to get pretty stable, more sled rides forecast for October.
Aug 2001 Site of the Day archives Mara, Bridal, till some great flights locally
July 2001 Site of the Day archives Road Trip Month, Golden, Mara, points east!
June 2001 Site of the Day archives Great Month, 3 hours of airtime for some pilots every time they flew Bridal Lower! Some getting up to 6 hours in a single flight!
May 2001 Site of the Day archives Unstable Month, 2-3 hours of airtime for some pilots every time they flew Bridal Lower!
April 2001 Site of the Day archives Rainy Month, not as much airtime for some pilots
March 2001 Site of the Day archives Spring has Sprung!
February 2001 Site of the Day archives Spring is in the Air!
January 2001 Site of the Day archives - Mexico Flying Trip
December 2000 Site of the Day archives
November 2000 Site of the Day archives (great month for airtime!)
October 2000 Site of the Day archives
September 2000 Site of the Day archives
July - August 2000 Site of the Day archives
June 2000 Site of the Day archives
March - May 2000 Site of the Day archives
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