FlyBC "Site of the Day Archives" - September/2008
"The good thing about flying solo is it's never boring." - Steve Fossett
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Woodside Report - Jack, Martina and Martin N were flying Woodside today. Smoooooooth flights despite howling NE winds in Agassiz - Mother Woodside delivers again!. Dennis B and Rick H flew a bit later and had nice smooth flights too while I was painting the Barn's south side.  The Barn roof before painting circa 2001 - photo by JPR  The Barn roof after coating, 2008 - photo by JPR  The Barn after painting the south side, only trim left to paint and install before winter - photo by JPR
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Woodside Report - The Desperados strike again! I drove Derek up for a sledder, cycles were light but he got a nice reverse and smooth flight to the Ranch. After retrieving him it was my turn, and the cycles were awful! Mostly over the back, some straight from the east so I set up to run across the launch - Martina |  Wind blowing over back while set up to run hard east - photo by Derek  Close-up of me glaring at windsock - photo by Derek  Trying a running no-wind reverse - photo by Derek  Resigned to a forward - photo by Derek  Yahoo! made it off launch! - photo by Derek Watch those leeside conditions!! - JPR
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Woodside Report - we didn't head up to launch until 11 am, as it was blowing over the back til then as forecast SE winds were kicking in. | At 11:30 am, I rolled out the Magnum Tandem and took Francis tandem (70 lbs) as the cycles started to come in from the SW. Nice launch conditions and super-smooth in the air with little height loss on the ride down. Super sink rate too with the light load and we landed in the circle on our feet!  Francis enjoying her airtime - photo by JPR One by one Colleen launched the students in light cycles and I watched them drop into Eagle Ranch. The first set of flights there was no one at launch so no delays incurred by logistics. A large group of tandems arrived from Meet Market Adventures and Kevin and Brad helped Colleen and I in the lame conditions and we pulled off all 4 tandems plus a few extras that came out today.  Lara from Meet Market Adventures inflating with Kevin - photo by JPR  Lara from Meet Market Adventures in the air with Kevin - photo by JPR The students kept flying and logged three flights and it got super-busy at launch as many pilots were out for the last sunny day in September. No one got above launch but no one complained about the sun. Later in the day it got very hot on launch, indicating the lapse rate had "gone to hell". Fortunately, the students couldn't hear an un-named instructor claiming "doom and disaster" telling his group of students that it was "unsafe" to fly in leeside conditions, while roughly 40 pilots had flown and survived in the silky smooth air. Our experience (1000's of flights at Woodside) has shown that the topography of Woodside tends to push the east winds to either the south or north side of the mountain like a wedge, leaving Harrison Mills and launch in a no wind situation, with thermals creating launch cycles. The valley winds in Agassiz were 15-20 kph out of the east, but we had light winds at launch and the Eagle Ranch LZ. Cheam Report - Here are some pictures from our flight off Mount Cheam today. What a perfect day to hike! We had awesome cycles when we got up top & were able to play for a while in front of launch. Pretty stable after crossing to the front side but with flights of 30-40 minutes nobody was complaining! - Martina  Hiker-Flyers; Wiley, Martina, Derek, Monica and Klaus - photo by anon  Derek scratching the bowl - photo by Martina  Martina heading to Bridal - photo by Martina Holland Report - Hi Jim, last weekend was pretty good with towing. I had to guide all the students in their exercises and landings and I really noticed that I learned a lot this summer just by watching how you guys do it. Thanks! I saw that you had a great weekend too! Have fun and enjoy the flying - Wouter Wouter`s weekend flight
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Woodside Report - WOW! What a wonderful day we had today, Six new students, and two that were already at 10 and 11 flights and the day was nearly perfect. | We started ground school at 9:30 am after sign-in procedures were completed, and the day was grey but nice SE winds to kite in. By the time the ground school session was completed and we selected gear for everyone, it had started to sprinkle. No problem, we brought out the Primas so the new wings wouldn't get soaked for later. Dan #1 took the challenge of showing everyone how to forward launch and had some great launches inspiring the crowd, before they clipped in.  Dan #1 in the black helmet, demonstrating for the group in the Eagle Ranch LZ - photo by JPR One by one, each student got more proficient at launching and were soon transitioning to reverse launches within the hour! As you can see by the photo above the rain stopped, but we had wet grass so the wings were getting heavier but everyone did amazing. After 10 perfect inflations each and some solid runs we were ready to take everyone tandem. Colleen took Andrew off for the first tandem and they were soon soaring above launch at around 1 pm. Dan #1 flew off next on his new Rush, just delivered today. Then Dave O, a student from 1999 that came back to finish his certification and his gear still looks like brand new as he has only kited it and flown it at Diefenbaker Park a few times in the past 8 years. It started getting stronger at launch and Derek flew off and was soaring by the South Knoll when he reported very low penetration rates so we stood the students down and they were preparing to drive down as I got my tandem ready with Temora. We tried a few inflations and there was little wind aloft so we waited and soon it calmed right down to 5 kph. Pilots landing at the Ranch said it was calm there too, so the new students got suited up and were soon in the air for their first solos: Mike, Andrew, Dan #2 all had perfect inflations and launches and landed at the Ranch in the circle with a bit of guiding from ground coach, Colleen. After the students flew, Temora and I got off and we were soon soaring with Monica in some light lift off the clearcuts. Clouds were forming but not sucking, and we played around for 30 minutes before heading out so Temora could fly the tandem to the final approach. Perfect landing form as we swooped into the circle and ran it out. Back up in the UniMog with the group to fly again, Colleen taking Helen this time and they were soaring above launch as I sent the students off one after the other and again perfect launches and landings. Logistics kicked in as it was getting later and Helen wanted her solo flight before she "chickened out" and Dave, Klaus and Helen came up to retrieve and Helen to fly. Helen was soon clipped in and off in a perfect inflation in light winds and soon practicing her weight shifting on the way to the Ranch. Colleen got her in for a pretty landing too. Look like a bunch more eager FlyBC'ers on the way to certification soon! What a productive day and soarable too for the experienced pilots, it doesn't get any better!
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Woodside Report - it was a great flying day for those that came out. Martina and Veronica ruled the skies in the early afternoon with 45-60 minute flights. Flights later were shorter, until 5:30 when it "glassed-off" for Matt J and Jason as they climbed to 851 meters and 850 meters respectively. | I took Sara's mom "Briony" tandem for her birthday and we scratched around for a while landing in the Stonehenge Circle in no wind and her jeans got a bit grass stained when she didn't run!  I can't believe I just flew off that mountain! - photo by JPR Important News for Road Tripping Pilots - they dropped the toll fees on the Coquihalla Hwy (#5) today. Must be an election year!
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Woodside Report - sunny at times, rain later, some wind but I didn't see any pilots on the webcam. | Klaus' Italian Mog - New Woodside winter edition. Apparently these things will run in water up to the upper portion of the snowplow and have no problems at 3000m elevation - Have fun, Klaus  Italian UniMog in the Italian Alps - photo by KMW Swiss JetPack Jockey flies across the English Channel - Yves Rossy makes history .
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Vancouver Report - a wet day indeed. | What to do on a rainy day?? Work, pickup Veronica's new A2 at FedEx, google paragliding, and look at Ozone News for this tidbit: The new HPP Concept Glider . Rob Samplonious can now do his "Sammy's" even lower!
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Woodside Report - many happy pilots after a week of no flying here in the Valley. | The usual band of pilots out all flying multiple flights except Norm (who had to go to work at 3 pm), and Alan who stayed up all day getting to a layer above 1000 meters and flying 2 hours.  Alan above launch early in his flight, flying his JoJo Addiction as his Mantra has been retired - photo by Martina The other pilots got sledders or extended flights scratching into Riverside, but it was soarable at times.  Martina "duking it out" with Chiu over the clearcuts - photo by Martina I snagged a ride with Al, while Derek took a group up after us. I launched first and scratched around for 20 minutes after turning on my new iPhone GPS Kit. When I landed I told the iPhone to email my track log to me and this is what it gave me: Jim's flight from September 23, 2008 . It should open in Google Maps. Oh, and I could have been listening to tunes too (as the iPhone doubles as a iPod), but chose to listen to the thermals as I had no vario. They were just too light to hear anything and I had no vario, so perhaps the tunes would have been better. After Al, Martina and I landed; Derek and the other group managed to get above launch for about 15 minutes but couldn't tag Alan up high.  The new Barn from the west - photo by JPR  The new Barn from the north approach - photo by Martina Wouter's St. Hilaire Report - Last weekend me and a friend visited the coupe icare in st hilaire, france. It's probably worlds biggest paragliding event with thousands of visitors, spectacular (acro) shows and remarkable costumes. Almost every paragliding brand presented their products in huge tents and the newest awesome movies could be seen at the filmfestival. During the day and evening there were lots of bands playing and the parties went on till late. Here is another youtube movie I edited, just to give you an impression: Wouter`s Video Gallery After the Icare we were able to get some flying in at a couple different sites close to st hilaire. I had a nice flight over the clouds at Allevard with spectacular views (some of it you can see in the end of the youtube movie) - fly safe! - Wouter
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Vancouver Report - after reading the forecast for the Valley , I decided to stay in town and get some work done. Very windy in Richmond but the blue sky hopefully dried everything out after last night's monsoons. | Derek said there were windows where it looked flyable but he saw no one in the air. James having fun at Revelstoke Bill gets "wet" at Revelstoke Stephen's Awesome Flying Adventure at Indian Arm - from September 14 - I finally got up the courage to fly off the cliffs near my folks place up Indian Arm. After I did it once in light winds and knew I could clear the trees I started hoping for stronger winds. The lift off the lower cliffs worked pretty well. The landing is pretty tight at the front of the house but so far I haven't got wet! James was in his boat as my back up rescue crew and snapped this picture.  Stephen setting up a landing at Indian Arm - photo by JPR Phil and I went flying up at White lake near Penticton on Saturday and we had some great flying weather. Pretty wind conditions there but no trees or rough terrain to be concerned about.
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Woodside Report - while it was raining everywere else, the weather gods spared us during the Barn Painting. | I was able to finish the trim painting, recoat the south side of the roof and paint the "Stairway to Heaven" by 4:30 pm when it started to sprinkle. Norm was out to supervise but didn't try to fly even though launch was open most of the afternoon.
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Barn Painting Report - somehow we lucked out! It was raining everywhere but here at the Ranch until 4:30 pm,
so we were able to get the second coat of stain on the ends of the Barn and the third coat of trim white on the gables. | Just as we were stirring up the roof paint for the second coat it started to sprinkle so we were denied, but the radar looks good for Sunday so far at 5:30 am. James having fun at Revelstoke
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Woodside Barn Report - this is one big barn, especially when it starts sucking up stain and paint! | I had to leave to go buy more stain when Justin arrived and he offered to take over the spray gun, as I headed east to Agassiz. I got turned around at the spring as a fatal accident was still being investigated. Back to Mission and the several tie-ups there and it took me 1.5 hours to get back and by then Justin had almost completed the west side. Thanks for the help, Justin! By 7 pm, the trim and the east side was completed with coat # 1. and we had to go to Abbotsford to buy even more stain after dark. It was launchable as Gary H went up to launch around 1 pm, but it looked too lame to have a sledder.
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Woodside Report - no one was flying today due to low cloudbase, in fact I never saw the mountain at all from my perch above the Barn. |
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Woodside Report - Jason, Justin and Darren braved the leeside conditions and bagged a sled ride while I was spraying the roof of the barn. It was blowing over the back with occasional cycles to launch into. | It is going pretty well but all the high aerial work is a "one man job" until completed as it is too dangerous to work underneath the cherry picker. Second coat for the roof goes on today as soon as the sun comes out. The Barn roof before painting circa 2001 - photo by JPR The Barn roof after coating, 2008 - photo by JPR
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Barn Report - a fun day powerwashing the roof and North and West sides in 28 degree heat. | Thanks to Dennis for painting the trim boards prior to installing them! Hope the red stain comes off soon. Belated Upper Bridal Hike & Fly Report - Derek and Martina escaped the inversion layer by hiking to Upper Bridal and launched around 4 pm on Sept 15. They managed about 45 minutes . . . but were upstaged by Karin, Fast Eddie and Jonathon who flew over Bridal Lower Launch flying from a Hike & Fly off Mt. Cheam! Parks Canada Official Flights at Woodside on Sept 9, 2008 - as we reported we had a special visit from Parks Canada Officials organized by Margit and HPAC and we took 11 of them tandem off Bridal and Woodside. This field trip profiled our sports in a positive way and went extrememly well! They are in a decision-making process that may allow Paragliding and Hanggliding in National Parks. Please do not fly in a National Park until approval is granted.  Kevin Ault taking one of the last tandems off Woodside - photo by Margit  Parks Canada officials enjoying a post-flight beer at Eagle Ranch with the tandem pilots - photo by Margit
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Mount Baker Report - Five local pilots had fantastic flights from the summit of Mt. Baker on Monday, Sept 15 after climbing all night under a gorgeous moon on perfect snow in a perfect temperature. | Eddy Scheutz, Larry Lachovsky, Rob Samplonius, Kevin Ault, and Carl Direnzo all launched between 9:30 and 10:30 am and glided almost 17 km to a huge field in Glacier Village, arriving with up to 1000 meters! Kevin's GPS showed an average flight speed of 50 km/hr and glides of 10-12:1 throughout the 45 minute sled ride! More pictures and video to follow. Time for Bed. Haven't slept for 36 hours - Kev Go Team Ozone! - all 5 pilots were flying Ozone gliders - Jim
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Woodside Report - I couldn't get anyone motivated to try Hemlock with me so we waited for Woodside to work. East wind forecast again. | Around 10:30 am, Jan K came sledding in with a tandem so it was launchable. We headed up with a group to find launch "clustered up" by another school but we managed to get our folks despite the slowdowns. This went on all day. The other school would get one or two students off, then we would get 10 pilots off in the same time. It was a great smooth student day, only a few pilots stayed up including Martin H back from Chelan flying his rigid, logging almost an hour in "bug-farts". The Unimog is providing safe, reliable, and bouncy rides for up to 10 pilots at once. "Very nice now with the new bus seats" I am told, I haven't had the pleasure of riding in the back yet. Wouter's Holland Report - After a week of bad weather with winds blowing over 30k/h all the time we finally got some towing in yesterday. And even half of the day was still blown out! But I flew two flights and got to about 500m both times, not that they lasted long but that's more my steering rather than the bad conditions. Anyway, I got my fix, but I miss woodside so bad!  Wouter on tow over Holland - photo by Wouter The bad weather gave me some time to edit this little movie of the SIV, it's all I had on my tape. Hope you like it! FlyBC SIV 2008 Full Video - Part I
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Woodside Report - it was forecast to be strong NE at launch and landing until after noon so I joined the
Climb for Prostrate Team Meeting to deliver one of the sponsored gliders from Ozone. I was there until 11:30 am and on the trip back to Woodside there was serious east wind on the ground.
| When I arrived back at Eagle Ranch, a few trucks were missing and had driven up to launch. Desperados! One by one they started launching in nice cycles with the expected sled rides logged, but then by 12:30 pm they started staying up. I had a few tandem to do so I took up a group and clipped in with Victoria and we flew off in a nice cycle and we were soon climbing in a nice leeside thermal. There was an exchange on the radio between Derek (who had just launched and was climbing) and Robin who was sitting at the Bridal LZ `jonesing` for a ride up the mountain. When he called over to Woodside, Derek told him `we are 200 meters over Woodside Launch` and Robin said `b*llsh*t`. That was when Kevin came on and said he could see 5 of us thermalling over Woodside as he raced over here.  The view of Woodside from our Magnum Tandem today - photo by Victoria We cruised around a bit but the best lift was a thermal off the clearcut below launch, and another thermal coming off the Lower Launch switchback that drifted back over launch. We hit 900 meters a few times but no higher and it was smooth with the odd sharp climb but in general a really nice ride; with Martina, Derek, Jeremy, and a few other pilots all staying up nicely. When I went back for the second tandem with Rob, the cycles were lighter but we got off after a few aborts due to coordinated running, but we were pretty heavily loaded so not much soaring on this flight. Derek, Kevin, Rob, Robin and a few others stayed up for over 2 hours landing at Stonehenge in light air at the end of the day. All retrieves were taken care of by top-landers or drivers. Great day all around. In between all the tandems, students Doug W and Scott got 3-4 flights. Rick H, Rob H, Dennis also got 3 flights enjoying their newly signed off status. Bridal Report - a un-named pilot flying a red Titan launched off Bridal and his reserve parachute fell out and deployed with him ending up in the trees below launch! Folks: check your reserve pins before launching. It is a mandatory preflight check!
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Woodside Report - we started flying at 10 am, with a new student Tom C who has been flying since 2001 but got disenchanted with another instructor and decided to fly on his own but was never really feeling right about flying without a signoff. Good thing he is a commercial pilot and knows how to read the weather as he survived some pretty advanced sites. | Small world, he also went to Air Cadets with Martina, so it was like Old Home Week at the Ranch.  Inversion at Woodside, note capped smoggy layer - photo by JPR Tom logged 5 flights in lots of different conditions, but it was reversible until the last flight, so he had a very productive day flying the Rush M. Others that flew today; Martina, Dennis B, Rick H, Scott, Jason W, Josef, Justin, Dom (HPAC Prez) and new student Darlene (who works with Jason at the Pen). Good soaring for the braver ones that launched around 4 pm, logging over an hour in smooth lift with nice landings at the Ranch all day. Bridal Report - Jack, Martina, Derek, Chiu and Veronica flew Bridal. Chiu and Veronica went XC again today with mixed results . . . Chiu flew to Seabird Island and Veronica landed at a small turnaround at Herrling Island (many XC flights have ended at Herrling Island). No one got high and there were many "Knob Soarers" with Ihor almost having a mid-air with another pilot according to observers. Derek got high enough to top-land but it sounded like a good thing we stayed put at Woodside if it was that crowded. FlyBC Server Upgrades by Telus 09/12/2008 - for the confused ones that noticed the Site of the Day and the WebCam was screwed up yesterday afer 5 pm, Telus upgraded their servers last night and switched us over which they said was to be automatic but they copied the files on Sept 2, so the webcam has old pictures until I get the settings reset. But the Site of the Day is fixed. - Jim
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Bridal Report - Scott logged his first Bridal flight today (his 20th overall) in light conditions and it was fortunate Alan D had flown first to assess the conditions and watch as Scott did a perfect approach into the mowed grass. He is well on target to get his USHPA signoff by Sept 23, 2008 (his return date to Medford OR). | Veronica and Chiu also flew but I drove down as it was clear no one was getting above launch. Chiu did a mini-XC towards Klaus and Monica's house landing near the illegal Dump site. We then went over to Woodside for a last flight in equally lame conditions. Elkstacy Report - Finish this sentence: If you hike up Elk Mountain at 4:15 pm in sandals and shorts bringing only a spare shirt you can expect the following conditions____________. If you thought "light tail wind and a sledder", that is what I expected but NOT!. Despite an inversion and a general tendency towards north winds, I arrived at the Elk summit yesterday to find southwest winds from 15-25 km/hr, mostly at the higher end. Once in the air, I immediately gained about 100 meters and enjoyed pleasant ridge lift with the odd strong thermal. I cruised back and forth along the ridge hearing other pilots talking about the thick inversion layer below me, determined to milk this flight for all it was worth. I hit all the sweet spots even when it began to calm down after a half hour and got back over the top several times after starting to sink out. I was without watch and guessed it was getting on when the air began to chill significantly and the low sun highlighted the shadows on my goose bumps. Still, I didn't leave until I was sure there no more saves to be had. When I landed at Eddy's (which was in shadow), I pulled out the phone - it was 7:10 pm. I had flown for 1 hour 40 minutes. I still had to ride my bike back up to get my vehicle and by the time I was cruising down from Ryder Lake, the light was all but gone. But what a great parahike! Elk Rocks! - Kevin A.
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Bridal Report - It was a good day at Bridal! | People who launched early had to soar the knob to stay alive, but by the time we got up to launch (around 4?) it had gotten a bit better. I flew to Alan's Ridge right away to avoid the dozen or so pilots playing crash avoidance in front of launch and managed to get around 850 meters before sinking out & having to top up at the knob. Played that game 5 or 6 times over 2 hours getting a bit higher each time, with Chiu & Derek "skying" me out by almost getting to Saddle height. Jack made an appearance and was one of the last off launch just before it turned tail but still managed a nice flight soaring above launch. Lots of pilots doing wingovers in the smooth evening air when we experienced "beer suck" at the Wildcat - Martina. Belated YouTube Video from Revelstoke SIV Course - Wouter in Revelstoke July 2008 flying his Gin Gangster.
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Bridal Report - Margit organized a large group of people to go tandem to profile our sport and we took 11 people flying today. | We started at 2 pm at Bridal and did 3 tandems there in light conditions: 1 for me, 1 for Colleen and 1 for Todd in nice landing conditions (no steps). Then on to Woodside to complete the rest of the tandems as it was forecast to go east. Woodside Report - nice launch cycles and the first group of four tandem with Kevin A's help went well and they were above launch. Really nice landing conditions at the World Famous Eagle Ranch. The next 4 tandems were looking like a challenge as we got to launch to find it was blowing SE. Todd got ready first and was soon offered up a cycle that he took. The last group of 4 was the heaviest passengers so the last thing we needed was no wind or tailwind. After Todd got off, the rest of us had super nice cycles and we were all off in a few minutes. A very successful day for Margit's friends from back east, and they are all coming back for lessons soon at FlyBC! Mark F and Rob H managed a few flights on their own at Woodside after standing down earlier due to gusty changeable winds at launch and watching birds get "hoovered up" on the South Knoll. Thanks to Bob Krider for showing us how a hangglider flies and lands at the Ranch.
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Woodside Report - Scott, Veronica, Chiu and Jason were flying Woodside. Scott logged 4 flights landing in the circle a few times flying the Mojo2, he is ready to move up to the Rush II on order now. | Chiu got above launch a few times in Colleen's house thermal. Veronica was practising acro moves.
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Woodside Report - it was very windy from the North at the Ranch and blowing over the back all day at launch. | I headed up Horsefly earlier to check out the road and turned back at a washout near 5 kms. It wouldn't take long to fill it in to be passable, if that is the only one. I think we can organize a work party next windy or overcast day. Later in the day Kira and Mark were kiting but as the conditions went calm, we still couldn't fly as it was still east wind at launch. Maybe tomorrow. Josef was the only one to fly . . . on his paramotor. Proving that paramotoring is a great way to get in the air when it is blowing over the back.
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Woodside Report - a slow day as only Rick M showed up at 9:30 to fly, I guess everyone was waiting to see how the day unfolded. | Rick M got one flight (#30) at 11 am; then Colleen, Derek K, Gary K and Rick M went back up at noon and they were all soaring nicely near cloudbase for over an hour while I drove. Rick was above Colleen for much of the flight so he has obviously figured out the "soaring thing".  Rick McDonald at 'base on his new Buzz Z - photo by JPR We went back up with a small load around 3 pm, and the sky was filling up with nice CUs and lots of HGs and PGs. Robin, Diane, Alex W, Nataliya and several others were out soaring at 'base, now estimated at 1100 meters. I was getting ready to fly myself when a radio report came in that Derek was bringing up Dennis B and Rick H (drats, I wanted to go flying). As they arrived I remembered that Rick and Dennis now are signed off so I said "Have a nice flight" and took off. They had fabulous launches and flights. I was "duking it out" with Derek on the North Cliffs, trying to catch up with Robin at 'base most of the time; Colleen and Norm were on their own out front avoiding cloudsuck but everyone was staying up. Rick M was also at the "top of the stack" for over an hour and he made it look super-smooth. I flew the Ozone Rush M demo and the new Oxygen hiking harness and I was very comfortable for the 1:30 flight in the harness. Better than the SupAir Radical as the Oxygen is padded for comfort, and it has speedbar pulleys without adding a lot of weight.  Robin at 'base, taken by Jim at 'base - photo by JPR Landings at the Ranch were great all day long, and I managed to hit the new landing circle mowed by Stonehenge despite sink, bubbles and rotor with a huge crowd watching. We had to rush off to dinner at 5:30 pm, but there were still gliders launching and soaring as we left. Great day for students and long time fliers.
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Woodside Report - Rob H managed to get his 30th, 31st and 32nd flight today. I left early in flight 32 leaving him to launch alone, with Monica still at launch and he had a brilliant forward launch with a spot landing in the circle. | Josef was out trying his Viper paramotor, and used up a tank of gas trying to get in the air. I was trying to help him but years of paragliding makes it tough to paramotor, especially with the high clip in points as the brakes are much shorter. After 7 tries with me encouraging him with lots of yelling, I was forced to clip in and got off first time for a few circuits of the field landing to go to dinner. The Buzz is a great paramotor wing! Jason and Scott came out after work and bagged some flights too.
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Bridal Report - I arrived at 3:30 pm to snag a ride with Derek and Martina and others. | Lame conditions at launch and not much altitude from first launchers. But they were maintaining. After everyone flew off and Reto had top-landed, I got off and soared around for a bit, getting a small thermal at the first toe west of the bowl. Derek and Martina joned me there but it wasn't that productive. I flew back to the knob and that got very congested (did I mention I hate soaring the Knob?). After several near misses and some avoidance tactics, I resolved myself to top-landing and driving a vehicle down as it looked like Knob Soaring was all we were going to get. After 30 minutes I top-landed after the second approach sliding in on my runners on Klaus' runway. I drove Derek's truck down to meet Al collecting his vehicle after Rob top-landed and got it down. Al had launched earlier and made it to Gloria and then on the trip to Elk hit some sink flushing him down to the Highway where Robin picked him up as he returned from Edmonchuck AB. Folks got 1:30 soaring the Knob and landings were perfect.
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Woodside Report - Rob S, Jeremy H, Grant and I flew Woodside with great expectations for an XC day. | Unfortunately, the cloudbase was too low to do the crossing to Ludwig, but we made it over to Agassiz Mtn lower than normal and not much lift behind the Prison but we climbed to the top of Agassiz Mtn. at 1300 meters, the cloudbase at Bear was lower and Jeremy and Rob scraped up the sides of Bear to get to the cloud. I took a different route out to the toe of Green Hill where I thought a thermal was triggering the CU halfway to Bear, but I hit sink all the way and was soon grovelling in the lee of Green Hill landing across the highway from Harrison Golf Course. I called a cab as Jeremy went east past Seabird Island, and Rob played on Green Hill trying hard to get out of there. Grant top-landed at Woodside and drove Rob's car down and then went to fetch Jeremy as I went back to the Ranch to get my rig. Great flying with Jeremy reporting +7 up and -7 down, I logged 1:15 before landing. Flying at our side of the valley was more technical than Bridal according to Derek. Folks at Bridal logged 3-4 hours boating back and forth in light winds. Derek, Ihor, Martina, Jason, Chiu, Veronica, Dennis, Nikolai and a bunch of others were doing laps.
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Vancouver Report - after some much needed rest, I stayed in town to do errands and it was raining.
| Brad's Mt Cheam Report from Sunday - On an interesting note we were on the top of Mt Cheam 10:30am Sunday with the Geo2. Unbelievably it started snowing at 1800 meters, cold and no visibility. Obviously a bad call but a guy has got to try! - Brad H. Bridal Report - Chiu, Veronica and I arrived at Bridal around 2 pm and shortly after Tony drove in and offered to drive up. Cloudy skies so Chiu wasn't really motivated to fly as he volunteerd to drive down. Veronica launched first and maintained at about launch height for 5 min before flying out and doing a fast spiral/sat.  Veronica "rushing off" Bridal - photo by Wouter I had a SATisfying sledder and Tony scratched his flight up to about 15 min. When it started raining in the LZ we headed for dinner in Abbotsford. I had a good summer with all of you, keep flying and I'm sure we'll meet each other another time - Wouter Wouter's Party Pictures and last weekend in Canada album
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Woodside Report - the day started out slowly with no sun and little cycles at launch but Scott and I went up for his first flight. | By the time Scott was set up and another un-named instructor took 30 minutes to get his 3 students off, the cycles improved and Scott reversed off after Wouter and they both flew to the Ranch. This was followed by 3 more sled rides by Scott and others including Michelle's kids, Kyle and Sara who went tandem with us, until around 2:30 pm when the sky became colourful with 15 gliders soaring Woodside.  The new Magnum tandem over Woodside - photo by Wouter A plan was set with Michelle's kids to take their grandma to Harrison Lake for lunch and I said I would fly Michelle there as she had a comp tandem due to an extremely lame day a few weeks ago when I took her for a short tandem flight. We launched nicely after the cluster at launch sorted itself out and were soon soaring with the gaggle. The lift was okay but not getting us high enough for anything but a Harvest run, a few gliders were higher at times, Chiu and Derek K, but still not high enough for a glide to Agassiz Mtn. After many frustrating attempts to gain height, and a few near misses on the ridge with an un-named pilot, I changed my strategy at the 30 minute mark. There was two CUs forming over the north ridge and the north cliffs were in shade, so we ran for the forming CUs. The trigger point was Kelly's clearcut campground and it was windy back there, but this is where the hangies get up! We S turned for a bit as the vario started beeping, then as a steady tone emerged we were circling and the higher we got, the less windy and we were soon approaching the "white room". Big Ears and heading south we popped out between the two clouds and I could see we had Agassiz Mtn on glide and it was in sun. No GPS to check the downwind speed, but it wasn't too fast (in fact it seemd like just trim speed). And we sunk about 300 meters in the transition, but as we hit the slope behind Kent Prison well above the CYR we started to get small climbs. As we hit the rocks east of Prison, we had to S turn to stay forward until we climbed out to the top of Agassiz Mtn. and could see Wouter and other heading to Harvest Market. They were noting pretty slow speeds faced into the wind on Cemetary Hill. We had Harrison Lake on glide now but I flew across as if we were flying to Bear Mtn. to check the wind. Faced into the wind at the start of the gap was okay. So we headed into the Gap and downwind turning along the way to check the wind speed and it looked okay, no whitecaps on the lake.  Harrison Lake from 1000 meters in the Gap - photo by JPR We did some spirals over town to lose height and Michelle was giggling . . . for now. As we came in closer there was some gusting in the trees, and the beach had some construction junk where we normally land near the boardwalk so I had to set up further back but we came in nice and soft and as I instructed Michelle to turn around and run at the wing she flopped over and the dragfest started as she took me down. I managed to get the wing stopped, and then it re-inflated before I could hold it down again. By the time we stopped and a few bystanders held it down as we unclipped we had used up 40 feet of beach. Now I know why New Zealanders have two "catchers" as they top-land in higher winds. I had this happen once before at the old Sumas LZ when a big guy flopped over too. No damage, as the sand is smooth and soft, so we packed up and found her kids and we were soon on the way back to the Ranch. The only problem was the kids and grandma never saw us land!  Harrison Lake flags showing the wind speeds probably 25 - 30 kph and laminar - photo by JPR Colleen and Scott were denied as they waited for Wouter to land at Harvest and give the report on landing conditions, as it gusted up at launch. Several intermediate pilots were getting "turtled" due to the high winds, so they drove the 'Mog down. The 8 pilots that ended up at Harvest were getting retrieved in Derek and Norm's rig and were headed back for more fun. We loaded up the Suzuki for Scott, Colleen and Wouter's last flights as Wiley was still in the air asking about top-landings (I wasn't sure why as his truck was down already?). We arrived at launch and everyone was in the air around 6:30 pm, and they were climbing in beautiful glass-off lift. Wouter and Colleen were soon off and climbing, followed by Scott for his fifth flight today. Scott did a great job of soaring and looked super comfortable as he climbed up and away. This on a heavily loaded Mojo2! He was much faster than the rest of the gliders but managed to keep it in the air for over an hour. He landed in the circle but forgot to lower the landing gear :-)  Glass-off Soaring at Woodside, Scott is lower but soon climbed out - photo by JPR Wiley asked for some top-landing guidance for his first ever. He had to lose height over the gully and made a few passes before he top-landed softly on his feet. He had been in the air 3.5 hours at this point and had to drain some ballast before he could fly down to the Ranch landing after everyone else just before legal dark. What a day! Grouse Report - Nicole went to the fance installation party at noon as she thought the valley looked lame (bad call), then went home as cloudbase was very low. She took 5 pilots up to the tram before she left, and missed the mayhem. A visiting Oregon pilot missed his approach into the LZ and ended up in a tree on Nancy Greene Way. Apparently it was a slow news day and it was all over the radio waves as we drove home! Kamloops Report - I hooked up with Derek Butcher in Kamloops on Sunday and managed to get a flight off the Dome just out side of town. The thermals here are really turbulent and strong. When I launched the wing was rocking back and forth, side to side and became weightless no less than 3 times! Got away from the mountain as quickly as I could and things got calmer in the valley. Got 4+m/s up and managed to get to 5000+ feet until a huge cloud blocked the sun and I had to land. In all, I got a 60+ minute flight! :-) - James C.
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Woodside Report - we had to wait til 11 am to get to launch as it was very low cloudbase earlier. Colleen launched first and managed about 45 minutes in light lift on her new Addict II XS, she was cranking it pretty good to stay in the smaller bullets. | Later we launched Scott on the Mojo 2 L and he was staying up despite not able to hear the radio very well due to "adrenaline buildup" in his ears and the wind noise. Most of the first launchers got some "cloudsuck" and there was a lot of big ears being pulled to stay clear of the "whiteroom". By the time all the students had launched and the others had flown out, it was just my tandem and Miguel in the air and there was some lift over the construction zone at Harrison Highlands but otherwise a sledder. The landing conditions were perfect. The next cycle of flights had Justin and Darren duking it out on their new wings. Darren commented "Those new Addict colours sure look good from up here!" as Justin hit a sink cycle. Later Justin returned the comment as he climbed out from Riverside. Alex W commented that the air was spicy just as I launched the tandem with Tara, and we were soon climbing with Chiu, Wouter and others at the South Knoll. I found the lift further out was stronger and the climbs better so we headed out away from the South Knoll and we were soon at 1000 meters. I noticed a huge rain cell starting to form over Harrison Bay and started to head out to the construction zone to get closer to the Ranch, when we went weightless and the Magnum frontalled . . . reopening without turning and we returned to normal flight. Just one pocket of turbulence and then smooth again all the way to the Ranch. Hmmmm! Probably the instability caused by the closeness of the cell. It never materialized and went north to Harrison Lake. The last flights were conducted with concern over the thunder near Hemlock but Wouter took Martina tandem and all went well so off went Scott, Derek, Colleen and most everyone else except Norm, Chiu, Kelly and Veronica who drove down cause it looked like sledders. We went to Jack's (a new restauraunt on Pioneer Avenue in Agassiz), which is very nice and reasonably priced. Forecast is one more good day Monday at least. |
FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day Reports
July 2008 Site of the Day archives - our first SIV Course of the 2008 season went well at Sale Mountain near Revelstoke.
June 2008 Site of the Day archives - a few good soaring days at Bridal, lots of new students this month.
May 2008 Site of the Day archives - the cost of gas is keeping pilots at home and the weather isn't helping either. One good XC in May for me, leaving Woodside with Norm and Martin H and ending up at Elk at 1600 meters before landing by Hopyard Hill. 3 hours and 85 kms later by the GPS.
April 2008 Site of the Day archives - worst weather in years but we flew every day we could.
March 2008 Site of the Day archives - more snow and still hiking to launch at Woodside! But some major airtime for the locals committed to coming out to fly.
February 2008 Site of the Day archives - more snow in BC than I can remember in 25 years of living here. We are still hiking to launch at Woodside!
January 2008 Site of the Day archives - worst weather in years so we went to Mexico and logged many hours of airtime, while it snowed heavily in BC.
December 2007 Site of the Day archives - worst weather in years so we went to Mexico on Dec 29th for three weeks.
November 2007 Site of the Day archives - Colleen and I went to California to fly the new Falcon A-16 Advanced Ultralight prototype and it flew very well. Some good soaring days at Woodside, some folks were still trying to fly Bridal but that is a waste of time this late in the season.
October 2007 Site of the Day archives - mid-air at Woodside caused Martin H some paraglider damage, some great soarable days. The Women's Fly In was a success with the Canuck Team taking top spot for the theme of "Celebrities in Rehab".
September 2007 Site of the Day archives - we re-discovered and flew 'Horsefly' Launch for the first time, some mayhem at Woodside due to tree-suck, lots of good soaring in afternoon glassoffs, a great Indian Summer until late in the month when the rains came early. Derek, Martina, Robin and Diane went to Europe. Kirill went to Australia for a paramotor Fly-In.
August 2007 Site of the Day archives - fun two weeks at Mara Lake, followed by steady flying at Woodside and Bridal, making up for the dismal spring and summer.
July 2007 Site of the Day archives - good flights at Bridal, some mayhem at Woodside from visiting pilots.
June 2007 Site of the Day archives - more crappy weather on the weekends. Some awesome flights between showers as Norm and Thomm flew to Mission on the last day of the month.
May 2007 Site of the Day archives - flyable every weekday, but the Fraser Valley XC Comp got crappy weather on the weekends, although it was student flyable.
April 2007 Site of the Day archives - good flights are starting. Some complete triangles from Woodside to Bridal and back, some "musical triangles" from others.
March 2007 Site of the Day archives - fifth month of crappy weather on the Coast. We went to Santa Barbara for some flights, and to dry out. Some good days were also recorded locally.
Febuary 2007 Site of the Day archives - fourth month of crappy weather on the Coast. So we stayed in Mexico.
January 2007 Site of the Day archives - third month of crappy weather on the Coast. So we went to Mexico to fly Colima, Tapalpa, and San Marcos, while Brad and gang headed to Tenacingo, Mexico.
December 2006 Site of the Day archives - more ugly weather on the Coast. Severe winds damaged trees and property so not much flying happened. Some good flight reports from local PGers travelling world-wide.
November 2006 Site of the Day archives - the wettest November on record. We flew a few good flights but mostly we were rained out.
October 2006 Site of the Day archives - lots of good days with 3-4 hours airtime. The Women's Fly-In was on again in Chelan with about 18 Canucks, and a good day Saturday with 85 registered pilots.
September 2006 Site of the Day archives - still soarable in the Fraser Valley, little or no rain. Colleen is back flying! Some mayhem in the valley.
August 2006 Site of the Day archives - a great flying month everywhere, we had a super successful SIV clinic at Mara Lake with everyone SAT-ing and heli-ing.
July 2006 Site of the Day archives - road trip to Lumby, then on the 8th Colleen spun in below Gloria cancelling her summer plans (but she is recuperating well).
June 2006 Site of the Day archives - the Valley dried out, and we flew most days and every weekend.
May 2006 Site of the Day archives - more rain that ever imagined in the Fraser Valley. Very few soaring flights and even less XC.
April 2006 Site of the Day archives - the Easter Bunny was "run over" on Kilby Road, plus the train wreck on April 1.
March 2006 Site of the Day archives - a new pilot was born, Chloe. We also flew a few days between showers, some long flights up to 4 hours. A few Out & Return Flights to Deroche and Bear.
February 2006 Site of the Day archives - another wet month with some soarable days (2).
January 2006 Site of the Day archives - some flying on Elk and Woodside, smart pilots headed South for great Mexican or Chilean flying.
December 2005 Site of the Day archives - some flying on Elk and Woodside, smart pilots headed South.
November 2005 Site of the Day archives - rain, snow and not much flying.
October 2005 Site of the Day archives - Women's Fly In in Chelan yielded two soarable days before the snows hit.
September 2005 Site of the Day archives - dry most of the month. Some great 4 hour flights at Woodside getting to cloudbase most days. Three crash-landings in the same clearcut by pilots scratching too low, but no injuries.
August 2005 Site of the Day archives - road trips to the Interior gave us an opportunity to rag out some gliders at FlyBC SIV 2005 (Part II). Also a great road trip to Savona.
July 2005 Site of the Day archives - good flying all month, no rain but some windy days shut us down. The Willi started in Golden with a few good days, but one tragedy as Charles Warren perished in a crash near Harrogate.
June 2005 Site of the Day archives - too much rain, but good days to fly between showers.
May 2005 Site of the Day archives - our Instructor/Tandem seminar yielded some good flying. Our May 2005 SIV Clinic had a good turnout, with many wet wings/pilots! Many nice flights at Woodside and Bridal, with some long "out & returns" at Bridal.
April 2005 Site of the Day archives - some great soaring at Woodside and Bridal. Sad news from the US Hanggliding Nationals as Chris Muller crashes at goal.
March 2005 Site of the Day archives - we had to head out of town to Savona a few weekends due to wet weather on the Coast. Wetter than normal according to Environment Canada.
February 2005 Site of the Day archives - some good soaring despite early time of year. Flights as long as 3 hours at Woodside, some good flights at Whidbey Island for first timers, too!
January 2005 Site of the Day archives road trips to Mexico, not much flying locally due to strong north winds and rain. Record rain kept Eagle Ranch quite wet for kiting.
December 2004 Site of the Day archives a dry month with some good soaring including a fantastic day on Dec. 11 where we thermalled for 2+ hours!
November 2004 Site of the Day archives more record rain. We installed a fireplace in the barn to keep pilots warm between winter flights.
October 2004 Site of the Day archives more record rain, but sweet soaring between showers. Many new students signed up and making quick progress. We missed the Women's Fly In for the first time in 9 years, and there was some interesting flying on the Sunday!
September 2004 Site of the Day archives rainiest September on record for the first 3 weeks, made flying difficult. But Alan and others logged some pretty nice flights later in the month. Lots of student tandems for both Colleen and Jim.
August 2004 Site of the Day archives Great Maneuver/SIV/ACRO course at Mara. Jack got wet! Some great soaring at Woodside. Norm made it 68 km from Mara to King Eddie, Derek made it from Lumby to Enderby the opposite direction for 67 kms. We also did our BC roadtrip from Ashcroft to New Denver, and flew everyday.
July 2004 Site of the Day archives the Willi was on at Golden. We missed the mayhem due to work and school commitments but Norm did a great job representing the West Coast.
June 2004 Site of the Day archives Canadian Nationals came off with many great rounds. Pemberton-Whistler Championships were blown out most days so we headed to Cornwall.
May 2004 Site of the Day archives great flying at Woodside and Bridal. We held a very successful SIV Course at Mara Lake, and hope to run another one in August if they keep the forests open.
April 2004 Site of the Day archives good flying in the Valley. The Fraser Valley Cross Country PG Series was successssful.
March 2004 Site of the Day archives Nicole won in Brazil, otherwise the month sucked for flying time.
February 2004 Site of the Day archives some local flights extended to an hour with vigourous scratching above the trees. Good paramotor month.
January 2004 Site of the Day archives Mexican road trip yielded 20 hours of flight and a wet Canadian January kept most local pilots on the ground.
December 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew a few times but it got really cold at the end of the month as we prepared for a gala New Year's Party for 40 of our close personal friends and neighbours.
November 2003 Site of the Day archives windy and wet with the odd good soaring day, not many pilots out these days.
October 2003 Site of the Day archives Women's Fly In was great fun, some good soaring days mid-month, most of the students are signed off.
September 2003 Site of the Day archives good conditions until the last days of the month when it got stable. Most days were flyable at Woodside or Bridal.
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 success 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 Club 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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