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FlyBC "Site of the Day Archives" - September 2011
Woodside looks socked in all day and possibly rainy
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do . . . Sail away from the safe harbor. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain
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Woodside Report - we had an awesome day flying 5 student flight rounds with George, Joe and Colin, as well as some newly signed off Dutch Pilots Rommert & Eunice came to fly. | We also did 4 tandems today and Martina had the best tandem ever cloud-surfing with Stefan for 35 minutes. The parking lot was full of desperados and even Normando came out to ridge soar. Tonya brought out the SCirroco and it was not quite soarable with it, so she came back with the regular wing later. We also got a late report of Kevin's Elk flight from yesterday, when it was so lame at Woodside - he bagged an hour off Elk in +25 kph winds!
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Coaches Corner for September 30/2011 - we are at Eagle Ranch flying at 10 am for the last day of September, monitoring 146.415 mhz and FRS Channel 12. | Watch for the FlyBC Mexican Tours page to be updated soon! Ozone Rush III Small, SkyCountry SCirroco 18 Speed Wing, Nova Factor 21, Swift Small, Addict II XS are here for a few days for test flights.  We sell and dispense ADRENALINE here at FlyBC. The best "over-the-counter cure" for weekday/workday boredom. Click here to find out why FlyBC is your "best and only" choice for paraglider/paramotor training. . At FlyBC all our Instructors are Certified Professionals, trained and registered with the HPAC and USHPA, unlike other schools who rely on untrained pilots to do student guiding. We offer the best & safest training value in BC! Put your TRUST in FlyBC. We are authorized dealers for Ozone, SkyCountry, Gin, Nova, Paratoys Paramotors, Advance, APCO, Wills Wing and many other Brands. New Ozone Wings ALPINA - is bringing our light weight techniques to the very successful Delta. We have often been asked for a light weight EN C and we thought the Delta would be the best platform to create this new light wing. The Alpina is fully certified EN C and in sizes XS to L. With a fantastic glide (9.6 according to Thermik) and a weight of 4.55kg for the M size we think this wing could be very popular! LM4 - based on some of the X-Alps wings, the LM4 is using our light weight knowledge on the M4. As we do not envisage a high demand this is not being certified (no official flight test or load test, it is just with our own flight tests and light weight material knowledge) so this wing is just for experts only who want high performance in their lightweight wing. Characteristics obviously similar to the M4, including a glide of 10.2 (according to Thermik Mag), but with a weight of just 4.77 for the MS size. The LM4 is sold with free custom colours and no standard schemes.
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Woodside Report - we had a few tandems to do today and the conditions were lame. We got a few cycles around noon, when Denis flew off trying valiently to stay in the air but it was very stable. | Martina took Birthday Boy Daryl B for a surprise tandem while I took Carmen for her return flight after last years vomit-fest. We got a few cycles to launch into and it went downhill from there with SE, NE, E winds and some lulls to launch into. I then took Deb J for her tandem after she had to watch her entire family fly a few weeks back but she couldn't go cause she broke a rib doing renos. She unfortunately tripped on launch and almost crashed us but I saved us with some brake action. Love the Magnum 41. Then at 445pm, I took Anna-Marie tandem in more lame conditions. I am hating no wind launches! But we had a nice flight into a perfect ProCircle landing. Lots of desperadoes out today flying solo too.
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Click on the picture for more pictures from Woodside in September as well as other activities.Woodside Report - I had one birthday tandem to complete with Martin P, who had come out last week when we got blown out. I wanted this to be a great tandem after he had to drove from North Vancouver twice. We loaded up at 11:30 am from the Ranch; with Martina, Martin N, Denis, Brock and Martin P & I on board the Suburban. There was light north wind at School Road earlier and this trip up there was no wind showing, not even a breath of outflow on the trees near the spur road in. Yes, we are going to fly! We arrived on launch to some wind-blown mayhem. The carpets were pulled up on the south side, the north wind sock pole was bent over and the sock and pole missing? The sign was also down on the ground, so some of this could be mischief-makers or the wind. We fixed the carpet momentarily but it is going to need to be re-pinned and stitched together. Martin P & I setup the tandem and we were the wind-techs today flying off in a great cycle off towards a distanct CU over Riverside, sinking all the way out. It seemed like a long time before we heard a "beep", but once established in the thermal we were soon above launch. The video suggests it was about 3 minutes to get above launch, so it was a good thermal (+3.0 m/s). Denis launched after us and it took him a bit to find a core too. Next off was Martin N followed by Martina. We climbed up to cloudbase around 1000 meters near the South Knoll in a good strong core and went behind the forming cloud and we were still climbing just outside of the cloud, as Denis got "whited-out" so we stayed away from the cloud. Martin P started shaking as he was under-dressed and getting cold, so I descended to the north near the new clearcut where it was warmer and sunnier. We had a few good climbs over the clearcut, but I could feel the north wind boiling over the north ridgeline, quite weird feeling air. We flew out towards the construction site and got there very fast, as we had a tailwind? The air has changed from the drive up til now, less than an hour ago. I looked back and everyone was descending and scratching to get back up. We circled around the construction site and then headed out to the Ranch to see 20-25 kph north winds in the trees and the socks. There was a nice thermal over Duncan's that we played in a bit before coming in to a soft touchdown in the main circle where it was much warmer now. Flight time 40 minutes, +3.0 m/s up, -4.9 m/s sink. As we packed up it got much stronger and Martina had some issues getting into the field as Martin N and Martina were coming in to the Ranch at the same time. Brock and Tom C flew later and Tom got to 1100 meters where the air was quite turbulent as the winds picked up. But we all flew! Ihor, Ian J, Brett R and a few others came out too late but there was good kiting wars in the Ranch LZ for all in the strong NW winds. Thanks for the retrieve drive, Ihor!
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Woodside Report - lots of wind blowing trees over, but around 4 pm it looked flyable. No one was out so I kept doing chores, getting stuff ready for the winter. |
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Woodside Report - heavy rains and high winds out at the Ranch, makes me get plans made for Mexican Tours finalized this week. The weekend looks promising for flying! |
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Woodside Report - we woke up to high winds and no power at the Ranch this morning. | The power was restored at 1 pm, and all the IT related stuff came back live after a few IP address changes. The stormy weather is expected to continue til Wednesday and the weekend looks good for tandemonium.
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Woodside Report - we started flying students and tandems at 11 am, in light to leeside conditions and we finished the last tandems by 6 pm. | Grand total for the day 21 tandems, and 12 to 14 student flights. Most tandems were forward launches. . One mishap when Leo never got his HG flying and landed in the brush below launch with no injuries.
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Woodside Report - it was very windy all over the Fraser Valley today, reports of strong conditions everywhere. | Roger flew in to the Ranch on his HG and did not enjoy his flight, and he thought he was going to end up in the swamp due to sink at one point. We went up Woodside after 1 pm, to see if it was possible to complete three tandems, but it was blowing 35kph+ recorded. Later around 7 pm it looked flyable but no one was here.
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Woodside Report - I was at Eagle Ranch doing chores all day, and it rained hard, then lighter, then at 3 pm it became flyable but alas the tandems never arrived. |
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Woodside Report - we started flying at noon when the tandems arrived and Martina & Wouter took Angela & Taylor for a flight.We expected higher winds to materialize and possibly get soarable, but even the last flights at 6 pm were sledders. | Between flights a team of us brushed out the spur road using chainsaws and loppers; thanks to Wouter, Tom E, Brock from your humble site director. The Woodside Bubble kept the winds away as it looked strong in the Chilliwack River Valley, and higher up the clouds were "smoking by". George got another flight today after work and he is now ready for some maneuvers to round out his skills. Ozone R&D Report - Ozone XXLite = Extra-Lightweight, Extra-Innovative The XXLite is a concept wing that is not yet for sale. The Ultralite series from Ozone has offered pilots the lightest certified paragliders in the world for four years in a row, but we wanted to take the idea of “Ultralite” to the next level: XXLite. The XXLite is a single surface paraglider constructed from the most modern lightweight materials. It packs small enough to fit into a waist-bag and weighs a total of just 1.345kg for the 19m size. In flight, the current prototypes of the XXLite are somewhat “special” to fly, although the launch is the easiest we have ever seen – the wing seems to come up entirely on its own. We currently do not have plans to sell this wing to the public but the development of the concept will continue and we will release more news as this interesting project advances. Ozone XXLite: Lightweight R&D from Ozone Paragliders on Vimeo.
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Woodside Report - I was at a meeting in North Vancouver til 1 pm, and apparently I didn't miss anything as I arrived at the Ranch to a full parking lot and only a few flights had happened and they were short. | George & Martin were out training today and they got 3 flights each in silky smooth air. I took Barb tandem at 3 pm and we hooked a sweet thermal (the only one of the day) soaring with 12 turkey vultures over the Lower Launch switchback staying at or just above Launch altitude. Barb had so much fun she even offered to help drive some vehicles down later. Tania and Martin arrived a bit late for their 4:30 pm tandems but we still pulled them off. Martin was a bit heavier than the 240 lb limit so Martina took him on the Magnum 41 and I used her BiBeta 38 for Tania. Short flights in light conditions but the evening air was beautiful and we pulled off a field goal approach thru the Goal Post trees to land in the circle. What a difference from Monday's beautiful lift!
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Click on the picture for more pictures from Woodside in September as well as other activities.Woodside Report - you know it is gonna be a good day when all the top pilots from Vancouver show up at once to head up the mountain on a Monday! Derek & Terry launched early at 1130 am, and Derek was still in the air when we headed up after noon. I headed up with a full truckload at 1230 pm, and Werner & I were soon off launch tandem (with a small tangle on the left that made turning left much faaster), and were soon at cloudbase with the other pilots. We could fly anywhere on the mountain and climb but only to about 1200 meters before white-out ensued. Werner got to fly for 50% of the flight as conditions were not rough. Other late groups were launching after us, and I didn't see anyone sink out from over 16 launches. Although some were low at times. Derek was still in the air when we landed at 2:00 pm, to pickup more tandem passengers. Colleen & Martina took the next passengers and they had beautiful soaring conditions with the eagles and hawks with perfect launches & landings! Alex & Nicole were headed west and both made it back to the Ranch. Click here to see what different launches offered up today for those on Leonardo. Scroll down to September 11 to see Biff's Mt Baker video report.
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Woodside Report - We had cancelled todays flights, but some of the tandems still showed up so we went up the mountain at 3 pm when it started clearing.
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Click on the picture for more pictures from Woodside in September as well as other activities.Woodside Report - we started ground school after 9:00 am for 5 new students including Nick, Chris, Christina, Brook, and Jackie. Also, 3rd day student Martin D was out and ready for another day of flight. Yes it was raining hard but everyone showed up and we worked in the Classroom until noon, getting the best briefing possible. We took a break and went to Kilby Farm for lunch down the street and as we ate the skies opened up and the sun shone in! We headed back to the Ranch and headed up the mountain to get everyone a tandem before they started kiting practice. Martina, Colleen, Wouter & I took 4 of the students leaving Jackie to drive as she had one short tandem in Lumby this June. Nice conditions although Chris & I got "whited-out" after launch for a minute but we were okay thanks to my Canadian Tire compass. Colleen took the newbies kiting and soon the LZ was littered with nylon and they did well desite the light conditions in the field. Martina & Wouter completed 2 more Groupon Tandems today, and Wouter's passenger already has the footage up on his facebook page, exclaiming it was "the experience of a lifetime"! Jackie and I raced up to do her instructional tandem but were denied as it started to sprinkle on us, by the time we drove down it was a "full on monsoon" but we got all the trucks down. The rain didn't last long and we were back in the Suburban for the students to tackle a solo flight as Colleen deemed them all ready to fly. Colleen flew off with Jackie at 6 pm, and it was soarable as she climbed out and they did many passes before heading out for Jackie to fly. Martin D was up next but we had a few operational issues, and after a few pilot induced aborts practicing reverses Martin stood down for Nick to launch using Phil's Geo II. Nice launch with big eyes as he got lifted off launch still on the carpet! Martin forward-launched next and was heading out as we launched the students one by one, perfect forward launches from all and soon it was 7 pm, as I drove down. They all had perfect landings listening to the radio as Colleen guided them in to the Eagle Ranch LZ. Conditions were perfect at launch (10-15 kph) and in the LZ (ight east), for the first solos. Perfect day after 1 pm, and to think I was going to call the day off? Sunday looks grim however. Flight Across America On September 17th BlackHawk Team Pilot Jon Sepp will be taking off from Dana point California using the new Team BlackHawk Pro Series Weight Shift Paramotor strapped on his back in an attempt to fly clear across the United States solo. Flying about 8 hours per day, he plans on stopping only to refuel and take short rests when weather forces him to and when night falls. With a dedicated support team supplying him with many unhealthy dinners of canned chili and Top Ramen. At times other pilots will fly alongside documenting and being part of the adventure. As you who fly know, flying for such a long time every day is kinda like trying to wake up and run a marathon every morning. Each day will be an adventure as he does not know where he will land, spend the night, take off from, or get fuel. Jon plans to fly over several major landmarks along the way including the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, dusty parts of the Midwest and finally through the sweet comforts of the southern United States. This trip will be just as much about completing a trans-continental paramotor flight as it is seeing the beauty of the countryside and meeting the incredible people of America. Whether carving a sweet line around a desert pillar or solemnly viewing the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina from a few thousand feet, there is no better way to experience this than in a paramotor. We are excited to share this journey with you all and thankful to have a group of people to relate to who understand the joys and frustrations of a trip of this kind. This is an all American trip! We are hoping and asking anyone along his route to come out, show your support and fly with Jon. He will be thankful for the company and friendship he hopes to encounter along the way. With camera crew in tow, documenting the entire experience. If you are along his route we encourage you to take a hour or a day and join him on this epic journey. follow us on our website at Fly Across America
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Woodside Report - more chores today as no students came out til George showed up after 1 pm. Derek & Martina joined us for the ride up Woodside and they launched first in a series of lulls. George took a few tries at getting his wing stabilized and then it started blowing hard. | Reports of Martina having 3 kph ground speeds and a bumpy landing at the Ranch, and watching Derek going backwards at 1200 meters, made us decide it was too strong for George so we drove down. Derek and Martina did have great flights though and Derek finally headed over the back to Harvest Market after an hour of soaring.
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Woodside Report - the new students arrived on time and before the rains, but I didn't think one flight was enough to justify a whole day for them, so they headed home til next Friday. | Although it looked flyable at Woodside, reports of loggers unable to enter the forest near Harrison Lake due to high winds confirmed my call to shut down the day. By 1 pm we had rain and winds. Another Ozone Innovation - a glider without an under-surface (sans intrados)
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Woodside Report - new students Joe & Colin arrived early today and we started kiting by 10 am. These guys were amazing! 25 forward inflations each in a row without a problem on the flats and on the training hill! | We went up to launch to do a tandem each and it was soarable at noon when I flew off with Joe. We made a few turns over launch and then headed out to show Joe the approach into Eagle Ranch. Next up was Colin and although he topped out over 215 lbs we were climbing fast and were soon at 'base and having to fly out of the clouds. Colin flew me out to the Ranch and we were packing up as the tandems arrived. Joe Chromy is back after moving to Agassiz and he has been kiting for 3 days, and it showed at Launch as he masterfully filled his wing and stepped off the launch. He flew twice tday before going back to work. Up on launch at 230 pm, with perfect cycles, Martina launched with Josh as Derek flew off and they were all soaring nicely. Very smooth lift with little sun showing. Cloudbase remained at about 1100 meters all day. Joe clipped in and we were doing practice inflations and he was soon "hoovered off" and climbing as he flew out to the Ranch. Martina was on the ground now and guided Joe into a perfect landing. Next up was Colin and we had a few aborts as nerves were getting frayed (mine & Colin's), but he was soon off launch and into the air after 3 tries. Excellent. Colin made a perfect approach into the Ranch LZ and landed near the circle with Martina's help, as I readied my tandem with Bryana. We launched in a strong cycle and we were soon soaring above launch with Derek. Bryana loved the feeling of flight and was "whooping" while we flew! A very productive day for the guys and for tandems it was perfect. Now rain for a few days?
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Woodside Report - no students today so Denis and I completed his Tandem Seminar and he has fulfilled his requirements to become an Instructor/Tandem I pilot. Congratulations! | After some chores our 4:00 pm tandems arrived and there was some trepidation from Marni as to whether she would go, but once on top and seeing her son fly off first with Denis . . . she was raring to go with Martina. I took Kris for the last tandem launch and it was getting spicy on launch but we didn`t require ballast as we were both pretty big. Denis had the best flight getting to cloudbase with Bryce and soaring around for 15 minutes before we all headed out together to land at the Ranch. Landings were smooth with a nice east wind and they were totally pumped by the experience of flying tandem. Derek got the last flight and was getting high, but we all forgot our flight suits as it has been so hot lately, and it was chilly in the air.
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Click on the picture for more pictures from Woodside in September as well as other activities.Woodside Report - I started flying tandems at noon with Ken & Roger, each driving so the other could fly. Roger was the lighter of the two big guys at 195 lbs, but he got to launch wearing flip-flops, so he couldn't go first. Ken strapped in at 225 lbs, and with the stable conditions I knew this was going to be a short flight. But we got some beeps over the roads and clearcuts and worked it for 15 minutes before landing at the Ranch. Roger was next and the cycles were better but I had little hope as we had the typical hazy inversion layer. We launched and were soon climbing over the gulley clearcut and broke through the inversion and were able to soar up there for 20 minutes before heading out to land at the Ranch. Our 3 pm tandems showed up and they were clearly hungover from the night's partying, and Martina was here to help so I gave her the most hungover one (Stephanie) to fly. We both had super launches and I found another scrappy thermal to work out front with Nikki, and waited for Martina & Stephanie to join us but it "petered out" as they arrived so we went on glide together hitting some serious headwind at 800 feet parking us at times. We both landed softly in fairly bumpy air at the Ranch. At 4:30 pm another group of tandems arrived for their second try at flying as the last time 3 weeks ago it was blown-out. Fortunately they are coming from Chilliwack so not too far to drive for them. But it was getting stronger and we were getting reports from Abby that it was windy there. So I took Lucas first as he was at 180 lbs the heaviest of the group. Launch was getting lighter cycles, but you could see wind on Harrison Bay. We had a few aborts while Lucas got syncronized with the launch pressures, and we were soon in the air. Not much lift in the normal spots and no ridge soaring as it was light winds at altitude, so we headed out and we were going slow and we made one turn into the Ranch and it was gust east winds and thermic in the LZ. I came over the corn field fence line to turn onto final and a gust took us to the middle of the corn field sideways! A quick turn onto final and full speed got us out of the corn field and onto flat grassy ground. The video clearly shows us heading sideways at about 30 kph! Nice landing on out feet too. Next cycle I launched with Lucas' mom and we were ridge soaring a bit before heading out to check the air for the others as Martina, Derk, George and Tom E were waiting for a report. We got to the Ranch higher this time and we had a hard time descending over the Ranch as it was quite lifty. We eventually found some sink north of the windsocks and landed nicely away from the circle which was kicking off thermals. Martina had a nice ballasted launch as it got stronger on launch and had a nice flight with a super touchdown in the circle! Derek and Tom flew and recommended against George launching into this wind, as he has only 20 flights under his belt. Super day with 5 tandems for me, and 2 for Martina.
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Woodside Report - another successful Tandemonium Day here at Woodside. | The Awesom Tandem Team consisted of Martina, Colleen, Tonya, Wouter and Jim and we pulled off 20 tandems starting at 11 am and ending at 6 pm. Five rounds of shuttles where aided by Derek and Alan's fantastic shuttle services and management of the crowds. The flights were short sledders, but everyone had fun and we had some excellent launchers! Add to this the 3 students flying: Jenny, Martins, George and it was a pretty successful day! Thanks to the others at launch that accommodated all the tandem activity. Biff and Paparazzi Twizzler Bust Baker Report - Once again, we were unable to resist the lure of the biggest local para-alpine adventure. A perfect wind cast provided by Professor Samplonius allowed us to plan the classic summit to Glacier Village flight (17 km glide). We were able to leave our vehicle in Glacier and get a ride with Eddy Riviere, an accomplished Kelowna flyer who was celebrating his birthday by climbing the mountain with his family. Papa and I left the parking lot at 2:00 pm on Saturday and went directly to the Black Butes to bivvy for the night there and then meet Eddy and his three kids as they came up from the Heliotrope Ridge Sunday am.  I passed a beautiful but sleepless night sleeping on my wing with my lower body in my pack and a good down jacket to keep me warm and it was quite warm. The full moon provided a nice light on the mountain looming above us. Other climbing groups got there and left very early, 2 am, I think to avoid climbing down mid day through a big ice fall area that had recently broken off in the current heat wave.  Our two rope teams began the morning ascent at 5:20 and by maintaining a slow but steady pace and taking only one break, we reached the summit at 9:00 am to find the perfect 15 km/hr wind from the SW. By now the altitude had rendered me slow and sick, which is typical. We prepared our gear including a helmet cam each as well as our point and shoots, loaded our packs with all the climbing stuff and laid out our wings. I brought the M4 just to have the best possible glide as I had barely made the LZ two years ago on my Geo 2. However, as I began inflating my wing, the glider acted strange, deforming every time I tried to pull it up. Fortunately, the launch is very forgiving and you can goof around safely up there. The high altitude air was a little more cross just above our heads. Eventually my hazy brain deduced that one of my C lines had a tiny knot and once we removed that, the M4 came up with it's usual grace but by this time, of course I had turned off the helmet cam so hopefully, Papa got the money shot.  It was barely soarable but I made some passes while Daryl launched and we both soared the summit for a while before commiting to the big glide over the north ridge, the immense glacier field and then paralleling the Skyline divide out to the Nooksack Valley.  Not the most beautiful sky to the north these days with all this stability and pollution. It wasn't a comfy flight. The heavy backpack, although not pulling me back so much was causing me some back pain and when I reached Glacier with 1500 meters, I began using ears just to get down quickly. Interestingly, with the ears pulled substantially, the M4 begins oscillating from side to side and is very difficult to counter with a big pack on. Perhaps I should not pull them down so far?  We landed in the big field after gliding for 40 minutes, the entire exercise being a challenge but going off as perfectly as one could ever hope. There is nothing quite so surreal as transitioning from a the relative cold clear world of rock and ice at almost 11,000 feet to sitting in a bar a little over an hour later devouring a burger and a beer in 28C. Stay tuned for a visual version - Biff Mt. Baker Busters from Kevin Ault on Vimeo.
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Click on the picture for more pictures from Woodside in September as well as other activities.Woodside Tandemonium Report - WOW! Thirteen tandems completed in lame conditions, as well as 15 student flights. New student Martin D showed up with only some prior kiting experience a few years ago on a training hill and was soloing by 12 noon. A few aborts but by the end of the day Martin had 1 tandem and 4 solo flights with perfect landings. Trevor A, Jenny L, and George M all had 5 solo student flights ending at 5 pm. The last tandems with Heather & Kyle were no wind forward launches landing in no wind at the ProCircle where beers were waiting for all of us.
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Woodside Report - we flew Woodside all day til 4 pm, doing tandems. Students failed to show up due to other commitments, so it was a tandemonium day for Martina & I. | I got above launch once on my 2nd tandem but for a split-second only after climbing out in a sharp nasty thermal. My passenger said she was nauseous after we landed, but it may have been the spiral at the end of the flight. Very stable conditions made making it to the Ranch a guessing game at some points. More Revy SIV fun - from Martina
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Woodside Report - we were training hard today at Eagle Ranch with intermediate students Claudia & George. They each got 3 flights after the outflow abated. | Stable conditions with me doing two tandems with exactly the same 10 minutes of airtime in no wind. Denis was trying out the SCirocco and was not impressed with the glide as he made Bert $20 richer, landing in Bert's backyard. Derek was thermalling on the last flight after driving for me, and he almost broke through the inversion layer before getting hit by big sink. A vulture stayed in the same thermal and broke through and was soon far above launch. Remembering last weekend in Revy - by Wouter
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Woodside Report - we had another great productive day for Devin and George. Martina also helped me do a few tandems. | Conditions were lame early and we had to wait for cycles, but the students got 4 great flights and they were soaring on the last two flights despite light thermals. Devin & George both started landing at the ProCircle after I suggested it for speed and to reduce the time spent in the hot sun. Devin has to head back to Ontario, but he is planning to come back to Kelowna or Penticton to finish his commercial helicopter training soon so I suspect he will come back and get finished. Steven had a sweet flight off the Chief
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Click on the picture for more pictures from Woodside in September as well as other activitiesWoodside Report - Devin arrived to do some lessons today and by noon he was soloing, after a great kiting session on the Eagle Ranch Training Hill. He has done 4 tandems in NZ before this. He joined Dan M who was completing his last flights to get certified, and Dan wrote his Novice Exam while we were kiting and achieved a 92% on the test. Devin's first solo went flawlessly with a perfect approach despite a dead battery on my end as he went over the Maple Tree area. By the end of the day Dan logged 4 flights as did Devin, with Devin's last flight on the Advance Epsilon got him way above launch with some coaching! We also completed 3 Groupon Tandems at 1 pm thanks to Martina and Wow-ter.
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Revy Report - Mt Mackenzie again offered up perfect launch conditions, and no wind on the ground for a perfect end to our SIV Course. | Most folks were free-flying with a few maneuvers from Bill, Craig and Wouter. I took Colleen's Addict II XS for a few SATs and spirals on the last flight.
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Click on the picture for more pictures from Revy as well as other activitiesDay 2 Revelstoke SIV Report - again we had perfect conditions at the River LZ and at Launch from 10 am on. We had everyone doing full stalls and spins with great recoveries today. No one landed in the water today so I spent the day cruising around keeping the motor warmed up with Igor's son helping drive the boat. We were down to 10 SIVers, as Fiona headed home. Derek showed up and helped shuttle folks and got a few flights in to thanks to Britt for driving his truck. No drama today and even Wouter "D-bagging" the SCirocco went well with no tangles and an immediate deployment to stable flight. Some of the free fliers got above launch to 2600 meters, but no XC flights.
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Click on the picture for more pictures from Revy as well as other activitiesDay 1 Revelstoke SIV Report - perfect conditions at the River LZ and at Launch from 10 am on. We had 11 SIVers and several free fliers so the shuttle trucks were busy for three rounds of SIV. This equates to 18000 vertical feet to play with per day! Highlights of the day included Eric G from Horsefly who was stalling his Rush III wildly and finally twisting it up into a locked in SAT, which resulted in a reserve toss into the Columbia River. Check the pictures for a picture of his gloves missing a pinky fingers from the twists. The new rescue boat worked really well with 50 mph in reserve to head out for downed pilots. Most pilots progressed to full stalls and SATs by flight #3.
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Revelstoke Travel Day Report - perfect road conditions with not much traffic and lots of County Mounties pulling over speeders. It was difficult to speed pulling the boat so we were okay. |
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Woodside Report - we started our tandems early today at 930 am sharp as Kelly had to go back to Coquitlam to work at noon. So Wouter, Martina and I took Mom, Dad & Kelly for a nice morning flight. Good cycles even early should have warned us of the day ahead - windwise. | Next group was Christine and Mark and they are both training to be fixed wing pilots so they had to fly the entire flight with Wouter & I. Finally some nice landings! Soon thereafter we were back in the truck for another round of tandems with Tony & Carol and it was getting strong on launch but Wouter & I pulled it off nicely and we were soon soaring with student Dan on his 25th flight. We flew for 45 minutes before heading out to a nice landing at the Ranch. Dan has over 10 hours now and is ready to write the exams. Back on launch for Martina's friend's tandem, I drove while Derek, Martina, Wouter & Dan flew off again and soared. Thie wind was calmer on launch this time oddly? At 3 pm? It was mildly soarable and then all of a sudden Brock & Derek were heading upwards fast. And it started to sprinkle up high. The students and tandems were safely on the ground but Brock seemed to be having trouble getting down over Riverside. I headed to Agassiz to get my truck from the truck doctors, and Derek took another load up to launch but is was now gusting +35 kph on launch so everyone drove down. |
FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day Reports
July 2011 Site of the Day archives - another 120 tandems done this month by the Awesome Tandem Team!
June 2011 Site of the Day archives - over 100 tandems done this month by the Awesome Tandem Team!
May 2011 Site of the Day archives - another rainy month with more road trips.
April 2011 Site of the Day archives - many long XCs in the Fraser valley by many pilots, and we roadtripped to the Ashcroft area many times to get flights between rain storms and snow storms.
March 2011 Site of the Day archives - got home from 2 glorious months in Mexico & New Zealand to try to fly in the Valley, but due to rain & snow we roadtripped to the Ashcroft area many times to get flights.
February 2011 Site of the Day archives - last days of the Mexico Tour went very well and then I headed to New Zealand to meet Colleen in Auckland and we had a great time flying there for 2 weeks.
January 2011 Site of the Day archives - Mexico Tour went very well with 8 attendees getting great airtime and safe guidance from us at FlyBC.
December 2010 Site of the Day archives - weather was so bad in BC, that Colleen and I had to book 5 days in LA to get a flight.
November 2010 Site of the Day archives - we had some sweet soaring flights at Woodside, and a really cold cold snap that limited flying for a week or more.
October 2010 Site of the Day archives - we had some sweet soaring flights in October at Woodside, and Robin flew to Hope in less than an hour!.
September 2010 Site of the Day archives - the wettest September in history had us running up to Savona and points east to fly, but we "got-er-done".
August 2010 Site of the Day archives - unstable conditions made for some great days at Benny and Woodside. Al & I had a Delta Day with me stealing Colleen's Small Delta and he on a Large one and we went over the back to Seabird on a strong day.
July 2010 Site of the Day archives - fantastic road trip to Revelstoke for 11 days of SIV Training and super weather.
June 2010 Site of the Day archives - wettest June on record so road trips to Savona a few times. Deltas are rolling in now!
May 2010 Site of the Day archives - nice flying in the Valley.
April 2010 Site of the Day archives - worst April in years weatherwise but we managed to do some awesome tandem groups and some nice flights with Justin, Nicole and Norm flying to Mission late in the month.
March 2010 Site of the Day archives - Crappy weather in the US on my return trip from Mexico. But when I arrived back at the Ranch there were some great days soaring Woodside.
February 2010 Site of the Day archives - super flying in Mexico for the FlyBC Mexican Tours. Good XCs. The locals were already flying at Mother Woodside back in BC due to the warm weather!
January 2010 Site of the Day archives - nice flying in Mexico for the FlyBC Mexican Tours. Good XCs.
December 2009 Site of the Day archives - our first time in Mexico for a full December and we flew everyday. 40-50 km XCs from Tapalpa.
November 2009 Site of the Day archives - very few flights as we had record rains and high winds.
October 2009 Site of the Day archives - Women's Fly-In in Chelan WA with the Barbie Theme, took first place honours again! More good soaring flights of 2 hours plus on special days.
September 2009 Site of the Day archives - more decent flying weather with a few road trips to escape wind by heading to Savona.
August 2009 Site of the Day archives - best flying conditions in years with little rain. My first hike up Cheam with pals went well.
July 2009 Site of the Day archives - the FlyBC SIV in Revelstoke was a blast, 280 SIV flights and only one wet pilot intentionally that is. Jeremy wished he had landed in the water.
June 2009 Site of the Day archives - dry all month locally so lots of flying, Al has been test flying the new ShotGun launch near Stave Lake having great flights out to Woodside.
May 2009 Site of the Day archives - local flying is getting great with nice XC's! Bridal was working well. The new bathroom was installed in the Barn at Eagle Ranch enriching the FlyBC experience.
April 2009 Site of the Day archives - we escaped the local weather by flying in New Zealand for 3 weeks. We will be heading back soon!
March 2009 Site of the Day archives - we were flying locally in snow, relying on Derek's sleds and chains on the 'Mog to get up Woodside.
February 2009 Site of the Day archives - the Worlds PG Championships in Mexico was hard work for the Canucks, the tasks and speeds were unreal.
January 2009 Site of the Day archives - Manzanillo, Mexico was a BLAST, many new sites flown and we have a new tour Destination for 2010.
December 2008 Site of the Day archives - the annual FlyBC Christmas Party was a cold success with Head over Heels entertaining us all night. And we left early for Manzanillo, Mexico on Dec 28th.
November 2008 Site of the Day archives - some soaring between rain storms, and it was pretty dry in Agassiz.
October 2008 Site of the Day archives - we went ot the Women's Fly In on Chelan for the annual Halloween Costume Fly-In, great conditions there to offset the wet month on the West Coast. Steve Fosset's crash site was found in Nevada after a year of searching.
September 2008 Site of the Day archives - great student conditions at Woodside and Bridal all month, with 10 students getting signed off this month, a record.
August 2008 Site of the Day archives - our second SIV Course of the 2008 season went well at Sale Mountain near Revelstoke (except for a few water landings and minor injuries). Wet all month at Woodside except the weekends.
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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