FlyBC "Site of the Day" - May 9/2008
"Great people talk about ideas. Small people talk about other people." - Tobias S. Gibson
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Coaches Corner - I will be at Woodside at noon after running some errands in Chilliwack, then on to Bridal in the afternoon!
Click on Google Earth for Eagle Ranch for our location 30 minutes east of Mission. New Paramotors available from FlyBC - FlyBC Paramotors using Compact Radial Engines built in Surrey BC for superior technical support. New Rhino caged MZ100 will be at the Ranch for demos soon. These new Paramotors can be equipped with gliders from Paratoys, Paraavis, Ozone, APCO, Gin or our newest line - UTURN (UTURN prices from FlyBC are the best anywhere, direct from Europe, with our strong Canadian Buck!). There are a bunch of demo wings to try in the nice fall air: Sky ATIS M, Addict I Medium, Addict II Small, Gin Zoom Race Medium, Ozone Mantra I (Medium & Small), Ozone Mojo 2 (Small and Medium and Large), Gin Boom Sport Medium. New Ozone Ultralite and Geo IIs coming soon as well. FlyBC's Long Range Calendar New students can sign up for beginner courses in 2008 on the dates listed on the FlyBC Training Schedule.  Click here for the 2008 Ozone BST Info . FlyBC's Paragliding School is here for you in 2008 with different training formats and venues. We are looking for committed aviation enthusiasts who want to learn more about flying. More road trips, more clinics and more fun! FlyBC has the most pilots flying after gaining certification and we have the most years of experience in training new pilots. Other schools claim to be bigger but HPAC numbers tell the true story, FlyBC certifies the most HPAC pilots on the West Coast. FlyBC graduating students have gone on to compete in the 2005 Red Bull X-Alps (Benn Kovco) , Canadian and US Paragliding Nationals, winning the 2007 Willi XC Race in Golden (Norm) and are some becoming legends for maximizing airtime and distance. But above all, they enjoy flying! FlyBC is certified with HPAC Senior Instructors/Tandem II Senior Instructors and Advanced USHGA Instructors/Tandem Administrators to serve you better. FlyBC has the only "dedicated flight park" in BC with a classroom, landing zone (LZ) within easy glide of a safe mountain (Woodside) and training hill area for the exclusive use of our students and customers. Our vision for Eagle Ranch is "to create a community centre for fun loving hangglider, paraglider and paramotor pilots (and their families) in the Fraser Valley". Go to FlyBC's Eagle Ranch Page for pictures of the new layout.
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Woodside/Bridal Report - it was definitely flyable at Woodside but no one was out. A group was headed up Bridal after 4 pm, but it looked pretty dark over there and no other radio reports were heard. | Al was at Blanchard this afternoon where I am sure it was great. Al's Blanchard Gloat Report - Al spent a few hours on Blanchard watching the locals sink out until 6 pm, when most everyone went home. At 6 pm, the sun came out and the sky glassed-off and Al launched and was soon at 1200 meters flying as far back as Lake Samish. Apparently the last locals left couldn't find the same lift and were soon on the ground so Al flew until 8 pm, top-landed and drove home.
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Woodside and Fraser Valley Reports - very windy all day, the clouds were zooming by the Webcam and the windsocks were twisting about. | Thomm's Woodside Report - I was out there around 1pm and it was quite gusty on the ground but marginally do-able. No telescope to see what the windsock at launch was doing (binoculars are not quite good enough) Drove up "for the helluvit" and Denis was up there standing in the wind strong enough he did not hear me coming. After a very short observation (about 1 minute) I headed back down as it was blowing like stink with stronger gusts 30+ kms. I tried a bit of kiting out in the “World Famous Eagle Ranch” field and after a few inflations in progressively stronger winds, then getting yanked off the ground in the gusts , I thought about Nicole’s shoulder injury and packed it up.
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Woodside Report - Brad and Martina showed up around 4 pm, hoping for a flight but it loooked windy. We drove up anyway and missed Tom launching his hangglider, but it looked like a short flight as he was already in the HG LZ as his truck was driven down. | We picked up new Dad Justin as he was hiking up the road near 3 kms. He had a nice flight but top-landing was too turbulent so he flew to Joe's. After careful consideration, Brad laid out the Mantra I and launched into a cycle and was soon climbing straight up over launch, strong winds and stronger thermals made it look like a wild ride, and he wasn't even heading out yet. We radioed that we would get him at Harvest but his radio wasn't receiving us so he flew for 30 minutes before heading out to the Ranch. He could only penetrate with full bar, and as he got close to the ground tips were collapsing like "big ears" all the way to the ground where he landed fine. We were glad we didn't fly!
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Bridal Report - Rob and Robin were heading to Bridal around 2 pm, and the skies did clear up later so I am sure they were doing laps to Elk and back. |
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Woodside Report Trees - 2 Pilots - 0. | Two unfortunate pilots flew their gliders into the trees today - no tangles, no collapses, one just turned right off launch and settled into the trees next to launch and was lowered down. The second 2 hours later was turning too close to the hill and snagged a line on a tree top and was also stuck in a tree very high on the mountain near the cliffs north of launch - they had a tree-rope and lowered themselves down and hiked out to launch. Everyone else had a gloatful day with 2 hour plus flights in choppy leeside air. No one got very high, 1200 meters at Agassiz Mountain was the highest I heard. An inversion layer at Woodside capped the climbs to 900 meters. Some interesting sink and wind layers in various places. Even an ATOS VR couldn't break free of Agassiz's grip!  Jim and James forward launching the Magnum Tandem around 5:30 pm, note the inversion layer towards Bridal - photo by CMV Some rodeo action mid-day at the Ranch but the students managed it well, and Rob S even landed in front of the Web Cam to get his landing on video when it was rowdy and had a smooth approach.
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Woodside Report - we waited until 1:30 pm to go up the mountain, as cloudbase lifted enough to see launch. Doug M, Colleen, Scott M (new student out for day 1), and I waited for either cycles or visibility for an hour and then Scott and I went for tandem #1. Not much lift but we managed 13 minutes landing in strong south winds at the Ranch. | Doug flew too while Colleen drove down, un-motivated by our flights. Back up for flight #2 as Thomm and Norm arrived. Again, Scott and I went tandem while Doug volunteered to drive as he was feeling a bit ill from an acro show he put on over the Ranch on Flight #1. Norm and Thomm flew after our tandem and had similar lame conditions . . . but we flew. Nicole and Alex showed up as we packed up and Alex wanted a flight; so it was Norm, Thomm, Alex, Nicole, Scott M, and I back in the Van motivated by a CU over launch but alas it was too late in the day and no "glass-off" occured so we have nice extended sledders into the Ranch. Not a bad day considering we had rain all morning and a mixed forecast. Scott is ready for solo flights as he kited between flights and mastered the forward launches immediately. Tegucigalpa Honduras Report - has been a long time! I haven't had much time to report recently but there has been good flying in the last month or so. I have had an average of two flights each of the last 5 weekends with every flight between two and three hours. I don't think I've ever flown so consistently. Every good flying season I seem to learn more about the cross country potential and the consequences. I have made crosses in several directions and last weekend came the closest ever to my present goal of flying from Yuscaran to Tegucigalpa, landing 10 kms short of Teguc. Here's a couple of recent pics.... Jeffrey. PS tell your friends who are in Costa Rica to get in touch if they have time. email Jeffrey Miller at jmillergoldsmith@hotmail.com  Jeffrey's view of Honduras - photo by JM
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Woodside Report - it looked flyable most of the day, no rain until after 7 pm, a few birds were soaring Woodside during the day but no gliders observed on the Video WebCam. | New Pilots heading to Costa Rica - Jonathon and Matt J wrote their Novice Exams yesterday and scoring the in the low 90's and are officially signed off as HPAC Novice Pilots, congratulations and fly safe in Costa Rica. Send us lots of pics of coastal soaring and jungle flying. Addict II Small for Sale - I ordered the wrong size in, so this small size is available for a great price $3200 total including taxes, will take U-Turn or other gliders on trade. Play Gravity DVD Released and available at FlyBC - Click here for the Trailer Cost is $45 CDN per copy.
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Woodside Report - WOW! | No sun, just big CUs around the are made for pretty easy flying. Climbs to 1300 meters and the "white room". Got down low when the vario batteires konked, but still stayed aloft for another 1:30. Rob made it to the west side of Harrion Bay, while Robin soared Harrison Hill. Only only unhappy "sink "by an unnamed Advance pilot :-) but he made up for it later.
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Blanchard Report - There has been some epic Ebey flying this week while I've been at work. People had as much as 6hrs air time both Tuesday and Wednesday. The RASP forecast seems to be doing a pretty good job with EBEY. | TJ's RASP link At least I got out Wednesday evening to Blanchard, it was fun today, I didn't get there all that early, but I still had a nice half-hour of smooth lift. One kind eagle led me to what seems to have been the thermal of the day that got me to 1800 ft. (Top of Blanchard is 2200) Only two other pilots in the air with me, both of whom had been the air for well over an hour when I arrived. Mark was at launch, having top-landed to keep from freezing - TJ. Woodside Theft Report - if someone hasn't taken the telescope home to clean and align it, it is not officially stolen. Sometime between Monday and Wednesday it went away, oddly nothing else touched?? This telescope has been a helpful fixture at the Ranch since Brent Pascall gave it to us for a house-warming gift in 2001 so it is a bummer to lose it.
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Woodside Report - Woodside looked pretty windy today. The new Video Webcam showed the clouds moving by fairly fast and some rain. No pireps. | New Pilot Reports - Megan finally named her new son Remington Gerard Le Blanc (Remy for short).  New Baby Boy Remy LeBlanc and mom Megan - photo by CMV New Pilot Report #2 - Justin and Julie had their son Finn Fletcher Kuhneman on April 27th. Story to follow about not getting to the hospital on time?  New Baby Boy Finn and mom Julie - photo by Justin
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Monsoon Report - very wet in the Valley all day with heaviest rain after dark. |
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Elk Hike and Fly Report - Kevin reported great soaring conditions with multiple top-landings. Larry was seen out trying out his new Ozone Ultralite 23 which made his hike easier (5 kgs for harness and glider). | Peachland Report - Colleen and Megan had hiked the day before Megan had the baby and they found a new launch site right over the townsite. Landing on the narrow beach or a few vanct lots on the shoreline. It was too cloudy to get decent thermals so I will try it another day. It is a hike-in site but not too far in from then main roads.
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Woodside Report - we were able to fly Woodside by 11 am, despite nasty east wind forecast that never happened.
Some east winds in the valley but nice cycles at launch. Alex R hiked up early with Martin N and they had nice flights with Alex gettting an hour before noon.
| We started flying students Rob C, Jonathon and Matt J at 11:00 am and they had about four flights each with each flight getting progressively longer as I was doing tandems. Martina had a great flight all alone as many headed off to Bridal as the others sunk out. The last flight had us all in the air while I was tandem with Natasha, and I was "duking it out" with Kevin and "the Hammer" on the north towers with no gloves and no flight suit so it got a bit chilly. Natasha said she was getting dizzy after 45 minutes so I took her out to the Ranch to land as the students stayed up. Reports from Malahat Launch from Bruce McG via 146.415 mhz direct showed light cycles, not enough to soar so they were waiting, signals were as clear as if they were at Eagle Ranch, amazing. Reports from Bridal had Alex R over the Butterfly at 1100 meters, others at various spots on the mountain, so the 25 minute hike to launch was worth it! Looks like Bridal is going to be good this season, as usual. New Pilot Report - Our daughter Megan had another little one last night at 3 am in Kelowna. Colleen was up in the trailer all week babysitting Chloe so Mom Megan could get prepared for the yet un-named baby boy LeBlanc. I drove up last night after packing up and will be staying in Kelowna today visiting the kids.  New Baby Boy LeBlanc - photo by CMV
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Woodside Report - a bunch of pilots were up on launch and flew before I arrived at 2:30 pm, and had extended sledders. Martin N did the best floating on his XL ship near the South Knoll, but the rest hit the dirt fast. | I took a load up and we weren't terribly motivated for a sled ride, but as we arrived Ihor launched and went straight up without many turns. The rush was on! I launched pretty soon after Ihor; as did Alex R, Alex W, Kent, Miguel, Gary K and everyone stayed up for over an hour. Skies were cloudy with imbedded CUs and light wind but if you found a core, it could take you high. Alex R was flying a 20 meter semi-acro wing without as much lift as his normal wing so I stayed with him pretty easily (for a change!). We climbed to 1300 meters in several locations. Alex W almost sunk out and grabbed a low save near the last clearcut to regain his flight and did very well after that hitting 1400 meters once. Miguel had to be at the airport to pick up his wife at 8:00 pm, so his top-landing plan came together as he plopped in with enough time to hit the highway by 6:00 pm, congrats on your first top-landing at Woodside (not the easiest place to top-land). Later in the flight the sun came out and the thermals started to die off? Alex W and I stayed aloft at the South Knoll just being patient and it started to kick off again, and we climbed off the Lower Launch switchback thermal and got back to 900 meters before heading out to the Ranch. Nice landing conditions in no wind.  A shot from the FlyBC Web Cam today showing the clear skies later as pilots sunk out - photo by WebCam Alan D was at Bridal and had similar conditions and logged 3:00 landing near 6:30 pm. Thanks to Nataliya for driving my truck down so I could fly! Peachland Baby Report - Colleen called this morning to say Megan and Jamie had their new baby boy at 3:00 am in Kelowna Hospital. No pictures or details yet and they are still fighting over the name.
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Woodside Report - Martin N showed up around 2 pm to see the trees bending over at launch and landing! Forecast was right for velocity and it lasted until 7 pm, when it started raining hard. |
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Woodside Report - I arrived at 3 pm, to find light cycles at launch and NW winds in the Eagle Ranch LZ. Probably leeside again, and no one around to fly with until Jack and Martina showed up to help move some furniture. But we weren't motivated to fly as it looked lame. But it sure wasn't windy or raining as forecasted? |
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Fraser Valley Report - very windy from the NE all day, not even possible to kite due to the wind speed and gusts. | Kirill's HG Trike Report - A windy day to fly! Unless you start early (7am) and fly something that can cruise at 100 kph. Still very cold at White Rock and lots of watery fields as seen from the picture.  Kirill over Delta - photo by KT
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Woodside Report - quite the exciting day in the Valley! | Denis flew from Woodside towards Mission landing near Deroche, and hitched back to Woodside and on his second flight was seen high heading east but no reports of where he landed as of 9 pm. Kevin A reported in at 2000 meters between Woodside and Bridal and ended up landing at Bridal LZ, hitching a ride back to Woodside with Alan who flew Bridal but wasn't very comfortable with the huge climbs and possible imbedded CUs so he was flying conservatively. Al, Miguel and a few others were also flying.
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Woodside Report - we were painting inside when Miguel, Nikolai and Al headed up to launch. Light to tailwind cycles and a huge black CU was growing over the South Knoll. | Norm was heading from Agassiz when he saw Miguel's new Rush "ball up" and he started "tail-siding" for a bit before the wing sorted itself out and started flying. Post flight discussions had Miguel climbing at +9 m/s with -10 m/s associated sink, hence the big collapse - but the Rush II stayed on course despite losing 70% of the flying surface. Al's flight went better and eventually Nikolai got off with a forward launch and was immediately "beamed up" to the black CU's cloudbase where he stayed for an hour plus. When we headed off to Kelowna at 5:00 pm, we overheard reports that he was on the Chilliwack side of the Fraser River near the old sky-diving LZ.  Whistler Speed Flying Report - Just giving you an update from my Speedflying in Whistler. Finally we had a weekend with good visibility and light winds (plus I had a photographer handy). So it was a great chance to get some speedflying in. We had about 15cm of fresh powder and almost no one around in the back country. Had enough energy to hike up for three flights off of Dekker Peak - Stephen F. Stephen SpeedFlying his Nano - photo by James Friesen
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Woodside Report - it was very windy from the NE all day Jon Orders came out to Eagle Ranch with a HG student who was doing hops off the NW side of the Training Hill. Colleen commented that they were learning wire assisted cliff launches for their first lesson! | There was no flying anywhere in the Valley, except a few Cessnas going very slow to the North over Harrison Mills.
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Woodside Report - it looked like winter here yesterday: snow, wind, hail, sunshine at times, then OD'ed into more snow and blizzard conditions. Snow right down to valley levels, with the local loggers having to shut down again. Monday - Wednesday looks like our first break of good weather. |
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Woodside Report - rainy and windy, until around 7:00 pm, the calm before the storm! |
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Woodside Report - it was flyable, but I didn't see anyone when I looked at the new FlyBC Woodside Video Webcam . | It seems the cost of gas and the long drive are keeping the keeners at home during these damp weather days?
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Woodside Report - while I was in Toronto, I was monitoring Woodside Conditions on the
new FlyBC Woodside Video Webcam and NOAA reports and although it looked flyable, it was not the best day to venture out. As I returned around 7:00 pm, cloud tops were at 9000 feet with cloudbase at 6000 feet and not much turbulence so it was probably just ridge lift if anyone flew. | Sun-N-Fun Report - Finally the end of Sun-n-Fun 2008 in ever sunny Florida. A few thousand planes, untralights, powered hanggliders, paragliders and helicopters together with a dozen or so thousands of spectators congregated under the sweltering heat of Lakeland, FL.  Patriotic skyDiver - photo by Kirill Every conceivable shape and form of flying contraption was there as well as supporting infrastructure vendors.  Nice T-Shirt - photo by Kirill Transport Canada was there to answer questions for Canadian pilots and wannabies. Many demo flights and air shows. Very busy but meticulously controlled airspace prevented any accidents.  Air Show Action - photo by Kirill Many big names including Joe Kittinger who holds world's highest parachute jump record of 103,000 ft - Kirill p.s. This guy in a hanggliding amphib trike landed and his retractions mechanism failed him so that the front wheel collapsed. Fortunately he had already bled off all the speed after landing  Oops - photo by Kirill New Live Video Woodside Web Cam featuring 5 fps video action - watch pilots launch and land here. email us your comments as this is a test installation and can be modified. We are up to $120 cost now so donations are appreciated :-)
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Woodside Report - it looked flyable in the afternoon with a few gusts in the Eagle Ranch LZ. |
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Woodside Report - a few showers but I was on a plane to Toronto, so missed all the action - Jim. |
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Woodside Report - Magic Woodside works again!. | We woke up to forecasts of strong east winds aloft switching to strong South winds later. But by 10 am it was launchable at Woodside and it continued to be so until 7 pm. We can now drive right in to the parking lot at launch! Lots of flying action today. Brad called from Elk and he was launching east. Kevin flew Sumas but it wasn't so good there. And many flew Woodside and some even soared a while. Kelly was even out for 4 flights! Duking it out with Martina for the most flights in a day!  Martina and Kelly in an Ozone Ad Picture Moment - photo by Martina New student Blair flew 5 flights before calling it a day. Matt J and Jonathon flew a few flights waiting for Matt S to show up. Rob C flew a few flights too, but not long flights for the students today due to the inversion.
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Woodside Report - it was a harrowing adventure getting out of Vancouver today! Started from Commercial Drive at 1 pm, with a few stops and many slowdowns due to accidents on the freeway. Arrived at the Ranch at 4:00 pm, to see Wiley and Blair waiting to fly, but it was so lame it was barely kiteable. | Eagle Ranch LZ has shrunken today as Eric is plowing the West Field, I assume to plant corn. Should make for some interesting landings in the wind! I would recommend approaching over Duncan's to the east in strong conditions and doing a fast aircraft approach over the fence.
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Woodside Report -
Rob and I did get later day flight in. Waited for a bit for it to stop crossing from the north. Nice big cells to watch but some sun on launch. Good launches and off into strong ridge. Sub 10 km speeds so we stayed out front. Both had a about an hour then we walked back up from your place in an hour 40! Nice peaceful day with no radio talk and just two people out and tons of eagles skittering at us - Alex R |
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Woodside Report - I spent the morning working on a proposal and welcomed the chance to go flying when Norm and Rob C showed up at 1 pm. We hustled up the mountain and Norm was off first and trying to climb north of the cliffs when Rob C launched and headed over there too. | Last thing I saw was Norm down very low and Rob trying to get some lift over the construction site, as I drove down. I assumed they would both be on the ground soon, especially Norm who looked like Joe's was a possibility. As I rounded the Lower Launch curve I saw Rob packing up in Duncan's $20 field. No sign of Norm and he was not on radio. Al had arrived so I told him we were pickig up Rob on the highway, so we headed up in Al's rig. I then saw Norm up high heading to Eagle Ranch, having climbed up and away while Rob sunk fast. We were able to get Al's FJ up to the parking turnaround, but the snow is still 2 feet deep in palces. Saturday's high of 22 degrees should get rid of some of the deeper stuff. Rob and Al launched with interesting results on flight #2 and climbed very fast with interesting turbulence mixed in the ridge lift.  Rob C on his Presta and Al just off launch on his Addict II - photo by JPR After 20 minutes of getting bounced around Rob headed out to the Ranch from very high, and just got into the Eagle Ranch LZ due to the strong south winds. A bit of rodeo on the descent but manageable for both Al and Rob. Rob headed home as Kevin arrived and we loaded up Al's FJ and got to launch around 3:30 pm. Still cycling strong at launch as I launched the Boom Sport and started climbing in ridge lift, followed by Kevin and Al. The plan was for one of us to top-land to drive down, and after an hour Al made it in, and he relaunched. We were getting up to 1100 meters in ridge and thermals despite a cloudy sky with dark CUs. I watched Al top-land again, and I followed him in as did Kevin, so we had 3 drivers and one truck, so we all relaunched again. This time I got high and headed out over the Ranch to check out the winds, arriving over the Ranch at 950 meters and light SE winds. It was so smooth I answered my cell as Colleen was calling to see what I was doing for dinner over the Ranch. I flew back to launch arriving low (oddly I climbed all the way out to the Ranch but lost it all on the downwind), but climbed back to launch in a thermal off Lower Launch and attempted a few approaches before Al top-landed for the last time. Kevin and I headed out to the Eagle Ranch LZ assured that it was smooth, rather than doing the Harvest Market run. I landed after Kevin with 1:48 total time on the vario in two flights and it was still working at launch as Eagles were still soaring. Back to work Thursday and Friday, but Saturday is looking good - Jim
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Woodside Report - no one came out to fly, but it was clear most of the afternoon. Gusty until around 4 pm, then cycles at launch and in the Eagle Ranch LZ calmed down nicely. |
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Woodside Report - when I arrived at the Ranch around 2:00 pm, it was very gusty but clear with developing CUs over launch. In an hour it had calmed down and cycles at launch looked good, but alas no one came out because of the hideous forecast. |
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Woodside Report - we had a monsoon come through in the morning, but around 2:00 pm Norm came by and we headed up Woodside Mountain: Colleen, Norm and I. | There was a bit of sun, and the sky looked "industrial strength", with CUs popping. I launched and spent 15 minutes grovelling in the clear cuts, before heading out low to the Ranch landing out of an aircraft approach at the training hill in nice east winds. Colleen flew after a tandem had sunk out pretty fast into Harvest West, and got about 15-20 minutes in the air landing in no wind at the Ranch.  Colleen over the Maple Tree at Duncan's Ranch, Norm is visible left of the large poplar on the left if you zoom in (down low) - photo by JPR Norm had a pretty uneventful flight too 15-20 minutes of scratching, but we all flew!. As we drove up to retrieve, it started raining so it was a short 2 hour window of fun between showers. On the way into Vancouver later we drove through some of the heaviest rain I can remember, wipers going full speed and still hard to see! The week looks like a "wash-out" for flying based on the forecasts.
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Woodside Report - WOW!! Despite getting here late and leaving early, Jonathon logged 5 flights testing his new Ozone wing out (keep kiting, your launches were great). From morning sledders to thermalling in a light thermal off the construction site back to launch altitude, he did it all. One landing at Bill Best's for fun, the rest into Eagle Ranch. | A few others were out too: Al (with the wildest top-landing Norm has ever seen at Woodside), Zdenek (also top-landed after an hour), Gerry L, Gary K (thermalled for his first flight in many months), Justin, Norm, and Rob C who showed up very late but got two student flights in light air. It was flyable most of the day, one or two drips of rain mid-day did not stop any flying. Very dark at Bridal all day.
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Woodside Report - it was raining most of the day and later around 5 pm, it opened up and launch was clear, but I had recommended to everyone to stay home, so no pilots were out yesterday. It is getting dark around 8 pm now so flights can go on much later if you can get away. |
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Woodside Report - Richard T, Kevin, Daryl and Tom (HGer) were heading to Woodside. It may not have been as good as yesterday, but no reports came in yet. | Bella Coola Report - Derek, Martina, Jack and their German friends have been terrorizing Bella Coola for the past week: sledding, paragliding, rescuing a crashed paraglider pilot who lives in Bella Colla (self-taught), and partying every night. Yesterday they were flying off a 300 meter ridge and the lift was so strong Derek had to "big-ear" back down to top-land to tell Martina it was too strong to fly! The ridge was all snow with only a few trees sticking out so they must have had "tree thermals" kicking off. We used to get that paragliding at Whistler in the dead of winter and little sun.
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Woodside Report - a late start for my day at the Ranch but we were on the hill and launching by 2:30 pm. | Flying the Boom Sport today (my favourite climbing wing), I caught a thermal to the north of launch and was "beamed to" 1200 meters in a few turns while Stefan, Kevin and Richard were getting ready. Stefan tried for 20 minutes to catch me but to no avail (I guess the thermal died after i topped out). At one point Norm was high over Harrison River and I was thinking we could have stayed there and thermalled up to Hemlock Resort from there. Good thing we didn't as Hemlock is now closed for the season! Norm, Rob S and a few others were in the air but only Norm hung in til 5:45 pm. Pretty long flight for a guy who starts work at 3 pm?? We were all getting turns at the top of the stack, and it was rough at 1400 meters. The thermals tracked back to almost Agassiz Mountain but only Al and Nikolai flew that way getting flushed at Bear eventually. Alan D was flying Bridal and also hit 1400 meters just below Upper Launch height. One by one trucks were being retrieved as Ihor and Ian J got a ride up with Mark F and they got Ihor and Rob's truck down. Somehow Al got back to his vehicle before I top-landed and I never even saw him leave. Top landing today was no easy task, winds gusty from 20-30 kph and very lifty near launch. I had it a few times and the thermals cracked off and took me back to 900 meters before I could spiral back down for another try. Ultimately the low approach over the clearcut below launch lifted me on to the slope smoothly, but it is a bit weird facing the south slope of launch, wing below launch as you approach and the lift gently rises you onto launch, or dumps you in the snow bank as has happened to a few lately. My flight was 1:30, lift +5.5 m/s, sink -4.5 m/s, Altitude 1400 meters. I packed up and drove down for chores as Kevin and Richard flew out to the Ranch landing in steady south winds, softly at 6:00 pm.
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Woodside Report - arriving at 1 pm, I saw a truckload heading up and Denis, Nickolai and Miguel already in the air soaring nicely. | I went up with Ihor and we were in the launch queue waiting as the other got off. Norm drove down rather than miss work as it was getting late and he knew he would hate to have to fly thought lift to land in time. I flew Jonathon's new Vulcan and it was very nice, climbing until I froze. Not likely to get as high and Robin and Nicole who were getting up to 1400 meters at times. I stayed below 1100 meters to maintain some body temperature as I forgot my balaclava. After 40 minutes I top-landed and drove down to get my tandem passenger who was coming up later. Super smooth top-landing conditions with 25 kph winds and no ripping thermals so you could park over launch and parachute in with style. Climbs were +4 m/s, sink -3.9 m/s on the first flight. Rick and I went back up with balaclavas and full flight suits and launched into some sweet soaring conditions with Kevin who was climbing to 1100 meters right away on his M2. We soared around getting high and I gave Rick the controls and he flew all over Woodside and out over the Valley at 900 meters. We observed Ihor landing and also Nicole, who seemed to have a good approach and touchdown and then flew back to the mountain for more soaring until Rick said he was feeling a bit dizzy. Calculating the time it would take to get down to the Ranch vs. top-landing, I asked if he minded a top-landing. He was game so we "big-ear'ed" down to launch height, made two passes and just like before we parked over the snowy launch and touched down smoothly and packed up to drive down the Van and Kevin's rig. Unfortunately, Nickolai's truck was still on launch and he was at the bottom of Ludwig, Denis was still in the air on the Bridal side and Miguel flew to Harvest so retrieves were going to be tough. Al's truck was also at launch as he had flown to Harrison Beach, but he got a ride from a tourist to the top! We arrived to the Ranch, we found out Nicole had fallen over on her side after touching down and had hurt her shoulder. Ihor helped her pack up and she was in a great deal of pain so he called an ambulance instead of driving her to chilliwack, but the ambulance took an hour to get to the Ranch. I went to the hospital after finishing up chores and picked her up at ChilliwacK General and drove her to vancouver. 1-2 weeks of recuperation ordered by the Doc before she can do any arm-lifting or flaring. Thanks to Ihor for being "on-scene commander". Last thing we heard was Denis was over Elk at 1500 meters, Denis's Flight Log
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Woodside Report - the day looked pretty good from Vancouver as I drove out to Chilliwack, Al and Martin were headed up to Launch but it started snowing in Chilliwack so I stayed working there until 5:00 pm when I met Doug M to deliver his new Addict II, which he was able to fly off before dark but all the thermals were gone by then. | |
FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day Reports
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.
Augusr 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.