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FlyBC "Site of the Day" - July 30/2010
Woodside
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Coaches Corner for July 30/2010 - I will be flying students at Woodside July 30th at 10:30 am. But what will I fly? R09 is in Golden, and Sigma is sold. Perhaps the Keara? The Ozone Delta S & M & L are now available for ordering! Scroll down for a YouTube moment on the Delta. Thermik Magazine Delta Test Flights Ozone Delta from Franz Altmann on Vimeo. The Gin Sprint S & XS now here for test flights too for a week or so. Also, the small demo Ozone Rush II is here for a few weeks for testing. There is a new shipment of Flytec 6015 Integrated Vario/GPS in stock now too for $649 PLUS HST. FlyBC's Paragliding School is here for you in 2010 with different training formats and venues. We are looking for committed aviation enthusiasts who want to learn about flying paragliders and paramotors. More road trips, more clinics and more fun! We sell and dispense ADRENALINE here at FlyBC. The best "over-the-counter cure" for weekday/workday boredom. New paragliding/paramotoring students can sign up for FlyBC Courses in 2010 on the dates listed on the FlyBC Long Range Calendar , or can create a customized course during the weekday to fit their schedules as we are a full-time operation. We are also selling and servicing all the biggest brands of paragliders: Ozone Paragliders, MAC Para Gliders (new in 2010) Airwave Gliders (new in 2010), Advance Gliders, APCO Paragliders, NOVA Paragliders, Paratoys Blackhawk Paramotors, GIN & Advance . . . and we can source anything for our clients. Don't be "mis-led" by other paragliding schools that claim to train in Vancouver, as you may get some bunny-hops down a training hill but the real flying happens in the Fraser Valley where we are centrally located (the most reliable sites are located here). FlyBC has the only "dedicated flight park" in BC with a classroom, training hill area, landing zone (LZ) within easy glide off a safe Novice launch (Woodside) 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, ultralight pilots and paramotor pilots (and their families) in the Fraser Valley". Go to FlyBC's Eagle Ranch Page for pictures of our fabulous facility. FlyBC has the most pilots still 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 and graduates the most HPAC paraglider 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 Lawlor) and the 2008 & 2009 Willi XC Race in Golden (Robin Sather) and 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 USHPA Instructors/Tandem Administrators to serve you better.
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Woodside Report - Woodside was good most of the day with 4 student rounds with some mild turbulence mid-day to help the students understand pitch control. Very inverted at 750 meters with Vancouver smog trapped underneath that layer made for ratty thermals. | Golden Nats Report - one racer in the trees just as the task was called off due to strong south winds. He required a heli-rescue and visit to the hospital with suspected back injury. Welcome to Golden!
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Woodside Report - Bev reports that she likes the Mojo2 after her maiden voyage: launches easily, flies smooth, lands fine. | Martin N was flying Bridal and reported 2 hours hiking and 2 hours "bobbing the knob" and Alan's Ridge at 2500 feet. An un-named pilot was seen having a trashy landing that ended up with a wing in the trees in the swamp, but no glider damage (just ego damage).
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Woodside Report - Joe C and Brock were out training today and bagged 3 technical flights. Technical meaning windy at times with big sink! | They did well as did the Aussies, who flew and landed at Riverside or east towards Agassiz. We headed to Bridal but the winds didn't inspire me, so back to Woodside after a 2 hour kiting marathon with 10 plus gliders in the driving range. Bridal Report - Lower Bridal: I won the day with a 22 km out and return to Elk. Max height 1551 meters, +2.8m/s to -2.7m/s, and flight time 1:44. The air was about the same feeling as yesterday, with a little less lift and a little more wind. The Aussies flew. Martin, Karen, and Josef also flew. Jim had students who it was too windy for, so couldn't fly. Barry the wounded Aussie drove my truck down for the second time. Thanks! - Rob S
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Road Report - I took the Fraser Canyon route when I stopped in Kamloops for propane and it was 34C at 11 am! It was windy all the way to Hope, and I heard Alan in the air at Bridal saying it was okay but hard to climb above 1100 meters. | Derek & Martina were flying there too and reported 1 hour plus flights. 
Jim paddling the rescue boat in inverted after swamping it, para-gear is floating behind the boat, Jeff is hidden behind the boat - photo by Dale Thanks to everyone who attended the 2010 FlyBC SIV Course this year, I am sure you are going to feel more confident when the "sh*t hits the fan". Charles bags a speed record on an Ozone glider!
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Revy Report - Cheryl and Dave had two flights today at Mt. Mackenzie. Both landed safely at the RC field. I drove Chris's truck down after feeding the horseflies at launch. Long nap required after 10 days of SIV guiding! | Vernon Report - I'm stoked on the Sigma! Wasn't able to get high in Lumby, light lift, one flight from Vernon Mtn. where I got a good climb off launch, then sunk out, but Norm didn't make it out either, then a 45 minute scratcher off King Eddy, not much climb, but really fun working near launch and the trees, stayed up longer than the other few pilots there that evening. The music at Randy's was really good too. Today had a great flight off Little Dome in Kamloops, 1:49, 2350m, came down by choice as I had to meet Meghan and some of her friends for dinner. Was up in the nice cool air listening to Bill on the radio walking down the highway in 34 degrees. I feel as comfortable on that glider as on the Mojo, and it stays overhead easier because it does what I want it to do. (though post SIV confidence may help too) All three flights were longer/farther than Bill's too, ha ha, about time he had to retrieve the truck. Thanks again to you and Colleen for everything, I had a great time and am very happy with the glider trade. See you soon - Eric
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Revy SIV Report - we had a full Van with 10 pilots in it today. Annette & John were mastering spins and asymmetrics. | 
Jim off launch on the Sigma 6 (which is now headed to Horsefly with Eric G) - photo by CMV We did 3 rounds and were finished at 8:45 pm. Another 18000 feet in the log books. Joe C arrived for the last flight and had a nice glassoff flight for his first Revy Adventure before heading back to Surrey. Chelan PWC Report - The PWC Comp is over and Results here after a smaller Out & Return task.
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Revy Report - good turnout for our remaining days of the FlyBC 2010 SIV Tour. We had seven SIVers and 5 free-fliers all landing at the RC Field. Annette was amazing us with her command of B-stalls and Big-Ears landings. | Dave S and Chris D were flying and Dave S top-landed near the top tram to save the retrieve. He was flying our Mantra I loaner wing as his Nova Carbon is now grounded after several dicey launches! Good communications with the local aviation community is a must here and I was acting as Ground Controller for the PGers radioing locations as aircraft flew into Revelstoke. To fly here a PGer must have an airband radio and communication on 122.8 MHZ. Chelan PWC Report - New Results here after a huge Out & Return task.
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Revy Rain Report - we woke to light rain and it quickly became heavy rain, so off to town to shop and go swimming. Many new faces arrived: Jason & Crystal, Wiley, Tom C, and a bunch more staying on for a few more days. Weather looks good for balance of week. | Willi 2010 Report - Normando and Hammer are doing well! Chelan PWC Report - Old Results here after a huge task, and today got blown out so no task called.
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Revy SIV Report - we had a nice group of 4 pilots and managed 3 super SIV flights and the forecasted thunderstorms didn't happen so we were done by 5:30 pm. | Bill G has got his SATs very dialed in now on his Sky Atis, and Eric was looking good on his borrowed Sigma 6. North Vancouver Report - an unamed PG pilot landed on a roof in North Van! Chelan PWC Report - Results here after a huge task.
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Revy SIV Report - 8 pilots and lots of Maneuvers and no one in the drink, big cloudsuck for flight #2 got pilots over the River at 7000 feet.
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Revy Report - we flew early to avoid the impending thunderstorms, and had a good SIV round before lunch. | At lunch we had a few showers near Hwy 1, and a group of Golden fliers were back on top waiting for conditions to improve. South winds picked up for the second round but everyone stayed dry. Revy is the best SIV location with over 6000 feet of vertical per flight vs 2000 feet at most other sites. 1 Revy SIV flight = 3 Mara SIV flights. And the landing field is perfect too. But don't forget your airband radio to contact revelstoke inbound traffic. Chelan PWC Report - Results here.
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Revy Report - we had the best SIV Rounds today with about 10 SIVers finishing up their course before leaving for work. | Ryan was up to full stalls and SATs today and took some great GoPro footage. 
Ryan full stalling his Geo II - photo by Ryan Some excitement over the peak when new student Matt took a big deflation and went into what looked like a 3 turn helicopter spin, which I noticed from the lakeshore. I was not sure who it was so I yelled "hands up" on both channels and he recovered quickly. He flew out for a few maneuvers and a nice landing. Bill G tried his first loop and it didn't quite work out as he plummeted by his lines and had a "balled up mess" but he worked it out and landed safely by stalling out of it! Chelan PWC Report - Results here. Nicole was first woman in goal today (96kms)! Amir apparently bought a new R10.3? according to Nicole's blog after having to cut away the wing under reserve. 70 other pilots made goal including one flying my R09 which is on loan til his R10.2 gets there.
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Revy SIV Report - we had an awesome day with 3 - 6000 feet+ SIV runs. Zero wind in the LZ all day and aloft. | 12 pilots were doing SIV and only Jeff M got wet when a full stall went funky and he landed in the lake tailsliding. I raced out in the boat to get him and forgot the weight limit of the boat as we loaded his very heavy gear in as well as him, and we headed to shore. A few minutes later the bow porpoised under and we were under water! It is unsinkable with floatation tanks, and I got the outboard stopped before we "deep-sixed", so I had to paddle the boat into shore inverted. We left the gear afloat. I drained the boat and retrieved all the gear and the motor restarted again, so we were good to go. The SIVers that were still in the air were getting higher and Richard T reported a "mini-SIV" over the peak when his Geo II blew out! He was probably still rattled by the Grizzly Bear encounter on the meadow when he hiked up solo to launch and a yearling Grizzly started coming towards him to see what he tasted like. Fortunately the others saw the bear and ran up the meadow scaring the bear into the brush. Once the boat was operational we resumed the 2nd set of maneuvers and we were done flying by 7:30 pm. Revy XC Report - Alan P was flying with Dave E and they were reporting getting to 3200 meters over Mackenzie and Cartier Peaks. Alan flew north to Martha Creek and Dave ended up in some bush country requiring a 2 hour hike out. Arik C flew into town and was soaring lower Mackenzie after launching at Mara Skyline Launch! Doug N was nearby landing just west of Revelstoke near Great White North Restaurant. Nice flights guys! Louises's Revy Report - Hey hey: After leaving the Island on Thursday afternoon and making Kamloops later that evening, it put me in perfect position to have an early start on Friday for Revelstoke. Upon arrival at the Williamson Lake Campsite, I found the FlyBC crew getting ready to start off the summer SIV sessions. Students and gear were getting matched up, kits were prepped and life jackets tried on for size. After a short while we set off for Mackenzie Mtn. Chris and Dave showed up and provided additional transport to ease the load on the van. Good thing, as the road to launch was still partially covered in snow and required the use of four wheel drive, a few ambitious volunteers with shovels, some extra rocks to fill in for road sloughing and a determined driver. Once on launch, some of the clinic participants flew off and set off for the river. Maneuvers followed shortly after. A bit of work from Chris and Mark to re-hang some windsocks. Can’t believe how much that tree put up with. 
Hoisting the new sock at 2100 meters - photo by LKB I launched and managed to work the ridge lift in from of the Mackenzie face until the sky opened up a bit and I was able to start feeling some lift, first from thermals and then from the clouds above. After some work I was rewarded with the amazing views of the Purcell Range. Great flight, though I could have used a tad less wind – and some company… aside from the SIV participants, who had another focus on their mind, no one else launched. 
Self portrait at 2800 meters - photo by LKB A few wind scattered thermals and an hour later, I headed off towards the RC LZ for a landing. With 7000 feet plus still showing on my vario, it left some room to play. Only wish it wasn’t as windy up high. Fun times, followed by lunch (at four pm) guess we forgot what time it was. Time to part ways for a bit, as I hit the road once again, this time for Golden and the Willi XC - Cheers, Louise
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Revy Report - we only got one sets of SIV flights off as it was very unstable and windy from the NW. Louise bagged an hour getting cloud-sucked at 9000 feet. Phil & James could do maneuvers over the lake all day long as they were getting cloud suck over the lake? | Chelan Report - Chelan "rocked the house" this week at the US Nats! 2500-4000m bases, up to 7m/s steady and persistent climbs, usually 100km per day, even a 105km triangle. And now the PWC starts this Sunday. This is too much fun to be legal. We had some rough air, reserve tosses, and crashes. I didn't have a single collapse all week and I was flying 2/3 bar all day on my Ozone R10.2! - Brett H. Chelan from Brett Hazlett on Vimeo.
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Revy Road Trip - we had a late start but got on the road by 1:30 pm, and it was blowing hard east of Bridal by then. No pireps over the radio, so I assume pilots were not yet at Bridal. |
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Benny Report - after being up St Benedict a few times to help with road work and launch building, I decided today was the day to fly it. | I called Al to see if he was in, and he said "I am too busy, too much to do, work is piling up, etc. . . . . when do you want to meet!". We met at the parking lot at 1:15 pm, and we were off and racing up the mountain. The road is getting packed down by rain and ATVers and is getting smoother, relatively. The grass seed FlyBC donated is now well established and a new crop of Fall Rye is growing on the trail and launch so we don't need tarps anymore. 
Nice CUs above St Benedict at 1:30 pm - photo by JPR A chopper buzzed by at launch height as we were getting ready. Perfect launch cycles on top, as I laid out the Advance Sigma 6 (on our used page), for a test flight after changing the brake lines. Perfect inflation and I was off to the house thermal to the NW. Good climbs to 1300 meters above the inversion where it got colder. Al reported getting to 1500 meters further back. 
Traffic flying by, the LZ I landed in is the brown field far in the distance directly below the chopper - photo by JPR I stayed in the thermals near launch waiting for Al to show me the way, and was staying between 1100 - 1300 meters. I tried the ridge that the road is on and got some good climbs there, but the sky was "blue-ing up" as the CUs disappeared? I headed over the gap south and was now at 900 meters scratching, but found a good thermal over the slide area that took me back to 1300 meters. There was a strong south flow and the thermals were tough to track unless they were really strong. The Sigma 6 handled the turbulence well, but I was wishing for R09 speed to head south. 
Mt Baker in the distance from 1300 meters south of Benny - photo by JPR There are a number of east-west spines to cross heading south, each with its own set of challenges (rotor) in south wind. I was trying to stay close to the mountain on my left but with enough clearance to avoid the rotor and was bobbing along at 900-1000 meters with little forward speed. As I approached Dewdeny Mountain, I could see why everyone had experienced down air and turbulence in previous flights, as the air spills over the top and into the Sylvester Valley. I was feeling it already and I was at 800 meters and seeing the gustlines on Hatzic Lake, yikes! I had picked an LZ and was upwind of it for safety and pushing forward into the lee hoping for a good climbout. Of course a good climbout takes you right into the rotor! I opted to head to the safe LZ rather than pushing forward any further. Al was following me and saw the slow progress and flew back towards launch to try to top-land, that didn't work as it was to lifty, so he headed to the Dyke LZ where he said it was turbulent there due to the south flows. 
Big LZ by Sylvester Road, near Durieu School - photo by JPR I had to hike to the Mog, as no one would pick me up hitchhiking. Too old and crusty I guess? I drove back to get Al and we retrieved the FJ and headed home. Nice site, and thanks to the vision of Rob S, Nicole and Alex R who flew it many years ago and the hard work by Al T getting the road permits and the machines we now have a workable site. Thanks folks! Bridal Gloat Report - I had a pretty good day at Bridal yesterday. I hiked up with Allan in the morning, 1h and 15 min. Allan launched first and broke through the inversion quickly, I took longer but being patient paid off. It was windy at altitude. Allan made it to Butterfly and back but my skills weren't there yet for the conditions. I would have likely landed-out somewhere in gusty winds, my car was at the Bridal LZ so that's where I wanted to end up. After my first return from Elk, I made an attempt at heading east but only made it as far as the west side of Cheam before deciding to turn back. I than had a low save at Bridal and went to Elk, a second time. When I came back, pilots stuck at launch due to gusty conditions started flying. I was glad to see gliders in the air again, it was lonely at times. When I landed after sunset, I nearly flooded the LZ ;))))) had to take a long one. (air time - 7h) Tom Chromy Black Moutain Fly-In Announced - August 13-15 at Black Mountain WA, to fund WA site development. 
Black Mountain Fly In 2010 - photo by JPR
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Bridal Report - Derek reported gliders soaring the Knob at Bridal around 5 pm. | I was doing chores at the Ranch getting ready for the SIV Clinic this weekend. Sun came out at Woodside but cycles looked lame so I kept working. Pemby Report - Martina and Veronica had a "girl's day out" in Pemberton and bagged some extended sledders, too shady I guess? Some local girl was top-landing however. Chelan XC Open Results after 3 tasks - Ozone Team Member Brit Russ Ogden is in 1st place on an Ozone mantra R10.2 . Claudio Mota is out after a turblence induced collapse near landing at Hwy 174, doing well according to reports on Facebook and other sites and should be homeward bound in a few days. Results here
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Monsoon Report - it was pretty dismal and grey in the Valley today as a storm rolled through. Vancouver had high wind warnings too. Needless to say no one flew a paraglider or hangglider around here. | Revelstoke is looking good for this weekend as many have confirmed their reservations to SIV & free-fly!
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Woodside Report - we flew two early flights and stopped around 1145 so Andrew could watch the "footie match" at the Sasquatch. Later it was blown out for PGs and the HGs and eagles were parked for most of the afternoon. Some folks were parked over Bridal on PGs at the same time. Good kiting conditions with about 7 gliders out at the Eagle Ranch LZ.
| Later it calmed down but everyone went home by then. Pemby Report - Miguel B sent these stunning shots! Taken on Saturday July 10, 2010. 
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Woodside Report - we started out early with Brett, Andrew and Brock and we planned a Bill Best landing, but when Brett flew out it looked like sink would ruin that plan so off to the Ranch for flight #1. | Flight #2 was to Bill Best's and there was plenty of lift that way including lots of turbulence at tree tops there but Brett and Brock did a good job of controlling their wings. Andrew flew to the Ranch. Flight's 3 & 4 happened much later as I flew a tandem mid-day and found the air a bit strong for students. I overhead Nicole gloating on Upper Bridal as Alex R was looking for lift to get up there. Late evening was great and we flew til 8:30 pm - Jim Hedley Report - Last night Rudy dropped by at Hedley. He knew of a launch just above where the RV place is. We drove up the 20 min road and looked out over the valley. It was beautiful but very windy. In the morning I drove up with my family around 11 am. The winds at the LZ were around 5 K gusting to 10k coming from the west. So at the top the winds were still 5 k but gusting to maybe 20k. It seemed fine with good lulls in between the cycles. As I launched I climbed straight up and fast. The launch is a huge open meadow and the thermals were strong. The winds now came in around 15-20km from the west. I was not moving at all forward so I had to crab to the east toward Hedley . 
Jason just before the SH*T hit the fan! - photo by Rudy It was PUNCHY! Suddenly I got a huge collapse! My right side completely folded in. My mind ran through what you taught us and the videos I saw. I leaned on my left and went hands up! I looked up and still the wind was half folded in. Then boom, it opened up and I flew right out of there! I was trying to find a new LZ that would not be in the mountains rotor and close enough to the highway that I can be picked up. I found a huge field and landed with many cars stopping along the highway to watch. This LZ’s winds where coming in around 20-25 Km from the west. I basically sat in the air not moving back or forward and came down into the field. I landed fine but was dragged a bit before I could pull the wing down - Jason Chelan Report - Well its the end of the world . . . the riding of the 7 horseman. 
The lineup to the "Meatgrinder" in Chelan WA - photo by Mike This shot was sent to me by a fellow hang/para "Mike".... Its a shot of the Butte and the lineup for takeoff on the first practice day. I call it "line up for the meat grinder!" They got served up a real baby butt smooth introduction to the place, with high clouds stopping the real dynamic air from perking up the entertainment (even so, apparently somebody wadded "between the rocks" and was ok but hauled off by the paramedics). We were on a maintenance day and the air was not going to be great for big triangles... even so, Randy was itching to tow, so I towed him up at L-Road for a Milk run to Billy Burgers and on the way by Almira saw about 30 hyperventilating testosterone driven aerobatic comp pilots throwing down into a postage stamp field beside the highway (100km down wind task?). What I found hilarious was the fact they chose a postage stamp to land in even with a grassy airstrip sitting nicely on the north side of town? After picking up Randy and doing the shakes and a Burger at Billy, we saw the PWC have a FULL size school buss doing retrieves ! (along with the usual fleet of mini vans). Guess FlyBC is going to need to step up the seat count to compete! After a quick swim at Summer falls we headed home and spotted one of the retrieval vans wandering out into the no mans land of Saint Andrews (the patron saint of sink) ..... I'm sure somebody thought they were landing next to civilization? Today I think the circus starts in earnest . . . . With a -3 index at 10,000 feet, we will see if some of those two liners are up to the real air? - Martin
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Woodside Report - the students flew Woodside early and then at 1:00 pm, we headed back up for Gary K, Dave E and Phil I to test the air for us and we decided that is was way too strong as they got tossed around in the LZ and the air. | We headed to Bridal and watched Alan and a few others land, and decided kiting was a smarter idea. Good session with Trevor, Brad and Andrew looking good reverse kiting. We headed back to Woodside at 6 pm, and I flew the Rush II S to test the air and despite strong cycles it was barely soarable and huge sink behind the construction zone. Hedley Report - Flew Hedley today. There was great lift and nice cycles! Had a great time! Come out if you like..... - Jason Belated Bridal Report - I had another good day at Bridal on Thursday - 38k. I finally managed to overfly Archiebald. Just about made Ludwig before the wheels came off. I tried hard to make it back to the Bridal LZ but landed short at Terasen Gas, to be greeted by 50 very curious cows. I had time to disconnect and bunch up my glider before they arrived. I ran with it leaving my harness, helmet and cockpit in the field. When I finally came back, there was slobber all over my stuff. No damage though. the entire time I had the "Cows with Guns" tune running through my head! It was like a bad you tube video - Tom Chromy
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Woodside Report - another late start due to outflow winds so more kiting at the Rec Centre and then up the mountain at noon. | Good turnout with Joe C, Trevor, Brad P, Brett, and brand new paramotor student Andrew all raring to fly. Pretty diverse crowd with some with 3 flights to Brett with 18 flights, so it was good to see the progress today. We managed three flights despite the brutal heat, and everyone did really well with a small bit of encouragement to get some running. Andrew bagged his first solo with a flawless forward launch at the end of the day and perfect landing approach and touchdown. Big grin there! We also had a couple of tandems arrive at 2 pm, so it was pretty busy! Kamloops Gloat Report - Flying has been good here for the last week. James Chen was here last week end from your neck of the woods and made 2000 meters and we are having many 1 hour plus flights. Today there was Dave Wagner his fellow hang glider pilot (name unkown) and Derek B, Terry B, Harold, Pavol, Tim, Les. Not sure if anyone else flew. Some PG'ers hit 2500 meters and the HG'ers hitting 2800. Great air and fun flying. I got a call from Harold at 8 pm saying Pavol, Tim and him all top landed at about 7pm at Little Dome Sweet!. Derek on his second flight crossed the valley and landed near his home. It was a good day to get high - Terry B Pemby Gloat Report - Went up to Pemby last 2 days w/Greg and Veronica. Very good conditions both days, light winds aloft and in the valley. 80km out and returns on both days up to 3700m. Sweet. Plus good swimming and camping. Folks flying all over, Mike S did an O&R to the Hurley from Rainbow. Scott F was up the Duffey today too. Thought it might get stable but it rocked! - Alex
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Woodside Report - we started a bit late at 11 am, and it was outflow on top (and nasty gusts) until 3:30 pm, so we went to Agassiz Rec Centre to kite for 2 hours. Super strong kiting from the NW until 4 pm
New student Trevor and Brett were out kiting and they looked really good kiting, but it was hot! The breeze made it bearable.
| We got a call from a Hangie on top of Woodside that it was coming in now! We headed straight up and one HG was already landed and the other one was circling around Harrison Mills and it looked smooth. Brett launched first and hit a few bumps but was soon on course for the Ranch. He reported good landing conditions and it was Trevor's turn for his first solo! He had a beautiful launch and was soon climbing 100 meters above launch. The air was smooth and lifty, all the way out and he had time to practice lots of turns before he landed perfectly. I raced down and grabbed them both and we headed back up. Ian J radioed from Bridal that it was light east on launch but cycles were coming in. Brett launched first again and his new vario started "chirping" and he was following the cores nicely and he was soon above launch. Trevor launched perfectly again and was also climbing with Brett. Trevor fell out and I headed him to the Ranch for a perfect landing in the circle! Ian J was now at the Ranch?? Shortest Bridal flight ever for him I guess, so he came up with Trevor and I to soar with his buddy Brett. Brett was starting to lose it after an hour but it was 6 pm now. Ian was now above launch and Brett was working hard too, as Trevor launched perfectly again and headed out to do his approach. This landing less than perfect and he landed cross wind but a good day for his first solo sessions after rainy tandems a week ago. Later reports from Bridal indicated leeside rotor in the bowl and Alan's ridge, but Martin N made it to Gloria. Solar plane flies for 24 hours!
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Woodside Report - Steve D flew his new Ozone Buzz Z3 off Woodside today hitting only a few bumps into the Ranch. | Horsefly Report - Stable at Horsefly...everyone launched within 30 minutes around noontime, flew around to Sasquatch, and promptly scratched around without really getting up. Eventually all landed: Al at the golf course, Kevin at Kilby, and Alex and Robin at Eagle Ranch. Derek and I both drove down; Derek didn't like the launch conditions and I'm still grounded due to illness - Nicole St Benny Report -Then at Mt. St. Benedict it was much better. Kevin, Al, Alex, and Robin all launched and got to 1700m+ (Al got to 2000m+ by flying the back route). They cut the Dewdney corner and came out to the Fraser Valley at Big Nick and hit the stability there, and landed between Deroche and Woodside (Al made it to Riverside). It was a good call to try this site when it's stable in the Fraser Valley! The grass we planted a few weeks back is in full green mode now! - Nicole Bridal Report - I had a 21st Birthday tandem with Shannon from Rosedale today and we took off an hour later than planned when we watched Alan scratching on the Knob. We had an awesme takeoff with Shannon screaming with glee! We spent 15 minutes on the Knob too before catching a good climb on Alan's ridge where we climbed to Saddle height and we were now in the air for 45 minutes when Shannon said she wasn't feeling too good. Stop turning and let her fly for a bit to calm her down. We were still climbing all the way out to the LZ where the entire family was filming the landing, we better make it look good! We did, as she landed on her feet running nicely. During our flight Martina launched Gary P and he had a great flight landing himself for the first time at Bridal while we watched from Alan's ridge. Gary and I headed to the Ranch for a few more flights when I noticed my cell was misplaced?? I heard it ring in the air over Bridal but couldn't find it after we landed. It must be somewhere in the LZ, so we headed back with the Suzuki and looked for a bit, and then went back up for another flight for Gary. This time he stayed up for over an hour allowing me to be in the LZ to ensure he landed okay. He was the 3rd last to land tonight!
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Woodside Report - It was just Richard, John and I at the Ranch until later and we headed up to launch around 11:30 am, just as the ceiling lifted enough to see launch. | This was the last of 5 consecutive days for Richard's Intermediate Course and he flew 12 flights and a tandem during the 5 days. Including one super flight at Bridal on Sunday before the rains. Today we did 3 flights, including one thermalling flight where it was just Richard and Rob S way above launch, before a sink cycle hauled Richard towards Eagle Ranch. Rob S went on to complete a valley crossing from Woodside - Green Hill - Butterfly - Elk - Harvest Market on a borrowed Aspen 3 DHV-2 wing! Others landed at Esso, Ruby Creek. Alex R and Ryan L were exploring Bridal doing out & returns in +3 m/s lift. Alan D and I were discussing the 2 recent incidents: Jonathon's big collapse near the goal post trees & Wally's spin into the trees, when Alan said these things usally happen in 3's. Then I remembered Heiko's spin into the corn field 10 days ago, so I guess we have had our string of bad luck (or bad flying?). Let's fly safe for the rest of the season!
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BFAR Report - thanks to all the volunteers that organized BFAR and managed the event! Nicole had no voice by mid-day Sunday due in part to all the radio chatter and tandem organizing. | Colleen and Annette took off early testing the air at Bridal. We were setting Brock up, when we looked up to see Wally spin his glider by overbraking a turn and he went hands up when he was facing the hill and his glider dove into the trees making a lot of noise as the branches took the impact. A group ran over to see if he was okay and he was hanging in a 100 foot hemlock unscathed. Video by Brock`s sanyo Helmet Cam. I got Richard and Brock off Bridal for their first flights here after the incident was secured. Richard was starting to wonder about the sport after seeing two incidents in less than 24 hours! But he launched like a pro for his 7th flight ever. There were 5-6 tandems completed before the rain hit Bridal, unfortunately I was just clipped in with Natasha to go when the ceiling dropped and Alex R reported the clouds were "wet". And then it started raining hard. Down we went and we headed to Woodside where it was blown out til 6 pm. We headed up at 6 pm for a flight and it was deemed ``student safe`` by Colleen, so off went Annette, John, Richard and Brock. I drove down and collected them all for another flight but Colleen stayed down this trip. Magic happened as it ``glassed-off`` and everyone got to soar! Brock was ``top of the stack today`` managing to stay clear of clouds and he had a 45 minute soar-fest while the others took off early and headed out. 
Brock and Annette soaring Woodside, sweet! - photo by JPR
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Woodside Report - it was a good start to BFAR as we started flying tandems at Woodside at 10:30 am, good cycles and a bit of soaring to start off the day. | Richard H started off the day with a near-perfect reverse launch (his first real reverse launch) and a bumpy flight to the Ranch as it was already getting thermic over our freshly hayed LZ. Good guidance from Colleen provided Richard a safe landing. I then took Patricia for her 3rd ever tandem flight, once at BFAR 2 years ago and another in South America, she said they did not go well with multiple launch attempts and crash landings as she doesn't run well. Thanks to Colleen we got off first try and I decided a butt-landing for her would be better mid-way thru our 45 minute flight. We couldn't catch up to Norm who had launched around noon. We had a perfect landing with me on my feet and Patricia sliding in to home plate with her feet up. Martina paid me not to put her landing up on YouTube :-) 
Patricia and Jim soaring Woodside, nice! - photo by Patricia Alex and Amir did a tandem at Woodside too, landing at the HG LZ in case it got too windy for them, and it was quite bubbly over that LZ too. We did another set of tandems for BFAR before heading up to do a set of revenue tandems with Cindy & Jim (for Jim's 67th Birthday surprise). Unfortunately, Cindy was getting to hungry and hypoglycemic to fly as we had to wait too long for cycles to die down for her flight, after Jim and I launched. Jim & I had a super tandem flight "duking it out" with Al, Derek, Norm (the Delta SkyPig) and a couple of HG tandems. After a bit we were joined by Jonathon, Matt J, Alex W and a few others. Jim & I headed out toward Kilby Farm and arrived over the Ranch at 800 meters! Then I did some wicked spirals to get Jim's blood going! We had a perfect landing as we hit the LZ in a lull. Not so lucky on their landings was Annette (who landed in Burt's backyard? WTF?) and Jonathon who found out why you don't use full bar in rotor behind trees in strong winds as he had a 60% asymettric that he let turn him 180 degrees and he was diving at the ground when I yelled "brakes! brakes!" which he just engaged as the wing re-opened and he swung into the ground on his ass. He was okay but it was too close for words. Burt makes another $40 today. Norm landed after 5:30 today with the rest of us, for a total of 5:30 airtime on his new Delta. Norm says "Delta is a sweet ride!" Bridal had many tandems today to support the club, with an un-named Pilot who dropped his brand new Ozone Magnum into the fire pit at Bridal Launch and unfortunately it was still hot and it melted the wing. We will have to do an inspection and possibly have the wing replaced under insurance as it sounds pretty bad. Nice turnout at the Golf Course for the BFAR party but we were missing some regulars who live close by? Colleen and I were pleasantly surprised when FlyBC was awarded the WCSC Presidential Award by last years prez Nataliya. It is nice to be recognized for our efforts, thanks folks!
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Woodside Report - we had a super-successful 2 days here at FlyBC! New students: Robert & Jolanta, Richard and old student Brad all flew ther first of many solo flights after ground-handling and tandems. | We knocked off 4 really good training flights today with guidance from Colleen, and later Martina in the LZ. Excellent launches for first timers and good in-air control. We quit around 6:30 pm, cause everyone was "bagged". When I went to the corner store at 7 pm, folks were soaring the "glass-off" above Woodside. The last gliders landed here at the Ranch at 9:30 pm! Sorry we missed it.
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Woodside Report - we started out early with new students: Robert, Yolante, and Richard, and by 1:30 pm they were kiting like professionals despite damp wings. | 
Richard reverse-kiting at Eagle Ranch on an Ozone Mojo3, nice! - photo by JPR Louise was slumming from the Island, doing some sleddies out to the Ranch. We headed up for their tandems around 3 pm, and Colleen took Richard and Yolante went with me. Light cycles and the odd sprinkle but perfect student conditions. We then headed back up to do Robert's tandem and to do some on launch kiting with Richard around 7 pm and he had perfect launch tries but he didn't feel ready to fly this evening. Tomorrow looks better for first flights. Blanchard Report - Thanks again for the LZ info. The flight was very short. At the launch the wind was out of the south and steady. Unfortunately a few minutes after launch a got flushed. Short and sweet. No rain, the sun came out for a few minutes. HAPPY CANADA DAY! - Tom Chromy Watch Norm's new Delta in action!
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Woodside Report - I was doing chores until 3 pm, after bailing on joining Derek & Martina at Bridal as I saw the shade over there and heard Alan was struggling below launch. | I was waiting for Gary P to arrive for his private lesson, and we went up as we saw nice cycles in the sock on top. We met John on top after he had completed a 2 hour flight with Dennis and they just got flushed into Riverside. Prior to the flush it was quite strong and rough. Gary launched and John followed him and they were soon climbing nicely. After some tips Gary started thermalling smoother and they were well above launch in nice smooth lift. 
Gary & John climbing out at Woodside - photo by JPR After 30 minutes, Gary headed out to the Ranch as I arrived at the Mill Road turnoff. Norm arrived and we went up to unfold the Delta for his first flight on it. 
Norm climbing out at Woodside on his new Ozone Delta - photo by JPR Norm was soon climbing to 1400 meters well back from launch and then he headed to the North Bowl to top up and we saw him head to Sasquatch on full bar arriving at the other side at the same height! We lost sight of him and apparently he bailed and headed back as he saw Rob's Beach at Squakum was pretty small, landing at Bill Best's. Gary launched after Norm and was soon thermalling well all over the mountain with Thomm. This flight was over 2 hours when he finally landed at the Ranch. Thomm had top-landed to warm up when Colleen and I came back up and she launched and was flying with Gary. We saw Rob S flying low at Woodside after crossing from a flight at Benny, landing at Riverside. Thomm relaunched and I laid out the R09 and had quite a time getting a solid wing as the cycles were lame and cross. When I finally got in the air, I could see why there was no pwer left in the thermals as everyone started losing altitude. We scratched around for 20 minutes and all landed within a few seconds of each other at the Ranch. We headed up to retrieve and Gary got one last sledder. Nice day for him as he arrived at 3, got 3 flights and 3 hours of quality airtime. Bridal Gloat Report - Tom C reported he had an awesome day at Bridal on his Addict II. Flew to Elk, and then to Ludwig before top-landing to drive down. Derek was heard flying home to Agassiz from Bridal.
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Woodside Delta Report - what a nice day unfolded today. | It was cloudy and windy thru Mission but when I arrived at the Ranch it looked flyable and Justin and Dennis arrived, and Julie offered to drive us up so off we went to launch. It was strong at launch and dennis got "turtled" on his first try and then he was off and climbing on his Mystic 2. I had the new Ozone Delta here for a test flight, and when I say new we got Serial number 001! Norm is going to be very happy with this ride. I brought the wing up first time and as I turned to go, not enough brake apparently as I had a big collapse. I stopped and re-started with more brakes and this time I was off and climbing fast. Interestingly, the Delta feels like it has a high trim speed so it is perfect for high wind launches. Ridge and +4.5 m/s thermals took us up to 1200 meters easily. Dennis and I were "wing-tip to wing-tip" comparing sink rates and speed. I flew for 35 minutes over Woodside and saw some nice CU past Harvest and headed over there to find wind and small thermals, which translates to turbulence. Good way to test the Delta! After 45 minutes I give the Ozone Delta an excellent rating for speed, ease of handling and glide! Norm will supply more reports soon. Justin and I landed at Harvest in a good breeze. Julie retrieved us just as Derek pulled up from working at Weaver Lake. No retrieve issues today! Later Tom C arrived and he waited up top for some time and drove down as it got too windy, Alan said Bridal was a bust with no sun and strong south wind so we stayed home. Blanchard Gloat Report - I went stateside to pick up some items and hoped to give Blanchard a go. Twas quite windy right into Bellingham and I was unable to get hold of any pilots but I decided to check out the view. Arrived to see Sid soaring a hundred meters above. It was still quite gusty but local sky god, James gave it a thumbs up so into the void I went. It was like some previous flights I've had at Blanchard - mostly smooth with the occasional "hold on for dear life" missiles (bigger than bullets) but very nice flying to about 750 m. 
Kevin in front of Blanchard Launch - photo by KVA I flew for about an hour til I saw James head out on his hangy. He was my ticket back up. Landing was laminar and strong. Overall a very nice last day of school! - Kevin
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Woodside Report - heavy rain most of the day, so I went up Grouse to check out the launch and the LZ. It was raining there too! | At least the grass seed at the new Benny launch will be getting soaked and can start germinating this week. If it hasn't washed away.
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Woodside Report - we started at 9 am, and managed to get 2 tandems in for Bonnie and Trevor, and a solo flight in for James. Then the heavens opened up and it rained hard all day and most of the night. The forecast was all wrong for Environment Canada. Even the winds were much lighter than forecast. | 
Trevor and Colleen's tandem flight captured on the webcam this morning - photo by FlyBC Webcam Golden Ears Report - Richard T flew Golden Ears during the gusty winds on Saturday and survived on his Ozone Geo II! Wouter's Flatland Report - Had a great weekend flying the flatlands in Holland. On Saturday we had probably the best day ever towing and thermalling. +4m/s climbs up to 1000 meters! That is pretty exceptional for our dutch flying. Ten tandems in total and some more student-guiding. Practicing helicopters on an airwave gecko, they are much easier on such stable wings than on the 6907 - Wouter (soon off to the Alps for 3 weeks with Johannes)
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Woodside Report - we had four new students starting today, Gerry & James did some great ground handling yesterday, so they we ahead of Bonnie & Trevor at the start. | Good SE winds for ground handling on the training hill and Gerry & James got airborne on the training hill many times. We took a break for lunch and some classroom time when it got gusty around noon. The vultures were climbing out quickly from the Ranch and not smoothly, very turbulent. A large group of advanced pilots were at the Ranch waiting to get a flight report when Trevor B arrived in his new chopper, a Robertson R44, he recently bought from Vegas. 
Trevor's new chopper - photo by JPR Trevor took Thomm and Gary P for a ride up to check out the conditions, and they reported going up at 500 ft/min at idle near launch! We waited and waited and around 6 pm it was still gusty and everyone was tired so we suspended training until tomorrow, even tandems although possible were not going to help train a new student, so we start early tomorrow. Bridal Report - Nice day at Bridal in the end. Wally actually launched at 2 or something and survived a few low saves and was in the air until late. Ryan and I went off later at 5 ish and had 3 hrs. I did a lap, fun running along in the shade in light suck down by Ludwig - Alex R
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Benny Work Report - a large crew showed up at the Parking Lot around 12:30 pm, and the Mog and FJ went up to launch. Two new students showed up at noon for ground handling but it was too windy so James & Gerry got roped into launch building and off-road adventuring. | 
Benny Work Party, smoothing launch - photo by JPR The hard work at building the launch slope was completed by al this week and we just did some handwork, smoothing with rakes and shovels, spreading grass seed, building a drainage ditch, and a bridge over the small creek. 
Benny Swimming Hole, with log bridge - photo by JPR We installed two Ozone windsocks on metal poles, hopefully no one will steal them. It is a long way up a fairly rugged 4x4 road, so only the odd quad may get up there. Al laid out on some tarps and was off into the clouds which were right above launch height 1100 meters. He flew north to Shotgun and found some wind coming back towards launch. 
Al just back to Benny after venturing north to Shotgun - photo by JPR Alex R launched next and it was much clearer and nice CUs were developing on the ridges south. It was amazingly less windy up there, even though reports from the Fraser Valley said it was very gusty (Hope 35kph+ & Cultus even stronger). 
Alex soaring Benny - photo by JPR We drove down as we wanted to get the new guys some kiting, and Derek volunteered to drive the FJ down, sacrificing a nice flight. When we arrived at the parking lot 45 minutes later, Alex was just arriving at the Dewdney Ridge looking for lift at about 500 meters. Eventually Nicole, Robin and Rob all flew with Al and Alex and they were all soaring Dewdney when Derek got there. More info on the flights at Nicole's Blog Successful work party: 2 bags of grass seed spread, 2 windsocks installed, lots of raking and smoothing. Thanks to Al & Rob's dedication it is nearly complete! It is recommended that only pilots with 100+ hours of experience fly this site until we establish a good bailout LZ and determine the air flows are suitable for lower airtime pilots. When we arrived at the Ranch it was still gusty and not flyable, but we managed an hour of ground handling for James & Gerry. They are ready for tomorrow!
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Woodside Report - a slow start as the day didn't start working until later. | I arrived at 12:30 pm, after doing some errands to find Shane and Brett waiting for me. Shane had to put his glider back together after a Bridal tree-landing several weeks ago. They had to unhook the risers to get it out of a tree, otherwise it was intact. Brett did a line-stretch tuneup on his glider before we went flying. Shane was heading home, and Lucien arrived so it was just Brett and Lucien flying this afternoon. First flight was a sledder, with reversible conditions. Then it turned on and Brett had a 25 minute thermalling flight before landing at the Ranch. Nice work! Third flight, Brett was all alone until Derek, Norm and Martina arrived and he was working some nice ridge lift and thermals and was above launch to the north for about 30 minutes before I sent him over to Harvest Market for his first XC. Airtime for the day now 70 minutes! 
Brett on flight #2 today on his Ozone Rush - photo by JPR I retrieved Brett and we were back on launch for the magic glassoff with Darryl, Martina and Derek. He launched around 5 pm, and landed after 8 pm. Airtime now 4 hours and 10 minutes for the day! Amazing given the conditions earlier on. Today Brett achieved enough airtime to qualify for his Novice rating (4 hours) in one afternoon.
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Woodside Report - student Brock was back after a few weeks away at work, and he had a brilliant reverse launch in light winds but his helmet cam didn't work. He reported it was getting gusty in the Ranch as he missed the circle but he wasn't in a pond :-) | Jim T and Steve D also flew but no one stayed up long as it was still light around noon. Then I went to Benny and helped the crew there by bringing up fuel, interesting drive up and down on the most brutal 4x4 road in the Province! Bridal Report - Tom C sent me his gloat report late last night: 5:45 soaring around with Alan D after they hiked up. Nice! Others were not liking the air as much and landed after an hour, too weird and windy some said.
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Woodside Report - I had to go to Blaine WA to pickup Jim T's new Gin Sprint M so I wasn't back to the Ranch til noon, oddly Canada Customs whisked me through the B3 process in 10 minutes. | I arrived to find John (a pilot from Toronto), waiting for a briefing and Jim T waiting for his new ride, and we went up as soon as Cassie arrived. Cassie was here for her 19th Birthday Present from her Dad Norm. We have taken 2 of his kids previously, oldest son and I ended up in Agassiz High School, middle daughter and I went to Harvest so Cassie was expecting a great flight . . . and the weather gods delivered. We arrived on launch at 2 pm to cloudy skies and lame cycles and an inversion. Dennis R tagged a ride up with us and agrees that waiting was the right call, after enjoying the views for 30 minutes the sun started to poke through and we were getting strong cycles!! Cassie and I got ready and we were soon soaring the South Knoll and caught a nice climb through the inversion to 1300 meters where we waited for Dennis. It was very easy to stay up, but we decided to try the CU over the north cliffs and lost it all and we were back at launch height, but back to the nice thermal and we were back to 'base. We flew out after 25 minutes and explored the Valley. There was no wind aloft or in the Valley so it was fun just boating around until we landed at the Ranch. New student Gary P arrived to try his new Ozone Buzz and we were back in the truck for another round. Cassie wanted to go again and Norm was driving so we loaded up the tandem again. Nice launch cycles for Jim T, John and Gary as they launched solo. Dennis was still in the air from his first launch at 2:30. After Gary landed we setup the tandem and off we went not expecting any great climbs but right off launch we hit a thermal and we took it to 1300 meters again. With the IQSonic audio vario, there is no climb rate indicator but I would guess a steady +3 m/s climb was established. 
Cassie & I were enjoying the views from 1300 meters - photo by Cassie We flew around for another 25 minutes and flew straight out to the confluence of the Fraser and Harrison Rivers and it was super smooth out there, when we turned back to the Ranch we were still at launch height where there was no wind? 
Cassie & I were checking out the rivers and the Kilby peninsula - photo by Cassie We kept driving up to launch all afternoon til 7 pm and managed to get Gary 4 flights on the new Buzz. Excellent reverse launches on his second full day of flying (and many other kiting days). 
Gary on his new Ozone Buzz - photo by JPR Reports from Bridal indicated sledders at this time, so Martina was taking Alan for her first Bridal Tandem to prepare for BFAR. Apparently landing conditions were tricky as one of the pilots was seen doing his best "Ricky Bobby" impression after landing in the pond. For those unfamiliar with Talledega Nights (a Will Ferrell movie about NASCAR racing), see below. 
I'm on fire! I am on fire! No Ricky you are not! . . . as Ricky Bobby strips down and runs around the track in his gonch - photo by ? Martina and Alan had a nice landing avoiding any embarrassment for them after soaring above launch. Derek and Ihor had great flights with Derek making it to 1701 meters and cloudbase several times. Ihor got several good climbs and flew as long as he wanted. Derek toplanded to drive Andrei's rig down after some scratching. 
Bob decided that the Ozone Oxygen I harness looked like a good hiding place! - photo by JPR
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Woodside Report - as forecast, the skies above Woodside Launch started to clear around 1 pm. Not a really high ceiling, in fact our heads were in the clouds but we could see the ground. Jimmy T and Brett R were out hoping to fly. | Not really teachable conditions as I would lose sight of the ground and a possible student flight path at times, so we waited. And waited. Eventually we decided to drive down and do some ground school and everyone left at 4 pm and just after they left the ceiling was at least 200 feet above launch, figures! Word back from Heiko was that he is okay, no damage after his "spin-rotor-drill" landing, except to his glider. Ten cut suspension lines due to an overzealous Paramedic, and a full line set is only 300 euros. Thanks again to Rob H, Dan, Robert, Paul, Colleen and Thomm for coordinating the rescue. Nice teamwork for a fellow downed flier!
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Woodside Mayhem Report - we had 5 students out today, and three of them bailed as the ceiling was low and they had early evening commitments, leaving new students Robert and Paul to hopefully get their first solos. | Cloudbase was low and we eventually started seeing launch around 3 pm. Rob H, Heiko and Dan came out and were our "wind-techs" and they were able to launch and fly safely and after Dan landed he thought it too bouncy for first flights. For some reason Heiko thought it would be better to fly north of Hwy 7 rather than the preferred line to the Maple Tree? He was pushing into a good headwind and barely making the field. Rob was much higher as he held the correct upwind line to the Maple Tree. Rob had a front row seat to Heiko's SIV maneuvers close to the ground, and I could see it from launch. First thing I saw was what looked like wingovers? Apparently Heiko was overcontrolling some surges and got a few small collapses. Then he had a frontal which he overbraked and it looked like the glider was spinning for 3 turns so I yelled "hands-up" over the radio. The spinning stopped just as he touched down, but he hit fairly hard in the corn field. Rob had a good landing in the circle and ran over to check him out. Heiko was complaining of a sore back and his arms and legs were moving and he had good colour and was breathing okay but he requested an ambulance, so one was dispatched. It must have been a slow day as 2 arrived and got lost on Kilby Road. Thomm drove down to direct them and Heiko was soon on a stretcher and off to Chilliwack. Unfortunately one of the paramedics thaought it would be a good idea to cut Heiko's lines?? Maybe he didn't want Heiko to fly again for a while?? I stopped him but a few lines were severed so we will have to order some new lines. Apparently Cynthia was bored at work and looked at the webcam just in time to see the two ambulances carrying her friend Heiko out of the field and was calling frantically. I assured her everything was okay. Lesson learned: If the glider is not behaving well, go "hands up" and let it fly. Typically when a situation gets worse brakes are not the solution, rather the cause of a cascade of events leading up to a crash or reserve toss. I hope Heiko learned his lesson today. Last report from Heiko this morning at 9 am, is that he is released and heading home under his own steam. Thanks to Tom C and crew for bringing up the extra black carpet for Woodside. I will pin it down when I am up next. Last time I looked up they were soaring under the clouds so it stayed buoyant.
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Woodside Report - good kiting conditions in the Eagle Ranch LZ for new students Robert and Rich. Irene and Gary P joined in for some kiting action too, as Gary was trying out his new Ozone Buzz. | We watched a few gliders come in at the Ranch, but most were staying up above the North Towers for several hours, until they all came out to land in the same space of time . . . into major turbulence as the winds picked up mid-day. Some shaky landings but everyone walked away with only a few grass-stains! It never calmed down until around 7 pm, just before it started raining. So the students didn't get to fly but made great progress kiting. Reports from Bridal early on said 1000 meter cloudbase and hard work staying up. Then it got gusty and turbulent there too. I am not sure anyone flew after 5 pm. Sumasochistic Wackn'fly - Saturday June 19 - Did my annual bushwack up the north side of Sumas Mtn today. The route is well marked by ribbons but whoever the individual who made the trail is, he/she doesn't believe in switchbacks. I think the most mellow part of this route is as steep as Elk gets and most of it is straight up around the various rock bluffs . The 900 meter ascent took me one hour forty minutes and I arrived at launch to find it socked in. However, this turned out to be thermic development and I soon had nice intermittent views of the valley. Launch conditions were a little cross from the west - weird because it was only 10:30 am. However, in the air, I hit some great lift and played in the clouds for about fifteen minutes before heading out to check the Fraser Valley. I was high enough to fly to the Keith Wilson Bailey bridge and back to set up for a landing on the dike near my vehicle. I could have stayed up longer but I could see wind picking up in the trees so landing at 11:15 was a good call. As I drove home through Yarrow, it became very gusty and seemed to increase for the rest of day - Kevin A Grouse Pirep - Alex and I flew Grouse today...it was SE and low cloudbase (1050m) so we launched off the Cut which was barely out of the clouds. Flew about 1 hour before heading out to land. Nice mellow flying but it had the potential to get big (big towering cu's on Vancouver Island). And the best part, only 15 minutes from the house to the gondola - Nicole
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Woodside Report - new student Brad was out again today and we did one more tandem in perfect student conditions to let him fly the approach into Eagle Ranch one last time before commiting to solo flight. | Jimmy Teakles was back after a world trip to Pemby, Saskatoon and lately Calgary and he traded in his Buzz L on a new Gin Sprint. He flew a few times today logging some much needed airtime. Joe C was back terrorizing launch but it was a slow day so no worries. At the end of the day after Alan, Robin S, and Kevin A had flown I had Joe and Brad kiting on launch until they had perfect wings and they both launched. Brad caught a good themal out by the bailout and we had him 150 meters over launch on solo #1. Alan was complaining that cloudbase was only 1000 meters, but he still logged 3+ hours of airtime, only getting flushed around 5 pm. Nice air today but cloudbase was indeed low. Ozone Mantra R10.2 from Brett Hazlett on Vimeo. Rat Race Report - The Rat Race is going full swing here in southern Oregon. 
The Rat Race crew - photo by LB Well in excess of a hundred pilots competing, thirty some wind-techs and many more volunteers. This all makes for some pretty busy, glider filled skies. 
The Rat Race gaggle - photo by LB The organizing committee keeps setting the tasks, tougher and longer with each day. The Canadian contingent seems to be holding its own, thought there are a lot of really good pilots to contend with. 
Louise on glide to the next turnpoint above many gliders - photo by LB This can be taken both ways, great guys to learn from and pimp lift off of, though tough contenders to be competing against. Lift has been strong and the gaggles large, though this helps with finding lift and making goal. All in all - time well spent. See you on the flip side - Louise
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Mt. St. Benedict Report - today looked like a good day to work on the road up Benny with 70% chance of showers and no flying likely, so Al rented an excavator and we headed up around noon. | 
The Benny Convoy today - photo by JPR Alex, Nicole and I met at the bottom and headed up in the 'Mog. Al and Rob were shuttling up the excavator and clearing the big rocks and making some cross-ditches and we ran into them and started hand clearing some brush. It started to rain lightly, and then harder and harder and the temps dropped rapidly. 
Al's excavator clearing the biggest rock off the road - photo by JPR We were making good progress on the brush work and small rock clearing, when Al came down announcing that a track popped off the excavator. 
Al's excavator blew a track partway up the road - photo by JPR The service truck was called and we started hand clearing further up the road and made it to launch to scope the area. There are a few trees need clearing when Derek gets home, if he is up to it after a hard week at the Rat Race. The launch need to be sloped with the excavator. When we hiked back to the excavator, Al and the service guy were almost finished and the track was on and tensioned and the unit went about 2 feet and the track popped off again, so the tensioner is faulty requiring a major fix on the trail tomorrow. We got off the mountain around 8:30 pm, and I was soaked and frozen and a hot shower felt pretty good. Al & Rob are heading back up tomorrow to help the service crew and hopefully can make it to launch and get started as it looks much better to work today without the rain.
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Woodside Report - I was expecting a tandem at noon, and new student Brad was here from 10 am for his first training day. | Brad and I went out to the LZ to kite and he did about 10 perfect forward launches on his Buzz, and then proceeded to dazzle me with his reverse launches! When the tandem failed to show by 1:00 pm, we decided to go for our own tandem, although Brad had done 2 tandems in Nepal last winter it is always good to go tandem to show a new student the approach into Eagle Ranch. Ivan was picking up his new Ozone Swift and also was out kiting, and offered to drive for us so retrieves were not an issue. We had an awesome launch, picking the perfect cycle and we were off before the carpet edge and climbing fast under a cloudy sky. It was forecast to be unstable, but we had little sun and we were still climbing at +3 m/s. It was rough in spots and Brad commented that it was much rougher than Nepal thermals. After we climbed up to 1000 meters, I gave Brad the brakes and he was on course for his first Woodside landing approach. 
Woodside today, cloudy but thermic - photo by JPR We had a nice smooth flight out arriving very high so Brad could practice his figure-8's into the Ranch. We had a super-landing too, despite the windsocks all pointing in different directions. I decided a straight-in south approach felt right and even though the main windsock was limp we had a no-step landing? More kiting for Brad as he didn't feel ready to solo and it was strongish in the air for a first solo. He did even better than before kiting the Buzz! Ivan wanted me to take the Swift for a test flight, so we went back up with tandem, Swift and Mojo 3 in case conditions improved for Brad. When we arrived at launch, Wally and Andrei were there trying to decide whether to fly or not and it was quite gusty. They stood down and after about 20 minutes it calmed down enough for me to lay out the Swift. A nice lull came and I launched the Swift and was climbing and going slightly backwards. Good thing I hooked up the speedbar! I flew staright out as Ivan had a dinner date with home, but was climbing all the way. A few turns over the bailout swamp took me higher and backwards again, and when I hit the ridge I had to go on 3/4 bar to penetrate out even though I was 3 kilos over the placarded weight range. I held bar on til the Maple Tree and then did a sideways approach into some pretty big gusts. When we left the field was calm?? Big change in 30 minutes. Nice landing nowhere near the circle, but it was soft. Ivan took his new ship home satified that Ozone had put it together right! Blanchard Report - Matty Senior from Seattle posted that he had a great flight at Blanchard on his Ozone R10 , but had to land short of Canada as he forgot his passport again.
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Lumby Report - Kevin reported weird, awesome flying on Saturday and dangerous conditions on Sunday. | The Comp Pilots registered had a 50 km triangle task and Claudio came in first place with Greg H close behind flying a nagged out Boom 2 and an acro harness! Greg should have borrowed the R09 from me but I didn't know he was even going. Kevin's Report - A good time was had by the many pilots at Lumby this year but for us Fraser Valley flyers it wasn't so much about the comp. Friday was cloudy with about 4 hours of parawaiting for a fifteen minute scratch/sled. Saturday looked to be epic from the forecast - light winds and high base, so Alex, Nicole, Al and I decided to try going our own way, possibly to Revelstoke or East to Nukusp. Glenn D was thinking the same way so we agreed to watch for each other. We all launched within a few minutes which was lucky with approximately hundred pilots lined up. We all got up pretty quickly and soon Alex and Nicole headed east to the Saddle. I followed and we worked a thermal but there were not great height gains to be made compared with my last visit to Lumby. We headed to Rawlins Cliffs, Alex in front. Nicole found a thermal about one k before the cliffs and I joined her in it. Alex went all the way to Rawlins and was soon getting flushed. Alex could not recover and ended up landing. Meanwhile Al Theilmann joined Nicole and I. I started for the Camel Hump and didn't like my sink rate so I turned back to rejoin Nicole and Al who had stayed put. They got higher and left for the Hump while I worked to et high enough to cross again. I could see Nicole getting above, Al working hard to join her. Shortly after, they disappeared around the back and I made the crossing. There was a fair amount of west wind and I found it hard to get high over the "hump". If you got low, you needed to start out to land because apart from the hump cliff, the surrounding terrain is actually low angle forest which meant working a lot over trees. Several minutes later, Al and Nicole reported that they had landed in a high plateau area behind the hump . I worked my way west towards Norm who had also come to try out the hump. He got a nice climb to the west and then got low heading back to Rawlins and like Alex, got flushed down to the same field. I also low and was lining up to join Norm when I felt a bubble and worked and worked and a few minutes later I was high above the hump. All my mates were down now so I decided to try to make this flight an out and return. I arrived back at Rawlins high and spent 30 minutes fighting to stay up. Jonas, a swiss pilot, joined me as did a young french pilot tandeming his girlfriend. We all found our own thermals which converged and for at least five minutes, we cored this thermal agressively. The tandem pilot was amazing on his small Magnum. He had that thing absolutely wound up to the point where I wondered why his passenger wasn't puking her guts out. I think I reached 1700 meters and started north for Saddle, the tandem following me lower, Jonas heading to the Camel. I was able to get high again at Saddle, make it to back to Coopers, get high and then just to push my luck, I cruised to the turnpoint at the south end of Lumby Ridge, hit the west wind and got flushed down to join Veronica in a field just out of town. A fun and challenging flight even if I didn't do the task (which only one pilot, Claudio fully completed.) Sunday was a wash for the comp. Coopers had significant wind blowing over the back. The organizers decided to relocate to Saddle but a bunch of us decided to try out luck at Baldy in Vernon. We arrived just as a few pilots were getting up and just before it started to get quite gusty at the LZ. Alex got high pretty quickly and announced that he was going over the back. I got high enough to do the same about ten minutes later only to hear that Alex had landed in pretty unfriendly conditions. This deterred me and I fought my way back to launch where conditions were getting more and more gusty (Glenn cancelled flying for his students). As I was going out to land I hit a very powerful thermal and went for it. I could see Norm L and Max Fanderl far above me but not for long. Soon enough I was at 1800 meters and heading for Lumby hopefully to land in better air than the reports I was hearing from the LZ, (pilots hitting the wall and going backwards)I. As I cruised east, my GPS registered 70 km/hr. The air was trashy. I flew though one thermal holding on for dear life and reviewing my reserve throwing procedures. When I hit the next violent one I decided to turn in it and within seconds I was at 2000 meters. Lumby was now in clear view and getting to Randy's looked easy. In fact, I flew to the Saddle launch where all the hangies were stacked on the tiny launch. I was a few hundred meters over and when I turned back towards Randy's I was catapulted up a hundred meters in washing machine air which apparently was enough to have most of the paraglider competitors head for their cars. My descent was eventful - constant turbulence, looking for sink, fighting the west wind but observing the east wind down at Randy's and getting ready for the sheer layer. I had seen a paraglider landing as I entered the valley and took some comfort. Later I learned it was the hot french pilot on a small acro wing and the guy was just getting the hell out of the sky. I landed dramatically by getting dropped from about two meters up and plf's rather than risk injury. The LZ was insane; up to 25 km/hr gusts from 270 degrees. I had to stake down Matt's 16X12 canvas cabin to avoid it getting flipped. One hangy veered of course on final and almost clipped a vehicle whose driver had stupidly parked it by the runway. I'll end this report by forwarding Glenn D's tracklog from Saturday. While us hotshot visitors were bobbing around trying to make this valley work, this local bugger did what he said he was going to do. He landed in Revelstoke! Way to go, Mr. D! Fantastic flight - Kevin A 
Glen's tracklog from Lumby to Mabel Lake to Revy - photo by Google Earth
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Woodside Report - I suspected we would have a windy day, so we got to launch early around 10 am. Josef C & Glenn L were out today, Glenn on his 5th day and Josef back after a 7 month hiatus due to too much work. | Glenn got his new Ultralite 19 in the air with ease despite the stronger cycles and he was soon climbing all the way to the Ranch. Josef took some time to get off as he hasn't been kiting. But he managed to scrape off launch and head to the Ranch too. I could see it was fairly windy but good lift all the way. 
Woodside today from the ranch between flights - photo by JPR We headed back up and Glenn again launched first and had a 45 minute soaring flight with 20 minutes of climbing and maintaining over Duncan's and the riverbanks before a super landing near the circle. Josef then launched and he got super-high over launch on his glider before I sent him to the Ranch. After those 4 brilliant flights it got a bit windy for newbies, so we went to the Sasquatch for a debrief and lunch. Some more kiting and as it never clmed down by 6 pm, the day was done. Rob S and Martin N were at Bridal LZ but no flight reports.
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Woodside Report - Colleen had the first flight at 10 am, testing the air for the students, but it wasn't good even that early. Too windy near Duncan's barns, very thermic and not appropriate for the newbies. | So we drove down, and by the time we arrived at the Ranch the launch was closing in and it was gusty on the ground at Eagle Ranch. We decided kiting was the best use of our time waiting and Joe, Richard, Hava and Lee were having a great time learning our patented "FlyBC Reverse Technique", guaranteed to make you look like a "rockstar" in a few tries. Brock showed up a bit later and was on a slightly larger medium wing and got blown over the back of the training hill and flew backwards to land! I observed a large unidentified group on launch getting setup and then a Sky ATIS launched and I didn't recognize the pilot who promptly got sucked into the CU above launch and I overheard the others commenting as he got spit out the backside of the CU and into the rotor on the way towards Harvest! One other pilot launched and the rest packed up and dropped in at the Ranch - it was the Kamloops Fliers and Dangerous Dave was the cloud flier. They got blown out Saturday & Sunday so they came to Mother Woodside for some airtime. We sent the students home after it started raining, and at 5 pm, the skies cleared. Ryan L finished writing his Novice Exam with a 87% pass mark, and we were all ready to fly as the skies cleared. A group of us headed up and I was designated wind tech on the R09. Nice launch cycles and some CUs, but I launched too soon as the lift was pretty broken up unless you stayed in close. After 15-20 minutes I headed out not recommending student flights and landed softly at the Ranch in no wind. Flavio from Brazil came out to get his HPAC Temp Insurance and launched after me and got above launch, and enjoyed some valley thermals before landing at the Ranch, as I got a ride up with Rob S. By the time we got up there Thomm had launched on the demo Mantra M3 and was climbing fast, Ryan L joined him and they were heading skyward . . . glassoff! 
Thomm testing the Mantra M3 - photo by CMV Colleen launched next and was soon climbing too. Rob was in the launch slot on his R10.3 and into the abyss, not wasting any time. Reports back from Colleen and others that it was smooth didn't convince Annette & John as they "grew roots" on launch. 
Colleen and Thomm over Woodside - photo by JPR Thomm flew all the way out to the Ranch and arrived at 800 meters and returned to launch not losing a meter! Colleen did an ``out &return`` too to test the air and was suggesting everyone fly, but the rest of us were tired and hungry so we drove the vehicles down. 
The clouds over Bridal suggested good lift too, but no pilots were out there - photo by JPR
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Woodside Report - three new students: Hava, Lee and Joe teamed up with older students Richard and Glenn and we had a fabulous day. | Senior students Irene & Robin were also out flying and Robin got way above launch when I talked her into a thermal! Not bad for being away 7 months, come back soon. 
Robin thermalling out on her Ozone Geo II - photo by JPR Colleen spent most of the morning kiting with the newbies, while the other students flew and later in the day we took Hava and Lee tandem, but Joe decided he wanted to fly solo without a tandem first and he had a brilliant first flight. Richard had 2 solos to add to his 2 Savona solos and he is looking pretty good too! Amazing progress in a few days. Havii and Lee are ready to solo tomorrow morning. 
Gary P was out kiting and testing out the UP Kantega we have for sale, and under 2 year old Reese was helping Dad lay out the glider. Pretty cute! - photo by JPR Gloat Reports from Bridal came in later with Alan D getting 6+ hours, and Rob S was doing Sammy's from Elk to Butterfly in under 1:45 on his R10.3 race ship flying for 4 hours. There was an early inversion at about 1200 meters, but it apparently broke enough for climbs to 1500 meters at Bridal. Rob`s flight detailed here 11 TH FAI EUROPEAN PARAGLIDING CHAMPIONSHIP - results and live tracking here. 9 out of top 10 pilots flying Ozone R10.2s!
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Savona Report - we made the call around 8 am, to head to Savona as cloudbase was low at Woodside and it was lightly raining. | As we got to Lytton, it was clear and dry and light west winds. We cruised by Ashcroft Drag Strip and it was still west. Arriving at Savona, we had perfect west winds at 10-15 kph right up the Toilet Bowl and we started kiting. Dave M, Glenn L, and Cheryl T were old hands after 2 days at Woodside, but still learned a lot flying off the Bowl 5 times. Everyone mastered the reverse launch technique, and had perfect reverse launches on the Bowl Ridge. Amazing. 
Cheryl flying the Prima 22 off the Toilet Bowl . . . and soaring - photo by JPR New student Richard W arrived late yesterday and saw some flights but was just learning to kite this morning and after a few hours he too was flying off the Toilet Bowl enjoying the perfect conditions. 
Cheryl landing the Prima 22 at the Toilet Bowl . . . notice how green Savona is after months of rain - photo by JPR It is incredibly green here. Months of rain and cold have changed the flora here. Less cactus, and a crop of fall rye is sprouting on the Crash Pad. All the cleared areas have a nice yellow flower growing creating a perfect target. The trees are falling at a great rate due to the pine beetle and winds, and I counted only 40 trees left to fall on the Toilet Bwol before we have a perfect soaring ridge. At 5:30 pm, we headed up to Oscar's PG Launch, and waited for some cycles. It was cross and down from the north. after a few clouds cleared away we had nice cycles and Dave laid his Rush out, and was soon in the air and climbing. He caught a nice thermal just east of the HG launch and was well above launch and made many turns getting used to the setup with the hiking harness and Rush combo. He landed at the Crash Pad near the cars. Nice control. 
Dave just off Oscar's Launch at Savona - photo by JPR Glenn launched next on the Ultralite 19 and he was soon soaring the same thermals as Dave, and doing really well again getting above launch and he headed out a bit sooner and was surprised on landing as the winds switched to SE as he was flying and he had a bit of a "down-winder" but ran it out on the Crash Pad. Cheryl was next off the launch on her Prima 22, as the Sky ATIS got left in another vehicle. She was climbing at first but hit some sink and wind and she was concerned about making the Toilet Bowl, and radioed back her concerns so she landed at the Valley LZ to be sure. Nice decision making for her third day flying! We went to the Pub around 7:30 to regroup and discuss the day, and everyone seemed happy with the flights! It was a long drive home getting back at 11 pm, for a late dinner, but worth the kms and the time to get some quality flying in. It did clear up at Woodside around 3 pm, but we had a better day with the kiting and reverse training on the Savona flights. Lumby Report - Kevin, Al and Matt J are up in Lumby and the flights there were pretty short as the North wind we were enjoying at Savona was blowing over the back at Coopers. Flights were just 9 minutes to 30 minutes long. Saturday looks good though! Woodrat Report - good soaring as early as 10 am according to Derek. The comp starts there Saturday and there are many BC pilots there along with the D & M Agassiz Team.
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Woodside Report - dedication and perseverance required today but we managed 3 first solo high flights and second solo high flights for Dave, Cheryl and Glenn on their second day here. | We had to use the FlyBC Webcam to check cloudbase when we were sitting in the clouds to see how long we had to wait to safely launch, using the iPhone. 
Dave on his first flight off Woodside - photo by JPR Everyone had marvelous flights with awesome first landings, some unguided as radios can fail, but everyone landed very close to the circle! The second flights were soarable, and lasted 20 minutes and Colleen was there to receive them and give them the finer points of landing. We have a new student joining us tonight that is here for an Intermediate Course so we are heading to Savona to avoid the low clouds and rain til Saturday.
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Savona Monsoon Report - we arrived at Ashcroft Manor at 10:30 am, to light rain. After a few hours of ground school, the rain lightened up and we saw the sun a few times! | The wind was too light to kite and the ground too wet as the hay hasn't been harvested, so on to Savona. Sheesh! I haven't seen rain this bad even lately on the coast! We got some breaks around the punch bowl, but it was nasty. I looked at the FlyBC Webcam and it looked a lot better at home and Alan confirmed that, so we headed down to the Ranch arriving late so no flying :-( 
FlyBC WebCam image from today - photo by WebCam Maybe tomorrow??
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Woodside Report - a fairly late start with gliders getting in the air around 1 pm, due to the lee conditions. | I launched after about 6 gliders, and found a sweet thermal near launch that a redtail hawk pointed out, and I climbed up with the hawk getting to 1200 meters. As more folks joined the thermal it got a bit busy, so I headed to the north ridge where climbed higher again. Pretty smooth air for me on the R09, but others were complaining of "dis-organized thermals" and turbulence. I had enough height to try a Sasquatch Crossing, and the R09 sure glided over there nicely losing very little across to the first hump where there was no lift. 
My toes heading over to Sasquatch at 1100 meters - photo by JPR I had a student arriving at 2 pm, so I didn't want to land out so I headed back to the Ranch and saw Rob heading over to Sasquatch on his R10.3 raceship, and I said there is no lift over there but he continued on and eventually landed at the Squakum Park Beach where driver Thomm (down with a sore back from a non-paragliding related activity) went to retrieve him. 
Rob heading to Sasquatch on the Ozone Mantra R10.3 - photo by JPR Super nice landing conditions with the long grass in the Ranch and I pegged the circle easily and packed up quick to take Gary P for his 3 & 4 th flights. His first reverse launch went well and he had a 45 minute flight soaring like an expert! Flight 4 was another reverse launch with a shorter flight time but still very nice buoyant air. Alex R and Nicole arrived around 2 pm and launched and headed over the back despite the cloud cover and they both landed at Ruby Creek. Rob headed over to Bridal and logged another 2.5 hours, with Alan (4 hours) and Kevin (3 hours) all landing rather late in the day. Bring on the rain for 2 days or more . . . ughhhh!
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Whidbey Report - The call for Whidbey was the right one. | 
Alex W at Whidbey`s Fort Ebey - photo by Nataliya We got there by 2:30 PM, it was on from the West, a bit gusty at times but not unmanagable. 
Alex W at Whidbey`s Fort Ebey - photo by Nataliya Conditions made for a great kiting session, and a bunch of short touch-n-go flights. The locals were out as well, pilots on slower wings were very occasionally flying backwards, but no mishaps. 
Alex W at Whidbey`s Fort Ebey with some local fliers - photo by Nataliya Locals eventually decided and went XC to Ebey's landing, but it got too strong to my liking by that time, so we packed up and left. All in all, the place was flyable, and I got some airtime! - Cheers, Alex W Blanchard Report - I went down to Blanchard after 2 pm, to see if it was flyable as i thought I was too late and the winds looked too light for Whidbey and saw 4 paragliders in the air. They werenèt very high and they were transmitting on 158.400 mhz about going XC to Sumas?? One had no passport, so I guess they thought they would cross the border there? 
Four unidentified pilots in this picture at Blanchard - photo by JPR I waited for 20 minutes and they were not getting higher and no one came along to pick me up, so I headed home with the small demo Ozone Rush II and small demo Ozone Mantra M3 that are now availbe for demos for a few weeks from the Ozone Demo Pool - Jim 
Rainbow at Woodside last night as I mowed the circles - photo by JPR Chelan XC Report - Steve Thibault flying an Ozone Mantra M3 flew for 100 Kms. Steve's flight here
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Woodside Report - there was one clearing around 2 pm, but it didn't last long and was followed by a huge rain cell that hit as I was mowing the landing circles. | Undaunted I continued mowing, but looked like a drowned rat when finished.
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Woodside Report - we started early and Martina went off first to check the air for Matt S. Perfect launch cycles early on, and light thermals even at 10 am! | Martina and Matt had two flights before the rest of the gang showed up, and then the mountain got busy. Martin H had his ATOS ready when we took a Vanload of pilots up. Alex R launched on the MacPara Magus XC test ship, and was working hard in the leeside air. Oddly, I didn't see any forecast of leeside winds, but the clouds at Woodside and Sasquatch showed the truth. Alex R climbed out well near the South Knoll, Martin H not so well for a time until he got above and to the NE of launch. Martin H was soon headed to Sasquatch with Alex R tagging along. Alex R was soon above Martin on Sasquatch. Complaints were registed at the bar later that Alex was right on Martin's keel the entire flight. Dennis, Nikolai, and Greg H (on Norm's Factor) was also headed west on Sasquatch when I went to get propane at Lake Erroch, and doing quite well despite the leeside conditions. They all went to Dewdney and return to Woodside, except Alex R was soon reporting soaring on the backside of Cheam in south winds before heading back to Harvest Market. Alex R's flight here Norm was flying a loaner Rush I and complaining about the thermals, so we put him on a Mojo 3 later. Meanwhile we had suspended student flights due to the leeside conditions and Martina took them kiting at Eagle Ranch. Around 4:30 pm, we went back and they had some brilliant soaring flights with Matt S, Brock and Irene all above launch for 30 minutes or more. 
Brock just off Launch on his new Sky ATIS, he was soon above launch enjoying his new ride - photo by JPR As the students were climbing out, Al slipped in in a bad cycle from his glide over from Sasquatch to end his XC from Mt. St. Benedict where he was met by Alex R headed the other way earlier. Many other nice flights were enjoyed in the later air, including Mia who hiked all the way up from the HG LZ with her new Gin Sprint and was soon at 1500 meters over Woodside, and we were still launching at 7:30 pm, so it was a long day! 
Matt flying above Woodside on his new Ozone Rush - photo by Martina in air Lots of XC today. A few reports from Bridal but only a few gliders spotted there including Alan D who finally decided to fly despite concerns.
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Interior Report - we drove back through Sicamous to take Megan & the grandkids back to home in Westbank with a stop at the World Famous Goat Bridge at the Log Barn to feed the goats. | I was going to get dropped off at Mara Launch and then I could fly to the Log Barn about 30 kms south but it was raining in Sicamous and cloudbase was rather low, so we just went to see the goats. 
Shot from the the Log Barn towards the ridge that runs from Mara to Vernon, today - photo by JPR It rained all the way from Vernon to Agassiz and then it dried out for the evening, hoping for a good weekend of flying. Ozone Mantra R10.2 Report - Awesome. I just got back from flying the R10.2 today at Cochrane with Bernie and Keith. I was impressed. They were too. It was an industrial day earlier, then pure magic later. Compared to every comp glider I have flown... it has the fastest handling, lightest brake pressure, lightest bar pressure, highest trim speed, and fastest acceleration with bar. My first bar sped the wing up so much the air noise started to whistle so I'm going to have to loosen my speedbar line! First bar is normally just for best glide kind of speed. The bar pressure is so light it's insignificant.. I immediately switched my Harken ratchets off so they are just nice pullies now. The cell openings are so low that Keith said that flying head on he couldn't see them. Pilots on the hill couldn't stop staring at the wing, not believing how few lines there were. The As are set far back from the leading edge and the Bs are right in the middle. The rear of the glider is completely unsupported! It just doesn't make sense. Looking back on the 2 months of racing against this glider with a Boom6, I really see how it was hard to stay with them. Can't wait to take this machine out racing. My next comps are the US Nats in Chelan, the Chelan PWC, and the Golden Nats - Brett H.
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Woodside Gloat Report - Derek, Martina, Martin N., Andrei and Chilliwack Jeremy were out flying Woodside today. Jeremy's cousin Will was driving so everyone got to fly! | 
Shot from the FlyBC WebCam at 10 am - photo by JPR There was some confusion at the Weather Office, as the forecast at 4 am said "sunny w/cloudy periods", yet they changed it around 9 am to be just "cloudy". I had already made my analysis/prediction based on the 4 am forecast and stayed with it. Mother Woodside delivered again! Bridal was "socked in" with low clouds and OD'ed many times. Derek didn't launch til after 4 pm, and got to 1500 meters near cloud and very cold. Lots of cloudsuck! Martin N went XC towards Bear Mtn. Martina kept her altitude around 900 meters, bit still froze. Derek flew over the back towards Agassiz at the end of the flight after 1:30, leaving Martina to land at Riverside to retrieve the truck. No word on how Martin N got back to his car? 
Shot from the FlyBC WebCam at 5:30 pm - photo by JPR Alberta Report - a nice front moved through Calgary today and the rain just missed us out on the Highwood River south of town. The wind from the front definitely hit us with gusts to 60 kph from the NW. I doubt there was any flying unless a brave HGer was setup at Cochrane late evening? Even the local hawks were staying grounded out here. Good visits with family though, which was the purpose of the trip.
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Alberta Report - winds were forecast to be 20-40 kph from the SE, perfect for the ridge behind Mom's farmhouse. | 
The hill behind the family farm in Davisburg, AB - we flew it back in 2002 - photo by JPR I hiked up the hill around 2 pm, after seeing a hawk thermalling around. But when I got to the top, it was too gusty, so back to visiting and napping. 
The grandkids are having fun with the farm critters - photo by JPR Tomorrow looks like SW winds at up to 30 kph, so Cochrane will be on.
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Road Trip Report for June 1/2010 - best laid plans were made to leave the Ranch at 6 am . . . but at 6:30 am, I was still in bed trying to wake up! | I finally got on the road by 7:30 am, quick stop at the Popkum/Bridal Shell for gas and food and I was on the highway. Little to no traffic until Kelowna, where the Highway 97 mess starts in town. I picked up Megan/Chloe/Remy in Westbank and we were on the road by 10:30 am heading north. 
CUs a poppin' north of Kelowna - photo by JPR Nice development all the way to Sicamous, reminded me of an XC flight back in 2002, where I flew from Mara Launch to the weigh scale north of Vernon when the Airwave Sport I came out. Rain east of Sicamous all the way to Revelstoke, where we stopped at Macdonald's for lunch. 
Sikorski heli was circling over Revy downtown today - photo by JPR Lots of construction slowdowns on Hwy 1, where we were going 40 kph at times, but we made it to Golden in pretty fair time, to hit more rain. Mt. Seven was in cloud when we drove by. 
Mt. Seven was obscured and it was raining lightly - photo by JPR All the way from Golden to Banff was slow, heavy rains and construction but by the time we hit Morley Flats it was sunny and drying out and we were at Mom's house by 8:30 pm MDT. The grandkids were great for being cooped up for 9 hours plus in the car, and when we arrived they attacked the dog, llamas and anything else crawling around. Woodside Report - The best thing about living in Agassiz? When the skies clear & you can grab Alan & race up Woodside to do Tandem #20! Here's proof - Martina 
Martina and Alan getting clipped in for tandem #20 and Martina's final training flight - photo by DK 
Celebrating with Bob afterwards at Eagle Ranch. She wasn't terribly impressed! - photo by ML 
Derek got a quick flight at the end of the day as his reward for driving :) - photo by ML Tandem #20 on YouTube 
a photo of Mother Woodside: Downloaded from the FlyBC Woodside Webcam while we were driving in AB last night, looked a lot better than forecast - photo by JPR Woodside Deer Warning - there is a Mama doe and 2 fawns on the road to launch to watch out for. Claudia and Peter stopped to witness the family trying to get off the road when they were driving up last Sunday to fly. 
Deer on Woodside Road, the doe is trying to get the fawns off the road - photo by Claudia 
The fawn is trying to "hide" in the middle of the Woodside Logging Road - photo by Claudia 
The doe finally gets both fawns up and into the bush - photo by Claudia
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Coaches Corner for May 31/2010 - nasty weather with sunny breaks around 3 pm. No pilots out. Then thunder and rain after 5 pm | The Van is repaired with a reinforced coil mount and back on the road. An O2 sensor problem with the Suzuki that has plagued me for 1 year is now repaired too. Good day for chores!
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Woodside Report - Mother Nature and Mother Woodside provided for us today. | Gary P was here for ground school and we spent a few hours on the board and on the computer doing theory and landing approaches. First trip up the mountain at 1030 am, for me to take Gary P for his first tandem flight as he arrived for his first of two days of instruction. Martina & Cynthia were doing the first of Martina`s 3 tandems today toward her Tandem I rating. Nice inflow cycles early, and Martina was thermalling a bit on flight #1. Gary and I had a nice reverse launch and super landing just at the circle, where he flew the entire flight less landing flare. 
Gary P & Jim on final at Eagle Ranch - photo by Cynthia Martina and Gary spent a few hours in the Eagle Ranch LZ perfecting his launch skills and then we headed up with a truck load of pilots. Many pilots were already in the air, and I counted 6 wings above launch. Martin, Mia, Peter, Claudia, Thomm and a few unidentified pilots were in the gaggle. 
Martina & Cynthia heading toward Eagle Ranch - photo by Cynthia After an hour of cloudsuck Mia flew out, Martin decided to top-land for his first time at Woodside to drive down. Patience was the key today as it was ``lifty`` near launch. Martina and Cynthia finished off their second tandem with a nice launch and flight. 
Martina & Cynthia over Woodside - photo by Cynthia I drove down and collected the group for another round, but the Van croaked at the Lower Launch switchback. Dead as a doornail. Upon opening the hood I saw the coil mounting plate had broken and a few wires were pulled out. Some ``McGyver`ing`` later we were on the road again with a floppy coil assembly but we got to launch and Gary P got another solo just as it started to sprinkle rain lightly. Norm volunteered for Martina`s 19th tandem flight, and they had a nice launch and Norm took control for a few minutes doing wingovers before Martina grabbed the brakes away! A very productive day at the Ranch, Gary is coming back next Sunday for day 2, so pray for the weather to improve.
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Valley Report - We had a great day of projects and Chilliwack errands, as it rained all day. | Some folks headed to Woodrat, OR for the Starthistle fly-in, but no flight reports were sent to us?
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Le Vosges, France Report - Wouter was flying in France last week. | 
Wouter launching at Le Vosges, France - photo by Tim Woodside Report - it was clear all day at Eagle Ranch but windy from the SW. Good day for mowing and I took the riding mower on a trailer into Riverside and mowed a runway down 1/2 of the field removing ferns and blackberries. 
FlyBC mowing in Riverside - photo by JPR I also mowed a landing circle midpoint. If you land outside of this runway you will be taking some time removing the wing from the blackberries. 
FlyBC`s new runway in Riverside, too bad I don`t have a landing pass! - photo by JPR More tandem self-portraits - everyone wants to get into the tandem self-portrait game 
Lousie & Mike testing out their camera during their tandem at Lumbie - photo by Mike
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English Channel Crossing Report - at least someone got to fly yesterday. | Woodside was in low clouds all day with one window to launch around 4 pm, then it closed in again. More tandem self-portraits - everyone wants to get into the tandem self-portrait game 
Jim and Beckie testing out their camera during their tandem at Woodside - photo by Beckie
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Woodside Report - it was probably flyable . . . until the rain started falling around noon. | More tandem self-portraits - everyone wants to get into the tandem self-portrait game 
Louise and Mike testing out their camera during their tandem at Lumby - photo by LKB Ozone Gliders coming soon - a large order of gliders for FlyBC required our own transport company to be formed in Germany. 
Reich Transport truck with large Ozone Glider order heading towards Canada - photo by Wouter
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Woodside Report - it was flyable all day and Martina and Alan D knocked off 3 tandems in light conditions. | 
Martina and Alan testing out the Kodak PlaySport camera during their first tandem today (this is a still captured from a .mov file) - photo by Alan Derek insisted on driving rather than being a tandem participant? It got windy near 4 pm, but it wasn't long as I left for the city. Rolling waves and whitecaps on Harrison Bay when I crossed the bridge!
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Woodside Report - Woodside was hopping today, with the leeside conditions most pilots opted to fly here vs Bridal (except for Alan D, who reported several times during the day) . | Some pilots chose not to fly until later or not at all as thermals were rough and wind-blown? I took a large Van Load of pilots up at 11 am, then drove down to collect Colleen's gear for a flight. Kelly from the RCMP decided to drive her cruiser down into launch to check out the burned out Explorer. 
RCMP Cruiser may need to be towed out of launch today - photo by Cynthia I met her and we were looking for something to ID the rig, as ICBC won't pay for towing unless it is a confirmed stolen vehicle. I looked under the hood, getting pretty sooty. Then I found the remain of the license plate under the rear of the vehicle and she ran the numbers and it was stolen. Bingo! Now Modern Tire is called to remove the wreck, but before they arrived Kelly did her "Dukes of Hazzard" stunt getting out of launch at about 80 kph sideways, no video unfortunately. 
Modern Tire tow truck dragged the remains out of launch - photo by Cynthia On the next ride up, Monika decided not to fly the Gin Sprint S so I took it for a flight. 
Woodside pilots thermalling in front of launch today - photo by Cynthia I was thermalling for a bit with Alex, Nicole and Dennis and I went to the south knoll to follow Nicole and got flushed to where I thought Riverside wasn't reachable, but I made the Ranch. Much smoother than the R09, but I sure noticed the glide was a lot less than the R09! I was aiming for the Stonehenge circle and top-landed on the training hill instead? Many of the last pilots to launch after I landed made it over the back towards Bear. Some landed near Agassiz to join the "S.O. Club", started by Thomm McE a few weeks ago. Some pilots made it back to the Ranch from Bear: Alex R, Nicole and Norm. 
Alex and Nicole's tracklog today - photo by Google Earth Colleen and I did chores as we were waiting for our 4 pm tandems to arrive, while Martina launched for here second tandem today with Rob S. They managed to stay up as Rob was giving thermalling lessons to Martina. 
Rob looks scared! - photo by Rob We ended up getting back up the mountain pretty late with our tandems: Becky and Sheetal were pretty excited, but we had to cut the tandems short as a rain storm was approaching from Cultus Lake. They still had fun and are coming back for lessons! 
Sheetal & Becky in the LZ, safe and dry - photo by JPR Thanks to Alex & Nicole for driving and cleaning up the 6 bags of Explorer parts left behind by Modern Tire, I will take the stuff to the dump tomorrow.
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Woodside Report - the day started out okay, and I headed up the mountain around 10 am with new student Larry. We planned to go tandem as he has completed his ground school and 2 days of kiting, but has not yet done a tandem flight (our normal prerequisite before solo flight). | Colleen dropped us off on launch and we took off into nicely soarable conditions and we were getting above launch when we felt some raindrops. Out past Harrison Hill, a cell was developing and was headed our way. We headed out to the Ranch with Larry flying and I took some video with the new Kodak Play camera is 720P resolution that turned out very nice. We had a soft touchdown in the circle and we were just packed up when the rain started pelting down. We did some more ground school, and when the rain quit Martina took Larry out for some more kiting to get him ready for his solo flight (3 more hours for Martina's Instructor Rating). We headed back up the mountain with a full Van full of folks: Pavol, Derek, Martina, Colleen, Adrian, Norm, and myself & Larry. It was too strong for Larry's first solo so we went tandem again following everyone else into the soarable sky. Derek was "sky-pig" as usual staying high and avoiding the sink accompanying the shaded sky at around 40 minutes into his flight. Landing were a bit funky as Colleen dropped out of the sky from 10 meters when the winds switched. Larry and I got dumped on final too but managed to run it out a bit short of the circle. 
Woodside today at 3 pm - photo by JPR We had to go back and retrieve and Derek was still in the air after finsing a thermal at 400 meters that took him above launch. Norm volunteered to drive so Larry could get his solo flight in. Colleen flew off to test the air, Martina was waiting on the ground to guide Larry, and Larry was setup in perfect 10-15 kph conditions. A few duffs and he was off and climbing all the way out. I guided him to the construction zone, and then handed him over to Martina who did a fabulous job getting him to do: 360's left and right, figures 8's, slow and fast flight and several other manuevers befor landing him in the circle. I just got down the hill as he was landing so he had a good 15 minutes in his first flight. He was pretty excited and thanking Martina for "saving his life"!
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Woodside Report - As usual on the first May long weekend, local paraglider fliers were denied. | Bridal didn't look much better with virga and possible snow at times. 
The weird CU over Agassiz today at 5 pm looked like a spaceship - photo by JPR We kited in the landing circle all afternoon; Rob S on his R10.3, new student Larry on his Mojo3, James on his Gangster, Phil on his Buzz Z. Strong cycles and switchy winds made for great practice sessions. Jan K flew his hangglider after replacing the bungies for the battens, but it was too strong for my liking . . . even tandem. The forecast 19 knots was right on for strength, and throw in some sunny breaks for really strong cycles. This video was taken with a new Kodak Play video camera, small & light & waterproof for $159 at London Drugs. Pemby Report - Doug M called to say they were denied by low clouds and rain. Put on an event and Mother Nature will ensure it doesn't go well.
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Woodside Report - I was doing chores around town, and arrived at the Ranch at 2 pm, to find an empty parking lot. | I got my gear ready and had dreams of XC triangles until I got to Launch. There was a great CU formed above Woodside that stretched to Agassiz, but it was howling at the top of the thermic cycles! 
The CU over launch today at 3 pm - photo by JPR If one could launch safely, there was abundant lift all the way to Bear, and the Bridal side looked lifty, and there were CUs all over the Valley between Elk and Woodside. But there were no birds and the cycles were way too strong! I waited until 4:45 pm to launch, after Andrei. I was having a tough time getting the R09 to inflate and stay solid, in fact when I did launch it was unintentional as I got sucked off the ground. Andrei flew around Woodside for 40 minutes before heading out to Riverside. I stayed in tha air and tried a few top-landing approaches but it was too wild near launch, explaining the turbulent kiting I was experiencing earlier. At times the just felt parachutal as you fell out of lift, followed by a strong upeard/backward pull as you hit the thermals! Yahoo! Wally was flying Bridal and reporting rough flying too. It was a pretty strong day. Colleen brought a Van load of hopeful pilots, and Derek was first off the hill and wasn't getting much penetration. The R09 was fine for speed, getting 19-20 kph upwind without bar. I flew out to the opposite side of the river east of the South Knoll to catch a developing thermal marked by a black CU. I lost nothing either direction. I was maintaining at 1200 meters wherever I flew. I noticed Harrison Bay starting to "froth up" and Derek was reporting 8 kph ground speeds, so I headed out towards the Ranch arriving at 860 meters and the wind in the Eagle Ranch LZ was quite strong from the SW. After a few spirals I was setting up landing in the circle softly and safely. Derek landed 5 minutes after me looking parked at times over Duncan's. No one else flew after hearing Derek's groundspeed. Flight Specs: +5.7 m/s up, -7.8 m/s sink, 1:20 airtime. The new FLYTEC 6015 Integrated Variometer/GPS and the display works well even for older eyes. Everything is on one display panel: Vario, GPS, Time. This instrument sells for $649 plus tax here at FlyBC. We take trades on older varios.
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Valley Report - psychotic weather out there. Definitely windy until 7:30 pm, cells would develop into hail, then sun, then rain, then sun, then hail. Repeat 3-4 times and you get the picture. | Some folks have already headed to Lumby to practice their XC skills before Lumby Days
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Woodside Report - I thought I had made a bad call as the weather looked great on the Webcam from here in Vancouver as I ran errands, but around 4 pm the storms hit here. | Massive power outages and downed trees hitting cars on major routes. Traffic was bad all around Vancouver as we headed to Richmond for dinner.
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Woodside Report - Woodside actually got flyable around 3 pm, sunny and calm winds but no pilots. | Good day to do glider repairs and accounting work.
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Ozone Delta Report - Normando was very excited to order his new Ozone Delta today, after reading the PGForum post that it was on the Ozone Order System. Oddly, no one at Ozone told us that it was available? Only Medium sizes are certified at this date 80-100 kgs. | Woodside Report - Matt S came out for his second day of solo training and bagged 3 flights before it started raining around 2 pm. There was a new parking lot addition today, ``fockers``. 
Some little darlings torched an Explorer on launch last night, cops were called but hadn`t attended by 5 pm - photo by JPR When we came back from lunch at the ``Squatch``, Delvin was in the air over Woodside experiencing cloudsuck and it took him quite awhile to get down as the front hit Woodside. Landing with a minor cravatte after a collapse over the LZ. 
Delvin landing at Eagle Ranch today in the rain - photo by JPR We did some ground school, re-packed Delvin & Pam`s reserves and then went back up top to try a last flight but we were denied by tailwinds. Louise`s Gloat Report - What a weekend!!! The flying was amazing and the views beyond stunning. Good to see so many out over the weekend enjoying the superb conditions. 
Brad Henry near Mt. Cheam on his Ozone Mantra M2 - photo by LKB Friday allowed us to soar to new heights and enjoy the views offered by the hidden southern valleys. 
Louise got to see the Chipmunk Creek Valley for the first time - photo by LKB 
Louise got above Upper Bridal to see the message to Martina - photo by LKB Steady lift, several passes and with a bit of coaching and a lot of patience from Gabby and Brad I was able to make my first top landing at Upper :) 
Louise on snowy Upper Bridal Launch for her first time top-landing - photo by Brad Great to have such a supportive flying community, thanks guys :) 
Louise near the Saddle on her Ozone Rush II - photo by LKB More pictures from the valley are posted on Louise` Picasa Web Albums - Cheers, Louise
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Woodside Report - Woodside delivered again today for students (3) and tandems (9) alike. | The students started at 9:00 am, and were done by 4 pm, too tired to carry on after 4 great flights! Dan M, Brock and Boyko all did amazing launches even in calm morning air. The tandem group today was super-keen, and very athletic and they all got to soar Woodside. 
Tandem Group out today at Woodside - photo by JPR Kevin got the highest flight today soaring the towers to the North, but there were no complaints from any of the passengers. It never got windy, which is nice. The inversion started to bump around 900 meters, and I didn`t break thru it even in nice climbs. But super soaring conditions with little air traffic as most stayed home due to the dubious forecast. Sorry for them. 
The inversion layer today looking towards Elk Mtn. - photo by JPR Collen and Brad did the last tandems around 3 pm, and had no problems staying up as long as they wanted. Great passengers for all of the flights. 
Colleen and Pippa climbing out to the North - photo by JPR 
Brad and Sandy above launch today - photo by JPR My last tandem with Inga took us above launch with a family of Eagles: mom, dad and young eagle were soaring with us and the young eagle was chasing paragliders as part of the flight training. 
Flying with eagles and Norm and Thomm on my tandem with Inga - photo by JPR Brad was flying his tandem today with the new FLYTEC 6015 Integrated Variometer/GPS and the display works well even for older eyes. Everything is on one display panel: Vario, GPS, Time. This instrument sells for $649 plus tax here at FlyBC. We take trades on older working varios. t even tells you where to find the last thermal you fell out of! St Benny Report - Al and Rob were up St Benny again today. Al flew off and hit -5 m/s sink immediately and had to head out the the LZ. There he hit +5 m/s lift and stayed around there for a bit. 
Al at St Benny launch today - photo by RGS 
Al just off St Benny launch today - photo by RGS 
Al at St Benny today - photo by RGS 
Al above St Benny today - photo by RGS
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Woodside Report - three solo students (Boyko, Dan and Brock) were flying as early as 9:30 am, getting some soaring in in 3 flights each, with some awesome kiting around 2 pm when it got strong. Kiting is better than flying at this stage in a new pilots flying career, as they get used to the brake inputs required to handle the surges in the air. | We had 11 tandems to complete today and thanks to Brad, Kevin and Colleen we were able to do them all safely and with good long flights. 
2 HGs and 2 PGs in the air and yet we still got this close thermalling (I am not sure Greg saw us) - photo by JPR Eight were friends of beekeeper Dan, and 3 more came out with Sharon for a family celebration so it was pretty busy in the LZ. 
Cranking it over the Fraser River near Eagle Ranch with Dan, who flew in to Sandpiper Airstrip in his Cessna 140 to fly with us - photo by JPR The new Van is fabulous for these big groups as we can seat 12 in seat belts keeping the gendarmes happy. Mt St Benny Report - Intrepid site finders, Al and Rob were up at Mt St Benedict clearing the road and launch. Thomm joined them to help and possibly fly off. Al launched and was doing well until he hit the Fraser Valley in mid-day and got his "ass kicked" near Deroche forcing him to land. Thomm got his wing wet from runoff and I don't think he got off launch, and Rob was driving Al's rig. Good potential as one can stay in the Miracle Valley on windy days and not hit the Fraser Wind Tunnel. Bridal Report - it must have gotten windy as we heard some pilots were missing the Swamp LZ landing on or beside the access road near the stop sign.
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Woodside Report - Woodside was the place to be in the morning and new student Boyko and I worked in the LZ kiting for a few hours while Steve D flew his first flight. | 
Woodside was hazy all day due to an inversion - photo by JPR Another kiting prodigy is here, doing flawless forwards and reverses in switchy conditions! We went up for his solo flight around 1 pm, but it was too strong by then so I took Sunny tandem while Brad took Holly tandem for her grad gift from her friends. Super lift out front with Brad, Louise and I climbing to 1100 meters but no more due to inversion. It was a bit bumpy at times with some drop-outs, and it took a toll on Holly as she "up-chucked" on Brad. We had been in the air for 30 minutes and I knew what was happening as their flight path went immediately straight to the LZ. Sunny and I stayed on the mountain for a bit longer and then headed out high towards PegLeg, arriving to nice river thermals and a great view of the eagles picking off mice in Duncan's field as they were haying. These eagles are the ones living in a nest just off Mill Road, look up as you approach Kilby Road and you will see them up high. Nice landing but Sunny also said she was getting "a bit nauseated" before we headed out, but no more than that. We packed up our gear after the tandems and headed to Bridal. I saw Jason picking Al up at the Swamp at Woodside after an epic flight from Shotgun (see below). On the way to Bridal I overheard Rob S flying this way from Elk, rejoicing that he had Woodside on glide at 1000 meters east of Little Mountain, so I told him I would chase him down. I needed propane do I stopped at OK Tire in Aggasiz and watched Rob landing at the High School. 
Rob landing at the High School - photo by JPR ShotGun Report - Great day for SHOTGUN May 14th. I figured I'd check out St. Benadict via Shotgun Launch and was not denied. Launched around 1 pm and flew to Dewdney then Landing at the foot of Woodside near Hwy 7 almost 3 hours later. The air was very nice out over Sylvester with smooth 6 meter climbs at St. Benny and Silvester. Then came the Fraser valley with it's windy blown out thermals. Way more work and not as good climbs. I managed to get to near the top of Sasquatch but still not enough for my trusty Addict 2 to push all the way to the top of Woodside. Jason Warner stopped along Hwy to pick me up as everyone who was at Woodside headed to Bridal for the 5 pm happy hour flight and I flew again top landing at Upper 2 time with a quick Elk run and finished off with some Sats and wing overs to get down quick as Rob S. was waiting for me to retreive my truck at Shotgun. We have been working on the trail/road to St. Benny to make it more access able for more pilots and are now ready to start some flights with a bit more clearing! St. Benedict Launch elevation is 1090 M. and has the best XC potential in the lower mainland BAR NONE! 
Hammer's flight log for May 14 - photo by Leonardo West Coast Soaring Club has taken out a road permit for the access and has secured very nice LZ's below in Sylvester Valley. At this time we at asking for a bit of help with clearing the road and Launch as it is now pretty much clear of snow. If you have a chain saw or hedge trimmer please call Rob or myself and come out and fly this great air! - Hammer - 604-309-7780 Bridal Report - after collecting Rob, I met Boyko on top of Bridal for his tandem flight before he can solo tomorrow. We had to drive the FlyBC Van up to get Rob's truck so it was going to be a long retrieve later. We watched some hairy takeoffs (Brad!) and then clipped in and we had super-cycles. Good thing as Boyko is 230 lbs so we had a fully loaded Magnum 42 today! Perfect inflation and acceleration and we were off and climbing. We hovered in the bowl for some time, then over to Alan's ridge, back to the bowl and there were some good thermals coming through and we got close to the saddle a few times then back to launch to check out the top-landing conditions. We flew for an hour and then came in for a perfect top-landing, good thing as Boyko's legs were cramped by a tight harness and could barely stand up let alone run! We packed up and drove Klaus's rig and the Van down. We watched some bottom-landings and watched Matt J and Jason W setting up top-landings too to get their trucks down (Matt is an old hand, but this was Jason's first top-landing and he replaced his divot after packing up.) Derek and a few others top-landed to get cars down, so no retrieves today. Matt J's Bridal Report - I top-landed Upper Bridal today for my first time with Derek and Al and had an awesome flight getting the highest I have ever been on Cheam (1900 meters) then made a flight to Elk and back to top-land lower to drive my truck down. What a great day - Matt
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Woodside Report - Woodside was perfect day for student flight til about 1 pm, when the big guns started flying. | New PPG student Dave has been thru his ground school, ground handling and we also had an awesome tandem flight where he could fly and thermal a few days ago. Today was his solo day! Dave was on the mountain with me at 8:30 am, and cycles were perfect and he did a flawless forward launch (paramotor style) and was in the air, where he flew a pretty fair approach until I had to get him into the LZ in a big rush as he was too far south when he lost height. Flights 2 & 3 were equally perfect, including a climb over the construction site back to launch height with no turns! Dave's landings are pretty good for a first day student. He was done by 2 pm, and off to do some errands. He will soon be clipped into a motor and buzzing around the sky burning 2 stroke oil. Ryan L came out with Alex and Nicole and he had a nice flight catching the early thermals. He is ready to write his novice exam and get signed off. I got a chance to fly the Ozone R09 after Dave and Ryan were taken care of; launching after Dennis, Al, Nicole and Alex. Interesting air at first, quite rough and spiky thermals and lift further from the hill like it was leeside? We were flying all over the mountain trying to find something to take us over 1000 meters but nothing was working, until a great climb at the South Knoll where all 4 of us were gaggle-flying in pretty tight to stay in the core. Suffice to say that a R09 doesn't turn as tight as an XS DHV2 glider, but I did my best. Al was scratching around down below and we headed out together after 45 minutes of fighting, as I didn't think and XC over the back would yield much distance and my truck was already at the bottom waiting to go to Bridal. Good climbs all the way out to PegLeg Island, where I caught a nice one to 700 meters while Al landed. The R09 loves to thermal even in rough air! I was directly over PegLeg but couldn't punch too far forward because of the headwinds, and after sometime I watched Al land at the base of the training hill and it looked turbulent coming in. I spiralled down when I found some sink, and setup to land at Stonehenge as a test for turbulence mid-day. We usually land in the NW back of the field in strong conditions, but lately I have tried landing further up the field with good results. I come along the west fence line, all the way to the training hill and then turned in to the Stonehenge circle and touched down nicely just 1 meter short. Alex and Nicole continued flying over the back and Nicole landed at Herrling Island and Alex's triangle flight was almost to Woodside. Kevin's Bridal Report - Ah, at last. A friendly sky day at Bridal. Gone were the gusty thermal demolishing winds of the last few days, replaced by an inversion that still allowed for sweet flying if you didn't get too low. My flight was 4 hours and change. Best lift: 6.4 m/s. Got to 1960 m trying to get to the top of Cheam. Didn't succeed but did get one full frontal on the NW ridge, likely from the south rotor blowing over the top. Did go to the lakes but didn't carry on due to the inversion and Nicole's landing. I should have gone for it but just wanted to fly. Top landed at Upper Launch three times, once with Al and Derek. If we ever decide to make a full body profile statue of the "Hammer", the mold is all prepared in the snow at Upper Launch! Al, Tom C and I also went to Elk. The flying after 6:00 was absolutely stellar - Kevin/Biff Tom C's Bridal Report - I flew Bridal this afternoon and had the best day. When I arrived it looked like Elk may be the place to go. It took me a while but I climbed out and flew to Elk and back. This accomplishment is only diminished by the popularity of the destination. I hope this XCountry is the first of many this year. I'll be out again tomorrow, to out do this personal best - Tom C 
Tom's flight log to Elk and back - photo by Google Earth Rob's Sammy Report - Today at Bridal did the Elk to Butterfly and back to launch run via Upper Launch and Archibald. 3.8 m/s up and 1740 m ASL according to GPS. Al did a top biff into the snow at Upper that could be heard miles away. Some snow writing was done for Martina's sake. This was my sixth flight on the Ozone Mantra R10.3 With this flight I now have just over 10 hours on it. Good launches so far with only the smallest wing tip tucks (2 or 3 cells on one side max) if anything. Excellent straight line performance indicated by great upwind glides from Butterfly back to LZ (9 km glide with a 625 m loss of height in 23 minutes). Sure there was lift along this line, but I don't think that I've ever had to work so little to go so far, especially in a 15 kmph headwind. Only one quasi collapse so far (tip didn't tuck, but a few cells lost air pressure for a half second), so as collapse resistant or better than the R09. The best thing that I've experienced so far is that it really feels good turning. It climbs well and if the lift is a bit rough and disorganized it seems to feel best with good tight turning, but doesn't require an inefficient amount of bank to get this stability - Rob Terry's Kamloops Report - Derek and I headed up Lower Dome at about 3:30pm to cloud cover expecting an extended sled ride. Flags where steaming in and we launched for a 15 minute sled ride. Fun I guess when you are starving for a flight. We started up to retrieve and by the time we got to launch it was really coming in nice. We decided to take the vehicles down and come back up. Good decision! We both launched into nice clean long cycles and after 20 minutes of scratching we found lift away from the mountain directly in fount of launch. We rode them way up high with Ed joining us about 20 minutes in Ed scratched his way up over the mountain and all three enjoyed an awesome fight with Ed top landing. I got some great HD Video but I will have to post on VHoldR after some edits as it is way too big for Youtube. According to my Vario 1:56 minutes fight time 2444 meters altitude with max lift 5.2 and max sink 3.2. Yahoo! Spring has finally arrived in the Loops! - Terry B Chris U's Bali Report - a 5 year hiatus from Paragliding and I restarted here in Bali this year, flying a Gin Bolero 3. Mostly scenic ocean ridge soaring so far, 10 hours logged - Chris 
Chris soaring in Bali - photo by ?
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Woodside Report - new PPG student Dave went for a tandem flight to get used to flying a paraglider, but we went too late cause all we got was thermals. Shame! | We flew for an hour, climbing to cloudbase at 1100 meters in +3 m/s thermals that felt like +6 up cause they were so sharp. A few big collapses early in the flight but then it mellowed out into big thermals under the clouds. Monika, Steve D, Tonya and Klaus joined us and I flew out to let Dave fly the tandem and he did very well. I think he will solo fly today after 3 days of ground handling and ground school. Free flights first, then onto his motors. 
Tonya and Monika flying Woodside - photo by JPR Steve D made some tactical errors getting too far north on the north ridge and it was strong, and then he hit a wall of sink all the way to the bailout swamp where he squeaked over the ridge into Duncan's $20 LZ. Nasty collapses on final in the rotor, but he is on a safe Mojo3 so he survived. We stayed over the Maple Tree in strong south winds watching the trees "buck around" in the Eagle Ranch LZ waiting for a calm cycle to land into. We were hitting good sink over the Maple Tree and had to slide into the LZ in a strong gust, but held our line in front of the goalpost trees and had a nice touchdown into wind. Monika came in 10 minutes later and almost didn't make the field as she hit the same sink spot lower. Klaus did a fantastic job getting "thermal-ated" all the way into the spot! Not bad for his first flight in 1.5 years! A group of excited fliers showed up and went up around 2 pm, and it was gusting to 34 kph on launch. Ed R took the challenge and launched and was up for a few hours. Eventually everyone flew and most ended up in Riverside as it was quite windy. Pilots were also flying in strong winds at Bridal hanging out at launch mostly. Ed eventually made it to the Ranch around 6 pm. We were flying the tandem today with the new FLYTEC 6015 Integrated Variometer/GPS and the display works well even for older eyes. Everything is on one display panel: Vario, GPS, Time. This instrument sells for $649 plus tax here at FlyBC. We take trades on older varios. |