FlyBC "Site of the Day Archives" - April 2006
Quote of the Day:
"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." - Walt Disney
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Woodside Report - good soarable conditions as early as 10:30 am.
Many student flights, but I had to vector them out of the cloudsuck at times
(not strong enough for Big Ears or B-Stall, but good lift).
Martin flew his Zulu to Harvest Market, as we received reports of turbulent student landings at Eagle Ranch near noon.
We kited for a while for the wind to subside, then back for more flights. In the end, three student solo flights per pilot, and the last flights were "classic glass-off" with Lars logging 3+ hours launching around 5:00 pm.
Many HG competitors made it to Hope, where it was very windy! Alison and Jim on tandem heading east towards Cemetery Hill - taken by Nicole McLearn  Lars Taylor soaring above Woodside before sunset - taken from the clearcut behind launch. Fraser Valley XC Report - Bridal was the chosen launch spot and an accumulated distance formula was established with Alan Dickie in first place with over 60 kms, Alex Raymont in second with just a few kms less and Nicole in third place. Alan and Alex are both flying Ozone Mantras, and Nicole is on a UP Trango II. Score will be posted soon. Two more weekends to go!
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Woodside Report - Pierre and Torga (sp?) from the Island wind-dummied for us and had 45 minute flights
getting above launch and into the "white-room" a few times. Greg followed them out and experienced
a windy flight, so we stood down and I was scheduled to do a tandem, but it socked us in and we couldn't fly. Back to the Ranch for some ground-handling before the rain came in heavily around 1:00 pm. Amazingly, after everyone headed to Bridal for the WCSC party, it cleared off and was perfectly flyable?
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Woodside Report - many pilots ended up at Woodside, after Bridal shaded over. Askia logged three flights, Jeremy three top-landings. Even Norm was out flying in the afternoon, as he worked days. Quite windy in the air, everyone made it into Eagle Ranch, but it took a while. 30 km/hr+ in the air, but smooth. Lots of great kiting for new students getting ready for the big solo flights in the morning before it starts raining.
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Vancouver Report - cloudy and rainy most of the day and it opened up around 4:00 pm. Woodside looked flyable about the same time.
| Oceanside Report - Jack, Derek and Martina headed to Oceanside Oregon, this past weekend and all they got was this one video clip of Hanggliders launching! Lawn Darts in OR
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Woodside Report - I wasn't expecting cloudbase to be below launch all day, but that is what the Woodside WebCams showed. No pireps rec'd.
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Bridal Report - Jack called to say it was not so pleasant in the air over Bridal today. Alan flew first and headed out to land after a short time (rough conditions and windy). Andy flew later and got higher, but the remaining flights were extended sledders.
| Pemberton Report - Great flying in Pemberton this weekend, with more than a dozen pilots Sat, Sun, and Mon. Saturday was light wind, but a bit punchy, coring up at 5 m/s on thermals the diameter of a telephone pole. Newer pilots waited until about five to launch and were still treated to some good lift, many getting well above launch. Sunday smoothed out a bit and I went about 20k out and return with Reto and Jim Orava. The return glide was stunning, cruising over the mountain tops at 1800m, back to launch without a single turn. With a few top landings for water and snacks I was able to get about four hours in the air. Monday the task was to stay airborne all day, and by noon all the "Muppets" could tell it was on. Peter Chrzanowski, launched first in light west cycles, only to disappear below the tree line. A brief spell of parawaiting led to excitement as Peter circled back to launch at 75m over. Game on! Corrine was already in the cue, and flew off into good lift, then Mike Sadan and I launched and thermalled off to the NW, wrestling for the smallish cores, which seemed to be stuck to the mountain. It seemed hard to get very high away from the hill, so I followed the contours and hugged the southwest rock exposures, climbing steadily with the terrain. I lost Mike after he decided to transition low on one shady gap, and cruised the snow line up range. Around Copper Dome I noticed the East wind which had kept me below mountain top hight all day, but it was only light leeside and I made the crossing to Goat Peak, still hoping to round the corner and go East to Goldbridge. Nothing doing, there was only scrappy, disjointed lift on the Goat, with a committing high, flat shoulder ahead, just as I was about to turn tail and cruise back to familiar turf, Jim O. caught up, so we boated around for a bit in the 6 up, 6 down, alpine leeside air. Jim and I started heading back together, but he had to top land to drain off some ballast, postholing up to his armpits in the softening snow atop Copper Dome. R elaunch was apparently a bit of a struggle in the deepish snow, unable to keep up with his wing, Jim came off the dome with a 30% cravat and had to head for the valley. Luckily Askia had driven downrange, and was in a great position to watch as Jim threw a full stall to clear his canopy. It was to late for him to hit the lift band in the cooling afternoon, so I finished the return alone, as Jim and Askia chased me back to LZ at the community center. Final tally: 4:16, max 2245m, total climb 8804m, +5.8m/s, - 7.2m/s, 50k, and more than one very happy camper - Jeremy  Goat Peak in the distance over the Pemberton Valley - picture by Jermey Hanen
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Kamloops Report -
Lower Dome - Jim M and I arrived at 4:00 PM, nice cycles, long and steady.
Great launch by Jim into a steady climb 2.0/sec. soared above launch.
I pulled up at the peak of the cycle, too much brake and got yanked, small cravat that came out with 2 pumps.
Steady climb all over with punchy bullets close to the hill.
Much smoother out away from the hill. Nice big thermals to play in. Finally our patience is paying off!!
There may be a future in Kamloops - Derek Butcher
|  Derek on Presta over Kamloops Dome
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Bridal Report - good day to do chores at Woodside, too windy to even kite!
So we headed to Bridal after we heard Alex R saying it was good to the right of launch.
We arrived around 5:00 pm, and got a few folks off before it blew from the east at launch.
I had an interesting set of collapses over launch in some pretty strong leeside thermals,
but kept on thermalling away from launch. Alex W, Ihor and I stayed pretty much near launch.
Rob, Alex R, Norm, Nicole, Andy all had great flights early on and went all over the ridge.
Andy and Al won awards for the most interesting top-landings at Bridal . . . ever!
Very strange to have strong east winds and still have good climbs at Bridal, but no one was complaining.
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Woodside Report - the day started out windy and never calmed down below 20 km/hr, but we had great kiting sessions,
and a few successful tows late in the day. We went up to Woodside launch and it was blowing over the back so we did an
excursion up the back side of Woodside to the North Launch overlooking the Chehalis Reserve,
but the wind was East at 20 km+ and gusty so no one wanted to do an experimental flight.
Andy and Harry headed to Bridal. Some questioned my call for Woodside today, but I got some erroneous data from Enviro
Canada calling for westerlies in the Strait of Juan de Fuca in the PM,
which would have made Blanchard work sooner than Woodside, but the westerlies never happened.
I talked to Alan about Bridal Upper being a good call in the north winds, but I think he was convinced the day was done early so he went kiting.
| Bridal Report - we overheard Rob calling on the radio that he was at 1500 meters over Gloria heading to Elk. His report: Lower Bridal Falls, launch @ 4:37 pm, duration: 2:52:31, 27.83 km OLC flat triangle (Elk-Lakes), max 1635m ASL, 3.3 m/s, -4.2 m/s, accum climb 4094 m, other pilots:Tom C, Sean T, Robin S, Diane S, Andy A, Dave M, Brian G and others - Rob S
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Woodside Report - I worked most of the day in town, then headed out around 2:00 pm. Windy all the way out, with nice CU developing in the Valley. When I arrived at the Ranch, Neil had been waiting most of the day for it to calm down. He motivated me to go flying after the chores, and we arrived at launch around 3:30 pm and it was perfect conditions. Nicely soarable, good thermals to the north to 900 meters, excellent top-landing conditions too as I flew for 20 minutes and landed to drive down as Neil flew out. The Octane still flies perfectly - Jim | Eagle Ranch Parking - one of the chores we completed this week was to gravel the driveway into the Pilot Parking Area to make it easier on your cars. Thanks to all those that support our business!
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Woodside Report - despite the nasty forecast, the rain didn't fall at Woodside until 6:00 pm.
Thomm (the "bum") beat Andy to launch and squeezed out 42 minutes landing at 11:00 am.
Andy and I flew and had much less luck, but I had to test fly Gerry's new Boomerang Sport to ensure the lines
were rigged correctly, and it flew superbly. I am amazed at how the current crop of DHV 2-3 wings fly smoother and safer than the 1995 DHV 1-2 versions from many manufacturers. Technology marches on (even in nylon!). | A few more flights were taken throughout the day but nothing special in terms of flight times or altitudes. The new Gin Genie III harnesses have arrived and they are very nice. Great fit and built in hip-protection make this a very safe harness. Gin Genie II link Gin Genie II Manual link 
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Woodside Report - apparently it never rained at Woodside. I arrived at 6:00 pm, and it was still flyable. Andy was up at launch around 10:00 am, but I didn't get a flight report after that time. |
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Woodside Report -
Flight # 1 : Drove up and Andy was set up to launch for his second flight of the day at about 11am.
He launched and was way high before I could get my glider laid out to go.
I got up quickly over launch and was up at about 1150 pretty quick.
Got a bit tired of the scrappy stuff so flew out away from the mountain .....
Sunk like a rock (leeside) until I was over the road over the satellite dishes at 270 metres.
Patiently worked the light stuff until I finally made my way up over launch again.
Tried to topland, coming in low on the South side hoping to lift my way back to drop in,
but got hoovered up too fast to make a safe attempt.
Sunk out again to work the same light stuff but it got cloudy and had to land.
Andy was still above launch and managed to topland to drove down to retrieve.
We were done for the day as the high cloud shut it down (at least we thought)
but when we got back to launch there was a big blue hole and couldn`t resist.
| Flight # 2 : Andy launched and "Zoomed" up, I launched right after to leave the ground at about 3m/s straight up. I flew straight to the towers in constant lift until I hit one that escorted me to about 1570 metres to cloudbase. We had both vehicles at launch for any retrieve issues, but didn`t want to waste the height, so flew under the clouds to Harrison. Bear didn`t appear to be working as it was clouding over so flew back to the towers and topped up to 1500 + metres again in the white room (hands were very toasty with the hand warmers). Then crossed the valley, to fly over the Sasquatch still at about 1100 metres but in the shade so headed to the little mountain across from Kilby beach.Didn`t lose much height so flew over the river and glided over the sandbars,then past your place and crossed back over at 300+ over to Riverside. No such luck for a low save this time and boated for about another 20 minutes in light lift.I think there was a bug farting and Andy scratched his way on the cutblocks to managed another toplanding to retrieve again! Glad I brought the handwarmers !!!! :) - Thomm McE  Over Harrison River on the way to Sasquatch - photo by Thomm Bridal Report - Martina, Derek and Rob flew Bridal in cloudy conditions and managed to log over 1:30 getting up to about 1000 meters. Rob even managed to top-land in east wind landing to the NE!
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Vernon Mountain Report - Derek and Martina flew Vernon Mountain today. |  Vernon Mountain - photo by Martina Norm asked how they got up as he tried during the weekend and the snow was too deep (they had Carl's secret weapon for getting to launch). Apparently Martina showed Derek where all the lift was, but he couldn't catch it.  Carl's rig for getting up Vernon Mountain - photo by Martina Mount Woodside Report - Many happy pilots today. Alan, Andy, Norm, Jeremy, Jeffrey were all out skying out in the rough stuff! Cloudbase was variable from 900 to 1200 meters. I arrived at 4:00 pm and was at launch by 5:00 pm to launch into the sun, but it clouded over as I was trying to thermal over the clearcuts. Norm and Rob had landed as did Ken N on his HG. I struggled to stay up for a bit, then hit some good sink on the way to the Ranch, and had to do a few turns on the knoll near Bert's to get in to the corner of Eagle Ranch. Great entertainment for those on launch as they were following my shadow. Colleen launched as the sun came back out and had a great 1:17 flight getting above launch several times and top-landing to let me fly, but I had already driven down. Bridal Report - Jeremy flew earlier and landed at Harrison Beach on his new hot ship (Boom Sport). Derek and Martina also bagged a sledder at Bridal around 7:00 (Martina stayed aloft longer again). It was the girl's day!  A reminder to slow down on Kilby Road!!  Happy Easter, guess who I ran into today? C
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Savona Report - training hill flights off the "Pimple", then on to the Dump Ridge as it was blowing over the Back at Upper Launch ("Deadman's). Extensive renovations by the Kamloops Gang has made it possible to top-land at launch and should reduce those nasty tree incidents Savona is famous for.
I was able to kite Annette's small Buzz to the edge and fly for a bit, but it was pretty strong so off to Woodside to cap off the weekend. | Woodside Report - Colleen was at launch first to check the air for the students and she hooked a nice thermal out front and climbed to 1200 meters fast! A bit of cursing over the radio as the new vario I set up was not beeping for her, but she was able to stay high regardless. She flew out towards Sasquatch and didn't lose any height. NW winds in the Eagle Ranch LZ, which are always nice (not like Riverside in N or NW). Despite best attempts student John could not launch his wing as it got wet on the melting snow at launch. Huge snow dump the day before with 6" plus on the launch proper. Maybe the grass seed we placed last week with germinate.  Colleen heading to the first thermal - photo by JPR New Performance Flying Trailer - Jocky Sanderson's latest Flying Movie shot using a high-speed lab camera for the best slow-motion sequences ever seen. Flown on Ozone gliders. Release date is now April 2006, order yours today. March 31/06 - Hi Everyone; Jocky and his production crew are in the final stages of the DVD. This weekend we will be translating it into German, French, Italian and Japanese, and next week the final mastering will be completed and we will begin production. We have to apologize for the late release, originally we had planned for this to be done by Christmas 2005 but it has turned out to be a much larger job, and a much more professional and high quality job, than we had expected. All of the editing, mastering, and color correction has been done in a professional studio in New York, and we are very happy with the quality of the entire DVD, which is going to be just over 1 hour long and contain a nice amount of info on XC, SIV, and Acro. In the next few weeks it will be available from us on our normal online order form. It will ship from Vietnam with your glider and accessories orders, so when you include it with orders for other products the FedEx/DHL shipping will be an excellent value. Thanks for being patient with us- we think that it will be worth the wait. Cheers from all the team! Ozone Paragliders www.flyozone.com FlyBC Paragliding has the new Ozone DVD 2005 in stock now, see the news release Ozone News . Never Ending Thermal DVDs are also in stock for 2006 season.
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Ashcroft Report - we were blown out at Savona (30+ kms from the East). So on to Ashcroft Manor for some kiting before flying off Coyote. We decided to go up Elephant Hill as the wind switched from the SE to the SW. As we fot to the top, it was managable for students, but by the time Andy launched, it was too strong and a nice black-bottomed CU formed out front and was "beaming" Andy up. He landed at the bottom and we met him for some training hill flights in moderate winds. Back to Savona for dinner.
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Savona Report - Andy was up in Savona and he and I flew at the Dump Ridge Site. I did a few passes on a Tetra M that was being traded in, to see if it flew okay. Then watched Andy log 30 minutes getting way down low and climbing back above launch as it got stronger. We were then treated to a huge collapse by Marty from Pemby, as he had to push full-bar on his Sigma 5 to stay out front. He survived without pounding in! The students all agreed it was too strong and bumpy for them. We went kiting in the Savona Schoolgrounds. No rain.
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Woodside Report - heavy rain all the way to Lytton, then clear sky all the way to Savona. Not much traffic for a long weekend? |
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Fraser Valley Report - a bit breezy according to Abbotsford reports, no pireps rec'd.
Good conditions for getting ready for Savona :-)
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Woodside Report - Andy reported a fantastic flight heading east to Agassiz Mtn,
then on to Bear Mtn. where he got in the lee and was "beamed up" to 2000 meters straight up!
He pointed towards the Butterfly on the south side of the Fraser River and didn't lose any height on the crossing,
from there he flew to along the south ridges back to Bridal surprising all the hikers who didn't know where he came from. Jeremy was also along for part of this flight but landed at SeaBird Island, unable to get high at Bear.
As Andy landed at Bridal to hitch-hike back he was picked up immediately by Jeffrey and Pamela
(as Jeffrey was heading out for his first flight at Woodside as he returned back home from the Honduras for Easter).
| Woodside Report #2 - Two hour flight at Woodside today, awesome day ... Although a bit of a rough layer higher up ... Yet lift, lift, lift ... - Kent Bridal Report - Bridal was the place to be today. From OLC daily log: 78.31 pts, Samplonius Rob, CA, 52.21 kms, 13.06 km/hr, Lower Bridal (CA), West Coast Soaring Club, Ozone Mantra. On Line Contest Daily Log Others had similar flights, Alex R had 3:54 on his vario, +4.0 m/s lift, 1659 meters top altitude, 8800 meters total climb. Many top-landers but not enough to retrieve all the trucks due to dis-organization.
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Woodside Report - no pireps, but it cleared up later in the day with light winds. Probably sled rides were enjoyed by some?
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Woodside Report - where was everyone? It turned out to be flyable from 12:30 pm on, despite a gloomy forecast. Norm had a 40 minute flight "cloud-surfing" while we were entertaining Megan, Jamie and baby Chloe. Then Rob and Colleen also had some nice flying late in the day.
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Rob's Woodside Report - Launched into a lull after observing a series of SW and W gusts of up to 30 kmph.
| Surprisingly, conditions were barely ridge-soarable. The air could best be described as being lumpy with a lot of wind. After a few minutes of crabbing side to side in front of launch I decided to head out to land since it wasn't much fun. I started out going OK (17 kmph) then my speed dropped to about 5 kmph but I didn't really want to pull out the speed bar since I was getting occasional bits of lift and the air was still feeling rough. About less than a kilometer out in front of launch and at 630 meter ASL I hit some nasty turbulence which resulted in some un-planned aerobatics. I lost over 50 meters in 10 seconds. After getting the glider stabilized (at about 560 meters) I now had a forward speed of 20 kmph! I then changed course for the Riverside LZ and had only one 'normal' collapse along the way . In the Riverside LZ the wind was blowing from the east at 5 to 10 kmph! Can you say wind shear? Flight time 20:40, max height 716 meters, max lift 2.0, max 'sink' -8.7 m/s. Woodside Report - we flew an early flight around 11:30 am (Martina, Greg and several others). Nice smooth flights, no lift. But it was starting to pick up, so I raced down to get everyone to head back, and this time I was gonna fly, despite Rob having a major blowout on his way to Riverside! Justin also flew into Riverside, and didn't enjoy his flight or setup for Riverside! Big mistake on my part, Rob claimed it was "shear layer", and it mellowed out at launch so off I went after Alex W. Huge sink on the north side, and over the clear cuts (-4.5 m/s down). One thermal on the way to almost landing in the bailout, when I climbed to the north and then fought to keep the wing open as I landed at the Ranch. Alex didn't enjoy his flight much either, saying it felt like "being in a boiling pot of water". Norm got above launch where it was smooth, but alas had to come down to terra-firma in some turbulent air. We then headed to Lil Nic to get rained out - Jim Spokane & Boomerang Sport Reports - Hi Jim: The early tests are done and the verdict is in, the Boom Sport kicks @ss! The flying at Steptoe Butte here in the Spokane area is fairly unimpressive, but I've managed .5 and 1 hour flights in windy, thermic conditions. Both times I took off in 15-20km winds from the middle of the 350m Butte and quickly got over. After reading the DHV report about non-spontaneous opening after a frontal deflation at minimum wing loading, I had to try it for myself. I'm pleased to report that the frontal and b-line both recover quite nicely on their own, with just a bit of effort needed to open big ears. Actually, the wing flys just fine with an ear or two tucked in, it may even launch like that in no wind. Unfortunately there isn't a single pilot here to compare performance with, so the real test will wait until we meet again : ) - Jeremy
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Woodside Report - Derek and Rob and I drove up to launch after determining the leeside cycles had abated. We had short 8 minute flights into the Ranch. Al was up later and had a similar flight. Sighting of a blue wing near Cheam later in the day.
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Woodside Report - quite a few flights today, some even lasted up to 20 minutes . . . until 4:30 PM. Greg was on his third flight, when Nicole decided to launch after waiting all afternoon and "skied out" followed by Alex and Derek (right to cloudbase at 1300 meters).
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Woodside Report - early in the day, Derek and Andy attempted Woodside but it was blowing over the back. They were heading to Bridal later, but no pireps were received. But conditions looked good, windy in the city as the sea breeze kicked in, so Woodside would have been pretty windy.
| Bridal Report -It was OK at Bridal even though it got windy at Woodside. Natalia, Peter C., Denis, Kent and Nicolai were all there. Natalia told us later about strong wind at launch. Me and Kevin were glad we stuck with Bridal. Alex launched first (about 3pm), followed later when the sun got brighter making the lift stronger, by Nicole. Alan launched just ahead of me and Kevin Ault arriving at launch. We got ready slowly, since there still was a lot of shade. Me and Kevin launched within a couple minutes of each other and found the lift to be light but plentiful. As we were flying past 'the saddle' it felt like it would be easy to get sucked up into the cloud just overhead. Both me and Kevin flew over to Gloria as Alan was making his return. Nicole and Alex were hanging out at cloud base at Gloria, but they left as we arrived. I found some light lift at the usual spot near Gloria and climbed up and crossed to Elk. Since I was getting good speed and hardly any sink to speak of, I went all the way to the farthest rocky patch before the Chilliwack valley ridgeline. On the return I only managed to find one good thermal. Kevin had even less luck on the return from Elk and landed at the Alan Road farm. I thought that getting up near launch was still going to be easy but it didn't work out. I'd hoped to be able to top land to drive back down. Alex was the last in the air and he had enough height to top-land then made a mistake and got below launch and couldn't make it back up either. I did a 17 km OR, flight time 1:18. Alex probably had well over 2 hours. Nicole went to the Killarney Valley after returning from Gloria, for a similar OR distance to mine. After the flight I had April 4, it was good to be able to get up to 1200 meters and go somewhere without having to work so hard. It is strange how at Woodside being at 1000 meters seems high while at Bridal 1000 meters feels like you're working on a low save - Rob. BTW note that for probably the first time ever all the wings flying at Bridal were DHV 2/3s, four Ozone Mantras all with different colours - Rob
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Woodside Report - a great day unfolded but it started out grey and overcast. First flight for Andy lasted 1:30 despite the cloud cover. When Greg H and I arrived a group had arrived at launch and were hucking themselves off: some failed to maintain any height and were in Riverside fast. Others grovelled near the South Knoll (Andy and Rob) and waited out the sun. We launched in the sun and Greg climbed out cleanly as I hugged the trees on the South Knoll before getting out and up.
| Cloudbase was at the 1200 meter level, so no good crossings were undertaken to Sasquatch. Just some good old Woodside "fish bowl flying", staying in the lift bands. I am sure anyone flying back to Agassiz Mtn would have had good lift, but who know what Bear would have given for lift. The eagles were out marking thermals and sharing them with me and others. I had one eagle fly with me for 10 minutes and we climbed right up to cloudbase before he/she bailed out to the trees. In the middle of our first flight around 4:00 pm, it went fully leeside with wind over the back at 15-20 kph??? It was quite rough flying then and certainly not top-landing safe, so we bailed out to the Ranch. Rob stayed aloft. We drove back up to retrieve the FlyBC Van and I decided to fly again as it got better, with Greg driving one of the truck down. I had about 45 minutes when I decided to top-land to drive down too. It wasn't easy: too much lift or sink in all the wrong places. And ROUGH! I finally side-hilled it in low before the ramp. Later Rob, Tom C and Andy also landed so Greg could fly. In the end Rob and Andy were tied for about 4 hours of airtime, Rob just did it in one flight on his new orange steed. Woodside Fixed Wing Report - a first for Eagle Ranch as Ian J dropped in for a photo shoot in his Rans airplane.  Ian practicing "touch & goes" at the Ranch - photo by CMV
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Woodside Report - a bit too windy for most pilots, and too east.
| 3/4/2006 :: Gordon Bishop Wins!!! Congratulations to Gordon Bishop in the UK, who has won the Ozone glider of his choice! The image below shows were the winning pixel is, at the coordinates 746 585. Our XC pilot is climbing out in the distance, under a nice cumulus cloud. Gordon entered the coordinates 749 581, so he was just 3 and 5 pixels away from the exact spot. Honorable mention goes to Here Niessink in the Netherlands, who entered the coordinates 751 590, just 5 pixels away in either direction. We’ll post more news soon and let you know what glider Gordon chooses. Thanks to all of you who played, we had entries from thousands of pilots, on every continent (including Antarctica), in 104 different countries around the globe! Cheers to all of you from the Ozone Team- enjoy your flights this spring! 
Thomm McEachryn came in a close third, winning an Ozone cap!
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Woodside Report - a replay of a day on Sunday a few months ago. Windy from the NW in the LZ, great for kiting but too strong to land it comfortably, so everyone ground-handled for over an hour.
Then it started to calm down so we headed up. All the most experienced fliers took off in the leeside conditions, but no one got high. Finally it was Jeff's turn, and he bagged his first PG flight, doing very well carving turns and landing to the NW in the LZ. Then it was Greg's turn after waiting all day, and he launched into a nice bubble and he was climbing. He was practicing 360s and everytime he turned he went up more. Everyone who flew first was back at launch, but it started blowing down so only a few got off, as Greg was still up high.
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Woodside Hoax Report - apparently the HazMat team found out that the hazardous waste spilled at March 31's train wreck at Riverside was "bullshit"!. I made it easy to see through this hoax, just to protect the gullible.
| Woodside Flight Report - Greg was very patient waiting most of the day at the Ranch or Agassiz, but at 5:00 pm the clouds parted and we went up and he had a soaring flight (his first in 7 months). His wing was too wet to do it again before dark, but the cycles were coming up launch 'til dark.
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Woodside Report - from News 1130.com - there was a train derailment right at the rail bridge
at Riverside yesterday afternoon.
Train crews were mopping up a hazardous material and evacuated houses at the top on Hwy 7.
News crews had interviewed an official, who said the engineer was distracted by a "parachutist" coming
in to land near the accident scene and forgot to slow down for the curve and the train jumped the tracks.
Due to the hazardous material spill the area could be closed for weeks or even months,
fortunately none of the material leaked into the Fraser River at interview time. |  Picture of Woodside train wreck from a traffic copter - April 1 |
FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day Reports
February 2006 Site of the Day archives - another wet month with some soarable days (2).
January 2006 Site of the Day archives - some flying on Elk and Woodside, smart pilots headed South for great Mexican or Chilean flying.
December 2005 Site of the Day archives - some flying on Elk and Woodside, smart pilots headed South.
November 2005 Site of the Day archives - rain, snow and not much flying.
October 2005 Site of the Day archives - Women's Fly In in Chelan yielded two soarable days before the snows hit.
September 2005 Site of the Day archives - dry most of the month. Some great 4 hour flights at Woodside getting to cloudbase most days. Three crash-landings in the same clearcut by pilots scratching too low, but no injuries.
August 2005 Site of the Day archives - road trips to the Interior gave us an opportunity to rag out some gliders at FlyBC SIV 2005 (Part II). Also a great road trip to Savona.
July 2005 Site of the Day archives - good flying all month, no rain but some windy days shut us down. The Willi started in Golden with a few good days, but one tragedy as Charles Warren perished in a crash near Harrogate.
June 2005 Site of the Day archives - too much rain, but good days to fly between showers.
May 2005 Site of the Day archives - our Instructor/Tandem seminar yielded some good flying. Our May 2005 SIV Clinic had a good turnout, with many wet wings/pilots! Many nice flights at Woodside and Bridal, with some long "out & returns" at Bridal.
April 2005 Site of the Day archives - some great soaring at Woodside and Bridal. Sad news from the US Hanggliding Nationals as Chris Muller crashes at goal.
March 2005 Site of the Day archives - we had to head out of town to Savona a few weekends due to wet weather on the Coast. Wetter than normal according to Environment Canada.
February 2005 Site of the Day archives - some good soaring despite early time of year. Flights as long as 3 hours at Woodside, some good flights at Whidbey Island for first timers, too!
January 2005 Site of the Day archives road trips to Mexico, not much flying locally due to strong north winds and rain. Record rain kept Eagle Ranch quite wet for kiting.
December 2004 Site of the Day archives a dry month with some good soaring including a fantastic day on Dec. 11 where we thermalled for 2+ hours!
November 2004 Site of the Day archives more record rain. We installed a fireplace in the barn to keep pilots warm between winter flights.
October 2004 Site of the Day archives more record rain, but sweet soaring between showers. Many new students signed up and making quick progress. We missed the Women's Fly In for the first time in 9 years, and there was some interesting flying on the Sunday!
September 2004 Site of the Day archives rainiest September on record for the first 3 weeks, made flying difficult. But Alan and others logged some pretty nice flights later in the month. Lots of student tandems for both Colleen and Jim.
August 2004 Site of the Day archives Great Maneuver/SIV/ACRO course at Mara. Jack got wet! Some great soaring at Woodside. Norm made it 68 km from Mara to King Eddie, Derek made it from Lumby to Enderby the opposite direction for 67 kms. We also did our BC roadtrip from Ashcroft to New Denver, and flew everyday.
July 2004 Site of the Day archives the Willi was on at Golden. We missed the mayhem due to work and school commitments but Norm did a great job representing the West Coast.
June 2004 Site of the Day archives Canadian Nationals came off with many great rounds. Pemberton-Whistler Championships were blown out most days so we headed to Cornwall.
May 2004 Site of the Day archives great flying at Woodside and Bridal. We held a very successful SIV Course at Mara Lake, and hope to run another one in August if they keep the forests open.
April 2004 Site of the Day archives good flying in the Valley. The Fraser Valley Cross Country PG Series was successssful.
March 2004 Site of the Day archives Nicole won in Brazil, otherwise the month sucked for flying time.
February 2004 Site of the Day archives some local flights extended to an hour with vigourous scratching above the trees. Good paramotor month.
January 2004 Site of the Day archives Mexican road trip yielded 20 hours of flight and a wet Canadian January kept most local pilots on the ground.
December 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew a few times but it got really cold at the end of the month as we prepared for a gala New Year's Party for 40 of our close personal friends and neighbours.
November 2003 Site of the Day archives windy and wet with the odd good soaring day, not many pilots out these days.
October 2003 Site of the Day archives Women's Fly In was great fun, some good soaring days mid-month, most of the students are signed off.
September 2003 Site of the Day archives good conditions until the last days of the month when it got stable. Most days were flyable at Woodside or Bridal.
August 2003 Site of the Day archives Forest closures made the end of the month a non-flying period unless you headed to Blanchard. FlyBC SIV 2003 was a great success with 9 stunt pilots and no deployments or crashes.
July 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew most days early at Woodside until it got windy, then over to Bridal. Good Golden flying reports from the "Willi".
June 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew most weekdays at Bridal, Woodside worked most weekends. Bridal Air Races had one great day with only two tree landings!
May 2003 Site of the Day archives not a great weather month on the coast, especially on the weekends but a few pilots managed to get some great airtime at Bridal. The Nationals were held in Lumby and it didn't rain!
April 2003 Site of the Day archives rain for 28 of 30 April days, but we managed to get a few flights in between showers. Even the golfers were complaining!
March 2003 Site of the Day archives some high spring flights in early March, but not a great weather month. Still no HPAC Insurance!
February 2003 Site of the Day archives some nice long spring flights in late February. HPAC Insurance expired on Feb 14, so many pilots stayed home instead of getting USHGA coverage.
January 2003 Site of the Day archives lots of rain all month in BC so we bailed and headed to Tapalpa Mexico for three weeks. Norm and Lucille had a great XC flight the first day we arrived.
December 2002 Site of the Day archives lots of rain all month.
November 2002 Site of the Day archives not a great flying month, lots of rain in the beginning and then super stable and inverted for the balance of the month. Even the Savona Road Trip wasn't that great. Looking forward to Mexico!
October 2002 Site of the Day archives Still soarable some days, great fun at the Women's Fly In 2002 in Chelan. Allan logged 15 hours and only flew a few days. Most of the students are ready for signoff soon to get ready for Mexico trips!
September 2002 Site of the Day archives Still soarable most everyday! Some scary incidents at Woodside. Fun flying at Ashcroft.
August 2002 Site of the Day archives More spring-like days with super lapse rates, great fun up-country at Revelstoke and Mara, with some good XCs for all.
July 2002 Site of the Day archives Some spring-like days with super lapse rates, but still rather wet at times.
June 2002 Site of the Day archives another rainy and windy month with great lapse rates, some great flights at Bridal with some getting above Cheam Peak. The Club Cup was nearly rained out but they got one valid task in on Sunday June 30.
May 2002 Site of the Day archives an extremely rainy month with the more spring mayhem, another reserve deployment at Lil Nick and a pilot crashed at the top of Deroche Mountain, uninjured but with a ripped glider and long hike down the mountain. Colleen placed 5th place at the Canadian PG Nationals in rainy Lumby!
April 2002 Site of the Day archives a rainy month with the usual spring mayhem, one reserve deployment at Woodside and a pilot hit a parked car at Bridal LZ, fracturing his leg.
March 2002 Site of the Day archives a few great days days with lots of snow and rain mixed in.
February 2002 Site of the Day archives two epic days already (4.5 hours and 2.5 hours!).
January 2002 Site of the Day archives Mexico vacation shots, some local flying but it was wet on the coast.
December 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, wettest December on record, some good days sprinkled thru the month.
November 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, had some good days at Woodside +2 hours, lots of rain later in the month.
October 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, but great flying at Chelan at the Women's Fly In.
September 2001 Site of the Day archives starting to get pretty stable, more sled rides forecast for October.
Aug 2001 Site of the Day archives Mara, Bridal, till some great flights locally
July 2001 Site of the Day archives Road Trip Month, Golden, Mara, points east!
June 2001 Site of the Day archives Great Month, 3 hours of airtime for some pilots every time they flew Bridal Lower! Some getting up to 6 hours in a single flight!
May 2001 Site of the Day archives Unstable Month, 2-3 hours of airtime for some pilots every time they flew Bridal Lower!
April 2001 Site of the Day archives Rainy Month, not as much airtime for some pilots
March 2001 Site of the Day archives Spring has Sprung!
February 2001 Site of the Day archives Spring is in the Air!
January 2001 Site of the Day archives - Mexico Flying Trip
December 2000 Site of the Day archives
November 2000 Site of the Day archives (great month for airtime!)
October 2000 Site of the Day archives
September 2000 Site of the Day archives
July - August 2000 Site of the Day archives
June 2000 Site of the Day archives
March - May 2000 Site of the Day archives
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