FlyBC "Site of the Day Archive 2008"
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." - from Ferris Bueller's Day Off
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Blanchard Report - There has been some epic Ebey flying this week while I've been at work. People had as much as 6hrs air time both Tuesday and Wednesday. The RASP forecast seems to be doing a pretty good job with EBEY. TJ's RASP link At least I got out Wednesday evening to Blanchard, it was fun today, I didn't get there all that early, but I still had a nice half-hour of smooth lift. One kind eagle led me to what seems to have been the thermal of the day that got me to 1800 ft. (Top of Blanchard is 2200) Only two other pilots in the air with me, both of whom had been the air for well over an hour when I arrived. Mark was at launch, having top-landed to keep from freezing - TJ. Woodside Theft Report - if someone hasn't taken the telescope home to clean and align it, it is not officially stolen. Sometime between Monday and Wednesday it went away, oddly nothing else touched?? This telescope has been a helpful fixture at the Ranch since Brent Pascall gave it to us for a house-warming gift in 2001 so it is a bummer to lose it.
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Woodside Report - Woodside looked pretty windy today. The new Video Webcam showed the clouds moving by fairly fast and some rain. No pireps. | New Pilot Reports - Megan finally named her new son Remington Gerard Le Blanc (Remy for short).  New Baby Boy Remy LeBlanc and mom Megan - photo by CMV New Pilot Report #2 - Justin and Julie had their son Finn Fletcher Kuhneman on April 27th. Story to follow about not getting to the hospital on time?  New Baby Boy Finn and mom Julie - photo by Justin
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Monsoon Report - very wet in the Valley all day with heaviest rain after dark. |
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Elk Hike and Fly Report - Kevin reported great soaring conditions with multiple top-landings. Larry was seen out trying out his new Ozone Ultralite 23 which made his hike easier (5 kgs for harness and glider). | Peachland Report - Colleen and Megan had hiked the day before Megan had the baby and they found a new launch site right over the townsite. Landing on the narrow beach or a few vanct lots on the shoreline. It was too cloudy to get decent thermals so I will try it another day. It is a hike-in site but not too far in from then main roads.
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Woodside Report - we were able to fly Woodside by 11 am, despite nasty east wind forecast that never happened.
Some east winds in the valley but nice cycles at launch. Alex R hiked up early with Martin N and they had nice flights with Alex gettting an hour before noon.
| We started flying students Rob C, Jonathon and Matt J at 11:00 am and they had about four flights each with each flight getting progressively longer as I was doing tandems. Martina had a great flight all alone as many headed off to Bridal as the others sunk out. The last flight had us all in the air while I was tandem with Natasha, and I was "duking it out" with Kevin and "the Hammer" on the north towers with no gloves and no flight suit so it got a bit chilly. Natasha said she was getting dizzy after 45 minutes so I took her out to the Ranch to land as the students stayed up. Reports from Malahat Launch from Bruce McG via 146.415 mhz direct showed light cycles, not enough to soar so they were waiting, signals were as clear as if they were at Eagle Ranch, amazing. Reports from Bridal had Alex R over the Butterfly at 1100 meters, others at various spots on the mountain, so the 25 minute hike to launch was worth it! Looks like Bridal is going to be good this season, as usual. New Pilot Report - Our daughter Megan had another little one last night at 3 am in Kelowna. Colleen was up in the trailer all week babysitting Chloe so Mom Megan could get prepared for the yet un-named baby boy LeBlanc. I drove up last night after packing up and will be staying in Kelowna today visiting the kids.  New Baby Boy LeBlanc - photo by CMV
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Woodside Report - a bunch of pilots were up on launch and flew before I arrived at 2:30 pm, and had extended sledders. Martin N did the best floating on his XL ship near the South Knoll, but the rest hit the dirt fast. | I took a load up and we weren't terribly motivated for a sled ride, but as we arrived Ihor launched and went straight up without many turns. The rush was on! I launched pretty soon after Ihor; as did Alex R, Alex W, Kent, Miguel, Gary K and everyone stayed up for over an hour. Skies were cloudy with imbedded CUs and light wind but if you found a core, it could take you high. Alex R was flying a 20 meter semi-acro wing without as much lift as his normal wing so I stayed with him pretty easily (for a change!). We climbed to 1300 meters in several locations. Alex W almost sunk out and grabbed a low save near the last clearcut to regain his flight and did very well after that hitting 1400 meters once. Miguel had to be at the airport to pick up his wife at 8:00 pm, so his top-landing plan came together as he plopped in with enough time to hit the highway by 6:00 pm, congrats on your first top-landing at Woodside (not the easiest place to top-land). Later in the flight the sun came out and the thermals started to die off? Alex W and I stayed aloft at the South Knoll just being patient and it started to kick off again, and we climbed off the Lower Launch switchback thermal and got back to 900 meters before heading out to the Ranch. Nice landing conditions in no wind.  A shot from the FlyBC Web Cam today showing the clear skies later as pilots sunk out - photo by WebCam Alan D was at Bridal and had similar conditions and logged 3:00 landing near 6:30 pm. Thanks to Nataliya for driving my truck down so I could fly! Peachland Baby Report - Colleen called this morning to say Megan and Jamie had their new baby boy at 3:00 am in Kelowna Hospital. No pictures or details yet and they are still fighting over the name.
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Woodside Report - Martin N showed up around 2 pm to see the trees bending over at launch and landing! Forecast was right for velocity and it lasted until 7 pm, when it started raining hard. |
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Woodside Report - I arrived at 3 pm, to find light cycles at launch and NW winds in the Eagle Ranch LZ. Probably leeside again, and no one around to fly with until Jack and Martina showed up to help move some furniture. But we weren't motivated to fly as it looked lame. But it sure wasn't windy or raining as forecasted? |
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Fraser Valley Report - very windy from the NE all day, not even possible to kite due to the wind speed and gusts. | Kirill's HG Trike Report - A windy day to fly! Unless you start early (7am) and fly something that can cruise at 100 kph. Still very cold at White Rock and lots of watery fields as seen from the picture.  Kirill over Delta - photo by KT
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Woodside Report - quite the exciting day in the Valley! | Denis flew from Woodside towards Mission landing near Deroche, and hitched back to Woodside and on his second flight was seen high heading east but no reports of where he landed as of 9 pm. Kevin A reported in at 2000 meters between Woodside and Bridal and ended up landing at Bridal LZ, hitching a ride back to Woodside with Alan who flew Bridal but wasn't very comfortable with the huge climbs and possible imbedded CUs so he was flying conservatively. Al, Miguel and a few others were also flying.
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Woodside Report - we were painting inside when Miguel, Nikolai and Al headed up to launch. Light to tailwind cycles and a huge black CU was growing over the South Knoll. | Norm was heading from Agassiz when he saw Miguel's new Rush "ball up" and he started "tail-siding" for a bit before the wing sorted itself out and started flying. Post flight discussions had Miguel climbing at +9 m/s with -10 m/s associated sink, hence the big collapse - but the Rush II stayed on course despite losing 70% of the flying surface. Al's flight went better and eventually Nikolai got off with a forward launch and was immediately "beamed up" to the black CU's cloudbase where he stayed for an hour plus. When we headed off to Kelowna at 5:00 pm, we overheard reports that he was on the Chilliwack side of the Fraser River near the old sky-diving LZ.  Whistler Speed Flying Report - Just giving you an update from my Speedflying in Whistler. Finally we had a weekend with good visibility and light winds (plus I had a photographer handy). So it was a great chance to get some speedflying in. We had about 15cm of fresh powder and almost no one around in the back country. Had enough energy to hike up for three flights off of Dekker Peak - Stephen F. Stephen SpeedFlying his Nano - photo by James Friesen
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Woodside Report - it was very windy from the NE all day Jon Orders came out to Eagle Ranch with a HG student who was doing hops off the NW side of the Training Hill. Colleen commented that they were learning wire assisted cliff launches for their first lesson! | There was no flying anywhere in the Valley, except a few Cessnas going very slow to the North over Harrison Mills.
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Woodside Report - it looked like winter here yesterday: snow, wind, hail, sunshine at times, then OD'ed into more snow and blizzard conditions. Snow right down to valley levels, with the local loggers having to shut down again. Monday - Wednesday looks like our first break of good weather. |
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Woodside Report - rainy and windy, until around 7:00 pm, the calm before the storm! |
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Woodside Report - it was flyable, but I didn't see anyone when I looked at the new FlyBC Woodside Video Webcam . | It seems the cost of gas and the long drive are keeping the keeners at home during these damp weather days?
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Woodside Report - while I was in Toronto, I was monitoring Woodside Conditions on the
new FlyBC Woodside Video Webcam and NOAA reports and although it looked flyable, it was not the best day to venture out. As I returned around 7:00 pm, cloud tops were at 9000 feet with cloudbase at 6000 feet and not much turbulence so it was probably just ridge lift if anyone flew. | Sun-N-Fun Report - Finally the end of Sun-n-Fun 2008 in ever sunny Florida. A few thousand planes, untralights, powered hanggliders, paragliders and helicopters together with a dozen or so thousands of spectators congregated under the sweltering heat of Lakeland, FL.  Patriotic skyDiver - photo by Kirill Every conceivable shape and form of flying contraption was there as well as supporting infrastructure vendors.  Nice T-Shirt - photo by Kirill Transport Canada was there to answer questions for Canadian pilots and wannabies. Many demo flights and air shows. Very busy but meticulously controlled airspace prevented any accidents.  Air Show Action - photo by Kirill Many big names including Joe Kittinger who holds world's highest parachute jump record of 103,000 ft - Kirill p.s. This guy in a hanggliding amphib trike landed and his retractions mechanism failed him so that the front wheel collapsed. Fortunately he had already bled off all the speed after landing  Oops - photo by Kirill New Live Video Woodside Web Cam featuring 5 fps video action - watch pilots launch and land here. email us your comments as this is a test installation and can be modified. We are up to $120 cost now so donations are appreciated :-)
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Woodside Report - it looked flyable in the afternoon with a few gusts in the Eagle Ranch LZ. |
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Woodside Report - a few showers but I was on a plane to Toronto, so missed all the action - Jim. |
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Woodside Report - Magic Woodside works again!. | We woke up to forecasts of strong east winds aloft switching to strong South winds later. But by 10 am it was launchable at Woodside and it continued to be so until 7 pm. We can now drive right in to the parking lot at launch! Lots of flying action today. Brad called from Elk and he was launching east. Kevin flew Sumas but it wasn't so good there. And many flew Woodside and some even soared a while. Kelly was even out for 4 flights! Duking it out with Martina for the most flights in a day!  Martina and Kelly in an Ozone Ad Picture Moment - photo by Martina New student Blair flew 5 flights before calling it a day. Matt J and Jonathon flew a few flights waiting for Matt S to show up. Rob C flew a few flights too, but not long flights for the students today due to the inversion.
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Woodside Report - it was a harrowing adventure getting out of Vancouver today! Started from Commercial Drive at 1 pm, with a few stops and many slowdowns due to accidents on the freeway. Arrived at the Ranch at 4:00 pm, to see Wiley and Blair waiting to fly, but it was so lame it was barely kiteable. | Eagle Ranch LZ has shrunken today as Eric is plowing the West Field, I assume to plant corn. Should make for some interesting landings in the wind! I would recommend approaching over Duncan's to the east in strong conditions and doing a fast aircraft approach over the fence.
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Woodside Report -
Rob and I did get later day flight in. Waited for a bit for it to stop crossing from the north. Nice big cells to watch but some sun on launch. Good launches and off into strong ridge. Sub 10 km speeds so we stayed out front. Both had a about an hour then we walked back up from your place in an hour 40! Nice peaceful day with no radio talk and just two people out and tons of eagles skittering at us - Alex R |
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Woodside Report - I spent the morning working on a proposal and welcomed the chance to go flying when Norm and Rob C showed up at 1 pm. We hustled up the mountain and Norm was off first and trying to climb north of the cliffs when Rob C launched and headed over there too. | Last thing I saw was Norm down very low and Rob trying to get some lift over the construction site, as I drove down. I assumed they would both be on the ground soon, especially Norm who looked like Joe's was a possibility. As I rounded the Lower Launch curve I saw Rob packing up in Duncan's $20 field. No sign of Norm and he was not on radio. Al had arrived so I told him we were pickig up Rob on the highway, so we headed up in Al's rig. I then saw Norm up high heading to Eagle Ranch, having climbed up and away while Rob sunk fast. We were able to get Al's FJ up to the parking turnaround, but the snow is still 2 feet deep in palces. Saturday's high of 22 degrees should get rid of some of the deeper stuff. Rob and Al launched with interesting results on flight #2 and climbed very fast with interesting turbulence mixed in the ridge lift.  Rob C on his Presta and Al just off launch on his Addict II - photo by JPR After 20 minutes of getting bounced around Rob headed out to the Ranch from very high, and just got into the Eagle Ranch LZ due to the strong south winds. A bit of rodeo on the descent but manageable for both Al and Rob. Rob headed home as Kevin arrived and we loaded up Al's FJ and got to launch around 3:30 pm. Still cycling strong at launch as I launched the Boom Sport and started climbing in ridge lift, followed by Kevin and Al. The plan was for one of us to top-land to drive down, and after an hour Al made it in, and he relaunched. We were getting up to 1100 meters in ridge and thermals despite a cloudy sky with dark CUs. I watched Al top-land again, and I followed him in as did Kevin, so we had 3 drivers and one truck, so we all relaunched again. This time I got high and headed out over the Ranch to check out the winds, arriving over the Ranch at 950 meters and light SE winds. It was so smooth I answered my cell as Colleen was calling to see what I was doing for dinner over the Ranch. I flew back to launch arriving low (oddly I climbed all the way out to the Ranch but lost it all on the downwind), but climbed back to launch in a thermal off Lower Launch and attempted a few approaches before Al top-landed for the last time. Kevin and I headed out to the Eagle Ranch LZ assured that it was smooth, rather than doing the Harvest Market run. I landed after Kevin with 1:48 total time on the vario in two flights and it was still working at launch as Eagles were still soaring. Back to work Thursday and Friday, but Saturday is looking good - Jim
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Woodside Report - no one came out to fly, but it was clear most of the afternoon. Gusty until around 4 pm, then cycles at launch and in the Eagle Ranch LZ calmed down nicely. |
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Woodside Report - when I arrived at the Ranch around 2:00 pm, it was very gusty but clear with developing CUs over launch. In an hour it had calmed down and cycles at launch looked good, but alas no one came out because of the hideous forecast. |
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Woodside Report - we had a monsoon come through in the morning, but around 2:00 pm Norm came by and we headed up Woodside Mountain: Colleen, Norm and I. | There was a bit of sun, and the sky looked "industrial strength", with CUs popping. I launched and spent 15 minutes grovelling in the clear cuts, before heading out low to the Ranch landing out of an aircraft approach at the training hill in nice east winds. Colleen flew after a tandem had sunk out pretty fast into Harvest West, and got about 15-20 minutes in the air landing in no wind at the Ranch.  Colleen over the Maple Tree at Duncan's Ranch, Norm is visible left of the large poplar on the left if you zoom in (down low) - photo by JPR Norm had a pretty uneventful flight too 15-20 minutes of scratching, but we all flew!. As we drove up to retrieve, it started raining so it was a short 2 hour window of fun between showers. On the way into Vancouver later we drove through some of the heaviest rain I can remember, wipers going full speed and still hard to see! The week looks like a "wash-out" for flying based on the forecasts.
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Woodside Report - WOW!! Despite getting here late and leaving early, Jonathon logged 5 flights testing his new Ozone wing out (keep kiting, your launches were great). From morning sledders to thermalling in a light thermal off the construction site back to launch altitude, he did it all. One landing at Bill Best's for fun, the rest into Eagle Ranch. | A few others were out too: Al (with the wildest top-landing Norm has ever seen at Woodside), Zdenek (also top-landed after an hour), Gerry L, Gary K (thermalled for his first flight in many months), Justin, Norm, and Rob C who showed up very late but got two student flights in light air. It was flyable most of the day, one or two drips of rain mid-day did not stop any flying. Very dark at Bridal all day.
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Woodside Report - it was raining most of the day and later around 5 pm, it opened up and launch was clear, but I had recommended to everyone to stay home, so no pilots were out yesterday. It is getting dark around 8 pm now so flights can go on much later if you can get away. |
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Woodside Report - Richard T, Kevin, Daryl and Tom (HGer) were heading to Woodside. It may not have been as good as yesterday, but no reports came in yet. | Bella Coola Report - Derek, Martina, Jack and their German friends have been terrorizing Bella Coola for the past week: sledding, paragliding, rescuing a crashed paraglider pilot who lives in Bella Colla (self-taught), and partying every night. Yesterday they were flying off a 300 meter ridge and the lift was so strong Derek had to "big-ear" back down to top-land to tell Martina it was too strong to fly! The ridge was all snow with only a few trees sticking out so they must have had "tree thermals" kicking off. We used to get that paragliding at Whistler in the dead of winter and little sun.
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Woodside Report - a late start for my day at the Ranch but we were on the hill and launching by 2:30 pm. | Flying the Boom Sport today (my favourite climbing wing), I caught a thermal to the north of launch and was "beamed to" 1200 meters in a few turns while Stefan, Kevin and Richard were getting ready. Stefan tried for 20 minutes to catch me but to no avail (I guess the thermal died after i topped out). At one point Norm was high over Harrison River and I was thinking we could have stayed there and thermalled up to Hemlock Resort from there. Good thing we didn't as Hemlock is now closed for the season! Norm, Rob S and a few others were in the air but only Norm hung in til 5:45 pm. Pretty long flight for a guy who starts work at 3 pm?? We were all getting turns at the top of the stack, and it was rough at 1400 meters. The thermals tracked back to almost Agassiz Mountain but only Al and Nikolai flew that way getting flushed at Bear eventually. Alan D was flying Bridal and also hit 1400 meters just below Upper Launch height. One by one trucks were being retrieved as Ihor and Ian J got a ride up with Mark F and they got Ihor and Rob's truck down. Somehow Al got back to his vehicle before I top-landed and I never even saw him leave. Top landing today was no easy task, winds gusty from 20-30 kph and very lifty near launch. I had it a few times and the thermals cracked off and took me back to 900 meters before I could spiral back down for another try. Ultimately the low approach over the clearcut below launch lifted me on to the slope smoothly, but it is a bit weird facing the south slope of launch, wing below launch as you approach and the lift gently rises you onto launch, or dumps you in the snow bank as has happened to a few lately. My flight was 1:30, lift +5.5 m/s, sink -4.5 m/s, Altitude 1400 meters. I packed up and drove down for chores as Kevin and Richard flew out to the Ranch landing in steady south winds, softly at 6:00 pm.
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Woodside Report - arriving at 1 pm, I saw a truckload heading up and Denis, Nickolai and Miguel already in the air soaring nicely. | I went up with Ihor and we were in the launch queue waiting as the other got off. Norm drove down rather than miss work as it was getting late and he knew he would hate to have to fly thought lift to land in time. I flew Jonathon's new Vulcan and it was very nice, climbing until I froze. Not likely to get as high and Robin and Nicole who were getting up to 1400 meters at times. I stayed below 1100 meters to maintain some body temperature as I forgot my balaclava. After 40 minutes I top-landed and drove down to get my tandem passenger who was coming up later. Super smooth top-landing conditions with 25 kph winds and no ripping thermals so you could park over launch and parachute in with style. Climbs were +4 m/s, sink -3.9 m/s on the first flight. Rick and I went back up with balaclavas and full flight suits and launched into some sweet soaring conditions with Kevin who was climbing to 1100 meters right away on his M2. We soared around getting high and I gave Rick the controls and he flew all over Woodside and out over the Valley at 900 meters. We observed Ihor landing and also Nicole, who seemed to have a good approach and touchdown and then flew back to the mountain for more soaring until Rick said he was feeling a bit dizzy. Calculating the time it would take to get down to the Ranch vs. top-landing, I asked if he minded a top-landing. He was game so we "big-ear'ed" down to launch height, made two passes and just like before we parked over the snowy launch and touched down smoothly and packed up to drive down the Van and Kevin's rig. Unfortunately, Nickolai's truck was still on launch and he was at the bottom of Ludwig, Denis was still in the air on the Bridal side and Miguel flew to Harvest so retrieves were going to be tough. Al's truck was also at launch as he had flown to Harrison Beach, but he got a ride from a tourist to the top! We arrived to the Ranch, we found out Nicole had fallen over on her side after touching down and had hurt her shoulder. Ihor helped her pack up and she was in a great deal of pain so he called an ambulance instead of driving her to chilliwack, but the ambulance took an hour to get to the Ranch. I went to the hospital after finishing up chores and picked her up at ChilliwacK General and drove her to vancouver. 1-2 weeks of recuperation ordered by the Doc before she can do any arm-lifting or flaring. Thanks to Ihor for being "on-scene commander". Last thing we heard was Denis was over Elk at 1500 meters, Denis's Flight Log
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Woodside Report - the day looked pretty good from Vancouver as I drove out to Chilliwack, Al and Martin were headed up to Launch but it started snowing in Chilliwack so I stayed working there until 5:00 pm when I met Doug M to deliver his new Addict II, which he was able to fly off before dark but all the thermals were gone by then. | |
FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day Reports
February 2008 Site of the Day archives - more snow in BC than I can remember in 25 years of living here. We are still hiking to launch at Woodside!
January 2008 Site of the Day archives - worst weather in years so we went to Mexico and logged many hours of airtime, while it snowed heavily in BC.
December 2007 Site of the Day archives - worst weather in years so we went to Mexico on Dec 29th for three weeks.
November 2007 Site of the Day archives - Colleen and I went to California to fly the new Falcon A-16 Advanced Ultralight prototype and it flew very well. Some good soaring days at Woodside, some folks were still trying to fly Bridal but that is a waste of time this late in the season.
October 2007 Site of the Day archives - mid-air at Woodside caused Martin H some paraglider damage, some great soarable days. The Women's Fly In was a success with the Canuck Team taking top spot for the theme of "Celebrities in Rehab".
September 2007 Site of the Day archives - we re-discovered and flew 'Horsefly' Launch for the first time, some mayhem at Woodside due to tree-suck, lots of good soaring in afternoon glassoffs, a great Indian Summer until late in the month when the rains came early. Derek, Martina, Robin and Diane went to Europe. Kirill went to Australia for a paramotor Fly-In.
Augusr 2007 Site of the Day archives - fun two weeks at Mara Lake, followed by steady flying at Woodside and Bridal, making up for the dismal spring and summer.
July 2007 Site of the Day archives - good flights at Bridal, some mayhem at Woodside from visiting pilots.
June 2007 Site of the Day archives - more crappy weather on the weekends. Some awesome flights between showers as Norm and Thomm flew to Mission on the last day of the month.
May 2007 Site of the Day archives - flyable every weekday, but the Fraser Valley XC Comp got crappy weather on the weekends, although it was student flyable.
April 2007 Site of the Day archives - good flights are starting. Some complete triangles from Woodside to Bridal and back, some "musical triangles" from others.
March 2007 Site of the Day archives - fifth month of crappy weather on the Coast. We went to Santa Barbara for some flights, and to dry out. Some good days were also recorded locally.
Febuary 2007 Site of the Day archives - fourth month of crappy weather on the Coast. So we stayed in Mexico.
January 2007 Site of the Day archives - third month of crappy weather on the Coast. So we went to Mexico to fly Colima, Tapalpa, and San Marcos, while Brad and gang headed to Tenacingo, Mexico.
December 2006 Site of the Day archives - more ugly weather on the Coast. Severe winds damaged trees and property so not much flying happened. Some good flight reports from local PGers travelling world-wide.
November 2006 Site of the Day archives - the wettest November on record. We flew a few good flights but mostly we were rained out.
October 2006 Site of the Day archives - lots of good days with 3-4 hours airtime. The Women's Fly-In was on again in Chelan with about 18 Canucks, and a good day Saturday with 85 registered pilots.
September 2006 Site of the Day archives - still soarable in the Fraser Valley, little or no rain. Colleen is back flying! Some mayhem in the valley.
August 2006 Site of the Day archives - a great flying month everywhere, we had a super successful SIV clinic at Mara Lake with everyone SAT-ing and heli-ing.
July 2006 Site of the Day archives - road trip to Lumby, then on the 8th Colleen spun in below Gloria cancelling her summer plans (but she is recuperating well).
June 2006 Site of the Day archives - the Valley dried out, and we flew most days and every weekend.
May 2006 Site of the Day archives - more rain that ever imagined in the Fraser Valley. Very few soaring flights and even less XC.
April 2006 Site of the Day archives - the Easter Bunny was "run over" on Kilby Road, plus the train wreck on April 1.
March 2006 Site of the Day archives - a new pilot was born, Chloe. We also flew a few days between showers, some long flights up to 4 hours. A few Out & Return Flights to Deroche and Bear.
February 2006 Site of the Day archives - another wet month with some soarable days (2).
January 2006 Site of the Day archives - some flying on Elk and Woodside, smart pilots headed South for great Mexican or Chilean flying.
December 2005 Site of the Day archives - some flying on Elk and Woodside, smart pilots headed South.
November 2005 Site of the Day archives - rain, snow and not much flying.
October 2005 Site of the Day archives - Women's Fly In in Chelan yielded two soarable days before the snows hit.
September 2005 Site of the Day archives - dry most of the month. Some great 4 hour flights at Woodside getting to cloudbase most days. Three crash-landings in the same clearcut by pilots scratching too low, but no injuries.
August 2005 Site of the Day archives - road trips to the Interior gave us an opportunity to rag out some gliders at FlyBC SIV 2005 (Part II). Also a great road trip to Savona.
July 2005 Site of the Day archives - good flying all month, no rain but some windy days shut us down. The Willi started in Golden with a few good days, but one tragedy as Charles Warren perished in a crash near Harrogate.
June 2005 Site of the Day archives - too much rain, but good days to fly between showers.
May 2005 Site of the Day archives - our Instructor/Tandem seminar yielded some good flying. Our May 2005 SIV Clinic had a good turnout, with many wet wings/pilots! Many nice flights at Woodside and Bridal, with some long "out & returns" at Bridal.
April 2005 Site of the Day archives - some great soaring at Woodside and Bridal. Sad news from the US Hanggliding Nationals as Chris Muller crashes at goal.
March 2005 Site of the Day archives - we had to head out of town to Savona a few weekends due to wet weather on the Coast. Wetter than normal according to Environment Canada.
February 2005 Site of the Day archives - some good soaring despite early time of year. Flights as long as 3 hours at Woodside, some good flights at Whidbey Island for first timers, too!
January 2005 Site of the Day archives road trips to Mexico, not much flying locally due to strong north winds and rain. Record rain kept Eagle Ranch quite wet for kiting.
December 2004 Site of the Day archives a dry month with some good soaring including a fantastic day on Dec. 11 where we thermalled for 2+ hours!
November 2004 Site of the Day archives more record rain. We installed a fireplace in the barn to keep pilots warm between winter flights.
October 2004 Site of the Day archives more record rain, but sweet soaring between showers. Many new students signed up and making quick progress. We missed the Women's Fly In for the first time in 9 years, and there was some interesting flying on the Sunday!
September 2004 Site of the Day archives rainiest September on record for the first 3 weeks, made flying difficult. But Alan and others logged some pretty nice flights later in the month. Lots of student tandems for both Colleen and Jim.
August 2004 Site of the Day archives Great Maneuver/SIV/ACRO course at Mara. Jack got wet! Some great soaring at Woodside. Norm made it 68 km from Mara to King Eddie, Derek made it from Lumby to Enderby the opposite direction for 67 kms. We also did our BC roadtrip from Ashcroft to New Denver, and flew everyday.
July 2004 Site of the Day archives the Willi was on at Golden. We missed the mayhem due to work and school commitments but Norm did a great job representing the West Coast.
June 2004 Site of the Day archives Canadian Nationals came off with many great rounds. Pemberton-Whistler Championships were blown out most days so we headed to Cornwall.
May 2004 Site of the Day archives great flying at Woodside and Bridal. We held a very successful SIV Course at Mara Lake, and hope to run another one in August if they keep the forests open.
April 2004 Site of the Day archives good flying in the Valley. The Fraser Valley Cross Country PG Series was successssful.
March 2004 Site of the Day archives Nicole won in Brazil, otherwise the month sucked for flying time.
February 2004 Site of the Day archives some local flights extended to an hour with vigourous scratching above the trees. Good paramotor month.
January 2004 Site of the Day archives Mexican road trip yielded 20 hours of flight and a wet Canadian January kept most local pilots on the ground.
December 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew a few times but it got really cold at the end of the month as we prepared for a gala New Year's Party for 40 of our close personal friends and neighbours.
November 2003 Site of the Day archives windy and wet with the odd good soaring day, not many pilots out these days.
October 2003 Site of the Day archives Women's Fly In was great fun, some good soaring days mid-month, most of the students are signed off.
September 2003 Site of the Day archives good conditions until the last days of the month when it got stable. Most days were flyable at Woodside or Bridal.
August 2003 Site of the Day archives Forest closures made the end of the month a non-flying period unless you headed to Blanchard. FlyBC SIV 2003 was a great success with 9 stunt pilots and no deployments or crashes.
July 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew most days early at Woodside until it got windy, then over to Bridal. Good Golden flying reports from the "Willi".
June 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew most weekdays at Bridal, Woodside worked most weekends. Bridal Air Races had one great day with only two tree landings!
May 2003 Site of the Day archives not a great weather month on the coast, especially on the weekends but a few pilots managed to get some great airtime at Bridal. The Nationals were held in Lumby and it didn't rain!
April 2003 Site of the Day archives rain for 28 of 30 April days, but we managed to get a few flights in between showers. Even the golfers were complaining!
March 2003 Site of the Day archives some high spring flights in early March, but not a great weather month. Still no HPAC Insurance!
February 2003 Site of the Day archives some nice long spring flights in late February. HPAC Insurance expired on Feb 14, so many pilots stayed home instead of getting USHGA coverage.
January 2003 Site of the Day archives lots of rain all month in BC so we bailed and headed to Tapalpa Mexico for three weeks. Norm and Lucille had a great XC flight the first day we arrived.
December 2002 Site of the Day archives lots of rain all month.
November 2002 Site of the Day archives not a great flying month, lots of rain in the beginning and then super stable and inverted for the balance of the month. Even the Savona Road Trip wasn't that great. Looking forward to Mexico!
October 2002 Site of the Day archives Still soarable some days, great fun at the Women's Fly In 2002 in Chelan. Allan logged 15 hours and only flew a few days. Most of the students are ready for signoff soon to get ready for Mexico trips!
September 2002 Site of the Day archives Still soarable most everyday! Some scary incidents at Woodside. Fun flying at Ashcroft.
August 2002 Site of the Day archives More spring-like days with super lapse rates, great fun up-country at Revelstoke and Mara, with some good XCs for all.
July 2002 Site of the Day archives Some spring-like days with super lapse rates, but still rather wet at times.
June 2002 Site of the Day archives another rainy and windy month with great lapse rates, some great flights at Bridal with some getting above Cheam Peak. The Club Cup was nearly rained out but they got one valid task in on Sunday June 30.
May 2002 Site of the Day archives an extremely rainy month with the more spring mayhem, another reserve deployment at Lil Nick and a pilot crashed at the top of Deroche Mountain, uninjured but with a ripped glider and long hike down the mountain. Colleen placed 5th place at the Canadian PG Nationals in rainy Lumby!
April 2002 Site of the Day archives a rainy month with the usual spring mayhem, one reserve deployment at Woodside and a pilot hit a parked car at Bridal LZ, fracturing his leg.
March 2002 Site of the Day archives a few great days days with lots of snow and rain mixed in.
February 2002 Site of the Day archives two epic days already (4.5 hours and 2.5 hours!).
January 2002 Site of the Day archives Mexico vacation shots, some local flying but it was wet on the coast.
December 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, wettest December on record, some good days sprinkled thru the month.
November 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, had some good days at Woodside +2 hours, lots of rain later in the month.
October 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, but great flying at Chelan at the Women's Fly In.
September 2001 Site of the Day archives starting to get pretty stable, more sled rides forecast for October.
Aug 2001 Site of the Day archives Mara, Bridal, till some great flights locally
July 2001 Site of the Day archives Road Trip Month, Golden, Mara, points east!
June 2001 Site of the Day archives Great Month, 3 hours of airtime for some pilots every time they flew Bridal Lower! Some getting up to 6 hours in a single flight!
May 2001 Site of the Day archives Unstable Month, 2-3 hours of airtime for some pilots every time they flew Bridal Lower!
April 2001 Site of the Day archives Rainy Month, not as much airtime for some pilots
March 2001 Site of the Day archives Spring has Sprung!
February 2001 Site of the Day archives Spring is in the Air!
January 2001 Site of the Day archives - Mexico Flying Trip
December 2000 Site of the Day archives
November 2000 Site of the Day archives (great month for airtime!)
October 2000 Site of the Day archives
September 2000 Site of the Day archives
July - August 2000 Site of the Day archives
June 2000 Site of the Day archives
March - May 2000 Site of the Day archives
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