FlyBC "Site of the Day Archives" - December 2005
Quote of the Day:
"I told the doctor I broke my leg in two places. He told me to quit going to those places." - Henny Youngman
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| Mostly cloudy with slight chance of rain...mainly in the afternoon. Highs 60 to 65. Light winds. Chance of measurable precipitation 20 percent. | /1000' (stable) | 2300 feet |
Torrey Report - we arrived at Torrey early in case the impending storm brought soarable conditions, but alas it would not be so.
 Incoming weather at noon - photo by Colleen A few of the locals tried in vain and were soon on the beach. Derek insisted on having a flight after yesterday's airline problems and kited for a bit before I pushed him off the edge!  Derek gets a push (Jim's hamstring should heal by spring) - photo by Colleen  Derek doesn't get much lift - photo by Colleen  A group of Torrey "desperados" hung out until 4:00 pm, but gave up as it started raining.  Proof that we got rained out! - for the folks at home also sitting in the rain. It is New Years and we headed out to Incahoots Dance Hall for the evening. The girls bought new cowboy boots at the Mall to get in the spirit and they danced all night. The dance floor was crowded all night with two-step, line dancing and even Derek and Jim out for a few dances (but not together).  Hot Cowgirls from Canada!  A local San Diego cowboy, who also danced a mean two-step.
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| Cloudy with sunny periods. Fog patches early this morning. High 15. /1000' (stable) 2300 feet
Torrey Pines Report - another lazy day in San Diego. Slept in, spent a few hours shopping for gadgets at Radio Shack, had a bagel and eventually went to the Gliderport by noon.
| We waited for a while at the launch site, Colleen reading and me snoozing, while the wind picked up to 5 mph (enough to soar). I launched first and top-landed after 30 minutes while Colleen was getting ready. She launched and headed straight south to the pier and the mansions.  Jim launches early, note light wind in the socks - photo by Colleen I followed her and we flew together for a while, with nice thermals just before the pier to gain the most altitude.  Colleen's boots . . . heading south  Who has enough money to build a mansion this big? Derek and Martina were just getting in the air in Vancouver as their plane had mechanical problems (they didn't arrive until it was too late to fly).
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| Cloudy with sunny periods and 40 percent chance of showers. Fog patches early this morning. High 9. /1000' (stable) 2300 feet
Torrey Pines Report - a nice day in San Diego. We landed at the airport and were booked into a hotel, | rented a car and arrived at Torrey by 1:30 pm for the site briefing.  Pilots kiting while the wind built-up I launched first and took some shots of the view south while climbing in super-smooth air.  Torrey South to the pier Colleen then launched and climbed through the gliders and headed north to the Golf Course.  Torrey North to the Golf Course  Colleen up close  While everyone was soaring, a military jet flew overhead to the north, no conflict but there are lots of helicopters, planes and RCs to watch for!  Chile Report We are just settling in in Iquique, I got my first flight in today and Askia is still sizing up the area (plus her back is a bit sore from the bus). I hope you had a good Christmas - Jeremy and Askia  In air shot by Jeremy (where is he gonna land?)  Askia wind checker 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. 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 Christmas 2005.
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| Cloudy. Periods of rain beginning early this morning. Becoming windy. High 9. /1000' (stable) 2300 feet
No pireps from the Fraser Valley but it was sunny in Vancouver. Some fast moving clouds showed it too windy to fly.
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Woodside Report - despite a dismal forecast, the sun came out around 11:00 am. It looked good on the windsock so Derek, Colleen and I headed up to launch. When we arrived we were hurrying to get ready as we all had dinner dates (with us cooking) later and I clipped in fastest but by the time I got in position to launch it started gusting pretty hard and the clouds were whizzing by the South Knoll faster than I liked. Derek bailed early (smart call). After an hour of parawaiting we headed down as Andy showed up in his Jeep.
|  New Woodside Windsock that was installed at launch.  Woodside WebCam shot around the time we were at launch. 28/12/2005 :: OZONE XC SAFARI Updates Dec 28 Wilderness Coastal Flying - Paradise Found! From our camp on Sedgeview launch, we can see the windsock at the Wilderness Beach Hotel and the wind lines on the Indian Ocean. There are 8 soaring and thermal sites within a few minutes drive from our campsite that work in a good variety of wind directions. Yesterday we flew three sites in one day- two coastal cliffs and one inland (just a few hundred meters inland) thermal site. So far, the highlight has definitely been ‘Kleinkrantz’, where we soared the ‘Paradise’ ridge. Paradise Ridge is aptly named- it is a steep but soft slope, 150 meters in height, that extends for 9 km! Imagine flying for 9km without needing to touch your brakes, and in scenery so immaculate that your neck is soon sore from craning to take it all in. So far we have seen dolphins and sea lions in the surf below the cliff, which is almost entirely unspoiled by development and protects the beach below from humans by restricting beach access. There are very few footprints in the sand below the cliff after a few kilometers of soaring… we don’t mean no footprints… just a few… some of which were made by a couple of the team who sank out on the ridge miles from the truck after the conditions turned off halfway into the flight! They enjoyed a nice hot walk along the deserted beach, and were eventually rewarded with more epic soaring when the wind came on again in the afternoon. Last night at the Wilderness Beach Hotel, some of the team put on a little ground-handling show in the strong winds at the cliff, standing on the roof of the 3 story building, on lightposts, sitting on benches next to tourists and standing on each others wings, all in 30kmh winds. It was a bit dark, so no evidence will be posted on the internet ;-) From here we will travel along the southern coast to Cape Town, where we will arrive on Friday the 30th.  Paradise Ridge - photo credit www.flyozone.com
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Fraser Valley Report - heavy rain and windy.
| 27/12/2005 :: OZONE XC SAFARI - Updates Dec 25-27 Graaf-Reinet Christmas Day! Today we flew a brilliant mountain thermal site in the Camdeboon National Park above the town of Graaf-Reinet, continuing the trend of beautiful new sites in stunning landscapes. It was nice to footlaunch from a mountain site after almost 2 weeks of towing, and all of us had a great time thermalling around the peaks of the national park, looking down on zebras and ostriches. Normally it is not allowed to fly here, but a local contact got us through the gate and up to the spectacular launch. We are getting closer to the coast now, in fact we expect to be there tonight, and the landscape is changing gradually from the high desert plateau to the gently rolling foothills of the coastal range. Tonight we’ll cross over the Outanequah pass and descend to the southern coast of South Africa, where we plan to fly for the duration of the trip.  Camping out on launch Photographer Eric Knorr Wilderness We had heard a lot about the coastal flying here- the rumors were that a fantastic variety of coastal soaring and thermal sites were within a short distance, and the weather was frequently good, although changeable. The rumors were all true. Yesterday we soared a site called Grenickes, a 150m ridge just to the east of Wilderness. Matt, Mathieu and Jerome launched 10km to the west of the site and soared a wild and totally unpopulated stretch of coastline to reach it! There are soaring sites for almost every wind direction here, all of them quite aesthetic, so we look forward to spending the next couple of days here rinsing the desert dust off of our skin in the Indian Ocean and letting our gliders roll around in the nice green grass.  The Addict R at the 'Map of Africa' soaring site Photographer Eric Knorr
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Interior Report - Great Christmas in the snow at Big White with great boarding weather, except for 10 meter visibility in fog! No flying to be had anywhere despite light winds.
| Woodside Report - Derek, Andy and Rob S flew for about 15 minutes between clouds obscuring launch. Ozone Safari 2005 Updates 24/12/2005 :: December 22 Vosburg to De Aar This morning the wind is light from the southwest, but is forecasted to become very strong in the afternoon. It’s 9 in the morning now and our plan is to launch early and try to get to De Aar before it blows out… Alas, we spent the day relaxing by the pool in De Aar at Potties B&B, which was a welcome change from the dusty desert heat of the Karoo! De Aar is a quiet little town in the central Karoo, and happens to be a rather popular distance flying site. At Potties, we met up with Andre and Alfredo, the two Swiss pilots here for the Swing South Africa XC mission. Andre and Alfredo are so keen to break distance records that they’re staying right here in De Aar for a few weeks! We told them stories of the desolate, far off, previously unflown territory we had just come through, and they regaled us with tales of cloudbases closer to outer space and the 7 hour downwind flights that they were occasionally rewarded with after days of waiting. Tomorrow we’ll all be flying in the same region, and the forecast is looking better… so stay tuned for news of Friday’s flights! De Aar to Venterstad The forecast was far more optimistic than reality today, but we definitely made the best of the marginal conditions. Cloudbase was supposed to be above 5000m, with very strong lift and west wind- ideal for covering ground eastwards. The reality was west-northwest winds that turned out to be a lot stronger than the lift, which was mostly 2-3m/s that only seldom took us above 3000m. We towed up from the airfield in De Aar, site of the most recent South African distance record. By the time dust devils were kicking off and conditions were good the wind was a steady 40kmh, which made the towing interesting. To elaborate: on he ground it was a steady 35km with gusts to 55km, and dust devils rolling through periodically. We would pull up our wings and immediately be going straight up and sometimes slightly backwards on tow, usually releasing a couple hundred meters higher but not much further upwind of where we launched from! After releasing, the first few kilometers were very difficult, with torturously weak lift and high winds. For most of us the first half of the day was a long series of low saves above lonely desert terrain until the conditions shaped up a bit and we could climb past 3000m. The ground here is between 1000 and 1400 meters, which means that struggling with weak climbs between 1800 and 3000m gets tiring very fast. 100km into the flight, several of the team landed at Colesburg, but Mike and Matt, both flying Addicts, managed to continue on to Venterstad for 150 and 160 km flights, respectively. Mike and Matt both eventually got climbs to over 4200m, and recorded ground speeds of 90kmh on their GPS. Walter Neser, who joined us in Bradvlei a few days ago, tried launching tandem in the 40+ winds and tangled up with Jeff Ayliffe, our videographer (knocking Jeff off his feet), only to get yanked skywards on tow with a freshly torn glider. Walter landed and re-launched with his Ozone 69 acro wing and immediately redeemed himself, flying 258kms to Aliwall! The Safari truck overheated in Colesburg, so Arnold fetched them in Venterstad and we all camped together in Colesburg. Colesburg South- south wind, that is. This morning the forecast is for south wind and even weaker lift. At this point we need to fly directly to the south, so obviously the weather is not cooperating with our master plan. We’re not worried about it however; right now we’re not far from a good airfield where we plan to tow up and see what happens. If we fly in the wrong direction, at least we’ll be flying!
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Vancouver Report - an afternoon gale ran thru town with lightning, rain and wind.
| Elk Report - a few intrepid hike & fliers climbed to the summit without checking the upper level winds! Apparently it was hard to stand up, it was so windy. 22/12/2005 :: Ozone Safari Updates from December 20 to 22 December 20 – The Verneuk Pan. This morning we rose to a 50kmh southwest wind and high cirrus clouds. The sizeable front that is passing us to the south is sticking around longer than expected. However, around 11am the wind lightened enough for us to get some tows from the Brandvlei Airfield, but the wind direction was in exactly the wrong directions so didn’t fly XC, opting to wait for a change in the weather. Just a few kilometers to the east of Brandvlei lies a massive dry lakebed called the Verneuk Pan, or ‘Cheat Lake’. We headed there, and in the now light wind, the lakebed (the flattest, lowest portion of which is more than 20km across) had become a puddle of shimmering heat, with a mirage so convincing that the sky seemed to melt into an inviting lake of cool blue water- a lake that we could never quite reach. Conditions were perfect for towing, and the expansive lakebed allowed us to tow for several kilometers in any direction! With three winches running, the whole team got up and thermalled around together over the impressive landscape. On the Verneuk Pan, distance and scale is entirely skewed. What looks like a short walk, just a few hundred meters perhaps, turns out to be several kilometers. Furthermore, when standing on the surface the horizon looks almost identical in every direction which is an intimidating prospect if you find yourself standing there alone. All of us agreed that it was one of the most incredible and unique landscapes we had ever flown over. Tonight we are camping out on the pan, stargazing into an atmosphere that has been scrubbed clean by wind and low pressure and that is unpolluted by any light at all because we are more than 500 kilometers away from the nearest major city. December 21 – Verneuk Pan to Vosburg  Addicts at the Verneuk Pan - Matt, Dav, and Walter Photo © Eric Knorr Who launches at 2:30 in the afternoon in miserably weak lift, difficult stable conditions and still flies 187km? Dav does! Due to changing conditions and some questionable decision making, we launched very late today. Dav was the first to go, and by this time was in such a hurry that he didn’t even finish his tow, releasing at less than 200 meters. He turned and hooked a narrow desert thermal and drifted it back to the east, towards our next two turnpoints- Van Wyksvlei and Vosburg. By the time the whole team was in the air it was after 3pm, but Jerome, who launched last, also managed to fly almost 100km, in variable conditions- he reported mostly weak lift but one thermal of 10m/s took him to almost 4000m where he had a groundspeed of 85kmh. Mathieu and Remo had 100km flights as well, but in the wrong direction, which meant that we didn’t see them until late in the evening, after a friendly farmer drove them over the 100km of dirt road to meet us here in Vosburg. Meanwhile, Dav was another 80km downwind, nearly to De Aar! After a few phone calls a nice De Aar local picked him up and took him back to the De Aar airfield, where he will be going for distance tomorrow by himself. Dav reports that his flight was ridiculously difficult for the first half, with very weak and disorganized lift and two scary low saves, but the entire second half was pure pleasure. Dav finished his flight off with a 35 minute final glide from December 22 Vosburg to De Aar This morning the wind is light from the southwest, but is forecasted to become very strong in the afternoon. It’s 9 in the morning now and our plan is to launch early and try to get to De Aar before it blows out… Alas, we spent the day relaxing by the pool in De Aar at Potties B&B, which was a welcome change from the dusty desert heat of the Karoo! De Aar is a quiet little town in the central Karoo, and happens to be a rather popular distance flying site… and the forecast for Friday is looking better… stay tuned for news of Friday’s flights!
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Vancouver Report - lots of rain, reports of some trying to fly in the Valley but I think it was a hoax.
| No Ozone Safari Updates from today, stay tuned.
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Vancouver Monsoon Report - driving late in Vancouver required an inflatable boat with an outboard motor as a monsoon drove thru town!
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Ozone Safari Report - 19/12/2005 :: From Springbok to a junction on the N358
| December 19 Yesterday, the 18th, we flew from Springbok to a junction on the N358, the site of our first ‘bush camp’. Dav and Mathieu were the only two pilots to make goal; high winds and a very stable atmosphere saw the rest of the team landing near the Springbok Airfield, where we continued to get to know the winch team and the conditions. The conditions… the conditions were hot! As in Africa hot, hair dryer dry, and far too windy for comfort. This morning, the 19th, the wind slackened just enough for the entire team to launch from directly in front of our campsite and fly XC into the Karoo. We set up our gliders directly on the dusty road and towed up into a dry atmosphere and steadily increasing southwest winds. Immediately after launch, Dav towed into the middle of an evil dust devil and found himself looking down at his wing, with his leading edge pointed at the ground and still being towed by the truck. Thys, our intrepid winch operator, cut the line just as Dav was starting to think about using his reserve parachute. Unfazed, he released the dangling tow line and caught a thermal, disappearing into the massive sky downwind of us. The whole team towed up and followed, drifting down the road spaced widely apart. The wind was strong and the lift was mostly light, so we found ourselves covering ground at up to 45kmh while circling in thermals- we were flying cross country faster while turning in thermals than our gliders fly at trim speed! Several of us recorded ground speeds of up to 80kmh at altitude, and before too long the forecasted southwest wind came through and forced us all to land before 3pm. As the lift shut off and the surface wind increased to a most uncomfortable rate of 50kmh, Matt and Mathieu landed, pointing into the wind but going backwards, 80km from camp. The region that we are flying in now is several hundred kilometers west and north of the most popular XC sites in South Africa and has its own weather, which meant that today we were the only group of XC pilots to get good flying in the country. In De Aar, surface winds were 50kmh from the beginning of the morning, preventing anyone from flying there, and Kuruman sat beneath a massive line of overdevelopment. It was an excellent first day of XC flying in the Karoo. As the howling southwest wind settled in, we made our way southeast in the safari truck. We stopped for lunch at a desolate salt flat, watched the sun set on the savannah in an explosion of warmth, and rolled into a lonely desert town called Brandvlei just after dark. We’re now sitting in the ‘Windpompe’ South Africa’s 2nd most famous restaurant (according to our gregarious and very extroverted bartender) plotting tomorrows flights which will commence from the Brandvlei airstrip. Cheers from the central Karoo Desert, where the boss has just taken us on a tour of the wine cellar and promised us strange foreigners the best of South African wines! We’re updating this using a 9.6k mobile internet connection, which is far too slow for photos! We’ll get you some images as soon as we can find a real internet connection.
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Fraser Valley Report - strong outflow winds made us leave the Ranch early as we had 4 eager students wanting to kite. We headed to Mission to our secret spots and found a nice field that offered easy kiting, before heading to the Pub for late lunch.
|  Team Ozone Safari 2005 Progress Reports December 15 - Cape Town As Remo put it, “Without local knowledge you can forget about flying in Cape Town…” The conditions here are a constant battle between the tepid Indian Ocean, the frigid Atlantic, and the summer heat of the African landmass. Our first day in Cape Town, we saw the wind change 20kmh in strength and 90 degrees in direction in just a few hours. We did manage to fly however, and at two spectacular sites. The first, a site called Noordhoek, saw several of us launching in 40kmh lulls and beating our way down the ridge in turbulent and very crosswind conditions, to be rewarded by a landing on the beach at False Bay, where great white sharks lunge above the surface of the water in search of seal lunches and where we waded (not swam) into the Indian Ocean. Those who were left on launch at Nordhoek had to defend themselves from a gang of savage baboons who would steal anything not nailed down, and who even opened car doors to snatch food and brazenly hiss at and harass the vehicle’s owner. Later, we followed the wind back to the peaks above the city of Cape Town to take the prize of the day: Lion’s Head. Hiking up to launch, 50kmh winds were tearing through the trees in the venturi created by Lion’s Head peak and Table Mountain, and it seemed absurd that we were even carrying our gliders up to launch, but we rounded the corner and felt a gentle 15kmh breeze coming straight up the face. We launched in rapid fire succession, and soon all 8 of us were treated to views of Table Mountain and the 12 Apostles, the southern Atlantic, and downtown Kaapstad (Cape Town). A long session of flawless coastal soaring ensued, with all of us cruising easily up to 700m msl and gliding out to burn it off or flying wagas over the trail and the granite boulders below the peak. The sometimes rowdy thermals that were passing through in the afternoon mellowed out later in the evening, and by 6:30pm we were basking in the warm light of a stellar South African sunset. And where did we land once the sun had set? On grassy field at the beach, adjacent to the bar, of course.   December 16 - Porterville Today, Friday, dawned overcast and cool, but the report from Porterville at 9am was ‘Sun, light west winds, cumulus clouds already forming’. We immediately drove the 150km north to the famous XC site, and were on launch before noon. Dust devils, a welcome site, danced through the wheat fields in the valley and tore up the shrubbery around launch. By 12:30 the entire team was gaggled up in 5m/s thermals over the flatlands in front of launch. Today Mathieu Rouanet was flying our photographer on the new Magnum Tandem with his PAP motor, which kept the camera in perfect position all day. Thermals ranged in strength from 3-7m/s, giving us all a nice warm up for the desert flying that we’ll be experiencing from Sunday on… December 17 – The Trek North This morning in Cape Town we met the massive Safari Truck and its crew: Alan, Venga, and Onius, who will be our mobile base camp technicians for the journey southwards. The truck is a sturdy 10 wheel affair, with a 10,000km range and room for 20 passengers. It’s comfortable enough, but from here on we hope to be traveling by paraglider! At the moment we are holed up in the outback style bar at the Springbok Airstrip, 1400km northwest of our goal, being briefed by Arnold from De Aar on the conditions that await us. December 18 – We Fly Today will be the first day of towing in the desert. After loading strange sounding waypoints into our GPS systems and pouring over an impressive selection of very detailed maps (that showed us in minute detail how little there is where we will be flying), we are about to tow launch from the Springbok Lughawe (Airport). The wind is light, and currently swinging around to a westerly direction which favors our easterly route: first turnpoint, Gamoep, a dusty crossroads at the north end of the Karoo Desert. For the next 4 days we will be without mobile phone connections and nowhere near any sort of towns, and will be linked to the rest of the world only by Satellite phone. The team is geared up for 16,000 foot cloudbases and long flights- Dav and Jerome will be flying Mantra R prototypes, Mathieu will be looking to break the world distance paramotor record of 700km with his Viper/PAP, and the rest of us will be flying Addicts (DHV 2) and Mantras (DHV 2-3). Our next update may be from De Aar. Cheers from all the Ozone Team! Who is flying what: Sandie – Geo XS and Rush XS, Dav – Mantra R, Jerome – Mantra R, Remo – Mantra, Eric – Addict, Mike – Addict, Matt – Addict R, Mathieu – Viper (Pmotor)/ Magnum (new Tandem)
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Sumas Report - we headed up Sumas for a hike and possible flight. Lots of east wind in the Valley. We found the key and got thru the first gate but the last gate was locked and the key were in the lock box, so we hiked in.
| Light cycles at launch and some wind in the upper trees, so I took new student Jarrod for a tandem. There was a nice thermal in front of the HG launch that took us to 100 meters over to top, but we were going backwards so we descended and soared a bit more before heading out. We couldn't penetrate forward to the LZ so we elected to fly towards Tim Horton's and made it to the Mushroom Farms were we had a smooth landing. No one else flew due to the wind strength. Elk Report - I talked to Ivan on the radio and he was gloating over 30 minutes while a few others logged 45 minutes of soaring. Monica and Klaus flew too, and enjoyed some interesting turbulence as they set up to land at Eddie's! It is shocking how Elk works even in strong outflow winds? Santa Barbara CA Report - SB update: Finally, the day we've been waiting for. Clouds forming 1000' over launch and 5-10km cycles gave Askia and I the liftiest flight of the trip. Unintimidating clouds gave me an offer I couldn't pass up, and I soon found myself in the "White Room" for the first time. As soon as the ground disappeared completely my GPS decided to give me a reassuring Batt Low signal, but I kept my heading and popped out the other side after about one minute, higher over the LZ than ever before. I found myself parallel to this odd character on a "Libero"? pictured below, and wondering if he could see me at all I booked it for the deck. (check out the visibility under that hat!). WOW, great flight! - Jeremy Oh my God! Huge thermals everywhere. My vario screaming with one continuous note. Usually there is a crowd of gliders circling in a few hot spots and I am intimidated by the traffic, careful not to blunder into someone's pattern, but yesterday there was incredible lift everywhere and room to thermal for all. A gaggle of pilots entered the "White Room", one cloud each, they are all cooing and laughing and saying it is "soooo white" on the radio. I hold on and do the best I can in the active air smiling and cringing, should I stay? Should I go? The vario continues to answer with fast beeps and high pitched screams. I stay until my hands are frozen and my arms are rigid with exhaustion. What an awesome flight! - Askia 
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Fraser Valley Report - oddly light wind at Alan's house, yet Agassiz was up to 50 kms/hr from the NE?
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Fraser Valley Report - I was in Calgary all day, but Lee the heli pilot said he was working in the Chilliwack Valley and it was fine until he came around Elk into the Fraser Valley and it was strong east wind. Derek said Agassiz was very windy last night.
| Santa Barbara CA Report - Askia sent this in air photo, looks a bit smoggy but warm. 
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Woodside Report - Kent and Peter flew Woodside just as the sunset rolled in. Some hiking involved as the road was icy.
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no pireps
| Southern California Gloat Report: Santa Barbara seems to be the winter hot spot for the USA. The other day as a wind technician, I had about 50 pilots from all over the States watching as I flew out. The weather here is 20 and sunny, and usually clearer than the pic below. The "Alternator" launch is at about 3800' MSL and gives a nicely soarable window each day for about 3 hours. The different terrain and vegetation made the first few flights difficult, but I've managed to adjust. There is a strong flying community here, but don't forget your rating card, as I've been told there are more lawyers than people, ha ha. Wish you were here - Jeremy & Askia  Jeremy heading for the "Butt Cheeks" LZ  "Butt Cheek" LZ. With all the pilot support you would think they would put up a proper wind sock. This rag in the tree is all you get!
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Fraser Valley Report - when can someone be wrong 50% of the time and still keep their job? A weatherman of course. The forecast was way off today, and got worse. Abbotsford was raining hard at 3:00 pm.
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Elk Gloat Report - Martina and Jack hiked Elk with Monica/Klaus/Darryl and a few others. The early fast hikers had extended sledders, and Jack said while he was getting ready to launch it was quite strong and he got dragged a bit through the snow, but up he went, followed by Martina, Monica, Klaus and Darryl . . . all soaring for an hour! We could see them thru the binocs from Woodside launch while we were enjoying sledders! But at least we didn't endure a 2+ hour icy hike ;-)
| Ozone Buzz Report 2005 Hi Jim! My wing is sure named right, I'm still Buzz-ing from my flight yesterday! After hiking up Elk, Monica & I watched the first group forward launch into sled ride conditions. I was the first to launch of the next group, and just as I clipped in the winds picked up. I was a little nervous as I hadn't flown in almost a month, and that had only been a winter sled ride. I waited for a lull but there wasn't one, so I tugged on my A's and poof! The Buzz came up over my head and just stayed there, waiting for me to turn and run. I had a great launch, getting plucked off by the wind but still in control. A few seconds later I was looking down on everyone at launch - no idea how high I was as I didn't bring the added weight of my vario or gps on the hike. The wind was strong & steady and the rest of the gang rocketed off launch and soon joined me. While the air was mostly smooth there were some rough places, whether turbulence from small ridgelines or from broken up thermals. Yes, the sun was hot enough to produce thermals - on December 11th! Anyway I was ridge soaring merrily along when I hit a rough spot. I could feel the messy patch of air through the brakes & the harness, but when I looked up the Buzz was just sitting there politely like nothing out of the ordinary was going on. This occured a few times, and each time the wing told me what was happening but stayed bombproof over head. A few gentle taps on the brakes was all I seemed to need. Needless to say I fell in love with my wing over and over on that flight. I was debating this summer whether to go "down" to a Buzz after flying my higher end 1-2 wing for the last couple of years but I have no regrets. The Buzz gives me the confidence to stick out the flight, and not go running to the LZ after hitting a rough spot or two. I thought I would outgrow it after a few months, but this is a wing I can see myself sticking with since it makes flying so much fun! And that's the point of flying for me - to have fun. One other note about yesterday's flight. When I came out to land I wasn't using speed bar. I didn't know my groundspeed (no GPS) but could see I had a little forward speed and not too much sink. The pilots who landed 5-15 minutes after me all reported they needed speedbar, otherwise they were going backwards. They tried to say that it was a weather system moving through, but I'm pretty sure it was the Buzz's superior glide, ha ha! Here's a picture of Jack on his Vulcan just after launching, and I'm the tiny speck up high above him!  Jack and Martina at Elk - December 11/05 Martina Woodside Report - Kelly, John, Colleen and I flew Woodside twice. Very warm up top, icy spots on the road in the sahde. Launch is very muddy. It was 8 degrees at launch and cycles were coming in nicely at times. No lift. Good landing conditions. Good hangover therapy!
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Woodside Report - despite the forecast east winds, Woodside was flyable all day as Mia proved with 3 flights. No lift but super nice air and quite warm up top.
| Christmas Party Report - thanks to Garry H we had great tunes and many people danced until 3:00 AM. Lots of door prizes and Lynette won a tandem, as did Martin H. Lots of Ozone swag was carried away by door prize winners, thanks to all that attended. Elk Report - a large group descended on Eddie's place for the hike up Elk early. Nicole said it was a 2 hour slog up the mountain. Alex R flew for about an hour, swooping launch and top-landing several times. Later it was sled rides. Derek made a dramatic entrance at the top of Elk landing in a logging chopper, as several hikers arrived at the top. He bribed the pilot to drop him off after work and he got a sled ride before heading to the Ranch.  Alex R at Elk - photo by Lee Gross  Alex R at Elk - photo by Lee Gross  unidentified pilot at Elk - photo by Lee Gross unidentified pilot at Elk - photo by Lee Gross  View west to the LZ - photo by Lee Gross  unidentified pilot at Elk - photo by Lee Gross  Alex R kiting at Elk - photo by Lee Gross  Good cycles - photo by Lee Gross  Dave Stanek at Elk buzzing launch - photo by Lee Gross  Dave Stanek at Elk buzzing launch - photo by Lee Gross  Dave Stanek at Elk buzzing launch - photo by Lee Gross  Launch Potatoes at Elk - photo by Lee Gross  Alex R launching at Elk - photo by Lee Gross  Alex R launching at Elk, while Chris watches - photo by Lee Gross  Alex R buzzing at Elk - photo by Lee Gross  Alex R soaring at Elk - photo by Lee Gross  Alex R soaring at Elk - photo by Lee Gross  Chris launches at Elk - photo by Lee Gross  Chris scratches at Elk - photo by Lee Gross  Chris scratches some more at Elk - photo by Lee Gross  Chris still hanging in at Elk - photo by Lee Gross  Alex buzzes launch again at Elk - photo by Lee Gross
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| /1000' (inverted) 4350 feet
Woodside Report - flyable conditions all day but you had to hike the last 1 km.
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| /1000' (inverted) 4550 feet
Woodside Report - when I flew in from Calgary, Woodside was clear with little wind, but I didn't see any pilots flying.
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| /1000' (inverted) 2350 feet
Woodside Report - it never rained in the Valley, the webcam looked good, but no reports.
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| /1000' (inverted) 2350 feet
Woodside Report - Kent R drove to Lower Launch and hiked the rest of the way, unfortunately conditions did not allow for a safe launch so he hiked down. Andy reportedly was seen flying earlier by Joe.
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| /1000' (standard) 1950 feet
Fraser Valley Report - rain and light snow at times, cloudbase never got above 1500 feet.
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| /1000' (standard) 3550 feet
Woodside Report - launchable conditions most of the day . . . if you could get past Lower Launch! We spun out trying to get up and headed back down for the chains and then bailed cause it was snowing hard. Rain this week should wash away the ice, we hope at least by Saturday.
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| /1000' (standard) 3550 feet
Woodside Report - we were out cleaning the Barn to get ready for next weekend's party (thanks, Kelly), when we saw Andy fly into the parking lot at 11:00 am after hiking up. He said it was smooth in the air, but very cold to exposed skin. Balaclava weather! Later Derek and Martina drove up to launch and it was clear all the way in to the parking lot. It was flyable but getting too late to fly.
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| /1000' (standard) 3150 feet
Fraser Valley Report - no one flew that we know of, but Alan thought it looked flyable if you could get to a launch.
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| /1000' (standard) 2550 feet
Fraser Valley Report - strong east winds around Abbotsford all day made Sumas a logical choice. No reports submitted yet, but I suspect driving to launch may be difficult with the amount of snow lately.
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| /1000' (standard) 2550 feet
Fraser Valley Report - it looked like there was a flyable window around 3:00 pm. No pireps.
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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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