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FlyBC "Site of the Day Archives" - December 2011
Tapalpa & San Marcos today!
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Click on the picture for more pictures from the Mexican Adventure this last day of 2011.San Marcos Report - the gas man was called as we ran out of gas again, and we waited til after 3 pm for them to arrive and refill the tank and check for leaks. By then Camilo had arrived and we loaded up the XL-7 for San Marcos with lots of puffy clouds around. We arrived on launch to find light SW winds and the lake bed was being lifted off by many dust devils so it looked like a dust storm but with no wind. Camilo launched first and after scratching here and there for lift he snagged a good thermal and was soon very high as I napped in the car resting my sore left foot after yesterday's great flight. Colleen wasn't feeling like flying either so we drove down trying to see Camilo but he was too high to see at 3800 meters over Cerro Viejo. We weren't getting him on the radio either so he must have been busy, as we drove towards the Joco Bypass. We got one garbled transmission about being near El Chante Launch so we continued on towards home. He apparently sunk out behind El Chante but managed to find a ride in a truck right to his house later, so no hiking. In Mexico it is much easier to get a ride than Canada as many people pick up hitchhikers here. Colleen and I had a nice New Year's Eve Dinner at El Chante Spa Hotel and I even managed to stay awake til Midnight! I hope everyone had a great New Years Eve too! Normando's Valle Report - Normando posted another great day in Valle, but he lost the Norweigans somewhere. A typical cryptic Normando message but the flying there has been good too. Apparently there was a break-in at one of the Hotels in Valle and a group lost their wings, passports and laptops from a room on the lower floor as they slept on the second floor. No night time security there I guess. Hopefully the police find the culprits soon as these pilots will need a passport to get home.
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Click on the picture for more pictures from the Mexican Adventure this last week of December 2011.Mexico Report - we headed to Tapalpa for the first time since Colleen arrived and she talked me into flying despite my broken foot! I can walk on it but severe swelling and bruised toes makes it uncormfortable (not a flying injury, just dropped a bar of metal on it before Christmas). I was getting my new SupAir Delight Harness adjusted and this was to be my first flight on it. I decided speed-sleeves looked sexier today so I left the flight suit in the car. I launched off the main launch around noon and flew around for 15 minutes before top-landing to give Colleen a try. She was chilling and just kept reading her book as I relaunched. A nice thermal awaited just over the road and I climbed nicely there but the sweetest ride was out front in a gulley and it took me to the ridgeline fast just under a black-bottomed beauty of a cloud. Easy going along the ridge just on the lift band between sunny spots and the shade, and half way to the Cross I was getting hailed on lightly! Good sign of thermic activity! Hail turned to light raindrops as I kept heading north. I topped out at 3000 meters at the Cross and headed east across the velley to the San Marcos ridge with little CUs showing the lift. It got a bit cold on the ams at that altitude with no flight suit but the pod kept my body warm. GPS said 53 kph on glide and climbing I topped out at 3500 meters over the flats and the designated route over the humps. Two hours later I as at the San Marcos South Ridge at 2899 meters and it was shaded out and there was strong north winds and I found nothing to climb in so I landed next to the Cuota so Colleen could find me. My foot was pretty sore after 2 hours of pushing the pod and the speedbar so no hiking for me thanks! Flight stats: +6 up,-5 down, 1:56 airtime, 3500 meters top altitude, 39.5 kms OLC distance, only one blowout over the flats which self corrected. We drove to San Marcos for Colleen's turn and she launched around 4:00 pm and climbed to 2500 meters and flew around for 2 hours attempting to top-land but it was too lifty and she had to head out cause it was getting dark. Nice day, only a few other fliers out today despite the holidays. Valle de Bravo Report - Derek, Normando and Edgar are flying hard in Valle. Normando made it to the Antennas and back to the Lake. Derek out-landed on the Mesa and had a 4 hour "Walk of Shame". Quote of the Day: "I would rather pay 400 pesos than land at the 'f#*king' Penitas again!" - Edgar
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Click on the picture for more pictures from the Mexican Adventure this last week of December 2011.San Marcos Report - Jim and Colleen did the obligatory real estate tour at Camilo's Real Estate Co. this morning and found a beautiful house right on Lake Chapala in La Reserva just west of Ajijic. Unfortunately for Colleen, she still needs a house in Vancouver for a few more years so that dream of owning a Mexican Winter Home is on the shelf for now. We drove into Ajijic after the house showing, to sample Andreas' new restaurant. Meat soup done traditional Mexican style and very good and cheap too. We then drove out to San Marcos after 4 pm, arriving to find 6 HGers in the air and one waiting to launch in nice SW cycles. The HGers in the air were at 2500 meters at the north point but were not getting higher to the south, so most of the flying was in the front of launch. Colleen had a beautiful launch and was soon climbing up with the HGers and managed to stay between 2300-2500 meters for most of the flight. She was ready to jump over the back after about an hour but got greedy and went back to where the lift was prior, and found nothing so lost all her height. At this point just above launch, she had no where to go but down to Pedro's LZ where I picked her up with the cerveza fria in hand. There are some new hangars at Pedro's new south property and they look fabulous with attached casas & departamentos, weekend homes for the ultralight fliers. Valle Report - Derek and Normando are "duking it out" at Valle. Normando did the route to the "Antenna's", while Derek played at cloudbase at 3500 meters for 3 hours before flying to the Lakeside LZ. Apparently it was quite crowded at the Lake with 6 tandems and Normando arriving there at once! Wouter reported in that Holland is "cold & grey", we are going to miss him in Mexico. His last flights at Valle were tandems helping out Raul and they were 2.5 and 1.5 hours each with some local mexicanas hoping to learn how to fly.
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| Guadalajara: Sunny. High of 26°C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 090° at 5 knots Guadalajara: -2.8 ° (super unstable) Guadalajara: 2700 m
Travel Report - Jim and Colleen arrived safely today on different flights with Jim arriving at 8:00 am needing a nap. After the nap we headed to San Marcos for Colleen's first flight in months as she has been working too hard, nice to strong SW cycles at 5 pm, but Colleen had a nice lull and she was soon climbing high above launch in some nice thermals. | Lots of north wind on the San Marcos dry lakebed, and eventually it hit Colleen in the air and she landed out front, but she had a long enough flight to get the dampness out of her glider after months of storage. Click here for more pictures from San Marcos today.  EnZo Report - Brett Hazlett received his EnZo after months of politics and debate about EN D gliders in comps. he had some pics on FaceBook but n flights yet as Calgary is snowbound.
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| Guadalajara: Sunny. High of 26°C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 090° at 5 knots Guadalajara: -2.8 ° (super unstable) Guadalajara: 2700 m
Travel Report - heavy rainfall warning and high winds as we dropped off the trailer at the Ranch and headed into Vancouver. |
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| Guadalajara: Sunny. High of 26°C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 090° at 5 knots Guadalajara: -2.8 ° (super unstable) Guadalajara: 2700 m
Boxing Day Report - Wind warnings for BC, while gringos enjoy warm weather in Mexico |
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| Guadalajara: Sunny. High of 26°C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 090° at 5 knots Guadalajara: -2.8 ° (super unstable) Guadalajara: 2700 m
Valle de Bravo Report - Merry Christmas everyone! We're not going to bother
you with any more flying reports because it's been
awesome. | Like yesterday and probably like tomorrow. Great flights today making it back to the lake. Valle is magic and now we understand why it's the location for the worlds finals. Hope the foot heals soon - Wouter and Derek from Valle. Click here for more pictures from Valle today.
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| Guadalajara: Sunny. High of 26°C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 090° at 5 knots Guadalajara: -2.8 ° (super unstable) Guadalajara: 2700 m
Santa's Road Report - Highway #1 to Spences Bridge was all clear and not much traffic. Unfortunately for me, before I finished packing the truck I dropped a 25 lb. Paragliding Simulator on my foot and it looks like a few broken toes will accompany me to Mexico next week :-( | Looks like Colleen has a driver for her vacation in Mexico! Valle de Bravo Report from the Gringos - Another day in paradise. We took a cab up to the El Peñon and flew for hours in quite turbulent air. In the afternoon there was some huge overdevelopment over the Toluca Volcano which caused strong winds on launch till about 4:30pm. On our second flight we launched when it finally calmed down, most people already drove down, and flew for 30mins landing at the Piano LZ. I guess we're pretty lucky being in a place where it is flyable every day, the people are awesome and the food is great. Merry Christmas!- Wouter and Derek
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| Guadalajara: Sunny. High of 26°C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 090° at 5 knots Guadalajara: -2.8 ° (super unstable) Guadalajara: 2700 m
Mall Report - It is hard to believe the economy is bad when there are so many folks shopping in Abbotsford? | Valle Report from the Awesome Mexican Tandem Team - In the morning we got a ride up to El Peñon with a german group. After waiting for an hour on launch Dave from Vancouver and Derek2.0 launched and were soon 500m over launch. I waited an hour for it to get stronger for the Nikita and by that time Derek was starting his XC over the back towards the lake. He landed at the Lakeside LZ and took a cab back to launch to enjoy a great glassoff flight. At the same time I flew again at the afternoon soaring site over the village before landing at the lake. Great first day! - Wouter Quote: "Locura hacer lo mismo una y otra vez esperando resultados diversos!" - Derek
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| Guadalajara: Sunny. High of 26°C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 090° at 5 knots Guadalajara: -2.8 ° (super unstable) Guadalajara: 2700 m
| Paradigm Shift from Brett Hazlett (FlyBC Sponsored R11 Jockey) on Vimeo. I just received my new SupAir Delight Harness in Fedex this morning and can't wait to fly her in Mexico! Delight Manual here . 2.3 kgs without reserve, comfortable and easy to set-up for different flight angles. Retails for around $1100, far better deal than the Impress 3 at over $1800 USD! Elk Report - Once again, I hiked Elk solo this afternoon. Eddy, Ivan, Steve, Larry and David flew just as I began my hike and all reported light, nice launch conditions with smooth sledders. I was hoping for some per-frontal lift but on Elk this can often mean it blows out and it is a very slippery slope to have to descend these days. As it was, the wind was just picking up as I summited and quite east so I made my way to the morning launch and set up quickly. The problem was the snow has icey shards sticking up which don't easily break off as the lines get tense and I couldn't get a clean inflation - part of the glider kept getting hooked so rather than risk breaking a line. I balled up my Swift and walked back to the main launch where my glider was basically facing east as it inflated. However, with a little finesse, I got into the air and after struggling to penetrate over to the east bowl, I got into nice fairly smooth lift with the odd bit of punch thermal. I played on the east side getting about halfway to Thurston several times and generally staying about fifty meters over ridge height. Eventually, the lift either mellowed or became too cross and I headed out to land at Eddy's in almost no wind- flight time: one hour. Not bad for December - Kevin A. Woodside Report #1 - Pecos Pete called to say he had driven up and flown a sleddy at Woodside early today and hiked back to get his truck, easy launch conditions. Woodside Report #2 - Not quite the same as Mexico, but conditions didn't look that bad when we talked on the phone - I checked out launch with my zoom camera: socks were hanging down, not blowing over the back. After the eagles watching/photos I managed to squeeze in a last minute sleddie. Got up to launch at 3:30 to beautiful sunset and (very) gentle cycles, tempting! But not tempting enough for hiking up in the dark to get my car. Almost back at the highway a truck came up. The driver wanted to watch the sunset and offered a ride. Got to launch just before sunset. A little wind over the back already but then a short lull, perfect for launching to a very smooth flight (and probably my last from Woodside for this year ;-) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! - Claudia S Valle Report - We left El Chante at 9:30am this morning and arrived in Valle de Bravo earlier then expected thanks to the new Cuota highway leading almost right into Valle. And all this for only 600 pesos for gas and unforunately probably the same amount for tollbooths. In Valle de Bravo we met Judd from Pemberton at the famous lakeside LZ and he showed us around town. At the Taco-stand Dave from Vancouver walked by and hung out for some time. Good stories about the flying here! We found a nice place to stay with Raul and can't wait to go flying tomorrow - Wouter Quotes of the Day: Wouter: No es emocionante?! Derek: Tal vez solo voy a ver, estoy muy asustado!
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| Guadalajara: Sunny. High of 26°C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Guadalajara: 090° at 5 knots Guadalajara: -2.8 ° (super unstable) Guadalajara: 2700 m
Diefenbaker Report - Richard and I were hoping for a good Woodside Day but the outflow winds kicked in as forecast and we then headed to Diefenbaker Park, fortunately he had not left the city yet so he saved some gas. | All the way there it was east winds until Delta and then there was SW?? I continued on despite the SW prevailing winds. When we arrived at Diefenbaker Park, Kevin called to say he had been soaring Elk for 30 minutes top-landing for a warmup and a break to call me. A gang of hikers flew earlier too but got "sleddies". Richard managed 6 flights in light thermal cycles finishing him off for his USHPA P-2 rating and heading south with a new Ozone Element II to fly Marshall & Crestline this winter. Click here for more pictures from the kiting today. Mexico Report - Derek did a Fly&Hike from the El Chante Launch and flew for one hour in ratty turbulent air before landing close to the Sierra Lake condo. In the meantime I was driving Claudia into Guadalajara for her family christmas dinner that night. When I came back Derek had landed and was retreiving his truck by hiking up. In the afternoon we took some of the workers, that are building more condo's at Sierra Lake, to San Marcos hoping to take them tandem. On launch the winds were gusting up to 40k/h and the birds were pretty much parked. After waiting for 15mins we decided to drive down but on our way down we saw Juan Carlos and his Amigos driving up and they convinced us to wait a little longer on launch for it to calm down. After one and a half hour (5:30pm) it was still strong and after seeing Juan Carlos and Berto having problems penetrating it was time to call it a day. We had dinner at a place called Viva Mexico were they serve great Mexican food! Tomorrow we're off to Valle de Bravo - Wouter
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Click on the picture for more pictures from the Mexican Adventure this week without Jim.San Marcos Report - Another Tandemonium adventure today. More of Claudia's friends came over to experience the Awesome Tandem Team activities. We arrived pretty early (12:30PM) on the San Marcos launch where we found Miguel and his tandem passengers reporting that Tapalpa was blowing over the back +20k/h. It was a good call to go to San Marcos even though the wind was looking strong east on the lake. At launch it was mainly west and pretty strong. We flew the first round with Maria and Pepe landing at Pedro's in switching winds. Huge dustdevils on the flats today. Second round Derek took one of Miguel's passengers Allejandra for a great thermalling flight and I took Claudia again for a challenging flight over the back to Sierra Viejo and eventually landing behind the condo. In the evening we were invited for a La Vitta Bella Staff party and partied till late. Great day! - Wouter Quote of the day: solo prefiero ver lo que la gente esta haciendo
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El Chante Report -This morning Derek dropped his car off for an oil change and we
took the Suzuki up to El Chante where Derek flew for a half hour
before landing at the Joco Malecon. | When his car was ready we drove into Guadalajara where Claudia showed us around in the downtown area. If you want a break from the intensive flying every day then go to downtown Guadalajara and visit the San Juan des Dios market and hang around in the streets. Great place and good atmosphere. - Wouter Click here for more pictures from the Mexican Adventure today without Jim. Alex Raymont's Valle Album - Alex spent two weeks in Valle in December 2011 and got these great shots. Click here for more pictures from Alex's Mexican Valle Adventure.
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"la unica vuez que debe de vuelta a la izquierda!" - Jaime | San Marcos Report - A little cloudy today. But with light winds from the east switching to south very nice conditions to fly San Marcos. Click here for more pictures from the Mexican Adventure today without Jim. Claudia from Guadalajara came over again and brought Lupita, Ricardo and Ricardo's cousin Diana for tandem flights. We arrived to the San Marcos launch to find light launch cycles and Derek launched first taking fourteen year old Diana on a thermalling adventure. I flew with Ricardo and had a great half an hour of smooth thermalling including sats. Next round it was Lupita's turn to fly with Derek and had a similar flight after doing a beautiful forward launch. Claudia flew with me and we flew for 45 mins chasing Derek and Lupita. Landing at Pedro's best f*%&$ing place for fly in Mexico with soft touchdowns this time. Very good and smooth lift despite the amount of clouds and again another beautiful sunset to end the day. Gotta love Mexico - Wouter Jim's Flight Report - very cloudy today in Phoenix with rain! Sunny in Vancouver when I landed and cooolllllldddd! Here in BC til the 28th doing Christams rounds and hopefully flying on Wednesday & Thursday.
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Joco Report - it was forecast to be strong east winds, so we had a chore day getting oil changes and car washes and a Mexican haircut for me. | We didn't talk to any pilots but it looked good for flying at 2 pm, but we were still doing chores. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican XC Adventure today.
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Mexican Adventure Report - I was up early today driving Guy to the Airport at 4:30 am, and then back to the condo for a nap until 10 am before heading to Tapalpa Launch, with Camilo & his amigo Hector who was going to be Derek's tandem passejo today. | Derek launched first and had a nice line out past the gulleys and was in a ratty thermal when Camilo and I launched. Wouter was driving this morning. Camilo and I sunk quite badly heading out but found the same thermal as Derek and we climbed above launch altitude with a flock of vultures. Derek was already heading out as the maximum airtime Mexican Passejos can handle is 15-20 minutes without Gravol/Dramemina (like Canadians too I guess). We climbed out and started drifting NW hoping to hit the ridge line, and we did well until the town of Tepec where the ground rises along some high tension powerlines. I caught a thermal there and was climbing well, as Camilo came in below me and was heading in to land when he caught a low save and was soon above me. I lost my thermal and was soon heading in to a pasture to land as he caught the ridgeline looking good. I was packing up when Camilo came in to land saying he could not maintain ridge height like it went stable even up high? Wouter had picked up Derek & Hector and met us in Tepec for a drink before lunch on the way to meet Claudia and her posse at San Marcos. We stopped at the nice restaurant in Zacoalco for lunch when we got a call that Claudia's friend drove on to the salt lake at San Marcos and was stuck in the mud. We kept eating knowing they were not going anywhere. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican XC Adventure today. We found the SUV at the entrance from the Toll Road exactly where we have been discussing not driving on the dry lake as we saw many tracks where people got stuck. Derek hooked up his big Dodge to the little Suzuki SUV (2WD here in Mexico) and with a little pull the Suzuki was free. We drove up to San Marcos Launch and Derek took Alejandra tandem and Wouter took Diego tandem. Nice launch conditions with nice ridge lift, not strong like yesterday so really nice for long flights without the bumps. Derek was heading out to land at Pedro's LZ when Wouter came in for a perfect top-landing with Diego after some fierce SATs. Once the dust cleared and we found Diego, Wouter swapped out passejos for Claudia for her 4th tandem as she is wanting to learn soon. Camilo had been flying for this entire time and could not get high, and Wouter joined him in the air with Claudia. I drove down to retrieve everyone and we were done by 5:00 pm, a record early close for the day. We have had 14 days in a row of perfect flying conditions everyday, with up to 4.5 hours of airtime per day and many XC kms logged. I am leaving for Canada and Christmas tomorrow returning back here on Dec 28th for 2 more months of the FlyBC Mexico Tours.
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El Chante Report - we headed up to El Chante Launch behind the condo for a morning flight as it was forecast to be west sooner today. | Wouter launched his Nikita2 first and was working hard to stay up and had about a 10 minute flight into the field behind the condos. Guy went next and was soon above launch and headed east on the ridge. I launched next and got above launch but got impatient as I saw Guy disappear down the east ridge so I followed a bit too low as it turned out. I was soon struggling to maintain in the gulleys and got about 8 kms east when I was heading down with little lift so I picked a football field near the ridge as an LZ. It looked pretty dusty and no one was around so it may have been locked. There was a nicer grass football field near the Lake so I headed there. As I got closer I could see it too was fenced so I decided a beach landing was better. On final a flock of birds got scared and flew off the water, very serene. As I got lower I saw the beach was quite rocky so I landed on a nice lawn in front of a beautiful house in San Juan Cosala and packed up, the gardener was there and said "buenas dias" and kept working not upset at all. Derek came and retrieved me, and Guy radioed that he was on his way back from Real Chapala (the 5 star hotel) on top of the ridge for a good 40 kms Out & Return flight landing behind the condos where Wouter had landed. We regrouped at the condo and headed to San Marcos to get there by 2 pm. Nice cycles and nicer dusties forming on the dry lakebed. I launched first and was "hoovered off" immediately and flew to the north point to only maintain so I buzzed launch and found the boomer that got me high off launch and took it to 2800 meters before heading SE along the ridge. There was a nice thermal near the saddle that got me high enough to jump to the Joco ridge and on to the Malecon for a sweet landing into east winds near the lake. Total flight time - 45 minutes, for a flight that took Derek 2:45 yesterday! Wouter & Guy launched and after some acro fun Wouter was on the ground, while Guy flew for 2:30 while Derek picked me up and he and Wouter relaunched to join Guy on the south ridge in beautiful glass-off conditions. They all flew over the back towards Joco at 6:15 pm and landed in a cow pasture near the Joco Ridge. Guy logged 4:15 airtime today on two flights for a total of 25 hours on 10 days on our tour. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican XC Adventure today. "Una cerveza para volar, tres cerveza para coducir!" - Claudia
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Tapalpa Report - we started out early heading to Tapalpa Launch, with the same east wind prediction changing to south & west by 4 pm. | We even arrived there before the cooks, so no breakfast on launch :-( Cycles were good, birds were soaring but we waited. I clipped in 30 minutes after arriving and took off and soared the face by the microndas for 4 or 5 passes getting above launch, but on the 6th pass the lift was gone and I was scratching my way down. a few vultures tried to show me the way at 1880 meters but it was only enough to maintain that height. By now I was in the hazy soup and had a nice ride into the Piano LZ. Guy & Derek waited for another 30 minutes before launching and did much better staying 500 meters above launch for most of their flights. Guy stayed around launch for 1:30 before also landing in the Piano LZ, and Derek conttiuned north to the Cross and then made the jump out onto the flats at 3000 meters. Click here for more pictures from Derek's FlyBC Mexican XC Adventure today. We were eating in a roadside taco stand when Derek flew over and he was looking good, but alas the last hump with the antennas didn't deliver and he was in a nice farm waiting for a pickup when I found him. His LZ pictures are geo-tagged in the Picasa album and you can see how close to the San Marcos Ridge he was. He was 38 kms from Tapalpa's La Ceja Launch. We all loaded up for San Marcos and arrived there around 4 pm, a pretty good time for this west facing site and Derek relaunched followed by Guy & Wouter. Derek hooked one right off launch and was soon at 2700 meters waiting for everyone to join him. The later launchers didn't find the same core and struggled for some time before getting higher. Last thing we heard from Derek was that he was at the far ridge at 2900 meters and he was heading over to Jocotopec. Guy and Wouter stayed on the west side of the ridge eventally landing on the dry lake at 1:30 later, where I retrieved them with a few cold beers and we headed home to find Derek. Derek made it to the San Juan Cosala Malecon below the Raquet Club for another 34 kms on this flight. Click here to find out who kicked butt in Mexico today! El Juevo showed up with his posse on San Marcos just as I left San Marcos Launch and they had sledders, Bob said he had 5 minutes landing on the dry lake, so we had good timing getting there at 4 pm as the glass-off never materialized. Brett's R11 Report - After too much political nonsense in 2011 Mr. R11 decided it was time to go for a holiday to destress. No flying just relaxation with the family. But while going for a short walk near the resort he found a 200 m hill. After some bush whacking through the jungle suddenly Mr. R11 was once again flying, but this time on the Garden Island of Kauai. Some things were just meant to fly! Even if it's on an island in the Pacific, in December - Regards, Brett H. 
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Mexico Gloat Report - after Derek had the requisite Mexico tire repair at the local Llantera, we headed up El Chante Launch as the IBIS weather viewer said east for a few hours switching to south and then west by 4 pm, meaning a long drive to Tapalpa should be avoided with this narrow a flying window. | Derek launched first at noon and worked hard for an hour before landing behind the condo only getting above launch once. Guy & Camilo both got less than 30 minutes, and Wouter & I drove down. We then headed to lunch at the Torta stand near the condo and wolfed down some Mexican traditional food before heading to San Marcos Launch. Derek again launched first and as forecast it was strong south. Similar to a Bridal Launch, one had to turn left and fight the headwind to find lift. It looked rough and apparently it was for sometime. Wouter, Camilo & Guy launched too in quick succession and all ridge soared for some time, with Wouter starting the 1st of 52 tries to top-land! Another local pilot, Ruben, arrived and also flew around 4 pm just as the winds switched to westerly and the guys all started climbing fast below a lone CU. I told Wouter not to bother top-landing as I was too tired to fly and it would take too long to catch up to our group as they were heading east. So he climbed out to about 2500 meters and then bailed and came in and top-landed as the cycles clamed down around 430 pm. At this point the team had climbed thru 3700 meters and had mostly drifted back to Cerro Viejo, a 3400 meter peak behind San Marcos, and halfway home to El Chante. Camilo was the lowest pilot and he cleared the El Chante Ridge by 100 meters to be on the Lake Chapala side as Derek & Guy crossed over much higher. Guy headed east to land at the San Juan Cosala Malecon, as Derek flew overhead and then back to the Joco Malecon. I picked up Camilo, then Guy and headed back to get Derek. Flight stats: 2 hours airtime, 45 kms, +8 m/s to 3700 meters (for a 1700 meter altitude gain). Camilo's best flight here locally in 4 years of flying! Click here to find out who kicked butt in Mexico today! A video made by one of our new Mexican Friends who went tandem with Derek & Wouter on Sunday.
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Mexican Adventuras Report - we drove straight up to El Chante Launch as we saw CU forming and birds soaring and arrived to nice cycles. | Today Wouter hiked and Derek, Guy and I drove up with the gear. I launched first to test the air and flew for 15 minutes and got up about 100 meters over launch and setup a nice approach to top-land. A last minute pop, required a full-stall landing but it was okay. This is the smallest launch on the tour so it is quite technical for top-landing. Wouter flew off on my Factor and did a similar flight taking 15 minutes to climb and top-land on El Chante Launch too! Everyone then launched and flew for an hour but couldn't get higher than 100 meters over and the thermals were all around launch but nothing east to take them XC. Everyone headed west and landed at the Joco Malecon where I picked them up for lunch. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican XC Adventure today. After lunch we met Claudia & Booga who are going tandem with Derek for practice tandems and we drove up San Marcos. Oddly we had a similar wait for cycles as it was slightly leeside here but Wouter & Derek both got off first try with their passengers and were climbing fast in the leeside thermals. They flew around while Guy was preparing, but about 45 minutes into Derek's flight Booga was feeling dizzy so they flew over the back to the Pemex where Booga's car was parked. I saw Guy off launch and drove down to retrieve the tandem pilots while Guy climbed out to 2900 meters before drifting over the back too. We have now been here 10 days and everyday has been soarable. Gotta love Mexico. Woodside Report - Tom Chromy reported on FaceBook about getting to Woodside to see 50 Eagles soaring in the leeside thermals, and he launched and got 30 minutes before landing at Riverside.
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Tapalpa Report - we headed to Tapalpa Launch, and Joe, Guy, Derek and Wouter launched and all were able to stay up but Joe (who snagged a ride back up with Miguel's students).
| Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican XC Adventure today. We had a plan to meet Camilo's friend Claudia & friends to be tandem victims for Derek but they were late so everyone went flying but me, in case they showed up. Wouter top-landed on Tapalpa Launch when he got high enough on my Factor and I was just getting ready to fly when Claudia and her posse showed up. Derek was getting really high at this point and I had to radio him in for a top-landing at the back fields so he could fly Claudia on a practice tandem (she has experience with tandems as we went 20 kms XC last season to the 5 Star Hotel in Chapala. Lupita went with Wouter & Derek took Claudia tandem and they were soaring nicely. Guy was still in the air from the first launch and Joe joined them again too. I drove down to pick everyone up and we went to La Ceja for lunch before ehading to San Marcos for a Full Moon adventure while it is still full. Guy and Wouter flew off just as it was getting dark and despite headlights it was pretty dark in the LZ as Wouter flew in downwind with one of Claudia's friends. I tried a few inflations in light tailwind and then bailed as I was worried about the landing in the dark too. A good last day for Joe, and everyone got 1-2 hours airtime today.
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Mexico Report - we started heading to El Chante Launch after 9:30 am, Derek was the only hiker today and he made it to the top in an hour, and we waited on top for cycles. The birds were soaring but the cycles felt weak, so Derek waited for a bit then launched and had too work to maintain launch height so no one was very inspired. | Derek did get up and started heading east toward the Raquet Club when Guy launched and had a similar struggle to get above launch and stay there. What a difference a day makes even here! "no puede hablar ahora!" - Derek Joe launched after Guy and they both worked hard eventually all landing at the LZ below the launch behind the condo. Derek had headed back as he said it was too windy and hard to figure out the thermals. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican XC Adventure today. We went to lunch at Real Chapala (5 Star Hotel LZ) and then on to San Marcos for a Full Moon adventure. When we got to San Marcos Launch we met Ruben who had been clipped in for some time waiting for a better cycle, and we also waited which was a mistake. The longer we waited the less the inflow cycles became until it went catabatic at up to 15 kph. We thought it might be fun to try to tow Wouter up on the tandem into the wind and he could release and fly over the back in the catabatic winds but the attempts didn't get him more than a meter off the launch so we skipped that idea. He then kited reverse until he got a good wing and tried to turn around but didn't have enough speed. We packed up and headed down missing our chance for a Full Moon Adventure, and a chance to try out our new LED lights purchased for the event for 49 pesos at Bodega. We did get one flight at least but not what we expected after yesterday's great conditions.
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Mexico Adventuras Report - we were heading to El Chante this morning with Joe, Derek & Wouter hiking up and Guy & I driving up the gear in the Suzuki. | "Vamos a llegar alto y llegar lejos!" - Joe We waited on launch til 1130 am to launch as we did not want a repeat sled ride for the first pilot like Joe's flight yesterday. We had a Raven doing acro (barrel rolls) in front of launch suggesting it was lifty, so Guy finally agreed to be "technician de viento" this morning and flew off getting up quickly before heading east. I launched after Guy and chased him east after climbing out. No CUs forming and strongish east winds on the lake. Soaring east was easy into the wind and I made the Raquet Club quickly and saw Guy heading further east as I returned back towards El Chante Launch. I saw Joe and Derek launch as I flew back to launch and both climbed out fast too. I made a few passes by launch to test the top-landing possibilities going up at + 5m/s anywhere near the launch face! I headed west and saw a small CU form on the Joco Ridge and took it to 3000 meters, before heading in to land at the Joco Malecon as Wouter drove down. He collected me and we headed west to find Guy who landed aat Real Chapala (our favourite 5 star hotel in Chapala) for 20 km straight distance flight. And beer and lunch there while waiting for us. We got Guy and headed west to hear Joe had landed at the Joco Malecon after following Derek east to the Raquet Club and back for a 19 km XC flight. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican XC Adventure today. Derek came back to the same point on the Joco Ridge that I climbed out and took the thermal to 3300 meters before heading west to the San Marcos Ridge. I drove Wouter, Guy and Joe up to San Marcos Launch arriving to see Derek working that ridge line as we got ready. Guy, Joe and Wouter flew off and all found good climbs as Derek had climbed thru 3300 meters again and waited for the guys. He got a bit impatient and bolted east as Joe topped out at the same altitude in a few minutes before chasing Derek. guy lost the thermal and it took a while to regain lost altitude but he was soon at 2800 meters heading east chasing Derek & Joe. Wouter was practising top-landings at San Marcos and had a sweet landing before we packed up and drove retrieve. We found Guy on the Bypass Highway where he had landed for another 15 kms XC, and chased Joe past the launch and east where he had to turn back to find an LZ. He picked a small field surrounded in trees and pulled it off quite well for a rookie (not to mention another 20 kms XC flying with Derek). Derek was still in the air after I dropped the guys at their hotel and I saw him landing behind our condo just below where he had launched 6 hours ago and 65 kms later. We went to Joco for dinner and found a taco shop that the locals recommended and we all ate for 120 pesos (less than 10 bucks). A long and rewarding day for everyone! Click here to find out who kicked butt in Mexico today!
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Mexico Adventuras Report - Derek & Wouter hiked up to El Chante glider-less while I drove Joe & Guy up to launch. This launch is directly above our condo and faces South over Lake Chapala. | The birds were already soaring and there was huge development to the SW, and perfect launch cycles. Joe launched first and ignored the advice to fly west to the cross and instead bobbed around out front until he got impatient and headed east low to certain sink and doom. He was on the ground in 10 minutes, so I headed down to get him. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventure. The others launched and climbed out and headed east to the San Juan Cosala Malecon, and back with ease just ridge-soaring. After the out&return flight and after 35 attempts Wouter top-landed on launch with my wing and offered to drive so I could fly. Derek meanwhile topped out at 2950 meters way back behind launch (2000 meters). I launched and climbed out with Joe, Guy & Derek and after 15 minutes I headed west to the Joco ridge and climbed out there. It was now 2:30 pm and we were expecting SW winds but the winds on the Lake were still 15 kph from the east. So easy soaring in the gulleys, although some commented that it was rough at times (50% collapses). I decided to fly out to the Joco Malecon, completely remodelled since last December with 4 new football fields and a basketball court and kid`s aqua park. I flew over it a few times before selecting what looked like a concrete basketball court to the north for my LZ and had a perfect approach and touchdown on the running track. Derek and Guy landed in the same field as me and Joe went for a field just below the bypass road because he got too low. A local cop came by to say we couldn`t park our truck where we did in the employee parking area closest to our LZ. He was a retired Irvine CA cop that came home to Jocotopec, and got a job with the Municipal force managing the Park at the Malecon. We heard of recent gun battles with the cartels here, but little other crime. After packing up and lunch at Cuba Restaurant, we headed to San Marcos, where the road is near completion! We got to launch in record time not having to slow down for all the rough spots, and Derek launched first and climbed out to 2850 meters right away. I waited til everyone climbed out and headed down to chase the group who all went south hoping for a crossing to Joco, while Wouter played on his favourite north point on the little acro wing. Derek climbed to 3025 meters about 30 kms south before heading over to the Joco Malecon, while Joe and Guy ``duked it out`` near the Saddle trying to get up but too late. Guy landed on the dry lake out front, while Wouter got a ride in Pedro`s trike. Joe hung in their for another 30 minutes before flying over the back to land near the highway just before dark. Flight stats: Derek - 4 hours, Guy - 3.8 hours, Joe - 3.0 hours, Wouter - 3.0 hours, Jim - 1.0 hour. Max climbs + 5.5 m/s at both sites. From Canadian Desperados Maui - Much better conditions today !!! not only did I flew thru clouds in a perfect IFR, also I found the unique thermal with lift to pull me over 7,500 feet ASL. When I was coring the thermal, all the pilots came straight to me, to me? I did attract them or the thermal did ? , of course, the thermal did. In matter of minutes I was surrounded by at least 8 pilots all in the same core. I felt a little un-confortable having so many gliders around that I left the thermal to play for long time on the air before thinking in start my approach to land. Dec 09 is my last flight morning in Maui. Finally, after landing, Dexter –who runs the site- came to me to say that I was the one finding the thermal to everyone else !!! The big flight from Halakalea Crater won’t be possible due to strong conditions at the summit. They promised we’ll do it next time I come back and the weather helps of course. Let’s see what Friday has for this Desperado Canadian Pilot on the air. Aloha every one !! - Cynthia (Canadian Desperado)
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"hay dos tipos de pilotos. los pilotos que aterrizaron en un árbol. y los pilotos que van a aterrizar en un árbol!" - Derek | Tapalpa Report - we were heading to Tapalpa Launch, as the IBIS weather viewer said east changing to south at 2000 meters. It was crossing somewhat at Peddies main launch, straighter at La Ceja but most were concerned about the powerlines so we made the safe choice at the main launch (it is worth the 100 peso fee we cover for tour guests). Derek and Wouter were going tandem for Derek's second tandem lesson flight and they did get in the air but a huge sink cycle put them in some brush below, no damage to wing or pilots. There was nothing they could do as the sink was so big. They were back on launch for a second try in 20 minutes and this time it went well. Joe launched next and was climbing well in the south wind but went a bit too far south and encountered similar sink and picked a small field to land on top and hiked back to launch. Guy H went next and he was doing well when I went to retrieve Joe soaring well above launch. I was encouraaging him to find a core and take it to the 2600 meter height required to head north along the bowl to the Cross and on to San Marcos, but he lost the good lift and spent the rest of the flight keeping the wing inflated in the turbulence (he was making it look smooth from my angle). He made it to the regular LZ called the "Piano". We decided it was not good for Joe to go after local pilot "El Doc" flew off on his new Delta and hit huge sink almost not making the gulley to the north, and after that the thermals looked "snotty". So we packed up and headed on to San Marcos for another adventure. We got partway up the road when we encountered the big front end loader working on the launch road, organized by Pedro Kordich. They are widening the road to 2 lanes wide and filling in the bad spots with fill from the banks. We had to wait for 15 minutes to get by but got some great shots of the machine working at Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventure. When we got to launch it was tail wind oddly, and the odd cycle came thru but my wing was not cooperating in those cycles, Wouter & local pilot Camillo flew off with forward launches but there was little lift out there andno glass-off occured even at sunset, so we drove down to head for dinner. It was an adventure filled day, not much airtime but the "CUs were a poppin' ", so we are hopeful for tomorrow. Later in the condo I outdrank Wouter, a first for me? From Canadian Desperados Maui - Another three flights in a very light and challenging conditions. Clouds normally form around launch and cover the mountain with the base at around 4,000 feet to 7,500 feet (Launch is at 6.500 feet). This time around 1.00 pm (unusual) they formed with a base at 5,500 feet. It was my first time I launched in IFR conditions, and it was ok since the locals gave me a heading to follow in my compass –310- . Being completely blind inside the cloud, I was very careful in follow the given heading and, at some point, the landing field popped up like you turn on a lamp right on my vertical. They were waiting at the LZ to be sure I come out of the cloud at the right spot. After playing on the air for awhile, landed without any issues very close to the target having the locals congratulating me for the ‘good job’ done. Conditions clear skies till about noon and overcast in less than half an hour after you see the first little cloud development. Welcome to Maui. Wind and temperature conditions are the same as yesterday after 12 pm. Aloha and back home in a couple of days - Cynthia
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Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventure. | El Chante Report - we headed to El Chante Launch, right above our condo for a morning flight as west winds were forecast for the are later. A few vultures were soaring there earlier, so we were confident it would be flyable. There is still a lock on the gate requiring a 1000 meter hike in but it is a good warmup for the morning. We all took wings hoping is was soarable so someone could topland but I ended up hiking back to the car after everyone flew off. After landing, Wouter went for a swim in the pool at the condo and was joined by some French Girls skinny-dipping. Hmmmm? We then headed to San Marcos launch for some more soaring at 2 pm. Derek launched first and was soon at 2850 meters (launch is at 2000 meters), when everyone else launched the mountain started to shade in so extended sledders were had by all. Derek top-landed after I drove down to pick up the Team, and decided to relaunch and was denied any soaring this time. We were hoping for glass-off but it didn't happen until 6 pm when El Juevo and Berto took off and started climbing just before dark, so we just drove down to ensure no one was caught up in the air in the dark (which can happen here this time of the year). The full moon is in a few days so we may do a full-moon flight then. Cynthia's Maui Report - Finally on Monday got tested by the locals doing a few slide rides from 1000 feet above the LZ to test my abilities and guess what: it looks like that Canadians fly very well !!. According to the locals I have very “solid” launch and landing knowledge to take off and land safely. Well, I have to say thank’s Fly BC for a solid training in my return back to paragliding after many years without doing so. Today (Tuesday) looked pretty good since we can fly only during the morning. The mountain is normally covered by a thick layer of clouds every day around noon, so better hurry and fly from 9 to 12. Launch conditions very light (They told me: Cynthia there is a good cycle now, and I replied: What cycle, haha, it was almost calm, just a very light cycle that may last only a minute. I launched with a forward inflation and went very steady and without issues at all. Nice flight with some small bumps due to a light thermals they normally get here in winter. Landing conditions very light, except that getting closer to mid day, thermals are stronger and lift you up without warning during approach for landing. Landing field is 90 degrees to the mountain slope with a non flat land (ups and downs) so better be precise when do the final run and stop. 2 Flights today with: partially cloudy near launch, base developing at around 5500 ft ASL, winds 5 km/h to nil and increasing near noon . Temperature around 25 to 30 deg celcious, warm!!!. upper launch called Fern at 6500 feet elev ASL and LZ at 3,000 feet elev ASL . Landing is perpendicular to the mountain slope. So, let’s see what Maui will bring tomorrow.It looks very promising according to the local pilots. The site is on Poli park, Kuna, Hi - Cynthia New Ozone Wings ALPINA - is bringing our light weight techniques to the very successful Delta. We have often been asked for a light weight EN C and we thought the Delta would be the best platform to create this new light wing. The Alpina is fully certified EN C and in sizes XS to L. With a fantastic glide (9.6 according to Thermik) and a weight of 4.55kg for the M size we think this wing could be very popular! LM4 - based on some of the X-Alps wings, the LM4 is using our light weight knowledge on the M4. As we do not envisage a high demand this is not being certified (no official flight test or load test, it is just with our own flight tests and light weight material knowledge) so this wing is just for experts only who want high performance in their lightweight wing. Characteristics obviously similar to the M4, including a glide of 10.2 (according to Thermik Mag), but with a weight of just 4.77 for the MS size. The LM4 is sold with free custom colours and no standard schemes. 
EnZo - The EnZo represents a new class of paraglider. It is an open class competition wing that has been certified to the EN standard. This wing has the flight characteristics, behaviour, safety and performance normally associated with the open class, and although EN certified it can still only be safely flown by skilled “Open Class” pilots. We feel this wing should be in a separate class, as it does not really offer the ease of use and levels of passive safety that we would normally expect from an EN D level wing. It is designed for racing and made to fit the requirements of the top level pilots who were flying open class wings before the 2012 season.The EnZo uses the same planform as our latest research wings, the R10.2/R11; we want to be absolutely clear about the fact that the EnZo is a certified version of our Research program. The high aspect ratio design ensures excellent sink rate, glide performance, and an uncompromising open class feel. It uses the profile that was developed from the bbHPP, which provides high levels of stability throughout the speed range. As a hybrid 2 liner, with A and B risers only, it needs to be flown with the same active B riser control and must be flown with the respect that the latest generation 2 liners demand. The performance of this wing is almost equal to the R10.2; we calculate a 0.1 l/d reduction in maximum glide and a top speed that has been compromised to meet the requirements of certification. To clarify its place in the Ozone range of wings: Despite certified status, the EnZo is still very much a competition wing and is not a replacement of the M4. Do not be fooled by test reports, if you are considering this wing it is more important to listen to our description than it is to add up test results. The EnZo is not suitable for pilots who would normally choose to fly EN D category wings. To be flown safely, it requires the same standard of pilot and the same piloting skills as the R10.2 / R11. It is only suitable for PWC level pilots who have a very high standard of canopy control, an in-depth and up-to-date knowledge of SIV and the necessary skills to fly a 2 liner without it collapsing. Pilots unfamiliar with these cutting edge techniques may lose control of this high aspect wing and find themselves in an unrecoverable configuration. If you have any doubts, then this wing is not for you. Our mission for the development of the EnZo was a difficult one: Performance equal to the R10/R11 but with a certification to meet the recent rule changes. We are satisfied with the result and hope that the competitive Ozone pilots around the world will experience the same success with the EnZo as they have with the R10 and R11. However, we must stress the fact that we believe this type of wing should be in a separate class which requires a higher level of piloting skills than those previously required to safely fly a certified wing. The M size has been certified and will begin limited production in 2011. We plan to release other sizes (if their certification is possible) in 2012.To enquire about this wing, please contact FlyBC.org - Cheers from all the Ozone Team!
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Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventure. | San Marcos Report - we were heading to Tapalpa but got a late start and we were denied due to strong west winds (IBIS weather viewer), and then headed up San Marcos for a 2 pm launch window and the pilots were rewarded with fantastic flights. Joe launched first again and "sky-ed out" with Derek , Wouter, and Guy following. They were all soon at 2500 meters and Derek headed south with Joe following and they went several kilometers before heading back. Guy had a 45 minute flight landing at the bottom, and I picked Joe & Guy up in their respective LZs and we went back up to watch Derek & Wouter climbing fast after 4 pm. The second launches for Guy & Joe were more technical but when they got up they climbed fast and were soon headed over the back with Derek for their first San Marcos XCs. Flight stats: Derek - 4 hours, Wouter - 3 hours (plus acro), Joe - 2.5 hours, Guy - 2 hours. Average lift +5 m/s. Valle de Bravo Report - Alex R reports stable flying with climbs to 3000 meters and no CU. Easy XCs to the Lake LZ. Alex said he likes gaggle flying wth a bunch of M4s, the apparent wing of choice in Valle with the locals and the Euros. Jimmy Orava, Peter & Claudia are down in Valle too.
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Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventure. | Mexican Report - we headed to Tapalpa arriving to perfect conditions around 11 am with 10-15 kph inflow winds, perfect for Joe's first Tapalpa flight and Derek's first tandem launch with Wow-ter. The flights were rather short as it was very inverted and hazy, but Joe did really well getting 30 minutes or so. Locals Beto & Juan Carlos did worse than that and they know the thermals here well. Next adventure was to fly San Marcos and see how the XL-7 would handle the road loaded up, as the road is nasty after some heavy rains. It did well but the temps are high so I cleaned the rad last night with an airhose to clean out the bugs. I had to leave after watching Joe launch at San Marcos to head to the airport to pick up Guy H. At one point Joe looked like it was going to be a sled-ride, and I suggested heading out to the brown field to snag something and he was soon working it well and above launch as Derek launched. They "duked it out" and Joe was out-climbing Derek every time! When I reached the highway they were 300 meters over launch. I arrived at the airport early but Guy's plane was delayed in Phoenix and by the time we loaded his gear and left the airport it was dark. The plan was to meet the guys at La Vitta Bella restaurant above the lake, and we arrived there first as Joe flew for 3 hours landing just at sunset. Nice meal with everyone and then on to the Hotel to get Guy a room. Tomorrow looks west so perhaps San Marcos early?
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Mexican Flying Report - we headed off to Tapalpa around noon after a fabulous breakfast at Zocoalco. | Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC Mexican Adventure. Wow-ter flew off first on my Nova Factor 23 and climbed out enough to do some wingovers and attempts at top-landing as Derek flew off. Eventually they were both out front climbing in some nice thermals with the vultures, when Derek lost it and had to land land at the Piano. Wow-ter continued north and landed at the big field near the crossroads as I drove down to retrieve. We headed to San Marcos and found many HGers above launch so we headed straight up to launch at 2 pm, usually pretty strong this time of day but what the heck? The road is brutal and many washed out sections required careful driving, and the brush has overgrown the sides too. We arrived at launch to strong cycles and I laid out and took off and started climbing fast in +5.5 m/s thermals which made the plan of top-landing fade quick. Wow-ter launched his Nikita2 and was also climbing fast on an 18 meter ship. He flew to the north cliffs with a remaining HGer and was soon above the peak while I was looking for sink to top-land. I saw him head straight out . . . and I knew exactly what he was thinking . . . ACRO-time! He threw down some nice SATs before flying back to climb out again. This time the lift was less and he was soon below launch. I found enough sink to get below launch and try to sneak in from below but this time I couldn't get up so Derek had to drive down to find the HGer truck broken down with a busted ball-joint right in the middle of the road. Almost trapped except he had the loppers to clear a path around the busted truck, so he picked us up in enough time to head for dinner and for me to go get Joe at the GDL airport. Joe had great stories of 2:30 flights at Valle, pretty damn good for a newly signed off pilot! He had a few collapses and spins happened but he survived week one in Mexco. Woodside Report - we got a late report via email and FaceBook that Kevin and some others got an hour at Woodside on Decemberr 1 (f'n amazing!).
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Road Trip Report for November 30/2011 to December 2, 2011 - after 4 days of hard driving we arrived in Guadalajara at 2:00 pm, and arranged the house rental. | Click here for more pictures from the Mexican Roadtrip.
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FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day Reports
October 2011 Site of the Day archives - another 100 tandems done this month by the Awesome Tandem Team! Road trips to Pemby, Hedley, Savona, Cache Creek to round out our students skills when the coast got rainy.
September 2011 Site of the Day archives - another 150 tandems done this month by the Awesome Tandem Team!
August 2011 Site of the Day archives - another 200 tandems done this month by the Awesome Tandem Team! Almost done the Groupons!
July 2011 Site of the Day archives - another 120 tandems done this month by the Awesome Tandem Team!
June 2011 Site of the Day archives - over 100 tandems done this month by the Awesome Tandem Team!
May 2011 Site of the Day archives - another rainy month with more road trips.
April 2011 Site of the Day archives - many long XCs in the Fraser valley by many pilots, and we roadtripped to the Ashcroft area many times to get flights between rain storms and snow storms.
March 2011 Site of the Day archives - got home from 2 glorious months in Mexico & New Zealand to try to fly in the Valley, but due to rain & snow we roadtripped to the Ashcroft area many times to get flights.
February 2011 Site of the Day archives - last days of the Mexico Tour went very well and then I headed to New Zealand to meet Colleen in Auckland and we had a great time flying there for 2 weeks.
January 2011 Site of the Day archives - Mexico Tour went very well with 8 attendees getting great airtime and safe guidance from us at FlyBC.
December 2010 Site of the Day archives - weather was so bad in BC, that Colleen and I had to book 5 days in LA to get a flight.
November 2010 Site of the Day archives - we had some sweet soaring flights at Woodside, and a really cold cold snap that limited flying for a week or more.
October 2010 Site of the Day archives - we had some sweet soaring flights in October at Woodside, and Robin flew to Hope in less than an hour!.
September 2010 Site of the Day archives - the wettest September in history had us running up to Savona and points east to fly, but we "got-er-done".
August 2010 Site of the Day archives - unstable conditions made for some great days at Benny and Woodside. Al & I had a Delta Day with me stealing Colleen's Small Delta and he on a Large one and we went over the back to Seabird on a strong day.
July 2010 Site of the Day archives - fantastic road trip to Revelstoke for 11 days of SIV Training and super weather.
June 2010 Site of the Day archives - wettest June on record so road trips to Savona a few times. Deltas are rolling in now!
May 2010 Site of the Day archives - nice flying in the Valley.
April 2010 Site of the Day archives - worst April in years weatherwise but we managed to do some awesome tandem groups and some nice flights with Justin, Nicole and Norm flying to Mission late in the month.
March 2010 Site of the Day archives - Crappy weather in the US on my return trip from Mexico. But when I arrived back at the Ranch there were some great days soaring Woodside.
February 2010 Site of the Day archives - super flying in Mexico for the FlyBC Mexican Tours. Good XCs. The locals were already flying at Mother Woodside back in BC due to the warm weather!
January 2010 Site of the Day archives - nice flying in Mexico for the FlyBC Mexican Tours. Good XCs.
December 2009 Site of the Day archives - our first time in Mexico for a full December and we flew everyday. 40-50 km XCs from Tapalpa.
November 2009 Site of the Day archives - very few flights as we had record rains and high winds.
October 2009 Site of the Day archives - Women's Fly-In in Chelan WA with the Barbie Theme, took first place honours again! More good soaring flights of 2 hours plus on special days.
September 2009 Site of the Day archives - more decent flying weather with a few road trips to escape wind by heading to Savona.
August 2009 Site of the Day archives - best flying conditions in years with little rain. My first hike up Cheam with pals went well.
July 2009 Site of the Day archives - the FlyBC SIV in Revelstoke was a blast, 280 SIV flights and only one wet pilot intentionally that is. Jeremy wished he had landed in the water.
June 2009 Site of the Day archives - dry all month locally so lots of flying, Al has been test flying the new ShotGun launch near Stave Lake having great flights out to Woodside.
May 2009 Site of the Day archives - local flying is getting great with nice XC's! Bridal was working well. The new bathroom was installed in the Barn at Eagle Ranch enriching the FlyBC experience.
April 2009 Site of the Day archives - we escaped the local weather by flying in New Zealand for 3 weeks. We will be heading back soon!
March 2009 Site of the Day archives - we were flying locally in snow, relying on Derek's sleds and chains on the 'Mog to get up Woodside.
February 2009 Site of the Day archives - the Worlds PG Championships in Mexico was hard work for the Canucks, the tasks and speeds were unreal.
January 2009 Site of the Day archives - Manzanillo, Mexico was a BLAST, many new sites flown and we have a new tour Destination for 2010.
December 2008 Site of the Day archives - the annual FlyBC Christmas Party was a cold success with Head over Heels entertaining us all night. And we left early for Manzanillo, Mexico on Dec 28th.
November 2008 Site of the Day archives - some soaring between rain storms, and it was pretty dry in Agassiz.
October 2008 Site of the Day archives - we went ot the Women's Fly In on Chelan for the annual Halloween Costume Fly-In, great conditions there to offset the wet month on the West Coast. Steve Fosset's crash site was found in Nevada after a year of searching.
September 2008 Site of the Day archives - great student conditions at Woodside and Bridal all month, with 10 students getting signed off this month, a record.
August 2008 Site of the Day archives - our second SIV Course of the 2008 season went well at Sale Mountain near Revelstoke (except for a few water landings and minor injuries). Wet all month at Woodside except the weekends.
July 2008 Site of the Day archives - our first SIV Course of the 2008 season went well at Sale Mountain near Revelstoke.
June 2008 Site of the Day archives - a few good soaring days at Bridal, lots of new students this month.
May 2008 Site of the Day archives - the cost of gas is keeping pilots at home and the weather isn't helping either. One good XC in May for me, leaving Woodside with Norm and Martin H and ending up at Elk at 1600 meters before landing by Hopyard Hill. 3 hours and 85 kms later by the GPS.
April 2008 Site of the Day archives - worst weather in years but we flew every day we could.
March 2008 Site of the Day archives - more snow and still hiking to launch at Woodside! But some major airtime for the locals committed to coming out to fly.
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.
August 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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