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FlyBC "Site of the Day December 2013 Archive"
Happy New Years Eve
"Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book . . . write a good one" - anon
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 Guadalajara Cloudy. High 17C. Winds SE at 10 to 15 kmh. We are currently in San Juan Cosala, Jalisco, Mexico for our Mexican Tour until March and the skies look great. The new Ozone Ozium Harness is now available for ordering and I have several combinations of M & L harnesses & M & L pods coming in. Watch for new exciting news from Gin Gliders & Gin Speedwings as they are changing distribution in Canada and prices and availability will be much better than in the past here at FlyBC.  FlyBC is an authorized distributor for Ozone, Gradient, SupAir, Gin, Nova, Icaro (new in 2013), Paratoys Paramotors, APCO, Wills Wing. Some of our clients are unaware that we can source any & all paragliding gear here at FlyBC, call us for obscure brands as we have business arrangements with all manufacturers. Current Demo Gear: Ozone Buzz Z4 (ML & L), Ozone Element II (S), Ozone Delta I (S), Ozone Delta 2 (L & ML & MS), Ozone Mantra M4 S, SupAir Delight Pod Harnesses, Ozone Oxygen II harnesses (S & M). Why Ozone over other brands? - Click here
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| Guadalajara Cloudy early with scattered thunderstorms developing this afternoon. High 18C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 kmh. Chance of rain 50%. The weatherman says it will get sunny on January 2nd.
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| Guadalajara Rain showers early becoming more intermittent for the afternoon. High 19C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 kmh. Chance of rain 50%. Ramona wanted to do some kiting on launch to learn how to properly abort the glider. We were doing many inflations while Calin flew off and soared around for 1:45 before top-landing on the newly excavated southside of launch. Lots of lift despite the grey skies.
We took a 2 hour lunch break and later it was calm so we didn't do any more kiting. This is the worst weather we have ever seen in 14 years of touring Mexico, a huge system, but after New Years it looks great. There is a huge cat doing the road work here but they had to stop due to the rain. Unfortunately the part of the road they did work on at the first 1/3 of the way up is super greasy, no 2WD trucks will make it up here.
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| Guadalajara Rain showers early becoming more intermittent for the afternoon. High 19C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 kmh. Chance of rain 50%. At Tapalpa, cloudbase was near the lakebed so further south to Colima where the weather wass reporting partly cloudy. We arrived around 130 pm on launch to find a bunch of construction materials on the launch. This launch is already small enough without this stuff!!
Ramona brought up the wing in a good cycle but was over-pulling the A's so I said stop . . . but she didn't stop and instead went off 90 degrees to the right. Right into a pile of boulders but she hit with the back protector (an excellent Ozone Oxygen II 17 cm back pro) and was unhurt. The wing was a tangled mess so we bunched it into a bag and climbed back up to launch to drive down and get Calin. On the way back to San Marcos at 530 pm, we decided to try a flight here as the forecast was still 20 kph SW winds. The locals have organized a bull dozer to fix the road but this is not a good time to be doing any work as it has rained hard for many days. Wherever the bulldozer worked was a slimy mess and it was a good thing I bought new tires before dcoming down here! We were slip-sliding even in 4Low but got to the top to find light tailwinds. It is flooded near Pedro's airstrip but lots of room to land a paraglider, but after Ramona's duff at Colima we were not going to try a tailwind launch here so off to dinner after picking up Colleen at home.
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|  Guadalajara Sun & Cloud. High 26C. Winds SE at 10 to 15 kmh. Colima & Manzanillo were 32C and sunny . . . for a few days and then a front rolled in and dumped heavy rain, so back to Jocotepec where it was also raining. Not typical weather for this time of year but we needed a flying break after 24 flyable/soarable days here in Mexico. Best wishes to everyone over the holidays, wishe you could be here in the sun too!
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| Guadalajara Mostly Cloudy. High 22C. Winds SE at 10 to 15 kmh. San Juan Cosala Report - we sent Ramona, Calin & Karen off today for Christmas as the weather looked like rain. They headed to Puerto Vallarta and the sun as the forecast there was 32c & Sunny. We spent the day at the Outlet Mall and went to a movie as the rain came down heavy for a few hours . . . which is okay in a movie theatre. I waited til the last minute to buy a Christmas Tree and all the stores were sold out so I have to rig up a floral bouqet into a tree complete with ornaments. We are regrouping on Friday to start flying again.
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| Guadalajara Considerable clouds this morning. Some decrease in clouds later in the day. High 25C. Winds SE at 10 to 15 kmh. we arrived at launch after noon due to stopping for breakfast at Zacoalco, which everyone needed after a big travel day yesterday. Ramona & Calin are here from Calgary, he is here to free fly and Ramona is continuing her lessons after over a year's hiatus due to travel and weather.
Stefan was up high when we arrived while others were scratching around. He had to top-land to fix his speedbar and relaunched and we saw him heading north on the rim.
Calin, Colleen & Karen all flew twice and we we finished flying at 5 pm, before heading home for dinner. Meanwhile back in NW WA, folks were soaring post-frontal conditions at Blanchard.
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|  Guadalajara Some sun this morning with increasing clouds this afternoon. High around 24C. Winds light and variable. We arrived to light westerly cycles and a few birds soaring and Karen got ready first and flew off and worked a few thermals but was on the ground in 20 minutes at Pedro's. Colleen launched next on her M4 and was staying in closer and worked above launch for a few minutes but was also heading out to land as Camilo readied his tandem.
Odd what a difference a day makes! Yesterday had "idiot lift" all day thil dark and today was high cirrus and light thermals. We went to lunch in Acatlan at Guerro's Fish Restaurant and listened to live music and enjoyed the street activities. Then back to San Marcos where we arrived to find some HGs setting up on launch. Mille had already launched and was soaring his Barbie HG to the north. I was voted most likely to fly as Karen wanted someone to "duke it out with". I launched the Buzz Z4 L from the back of launch and headed north tro find some nice climbs (maybe +1 m/s). I was nearing 2300 metres when Karen launched and she got low a few times but worked hard to stay aloft. One of the HGs found a thermal south of launch and further out and Karen tagged it and was above me as I reached the thermal but it was good and I was soon above her & the HG. The vultures were in the same thermal dodging gliders and taking the thermal further back. Light winds made this safe to do. I was near launch when I caught a good climb with +5 m/s all the way to 2870 metres and was almost over the highway behind launch and it looked like I had Joco on glide but Karen was down low, so no point in only one of us heading east to save the retrieve. About 20 pilots arrived on launch and the air was soon littered with beginner pilots and advanced (all with little ridge rules). I watched some close calls from my safe vantage point above the mayhem. I was supposed to be at the airport for Calin & Ramona but their flight was cancelled and I got a 4 hour reprieve so I flew til sunset landing on the dry lake near San Marcos with Migueleon and Karen in light north winds as Colleen drove down the front. Off to La Vita Bella for dinner before heading to the airport at 8 pm to find the plane was delayed til after 11 pm. By the time I got home it was 200 am, far past my bedtime of the usual 9 pm! Meanwhile . . . back at the Ranch! Yikes!
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| Guadalajara A few showers this morning with mostly cloudy conditions during the afternoon hours. High 23C. Winds WSW at 15 to 25 kmh. Chance of rain 30%. We arrived with Karen G, Phil I, Jorge, Colleen & Vincente (a kite surfer dude from PV) and everyone flew off into the Magic Air after Collen did the "wind technician" role.
I picked up Jorge, Phil & Colleen. Hitchhiking along was Herminio and his baserig. When we arrived on top, Vincente was complaining of no forward speed but big lift so Jorge told him to "turn & burn" towards Joco. Karen had landed but here radio was dead so she had to wait for a ride down by Chela's. I launched on the Buzz Z4 L and it was strong on launch requiring As & Cs but the Buzz made me look good as I took off without any drama. I took a few small climbs wondering why I was just ridge-soaring, with all the sun and developing clouds. I went out a bit further and found the thermals stronger upwind and climbed fast above launch and the Buzz was all over the place doing turns by itself while I was trying to get it go straight, some tip collapses too? The thermals were gnarly and wind blown but strong climbs ensued. I headed south to try to climb up enough to fly home but it was shaded by clouds to the south and the sand cranes were flapping their wings (they are normally quite good thermal birds). No luck to the south. I headed back north and saw Herminio had launched and gained enough height to fly out and base jump so I headed out ahead to watch the show and had a supe good line climbing all the way to Kordich's Airfield. Magic Air! Herminio came under me a few hundred metres and was almost to the field when he turned back to the mountain to get more lift. He was on a Little Cloud 17 and it was windy enough that he lost all his height flying out. I was on bar all the way and climbing on a properly loaded wing. He finally bailed on the base jump and had to go back with a big wing to do it later in the day. I landed at Kordich's after an hour and it was perfect landing conditions as I dropped in close to the parking lot. Jorge & Phil launched after me and had nice flights for a second round as Colleen offered to drive down. The Suburban is running perfectly now after the tuneup and repaired wiring harness (thankfully). We regrouped and headed to Herman's in Jocotepec for lunch after picking up Vincente. Later we met Camilo on launch as he was getting ready to fly his brother andreas on the tandem and it was still strong and there were 6 HGs in the air too. Everyone was staying up with ease. It was just after 5 pm and I kited Karen's wing to test the conditions with her attached and she flew off and started climbing. Next up was Colleen, Vincente, Jorge & Phil and they were all soaring in the smooth lift as the sun started to set and I drove down.
What a sweet way to spend a Saturday!
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| Guadalajara Sun and clouds mixed. High 25C. SW winds at 5 to 10 kmh, increasing to 15 to 30 kmh. We were headng up to launch around 1030 am when we stopped halfway up and found NE winds?? We drove down the front to Pedro Kordich's Airfield and saw that David L from Hope was towing HGs out on the flats so we took the truck out there to watch the mayhem. We watched the other David from OR flying a trainer hangglider wing & harness for his first tow lessons. They went kind of okay, but he had some issues to work out.
After we saw no one was in a rush to head up the mountain we headed towards Jocotepec. We were still having "Reduced Power Mode" codes where the computer in this model of Suburban basically shuts down the throttle to a crawl to get you to the side of the road but not up a mountain. I had the code reader to reset the codes but it is a pain and takes between 10-50 seconds to reset each time. Basically everytime we hit a bump it triggered the codes and the roads are all bumpy. So we headed to the mechanic where they replaced the #2 coil again as the new one packed it in yesterday after 3 hours of driving. At the mechanic shop, I showed them the wiring bundle that I could wiggle to get the code, but they were too busy and sent me to their other shop in Chapala. I said lets go back up San Marcos before it gets too wild, so Phil & I headed straight there. When we arrived on top after resetting the computer a gazillion times (the coil was bad but we had another issue), launch conditions were perfect! Lighter than yesterdays three flights and no dust storms but also no "wind dummies". Phil watched for 15 minutes for a reason not to fly and decided to stand down until later due to the forecasted winds. While he was checking conditions I was wiggling wires and isolated the bundle that could cause a code on a bumpy road. So we headed to pick up Colleen and take the Suburban to the Chapala shop. The plan was to have lunch while they looked at the Suburban but when we arrived the mechanics said they were going to lunch and would not be back for 2 hours and then closed for the Christmas Holidays til January. We decided to go to lunch in Jocotepec instead and I went to the local parts store for some tools and ripped open the harness on the side of the road and finally found a broken and frayed wire in the main distribution harness which took 2 minutes to fix with a crimp tool!
The codes P01518 & P01516 that were showing up was telling us to replace a $200 throttle body, a $300 Throttle Control Box and several other parts. Google showed me several Chevy forums where folks had spent $thousands$ trying to get rid of this code at dealers so I am glad I resisted changing all those parts even if I could have sourced them here. Colleen & Phil were just finished lunch when I picked them up and we headed up to San Marcos to arrive to see a huge dust storm and overdeveloping clouds. There was one paraglider way above launch that we watched spend a nerve-racking 30 minutes trying to get down in the ever-increasing winds.
We dropped Phil off and headed into Guadalajara in a huge rain storm which had many lightning strikes around Jocotepec's hills. We did some shopping and then over to the airport to pick up Karen G who is here for the holidys to get some well deserved airtime. Tomorrow we fly early! Meanwhile . . . back at the Ranch! Yikes!
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| Guadalajara Sunshine and a few afternoon clouds. High 26C. Winds W at 10 to 15 kmh. We dropped off the car in Chapala and took the big white bus home which is quite an adventure and a good way to see the inner towns, and also a good way to get retrieved for those San Marcos to Chapala XC flights. We met Juan Jorge at La Vita Bella and he wanted to take his friend's flying today so we hopped in his truck and off to San Marcos. The CUs were already popping there.
Conditions were good at 1 pm on San Marcos Launch and Avril & I were soon thermalling with Phil who showed us how to thermal. He got high immediately but was worried about the thermals tracking back so far.
We regrouped on the road chatting with the local cops, while Colleen drove down in the Suburban. Unfortunately, the tuneup was not done correctly and the computer was throwing off more codes. We limped back up the hill to do the second tandem at 3 pm and it was getting stronger at launch. Moses and I took off and we hit one thermal right off launch and then huge sink and north winds forced us down fast. I was upwind of Kordich Airfield but east of the road and I though we were done, when a thermal off the gravel pit started pulling at us. I circled tightly to stay upwind and in the thermal and I worked it back above launch just as Juan Jorge launched and we were thermalling together. Then a gaggle of three vultures climbed with us not even concerned that we were a few metres apart! They were even observing ridge rules and turning left with us. Meanwhile . . . Avril had climbed a tree near launch and was reliving her tandem flight!
After 45 minutes I suggested we land near San Marcos town for a beer and it was hard to get down. Dust devils were kicking off the flats and it was thermic all over the place and when I found some sink I spiralled down on the Magnum II 38 which was not so good for Moses stomach at this point. Phil picked a good spot near Chela's beer store and we were soon packed up and at the store when Colleen arrived. The Suburban was running really badly, so we decided to take these passengers back to Joco and get the Suburban looked at. The new ignition coil that was replaced had failed already and they replaced it with a used one and got us back on the road so we could do one last run up San Marcos hoping for the glass-off! The truck ran well for a few kms and got us up to launch but barely as more codes kicked in to the computer?? WTF?? Conditions were good on launch and Phil launched first and was climbing in smooth lift. Colleen flew off next and was soon above Phil.
Good thing I have a new battery cause I tired many times to get her to fire up but nothing. The gas gauge said 1/4 tank but the fuel pump sounded starved at the angle the truck was parked so I tried to move it back to the level but it wouldn't budge. Meanwhile the folks above are having a good time so I suggesed they had better land to the east and try and go as far as they could. I finally got the Suburban moving and spun it around so the nose was facing downhill and got it started. Lots more codes driving down as Phil radioed that he landed near the highway and Colleen was long gone east. I found Phil in a harvested corn field near the short cut road, and we headed east to find Colleen by the Pemex. She had gone further east but could not fnd any harvested fields so she had to come back for a nice field. By the time we picked her up, and bought got some fuel it was dark! Off to the arrachera place in Joco for a nice steak and the day was done. Oddly the truck was now running well as the night air is cooler and some of these coil issues are caused by heat. A new coil was on order so hopefully tomorrow we are going to be running well.
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| Guadalajara Abundant sunshine. High 26C. Winds light and variable. Phil launched around 1 pm and was thermalling out front with some vultures but it was fairly stable and he only got 30 minutes. I retrieved him and we saw Stefan in the air (or maybe Tom) launching from La Ceja but they were down as we got to launch for Flight #2. More vultures this time and OD threatening CUs behind launch but light lift out front. SupAir has a new tandem paraglider coming out this spring and we are getting a prototype to test soon.
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| Guadalajara Abundant sunshine. High 26C. Winds light and variable. Phil launched after me, and Stefan launched after Phil but from La Ceja Launch. I tried thermalling over the highway near launch and almost ended up in some trees below launch . . . almost! I steered clear of the trees and was sinking down the gulleys until I caught a good climb with three vultures which took me over launch. Stefan & Phil not so lucky and they were scratching on the spines for some time. I saw Stefan head out to the valley where he caught a great climb and I told Phil to follow Stefan. I headed out there too. Phil missed the climb but I "duked it out" with Stefan and we got above launch to about 2500 metres and Stefan broke south and was last seen over Sayula.
I kept thermalling out front and eventually top-landed on launch as Colleen drove down to get Phil.
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| Guadalajara A mix of clouds and sun. High around 27C. Winds light and variable. We drove up to the top and looked for the key that I gave to Camilo and he had stashed by the fence but the key we found did not fit the lock. We were going to hike in and I had locked the car and had my keys with me when I tried the house key in the padlock and it worked! We drove in to launch and the road is very brushed in but we made it with just a few scratches. Light cycles but Phil got ready and was off after a few tries and thermalling alone out front for 30 minutes before landing at El Chante futball field. The maintenance man was watering the field so no gate issues there.
We headed straight to San Marcos as it looked pretty calm on the lake. On the way up we stopped at the first point where you can see east & west and it was NE so no point on going up (this matched the forecast). We went back to El Chante but we were denied there too due to backwinds. The Suburban was acting up like it has a fuel issue so I had the fuel filter replaced before but I fear it is more serious as I have to clear codes every few kms.
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| Guadalajara A mix of clouds and sun. High around 27C. Windslight and variable. Phil was flying our Ozone Buzz Z4 demo as his luggage was still missing. Colleen and Phil launched at the exact same moment from opposite ends of the launch and Colleen flew straight out to the hump and was climbing out front.
Two or three other pilots joined Phil in the thermal he was in and they were swapping positions. Not many vultures out today to help out. After about an hour both Colleen & Phil were landed and I drove down. Colleen was in the crossroads LZ and Phil in the Piano LZ. We gave el Huevo and a tandem passenger a ride up to La Ceja Launch and visited with the hawk before heading back to the Tapalpa main launch for another flight.
Phil launched and worked what was there but was in the Piano LZ in about 20 minutes/ We drove down and headed to San Marcos as the forecast showed a switch to light SW by 6 pm, but when we got to launch it was stil NE and possibly launcheable at times but the local vultures were not even staying up so we opted for an early dinner at La Vita Bella. Lluvianos Valle Report - Alex R reported flying at a new launch spot called Lluvianos where he did a nice 30 km + flight with a dogleg he called "the mark of Zorro".
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| Guadalajara A mix of clouds and sun. High around 27C. Winds W at 10 to 15 kmh. First rip to the airport at 4 am to drop off Derek and pick up Phil I. 2 hours after Phil's plane arrived he was cleared thru customs without his wing - every pilots nightmare! No problem we have wings to fly. Dropped off Phil at the hotel for a nap after the red-eye flight and dropped the Suburban at the mechanico for new rear brakes. Decided I was so tough I would hike up to La Vita Bella to borrow Gerard's Nissan for the day and that took some time in the heat (+28C). After I got the Nissan, I went back to get Phil and we drove up San Marcos around 1 pm and there was east wind everywhere? At the launch we were rewarded with perfect SW winds and the birds were soaring. Phil was still too tired to fly but we did the reconn of the launch & LZs in front and over the back. The Suburban was ready around 4:30 pm, and I returned the Nissan and we went for dinner before racing to the airport for Colleen's 8 pm arrival (which was an hour late). There was some sort of police checkpoint south of the airport when I was heading north with at least a 6 km backup so we drove into Guadalajara to the ring road towards Colima to get back home and traffic was busy! Tomorrow we fly, oddly no one else was on San Marcos Launch despite a huge party planned for Pedro's LZ? And on a fin semana?
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| Guadalajara A mix of clouds and sun. High 25C. Winds light and variable.
Derek went next and scratched for 1:20 trying to get above launch to no avail. Derek also almost hit the same cow. He was on the ground by the time Wolfgang launched for flight #2. Herminio was planning to do a base jump from the paraglider again but when I told him there was no lift he asked if he could hook up with us to get back to San Marcos as XCing there was not possible today. He flew off and did his base jump over the Piano Lz for Derek & Wolfgang to see. We stopped for lunch and then on to San Marcos and Derek launched just before 5 pm, and started climbing thru 2600 metres. There were gusty cycles so I had Herminio launch before Wolfgang and also Jean Claude from Quebec on his HG launched before we laid out the wing for Wolfgang.
Derek radioed that he was 2800 metres over Joco town and heading to the Malecon for a 22 km flight, not bad for a stable day. Alas, Derek is heading home tomorrow. Click here to see Derek's tracklog
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| Guadalajara Sunny to partly cloudy. High 28C. Winds light and variable. When we were driving across the toll road south there were dust storms in the lee of San Marcos?? We kept heading south as the IBIS said stronger winds at San Marcos that at Tapalpa. As we drove up the Tapalpa Highway it didn't look too bad . . . until we crested the top and it was blowing 30 kph + on top (yikes). We drove into La Ceja Launch for a look anyway and they have a new resident Red Tail Hawk that was rescued after being abondoned by her mother. She is on a tether but the tether is long enough for the Hawk to hunt, but still get under cover in case the other local raptors come to harrass it. Apparently the vultures are no problem, just the peregrines and other hawks. The local dogs tried to get close but were clwed and they now stay away! Respect!
As we drove back to Tapalpa Main Launch, we saw a yellow paraglider in the air soaring up high and the winds had dropped as forecasted. We were on launch and lost site of the yellow glider when we head a scream and looked up to see a glider streaming down (unloaded) into the top-landing field followed by Herminio on his base rig . . . and we missed it! See how it works here from a previous session. Derek got set up and it was a bit gusty but off he went and he was soaring launch but it was rough and thermic in close so he flew out to find a nice climb past the hump.
I pretty much quit coaching him as he was doing so well and he was soon at 3000 metres above the inversion and at Derek's altitude.
Years of sailing has taught Wolfgang to be smooth and it shows in his flying! One of the best student flights ever in all my coaching years!
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| Guadalajara Sunny to partly cloudy. High 26C. Winds light and variable.
Light east winds in the LZ and Wolfgang did a great job on his approach and he almost landed on his feet but the flare pulled him back into the harness but he had a soft landing. I drove down to retrieve the guys and we sere soon back on top to nice conditions again and Derek & Wolfgang flew off again.
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| Guadalajara A mix of clouds and sun. High 26C. Winds light and variable. When we arrived at launch around noon, Stefan said it had been quite strong and gusty as he was testing his new harness in the simulator. It looked good for Wolfgang to kite so we setup the Buzz Z4 and he was kiting well after a few false starts. He was still not ready to fly so we packed up the Buzz after an hour and got the tandem ready. Stefan launched ahead of us and worked for a bit out front and then climbed up above launch to the north.
Off to the hotel for some birthday cake for Wolfgang as it is his 70th today!
Valle de Bravo Report - Denis, Alex & Peyman are in Valle and it OD'ed and started thundering and raining today as they were in the air.
Williams Lake Report - apparently it is quite cold there but Santa is taking requests from my grandkids. Wish they were here with us in Mexico.
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| Guadalajara Mostly Sunny. High 25C. There is a perfect sloped runway that looks like it is intended to be a golf driving range with cactus trees on the north side and pine trees on the south side with ample room to fly down, but also narrow enough to keep one focussed on keeping a straight path down. It got hot fairly quickly so after an hour we bagged the Buzz and went for lunch at Guerros in Acatlan. Then back to San Marcos where the sky was full of cummies and the winds were light! Wolfgang was too tired to kite on top, so Derek flew off and disappeared for some time before topping out quickly.
We lost site of Derek and radio contact too for some time but headed east toward the Hotel and then caught site of Derek and finally got him on the radio when he reported being 2600 metres over Jocotepec town.
Click here to see Derek's tracklog Meanwhile . . . back at the Ranch the weather has turned snowy but warmer with freezing rain warnings.
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| Guadalajara Mostly Sunny. High 26C.
We drove up to launch and Camilo launched solo and I clipped in tandem with Wolfgang for his first tandem and we got "hoovered off" launch and were climbing thru 2800 metres within 10 minutes (launch is 2000 metres). Camilo broke thru 3000 metres before his vario died, but he had to track pretty far back to stay in the thermal. We opted to stay above launch and soared the entire ridge, but heading south was slow and wasn't working at the saddle so we headed out to let Wolfgang fly the approach after 45 minutes of thermalling in +5 m/s lift.
Derek drove down and by the time we got back to launch there were 20+ HGs setup, but enough room for Camilo & Derek to take off as the conditions softened due to shade from the clouds out front.
We saw them coming south and they jumped over the powerlines with enough height to make it to the highway and nice landings in light winds. After packing up we headed to La Vita Bella Restaurant to eat and have some wine. Vida esta Bien.
Elk Mountain Hike & Fly Report - Kevin A hiked Elk solo with his new Ozone Alpina 2 and braved the cold conditions and launched into leeside crappy thermals which took him above launch but it was too cold so he flew out to Prest Road.
Grey Mountain Hike & Fly Report - Elise, Russell, Murray & Shawn hiked 2 hours up Grey Mountain near Whitehorse and were rewarded with an hour of nice soaring in 0C temps (rare this time of year).
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| Guadalajara Mostly Sunny. High 26C.
Click here to see Derek's tracklog Delayed Broadcast of a paragliding solo flight on February 27, 2010 in Tapalpa (my last flight on the FlyBC Winter Tour there this year), I kicked butt as the locals sunk out and I was able to top-land - thanks to Colleen for the filming!
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| Guadalajara Mostly Sunny. High 26C. We headed towards San Marcos and found the short-cut road is flooded and we had to take a detour route to the main road and we could see it was east aloft so we headed towards Tapalpa across the salt flats (as we had done for the past 13 years). We got to the Cuota Toll Road and the road was blocked off, so we had to detour back to Pedro Kordich's to see why. Pedro was working on a HG trailer to haul wings and we chatted about life and then headed to the Bellavista Training Hill (behind the gun club) and it was clear and ready for action but the winds were wrong as we got there past noon. We decided that it was too late to travel to Tapalpa as I had to be at the airport by 5 pm for Wolfgang's arrival. So a no-fly day but we were just getting used to the Mexican Life. Some Valle Flights are happening down here in Mexico but not really long ones yet.
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| Guadalajara Mostly Sunny. High 26C. It was certainly flyable yesterday with "CUs a poppin'" and light SE winds til the afternoon and then strong SW winds at San Marcos just before dark - a classic Mexico Day. If anyone is out in the valley and can take Bob some water & a hug, it would be appreciated. Colleen took care of that yesterday but may not be able to go back out for a few days. See what Herminio has been up to at San Marcos & Tapalpa . . . crazy shit!
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| Guadalajara Mostly Sunny. High 26C. 40 hours of driving and 4800 kms later we arrived in San Juan Cosala with no problems as we raced ahead of the current North American Cold Front. |
FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day Reports click to select the month and year you wish to review.
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