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FlyBC "Site of the Day January 2014 Archive" - January 2014
San Marcos has been wonderful!
"I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else." - Winston Churchill
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 Guadalajara Abundant sunshine. High 25C. Winds S at 10 to 15 kmh. It was damned cold, 9C at the US Border, where they decided my gas tank looked too new so they searched the car thoroughly! I tried to explain the fact that it had been repaired 4 times by my Mexican Mechanics hence the new look! They found nothing of course.
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| Guadalajara Abundant sunshine. High 25C. Winds S at 10 to 15 kmh. Last day of this month for me to fly as I head back to Canada for a few weeks.
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| Guadalajara Abundant sunshine. High 25C. Winds S at 10 to 15 kmh. The conditions looked good as CUs were poppin' over the San Marcos ridgeline already!
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| Guadalajara Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 26C. W winds at 5 to 10 kmh, increasing to 15 to 25 kmh. All the crew lost their lives due to faulty O-rings on the booster rockets, a reminder not to cheap out on our flying gear.
 San Marcos Report - I hoping to fly San Marcos today with the Gravity Group but I also had an appointment with Francisco (the local body shop guy) to repair a rusted rear quarter panel on the Suburban. The rear air conditioning condensor drips water just behind the right rear tire and caused a perforated area. They replaced the panel with new metal and repainted it for 500 pesos. I borrowed Gerard's Nissan around 1:30 pm and headed to San Marcos and arrived at Pedro's to find 2 HGs on the ground and also heard that Herminio had launched and headed north and disappeared in the fields to the north. Not even a sled ride, more like big sink all the way out? Too early I guess? We waited for some others to show up, and Herminio made it back in a pickup truck just as I was heading out to find him. The winds on top were not very strong at this point despite the forecast by IBIS.
His text back to me was "It was sick! 900 metre freefall!". When I got back to the truck it was all done! They also realigned the hood and drivers door.
Yukon Speed Flying Report - another satisfied Ozone Firefly II pilot after a few false starts!
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| Guadalajara Plentiful sunshine. High near 27C. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 kmh. Instead I hung out in San Juan Cosala and went to the Bodega for groceries and then went to San Marcos around 1 pm. I met up with Laura who is a beginner HG pilot and she said David from Gravity Sports was coming to fly soon so I waited hoping to get a ride up. David arrived with 2 pilots, two students and 3 gliders in his Cherokee and he had no room even for his group, so I suggested the pilots go up with me as long as my truck got driven down. Off we went at 2 pm to the launch in two trucks. It was coming in at +20 kph with thermal gusts and the birds were soaring, perfect! I launched first and went straight up & thru 2800 metres in the first 5 minutes, and watched Atilla launch his king-posted Wills Wing HG and he joined me in the thermal above launch.
After an hour of being pinned in the north winds, I headed south to Chela's beer store.
I packed up and walked a block to the beer store and waited for the trucks to come down. Off to the house to cook up some pasta and I was done for the night. Tomorrow, I take the Suburban to Francisco's body shop to repair a rusty spot in the rear quarter panel and fix the hood latch, hoping to hook up with Juan Jorge to fly San Marcos again too.
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| Guadalajara Lots of sunshine. High 27C. Winds W at 10 to 15 kmh. We arrived on launch around 1:30 pm, and it was blowing in nicely from the SW. After watching the birds soar with ease, I laid out the Ozone Buzz Z3 L and got clipped in and off I went into a nice thermal. It was easy to soar the north face but I wasn't getting much above launch, as Camilo flew off too. We ridge soared a few passes and just in front of launch a nice thermal triggered off and I was there at the right time and I started circling right thru 2600 metres . . . just as my vario batteries died. Why is there no sound yet I am climbing fast??
Total flight time 50 minutes, rocking +5 m/s thermals and equally big sink. Tanya was hungry so we headed to Acatlan for lunch and then back to San Marcos to join up with Stefan, Wolfie & Tom and we regrouped and headed up for another try. The HGers heading down said it was too strong for them which matched the IBIS forecast today for strong SW winds around 3 pm. But we kept going up and when we recahed launch it was very nice with 15kph SW cycles.
Fraser Valley Report - Derek sent in reports of flying Woodside with Lee & George, despite strong NE winds in Agassiz.
Sled-Gliding in Golden - Eric Oddy from Golden using an old APCO tandem hooked to his snow machine.
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| Guadalajara Lots of sunshine. High 25C. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 kmh. NOAA/IBIS was down today but all reports said NE winds aloft so the only place to be. There were light launching conditions from the NE, and Yukoner Wolfie launched first and stayed aloft for 30+ minutes getting above the towers by staying in close to the highway near launch. Camilo & Miguel launched their tandems next and got some soaring in close but as Camilo flew out a bit there was nothing but sink! I launched and followed Wolfie`s line on the Buzz Z4 and was `dukin`it out` with Wolfie & Miguel in close to the towers. I caught a good climb and was soon 300 meters over the flats in an easy climb, the others not so lucky as they too headed out. I felt the air go limp and I was soon sinking fast so I headed toward the launch and top-landed in a downwind swoop (with grace and style), and put my wing under the shade of the clubhouse. Stefan & Tom were getting ready and Tom launched first on his Ozone Swift and was working the house thermal to the NE gulley and was doing pretty well. Stefan launched next and was looking good . . . for a short time but he was soon losing the lift as Tom climbed high for his last flight in Mexico as he is heading back to Alaska tomorrow.
We went to La Ceja for pizza and on the way down the mountain it started raining hard!
PWC Superfinal in Brazil Report - The final day of the PWC Superfinal was a classic day with beautiful cu's dotting the sky. A 69 km cat's cradle task was called which would bring pilots back to the GV landing zone and allow them time to rest for the prize giving later on that night. As per most of this comp's tasks, almost everyone made goal. Brett Hazlett has been on fire the past few tasks, tying for 23rd today which brought him into the top-20 overall! So in the end the pilots had 9 tasks and a good mix of weather conditions to determine the title of Paragliding World Cup champion. This year that honour goes to Francisco Reina Lagos of Spain and Keiko Hiraki of Japan. As well check out https://www.facebook.com/pwc2013 for pics of the day and the prize giving ceremony. (Due to the ongoing glider controversy, the published results are provisional until Air Turquoise can test the provisional winners' actual gliders to verify their EN-D certification. Due to weather and scheduling with other AT projects this could take 2-3 weeks so official PWC SF results are not expected for some time.) Whatever happens in 2-3 weeks, on behalf of HPAC I would like to congratulate Brett on his awesome achievement. Well done Brett and we're proud to have a Canuck flying so prominently in the PWC! - Nicole M. Results page is here See more photos at the Superfinal Facebook page: here Watch videos from the Superfinal at PWCA TV: here Controversy is over! EnZo2 is certified a second time! Fraser Valley Report - Bev sent in reports of flying Woodside & others flew Elk today as the weather stays nice & warm.
As I was making my way out to the lz Gary on his Delta 2 went zooming by below me so I just followed him over past the house around and he landed at the pro circle and I landed at the chimp circle. Norm, Gary, Mark, Steven, Andrew and I flew. Norm flew his M4 When we went up to launch all the wind socks were gone so we got one from behind the out house and I fixed the aluminum one which was broken and we just need one down at the hang glider ramp. Not a bad day for being January just a t shirt on and a sweater and I was good. Totally sweet! - Bev
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| Guadalajara Lots of sunshine. High 25C. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 kmh. Reports from Stefan said they got 45 minute flights but no one got high there at Tapalpa. PWC Superfinal in Brazil Report - PWC Superfinal penultimate day: A fantastic day of racing according to all the reports, with a 98 km downwind dash from GV to Caratinga. The lead pilots were smoking along with an average speed of around 40 kph and in the end, most of the pilots either landed in goal at the airstrip or just short. Brett Hazlett had an awesome day tying for 18th spot with his colleague Torsten, moving him into the top 20 overall! A long retrieve for most pilots and tomorrow is the final day before the comp finishes, although the Enzo2 scandal is sure to continue for some time to come - Nicole M. Results page is here See more photos at the Superfinal Facebook page: here Watch videos from the Superfinal at PWCA TV: here
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| Guadalajara Sunshine and a few afternoon clouds. High 25C. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 kmh. They also manufactured and installed a cover plate for the hole I cut to access the gas tank/pump. I thought they would make a flat plate and silicone it in but the made it to match the floor contours perfectly and out of galvanized metal so no painting required. Two hours later I paid the 590 peso bill (less than $50 cdn).
Granger called and was going to head to San Marcos as it blew down at Tapalpa after 2 flights, which IBIS had forecasted.
Maybe I fly tomorrow at Tapalpa? PWC Superfinal in Brazil Report - Everybody breeeeathe… and … out! Superfinal tensions might be highly strung (or should that be, trailing edges need a bit more tension...) over politics et cetera, but you know, there's a competition going on too. The elite pilots flying in Governador Valadares have had their competition overshadowed by politics-and-stuff so it's time to take a break, recap, and look back over the last two days of racing and celebrate what really matters: the PILOTS and the FLYING. After Task 6 which saw RUSSELL OGDEN storm his way through the political clouds to be the only guy in goal came Task 7 on Wednesday. (An alleged friend of someone who shares a room with a sponsored pilot who may be friends, or perhaps just acquaintances with, although it's hard to tell, especially what with everything these days, an Ozone spokesman, was reported to have been heard to have said Russell was racing so hard because he couldn't BEAR to be asked any more questions about the in-out-shake-it-all-about certified-or-not Enzo 2. You know it's true.) Task 7 was won by YASSEN SAVOV (BG, Enzo 2), who scooped a win on a day that 102 got to goal in time on the fast 66.7km/h task. In the women, NICOLE FEDELE (IT, Icepeak 7 Pro) won the day. Then yesterday, Thursday, one of the sport's grandmasters, JEAN MARC CARON (FR, Icepeak 7 Pro) picked his way slowly around the slowly-slowly 87.4km task to win in three hours 21 minutes. In the Women's Class, KEIKO HIRAKI (JP, Enzo) won the day. On the overall leaderboard JOACHIM OBERHAUSER (IT, Enzo 2) is leading the comp after seven valid tasks. Yann Martail is second and Francisco Javie Reina Lagos is third. Joachim has consistently come in the Top 10, with two bad tasks that he dropped. His results have been: 7, 9, 4, 37 (dropped), (83 (dropped), 7 and 10. SEIKO FUKUOKA NAVILLE (FR, Icepeak 7 Pro) is leading the Women, with Klaudia Bulgakow and Keiko Hiraki in third. The task for today, Friday 24 January, has already been set. It's a 95.8km race to goal – and it's a straight line race! No turn points, no cats cradle, just boot-it down-track racing on what is THE classic route in Governador Valadares. A lot of you have probably flown it - how long did it take you? If you haven't watched any live tracking so far, or if you've been put off by the whats-that-all-about political wrangling over glider certification, then log on for this one – it should be a beauty. More on the trailing edge drama: here Results page is here See more photos at the Superfinal Facebook page: here Watch videos from the Superfinal at PWCA TV: here PWC Superfinal in Brazil Report #2 - PWC Superfinal Thursday: Today was a bit more challenging that yesterday with an 87km back-n-forth, with many of the leading pilots landing out after an upwind push to goal. Today it was a French sweep of 1st-3rd with Canada's Brett Hazlett? tying for 16th place for the day. Lots of shade at times so timing was everything. Brett's SPOT track is here . As well here's a link to one of Philippe's videos showcasing some of what goes on while parawaiting at a Superfinal! Phillipe Vimeo - Nicole
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| Guadalajara A mix of clouds and sun. High 26C. Winds light & variable. No car issues todays so we went for breakfast in Joco Centro, then off to Tapalpa arriving to nice light NE cycles around 1145 am.
It was very hazy, perhaps Guadalajara smog being pushed our way by the NE winds. But there was the top of the smog layer just above launch so there was hope. Jeff launched before the Granger bunch and got above launch and was doing pretty well until he left his glider surge into a frontal heading downwind out of the thermal, not too much drama as the Rush restarted automatically without any inputs.
Jeff caught a ride up with the others and had another nice flight and nice landing in the Piano LZ before we headed to San Marcos to see if the forecast materialized for SW winds.
Jeff set up pretty close to the front of launch and we waited and got a nice puff that inflated the windsock nicely and he was off and thermalling around without the help of the birds who stayed home today.
One last try for the glassoff at 5:30 pm, same conditions waiting for a cycle but this time further back on launch and he had another nice puff and was off again. This time the lift was weaker but he found a nice climb out front and rode it almost back to launch before losing it. He had a straight line glide to Pedro's without a turn and just made it into the grass area. Four flights and four great landings to round out this tour for Jeff! He is now P2 ready!
PWC Superfinal in Brazil Report - PWC Superfinal task 7: Much better weather today and almost everyone made the goal after 67km of racing to the south. Brett Hazlett? came in 2 minutes behind the leaders for a very nice 30th. These pilots are flying very fast . . . today's average speed was somewhere around 30 kph and I'm sure they are using copious amounts of speed bar when transitioning. More racing scheduled for tomorrow and into the weekend! - Nicole M Results page is here See more photos at the Superfinal Facebook page: here Watch videos from the Superfinal at PWCA TV: here Nicole
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| Guadalajara A mix of clouds and sun. High 26C. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 kmh.
The winds were pretty strong from the NE measured at 18-22 mph on Granger's windmeter.
Jeff launched in a nice cycle and was going up all the way to the hump out front and then the bottom dropped out and he was plummeting for the gulley to the north. I told him to fly the terrain and that he would hit a thermal soon. And he finally did hit some good ones further out but he elected to stay on course to land at the Piano LZ with the others to get a quicker ride back up. Jeff had a stellar approach and landing in moderate North winds. As Jeff flew off, Herminio showed up with his SOL SuperSonic acro ship and started flying and swooping launch. Next up was some helicopters into a ground-spiral and top-landing. Impressive! The crew arrived back on launch and we waited as it was now gusting over 20 mph on the wind meters. This is the IBIS Forecast run for today, not sure where all the winds came from but someone said they saw a weather girl on TV mentioning Cold Front 27 on the GDL station.
Some of his crew got ready but they were having trouble kiting and getting the wingsin the air. Eric finally got his wing stabilized and the others pushed him off and he was parked and in trouble on his Buzz Z4. It was not penetrating and he kept applying brakes inappropriately and it looked like if he kept that course he o=would sink into the jungle below so we told him to top-land. He listened and Hermiio & I rushed over to grab his brakes and him to avoid a blowback into the rotor. We bagged up and drove home after seeing that and where treated to a lovely Mexican Sunset.
PWC Superfinal in Brazil Report - PWC Superfinal Tuesday: A long ride/walk up the hill for some as the trucks took their time navigating the very slick road with the recent rain. But it was taskable despite the mostly-cloudy conditions so off the pilots went for a 60 km task. However conditions were too much for most pilots with only 1 (Russ Ogden) making goal and Pepe coming very close . . . there was a fairly even distribution of pilots all along the courseline needing to be picked up. Some reported landing in rather "damp" fields (read: standing water!) and needing a good cleaning of both their equipment and themselves for tomorrow. Brett Hazlett? did extremely well today, tying for 11th today and moving up to 36th overall! Many pilots were happy to be flying after several days off due to bad weather; hopefully they can get a couple more tasks in before the comp wraps up this weekend. Results, both daily and cumulative, can be found here. - Nicole
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| Guadalajara Partly cloudy. High around 24C. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 kmh. I had noticed a clunking the past few days and thought I had broken a shock on a big pothole, but it turned out that the new shocks I had installed in September were not tightened up properly and the top nut had come off leaving the shock to bash around. Good news is a new shock is 350 pesos and another 150 to install it.
After breakfast we caught a bus back to the hotel for Jeff and I carried on to San Juan Cosala. The bus was full of locals and I marvelled at how it was running despite no speedometer, no working guages and a red warning light was on in the centre of the dash. Seven pesos to go to San Juan is a good deal. Partway there the bus stopped and we had to transfer to another bus as the brakes had failed! I am a mechanical jinx perhaps?
when I passed the pond, I saw lots of east wind still so we went up to El Chante for a flight and it was blowing in nicely. It was quite hazy as Jeff took off and the birds were only able to get to launch altitude and no more.
I picked Jeff up at the Hotel and we were off to San Marcos at 3 pm. I was seeing east winds all the way up the road to San Marcos Launch, but as we crested the hill it was blowing in at +20 kph! Jeff got ready after much ado and much electronics, and had a few aborts but was off and soaring getting above launch in some nice thermals.
I raced down to get Jeff and as I got to Pedro's Jeff was setting up his approach as we discussed and he had a beautiful landing across the runway. We got back in the Suburban to head up as I had a tandem to do with Scott's aunt, and to get Jeff another flight and we were 1 km up the launch road when we heard a rock puncture the rear tire and it went flat in a few seconds. These are brand new tires and it looks destroyed! Now the fun part, as I have never removed the spare and it is under the back deck on a cable assembly that appeared rusted tight. after some minutes we got the tire down and almost on the truck when the jack slipped but we had a few nuts on the bolts so we were okay. Scott had flown down and america was going to retrieve him and then pick us up t go to launch to fly. We had wasted about 35 minutes on the tire swap, but when we got to launch at 5:50 pm, it was still blowing in nicely. Christy was ready and the wing laid out and we launched into the most beautiful glass-off ever. we started climbing right away and the vario never stopped chirping right theu 2500 metres. We were above the North Peak enjoying the view of Guadalajara to the north. Jeff & Scott launched about 15 minutes after us and they too climbed out with ease. Not a bumps anywhere, just sustained lift across the entire face of san Marcos! I headed out as the sunset on the horizon knowing it was going to be dark soon, with big ears and sprials we were able to break through the lifty areas over the drylake bed. I was extra careful checking the winds and flew out over the tallest flag and it was indeed west wind and the smoke in the distance showed the same direction. We made one downind pass onto final and as we lined up to the west I knew we were downwind? WTF! We just checked the flags a few seconds ago, but no time to turn as we were close final so I said "pick up your feet and land on your butt" and we had a nice soft slide onto the grass. There was a catabatic flow coming off the mountain so I told the other guys to setup over the lake to land towards launch and they had nice landings . . . in the dark. It is always fun packing up in the dark but we got it done by the time America & Hans had driven the trucks down.
What a great day! Here is the IBIS forecast for today, and it was right on.
PWC Superfinal in Brazil Report - no task today as the task committee called the day off due to deteriorating conditions. Poor Man's Heli-Skiing - we flew here in France in September 2012, at St Hilaire de Touvet, for the coupe Icare 39. Watch the ski landing on the training hill after they fly off Mont Blanc. Poor Mans Heli - Salomon Freeski TV s6-e12 from Switchback Entertainment on Vimeo.
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| Guadalajara Partly cloudy. High around 24C. Winds E at 10 to 15 kmh. Juan Jorge launched first as Jeff got ready, and I got Rachel ready for her tandem flight.
We caught some nice climbs near launch over the road, but they were short-lived. The sun was stronger on the SE faced of the north gulley so we concentrated there with some vultures & a red tail hawk. As we were thermalling, Miguel joined us with his tandem and he caught a nice climb to the north near Lagunitas but we were both below launch.
We were getting low in the gulley and I puched south to some other birds but got nothing so we headed out after 25 minutes of thermalling. The Suburban was on its way down and Juan Jorge had landed too, so we landed next to him in the Piano LZ.
When we arrived there was only Ruben flying our loaner Ozone Delta S, Herminio & an AK pilot on a Swift getting trashed in the gulleys. Ruben was high and looking good. Herminio was trying to get high enough to basejump from his paraglider, but it was turning to SW and not smooth. Herminio got high enough over the top-landing field and we stopped in the parking lot at launch to watch him jump. He gets to terminal velocity after jumping and the paraglider floats down to the same field. we headed in to Tapalpa town for lunch as it looked like a rough flight with crappy launch conditions. On the way back after 3:30 pm, it was still looking bad and the only flights were sledders so off to San Marcos as it looked more SW here. Scott had driven to Pedro K's so we met them there and as we arrived a group of pilots was helping pull the new Virus Advanced Ultralight into the hangar as the owner had crashed it on landing breaking off the nose gear and ending up on its back. Prop destroyed, Instrument panel had come unglued and was wrecked, rear rudder had come loose - big damages. This is the same guy that crashed his Quicksilver into the fence last week while the guys were kiting! We headed up to San Marcos Launch around 6 pm, but it was blowing hard over the back and cold, so off to home. This was the IBIS Model for today - should have stayed on Tapalpa!
Woodside Report - Bev reports Norm, Derek & Andrei launched into S winds and flew today. Elk Report - After Daryl and I were skunked yesterday, we were a bit hesitant today to rush back up due to heaps of cloud cover and outflow winds aloft. However, joined by Brad, we trudged up, waited a while with light wind over the back and building cycles until, SHAZZAM, we were all rewarded with nice spring conditions.
PWC Superfinal in Brazil Report - no task today as the task committee called a rest day due to forecasted rains.
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| Guadalajara Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 23C. Winds light & variable.
Waves were showing SE wind on the Lake, and it would have been perfect at Tapalpa but we had to take 4 people to the airport for 2:45 pm, so not worth the chance of not making a flight due to traffic or breakdowns. Jorge and Doug went east and found little lift, but Hector then headed west to the Joco Ridge and got pretty high over town. Shamu got high near launch but it was short-lived but they all made it to the big Futball Field to pack up for the long trip home.
Scott had called at 4:00 pm while I was driving and he was on San Marcos and it was lame there and sometimes blowing down, so we didn't go there instead went for early pizzas at La Vita Bella followed by a visit to the Cave below.
We are down to just Jeff for the remainder of this week but we have many locals out flying so there should be some wind dummies for Jeff to follow. He has now completed his required 25 solo flights and has over 30 hours already, but we are going to work on some thermalling and advanced landing techniques this week. Woodside Report - Bev reports getting a sledder in at Woodside today. It looked nice on the webcam and it was forecasted to be soarable with up to 20 knots of SW wind but the winds never got to Woodside.
PWC Superfinal Task 4 in Brazil Report - Germany's PEPE MALECKI won Task 4 at the Paragliding World Cup Superfinal yesterday. He flew the furthest on a 67.42km race to goal that saw difficult, overcast and weak conditions. No one got to goal but Pepe flew 47.27km of the task on his Ozone Enzo 2. Xevi Bonet from Spain and former World and European Champion Luca Donini (IT) were second and third. In the Women's class PETRA SLIVOVA flew 33.79km to win the day. Still leading the comp overall after four tasks is STEFAN WYSS (CH). He had a bad day yesterday and came 95th. However, the rules include a series of discards (pilots get to keep their best scores but discard the worst), meaning he gets to hang on to the top spot. It's very tight at the top: only 18 points behind the leader Joachim Oberhauser (IT) is in second position. And only seven points behind him is Francisco Javie Reina Lagos (ES) in third. A full task scores 1,000 points, so these margins are Rizla-thin. Take one extra, unnecessary turn in a thermal or make a mistake and you've given away your lead. Given that there is a week of racing still to go, anything can and will still happen. At this level a couple of bad tasks will send the pilot hurtling down the rankings, leaving them with very little chance of clawing their way back up. So the game is all about consistency: place in the top 10 for the whole comp and you could still win the Superfinal, despite not winning a task or even coming in the top three all comp. This is why paragliding competition at this level is as much about staying cool, calm and collected over two weeks, as it is about pushing the bar on the final glide or any single-task heroics. Meanwhile, over in the Women's class SEIKO FUKUOKA NAVILLE is leading the field. Klaudia Bulgakow is a mere five points behind her and Nicole Fedele 37 points lower. Again, there is all to play for here. The Seiko/Klaudia battle is a good one to watch: at the Paragliding World Championships in Bulgaria last year Klaudia and Seiko battled it out until the very last task – when Seiko bombed before goal and Klaudia glided in to take the title of Women's Paragliding World Champion. Both will have the Superfinal Women's title firmly in their sights, as will Nicole Fedele. With poor weather forecast for today and four tasks completed, organisers have called a rest day today, Sunday 19 January. The next task will be on Monday 20 January - from XC Mags Facebook Page Results page is here See more photos at the Superfinal Facebook page: here Watch videos from the Superfinal at PWCA TV: here
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| Guadalajara Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 23C. Winds E at 10-15 kph. East winds forecasted all day and that is what Mother Nature handed out. We arrived on launch at noon to strong east cycles and watched the tandems from La Ceja already working the lift. El Huevo was trying to get high enough to top-land and it took him 4-5 climbs from the lower spines to finally get in, We heard later that it was a good thing as he had no retrieval truck and the only other available truck was out of gas. I got to kite the new Ozone Zero 17 on launch and even in the strong wind it felt very easy to control. Hector & Shamu were thermalling closer to launch early on and got up to 2500 metres pretty fast.
Jeff launched like a pro in the strongish cycles and had a nice thermalling flight for his 23rd solo flight and although his radio died mid-flight and I could not talk to him he did really well and had a nice landing at the Piano LZ after 40 minutes. I saw Herminio thermalling with Shamu but forgot to mention it on the radio, because if he is thermalling it is to get high enough to base jump off his paraglider. He finally did base jump over the top landing field and it freaked out Shamu as he saw the paraglider without Herminio crash to the ground. He had his radio volume down so he didn't hear me tell them that it was a stunt and not to worry.
Hector & Shamu headed north towards the Cross Ridge and Shamu finally saw the Cross as he topped out there at 3500 metres.
Shamu landed near the Cuota Hwy, where everyone seems to "dirt it" in north winds. Last year Derek & Kevin landed in the same field which is a 38 km straight distance flight, nice flight in tough conditions. His spot message worked and looked like this: Thermal Addict Latitude:20.22219 Longitude:-103.53079 GPS location Date/Time:01/17/2014 15:24:05 PST Message:Pilot Lee Segstro landed Ok! Click the link below to see where I am located. http://fms.ws/FH3-I/20.22219N/103.53079W If the above link does not work, try this link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=20.22219,-103.53079&ll=20.22219,-103.53079&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1 PWC Superfinal in Brazil Report - Today a much more difficult task (72 km triangle) with deteriorating weather with high cloud moving in and slowing things down.
Many pilots landed just short of goal (but still within the ESS--hence the strikethroughs in the time portions of many of today's results). Others finally made it across the goal line but *after* the task deadline of 17:30, so their race was scored only as far as where they were at 17:30 no matter where they ultimately landed. Fortunately with this SuperFinal they are allowing pilots to drop their worst scores! Interestingly the comp now has both a tie for 1st place in today's results, and a tie for 1st place in the overall results! Scores can be found at the link below and Brett's SPOT page is here - Nicole McLearn HPAC Comp Chair. Results page is here See more photos at the Superfinal Facebook page: here Watch videos from the Superfinal at PWCA TV: here
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| Guadalajara Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 22C. Winds light and variable.
Once Shamu got in the air he established a good climb to the north and was soon thru 2900 metres, as the others had already headed south. Jeff had an interesting landing as he mis-read the windsocks, thanks to his three GoPros we had a front row seat to the mayhem on the dry lakebed near Chela's! As we drove down we heard Jorge reporting over Joco on glide for the Futball Field in El Chante. Congratulations on Jorge's first flight home this trip! He also was radioing to Hector asking if he was okay as Hector had landed on Guy H's runway near the powerlines (also know as the Joco bypass road). Hector was fine and he packed up and walked to the hotel, about the same distance as the Futball Field to the hotel.
we went back up with Jeff for another flight but it was catabatic so off to dinner in Joco onc we picked up everyone. PWC Superfinal in Brazil Report - Another "fantastic day with 107 pilots at goal" according to organisers at the Paragliding World Cup Superfinal yesterday, with an 81.7km task via a handful of turnpoints. Current European Champion YASSEN SAVOV (BG) won the day on his brand new Ozone Enzo 2 with Russell Ogden (GB) storming back after a bad day on Task One to come second, just 52 seconds behind the leader. The 2011 Superfinal winner Peter Neienschwander (CH) was third flying a GIN Boomerang 9. Task One's winner Honorin Hamard came fourth. In the Women's class SEIKO FUKUOKA NAVILLE (FR) won the task, with Nicole Fedele (IT) and Klaudia Bulgakow (PL) in second and third. All are flying the new Icepeak 7 Pro from Niviuk. The results after two tasks mean that HONORIN HAMARD (FR) is leading the competition by a whisker – just 19 points separates him from Yassen Savov in second place. In the Women's class, SEIKO leads, ahead of Nicole Fedele and current Women's World Champion Klaudia Bulgakow. At this level of competition the name of game is consistency – pilots have to fly well in every task to be in with a chance of winning. The conditions in the last two tasks have allowed fast, classic racing with lots more predicted to come over the two-week long comp which runs until 25 January. The Superfinal is the highest calibre competition in paragliding and happens once a year. It attracts the best pilots in the world to compete. Task Three will be later today, Friday 17 Jan, conditions allowing. Follow the action on live tracking (despite some teething issues) via www.pwca.org. Results page is here See more photos at the Superfinal Facebook page: here Watch videos from the Superfinal at PWCA TV: here
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| Guadalajara Plentiful sunshine. High 22C. Winds ENE at 15 to 25 kmh. So we went to the Market in Ajijic after breakfast and just chilled. After a few hours there, we headed up El Chante Launch cause it was lighter on the lake. All we got there was the occasional blast over the back, so it wasn`t safe to launch. I called Pedro Kordich at San Marcos and he said it was blowing in nicely at San Marcos, so we loaded up the truck and headed there to find the exact opposite and SE winds on launch so Jorge & Shamu took out their trainer kites and played for an hour and it never switched.
PWC Superfinal in Brazil Report - The first task of the PWC Superfinal in GV and it looked like a fantastic day! A straightforward 77 km out-and-return task was set and almost everyone landed in goal within a 50 minute window! The goal field became very crowded as pilots kept coming, and coming, and coming . . . fortunately the LZ in GV can handle the volume! Brett did very well coming in middle of the pack on his Enzo 2. Apparently the conical end-of-speed concept was discarded for the duration of this comp due to teething issues so they will be using standard ESS instead. Today it was 5 km from goal which meant pilots could finish their race on the far side of GV, and then take their time to tank up on altitude so they could make a safe final glide over the town and river.
Mad Skillz, don`t try this at home!
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| Guadalajara Plentiful sunshine. High 23C. Winds light and variable. It was a busy complicated day as Jeff S was arriving at 2 pm, so we flew El Chante at noon and got some soaring in and Scott joined us with some of his Mexican amigos who he is trying to convince to go flying.
After everyone launched I raced to the airport, while Britt drown down with Carlos & Chino to meet the guys in the hotel. Jeff & I arrived back at the Hotel at 3:45 pm and we all headed up to San Marcos. Scott reported getting a sled ride at San Marcos at around 3 pm, but we were hoping for a glass-off to occur as the timing was right. We launched wind tech Jorge first and he soared with ease, followed by Hector.
But we found a nice climb just below launch and we were soon back above the ridge.
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| Guadalajara Partly cloudy. High of 24C. Winds less than 5 km/h.
After retrieving the boys at the bottom we headed to San Marcos and arrived on top at 4 pm to perfect & strong cycles. Doug, Lee & Jorge were all in the air and climbing nicely, we had Britt driving and I could fly too so I laid out the Buzz Z4 and took off and climbed out with the others. Everyone was super-excited to fly back to the Hotel and raced south but arrived low past the Saddle so lots of low scratching to get back up. I was almost there and headed back to the launch thermal to top up and wait for a sign that it was going off. I watched for 15 minutes and no one was getting above the ridge south. I ventured south finally and just past the saddle I got a good climb to 2800 metres. I watched Jorge scratch his way out of a few gulleys and he also got a good climb at the saddle north of me but the sink was lasting longer than the climbs. I saw Doug was much further south and he headed over the back low. Lee was patiently waiting for a climb on the second hump past the Saddle but just bobbing along not gaining or losing much. Jorge was heading out to the salt flats and I took one last climb south of the Saddle and headed east over the pwoerlines. I got a few beeps here and there but it was mostly a lifty line not worth turning until the foot of Joco Hill. There I got some turns but the drift was never the same and I finally landed after picking out a nice field close to the intersection to El Chante. The wind at the pond showed SE winds while I was getting pushed higher up by strong NW winds on the flight over.
As I got to the road, Lee announces he is heading to the Hotel and he came over at 3000 metres and didn`t lose anything on the glide over. He caught a climb in the same area I left from neared the Saddle, patience paid off for him! After getting everyone we headed to La Vita Bella for a nice Italian Dinner and sunset. Colombian Pre-Worlds day 6 & final day: - The final day of the Roldanillo Pre-Worlds and it was a doozy: a 92 km task south then north to Obando. Beautiful skies with perfect cu's and over 50 pilots made goal in ~3 hours. Amongst the goal-makers were Canada's own Brett Y and Alex! Mark was very close, landing only a few km's shy of goal, while Will and Steve landed early for celebratory cervesas. However today's (and overall) results are still highly provisional as there were apparently many airspace infringements today so there may be some shuffling of final rankings as those issues are sorted out. You can see the final (provisional) scores here . Congratulations to all our Canucks who represented very well at this prestigious event and provided daily entertainment via their live trackers. I'm sure they are all celebrating right now and unwinding a bit after a week of intense and challenging tasks. Alex Raymont came in first in the Sport Class on an Ozone Delta 2.
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| Guadalajara Partly cloudy this morning with thunderstorms becoming likely this afternoon. High 69F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Wolfie is here from the Yukon and joined us in his own truck as we were so full. Not even one seat left? We had a nice breakfast at Rochata's Bakery and got to launch just before noon to perfect cycles and partly sunny skies, but it looked threatening out to the SW. There was a Mexican Student here for his first & second high flights and he did a great launch and landing on flight #2 which we were there to witness. Camilo launched first and worked the north ridgeline and eventually landed at a new planned subdivision just NE of Kordich. Jorge launched next on his Tequila 3 and did some thermalling out by the gravel pits before landing with Camilo.
After a nice lunch at Guero's Plus in Acatlan (with a live band), we headed back as we saw the skies OD around us (thunderstorms were in the forecast).
Just a damaged front cowl and windshield and no injuries. We headed back up just before 6 pm, and only Doug got off in time and he soared around trying to top-land as he couldn't get high enough to go ovr the back.
We then headed off to the Jocotepec Festival where there are rides, a midway, lots of food stands and much partying.
Colombian Pre-Worlds day 5: - Today the task committee started things earlier to avoid possible OD later on in the day, with a shorter 50 km task resulting. The final glide to goal was a real nail-biter, with many pilots dirting it just outside goal as the final part of the task involved overflying some green fields with few (or no) clouds to mark the thermals. Today's task can be seen below. Cumulative results can be found here Tomorrow is the last day and hopefully they'll get one final task in! — with Mark Parminter, Alex Raymont, Steve Park, Will MacKenzie and Brett Yeates - Nicole (HPAC Comp Chair)
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| Guadalajara Mixed clouds and sun this morning. Scattered thunderstorms developing this afternoon. High 23C. Winds E at 10 to 15 kmh. Chance of rain 40%. I called el Huevo at Tapalpa and he said it was not raining there and NE winds, so off we went. As we approached the back side of San Marcos it was sunny there behind launch but we kept driving as San Marcos is a SW site and not launchable in NE winds.
We found an exit off the toll road near Pedro's strip and dropped in to check the conditions as Doug sorted out his wing from the last launch attempts. Pedro gave us some supplies to setup the windsock on top after the other one was removed by the bulldozer work. On top it was blowing lightly over the back as we installed the pole, but the birds were soaring easily . . . if one could launch it looked very nice. Then we started to get more sun and more cycles up the front. Lee launched first and was maintaining nicely. Doug got a clean start and was soon above launch as I drove down to Pedro's.
Colombian Pre-Worlds day 4: - A fine morning and an 80km task was set to the Santa Ana airport to the north.
Several pilots reported getting very wet ;) However it was still quite a valid day (900+ points) with the lead gaggle getting to the ~73km mark before being told to land early. Overall results can be found at Results , with a very respectable showing by our Canucks! - Nicole
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| Guadalajara Sunny to partly cloudy. High 23C. Winds SW at 15 to 25 kmh. It is Mark's last day of this trip so we were hoping for a good XC day but the winds looked a bit strong from all the forecasts. Everyone launched and started soaring by 1 pm. Ridge soaring with mixed thermals and a bit rough at times as they climbed higher.
Mark managed about 45 minutes before landing down near Chela's. Lee followed Mark in as I drove down, and Doug top-landed on launch for a break. Unfortunately Doug had his radio down too low so he didn't hear us call to say we were heading to lunch at Acatlan. After lunch we drove back up and met Scott & Doug on launch and everyone got ready for another flight. Scott launched first and went to the north peak and climbed thru 11000 feet under some big clouds. It didn't look too windy for his Ozone Mojo3. Doug tried to launch once and got slammed into the ground next to launch by a southerly gust. One more try after untangling the lines, and Doug was plucked up and almost flew away but ended up in the bush to the right of launch. He bagged his wing as it got really gusty and we all drove down to chase Scott over the back towards Joco.
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| Guadalajara Plentiful sunshine. High 74F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.
No CUs except on some remote peaks and even Colima Nevado was clear.
But we arrived on launch to great cycles and birds soaring up high as Mark got ready first. Mark launched and was at 10,500 feet in a few minutes. Peak climbs of 1000 ft/min for the Americans (+5 m/s for the rest of the world).
Lee launched and went south too early and came back very low, even too low to make Pedro's but he caught a low save near the gravel pits and was soon up with Mark & Scott. Juan Jorge launched last and had some good climbs but got bored and was doing acro out front and had to leave low to go over the back.
Colombian PG Pre-Worlds Report - Today was to be the second task in the PG Pre-Worlds but it rained.
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| Guadalajara Sunshine to start, then a few afternoon clouds. High 22C. Winds light and variable. We headed in to Joco for breakfast and tried a restaurant in el Centro as Ruben's restaurant is now closed. Good breakfast for 50 pesos ($4 CDN). Mark wanted to hike up El Chante but no one else was feeling up to it, so I drove Doug & Lee and the gear up to El Chante Launch. We took 30 minutes to get there and Mark just 47 minutes. The conditions were perfect with SE flow on launch and some birds thermalling. There was an inversion layer over the lake and we were just at the level of the inversion so there was hope. Doug launched and went left and got nada.
Of course, as can happen . . . right after Mark landed a gaggle of vultures found a good thermal in front of launch and specked out. We were just too early I guess? We regrouped at the Hotel and headed straight to San Marcos. All the way there were signs of strong east winds?? Are we making a bad call?? We kept driving and at the turn to leave the highway an idiot that was driving way too fast decided to try and pass on the inside as I was turning in at the speed bumps and almost spun into us! Suburban vs small Chevy Pop might have dented my bumper but not good for him! He missed us and almost rolled into the ditch! As we crested the road into San Marcos we saw strong cycles up the front side, good thing we are optimistic! Mark launched first and was just ridge soaring at first. Doug followed and the 2 of them were maintaining just above launch. Mark went north and was now down low. At least a few hundred metres below launch and I thought he was doomed to an early landing but he caugh a strong climb and hung on to it out front and was now above Doug. It was getting stronger on launch and Lee was ready to go and he borought up the Chili3 nicely but the wind grabbed it and he got "turtled". It took a few minutes for us to sort him out and then he relaunched and caught Mark's earlier thermal and was gone!
After I saw Lee head south I drove south to watch the action and saw Doug down low scratching near the town of San Marcos, no sign of Mark & Lee on top of the south ridge in a good climb.
Our friend Scott is here from CO and was coming from Ajijic to fly so I called him to pickup Lee on the way as Lee had made it to the Futball field in El Chante. His first XC for the trip as conditions finally improved! Back on launch we met up with Acro Bob, Alex (el Doc), Stefan and Tom (from AK). Doug took the Buzz Z4 for a spin and he and Mark launched into nice smooth air and was joined by the others too.
Doug top-landed and drove Scott's Jeep down and we regrouped and headed to Jocotepec for street tacos & pizzas as the party in town got going. Native dancers paraded thru the town and then put on a private show for us in el Centro.
Colombian PG Pre-Worlds Report - Today was the first task in the PG Pre-Worlds and it sounds like it was a bit tough. An 80 km task zig-zagging up and down the valley but only 5 pilots (out of 150) made it into goal, with an additional 3 pilots making it past the end-of-speed section and landing just short of the actual goal. Alex Raymont was the sport-class (EN-C) day winner on his Ozone Delta 2, landing 4 km short of goal and reporting having to "go deep" in the mountains to stay aloft as the day fizzled on the flats, with a long retrieve if he sunk out. Brett Yeates landed at the last turnpoint and got a quick ride back to town for his post-flight beer, and Will, Mark, and Steven landed close enough to town to get quick rides back too. Day 1 results and pics can be found here (click on day 1 to expand the window). As well, below is a screenshot showing today's task. — with Mark Parminter, Alex Raymont, Will MacKenzie and Brett Yeates - Nicole McLearn (HPAC Comp Chair)
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| Guadalajara Sun and clouds mixed. High 21C. Winds SE at 10 to 15 kmh. We arrived on Tapalpa launch at noon and it was blowing over the back at the top-landing field as we arrived. (WTF?) We continued on to launch proper and saw we had some up-cycles and I said "Don't fool around, get ready fast!"
That down cycle continued for some time and we only got one south cycle after that. It was over already as we got steady West winds over the back and very strong too. This did not agree with the NOAA forecast model at all. Nothing to do but head down to get the others who had by now landed in the Piano LZ and head to San Marcos . . . hoping that it wouldn't be too strong there. We got to San Marcos an hour later and saw South winds in Los Pozos as we stopped for beer & Lee Mix. We drove straight up arriving at launch around 3 pm (prime thermal time) and saw birds soaring all over but we had East winds??? We waited & waited & waited and never got an up-cycle. The birds were still thermalling around in the lee, and the clouds just above us were definitely in west winds but it never touched down on launch.
Even Colombia has rain where the Paragliding World Championship FAI Colombia is happening now. Brett Y, Alex R, Mark P, Will M and others are there representing Canada.
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| Guadalajara Overcast. High 22C. Winds SE at 10 to 15 kmh. I picked up Lee, Doug & Mark at Casa de Marina at 11 am and we drove up to El Chante launch as it was forecast to be strong south at 12 knots and hopefully soarable. We arrived on top to find light east winds??? We waited with a hiking group of elderly gringos that had hiked up from El Chante town but the conditions did not improve so we drove back down for lunch at Frida's Cafe. El Chante is a short takeoff spot and some considerable wind is required for a good launch, we always practice safety here in Mexico. After lunch we drove up to San Marcos Launch and we had light inflow cycles and no sun except further out in the valley. Birds were thermally however so we had hope. Mark launched first and was able to maintain launch altitude for quite a few passes . . . but no more.
We drove back up hoping for a repeat of the glass-off yesterday but we arrived to tailwinds and no birds. Tomorrow promises to be better.
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| Guadalajara Mostly cloudy skies this morning will become partly cloudy this afternoon. High 23C. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 kmh. We got everyone a bit later than normal due to a long night involving tequila and fun at Jorge's house after dinner. We arrived on top of San Marcos at noon and it was blowing in nicely, despite reports of +30 kph west winds at Tapalpa. Colleen volunteered to be wind dummy and got some nice lift to the south but not enough for more than a 30 minute flight.
Doug was in the air too after snapping some brake lines on launch and he too headed over the back. It was now 4:30 and we had not heard from Mark and Camilo had tried to se if any of the locals had seen him, I took the group back to the hotel and Colleen and I doubled back over all the likely roads and still no Mark. The others went for dinner and we drove back the highway to Pedro's and finally heard on the radio that Mark had landed at Kordich's at 6:30 just before dark for a 4:15 flight. His radio had died mid-flight and he had no cell phone so we had to rely on others to get us a message thanks to Beto & a Scottsman.
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| Guadalajara Sun & Cloud. High 22C. Winds W at 10 to 15 kmh. Doug was beat from the red-eye flight and he went to the Hotel to snooze as I took Mark & Colleen up El Chante. Mark hiked and I took up his gear. Colleen flew off first and thermalled for a bit before heading west wehere she found nothing. Mark took off and did the same flight over to the EL Chante Futball field. Jorge arrived after they took off and follwed them out before we headed to San Marcos.
Mark launched first and "beamed up" to 11000 feet in a few minutes. Doug followed Mark and they were soon both heading over the back to Joco.
A handful of the usual suspects were out today expecting extended sledders in light outflow conditions. The" Other Martin "launched first and was scratching around the south knoll when the second load headed up in my truck .When the leeside Cu in front of launch dissipated periodically , it was launch after launch into magical lift to cloudbase by all. Friggen cold but everyone braved the elements and had anywhere from 30 minutes to well over two hours( by the other Martin,sky hawg of the day) who looked like he was frozen when he landed. Who would have thought this early in January would have yielded flights like this!! Thanks to Kelly R for driving for us!! - Thomm M
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| Guadalajara Partly cloudy. High 22C. Winds E at 10 to 15 kmh. It was hard work thermalling with some others and the vultures but he had a good long flight. I had my own adventure heading into GDL with Gerard to find a fuel pump assembly for the Suburban. Gerard was heading to costco to shop for La Vita Bella, so he said he would drive me to the parts stores. We left for GDL at 10 am and after a few side trips to pick up furniture, banking and food I was back at the Mechanic at 4 pm. After an intensive debugging session the truck was running by 10 pm.
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| Guadalajara Partly cloudy. High 22C. Winds E at 10 to 15 kmh. We arrived just before noon to sunny skies and nice CU development on the ridgelines. Perfect 10-15 kph cycles too! Mark was kiting his Ozone Swift on launch as he hasn't flown since August 2013. Colleen was getting set up too and we saw another pilot fly off La Ceja and plummet fast thru the gulleys, but he got a good climb at the north gulley and was soon above launch.
I retrieved Colleen & Mark and we headed back up and saw many pilots up high on the ridge. Colleen insisted I go first to show Mark the thermals, so I readied the Buzz Z4 and off I went and caught a thermal right in front of launch and was soon 600 meters over turning right (my favourite direction). I was joined by the previous pilot from the first flight, and then Mark and they decided to turn left in my thermal??? I went a bit further north and out-climbed them rather than change course. Mark got up to 2400 metres and headed over the back and he was thermalling on the flats when he said he "lost the thermals" and headed in to top-land in the back fields. I headed north toward the Cross and kept finding nice thermals along the way and as I got near the Cross it was shading in due to OD'ing clouds so I headed back to the crossroads LZ to facilitate retrievals as Mark had relaunched and was on his way to the Piano LZ. So today we had three flights for Mark and his first Tapalpa top-landing, and both Colleen & I got to fly. Back at the mechanics, he found that the fuel line had ruptured inside the tank and he replaced it and I was off again . . . for a few minutes and a few kms when it lost pressure again. Back to the drawing board and the parts store. Reports from Valle had Normando at 3600 metres, so it is working there again after all the storms.
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|  Guadalajara Cloudy. High 17C. Winds SE at 10 to 15 kmh. We did get reports from Stefan that his guests were getting sled rides, but even the vultures were not staying up so we didn't miss much. Normando reported on FB that he made it to the Lake LZ in Valle de Bravo, where he was just joined by Dave E & Chris D, this after a week in Valle where the weather was better but not great. Woodside Report - Derek and a few others flew Woodside today to welcome the New Year in. Sled rides but it looked nice from the pictures and Bob was there to greet Derek upon landing. |
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