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FlyBC "Site of the Day Archives" - January/2016
Pelican Bay en Manzanillo, Mexico
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| 1-31-16 |
 Manzanillo MX Partly cloudy. High 29C. Winds W at 15 to 25 km/h. 2200 metres We headed up El Toro in Stefan's big Ford as the Suburban was making a funny noise in the driveline and the mechanics were off for the long weekend. Jeff, Tom, Mike and Stefan launched and all went up. Mike is here for his last flying day before heading home tonight and he was not disappointed, getting to cloudbase and 1400 metres for well over an hour. Stefan tried his new XC route but it didn't work out, despite being quite high when he left. I launched the SORA Tandem off the top launch with Harlee and we climbed out well over the towers and had an hour long flight as Colleen & Kylene drove down.
When we packed up and ate some ceviche everyone was ready to try Pelican Bay. High winds on the top launch are but perfect for kiting on the black dunes at Secret Cove. Later at Pelican Bay, Kylene & the EONA clicked and she was getting 5 metre hops on the beach landing very nicely. She will fly tomorrow!
1-30-16
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| Manzanillo MX Partly cloudy. High 29C. Winds W at 10 to 15 km/h. 2200 metres We arrived on El Toro Launch at 1145 and it was blowing down lightly, and at noon it switched to inflow like magic. We had hoped to do some kiting in the Futball Field below but there was no wind, so new Tour Guest Tom had to just fly off El Toro (he has not been flying since September). But he got off first try from the Lower Wouter Launch.
Colleen was off next and was thermalling her way out to the Beach LZ. Mike had his first sled-ride here after 6 days of thermalling. Kylene was not yet ready to fly so we drove down together in Stefan's truck. After a swim we got in the trucks and headed to Stefan's favourite fish restaurant hidden away from town and had some ceviche tostados.
At the top of the ridge it was quite strong and Tom got dragged. After that he went to the beach and kited with Kylene and Colleen to get used to some windy kiting.
Another awesome day in Manzanillo! 1-29-16
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| Manzanillo MX Partly cloudy. High 29C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 2200 metres Kylene just arrived so it was kiting day for her and we used the futtball field in Naranjo just below El Toro in light south winds. She has a mean forward launch, and can reverse launch too now.
We arrived to SW winds and Mike got ready and was off and soaring in nice smooth ridge lift.
Mike was still soaring in +20 kph ridge lift when we got to the Beach and he started heading out. Slow forward progress but he looked good from our angle.
I think he got another hour of soaring today and probably would have still been up there! Tip of the Day: Don't turn away from the beach in a 360, always figure 8 your approach to leave a safe margin. We headed to Pelican Bay for some high wind kiting for Kylene and we were not disappointed in Secret Cove. It seemed thermic and a bit gusty here, not like laminar sea breeze so Kylene had to work hard but she got off the ground many times!
1-28-16
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| Manzanillo MX Partly cloudy. High 29C. Winds S at 15 to 20 km/h. 2200 metres Despite the WU forecast for NE winds (not flyable), IBIS/NOAA said SE winds so we picked up Stefan at his hotel and headed to El Toro. We arrived on launch at 1230 pm and we had perfect cycles for the original launch spot just below the road. Stefan had to be back early so he launched first and cimbed out immediately. Mike got ready and he had a few snags before he could inflate his Geo4, but he had a very nice launch. He got some light lift over the rocks and hung in there and the zopilotes joined him and showed him the way above the towers.
The winds had picked up on launch from the South, and Mike left well above the antennas, but arrived with only 168 metres over the beach as he had a headwind all the way out.
We got there in time to meet up with the guard and got the lock on, but there was no wind so I dropped Mike off at the hotel before heading to ZLO to pickup two new students for this weeks adventure tour. Mike has been logging his flights here on Leonardo. El Toro Flight #5 here. 1-27-16
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| Manzanillo MX Partly cloudy. High 29C. Winds W at 15 to 25 km/h. 2200 metres Mike M & I met up early and headed towards El Toro but when we got to Santiago Bay (the LZ), it was already getting windy at 1130 am. By noon it was clearly going to be too strong for good thermal development, maybe just a ridge soar on the north side of the antennas. So we headed to Pelican Bay, the ridge soaring site near the Power Plant, to see if the winds were lower there. We arrived to find the wind on the top of the flat ridge was a bit strong, so I took Mike to Secret Cove a bit further north. We can drive there and the gate was open today, so no hiking required. Secret Cove has a low dune with just two palm trees in the way, and Mike was testing his new "follow cam" on the dunes. He got a few bunny hops but no soaring here.
Mike got in the air a few times but one has to stay pretty close to the trees to stay aloft on this low beach.
I could see Mike going through thermals and rising and at the highest he got to 400 metres AGL. Not bad for a 20 metre high ridge takeoff!
Mike logged 1:37 minutes and would have still been in the air if I hadn't suggested landing due to the increasing winds. Mike got some good GoPro shots today from his perch!
Mike has been logging his flights here on Leonardo. Pelican Bay Flight #1 here. 1-26-16
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| Manzanillo MX Sunny. High 28C. Winds SW at 15 to 25 km/h. 3200 metres The forecast said winds to 30 kph from the SW and we left early for Colima arriving on Launch at 12:30 pm, to see the Norwegians getting ready. We were too polite and were the last two PGers off launch just as it blew out. Mike got up as he headed out but he was going slow.
I headed to the south ridge because with this much wind it should be working, but it was NW sliding down the ridge just making rotory lift, I hung in for some time as I saw Mike head to the LZ after he found no lift out front. I was too lazy to risk sinking out way in the back bowl but that is where it would have been creating dynamic ridge lift. One of the Quebecois pilots was last seen high over that ridge, heading towards town. I worked the crappy lift for awhile but it was not giving me much hope, and others were starting to sink toward the Piano LZ. I headed out and saw some smoke clocking around on the ground to more NW but the flag in the LZ showed SW. I just made the field with no turns. As I was packing up the exact place where I was getting some crappy lift now was causing a CU to form and Jonathan flew into that lift and made it over the back towards the HG futball LZ and beer. Jonathon's driver came to find us and he picked up Michel & Ben along the way, not a great XC day but we flew! Mike and I headed back to Manzanillo and arrived to find the winds at Pelican Bay a bit strong and we waited and waited. It never laid down so back to the hotel.
1-25-16
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| Manzanillo MX Sunshine and clouds mixed. High near 30C. Winds W at 15 to 25 km/h. 2200 metres Unfortunately the plan didn't quite work out as we had so much fun at El Toro, that by the time we got to Pelican Bay it was dark. We arrived to normal NW winds on launch and somehow we got fixated on launching off the helipad at the north slope. Jayson got his tandem ready on the slope and I was ready on the actual pad, but the wind was too cross for the pad. After Jason launched his tandem with Liz (a nice launch with only some debris caught in his wing), I moved into place. The Delta 2s unsheathed lines caught on everything and I must have tried 6 times always getting caught on the rear lines. Finally I got a nice cycle and with the others holding my wing off the ground I got a nice inflation with no tangles and was off and soaring the north face getting above the towers. Some thermals and mostly ridge lift. Jonathan and team cleaned launch while I soared to make sure the others got off. I played for about 15 minutes and when I started to get lower I bailed to play in any thermals in the Valley. Nice conditions all the way out but my camera was jammed in a pocket so no photos of the mountain today. Nice landing on the beach while Jayson & Liz were swimming in the surf. Jonathon got off next and soared for a bit too on the north face. But Mike got the flight of the day as he soared and got to 1045 metres (250 metres over launch) and flew for over an hour!
We regrouped and headed toward Pelican Bay but the traffic and sunset kept us from flying, and even though there was no wind at the LZ there were soarable conditions at Pelican Bay even after dark. 1-24-16
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| Manzanillo MX Partly cloudy. High 29C. Winds WSW at 15 to 25 km/h. 2000 metres But after Breakfast, and a needed oil change we went to the beach because there was no wind despite a strongish forecast. In a rare sighting, I was seen in the ocean battling the surf. The water here is perfectly warm, you can stay in for hours and not feel any chill at all.
 Woodside Report - Paul said a large group of desperadoes went to Woodside and Al & Peter ruled the skies getting to 'base. And then top-landing to drive down, nice work! Accident Update : A few days back, I posted sad news from San Marcos as one of the touring Norwegian paragliders, crashed and died a few days ago as Norm, Bev and gang arrived at launch to see the rescue teams. After talking to the tour leader Tony, a few witnesses saw the pilots wing with double cravattes (as can happen in a full stall recovery) before they spiralled in and hit head-first into a big tree. Tip of the Day: If you are out of control and close to terrain . . . use your damn reserve! A similar accident happened to a 20 year experienced pilot in Colorado last year, one of the many fatalities in the US, that failed to use their reserve. News Report here Last year Matt F was here flying his speedwing and suffered a massive collapse and he threw his reserve and walked away with just a few scratches. When in doubt, whip it out! 1-23-16
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|  Manzanillo MX Sunny. High 27C. Winds light and variable. 4000 metres The numbers on IBIS and XCSkies ooked good to 4000 metres but the actual inversion made it a bit tough at times to climbe out. We watched Norm and Derek fly off and head north to the Cross and when Colleen launched she went straight up through the inversion up on the plateau and when she decided to top-land it took some time to get down. It would have been a good day to fly to Tapalpa town.
I decided to fly off as the winds were still favourable from La Ceja, and being too cheap to pay the 160 tariff on the main launch, I took of from here. I got a quick climb over the powerlines and was above the towers but I saw a Mantra 6 come from the plateau low, so I assumed that was not a good place to be and it would be a longer retrieve as we were headed back to Manzanillo later. Tip of the Day: Never leave lift! I left this thermal to head out to where Stefan & Suna on my old Gin Fuse were climbing in some flatland thermals. Big mistake as it was sinky and the thermals not so good as I flew under them, but could not climb as efficiently as they were very lightly loaded, so off to the Piano LZ where I floated around for 15 minutes before landing. I was packed up and in the shade as Colleen drove in, perfect timing. Last thing I heard from Derek was that he was at 3100 metres on the other side of the Cuota trying to find Bev who has been a dedicated driver for the team. Norm apparently was already at San Juan Cosala and home (his new milk run). Good work for an inverted day, you just had to stay above the soup. Reports from Colima suggested it was good there too, as a large group went XC to Comala, landing somewhere short of goal but a nice long flight to a new LZ. Woodside Report - Darren and Jason were out at Woodside trying on harnesses and Jason bagged a sleddie.
1-22-16
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| Manzanillo MX Sunny. High 32C. Winds SW at 15 km/h. 2500 metres We arrived to the shuttle point at 1130 am, but yesterday it did not turn on til 330 pm, so there was no rush today (we could have slept in). There are a lot of Quebec pilots here escaping winter, for a few weeks at a time.
I saw some folks climb out above launch and I did a few inflations to feel out the air but it felt flat and inverted so I waited. Stefan took off first and got a nice climb out front of launch, so I followed him and slid right under the thermal and was heading down . . . until I saw the zopilotes climbing out further so I dove in with them and they seemed to enjoy my company as we climbed up above La Cumbre. Everyone was now above launch but scattered in different places so the thermals were big, but not strong.
The thermals did not have a defined track, as they meandered around the sky. I was keeping the big futball field in glide at all times as I pushed towards Colima town. The Atlas futball field was in play and it seemed sinky as I headed that way. I pushed back south and rejoined Stefan over the police outpost area. After an hour of making turns and gaining maybe 5 metres, I flew to the futball field and made an approach and found out the wind was north as I made my turns. Nice field to land in, not too thermic as it is all green grass. Stefan followed me in and after a post flight beer, we hiked back to the hotel and our cars.
The Superfinal PWC is still going strong in Valle, Task 5 today. Valle superfinal 2015 task 5 from Philippe Broers on Vimeo. Maurice was here in December and made this nice video of flying at Colima, enjoy the experience at La Cumbre. 1-21-16
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| Manzanillo MX Sunny. High 32C. Winds NW at 15 to 25 km/h. 2500 metres Colleen launched first just below the road and climbed fast, but when she tried to get onto the widward side of the hill she got sink and was parked. But she made the beach with 2000 feet of altitude, loving her Delta 2. Stefan launched and higged the ridge in the lee and got around to the north side of the hill and started climbing fast. I watched for a bit then started driving down as we had no driver or retrieve vehicle. I heard Stefan say that the winds switched to NE as he climbed through 1800 metres, as IBIS had predicted.
Colleen and Stefan had a nice swim in the ocean post flight. Pelican Bay Report - after dropping Colleen off after her El Toro flight we headed to the ridge site, Pelican Bay. This site faces NW and is perfect for 20-25 kph winds.
Wouter & Josh were masters at getting high both flying Ozone Swift2 gliders, and pioneered the way to get high. Wouter once launched from the beach below and climbed out too. Today was perfect, easy to kite in the rotor near the edge, and I walked around the edge of the cliff with the Delta 2 overhead feeling the lift band and walked to the right to be closer to the cliffs and launched and was immediately lofted up. A few zopilotes to fly with and they shared the ridge nicely.
I feel I could fly all the way to the old town and back without sinking out. There are a few beaches to land on if one does sink out. I got brave and top-landed on top as we had perfect smooth winds and made a few S-turns over the road and came in soft as a feather. Previous flights have all landed on the beach in the smooth laminar breeze.
1-20-16
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| Manzanillo MX Sunny. High 32C. Winds NW at 15 to 25 km/h. 2500 metres 1-19-16
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| Manzanillo MX Sunny. High 30C. Winds W 10-15 kph. 2500 metres Jonathon runs a shuttle from the hotel at 1130 am every flyable day so I hopped in with 6 other pilots and we were on launch by 1230 to wait for some zopilotes climbing out. I was about the 5th pilot off and I watched Jonathon climb out well out front. I climbed out sooner from just off launch and the Delta 2 was flying well. I am loving the light SupAir X-Alps harness and light reserve which keeps me mid-weight range on the D2.
I climbed out above Warenka on her tandem and watched her flight path north into Colima as we crossed over 2 good futball fields. I continued NE and then it became obvious . . . she was headed to the old airport to land. I guess her passenger was getting ill?
Odd to land on a decommissioned airstrip covered with Xs. My flight training manual said this means "do not land here" but I guess that doesn't apply to Paragliders? As I was packing up the Volcano erupted for the third time today.
Another musical legend leaves us too soon.
1-18-16
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| Manzanillo MX Sunny. High 30C. Winds W 10-15 kph. 2500 metres 1-17-16
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| Manzanillo MX Sunny. High 30C. Winds SW 10-15 kph. 2500 metres Oz Report by Nicole - A rough estimate from Alex's XC Find track today.
He said it was a really slow day and tough to stay up for the first 3-4 hours, but he managed to fly until 7:30 pm and get about 215 km. No retrieve lined up so he may be sleeping in his glider and making his way back to Manilla tomorrow ;) - Nicole First Task of the PWC Superfinal in Valle - After two rain days thye ran Task 1 and it looked like a lot of pilots in goal. World Cup Superfinal 2015 Valle task 1 from Philippe Broers on Vimeo. 1-16-16
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| Manzanillo MX Sunny. High 30C. Winds light & variable. 2500 metres Bev, Norm and others were congregating at San Marcos but no reports came in last night. From yesterday's flight at Tapalpa with Cathy, see the fast climb out . . . but it was not rough. Kevin A spent a month in Valle de Bravo, and made this video. 1-15-16
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| Manzanillo MX Sunny. High 28C. Winds light & variable. 2500 metres This is the first day in a few weeks that the winds were SE in the forecast, so we picked the perfect day to come. When we were doing the LZ briefing we saw 7 gliders above launch soing quite well and it was not even noon yet. We raced up the road and arrived to see most of the gliders had either flushed out or top-landed. Norm, Bev, Tobi, Max, Derek & Rainer were here too but not setup yet. Tim setup his gear and launched from the south most spot as Norm launched from the northmost spot. Tim didn't get a climb til he got past the hump out front, Norm headed more southerly and got above launch there. Tim flew for about 30 minutes, same as Stefan who flew a tandem, and they both landed down in the Piano LZ. Once we heard they were coming up in Stefan's truck, Cathy & I got the SORA tandem ready. It was after 1 pm, but conditions were still good with strong cycles at launch. We had a nice controlled launch and within 2-3 minutes we were above launch.
Apparently Derek made it back to El Chante (and home) as Norm landed by the Cuota at the foot of Magic Hill. Paragliding World Cup Super Final 2015 - the World's top comp pilots are here in Mexico competing in the Superfinal. Results for Day One here. There are a lot of Ozone EnZo2 gliders here competing including Russ Ogden in third place, but I don't think anyone made goal as the top pilots only got 750 points. 1-14-16
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| Manzanillo MX Mostly cloudy skies this morning followed by thunderstorms during the afternoon. High 24C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 80%. 2000 metres We found the road in was recently graded by D8 Cat and in great shape even after the huge rains yesterday. Tim got his wing out and was kiting nicely but there was not quite enough wind to soar the dunes. We headed back out and drove past the Pelican Bay soaring site and the winds there were too strong! The World's best PG pilots are in Valle de Bravo Mexico for the Superfinal PWC Race, but they were denied a task today because of thunderstorms. World Cup Superfinal Valle thursday cancelled from Philippe Broers on Vimeo. We are sending out best wishes to Russ, Luc & Honorin from Team Ozone as they race in Mexico. 1-13-16
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|  Manzanillo MX Mostly cloudy skies this morning followed by thunderstorms during the afternoon. High 24C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 80%. 2000 metres But by 2 pm the rain was gone, and the sun came out and dried everything out quickly. We had already made other plans so we did not try to fly El Toro, but I am curious how the road up will be after the big rains? 1-12-16
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|  Manzanillo MX Cloudy. High 28C. Winds S at 10 to 15 km/h. 2000 metres 1-11-16
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| Manzanillo MX Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 30C. Winds S at 10 to 15 km/h. 2000 metres Good launch conditions when we arrived at noon and some of the local pilots were already in the air climbing out.
Cathy launched next and got not a beep on her way to the LZ, as Tim found nothing but lift. Cathy had an unorthodox approach into the LZ as she got confused as to the wind direction resulting in a fast landing. Tim eventually got down to the LZ as there was lift everywhere. 1-10-16
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| Manzanillo MX Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 30C. Winds S at 10 to 15 km/h. 2000 metres We arrived on launch at noon and we had perfect SW cycles and Colleen launched off the original launch near the road.
Cathy climbed out fast, and got way above the towers and as this was her first flight here she headed out with lots of height arriving at the Beach at Launch height. Tim flew off next and also climbed high as I drove down in the mighty Bronco.
1-9-16
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| Manzanillo MX Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 27C. Winds S at 10 to 15 km/h. 2000 metres We arrived at noon on La Cumbre to find NE winds, but the locals were setting up expecting to have SW winds by 1 pm. We waited and waited and waited, but there was lots of time for briefings. Tim & Cathy just arrived so they were thirsty for knowledge. One of the local pilots flew off on a Delta 2 and climbed out under the cloud. He even tried a few top-landing approaches before heading north.
Cathy was first off with our group and she had a perfect forward launch and sis some soaring out front before waiting too long to head out and outlanded close to the newly cleaned LZ. Jonathon had arranged for a local crew to clean out the wasachi weeds (thorn bushes) but ran out of funds, so I donated another 1000 pesos to finish the field and the walkway out. Tim launched next and caught a nice thermal and worked it well as Colleen launched and joined him & Delvin in the same lift.
Delvin was just landing as I arrived at the water tower where the walkway comes out at the road. We decided to head back up as it looked calm enough. When we arrived the cycles were strong and inconsistent and I set up my Delta 2 and kited a bit to test the winds. When I got a good cycle, I was lifted off and hoovered up. All the good lift was centered in the launch bowl, but I was supposed to be testing the wind strength so I headed south to the soaring ridge and was parked, maybe going 5 kph. Even with this much wind it was not really soarable, just a bit of lift on the windward side of the ridge. I reported back that it might not be so good on the slower gliders, so they drove down to get me. I landed in the new clean LZ and it was a vertical landing with gusty thermals and the cows never stopped eating to greet me.
Domagoj Juretic - Dom suffered a massive heart attack on December 28, 2015 and was in hospital surrounded by family wen he passed away on Januray 9, 2016. Dom had been the President of the HPAC from 2008 til now and was a great leader and spent endless hours as an-unpaid volunteer for all of us. Dom recently organized a Senior Instructor Conference in November helping to formulate a new Instructor Curriculum Program and we are in the process of making those changes thanks to his leadership. Dom will be missed! RIP Domagoj!
1-8-16
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| Manzanillo MX Sunny. High around 30C. Winds WNW at 10 to 25 km/h. 2000 metres Darren & Sharon are heading home today after 12 days of touring, we are gonna miss them. Strong wind forecast kept us here as it looked like Colima would blow out early. We arrived to large CUs popping off, and NW winds.
I stayed at the original SW launch to check wind as Harry got ready to fly. He had a decent launch and climbed out in the NW flow and was heading to the big cloud when he flew straing North and lost the lift. Apparently his speedbar brummel hook came undone and it took some time to fix and he was headed out to the beach.
First iffy day here, but it got windy in Valle & Jocotepec too. We met up with new guests Tim & Cathy and we headed to the NW Pelican Bay site to kite but when we arrived at 6 pm, it was blown out stronger than ever with a stormy sea with some whales breeching out front.
1-7-16
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| Manzanillo MX Sunny. High around 30C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 2000 metres We arrived to light South cycles (a first), but after Harry launched and climbed out to the south, it went to the normal NW flow for the rest of the gang.
Jim launched last and flew straight out towards the Beach arriving there higher than launch?? I drove down after picking up 4 bags of garbage from the North Launch and under a few trees (f*cking hikers!) After some food and refreshments at the Yellow Bar on the Beach, we headed to Pelican Bay (Josh's favourite spot now), and Josh launched and sunk out once almost catching the lift band. The second time he hoovered up and away for over an hour of soaring while Jim got one short ride to the Beach.
San Marcos Report - Bev reported in with tales of an unnamed German pilot in the trees at launch, while Derek, Norm & Rainer are going XC everyday. Bev was seen trying to have a mid-air with Derek at one point! 1-6-16
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| Manzanillo MX Sunny. High around 30C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 2000 metres We arrived on top at 1230 pm, to find good NW cycles on the new launch and Delvin went off first getting high over the antennas for his first flight here.
Josh was off next and he was intimidated by the smaller launch area but had a great launch and climbed out immediately and headed to the NW side of El Toro and climbed there under a cloud. Harry launched next and went straight up near launch and headed over to join Josh by the top of El Toro. They played there together getting some cloudsuck as I started to drive down.
After we dropped off Darren & Sharon at their hotel we went to Pelican Bay, the NW facing ridge and I ballasted Josh off and he had on short sledder to the beach, followed by an awesome soaring session with some vultures. 1-5-16
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| Manzanillo MX Sunny. High around 30C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 2000 metres A pattern is emerging: Launch at noon with the locals and get high, then sink out til around 2 pm when it is stronger and the HGers & braver PGers launch and stay up.
This is the first day Darren didn't go XC . . . he said it was a "shitty flight", more on that later as he landed in Piscila by the road. Everyone flew except Jim N who is still nursing a sore butt after his first flight down here and a dodgy landing (no turns once committed to final). We then went to El Toro to see how it was as the Manzanillo Airport was reporting South Winds at 15 kph. We arrived on top at 5 m to strong NW winds and Harry flew his Swift 4 off and soared out to the Beach LZ and high tides. We are going back to El Toro tomorrow for another try earlier in the day.
Colima Tracklogs - Colima has a few folks logging flights on Colima Leonardo. Some nice flights! 1-4-16
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| Manzanillo MX Sunny. High around 30C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 2000 metres We had a mixed forecast with high clouds and a threat of thnderstorms so the lift should be good. We arrived just as the local PGers were taking off and they had a good climb out on the south ridge but if fizzled and they were soon on the ground. Delvin took off first followed by Harry and they climbed high. Darren and Josh waited and it started to drizzle on us. The raindrops evaporated as soon as they hit the ground but the guys stayed in the air for about an hour before they got shaded out. I drove down to get them and the locals headed home . . . a bit too early. We got back on top around 2:30 pm, and all our guys launched and climbed out. Josh disappeared behind the ridge but stayed in the air for an hour with many low saves. Darrend headed north and landed on the other side of the river.
Nice day despite the occasional drizzle.
1-3-16
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| Manzanillo MX Sunny. High around 30C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 2000 metres
Darren and Joshua were in the air together with about 10 other PGers and they were scattered all over the place when I lost sight of Darren. Joshua had a great first flight here logging about an hour landing below. I got a spot message from Darren which located him at the same field as yesterday whith a followup text that he was walking to the Plant. Apparently his Spot was not talking to the server yet as it gave the same coordinates as the last landing zone. Tip of the Day: Make sure your SPOT is talking to the serve (green light flashing) before hitting the OK button. We drove to the Plant twice before finging out he was inside the Plant where the radio did not work. 1-2-16
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| Manzanillo MX Sunny. High around 30C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 2000 metres We had good launch conditions and about 15 other paragliders were already up high when we arrived. Some were pushing upwind almost out of sight trying for some triangles.
Not to be outdone, Jim N who just arrived today did the same thing and he too almost hit the trees before flying out and thermalling out to the LZ. It took a long time to locate everyone as I got wrong directions from Dennis, but I located Maurice & Bev fast. Jim was clearly confused as to his location and he walked the wrong way away from town. To make things worse, he had a sore back as he piled in while making a turn to final. Tip of the Day: Make a long straight final for at least 30 metres in hot dry Mexico. No turns close to the the ground as the density altitude is high and you will lose lift at a critial time. After getting a checkout at a walk-in clinic he was sent home for three rest days with some meds. Not a good way to start a flying trip. I drove home and picked up Colleen, Aaron & Christy for dinner and then we headed to GDL airport as they were flying back to Vancouver at 6 am. we stopped in Ajijic at 1 am to go to Andreas' Mescaleria for some drinks and dropped them off at the airport at 3 am. The drive back to Manzanillo was damned cold as we have no heater in the Suburban and it was very cold outside (we are now acclimatized to beach weather). 1-1-16
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| Manzanillo MX Sunny. High around 30C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 2000 metres We arrived to good conditions and everyone logged at least an hour with Dennis getting 2.5 hours while I searched for the outlanders. Darren went XC to the hotel and managed to get in to the pool there for a swim. 12-31-15
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| Manzanillo MX Partly cloudy. High around 30C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 2000 metres
We arrived to see someone up high on a red paraglider, and the rest of the Colima pilots we met yesterday were set up on Wouter's Launch.
We set up in the other spot that faces more SW and when the sun came out we got decent cycles. Darren launched on my Delta 2 and had a bouyant sled ride out to the beach, where he found high tides and umbrellas everywhere so he chose an alternate LZ. Maurice was up next and he failed to get enough airspeed to clear the bushes below launch and he got stuck in them. No injuries or wing damage. We drove down after extracting him for lunch on the beach and some surf action, where Maurice got slammed into the bottom and he got cut up a bit, PG is much safer! Colleen, Aaron & Christy joined me at a gala new years party and after midnight (yes I stayed awake), we got a nice fireworks display for 30 minutes. The Mexicans know how to party! |
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