FlyBC "Site of the Day Archives" - June/2008
"The good thing about flying solo is it's never boring." - Steve Fossett
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Woodside Report - another stable day with the odd punchy thermals, but I did two tandems with some ladies from Toronto, friends of Kelly. We got some nice lift on tandem 1, soaring with Norm for a bit until the usual lift at the South Knoll turned into big sink and we had to leave for the Ranch rather low, arriving between the goal post trees! Tandem 2 was stronger and windier and the passenger was only 100 pounds,and we got to thermal with Norm some more as he was still up from his first flight. Much raunchier landing conditions with strong south winds, no one else flew until later. Last flight of the day had all of us in the air around 8 pm, a bit of ridge lift but still strong south all the way out with fence scraping approaches into east wind on the socks. But everyone got a last flight.
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Woodside Report - it was very hot unless you were in the air. The students had 4 flights but were unable to continue, I can't imagine having to hike out of Riverside or being down there to guide students in. | I flew 2 tandems getting above launch for 10 minutes on one flight, but mostly it was sled rides for the students. They were craving more lift but only Colleen, Thomm, and James C got above launch for very long around 5 pm. Bridal Report - Mark F called to say he was quadding up to Upper Launch with son Matt and planned to fly off. We saw him later near the Saddle doing pretty well, cause Alan was still not able to climb out at that point in his flight. I suspect the inversion layer was around the Saddle. Bridal Correction from yesterday's Bridal Report - Hi Jim & Colleen, Your Site of the Day website for Saturday says that "Folks at Bridal got extended sledders so we stayed at the Ranch." I just wanted to let you know that it was a bit better than that! My extended sledder lasted over two hours. There were lots of pilots in the air - a gaggle of 20 or so at one point, I think. Most people got long flights - around 1 1/2 to 2 hours for many of them. But altitude gains were minimal, with most folks boating around or just above launch altitude - Cheers, Evelyn I also heard Norm and Alan broke away from the Knob Soarers, and were near Upper Launch for over 2 hours. - Jim
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Horsefly Report - Al, Rob, Alex R and Nicole went up Horsefly early and we saw Al thermalling on the rock faces
on the east side of Sasquatch Mountain. Then we saw all three gliders in the air, as Nicole drove down as launching was difficult
and the retrieve even harder.
|  Alex is on the Orange wing and Al is on the Blue one on the east face of Sasquatch Mountain (taken from Eagle Ranch) - photo by JPR Eventually they all made it around the south side and were all climbing well but never got above 950 meters. Launch is at 1000 meters. Total fight time for Al was 1:30 for the Flight of the Day in the Fraser Valley. Al and Alex landed at Kilby Beach area and \Ron landed in the middle of the sunbathers at Squakum Park beach, probably fixated on some bikini-clad female! Good call on trying Horsefly today. Woodside Report - what a great training day for all levels of paragliding students! We started flying around 10:30 as pilots coming from Vancouver had many traffic jams to contend with. Later pilots took 4 hours to come from Richmond and White Rock, listen to News 1130 AM before picking a route this long weekend. By the end of the day we had pilots log 6 flights each, woth some light wind launches, some higher winds and even some soaring around 5 pm. Only one small crash as Vickie flew off the south side with no air speed and settled down on the south slope unharmed but embarrassed. An Ozone Buzz needs some air speed to fly. Folks at Bridal got extended sledders so we stayed at the Ranch. The Unimog is proving to be invaluable as 10 pilots and gear fit easily and it still has enough power to get up in good time. Going down is a bit tougher as it is geared too low in second gear and too fast in third, and I am an impatient person.
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Mara Report - Jack flew Mara around noon, not getting very high but he said he didn't need to as he still made it to Enderby with ease on his Addict. The Lake is very high and all the available SIV landing spots are flooded currently, which is why we are doing the FlyBC SIV Course on July 18-21 at Revelstoke.
| Woodside Report - Dale C came out and test flew his new QuadCat, purchased from Kirill who is upgrading to a HG Trike. A few botched attempts later he was in the air crusing around as it got bouncier in the air. Nice flight and super smooth landing! Gary K, Martin N, Dale C and I drove up to Woodside launch to find Dennis already in the air around 1:00 pm. The guys joined him as I drove the 'Mog down to fill it with gliders to take to Bridal later as I had a tandem booked with the reporter from the Chilliwack Progress at 3:00 pm. Bridal Report - When I arrived at Bridal poor Ashley was being briefed by all the men, all being very attentive as she is very cute!  Ashley takes in the scenery at the Rock at Bridal - photo by JPR After loading up as many pilots as we could in the Unimog, with two other full trucks behind us, 20 pilots arrived at launch at once. Many old faces out that we haven't seen for a while: Peter G, Annelise, Reto were out. Rob launched first despite Alan having a very short flight around noon. Alan volunteered to drive a truck down and was back at launch sans glider.  Rob S launches first and does 3 "Sammy's" from Elk to the Butterfly eventually landing at 8 pm - photo by Ashley We let several gliders fly off first to establish where the lift was, and then Ashley and I were clipped in, briefed and ready to fly. Great launch conditions, straight in with cycles to 15 kph. We got off cleanly and were soon soaring with several gliders over the first spine, getting to the inversion layer seen in the first picture above. Then back down but we persevered and broke through getting to 950 meters. Some pilots were getting up at the Saddle but I never ventured over there, staying in the good lift at the spine as I saw some plummet when they left the thermal. We flew for about 1 hour before Ashley said she was getting cold, so I attempted a few top-landing approaches as I had no driver. Norm and Jaso had arrived around 5 pm on launch and were watching us approach and then get bubbled up to 800 meters. At least it was warmer there over the Knob. We got very close a number of times but I was wanting a smooth touchdown, not a stalled landing so I kept going around. Finally, Alex R top-landed and then Nicole, so there were drivers on launch. Another truckload came up with a non-pilot who was in the military and he drove the Mog down so we abandoned the top-landing as Jason launched with Alex's help.  Jason soaring Bridal - photo by JPR As this was Jason's first Bridal flight, he has 17 flights all at Woodside, I thought I should be in the LZ to give his some pointers, so we spiralled down to land in the Driving Range as there was another pilot on the swamp approach. Jason had a brilliant flight landing after 25 minutes. Our flight lasted 2:15 and Ashley had to lie down for a while to get her land land legs back.
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Woodside Report - Dale's plans to get the new QuadCat Paramotor in the air were squashed by high winds from 7 am on. Then by 1:00 pm it was raining! The forecast was all wrong, so we cancelled the day. |
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Woodside Report - I arrived at 2:30 pm to take Joe's 2 friends from Ontario for tandems. | The first tandem with Martha went well and we were soon over the towers at 1300 meters and still climbing. We spent about 30 minutes soaring the front side and then when the winds were picking up strong South on Harrison Bay, we hopped over the back towards Agassiz, oddly no lift except at Cemetary Hill where we soared for another 15 minutes enjoying the sweet aroma of manure coming up in the thermals. Nice no step landing at Harvest Market as we could not climb to get into the High School. Bridal Report - After we landed I got a call from Mark F, very excited about a wing in the trees at Bridal on the backside of Archibald. After reaching Rob S to see if we could lend any assistance . . . we found out that an un-named instructor had taken another un-named "signed off pilot" to the launch spot named 1100 and flew off this north facing slope and the un-named U-Turn pilot had landed in the tallest tree on the slope. No rescue gear on site so a rescue was initiated involving Search and Rescue and 911, which ultimately was called off. The un-named instructor left the pilot in the trees to go to a ground school class in town, so Rob and Alan had to get the un-named tree ornament out of the tree. Finally at 8 pm, Rob got to fly after 5 hours of rescue work. Thanks Rob and Alan! I guess this new proposed 1100 launch (in the wrong place and wrong angle for South Winds), did not prove itself very well today? I still don't get the need for this launch angle, there are only north prevaling winds in the winter and you can't get up to 1100 meters without a sled or snowshoes in the winter. Why fly off an untested site in strong leeside conditions when you have Bridal Lower, Bridal Upper, Woodside and Lil Nic all facing into the wind? It doesn't prove anything. Wait for a day with north winds, sometime in January. Al phoned me around 8 pm and told me of his epic flight, launching at 2 pm, he flew from Elk to Cheam many times, when it got rough and windy he had to stay high to avoid the valley winds, but if he got too high he got hammered by the south wind coming over the top of the ridges. He could not land mid-flight as the wind in the valley was gusty and top-landings were not possible due to strong lift. He finally top-landed to get his car after 5.5 hours of getting tossed around. Woodside Report #2 - around 8 pm, I took the second tandem flight waiting a long time for a lull to get off, but climbed out as high as the first flight in smooth air with mixed thermals. My passenger had forgotten to tie her shoes tightly and blew off a runner on the launch run! So she had one shoe on her foot and one sitting on launch. We soared the north ridge and got up past the towers where the speed dropped considerably as we got higher. No need for trims but the ground speeds were low. We flew out to the South Knoll and climbed there pretty high too, nice lift all along the ridge. I flew out towards the construction zone and we were still climbing all the way to the Ranch where I did some lazy 360s still climbing. After boating around the Valley, we descended over Duncan's and only hit a shear layer at treetop height for a few moments landing in nice east winds (good for one shoe running). We packed up fast before the mosquitoes got us! Pembie Report - Miguel topped of his 3:00 hour flight at Bridal with a trip to Pemberton today and he was rewarded with +9 m/s climbs, quite rough but apparently his Ozone Rush II stayed together and flew him home!
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Burnaby Mountain Report - I met Mark F up at Burnaby Mountain for some kiting as driving to the Valley is getting expensive, windy all the way there but little wind on the mountain. Huge CUs over Grouse so I am sure there were some good flights there, under the ceiling of 5500 feet of course. |
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Woodside Rpeort - Bev flew Woodside after a 2 year hiatus and lots of kiting. | She took off on her new ride, an Ozone Addict, and she climbed and climbed to about 1000 meters soaring the north face of Woodside, before heading out to the South Knoll and what we thought would be a Harvest flight, but she was so high she headed to the Ranch and had a soft touchdown despite forgetting to flare!  Bev over Woodside higher that ever before - photo by JPR Norm took off later and had trouble getting as high as Bev :-) Bridal Report - we headed to Bridal at 2:30 pm, and loaded up the 'Mog with 12 fliers and headed up the mountain. Alan had already been flying for 2.5 hours alone, so it was good even though it was cloudy.  FlyBC's new launch shuttle room for 10 fliers - photo by JPR Pilots started launching starting with Al and he and Alan were scratching past the little toe, and not having much luck when Alan found some lift in front of launch and climbed out before top-landing, 3 hours into his flight at that point. We were getting ready to launch pilots when Alan mentioned the Launch Bear was on his way toward launch on the road a few car lengths from the parking area. Kevin and I went down to the road and shoo-ed him away.  The Bridal Bear up close - photo by JPR  Alan soaring the Knob - photo by JPR Alan said he would drive the Mog down so I didn't have to risk sinking out and walking up so I gave him the check-out ride before I took off. I had a nice flight, rough climbs at times in close to the mountain but efficient! Colleen had been in the air for an hour already and I was soaring with her and Monica for a while before catching a strong climb in front of Upper Launch. I climbed through 1700 meters and headed west but only hit sink and headwinds but could see Al, Rob and Nikolai were having fun by Gloria. I was heading back to Upper, when Al came back and we were soaring in front of Upper trying to top-land. Al made it in over the snow and got dragged up hill to the west. I came in fromt the front into what I thought was SE wind and landed cross-wind rather fast and did a PLF. No damage! Rob came in after me and did a skid into final on the snow. I relaunched first and Alan said he was down at the LZ with the Mog so I flew out on bar, crossing over Lower Launch at 1200 meters, so I guess I could have top-landed as Miguel was still soaring the Knob. I came in to windy, gusty conditions at the swamp and came in smoothly but got bubbled up on final, so I turned a slight left turn about 15 feet up and felt the Boom Sport stall and I was on my back in the tall grass in a split second, no time for any recovery. Hmmmm? I jumped up and was okay except for a lack of air in my lungs, Alan was watching my approach and said it looked good, not much brake when it fell behind me. Good thing I was only that high. There is a safety notice out on Boom Sports and Boomerangs regarding new line sets and I have one on order and it cures a deep stall problem some pilots have encountered with much worse consequences. I guess I better post an incident report on the euro forum. Grouse Report - I was quite amazed to hear you Jim on the radio while flying Grouse Mntn today!.. Did I hear correctly someone was at 2000 m ASL? As for my flight, it was an extended sledder -- but it took only 2.5 hrs and 7 litres of gas to get there and back home! Yaro, whom I met on my way up, said conditions were amazing earlier, and if not for the passengers (and, I'm sure, airspace restrictions) he and Herminio could have flown to Whistler - See you soon, Alex W
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Woodside Report - no more kiting for the new guys; Andy, Sven, Kris and Doug all flew off Woodside for their first solos after getting early morning tandems. | They had great launches and super landings for their first flights, the second flights were a bit more technical as the winds picked up and by 2 pm it was too strong for even Jason to get off the hill cleanly, so we watched the experts launch and go straight up. Many flew for 3 hours like Al and Norm. The work party was out installing the new Nylex carpet and Collen had to launch over the installers as did Doug but no one was in conflict because the cycles were so good. Colleen's tandem student Scott loved the flight (an ex-Hangglider pilot from the US who said he is coming back for lessons).  The new WCSC launch carpet with Al on approach to top-landing on his Addict II - photo by Martina Thanks to Martin H who was cleaning the outhouse and picking up garbage from all the partiers who frequent launch at night.  A bunch of un-identified fliers over Woodside on Sunday before heading to Harvest Market - photo by Jim  The Unimog retrieve vehicle at Harvest Market - photo by Martina
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Woodside Report - while I was kiting with all the new students, Kelly and Martina headed up the hill at 11 am. They waited for 30 minutes on top, but it blew over the back consistently for the entire time. | They came back down and kited with us in the Eagle Ranch landing field, and everyone had a good kiting session until 4 pm, when it blew strong out of the NW.
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Fraser Valley Report - despite a great lapse rate, everyone who flew had extended sledders. The only flier to get any lift was me on the new Paratys MZ34 paramotor flying over our field at 10 am, when it was very lifty. |
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Woodside Report - light mist fell around 4 pm, pretty lame conditions so no one went up the mountain. | Paratoys Build Report - we have a Paratoys suitcase model paramotor featuring the new MZ34 engine mounting attachments and with a little fiddling it went together quickly. The new mounts and a new pulley system have lightened 2 pounds (0.6 kgs) off the overall weight of the paramotor. They figure another 0.5 kgs is possible with the billet crankcase/head design coming off the CAD machines soon. Come and see it flying at the Ranch on Saturday - Monday. We may try it with the tandem too to check the power output.
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Hedley Report - Wiley was up at Hedley but didn't fly as it was already blowing from the SW at 9:00 am at launch. Maybe tomorrow will work for him. | Kirill's HG Trike Report - Still unsettled weather. Quiet close to the ground but bumpy in the air. Some huge airmasses are constantly moving some place - KT
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Woodside Report - I was at the Ranch by noon working on a few projects and no one was out, good launch conditions and light winds in the LZ. | Jason came out at 4:30 after work and bagged two flights, one with Martina who came out for a sledder. He had two perfect reverse launches for flight 16 & 17. A bit of lift but nothing to turn in as it was very cloudy. Bev was apparently watching from home, lurking on her computer during lunch break, wishing she was here! Terry Butcher's Epic Flight Report at Kamloops on Father's Day - Well it seemed to take forever but it finally happened. Fathers Day I launched from Upper Dome and swung around to the right the boys went left and out over the knoll but I had a feeling. I passed through light lift looking for something stronger. After hugging the mountain all the way to lower launch and gaining very little I swung back and was rewarded with nice 2-3ms and I swung tight S-turns along the face of the rock next thing I know I'm above launch and from there I stayed close to the mountain and continued to rise getting a thousand meters above the mountain. The rest of the flight was awesome. I found lift all over going to cloud base twice. I was 200 meters below lower launch and scratched my way back up several times. Over two hours in the air with personal bests in both time and altitude. While Ed got to 3100 meters I was close to that mark flying with him. This was the first time I ever got cold flying. I flew out of lift out in the valley to warm up and then returned to scratch back up the mountain. I eventually used big ears and some spirals to get back down. Wow what a day. The other pilots that flew where Ed, Derek, Jim, Harold, Dave, with Les driving as he was recovering from a leg problem. All in all it was a very good day- Terry Got a minute, why not visit Terry's Blog
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Morgan Creek Golf Report - a beautiful, windy day on the course finding out why others spend so much time and energy chasing a little ball around 18 holes. | This charity event was for a good cause KidSport BC a group that fund underpriviledged kids to ensure everyone can achieve their sports dreams and goals regardless of economic situations at home. As I played golf, I felt totally out of my element and it reminded me that to get good at anything (including paragliding) one needs focus and practice to get better. You can't paraglide or golf a few times a year and improve, but at least golf can't mangle you up too badly! ps: the cloudstreets on the North Shore mountains went from Cypress to Sasquatch with no breaks, did anyone go XC from Grouse? Bridal Report - Alan, Derek & I all met at the Bridal LZ around noon. We launched pretty quickly since the winds were forecast to pick up, but it seemed to only be strong in the air (ground winds were calm...thermal wind maybe?). We landed after an hour of soaring above Upper and waited out the afternoon winds, going back up around 5. Nikolai, Robin, Nicole & Alex had all launched by the time we got back up, and while we were watching them have 'interesting' passes in front of launch, our friendly neighbourhood bear came for a visit.  Alan and the Bridal Bear - photo by Martina He paid no attention to us, just walked around the whole launch munching on the grass. He didn't even blink when the airborne pilots "dive bombed" him with their shadows! Derek & Tony from Squamish launched for an evening flight and Alan & I drove down after spending half an hour talking to & taking pictures of the bear - Martina  The Bridal Bear grazing at Launch - photo by Martina Kirill's Trike Report - In spite of a nice looking day had to shake through bumpy air all the way from King George Airpark to Abbotsford on Monday evening. Definitely some kind of a front passing by. Good practice for crosswind landings though.  Kirill on the way to Abbotsford heading east - photo by KT
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Woodside Report - it appears that Spring is a few months late! The air the last two days at Woodside and Bridal felt like March/April, very strong thermals that ended up making the Valley very wind until 7 pm both days. |  Mama Deer and 2 fawns on the road up Woodside - photo by Nokia Good training in the early day until 2 pm, when the air was very lifty and the students; Jason, Mark F, Julie, Dennis, Rick were at 1000 meters without turning; but still had good penetration and smooth landings at the Ranch. I took James' girlfriend tandem after 2 pm, and we had a strong climb right off launch to 1100 meters waiting for James to launch. He joined us for a few turns as we headed to the north cliffs and got nothing over there?? I guess the one thermal off lower launch was the ticket to cloudbase. We went back to that trigger point and were immediately lifted to 1300 meters in a blue sky. Wondering how big the core was I widen the turn and soon found cold air and sink, back to the core. Quite small even higher up, and I saw a wispy start to form right above us, and it was also small. Amanda was shooting pictures of launch (looking down), of James (still looking down) and the scenery all around and after about 30 minutes of strong climbs the expected happened and she got "dizzy". So I headed east to Hopyard Hill and Agassiz over the flats. Big CUs forming south of Hopyard Hill and we were on track and flying fast when I looked back to see James, and he was very low behind us. I knew he wouldn't make Agassiz and he had never landed at Harvest after 3 seasons, so I radioed where the field was and waited over Cemetary Hill for him. After we landed at Harvest, the CUs we were tracking for went huge and filled the sky, so the lift would have taken us much further. But repors from HGers landing at Seabird Island sounded like it was very windy downrange. Unimog Report - it is a bit slower than the Van, but it takes 10 pilots/gear and two Instructors to launch in Mercedes Style. No ruptured kidneys yet, but Thomm was complaining of exhaust fumes when at the back of the bus. I may have to move the exhaust further back as it exits in front of the left rear tire.  The 'Mog - photo by Bryan Lumby Report - after 2 so-so days, everyone was rewarded with good climbs and many did the tasks which consisted of a "cats cradle" back and forth from launch to Lumby Ridge to Saddle (keeping the action above town).
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Woodside Report - great day for intermediate students for their first XC flight to Harvest. | Everyone took off and climbed out high over to the South Knoll and arrived at Harvest to perfect landing conditions after following Colleen out on a tandem with Jacek. My tandem with Lori was very rough on the South Knoll and we were experiencing weird collapses that felt leeside but it was strong SW winds? We flew to the north bowl and climbed there in smother lift before doing the milkrun to the Ranch. Nice landing conditions there too. Unfortunately it got too strong for Julie and Dennis so they had to sit one out. After lunch we headed back up the mountain for a last flight in smooth air. First flight for Rick H today. Bridal Report - we overheard snippets of converstion between Ihor and Nikolai that sounded like a rough ride similar to my tandem flight. Nikolai headed for Elk landing at Annis Road as the sun came out. Lumby Report - Friday was windy so only Saddle Flights. Saturday was cloudy and calm so no good flights were undertaken, just making Randy's was hard!
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Woodside Report - Dennis called at 11 pm to see if it was me soaring Woodside, cause he was watching on the WebCam and someone was up high for over an hour.
Not me as we arrived at 2:30 pm to see the hugest imbedded CUs all around Woodside and Bridal. We eventually went up to try a flight after 6 pm but it was still too strong. |
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Woodside Report - Jason arrived at 5 pm for his flight to Harvest. He had it all planned before he got here.
Working at Kent Prison he was interested in trying to fly over the back after 10 sled rides to the Ranch. Today was the day, nice cycles at Launch and Dr T had been up for 1:30 already on his Geo II. | Jason had a nice launch except for trying to get in the seat too soon! He climbed out on the north side fast and was soon at 900 meters. It got windier so I sent him over tp the South Knoll to get to Harvest. Last thing I saw was him over Cemetary Hill still at 900 meters! He was a bit freaked about getting down but made it into Harvest fine. The 360s did the trick. Steven H was out too and had a nice flight landing at the Ranch. Bridal Report - Alan D flew Bridal after hiking up and maybe launched too soon as he only got 30 minutes under the low clouds. He said it was sunny later, after he landed.
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Woodside Report - Cloudbase finally lifted above launch around 5 pm, but it looked really lame so I never went up. |
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Woodside Report - a grey day with no rain, probably only a sled-ride day. I never even looked at the windsocks at the top, too busy getting the 'Mog ready for the MVI inpectors. Should be road-worthy in a few days, get your kidney belts soon! |
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White Rock Report - monsoon rains for June caused flooding on Marine Drive, and the Fraser Valley didn't flood but it was pretty wet to be working on the 'Mog, getting it ready for the MVI Inpsection by weeks end. | Woodside Update from June 8  Mark Finn landing at the Ranch - photo by Tara  Sean launching at Woodside for flight number 4 - photo by Tara Savona Update from June 8 - Bev's report didn't do Norm's flight justice! Norm claims a steady 5-6 m/s up from launch to cloudbase without turning. He could only point out to the Valley or get blown back and up. He did not like the "idiot-lift" cause he didn't know when it would stop to get down!
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Woodside Report - patience paid off for Dennis, Sean, Mark and Doug as they all flew many flights at Woodside after getting "skunked" yesterday. | Apparently they learned something good kiting in the rain with soaked gliders, cause they brought up dry ones flawlessly all day. Mark, Sean and Doug flew 1 tandem each and 3 solo flights before 5 pm. Some interesting landings by the "corn-huskers"! Dennis flew 2 flights before heading home. We took the new Unimog up the hill for one flight and everyone complained of sore asses and sore eardrums??  The new 'Mog at the FlyBC Barn - photo by JPR Savona Report - Norm flew Savona and right after him was Ed. Poor Ed got plucked off of launch headed for the trees he controlled the glider away from the trees, then got reefed upwards then dropped downwards back towards launch, I ran and got the heck out of his way, then he got reefed back up then swayed from one end to the other and finally got away from the mountain. Norm's launch wasn't eventful at all, although all he did was go up and go backwards until he got away from the mountain then it was a constant up. Oh I might add, Derek B flew off and then ran for it over the back to get the heck out of there, then Harold flew off had a very nice launch and all he did was fly up up and more up, when he landed you could hear him singing like a virgin (his first time off of Dead Mans). Danger Dave flew off uneventfully and had a nice flight. I drove Ed's truck down after the entertainment. When Norm and Ed landed Norm asked Ed if he wanted to do that again and I think I heard Ed say NO, he needed something to sedate him lol. Quite the fun. - Bev  Norm climbing out at Dead Man's in Savona BC - photo by BEV
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Woodside Report - good kiting conditions: wet grass, slight mist, and 10-15 kms from the east!. | The new guys did great and the intermediate students decided to leave their wings in the bag so they could fly later. We headed up to launch for tandems around 2 pm, and it was howling. We waited, even clipped in for about 30 minutes, and drove down. Then when we got to the bottom, the wind had lightened up on the ground and the sock at launch had settled down some, so back up to launch. Norm launched first and went through some weird "washing-machine" air, no ridge lift despite strong wind? Strange lift and sink cycles all the way out to the Ranch with a smooth landing (witnessed by Derek in Bella Coola and Martina in Agassiz simultaneously watching the WebCam). I launched with Doug tandem on the Tucan, and we also hit the weird air despite a different flight path. Landed right in the circle in smooth conditions, after 15 minutes of airtime. Too weird for student flights so back to the Ranch and dinner. Savona Report - Well gang, I have to admit, Delta Delta Dave called it on the money today. Too bad he didn't call anyone early to join him. I was bored so I drove out to Savona and there was Dave at the bottom, go figure, his car on launch. Up we went and it was streaming in at 20km/hr +, very smooth. Dave launched and climbed out. I followed and it was like flying in butter, so smooth and silky feeling. It was almost to easy, dare I say boring????? We both top landing in Smith Camp meadow and walked 10 minutes to launch to retrieve our vehicles. We don't fly Savona enough, any one in for Sunday? - Derek B
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Woodside Report - I cleared Customs with the Unimog and drove it straight to Woodside. Norm was at the Silver Dollar so I stopped to say hi and he met me at the Ranch. | After some tinkering to get various snags fixed, we were off and up the mountain. A bit slower than the FlyBC Van due to the gearing but a smoother ride. Norm launched quickly in a lull and was soon climbing nicely, the plan was to head to Harvest Market and I would follow him in the Subaru so I could go get the van at Ralph's at the traffic circle. When I arrived at Harvest at 2:30 pm, Norm was packed up and itching to head to work. He was able to climb out nicely and was soon between two cloud layers on the way to Harvest high when he noticed he was soon going to be late and had to cut the flight short. Later when Colleen got home, she took the 'Mog out back and tried to climb the backside of the training hill. We got stuck a few times on the slope but eventually made it in 3rd gear with the diffs locked! And it was wet and greasy!
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Coaches Corner - I think we have to head to Cache Creek or Savona for the weekend, as the weather looks wet all week and into the weekend. ROAD TRIP!
Call the cell for an update and I will leave a message.
| Click on Google Earth for Eagle Ranch for our location 30 minutes east of Mission. Because . . . - a new film from Ozone and Herminio and Jorge congratulations from Islander Amir Izadi, who won first place in the contest run by Ozone and to Martina Lang who got honourable mention for her entry winning some Ozone swag. Portland Road Report - great short flight to Portland airport on Air Canada, then jopped into the new Unimog (well new to us!), and made the deal on the spot and drove it down the freeway home. No speedo so I assumed I was going about 50 mph based on the distance travelled per hr. Lots of heavy rain to test the convertible top, which did not leak.
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Woodside and Fraser Valley Report - Kevin A called to say that cloudbase was lower than he has ever seen in June, less than 300 feet at Cultus Lake. So our tandems didn't happen as planned. |  Miguel launches his Rush II at Pemberton on May 31, 2008 - photo by South African un-named photographer
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Vancouver Report - light to moderate rain all day. | I will be away for Thursday and Friday picking up the new FlyBC Transporter in Portland. It is a 1968 Unimog Troop Carrier, legal to carry 12 troops and gliders! The 'Mog - photo by Bryan
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Woodside Report - what a great flying day for Brent, Dennis and Jason. | Brent bagged 7 flights for a new Woodside student record landing at Bill Best's, Eagle Ranch and Harvest Market for some variety, Dennis and Jason showed up later and only got 3 flights. Great launch conditions and still air with light thermals made for easy flying and extended flights. Where the heck was everyone else? I guess it looked too lame from the city.
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Woodside Report - they scoffed at me earlier. . . but we flew many flights after cloudbase lifted. | Beautiful launch cycles, and not too windy until 4:30 pm. Alex and Nataliya were out and she bagged flight number 2 on her Rebel. New students Brent and Dennis flew and had brilliant reverse launches again today. Some say it is the Mojo2s but I think they caught on well to our reverse launch method. Pemberton Weekend Report - Hey Jim, Most people had a pretty good day at Pembie on Saturday. There were many early sledders, and the east winds kicked in somewhat early, and stranded quite a few on launch, but for those that got away, there were some great flights. Lots of big XC flights. I did the Hurley out-and-return, and extended it by returning way out over the golf course, before running back downwind to land in the valley towards Meager. The winds at the end of the day were blowing 40k in the LZ, but as far as I know there were no incidents. Lots of hangies out as well, which was cool. There were about a dozen non-local pilots out, by my estimate. The WCSC meeting went really well too, I thought. There were about 40 people there, with some delicious organic baked goodies provided by some locals (as a fund raiser), and a few people had some great slide shows to show, of various adventures around the world. Nicole and I were able to share a little about the club, and how the Pemberton scene fits in. We answered some questions, and connected much better with many of the local pilots, who have a done a ton to improve their own flying situation. Corinne Stoltz-Orava was awarded her "Most Valuable Member" WCSC award in person for 2007, for her efforts in Pemberton, and she also spoke about some ongoing local projects. All in all, an excellent day. I hope we can repeat it again soon! - Robin Jeremy's flight in Pembie on a Mantra Small Jeremy's flight #2 in Pembie on a Mantra Small oh yeah, Nickolai flew to Meager and return - Jeremy
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Woodside Report - we were up on launch by 10:30 am, and I took Dennis for a tandem on his first day of the Beginner Course. We took of into a nice cycle, I handed over the controls and Dennis was soon thermalling above launch. We flew down to the Ranch and Dennis did a great job getting us into the circle too! | Martina, Kelly and Derek flew as did Delvin and Kirk from Bellingham. The first flights were pretty nice and by 1 pm it got too strong for students so we headed to Bridal. Duncan's are $60 richer due to three outlanders! Bridal Report - Dennis, Brent, James and Kelly headed to Bridal in the FlyBC Econo Shuttle (XL7). We drove up to launch to see Matt J and Jonathon soaring the Knob and getting pretty high amongst the traffic. Many pilots were in the air and doing laps to Elk already. Perfect cycles at the lower setup area.  Matt J and Jonathon - photo by JPR These guys were loving Bridal after just getting back from the Costa Rica jungles. See their adventures at: Matt and Jonathon fly Costa Rica . Both guys top-landed Bridal today, saying it was easy compared to top-landing in Costa Rica. Matt had to land cause he was getting airsick, and Jonathon had to "pee". Nice flying guys. We got Brent ready for his first solo flight at Bridal and Kelly was guiding him at the bottom. Perfect reverse launch into nice cycles and he soared for awhile getting above launch and landed pretty nicely too. Dennis was too aggressive on his controls and had several duffs and we decided to drive down to head to Woodside for his first flight. After Dennis first abort, an un-named Titan pilot was seen having a huge collapse just at the edge of launch and he did a 180 back into the face and was un-injured. He was pretty far down the slope too! When we drove down to the bottom, the winds had picked up pretty good and pilots were having some penetration issues so it was a good call not to send Dennis off in the end, so we headed back to Woodside. Woodside Report #2 - after extensive briefings with Martin H who was in the HG LZ. Jim: How many broken downtubes? Martin: Only 1. (pointing to a red Wills Wing being broken down). How many PGs in the trees? Jim replies. None while we were there! We headed up as conditions were mellowing. Brent had his second flight following Kelly out to the Ranch, arriving with a lot of altitude on his Mojo 2. Dennis had a really nice kiting session for 3 minutes before committing to aviation. He hit more sink than Brent and was forced to land short of the Ranch but he was giggling all the way to the ground loving his first flight on his Mojo 2. These two new students did an awesome job: arrived on time at 9 am, were out kiting til noon getting their reverse launches perfected on the training hill and were launching off Bridal and Woodside with perfect style by 6 pm! |
FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day Reports
April 2008 Site of the Day archives - worst weather in years but we flew every day we could.
March 2008 Site of the Day archives - more snow and still hiking to launch at Woodside! But some major airtime for the locals committed to coming out to fly.
February 2008 Site of the Day archives - more snow in BC than I can remember in 25 years of living here. We are still hiking to launch at Woodside!
January 2008 Site of the Day archives - worst weather in years so we went to Mexico and logged many hours of airtime, while it snowed heavily in BC.
December 2007 Site of the Day archives - worst weather in years so we went to Mexico on Dec 29th for three weeks.
November 2007 Site of the Day archives - Colleen and I went to California to fly the new Falcon A-16 Advanced Ultralight prototype and it flew very well. Some good soaring days at Woodside, some folks were still trying to fly Bridal but that is a waste of time this late in the season.
October 2007 Site of the Day archives - mid-air at Woodside caused Martin H some paraglider damage, some great soarable days. The Women's Fly In was a success with the Canuck Team taking top spot for the theme of "Celebrities in Rehab".
September 2007 Site of the Day archives - we re-discovered and flew 'Horsefly' Launch for the first time, some mayhem at Woodside due to tree-suck, lots of good soaring in afternoon glassoffs, a great Indian Summer until late in the month when the rains came early. Derek, Martina, Robin and Diane went to Europe. Kirill went to Australia for a paramotor Fly-In.
August 2007 Site of the Day archives - fun two weeks at Mara Lake, followed by steady flying at Woodside and Bridal, making up for the dismal spring and summer.
July 2007 Site of the Day archives - good flights at Bridal, some mayhem at Woodside from visiting pilots.
June 2007 Site of the Day archives - more crappy weather on the weekends. Some awesome flights between showers as Norm and Thomm flew to Mission on the last day of the month.
May 2007 Site of the Day archives - flyable every weekday, but the Fraser Valley XC Comp got crappy weather on the weekends, although it was student flyable.
April 2007 Site of the Day archives - good flights are starting. Some complete triangles from Woodside to Bridal and back, some "musical triangles" from others.
March 2007 Site of the Day archives - fifth month of crappy weather on the Coast. We went to Santa Barbara for some flights, and to dry out. Some good days were also recorded locally.
Febuary 2007 Site of the Day archives - fourth month of crappy weather on the Coast. So we stayed in Mexico.
January 2007 Site of the Day archives - third month of crappy weather on the Coast. So we went to Mexico to fly Colima, Tapalpa, and San Marcos, while Brad and gang headed to Tenacingo, Mexico.
December 2006 Site of the Day archives - more ugly weather on the Coast. Severe winds damaged trees and property so not much flying happened. Some good flight reports from local PGers travelling world-wide.
November 2006 Site of the Day archives - the wettest November on record. We flew a few good flights but mostly we were rained out.
October 2006 Site of the Day archives - lots of good days with 3-4 hours airtime. The Women's Fly-In was on again in Chelan with about 18 Canucks, and a good day Saturday with 85 registered pilots.
September 2006 Site of the Day archives - still soarable in the Fraser Valley, little or no rain. Colleen is back flying! Some mayhem in the valley.
August 2006 Site of the Day archives - a great flying month everywhere, we had a super successful SIV clinic at Mara Lake with everyone SAT-ing and heli-ing.
July 2006 Site of the Day archives - road trip to Lumby, then on the 8th Colleen spun in below Gloria cancelling her summer plans (but she is recuperating well).
June 2006 Site of the Day archives - the Valley dried out, and we flew most days and every weekend.
May 2006 Site of the Day archives - more rain that ever imagined in the Fraser Valley. Very few soaring flights and even less XC.
April 2006 Site of the Day archives - the Easter Bunny was "run over" on Kilby Road, plus the train wreck on April 1.
March 2006 Site of the Day archives - a new pilot was born, Chloe. We also flew a few days between showers, some long flights up to 4 hours. A few Out & Return Flights to Deroche and Bear.
February 2006 Site of the Day archives - another wet month with some soarable days (2).
January 2006 Site of the Day archives - some flying on Elk and Woodside, smart pilots headed South for great Mexican or Chilean flying.
December 2005 Site of the Day archives - some flying on Elk and Woodside, smart pilots headed South.
November 2005 Site of the Day archives - rain, snow and not much flying.
October 2005 Site of the Day archives - Women's Fly In in Chelan yielded two soarable days before the snows hit.
September 2005 Site of the Day archives - dry most of the month. Some great 4 hour flights at Woodside getting to cloudbase most days. Three crash-landings in the same clearcut by pilots scratching too low, but no injuries.
August 2005 Site of the Day archives - road trips to the Interior gave us an opportunity to rag out some gliders at FlyBC SIV 2005 (Part II). Also a great road trip to Savona.
July 2005 Site of the Day archives - good flying all month, no rain but some windy days shut us down. The Willi started in Golden with a few good days, but one tragedy as Charles Warren perished in a crash near Harrogate.
June 2005 Site of the Day archives - too much rain, but good days to fly between showers.
May 2005 Site of the Day archives - our Instructor/Tandem seminar yielded some good flying. Our May 2005 SIV Clinic had a good turnout, with many wet wings/pilots! Many nice flights at Woodside and Bridal, with some long "out & returns" at Bridal.
April 2005 Site of the Day archives - some great soaring at Woodside and Bridal. Sad news from the US Hanggliding Nationals as Chris Muller crashes at goal.
March 2005 Site of the Day archives - we had to head out of town to Savona a few weekends due to wet weather on the Coast. Wetter than normal according to Environment Canada.
February 2005 Site of the Day archives - some good soaring despite early time of year. Flights as long as 3 hours at Woodside, some good flights at Whidbey Island for first timers, too!
January 2005 Site of the Day archives road trips to Mexico, not much flying locally due to strong north winds and rain. Record rain kept Eagle Ranch quite wet for kiting.
December 2004 Site of the Day archives a dry month with some good soaring including a fantastic day on Dec. 11 where we thermalled for 2+ hours!
November 2004 Site of the Day archives more record rain. We installed a fireplace in the barn to keep pilots warm between winter flights.
October 2004 Site of the Day archives more record rain, but sweet soaring between showers. Many new students signed up and making quick progress. We missed the Women's Fly In for the first time in 9 years, and there was some interesting flying on the Sunday!
September 2004 Site of the Day archives rainiest September on record for the first 3 weeks, made flying difficult. But Alan and others logged some pretty nice flights later in the month. Lots of student tandems for both Colleen and Jim.
August 2004 Site of the Day archives Great Maneuver/SIV/ACRO course at Mara. Jack got wet! Some great soaring at Woodside. Norm made it 68 km from Mara to King Eddie, Derek made it from Lumby to Enderby the opposite direction for 67 kms. We also did our BC roadtrip from Ashcroft to New Denver, and flew everyday.
July 2004 Site of the Day archives the Willi was on at Golden. We missed the mayhem due to work and school commitments but Norm did a great job representing the West Coast.
June 2004 Site of the Day archives Canadian Nationals came off with many great rounds. Pemberton-Whistler Championships were blown out most days so we headed to Cornwall.
May 2004 Site of the Day archives great flying at Woodside and Bridal. We held a very successful SIV Course at Mara Lake, and hope to run another one in August if they keep the forests open.
April 2004 Site of the Day archives good flying in the Valley. The Fraser Valley Cross Country PG Series was successssful.
March 2004 Site of the Day archives Nicole won in Brazil, otherwise the month sucked for flying time.
February 2004 Site of the Day archives some local flights extended to an hour with vigourous scratching above the trees. Good paramotor month.
January 2004 Site of the Day archives Mexican road trip yielded 20 hours of flight and a wet Canadian January kept most local pilots on the ground.
December 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew a few times but it got really cold at the end of the month as we prepared for a gala New Year's Party for 40 of our close personal friends and neighbours.
November 2003 Site of the Day archives windy and wet with the odd good soaring day, not many pilots out these days.
October 2003 Site of the Day archives Women's Fly In was great fun, some good soaring days mid-month, most of the students are signed off.
September 2003 Site of the Day archives good conditions until the last days of the month when it got stable. Most days were flyable at Woodside or Bridal.
August 2003 Site of the Day archives Forest closures made the end of the month a non-flying period unless you headed to Blanchard. FlyBC SIV 2003 was a great success with 9 stunt pilots and no deployments or crashes.
July 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew most days early at Woodside until it got windy, then over to Bridal. Good Golden flying reports from the "Willi".
June 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew most weekdays at Bridal, Woodside worked most weekends. Bridal Air Races had one great day with only two tree landings!
May 2003 Site of the Day archives not a great weather month on the coast, especially on the weekends but a few pilots managed to get some great airtime at Bridal. The Nationals were held in Lumby and it didn't rain!
April 2003 Site of the Day archives rain for 28 of 30 April days, but we managed to get a few flights in between showers. Even the golfers were complaining!
March 2003 Site of the Day archives some high spring flights in early March, but not a great weather month. Still no HPAC Insurance!
February 2003 Site of the Day archives some nice long spring flights in late February. HPAC Insurance expired on Feb 14, so many pilots stayed home instead of getting USHGA coverage.
January 2003 Site of the Day archives lots of rain all month in BC so we bailed and headed to Tapalpa Mexico for three weeks. Norm and Lucille had a great XC flight the first day we arrived.
December 2002 Site of the Day archives lots of rain all month.
November 2002 Site of the Day archives not a great flying month, lots of rain in the beginning and then super stable and inverted for the balance of the month. Even the Savona Road Trip wasn't that great. Looking forward to Mexico!
October 2002 Site of the Day archives Still soarable some days, great fun at the Women's Fly In 2002 in Chelan. Allan logged 15 hours and only flew a few days. Most of the students are ready for signoff soon to get ready for Mexico trips!
September 2002 Site of the Day archives Still soarable most everyday! Some scary incidents at Woodside. Fun flying at Ashcroft.
August 2002 Site of the Day archives More spring-like days with super lapse rates, great fun up-country at Revelstoke and Mara, with some good XCs for all.
July 2002 Site of the Day archives Some spring-like days with super lapse rates, but still rather wet at times.
June 2002 Site of the Day archives another rainy and windy month with great lapse rates, some great flights at Bridal with some getting above Cheam Peak. The Club Cup was nearly rained out but they got one valid task in on Sunday June 30.
May 2002 Site of the Day archives an extremely rainy month with the more spring mayhem, another reserve deployment at Lil Nick and a pilot crashed at the top of Deroche Mountain, uninjured but with a ripped glider and long hike down the mountain. Colleen placed 5th place at the Canadian PG Nationals in rainy Lumby!
April 2002 Site of the Day archives a rainy month with the usual spring mayhem, one reserve deployment at Woodside and a pilot hit a parked car at Bridal LZ, fracturing his leg.
March 2002 Site of the Day archives a few great days days with lots of snow and rain mixed in.
February 2002 Site of the Day archives two epic days already (4.5 hours and 2.5 hours!).
January 2002 Site of the Day archives Mexico vacation shots, some local flying but it was wet on the coast.
December 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, wettest December on record, some good days sprinkled thru the month.
November 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, had some good days at Woodside +2 hours, lots of rain later in the month.
October 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, but great flying at Chelan at the Women's Fly In.
September 2001 Site of the Day archives starting to get pretty stable, more sled rides forecast for October.
Aug 2001 Site of the Day archives Mara, Bridal, till some great flights locally
July 2001 Site of the Day archives Road Trip Month, Golden, Mara, points east!
June 2001 Site of the Day archives Great Month, 3 hours of airtime for some pilots every time they flew Bridal Lower! Some getting up to 6 hours in a single flight!
May 2001 Site of the Day archives Unstable Month, 2-3 hours of airtime for some pilots every time they flew Bridal Lower!
April 2001 Site of the Day archives Rainy Month, not as much airtime for some pilots
March 2001 Site of the Day archives Spring has Sprung!
February 2001 Site of the Day archives Spring is in the Air!
January 2001 Site of the Day archives - Mexico Flying Trip
December 2000 Site of the Day archives
November 2000 Site of the Day archives (great month for airtime!)
October 2000 Site of the Day archives
September 2000 Site of the Day archives
July - August 2000 Site of the Day archives
June 2000 Site of the Day archives
March - May 2000 Site of the Day archives
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