FlyBC "Site of the Day June 2013 Archive Page"

rotating image
Woodside Rocks

"I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else." - Winston Churchill

Locations of visitors to this page


Date
        Site        
Forecast
Winds
@
3000'
in knots
  Lapse  
Rate
°C/1000'
Cloud
Base
in Meters
Comments
6/30/13
Woodside looks flyable all day

30°C

Sunny. High 33. UV index 8 or very high.
300° @ 3
-3.0°C
1200 m
Woodside Report - we often say "what a difference a day makes!"

Yesterday it was too strong and windy for new students and we had to ballast off tandems. Today was super stable and hot and we waited for cycles to launch into?

Newest students: Grant, Danielle & Ryan got their first 4 solo flights yesterday after enduring the training hill yesterday in the heat.

By the end of the day they were landing themselves smoothly.

It was very stable and we managed to get 10 tandems done, but they were short rides.

From June2013
Bridal had lots of "knob-bobbing" to stay up with lift only at the launch area.

6/29/13
Woodside looks flyable all day

29°C

Cloudy with 30 percent chance of showers early this morning then a mix of sun and cloud. High 29. UV index 7 or high.
260° @ 10
-3.0°C
900 m
Woodside Report - we started at Mission's Heritage Paark Training Hill at 930 m, and ran iinto Andrei training with his tandem, good way to practice tandem launches!

We had new students: Ryan, Danielle and Grant here training and they did really well for Day 1. They have had some coaching from their friend who trained with us last year, but did very well getting some long flights in Mission.

It was darned hot on the hill, so we headed back to the Ranch at noon, where Denis & Bill had already started the tandems.

The students took a lunch break as it was deemed too windy for safe first flights already by 130 pm. They headed out to the training hill at Eagle Ranch and had some more practice as we did more tandems, and we started heading to Harvest Market after one of the tandem pilots failed to make the Ranch. A new first as the tandem passenger fell face first in Chimp Creek as they waded though and asked to take a shower as they smelled "kinda skunky"! All part of the adventure!

Denis, Bill & I completed 10 tandems and it was strong launching conditions and all the launches went very well. The last landings at the Ranch went fine too with a few bubbles as the LZ was mowed today. Baling should be completed later this weekend, so watch for obstacles on final or land at the freshly mowed Riverside LZ.

Students were keen to hang out on launch and watch the other more experienced pilots fly, also it was much cooler than staying at the Ranch.

Reports from Bridal of top-landings at Upper Launch by Biif & crew, also staying cool. Derek & Candice flew home on tandem after hiking to Upper Launch, and fortunately Martin N top-landed and drove Derek's truck down for them.

6/28/13
Woodside looks flyable all day

27°C

Mainly cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. High 27. UV index 6 or high.
220° @ 12
-3.0°C
1200 m
Woodside Report - we had 4 tandems to do today, which should be an easy day . . . except the winds were not so cooperative. We had outflow all day and had to launch the first tandems in nil wind.

The sky looked ominous, but we stayed dry except for two short sprinkles early on.

From June2013
The second set of tandems had better cycles as the sun came out briefly.



Rat Race Results for Task 3 - Click here to see the results and Brett Hazlett is in Sixth Place on his new Gin Boom9! And Simon Beaumont is doing really well on his Ozone Delta 2!

6/27/13
Woodside looks wet all day

22°C

Mainly cloudy. Showers beginning this morning. High 22. UV index 3 or moderate.
220° @ 12
-3.0°C
700 m
Woodside Report - errands and chores in Vancouver til after 3 pm, and when I arrived at the Ranch it looked flyable, but alas no one came out.



Rat Race Results for Task 2 - Click here to see the results and Brett Hazlett is in Second Place on his new Gin Boom9!



Val Louron task 3 trailer from Philippe Broers on Vimeo.

6/26/13
Woodside looks wet all day

18°C

Mainly cloudy. Showers beginning this morning. High 19. UV index 3 or moderate.
240° @ 14
-3.0°C
900 m
Woodside Report - it looked like chores and accounting next few days due to rain, and I was not even out of my pj's when I saw a car drive in around noon?

It was the tandem booked for noon, and they hadn't called to confirm and just showed up. It was between rain cells and the sun was shining, but really people? Do you think you can paraglide in this weather?

I got dressed quickly and checked the radar and Sumas Windtalker and it all said "yes! indeed we can fly!"

So we loaded up the Suzuki and headed up to launch to find nice cycles and no rain on the horizon. So off I launched with Kyle, who is moving back to calgary this weekend and this was his last chance to go flying with us. We soared the north face for a few passes, and then the South Knoll before heading out to the Ranch.

From June2013
As we were setting up the approach at the Ranch, I saw some rain forming over Chilliwack and by the time we landed it was sprinkling lightly so the Magnum is drying in the barn overnight.



Rat Race reporting from Woodrat for Cross Country Magazine - Click here to hear about Andrew's landing mishap with his new Peak 3!



Rat Race Results for Task 1 - Click here to see the results and Simon Beaumont comes in second in Sport Class on his new Ozone Delta 2!

6/25/13
Woodside looks wet all day

18°C

Periods of rain ending near noon then cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. Temperature steady near 18. UV index 3 or moderate.
240° @ 10
-3.0°C
900 m
Woodside Report - chore time at the Ranch, due to the rains.

I cleaned out all the older wings from the store room (the ones that still fly fine but have fallen out of style), and moved them upstairs in the Barn.

It got sunny around 3 pm, and Derek & Martin N both called to see if it was flyable. I said yes and they headed over and we drove up to find a gorgeous blue hole over Woodside. Martin went first as Derek & Candice got the tandem ready and they were out soaring around while I got the Delta L ready and within 10 minutes they were heading out to the Ranch as a rain storm developed over Cultus Lake and headed our way.

From June2013
I had to bundle the Delta into the back of the truck as there was no time to pack it as it started sprinkling.

6/24/13
Woodside looks wet all day

18°C

Periods of rain ending near noon then cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. Temperature steady near 18. UV index 3 or moderate.
200° @ 28
-3.0°C
900 m
Woodside Report - heavy rains and when it wasn't raining there were lots of mosquitoes. At least when it is raining people have time to make their videos from their weekend adventures, this one is from the Elk Solstice Hike & Fly this past weekend.

Elk Hike from Candice Schier on Vimeo.

6/23/13
Woodside looks possible all day but not soarable

22°C

Mainly sunny. Increasing cloudiness this afternoon then 30 percent chance of showers late this afternoon. High 22. UV index 8 or very high.
300° @ 8
-3.0°C
900 m
Woodside Report - we were blessed with another flyable day despite the rainy forecast, and flew until 6 pm.

From June2013
New students Mike from Merritt & John from Abby were out, as well as James & Benn.

John got 3 flights, Mike got here late and enjoyed one windy flight. James & Benn got 2 flights and watched all the action on launch until it got better.

We had finished 8 tandems and Tonya & Denis helped out as Derek was too tired after hiking Elk Mtn. and freezing on top all night. Colleen had to help with the last group or we would have missed the dry window we were enjoying. Radar was showing rain in Abbotsford all afternoon but we lucked out.

Our last 4 tandems were all very small people and the largest person was 115 lbs, and it was windy. So it took a long time to get to the Ranch, but they enjoyed the flights!



Elk Extravaganza 2013 from Kevin Ault on Vimeo.



Woodrat Rat Race Report - a practice day at Woodrat Saturday turns out bad as Nicole hurts her hand after throwing her reserve and a crazy farmer drives over Andrew B's new wing and shreds it with an ATV. WTF! Call the cops!



Pacific Pyla from Acromania.nl on Vimeo.

6/22/13
Woodside looks possible all day but not soarable

22°C

Overcast. Fog patches early this morning. High 22. UV index 3 or moderate.
240° @ 11
-3.0°C
900 m
Woodside Report - another magical day at Woodside.

It started out cloudy and we didn't even go up until 1130 as it was blowing down & cross at launch. The winds in the Ranch LZ were also from the NW, not usually a good sign.

Colleen was taking new student Saadi for a tandem after an extensive ground school session, and they launched and climbed out immediately. George & Stefan were also out today and they were having nice flights following Colleen out to the Ranch.

From June2013
George got his first thermalling sessions today and was doing well on the Ozone Element II.

Stefan was on Day 2 of our Beginner Course and he was launching and landing very well and had nice wing control flying the APCO Karma S today. Conditions were perfect for the flights today, light winds and soft thermals . . . until 3 pm.

Denis & Derek were flying tandems today and had one set at noon in soarable conditions. The second set of 4 tandems arrived at 2 pm, but we didn't get to launch until 3 pm. I sent the students for Lunch as it looked like it might get too thermic as the solo pilots were climbing high. Shawn K was here from Whitehorse and had been in the air for 3 hours test flying Russell's new Delta 2. Norm & Shawn headed over to Sasquatch and were soaring over there before heading back.

We had strong cycles at 3 pm, and I ballasted off Colleen, Derek & Denis and as usual I was left alone with the smallest passenger Leanne (90 lbs) and no ballast help. Oh well, here we go. We launched fine in a lull and were soon climbing thru 1100 metres in minutes! Good strong lift and not rough at all, no problems penetrating and lots of fluff from the trees coming up in the thermals showing where the cores were.

We flew for 30 minutes up high and as I headed out I gave Leanne the brakes and she did the approach over Duncan's and it was very smooth. Light winds and buoyant in the LZ made for a nice soft touchdown in the circle.

We went back up for one last round of flights at 5 pm, and George got off first but the winds switched to SE for some time and Saadi could not get his first solo in today. Meanwhile, Shawn & Norm climbed out and headed east with Shawn landing at Harrison Beach. No word on where Norm landed.



Woodrat Rat Race Report - a practice day at Woodrat today as the week long comp starts Sunday.

Nicole was having fun on full bar when she got a frontal and cravatte on her Icepeak 6 and had to throw her reserve. She just missed a barn and landed okay with her reserve stuck in a tree. She needs a new reserve and deployment bag before she can race tomorrow.

From June2013
6/21/13
Woodside looks possible all day but not soarable

18°C

Cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. High 18. UV index 3 or moderate.
240° @ 11
-3.0°C
900 m
Woodside Report - I met Stefan at the Ranch at 930 for Ground School and harness fitting before heading to Mission Heritage Park for training.

By 200 pm he was a super star and having many great flights as the winds cooperated and gave us SW at 10-15 kph!

We met Derek at the Ranch later and headed up for a tandem flight with Stefan and we launched around 3 pm into light winds and were able to soar in light thermals, despite a solid cloud cover. After 15 minutes we headed out so he could practice the approach into Eagle Ranch.

We elected to land at the ProCircle in case the mosquitoes were around but no bugs as we packed up.

We went back up with Derek & Martin N and they flew off and had some soaring and it looked perfect for Stefan's solo flight.

From June2013
Stefan had a perfect forward launch and was soon on track for the approach as Derek landed. Stefan had a perfect aircraft approach and landed just short of the circle.

From June2013
6/20/13
Woodside looks wet all day, with showers & windy conditions

15°C

Rain. Amount 15 to 25 mm. High 15.
250° @ 25
-3.0°C
600 m
Vancouver Report - no flying today due to wind & rain.

6/19/13
Woodside looks wet all day, with showers & windy conditions

19°C

Cloudy. Rain beginning this morning. Amount 10 mm. High 18.
250° @ 17
-3.0°C
600 m
Woodside Report - no flying today due to rain and low clouds.

6/18/13
Woodside looks great all day, with possible showers

19°C

A mix of sun and cloud. 40 percent chance of showers late this afternoon with risk of a thunderstorm. High 19. UV index 7 or high.
250° @ 12
-3.0°C
1300 m
Woodside Report - the day looked grim but Keith arrived anyway to finalize his lessons after a good run of 7 flying days.

We headed up the mountain, just Keith, Remy (my grandson) and me in the Suzuki. The conditions were very calm with rain near Cultus and Agassiz, but the "blue hole" over Woodside was keeping us dry.

Keith took off and had a sledder to the Ranch, and after he took off we setup the tandem for Remy and I to fly off. He was looking stylin' in his new Supair Loustic Harness and ready to fly.

From June2013
Unfortunately, the winds took a turn for the worse and started blowing down? We waited and got an up-cycle and flew off.

Remy took the controls and flew me to the Ranch loving the experience. Our youngest student yet as he just turned 5 in April.

From June2013


Ozone at the X-Alps - Click here to read what 12 different Team Pilots are flying at the X-Alps this year - over 1000kms of course to cover.

6/17/13
Woodside looks great all day, with possible showers

24°C

Mainly cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers early this morning. 40 percent chance of showers late this afternoon. Risk of a thunderstorm late this afternoon. High 23. UV index 6 or high.
250° @ 10
-3.0°C
1500 m
Woodside Report - we were heading up to Woodside at 11 am, for student lessons and we had launchable cycles early on and smooth sledders.

The next trip up we had nicer cycles and Keith took off and started climbing out nicely followed by Martin N, who was doing his best to keep wup with Keith on Keiths 15th flight!

From June2013
Bev was driving for us so Denis & I could do 4 tandems and we had strong soaring conditions for both flights. Reports of a beginner glider getting a big collapse over the South Knoll despite "jetflaps".

Later flights had us going to Harvest Market while the students "stood down" for a few hours. Kevin tried an "out & return" to Agassiz Mtn. bailing to Harvest as it was too strong SW to get back to Woodside.

Later we had two more student flights for Jeff & Jason, landing at Mosquito Ranch.

6/16/13
Woodside looks great all day, as does Bridal

24°C

A mix of sun and cloud. Risk of thunderstorms near Hope this afternoon. High 24. UV index 8 or very high.
250° @ 10
-3.0°C
1000 m
Woodside Report - we were heading to Woodside for lessons at 930 am and it was already getting busy.

We had Benn, James, Dale, Kelly, Keith, Leslie, John all flying well today with great launches and landings. Keith was showing Alex R how to thermal as he outclimbed Alex on his new Ozone Element II!

It got windy after 1 pm and we had to cut short flights for Leslie & John as they are less experienced than the others.

From June2013
Later flights around 2 pm, when I had a tandem to complete with Denis & Derek were quite nice with strong thermal lift near the South Knoll. The recently signed off students got to launch themselves and fly until it got too strong to fly out to the Ranch safely and headed to Harvest Market. Good thing to fly to Harvest as Norm reported strong turbulence at the Ranch and a HGer crashed in the HG LZ - breaking his arm and some downtubes.

The last tandems with Derek & Denis were "on the edge" wind-wise at launch but the guys got off cleanly and had nice soaring before heading to Harvest. We had shutdown student flying at that time and it stayed windy all night with thunderstorms later in the evening.

6/15/13
Woodside looks great all day, as does Bridal

25°C

Mainly sunny. High 25. UV index 7 or high.
250° @ 9
-3.0°C
1300 m
Woodside Report - we were at Mission Heritage Park at 10 am to tune-up the older students, and to introduce John W to the sport of Paragliding on his first training day, before heading to Woodside for lessons & tandems at noon.

John did really well for his first day with 6 good flights and no aborts. Brad was back after a 2 month hiatus in Frobisher Bay where he has a 400 foot hill he and Steve fly off when they are not building houses.

Back at the Ranch we had the rest of the students waiting to go flying, so we had two shuttles trucks running all day taking tandem passengers and students up four times.

From June2013
Thanks to Colleen, Denis & Derek for their tandem help as we did eight tandems, and had 7-8 students also doing four flights as we had students arrive late and leave early during the day.

We have a super group of students right now, with little muss or fuss getting ready and checked out before launching. It was really busy at launch today with many solo pilots scratching for lift for up to 2 hours before it turned on. Also, four HGers were getting ready so space was limited, yet the students all got off cleanly and smoothly and we had no spacing problems in the LZ as they are all landing themselves with precision and skill.

From June2013
We were finished by 6:00 pm, and finishing up paperwork for those getting signed off today with USHPA ratings and HPAC ratings. Congratulations to Tim from Bellingham for achieving his USHPA P-2 after 120 solo flights on a HPAC Novice Rating.



Biff's Elk Report - after checking in to hear Woodside & Bridal were not too lifty Biff headed to Elk late in the day hoping for some soaring. All the way up he felt east winds (which we also had on Woodside). But he launched okay and headed out to Prest Road area arriving at Mt Thom at 400 metres to climb out wiht some crows to 700 metres before landing at his high school in Chilliwack flying his Delta 2 today



Shawn's Whitehorse Report - Shawn Kitchen flew 93 km to near the end of Tutshi Lake!! New Yukon record for Mr Shawn Kitchen!!! Nice work!!! Also flying his new Ozone Delta2.

6/14/13
Woodside may get soarable today post rain showers

17°C

A few showers ending near noon then mainly cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. High 17. UV index 6 or high.
250° @ 12
-3.0°C
1100 m
Woodside Report - I was driving back from Williams Lake arriving back at the Ranch at 1130 am, when I saw low cloudbase and drizzle so I am glad I cancelled the tandems.

By 5 pm the sky was clear and it was flyable but I don't think it was soarable. No one was out today at Woodside and driving by Bridal I didn't see anyone either.

6/13/13
Woodside may get windy today but we are flying students early

17°C

Mainly cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers this afternoon. High 19. UV index 5 or moderate.
240° @ 15
-3.0°C
1300 m
Woodside Report - only one student, Keith out at Woodside for lessons today.

We had a really good day starting with a sled-ride around 10 am, followed by some good soaring sessions for Keith who has figured out the perfect flying kit: Ozone Element II glider, Supair Vamp Harness, and a Brauniger Competition Vario.

From June2013
The forth trip up the mountain after lunch we managed to forget Martin N's glider so he had to watch painfully as Keith thermalled up to 1000 metres and spent 48 minutes in the clouds while we drove down.

From June2013
We went up for one last trip which again was soarable with Keith landing in nice conditions at 5 pm to end off the day. Five flights and about 3 hours of airtime on Keith's 3rd training day, not bad for the forecasted conditions.

From June2013
6/12/13
Woodside may get rained out today but we are waiting here to see

17°C

Showers. Risk of a thunderstorm this afternoon. High 16. UV index 3 or moderate.
240° @ 6
-3.0°C
1000 m
Woodside Report - the forecast didn't look too promising but we were here anyway (as usual) and new student John & Keith were ready to fly, ground handle or whatever.

We headed up the mountain after 10 am and the sky looked threatening over Sasquatch Mtn. but it bypassed Woodside and headed towards Hemlock.

From June2013
Martin N flew off and was soaring at 11 am. Keith followed him out to the Ranch as I was kiting on launch with John. We stayed there for 30 minutes before heading down to pick up the tandem pilots & passengers for their noon flights.

Denis & Derek were flying the tandems as I managed the student flights and driving duties. Both had really nice flights, with Denis staying high and showing Ji how to thermal for 45 minutes.

Kirk arrived from Bellingham to pick up his new Ozone Delta 2 and he had a great flight soaring into the clouds for as long as he wanted, except that he had to land to run to work.

From June2013
We did some ground handling when the winds were too strong for students and watch some eventful landings in the thermic conditions at the Ranch while kiting.

John and I headed to Mission for some training hill flights while Keith headed home for a nap as I worked him too hard today.

After 7 pm, John & I headed up Woodside for his first solo flight which was very smooth and he had a perfect approach and landing.

From June2013
Derek & Candice arrived and we all headed up for the last flight of the day and they soared nicely, while John had his second solo flight with another perfect approach.

From June2013
6/11/13
Woodside or Bridal will be blown out today

17°C

Cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. High 17. UV index 3 or moderate.
240° @ 17
-3.0°C
1000 m
Woodside Report - we thought the day would get blown out according to all the wind forecasts, but we went up Woodside at 10 am after checking the Sumas Windtalker and other resources.

I had new student, Keith from Manitoba, here to convert from HG to PG and he is here for 7 days of training. Martin N was along and helped by driving for a few tandems today, for which we were very grateful.

We setup the tandem just after 1030 am, and we had nice healthy cycles which were straight-in and about 20 kph. We took off and immediately started climbing under a cloudy sky, not just ridge lift but strong cloud-suck too? We will take it. I showed Keith some ridge-soaring tricks and he was soon taking us back & forth along the north ridge very smoothly.

We got to cloudbase at around 1000 metres quite quickly and it was then that I noticed some rain coming across from Sumas Mtn. so we bailed towards Harvest Market with Martin driving chase.

From June2013
It was very lifty all the way to Cemetary Hill where we soared for 15 minutes awaiting the truck and we had a smooth landing in SW winds.

From June2013
We had just packed up and loaded up the truck when the first sprinkles of rain came down. We headed off to Mission and Heritage Park for some training hill practice, and drove through many rain showers but the skies opened up over Mission and we had nice inflow cycles on the hill for Keith.

We did about 7 good flights down the hill, and then Martin took over the Element II and did some practice flights too.

After a nice luch at the Heritage Park restaurant we headed back to Woodside for another tandem, this time flying the normal approach to the Ranch with Keith piloting. Again conditions were perfect at launch and in the Eagle Ranch LZ, so the forecasts were way off today.

From June2013
It got sunny over Woodside and we went back up for a solo flight with Keith, and Martin N was our wind technician, and he got some soaring in before headng out to the Ranch.

From June2013
Martin reported nice landing conditions so Keith suited up and was soon in the air on the Element II with a perfect flight path and some thermals to extend his flight. He almost came up short as it was sinkier and windier than Martin's flight earlier, but he squeaked in with enough altitude to almost make the circle.

I headed back down and we were waiting for Derek to arrive so we could do another solo run as it clouded over. Launch cycles were still reversible as Derek & Martin flew off, and Keith was soon in the air again chasing Derek out and this time he had a perfect approach and landed just in the circle.

An awesome training day for Keith with 2 tandems, 2 hours of training hill practice and 2 solo flights on a day that was forecasted to blow out all day.



Belated Lumby Report - looks like pilots flew Lumby on Monday and did awesome, one day after the comp got blown-out.

Click here for the Leonardo Tracks from Canada .

6/10/13
Woodside or Bridal should work well today

20°C

A mix of sun and cloud. High 20. UV index 8 or very high.
240° @ 12
-3.0°C
1000 m
Woodside Report - I had to run into Langley for some cedar and got back to the Ranch around noon to find John M, Martin N, and Gerry L checking out conditions at the telescope.

I had earlier that Robin as bringing out a videographer to chronicle his flying for a Lego Video, and they arrived just as we were loading up the Suburban for a trip up the mountain.

Conditions were forecast to be strong SW and we had good cycles at launch. I duffed a few inflations on the Delta L, not used to the speed it comes up compared to the tandem (which I fly mostly). It wan't making sense how fast it was overshooting even with Cs . . . until I got in the air. I had a buckle twist in the speed system that was pulling 3 cms of As on the left riser. It flew fine but I wasn't wanting to fix any deflations!

Martin, Gerry & I were were playing around at 1000 meters and it was lifty everywhere and I had about 20 kph groundspeed so it was all good. I was flying the Supair Delight L harness and it felt very nice in the turbulence.

Gerry was flying his new Delta 2 with a nice yellow & blue colour scheme, and did very well coring up in the thermals.

I was following the guys out to the Construction Zone and they caught a nice thermal there back towards launch and I took it further north to the bowl, before heading back towards the Ranch. As I got lower my groundspeed diminished fast.

As I was flying out to the Raanch I heard Martin comment on Robin's blow-out as he lost his entire wing momentarily near launch, nad it re-opened dramatically but without any twists. Unfortunately the videographer had finished his filming and was driving down.

I got to the Maple Tree with lots of altitude and come in to a 30 kh south wind in the LZ. Smooth but a few thermals were kicking off as the grass swayed on final.

Gerry came in not far after me, and nearly landed short but he caught a few bubbles of lift that got him over the fence. It was getting windier but it was still lifty as Martin, John & Robin came in. Everyone had soft landings, just some where not where they wanted.

Kevin arrived to take the videographer tandem to get some in-air footage of Robin but they decided Bridal might be better as it was after 3:30 pm now and blowing hard.

Reports from Nikolai at Bridal were saying light cycles at launch, so off they went to Bridal.

I later heard Nikolai reporting that "he was not liking the roughness of the air", so many drove back down Bridal including Derek, Klaus & Monica.

6/9/13
Woodside may be too windy for flight later today

20°C

Cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers early this afternoon. High 20. UV index 5 or moderate.
240° @ 16
-3.0°C
1000 m
Woodside Report - I took James, Benn up for flights at 10 am and they had some cloud-flying with Benn failing to make the Ranch.

Next trip up we too George G up for his first flight in over a year, and George had a nice guided flight with Colleen watching his approach. Meanwhile, James & Benn took off and soared up high and I drove down to organize the tandems.

We got back on launch with Derek, Denis & I flying the tandems and James & Benn were still high over Woodside - 1.5 hours later and doing well on their graduation flights with over 35 flights under their belts and new Ozone Rush III wings soon to be in their hands.

We launched the tandems in ever increasing winds and were getting +5 m/s lift everywhere carefully maintaining VFR flight rules. After 45 minutes we all headed over to Harvest Market where I found the winds to be in excess of 35 kph so a vertical landing was initiated.

Later tandems were cancelled and we had a nice afternoon of lunch and re-hashing of flights.





Lumby Report - Just got home from Lumby.

As usual a great party organized by Randy and his team. Unfortunately the weather was not great for the comp any of the three days - mainly due to west winds and showers, but for the Hammer, Biff, Daryl S. and Normando, some nice lightly soarable flights were had on Saturday at Baldy in Vernon with Biff logging almost two hours in three flights.

Sunday, many Fraser Valley pilots gave up on the Lumby sites and headed to Baldy where there were some windows of good lift followed by windows of gusty, sink but the skies were clear and the wind direction was perfect. Late in the day, after taking my uncle for a 30 minute tandem, I convinced Al to go up for one last try at XC and we were rewarded with some super smooth lift to 2200 meters allowing us to fly to Lumby where we were chased by my uncle - great final flight before heading home.

From June2013
Al, Andrew, Pete and Claudia were planning to stay one more day and try Mara on Monday.

Ah, the scourge of work . . . - Biff

6/8/13
Woodside may be too windy for flight later today

21°C

A mix of sun and cloud with 40 percent chance of showers. High 21. UV index 8 or very high.
250° @ 16
-3.0°C
1200 m
Woodside Tandemonium Report - we were at the Ranch at 10 am for tandems. Fortunately only Mark S showed up for lessons as it was too wild for students.

We moved everyone up to 10 am, and Denis & Colleen were helping me with tandem duties. Bev was driving shuttle for us.

It was on the strong side for our first tandems and I ballasted off Colleen and then Denis, and when it was my turn my passenger was extremely weak and I had to get Tom Chromy to help her off the launch. In the air it was buttery smooth lift all the way to 900 metres before heading to Harvest Market.

From June2013
Second set of tandems were here and we headed up at 1 pm, fully expecting to get blown out, but it was lighter launch cycles with some nice thermals out front. Again we headed to Harvest Market, but Chris D was flying our new Firefly demo speed wing and he decided to head out to the Ranch but only made it to the HG field as he forgot the approach over the Construction Zone.

From June2013
Last tandem was Rob C, a big 240 pounder, so Denis took him for a long ride all the way to cloudbase before heading over to Harvest Market. Matt F was back from Whistler and flew his Gin Rebel out to the Ranch and had to pull big ears to get down in the Ranch LZ as it was very thermic at 3 pm.

From June2013
Last flight of the day was Shawn K from Whitehorse, picking up his new Delta 2, and he had a brilliant flight for over an hour launching at 7 pm. He found out that the Construction Zone approach is much less bumpy than coming in downwind of Scary Corner.

From June2013




Lumby Races Report - reports suggest that the races got blown out with SW winds and low clouds. Only two racers finished the course and many could not even launch.

6/7/13
Woodside will be too windy for flight today

19°C

Cloudy. 60 percent chance of showers this morning and early this afternoon. High 19. UV index 5 or moderate.
250° @ 25
-3.0°C
1200 m
Woodside Report - I went to the border to pickup some gear and decided it was better to walk across as all the lineups were long at 9 am, and the rain held off.

There was also a new reserve for Al (the new Beamer 3), don't get sucked into buying a Beamer 2 as that is old technology now. Lighter, better sink rates and faster opening with the Beamer 3 Steerable reserve.

In the middle of the day Colleen commented that it looked flyable, and despite the clouds flying by pretty fast, our neighbour Free had flown down on his new Ozone Mantra M2 purchased from Brad and said the air was nice. It got better and better all day long but no one was here as everyone headed to Lumby Days.

6/6/13
Woodside may be soarable

24°C

Mainly sunny. Fog patches dissipating early this morning. High 23. UV index 7 or high.
250° @ 13
-3.0°C
1200 m
Woodside Report - we had a pretty good day here at Woodside.

I took John for a second tandem in smooth conditions and got him ready for his impending solo flights.

Derek & I took Jamie & his daughter Shelby for a nice thermic tandem, both of us getting above launch as John flew his solo between our flights, doing a great job on his first flight. Interesting thermals in the Ranch LZ as I had to go on final 3 different times getting lifted back to treetop height.

We then took a break and went for lunch as it looked windy, and even at 800 pm it was even too strong for Al! But John got some great reverse kiting in on the Training Hill and decided to take a wing home to Empire Valley.

Nice lennies were forming all over the valley as the front approached.

6/5/13
Woodside may be soarable but we are going to Ashcroft

25°C

A mix of sun and cloud. High 25. UV index 7 or high.
250° @ 10
-3.0°C
1200 m
Merritt-Ashcroft-Savona-Woodside Report - we were at Merritt's Sugarloaf Mountain at 10 am for flying with John H from Gang Ranch, BC.

Just one problem, as we entered Merritt and the winds were already +25 kph in the valley & +35 kph on the mountain. I had just gotten a new Ozone Firefly and it was too windy to even take it out of the bag, so we headed to Ashcroft and Coyote Hill.

John got a few inflations practicing reverse launches, but then the winds switched to SW there too and were were denied his first Coyote flights.

On to Savona and the Toilet Bowl Ridge but as we crested that hill it was +35 kph too. Denied! All the forecasts called for 20 kph SW in the afternoon but this was way stronger.

Back on the highway for Woodside, we arrived back at the Ranch around 6 pm, and joined up with Derek & Candice & Klaus & Monica to head up Woodside for another tandem for John.

We arrived to pretty sporty winds on top, definitely soarable as Klaus launched and was soon at 800 metres and barely moving forward. We were looking for a sled-ride tandem for John to have him fly a normal student circuit so we didn't launch instead waiting for tomorrow and mellower conditions.

Klaus meantime was hitting +3.7 m/s thermals on the way to the Ranch and getting 8 kph groundspeeds on the GPS. His flight took 45 minutes to arrive at the Ranch for a nice smooth touchdown at 7:30 pm.



Paragliding Elk Mountain, BC from Richard Teszka on Vimeo.

6/4/13
Woodside may be soarable

23°C

A mix of sun and cloud. High 23. UV index 7 or high.
250° @ 10
-3.0°C
1200 m
Woodside Report - we had a new student starting today, John from up past Williams Lake, so we headed to Heritage Park for some training hill action. He was doing really good, so back to the Ranch where I had 2 tandems waiting.

Yasu was here again today and flew every flight along with us on tandem getting some great thermalling practice today on the Element II.

Bev kited with John as I completed the 2 tandems, and then we headed up to take John tandem. Conditions were inverted and nasty with strong punchy thermal that were hard to turn in unless banked over hard. James F was flying with us as was Mia and we headed out so John could fly, with Mia following out not long after us. James top-landed and drove the Suburban down for us! Thank for risking a toplanding.

The last flight of the day at 6 pm, was very smooth and soarable as Yasu flew and John was holding off a solo until some more training hill flights.

From June2013
Meanwhile the usual suspects were flying Bridal and Biff posted this photo of him & Daryl on Upper Launch.

From June2013
6/3/13
Woodside may be soarable

23°C

A mix of sun and cloud. High 23. UV index 7 or high.
250° @ 14
-3.0°C
1200 m
Woodside Report - we had a pretty good day at Woodside despite the higher wind forecast.

Yasu was back after a 3 week hiatus and ready to fly and we went up for the first flight at 1030 am, and it was already soarable with nice CUs developing over launch.

From June2013
Yasu was thermalling with Colleen who was flying tandem with one of the weekenders who got denied a flight. Also in the air, Tom Chromy back from a medically imposed hiatus.

From June2013
We had Mark Johnson arrive into the Ranch in his new Rotorway Helicopter and he was advised to land at the ProCircle, and he came up for a paraglider flight with us on one run.

From June2013
We had 3 flights before it got really strong around 3 pm, and we waited til 5 pm to go back up. Jeff was here after work and we managed to get 2 more flights, landing at Harvest Market (a first for both students).

In the middle of the last flights we overheard a report of a glider in the trees at Gloria, and it turned out it was one of the the German Tourists that have been flying here the past few weeks. They were okay but hanging in a 100 foot fir tree, on a different frequency, but unharmed. Search & Rescue was on scene with a heli rescue planned before dark, so everyone had to cut their flights short and they had been ding extremely well up to that point with runs from Ludwig to Elk without a turn.

6/2/13
Woodside may be flyable??? or raining?? or soarable??

19°C

Mainly cloudy. 60 percent chance of showers this afternoon with risk of thunderstorms. High 19. UV index 4 or moderate.
240° @ 15
-3.0°C
1000 m
Woodside Report - I took the students up early for their first flight at 10 am and the sky looked nice and already had some CUs over Sasquatch with NE flow aloft. They had good launches and landings on that flight.

We decided to not call off the tandems we had booked despite the forecast and we managed to pull off the first 2 at 11 am with Shafi & Vickie and we had an awesome time with Colleen taking Shafi to cloudbase (his first time ever above Woodside Launch inspite of being a HG pilot for 2 seasons). I launched the students and Ben, James & Alex were soon above launch soaring around nicely.

From
I launched with Vickie but had to abort as she lost her shoe. After tightening her laces we were off and soaring around with Normando, Derek and others climbing out nicely under the developing CUs. After 40 minutes, I decided we should head out to land as the tandems would be backing up and we had an interesting approach as the LZ was thermalling off and the winds were switching 180 degrees and strong! Every time I headed in on final we were above the trees again, I finally just gave up on landing in the circle and we headed towards the training hill and had a nice soft touchdown.

We loaded up the next group of tandems and the students too and arrived on launch to find the winds gusting up to 30 kph. Only Normando & Kevin were in the air, Brad H had top-landed just before it blew out and was packing up.

From June2013
We waited in the sun for 30 minutes and it was clear it was not going to happen right now, so we drove down and sent the tandems for lunch and sightseeing in Harrison. Down at the Ranch, it started to rain hard as the CU north of us OD'ed.

Ben, James & Alex took this opportunity to write the Novice Exams and new student John watched some videos.

In the middle of all this activity and a guy showed up and bought the Black Suburban, and I had to do some rewiring quickly to get him on the road as I had taken out the stereo and brake controller for the new Suburban.

After 2 hours of rain and wind, we decided to send the tandems home for another day and after they left, the sky opened up and the winds dropped and by 5 pm were were back on launch and it was strong but do-able as I clipped in with John and we flew off and started soaring up to 900 metres with ease. The students were getting ready with Colleen's help and we had a front row seat on the launch attempts, but eventually James, Ben & Alex got in the air for their last flight today. It was still soarable when we headed out, but I wanted to check the penetration, in case the students had to head to Harvest Market. The air had some windy layers but it was smooth sailing all the way to the Ranch as John piloted the tandem. We had a nice smooth landing in the circle, but I thought it would be fun for the students to attempt the ProCircle after James also landed with us.

Ben overshot the ProCircle as the Element II had too much glide! Alex made it into the ProCircle on his feet, as did Colleen who flew in after the students.

From June2013
We dodged the mid-day squalls, and managed 4 student flights and 3 tandems.



Pemberton Report - looks like pilots flew Pemberton today and had good results.

Click here for the Leonardo Tracks from Canada .

6/1/13
Woodside may be flyable??? or raining?? or soarable??

17°C

Cloudy. 70 percent chance of showers late this morning and this afternoon. High 17. UV index 4 or moderate.
240° @ 11
-3.0°C
1000 m
Woodside Report - after two weekends of cancelling tandems, yet flying students all day long the same weekends I ignored the 70% POP forecast and we decided to fly all the tandems.

I started flying Ben & James at 10 am and they did one flight into Bill Best's Field (another first for them after many Ranch Landings, and two Harvest Market runs).

From June2013
Then we went back up for another run to the Ranch with Tonya guiding them off launch as I had to drive another load up in the Suzuki, and just as they launched off and the tandems were getting ready the rain hit. The guys were already packed up in the Ranch when it hit but we had to delay the tandems, so we went to lunch at Kilby Farm.

As we ate lunch the sun was shining on the south side of the restaurant, and it was raining on the north side??

Lunch took about an hour and we were soon back in the trucks heading up with 4 tandems and 3 students. Tonya & Mariella had the best flight getting high above launch on the lightly loaded Magnum 41 (good thing it wasn't windy). The forecast 11 knots of SW wind never materialized all day as we had to do light wind launchs right til 6:30 pm.

From June2013
We had one last group of 4 tandems at 4 pm, and they were super-excited . . . in fact Colleen's passenger Jenny lost her boot over the edge of launch in her excited launch run! Boot missing forever I am afraid.

Derek's passenger Sunny had waited since the noon flight and when they finally got in the air, Sunny was whooping as he was very excited. They got to soar above launch for sometime before heading out.

From June2013
Ben & James got three flights today flying the Rush trainers, a big step up from the Elements, but they are soon going to be flying their new Rush IIIs when they arrive so it was good practice for them. New student Mike from Merritt got his first tandem and first solo today after a gruelling day on the training hill.

5/31/13
Woodside may be flyable???

18°C

Cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. High 18.
240° @ 11
-3.0°C
1000 m
Woodside Report - an odd day for Colleen & I, as we had no students and no tandems.

We did our normal chores and went up with Al for a flight around 1:30 pm, and encountered some problems on the road where they were trying to block access due to some rock hauling. It turned out they just wanted to escort us up, and in fact even gave pilots rides up later in their pilot truck!

Al launched first after hearing Denis tell us of +5 m/s lift under a black cloud and having to fight to get in to top-land dueing his earlier flight. The only lift Al got was out by the HG LZ, but he got a ride back up with Matt J.

Colleen launched after Al and did better getting about 45 minutes just before the sun came out and it really turned on.

I was test flying Stefan's Delta 1 Large, as it is now on the used page and I had a few goofy inflations due to the strong thermals out front and I launched into a big one which took me up & back for a few hunderd metres!

Martin N, Peter, Claudia, Roger (HG), Norm & Paddy were all thermalling around and trading "top of the stack" honours and we all flew for over an hour with some of us landing at the Ranch in strong S winds. Peter eventually top-landed when it calmed down and drove Matt's truck down.

The last flight around 5 pm was smooth and lifty with pilots getting to 1000 metres fast.



US PG Nationals Report - only 4 pilots in goal, with Nicole McLearn in 12th place today after a long upwind battle. Results for Task 7 here. Nicole shows in 7th place with an odd km number?

From Nicole: "No goal for me today. Landed to assist downed and suspected unresponsive pilot but turns out they were fine. Idiot pilot stayed in place for 30 minutes without moving or his gear. Glad they're ok but also highly irritated at their lack of good etiquette. Bundle your gear when you land out!"





FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day Reports click to select the month and year you wish to review.



FlyBC Airsports
  Box 79, Harrison Mills, BC  
Canada V0M 1L0
Mobile: 604-618-5467
Skype: flybcpg
E-Mail: FlyBC E-Mail