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FlyBC "Site of the Day March 2014 Archive Page"
Woodside looks strong!
"I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else." - Winston Churchill
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 Agassiz BC Sunny. High 15. UV index 4 or moderate. Derek drove up with Tom M, George, Martin N & myself in tow. Winds in the LZ were light NE, but all the way there I had strong NE winds through Agassiz. We had to leave the truck about 200 metres from launch due to ice but it should be gone soon. On launch we had tailwinds for most of the time with the odd up-cycles and it got better as the sun came around the launch area.
Martin was now almost to Ludwig Mtn. George & I had to be in Chilliwack for appointments and Derek didn't trust us to drive past a big rock that was at 1 km, so we all drove down together. After I came back from Chilliwack Martin & Tom were on the ground after 2+ hours of soaring. There were some nice CUs now situated over the Bridal Range.
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|  Agassiz BC Showers. High 10.  Blanchard Report - reports from TJ & Derek made it sound like Blanchard was the the place to fly yesterday. Derek, Peter S & Claudia S managed to get an hour of thermal flying here.
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| Agassiz BC Showers ending late this afternoon then cloudy. Risk of a thunderstorm this morning and early this afternoon. Becoming windy this afternoon. High 10.
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| Agassiz BC Cloudy. Rain beginning early this morning. Amount 10 to 15 mm. High 10. The next sunny day is Monday but the winds look NE so I may have to travel upcountry with students next week.
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| Agassiz BC Showers. High 11. UV index 3 or moderate. Colleen & I were in Chilliwack until 3 pm and after chores we almost went to fly but could not get motivated. Blanchard WA Report - TJ, Roger B and Marshburn all waited to launch. Apparently the others left too early as later TJ launched and soared around with zero wind on the water, pure thermals.
Pemberton Report - Below are a couple of photos of us up the Pemberton Ice Cap on Sunday. Took the wing and boards up and got a few flights in. Dale ridge soared for quite and while in the morning then the winds died down.
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| Agassiz BC A few showers ending this afternoon then mainly cloudy. Gusty winds. High 11. UV index 3 or moderate. Derek & Martin N were grouping at the Ranch but the were there before me so I said "just drive up without me" as I suspected Norm & Bev would arrive soon too. I got to the Ranch around 12:30 pm, and saw Derek in the air and Martin trying hard to get in the air as it turned cross from the north. Eventually they were both thermalling near the clouds on the North Cliffs.
Norm & Bev did arrive at that time and we all went up in the new FlyBC Nissan truck. We arrived to good cycles but no sun and spent too much time waiting for sun. As Martin N took off in the same cross wind from the north, it then turned east and down. We watched as Martin climbed up to cloudbase at 4000 feet (1200 metres) and pushed out over the river towards the only possible sun.
He complied and was heading to Chilliwack not loosing a bit of height, and he found a good climb at Little Mountain where he played for 15 minutes before landing on his street in front of his house (gated secure community).
I was doing chores when I saw Derek launch around 5 pm after the winds switched to inflow, and it was equally lifty with cloudsuck everywhere as it got sunnier. Mother Woodside delivers again!
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| Agassiz BC Cloudy. 60 percent chance of showers this morning. Showers beginning this morning. High 10.
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|  Agassiz BC Cloudy. Clearing near noon. High 16. UV index 3 or moderate. We arrived at Coyote Hill at 11 am to find nice 10 kph NE cycles and cloudy skies, and started flying with Andrew & Don M. It is nice to have only two students and two that are very capable launchers. Even in slight crosswinds, these guys were pulling off amazing launches and the light lift extended their flights off this 150 metre hill.
Norm & Bev arrived around lunch time but the conditions were too tame for them, the forecasts did say +20 kph soarable winds but they never materialized. We left to head home at 6 pm, a long day but very productive.
Ozone Order System Updates RUSH 4 L size - For those of you have not noticed, the Rush 4 L size is now available on the order form, joining the MS and ML sizes. ENZO 2 Update - The certification details are now on the Para-Test website and just to clarify, pilots already supplied with an Enzo 2 do not need new lines or risers. We certified the wing as used by the pilots in the Superfinal with no changes. Production of new orders are now continuing as before. MANTRA M6 Update - The final prototypes of the ML, L sizes are now with us (S size on its way), we just need to check them and go to certification, hopefully by the end of next week.
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| Agassiz BC Clearing early this morning. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High 12. UV index 3 or moderate. Don, Sass & Andrew accompanied me to the Heritage Park Hill and we saw no surface winds all the way there from the Ranch but when we arrived on top of the training hill we had perfectly straight cycles of 10-15 kph! A miracle! Don is on his first day with us (he had flown his brother's paramotor a few years ago), Sass is on day two as is Andrew.
At 12:30 we headed back to the Ranch to see the experts skying out, maybe 20 gliders in the sky over Woodside. Colleen & I had a tandem each to do with some sisters from Langley and we loaded up the trucks and drove up to a nearly vacant launch, just Norm getting ready. Bev was high over Woodside on her new Ozone Buzz Z4 and looking for sink, but there was none to be found! Early spring logistics were not so good as we arrived on launch without Colleen's Magnum 38, so I sent her off with Reena on the Magnum 41. Reena is not very big, maybe 45 kilos so they floated around easily but took a long time to arrive at the Ranch.
I was back on top to take Jodi tandem this time and check the air for the students and when we launched we went "straight to the moon", strong thermals near launch as I watched Norm & Alex R over at Sasquatch climbing out. Kevin A was in the air over Woodside, and alex R flew back from Sasquatch to fly with us. We had a nice 30 minute flight and I headed out to check the air and it was windy with slow progress but we arrived with +300 metres over the Ranch. Landing was interesting as the winds were shifting and the thermals were popping off and we made a run to the training hill as we got popped up on final. Nice landing though, if Jodi could have stood up! I suggested we wait for 30 minutes or more to launch the students, so Colleen brought them down to the Ranch for a briefing and then we headed back up around 6 pm to relaunch them. Colleen launched to check out the air and was climbing out everywhere but smoothly, so she headed out to land the students. I launched Andrew (nice reserve launch as he practiced on the training hill in Mission), and he was on course for the Ranch. Next up was Don and he did a nice forward launch and was thermalling his way out to the Ranch. Sass went last and had a nice buoyant flight with many figure 8's required to lose height over Duncan's. By now XC folks were arriving back at the Ranch after dropping out of the sky near Bear, Green Hill, Bridal etc. Cloudbase was forecasted and actually was around 1200 metres so it didn't help the XC flights today as there was also some big sinky areas around too. Today's tracklogs from Woodside.
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| Agassiz BC Cloudy. Periods of rain beginning late this morning. High 6. As we left the Ranch it started drizzling and all the way to Boston Bar was rainy, then as predicted it opened up to blue skies and light east winds in Ashcroft. We started out in the Park in Ashcroft and the guys did amazing forward launches. And these were not brand new Ozone wings but some used wings we have in used stock as they are both "big boys". These guys were making it look easy but after a dozen runs across the flats they were getting tired. So off to the local store for refreshments and a Landing Clinic Session.
Dave got ready first and after checking both helmet mounted radios, Dave did a perfect forward launch and was in the air with too much brakes. Despite my calm words to release the brakes he kept putting more brakes on! When I finally shrieked "hands up!!" he heard me and flew away. The glider behaved as a beginner glider should and ignored his brake commands. He then ignored my calm command to turn left along the ridge, instead flew directly over the landing area and just hovered there and was almost overshooting it when he said he finally heard me telling him to turn left. He then had a nice approach and landing despite ignoring all landing lessons we went over in the ground school. Did I mention Dave has a hearing problem? Next up was Sass, and he also had a perfect forward launch and flew the course perfectly despite being a bit tentative on the turns and had a nice soft landing too.
A very productive day for Dave & Sass who are back tomorrow and are in for the full course and also a couple of Paramotors. Torrey Report - We took the kids to southern Cali for their first Disneyland, San Diego Zoo trip. Had to bring the wing and stayed in La Jolla, 5 min from Torrey. Had 2 days to fly, Wednesday was super fun had a couple hours in 8 to 15 mph wsw & just did laps from the pier to bath tub and back a bunch of times. First time in sea breeze soaring pretty relaxing flying. Today was great fun, got there at noon and flew till 4. More laps for a couple hours, got a bit light so landed for lunch. Then it picked right up, big lift, easy laps all the way out. Was looking for sharks behind the surfers and saw a cool pod of dolphins, later a big sea lion. Cool soaring along side squads of Pelicans and seeing those crazy mansions. Saw a near mid air, solo glider cut off a tandem! Little tension and choice words in the air. Got away from the crowd and played in front of the golf course doing wing overs. Then some launch landings for kicks . . . fun times Gary Peninga
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| Agassiz BC A mix of sun and cloud. High 11. UV index 3 or moderate. And at 10 am the clouds were tilted over from the NE and obscuring launch but when it cleared there were some up-cycles in the new Telescope's view.
I had received a call that a new glider for student andrew had arrived in Abby, so I packed up in the alling snow and bailed on flying as I was frozen & tired of waiting for winds. As I drove through Agassiz the clouds thinned out and it looked like Woodside was in the sun too, so that made launching better for those that waited.
I lost radio contact as I headed west and it was NE in the valley but everyone got off and had some personal bests for altitude, airtime, max rate of climb and most cold flights too. By the time I got back to the Ranch, Andrew had closed the Raymont Challenge Triangle and had top-landed to drive his truck down. Peter got to Woodside low as the clouds blocked out the sun but he made it to Riverside. Today's tracklogs from BC. Dolomite's Report from our Dutch Sons - We've just spend a week on our annual skiing trip at the wonderful Italian Dolomite sites called Campitello and Canazai.
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| Bellingham WA Partly cloudy. High 48F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. I met up with Tim H at REI to buy my Discover Pass (required to park on top), and then on to the LZ to grab a ride up. Nice cycles on top but only the eagles were flying, so I setup and took off around 1:15 pm, logging 45 minutes but not getting much above launch. Tim launched after me and was down in the LZ after about 15 minutes, so as I was not getting high and my hands were already frozen I headed out too to give him a ride up to his truck. Delvin was just launched and just over launch as I flew out.
Launch cycles were stronger now (15-20 kph from the west), and thermic too. So I launched and headed north to find much stronger climbs. I was flying our Delta 2 demo and it felt great! Tight turns were required to stay in the wind blown thermals but I was not turning as tight as Alex on his D2 Small! Alex outclimbed me everytime using this technique! Greg was up with Alex and we were flying in the "fishbowl" not geting high enough to go north.
I followed Greg out to the LZ frozen hands again, but happy to spend a few hours in the air without worrying about students.
Woodside Report - I played host today. Adam & Kevin both launched and were intimidated with Woodside's weather. It was sunny, rain, sleet, snow, and the usual spring time flying conditions. They headed out to Riverside after about twenty minutes. I spent the next forty minutes trying to top land. I tried from the south, north, and east and finally had a sweet landing during a snow squall. There was a quarter inch of snow by the time I packed up and hiked over to the vehicle - Martin N The Ozone Alpina 2 from Ozone Paragliders on Vimeo.
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| Agassiz BC Rain ending early this afternoon then cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Becoming windy this afternoon. High 8. It was raining hard at the Ranch until 1 pm, when the sun came out and blue holes appeared and it looked pretty nice except for the gusty winds (as forecasted). Then as I drove to Agassiz to get insurance on the SUzuki, it started hailing hard but by the time I got back to the Ranch it was sunny again.
WoodRat OR Closure Report - Raven and I met with Tim Hunter this afternoon at the lower parking lot of his property. We had a nice conversation and he was smiling. We all agreed that it would be prudent to post signs and flagging tape closing off the parking lot. The signs say "Closed, No Landing". It will be impossible for anybody to park in the hunter landing zone without seeing the flagging tape, posts and signs. On a more positive note, Tim was in a good mood and said that he is talking with Kevin to see how we might be able to fly before the current date of May 1st. Tim is concerned for his calves. More importantly he is also wanting his property to be used by his rules. We have not been following Tim's rules very closely and definitely have not been enforcing them. We are all guilty, me as well (this weekend), and need to be more conscientious about following and enforcing the rules. Tim expects us to be the police force. He DOES NOT want to have to tell people where to park, not to loiter, no dogs or any of his other requests. Tim lets us use the property, he wants us to police it. I also pulled the memberships forms from the Ruch store until further notice. I arrived at the same time as Kelley at the store. She had the same idea. In the hopes of spreading the message to all pilots planning on visiting in the next month, will you please tell other pilots or post to other free flying clubs that the Hunter Landing Zone is temporarily closed. When anybody is caught landing on Hunter's property you will be reported to the sheriff's department as trespassing. Also you may be subject to expulsion from the club and any further flying privileges as determined by the club. We will post when it is safe to land at the Hunter's property again and hope to have some thing negotiated before the current May 1st deadline. Tim Hunter's Landing Zone is closed until May 1st or further notice. Warm Regards, Forrest Brault President RVHPA 541 951 6606 This reminds me of why Colleen & I bought Eagle Ranch in 2000, hoof & mouth disease in the UK forced closure of all dairy farms in Canada including Duncan's at the foot of Woodside.
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|  Agassiz BC Cloudy with 30 percent chance of showers. Rain beginning late this afternoon. High 9. Two low saves. First at 1082 ft and the second at 882 ft. Got high and at one point got "whited out" at 3600 ft by the north towers. Two hours later I was frozen and had another issue to deal with so it was time to land. It was overcast with the odd bit of sun trying to poke through. Any wind was out of the west but very light. For a non flying day it turned out surprisingly good - Martin N
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| Agassiz BC Sunny with occasional clouds. High 9. Today was a funky day. I left the Ranch around 10 am (where there is new snow on Woodside), and it was windy all the way to Sumas Crossing. Trees were bent over and debris was flying across the roads.
On News1130 they were reporting ferry delays on all major routes in BC as the winds peaked at 45 knots. LOL! So I kept going south arriving at the LZ at 1 pm as planned to find a group assembling already at the LZ. Doug M had bailed on me as he had a friend coming in at 3 pm at the airport. So I loaded up the Suburban with Roger, Kirk, Tim and a few freeloaders. When we got to launch it was very light and the bay was calm. WTF! A Hangie had launched and had a few passes but was soon on the ground. Tim launched and the same flight ensued, even though the eagles were soaring with ease.
My apologies to those on launch I clobbered with the Atlas as I pooched a few inflations forgetting that the NW air is more dense than Mexico and the glider came up way too fast despite what looked like easy conditions. As & C's worked for the third try and I was off and hunting for thermals. By now Roy on his Icepeak 6 was at 3900 feet, the highest of the day but not at 'base yet. Roger B had headed NW and was low over there, so I stayed in the fish bowl and flew around for an hour before attempting a few top-landing passes but it is wildly thermic over the parking areas now with all the pavement. I bailed and eventually flew out to the LZ.
I got to thermal with TJ (an old student from many years ago) & Roy & Tim (who was doing well getting above launch for a change).
Gin Atlas Report: The Atlas has only four A lines, but has split A risers for launching and doing "big ears". There is a nylon ring instead of a pulley for the brake lines, so no squeaking. The wing planform is a bit square at the tips, like the Rebel. This glider performed well climbing as well as the advanced gliders out today and much smoother in the turbulence. Glide out to the LZ was too good as I saw two other gliders (both EN-Bs) landing before me that headed out after me. This glider will be a good ship for pilots wanting to step down from an EN-C, but not willing to sacrifice some performance. It still requires some good pitch management in thermals but if it overshoots it stays inflated. More reports to come as we have more pilots testing it out.
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| Agassiz BC Rain. High 12C. OZONE WELCOMES PAL TAKATS TO THE TEAM We are pleased to announce that our friend, Pal Takats, has joined the Ozone Team.  Pal is young, but is already a three-time World Champion in Acro and one of the most talented pilots in the history of paragliding with a long and impressive career in the sport. We look forward to flying with him for many years to come! In the very near future we will be announcing a Trickster 2, which is the “easiest” competition acro wing that we have developed so far. Pal will be flying the Trickster 2 along with a full complement of Ozone wings, from the Fazer 2 to the Enzo 2 and everything in between. His PPG flying skills are also on the rise, and we are confident that he has a very bright future in all branches of our sport.
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| Agassiz BC Cloudy. Rain beginning early this afternoon. Amount 5 mm. High 9. The Colors Don't Fade from Alex Colby on Vimeo.
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| Agassiz BC Showers possible this morning. Isolated thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. High 51F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Woodside would have been soarable but it was gusty on the ground! Blanchard Report - Amazing Blanchard day, with something for everyone . . . hangs, paras . . . capped off by Jesse Williams flying to Bellingham about 5:30. Pilots flew early, then a squall blew threw with hail and mostly hang pilots getting down just before it hit, and maybe a couple after. Jim Wagener raced ahead of it to land his para at Alger. Then it cleared up with nice air for a couple of hours . . . and Jesse's flight last. Jan and I both had nice flights, Jan's first of the season. Spring has sprung at Blanchard - Murdoch Hughes
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| Agassiz BC Mainly cloudy. High 13. Miquel waited all day trying to decide whether to hike and fly and eventually got a ride with Lee. But as I was headed out it looked sunnier and by 3 pm Klaus, Lee, George, Gary P and a few others were soaring Woodside nicely. Gary P top-landed in the end after some very low saves.
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| Agassiz BC A mix of sun and cloud. High 14. UV index 3 or moderate. Denis & I took Kerry & Sabrina tandem at noon and it was almost soarable. We got a few turns but never got above launch but we had super smooth landing conditions with 10-15 kph of east winds for tip-toe landings! We went back up as we saw folks starting to get above launch. We arrived to see Kevin on his new Ozone Alpina 2 climbing out with Norm & Alex on their Delta2's.
Then we saw Kevin, Norm and Alex all plummet from a few hundred metres above launch to parked in some weird SE winds? Then conditions seemed to improve on launch as I setup and we had a few inflations but Sabrina could not get any traction so I aborted the takeoff. We had a good inflation and strong run and we were in the air but everything went soft and I had to stop down the slope. It had to be a SE blast from behind? We finally got off as it started to blow inflow and we had a snice extended sled ride with little lift along the way despite it being sunny. Again super-landing conditions as we dropped in on our tippy-toes with style amongst all the gliders laid out in the big circle. Andrei & Claudia were on launch and as we drove back to get the Suburban, they were above launch for a bit.
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| Agassiz BC Cloudy with 30 percent chance of showers early this morning then a mix of sun and cloud. High 13. UV index 4 or moderate. He has been kite-boarding for 15 years and did very well including no wind forward launching off our training hill. He did 2+ hours of kiting in 0 to 20 kph east winds and was amazing using the FrankenBuzz M. Pilots started arriving around noon and while he looked ready to fly including ground school prep work, he felt he needed a tandem flight so we loaded up the Magnum 41 and headed up with Guy, Derek P, Bev, Norm, and we were soon on top waiting for the winds to materialize (I think the IBIS is not adjusted to Daylight Savings Time yet). We had a couple of false starts and then we were off and climbing despite Andrew's 100 kg weight, good climbs in the +2.5 m/s range and we were about 100 metres over launch when I handed Andrew the brakes to let him fly. He declined until we got over the Maple Tree field.
After packing up and going over the flight, we watched Derek P & Kevin A climbout fast under the developing CU. I heard Kevin heading east to Agassiz, and he ended up in Hope flying his Alpina 2. Bev & Norm flew and Bev ended up in Harvest Market LZ on her new Ozone Buzz Z4 where she was able to hitch hike back with ease. Norm & Guy were "duking it out" on matching Black/Green Delta 2s and got to 1350 metres staying over Woodside.
We had an interesting landing approach with SW winds in the LZ trying from many different angles as the thermals kept popping us up, but we had a smooth south facing landing in the circle. Norm came in behind us and Guy had landed in the ProCircle earlier. Many happy faces, as the thermals were big, strong and smooth all at the same time. Mexico prepared me for the thermals here as the last flights in Mexico were pretty rugged.
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| Agassiz BC Mainly cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. High 11. It was drizzling in Chilliwack until 1 pm, then it looked a bit gusty as surface winds were coming through the trees at the Ranch. I bought a new telescope and it should be setup later Tuesday for checking the winds. When I left the Ranch for Vancouver, it was looking nice in the clouds definitely soarable if one could launch!
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| Agassiz BC Rain. High 7. The FlyBC designed self-supporting simulator requires no guy wires and has a pivoting balance bar that simulates flight and is super-stable even with a 280 lb pilot on-board.
We signed up at least 5 new students and sold a Paramotor & Ozone speedster at the Booth, a first for the Outdoor Show! That should pay for the rental and expenses. Woodside Report - Gary P & Normando almost managed to soar on the first flight but then it got much lighter as the day went on.
Bev's Woodside Report - I flew my maiden flight today on the Buzz Z4 and you are right I love it! Much nicer, feels real solid and when there is lift it bites into it smoothly. The brake system is so smooth to use. I had to hike through the snow to launch and thoughts of hiking Elk is on the back burner for now. The conditions on launch were stronger than I have been used to in a long while, and the chicken in me wanted to not go but the hike back down was less appealing therefore I sucked it up and flew, and glad I did! All together it was Norm flying the M4 (doesn't want to get his new Delta 2 damp), Gary, myself, and Derek. Anyway that was a great day after all this snow and rain and did I say I love the Buzz Z4 ? And super service from FlyBC as always! - Bev L Vancouver Outdoor Show 2014 Video Favourites - as voted by the booth visitors! The Ozone Fazer: Precision Piloting from Ozone Paragliders on Vimeo. The Ozone ZERO - Mini-wing from Ozone Paragliders on Vimeo. The Ozone FIREFLY from Ozone Paragliders on Vimeo.
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| Agassiz BC Rain. High 7.
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| Agassiz BC Rain. High 7. The snow is almost gone at the Ranch with the warm rains but there is lots of deadfall due to the high winds, so I know what I am doing next week. There are some road blockages up Woodside Road due to logging, but past President Al (The Hammer) read them the riot act about blocking access to our lease. Very excited to be at the Vancouver Outdoor Show this weekend, our booth is #518 and if you need a free pass they will be at the Show Entrance (ask for FlyBC).
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| Agassiz BC Rain ending late this afternoon then cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Amount 15 mm. High 10. Despite the wind forecast it didn't look too bad in the clouds. The telescope was stolen by some kids a few weeks ago, so I will have to get another one soon. Ozone Mantra M6 from Ozone Paragliders on Vimeo.
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| Guadalajara MX Sunny. High 38C. Winds SW at 15 to 30 kmh. First I dropped off the Cherokee at Escalera to fix the motor mount (too much torque lifted the motor and the fans hit the radiator), that took three hours so I took a bus into Jocotepec to pay Casa de Marina for the last guests, then walked into town to say goodbye to Herman at Frida's Restaurant and have breakfast. Then back on a bus to get the Jeep - 500 pesos (about $40 CDN) labour included and no more noise! We wanted to do it sooner but the parts were backordered. I drove the Jeep to Ajijic to get it detailed as it got really dirty after 2 weeks of flying everyday. I also had the seats shampooed cause they were dirty before we took the truck. They needed an hour & a half so I walked into the real estate office to drop the keys off. Today is Shrove Tuesday and the Mexicans celebrate it with a Mardi Gras Parade, which was quite a spectacle.
Then back to Camilo's parents house to drop off the Jeep and get a cab to GDL airport. The Jeep survived a few weeks of FlyBC abuse and 2 traffic cop stops and actually looked better when I dropped it off! The flights were on time, the bags made it and Customs in USA & Canada were fast and efficient. Sure beats a 4-6 day drive like late February. The weather is another thing however. see you all soon at Woodside.
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| Guadalajara MX Sunny. High 30C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 kmh. We got a late start and went over San Marcos to check the winds and it looked South on the dry lakebeds so up to launch there. Oops, it was blowing over the back strongly. We waited a bit but it didn't look safe so we headed to Tapalpa as planned after we stopped for breakfast. We were driving south on the Libramento around 11 am, when my internal driving computer figured out we were not going to get to fly Tapalpa and still make it back to Guadalajara to meet Ruben to deliver his new Delta 2. We were still quite near San Marcos, so back we went to San Marcos Launch and behold it was now blowing up on launch. Lars setup for his last flight here in Mexico as he flies out tomorrow back to snowy Canada. He had an awesome launch and was ridge soaring in smooth lift.
Perfect approach and on final he did a nice sideslip into the grass area . . . like a pro! He was packed up and waiting in the shade as I drove in from the airstrip as the gate was locked. As I drove into the airfield, there was a big duststorm coming through as the south winds got stronger. Good timing for our flight.
We delivered the Delta2 and then headed further north to look at a Jeep Wagoneer that I am interested in. The address was correct as input into the GPS but we were in an area near the railway yards and could not find the house. After asking a few locals who said it was close, I re-input the address and the iPhone said we were 16 minutes away. So we blindly followed the iPhone through rush hour traffic and when we got to the address it was clearly wrong. Fortunately, when I called Camilo to phone the seller he was able to tell me how to navigate the bends in the road where we were earlier and we found the Wagoneer. It weas a bit rougher that represented on the ad but an interesting choice for next years shuttle. We found the Jeep Cherokee a bit small even with only 4 pilots and Camilo decided he doesn't want to sell it quite yet. Maybe we will find a new shuttle next winter before the tours start in December 2014.
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| Guadalajara MX Sunny. High 30C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 kmh.
We started getting good cycles and Lars took off first and had a really nice flight down to the Kordich LZ. Ben followed Lars out as I drove dwn. When we arrived back on launch, Camilo was ridge soaring out front and it looked smooth.
Later, Lars & I drove to San Marcos but it had gone south again and did not look good for a evening flight, so we BS-ed with Pedro as I am leaving in a few days. Meanwhile back at the Ranch. Now you know why I spend the winter in Mexico, not much flying to be had in BC.
Someone had fun with Flybc.org! Here in Mexico on our Tour! El Chante flight , lake Chapala from Philippe Broers on Vimeo.
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| Guadalajara MX Sunny. High 30C. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 kmh. We arrived on the big launch around 11 am and Ben went first and had some nice thermalling getting high above launch with ease on his beautiful blue Ozone Rush III. Lars was off right after Ben and he found it a bit bumpy as he wasn't connecting with the cores as well as Ben so I had him fly straight out rather than getting him rattled. Ben was already heading out by this time, but he could have top-landed as he had lots of altitude before he headed out.
I watched a German Pilot on an Ozone EnZo I take off and climb out fast!
When the guys arrived back on Launch, we setup Camilo on the Delta 2 ML and he took off. The house thermal was working and strong as he followed another pilot above launch. Ben was ready and clipped in. Lars was going to sit one out and offered to drive, so I stole Lars' Buzz Z4 L and got ready. Ben had a few aborts so I launched before him and started climbing right off Launch. Not big climbs but above launch. The good thermals were out front of the big hump. I got in the house thermal and it was good! Really strong and rough! Yikes, maybe too strong for Ben?? I saw him try to get the wing overhead a few times as I climbed out and I was getting some pretty big surges on the Buzz Z4. When I had a chance I radioed for Ben to "stand down" as it was pretty wild over the gulleys. Also there were thin high dust devils popping up on the plateau in many places, so it was getting pretty lifty at 2200 metres. That does not bode well for pilots trying to get to goal at La Frontera. Camilo and 2 other pilots were now climbing and getting close to the ridge behind Tepec, and I was in a climb below them when my Brauniger batteries started to fizzle out in the IQSonic. I said to myself, "you can thermal without a vario". After bumbling thru some sink, I started the Turkay Vario app on my Samsung S3 and got back in the game. Camilo was now heading north as we had an appointment to do a tandem at San Marcos at 3:30 pm. He said he was going to the "Crucero LZ" which is near the highway up and I was within easy glide too. I orbit-ed around the LZ trying to figure out the winds as I had south aloft, but the dust where the workers were moving machinery was blowing north? I spent 10 minutes setting up the approach and finally saw the flags and it was indeed south . . . strong south. strong enough that I parked myself near the entrance to the field and hovered in straight down. I lost sight of Camilo but he radioed back that he was at the Amacueca Crucero a bit north. I was packed up and just got to the road as Ben & Lars drove up. On to San Marcos where we saw dust storms early on. Ben & Lars got a ride up with Pedro K in the Bunker II as we had two ladies to take tandem and Laura also needed a ride up. We got up to launch and it was strong south on the lakebed again with a dust storm. We waited an hour before Camilo got ready and took off with his tandem in a very dramatic fashion. He was able to penetrate okay, so others started to try to launch and it was hard to get a solid wing with all the cross winds. Kind of like Bridal on a south day. It was getting later and Lars was not into this kind of flying. Smart boy! I sent the truck down with David from Oregon as he was test driving it. That left me & Ben on launch and Ben got off after many tries and was going up & backwards out front. No problem as we have been setting up his speed system and he is well loaded. Only one problem as the sun was setting out front. I tried to launch a few times and it was light down or strong south and I got a solid wing and was kiting on the ramp and the wing fell down as the cycle deteriorated to tail. Good thing I didn't go as I radioed Ben to see how he was doing and he said "can't get DOWN". I could not make out which wing he was as there were 3 other solo gliders and a tandem out front and none were descending. I suggested "big ears" & speed bar and Ben was soon moving forward and down and he landed softly partway to Chela's store.
The tandem landed okay as well (with el Doc as the pilot), but no reports on the other "suckers" in the air. I caught a ride down in el Doc's Jeep and met the guys at the top of san Marcos and again we missed dinner as it was after 8:30 pm, so it was street tacos in Joco Centro, but they were very good! A very good day of flying despite the south winds. ps: we decided not to fly last night as the dust storms came across the lake from the south. as we drove down we missed some mayhem in the Kordich LZ as Lalo (a local Mexicano Pilot on an APCO Santana) got blown back into the trees. Two hours of machete time got it out and here are the remains.
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