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FlyBC "Site of the Day October 2011 Archive Page"
Woodside is the best training site in Canada
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do . . . Sail away from the safe harbor. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain
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Woodside Report - I arrived at the Ranch after noon Monday and cloudbase was still too low to launch safely. | John M was waiting for more pilots when I arrived and eventuallly drove up to pick mushrooms and assess conditions from launch. It did clear before he left for the top, but there were gusts blowing pretty hard at the bottom. I did some chores and John came back down and said it was gusty at launch also, and he left for town. Later I got a text from Tom Chromy saying he was launching at 4:30 pm, followed by one around 6:00 pm that he had landed and got 1:30 of airtime. Southern California Excellent Adventures - Well, the only puddles here are from draining the cooler because the ice keeps melting! We arrived in L .A. to sunny skies and 79degrees F. Picked up the "asteroid van" (photos to follow). And head to San Bernadino to locate the Andy Jackson Flightpark at the Marshall lz. Hooked up with the locals and headed up to the north blowing over the back and not launchable but got the grand tour of the mountain! What a beautiful site with views all over the San Bernadino valley. Next morning headed to Elsinore because it loooked better than the Marshall forecast . Arrived to fairly strong conditions blowing in at 15- 25 and the launch is basically a cliff, the technique here is, hoist it up turn and your feet leave the ground. Laura launched first quite nervous but had a perfect inflation and launch with the locals commenting on how the Canucks came to show up the locals. My turn next and with the back of my boots at the edge of the cliff it was blowing up at over 20 and the local "everyday Mike" saying "pull hard and fly"! Ok, so here goes (a bit on the strong side for my comfort zone). Yarded it up and uneventfully lifted off. Long story short I flew for about 2hr 15 mins and had many low saves and topped out higher than other gliders in variable wind/ thermic conditions. Max climb about 3.9 ms and about the same sink. Laura got skunked and had a second flight to end the day . The next morning we stayed at Marshall and took the 12 pm shuttle up the launch. It was in the transition stage when we arrived blowing slightly down, but within a few minutes it started to cycle up. I launched first and Laura about 20 or so minutes later. I was already over launch about 350 metres and waited for her to climb out. And climb out she did! She soon joined me and another local and flew all over the mountain with some strong climbs in one thermal that never stopped pumping all day. I mangaged to fly to Crestline ridge at almost 1200 metres but hit some really good sink close to the ridge as expected . Oh well, top up on the way back, this continued until the 3pm shuttle came and left as it was blowing down at launch but we stayed in the air for about 3 hrs 30 mins. Laura did really well outflying a local pg and hang glider. She still has a smile on her face. The flight park LZ had an impromptu dinner by donation but we opted to bathe in our flights and went out to dinner. (two flights for me and almost 6 hrs of airtime!). Off for the noon shuttle again today at Marshall as it looks better than yesterday. Enjoy the " puddles" - Thomm & Laura
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Woodside Monsoon Report - heavy rain and puddles everywhere. |
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Woodside Report - great kiting conditions at the Ranch after 10 am Saturday for Terry (our latest student) to practice forward and reverse launches. He has had two tandems a few weeks ago and was now ready to fly! | We headed up to launch with Colleen, Vickie, Terry, Martin H and we arrived to perfect launch cycles. Several people had flown sledders into the Ranch prior to us arriving at launch. Colleen flew off with Martin H and she sunk to the left and Martin climbed to the right. Air was sinky in places but not rough, so after Colleen landed we launched Terry for his first solo (perfect inflation and run) and he was on his way to the Ranch. Martin was now heading out too after climbing with some eagles. Vickie followed and soon launch was full as Derek brought up a load of hopeful pilots. Many cycles of pilots trying to stay up ensued as everyone made the best use of the fall air. By the end of the day Terry logged 3 solos, and there were smiles all around.
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Woodside Rain Report - rain started at noon and got heavy after that. |
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Woodside Report - I arrived at the Ranch at 1 pm to see launch just clearing. A group went up in Derek's truck while I readied Howard's APCO Chairbag harness. | Denis launched as everyone arrived and was soaring under the clouds before top-landing #1. One by one everyone else launched and were climbing nicely with the eagles. We also took Shayne's Force glider out of the shed and checked the porosity and it came back with 140 seconds so about 50% used up, not bad. Howard took the Force up for a flight and after serious time was spent waiting for the winds to come in, he took off and had a nice soaring flight and took it home with him. Another satisfied customer. When Howard was launching, all the pilots who launched an hour earlier were still up and soaring. When I got down to the Ranch, pilots were starting to land around 430 pm, cold and happy they made it out to fly with the eagles today. Click here for more pictures from today's Woodside flights as well as other activities.
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Woodside Report - it was wet most of the day except a few minutes around noon but no flying. |
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Woodside Report - Joe & I headed up the mountain at 11 am, hoping to get Joe at least 5 flights today as he nears the 35th flight and graduation. When we got to launch it was clear with developing CU but the winds were coming over the back pretty strong at times, followed by strong inflow cycles. The clouds weren't swirling so the air was probably okay but I didn't want to take chances without an experienced wind tech to fly first, so we drove down for lunch. | By noon a bunch of folks started arriving, and we headed back up the hill with Brock and Denis in tow. Brock almost launched first and had a duff into the weeds to the left of launch while Denis flew off and made it look smooth and easy, so Joe followed. Joe managed a nice reverse launch in light cycles and was soaring out front for his first thermalling flight. as he flew out I drove down and another truckload of pilots arrived in Ihor's truck. One by one pilots were hopping into the air and all were staying up. alan D had hiked up and started flying around 1:30 pm and was still in the air at 5 pm before landing at the Ranch with Derek. By the same time Joe had logged his 5 flights and his last flights were monitored thermalling flights but I wasn't needing to give hime any guidance, as he was doing well on the Swift demo. Click here for more pictures from today's Woodside flights as well as other activities.
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Woodside Report - I was driving thru Mission and a monsoon at 1 pm, then past Deroche and sun, then past Lake Erroch and a hail storm hit me. Weird weather all the way out to the Ranch. | I was doing chores inside when my phone rang and an un-named pilot was waiting outside the barn, and had been on launch wondering where everyone was? We drove up around 4 pm, and the wind was howling thru the trees as a huge cell was unloading over Chilliwack. We waited in the truck for the cell to blow thru and I laided out and launched around 4:30 pm and was climbing steadily to about 900 meters. A few eagles were out doing flight training too, they must have some verbal communication while they do their exercises with the immature eagles. I was waiting for the un-named pilot to launch and after 20 minutes their wing was moved to the lee of the north trees and it looked like they were packing up. I attempted one pass over launch to top-land from the South Knoll and it was "ratty" in the gulley so I bailed. Back to the north ridge to soar, I was getting pretty cold so I headed out a bit and my previous 10-11 kph forward speed went down to zero and I was sinking fast? Then my glider had a frontal with no forward surge that would not fix itself, so I pumped the brakes and it started flying again. One or two more frontals ensued as I went thru some shear layers. I was "eyeing-up" landing options and there was the new clearcut and no way to get to Riverside with my sink. I went on bar toward the bailout swamp and hopefully some lifting air and went back to 10 kph. As I got closer to the highway things levelled out and I was sure I would make the HG LZ or the Ranch and as I crossed the ridge, the wind swing from SW to strong East, pushing me along the highway as I approached the Ranch. I came over the Goal Post trees and lined up for the main circle going up all the way, and the windsocks were pinned straight out from the NE and smooth air was finally felt so I lined up for the ProCircle and just on final I was getting blown back a bit and landed sideways right at the circle edge. The un-named pilot must have driven down as he was still not in the air. Tom Chromy arrived after I packed up, and was itching for a flight. I offered a ride up but told him of my rough air. As we were driving up we saw the un-named pilot had launched and was soaring. we continued on as we couldn't reach him on radio. As we got to launch my phone rang and it was the un-named pilot sitting at the Ranch, and he had a hell ride at around 450 meters. Tom C wanted a flight bad so I started driving down in the other guys truck in case Tom couldn't launch. As I got to the Ranch, Tom C was in the air and soaring nicely. Too bad about the early sunset these days, forcing him to fly out early. Tom C had no bad air and good penetration with a shear layer at 125 meters as the wind changed directions but he had a good, short flight.
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Woodside Report - we were in Chelan WA for the Women's Fly In and had to sleep in due to lack of sleep and too much fun, but it was not as sunny as forecasted, so we left town at noon after breakfast to avoid driving thru deer country in the dark. Good thing as we saw some deer remains left from previous crashes last night. | As we crossed thru the border we called Thomm and he was still gloating from 3 hours of soaring Woodside with Norm, Denis, Rob S and a few others. I guess we should have left Chelan earlier? Facebook reports from Chelan fliers say that there were about 20 pilots leftover and the longest flights were 30 minutes, so leaving when we did was a good call.
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Click on the picture for more pictures from Chelan today.Chelan Report - after looking at the Chelan forecast at 6 am, we bailed on leaving. By 8 am, we changed our minds and were leaving for Chelan WA and the Women's Fly In driving through torrential rains all the way to Leavenworth WA where the skies blued up. On the drive past the Butte we could see no gliders flying and it was windy from the SW near Cashmere. We continued on to the motel at the foot of the Butte. We changed into our Roadkill Chicken costumes and drove up to the Butte where some folks were just laying out. Not as big a turnout as previous years but the rain, economy and confusion over the actual dates may have contributed to the reduced numbers. Apparently it was quite windy early on so few flew til now. We were setting up Colleen's gear on the Green Monster Launch and she flew off with Alex R and they soared for sometime. I raced down to get Colleen to get ready for the party and she talked me into a flight too as it was only 4 pm. Alex hitched a ride up with us as Nicole got a ride earlier. It was light at the Green Monster but in the air it was windy from the SW as we soared with threatening clouds all around us. I saw a glider heading out low and thinking they were hitting sinky air I too headed east, to find the ridges marginally soarable. I guess we went out too soon? After we landed we saw several gliders coming out with "Big Ears" suggesting some cloudsuck had setup. We got back to the motel to meet George & Martina as they were "costumed-up" already as Roadkill Cow & Roadkill Froggy - as our theme was Roadkill this year. We headed to the Party at the airport lounge and "arrived to get this party started" as it too was poorly attended. Even Martin & Mia bailed even though they flew today, I guess the scotch was calling from Mansfield? Forecast looks good for Sunday and the skies are already blue. Stay Tuned.
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Woodside Report - wet all day so we headed to the Women's Fly In Oct 22-23, so we will be away all weekend from the Ranch. |
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Woodside Report - Martina & I were getting Halloween Costumes ready for Chelan WA when Derek showed up wanting to go flying cause the sun came out. | Sumas was reporting gust to 14 mph, and the windsocks on launch lamost looked soarable, so I finished my Chicken Costume and grabbed the Factor 23. Martina didn't bring a wing so she offered to drive for us. Derek went first and was just maintaining when I tried to launch from the back of launch, bad idea as it was stronger when the wing came up and I got dragged and had to kill the wing. After sorting it out I got into the air and we were soaring the main ridge when I went further north to some sunny spots and started sinking fast. It took me several passes to regain lost ground as Derek went thru 900 meters. As I climbed some whispy clouds formed out front and I flew to them and started climbing unaware that clouds had formed on the mountain where we were last soaring, and we could then soar the cloudfaces and get nice and high. If we had stayed on the ridge face we would have been in the same clouds. Nice shadows on the clouds as we soared. Forward penetration at trim speed was 5-8 kph at 900 meters. After 20 minutes of soaring we headed out, not sure of what speed the winds would pick up to, and we could maintain 18-20 kph ground speeds on bar. Nice and smooth and the varios were chirping all the way out past the Ranch as we arrived there at 900 meters, watching a plane land on PegLeg Island. It was windy from the SW all the way to treetop height and the winds quartered to E on final at 25-30 kph and smooth. No shear layers as Derek and I landed at the same time, he at the ProCircle and me in the main circle. Total flight time - 45 minutes. Click here for more pictures from today's Woodside flights as well as other activities.
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Cache Creek Report - the weather today was a truly mixed bag. I checked the Kamloops forecast and they said east Winds at up to 20 kph. NOAA said 240@15 knots at 6000 feet (Cornwall). | We took a chance as it was east at the Ashcroft Manor and drove up to Cornwall. Just a skiff of snow at the top in the shady spots and no wind until we hit the ranger station and it was strong from the SW. Too strong to safely kite but we continued to launch, where it was blowing down. We raced back down to Coyote Ridge behind the Manor. Joe started flying by 1130 am with light east cycles and his first reverse launches in 20 flights because it has been so lame at Woodside and Pemby all he know is forward launches. Joe knew the technique but has only practised in the LZ. Joe did three quick flights off Coyote Ridge with perfect light wind reverses landing behind the Manor. We headed to Savona as the Kamloops reports were 17 kph East winds so perfect for the Dump Ridge. We arrived to see some Niviuk wings being kited at the bottom as Jim O arrived earlier with some students. When I asked why they weren't at the top, Jim mentioned gusty, rotory winds on top. Perfect! So I raced up to the top with Joe to find the winds perfect for our purposes of high wind kiting. Maybe it was the Swift or maybe it was Joe's patient skills but he brought the wing up perfectly every time in the strongish east winds and stepped off the hill perfectly several times, but couldn't quite soar as he was afraid to slow the Swift down enough to get to min sink. A great day regardless with 6 flights so far. I decided to show Joe the Upper Launch and we headed up with little hope of flying with all the east winds, but we arrived to perfect SW cycles so Joe setup and then we had to wait as it blew across from the east. Gradually the winds abated and Joe got a launchable cycle and he had a perfect forward launch and was heading east bubbling up along the treelined ridge towards the Crash Pad LZ. We had the valley LZ as a bailout and then the Toilet Bowl LZ as a secondary bailout but Joe did a great job of finding lift and had good speed on the Swift and when I left he was hovering over the Crash Pad where the wind was light east. Wow! 7 flights off 3 different sites today. Joe now has the required 5 sites and nearly 30 flights. I am sure he will be finished his Novice Course next week when the weather improves. Click here for more pictures from today's Interior flights as well as other activities.
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Pemby Report - as Corinne said it has been really stable up here even from the Upper Launch. | Rob M & Joe N were out today as well as several local pilots. Despite strong north winds in the Howe Sound on the way up, it was launchable early at Upper & Lower Launches, we just couldn't see the ground due to fog. Click here for more pictures from today's Pemby flights as well as other activities. We managed to get 3 flights before 3 pm when we left for the Interior as rain is headed towards the Coast.
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Woodside Report - I arrived at the Ranch at 1:15 pm, and no students and no tandems . . . what will I do? | I started by fixing the fuel pump on the garden tractor and mowing the parking lot and around the barn. Klaus called and wanted to see how it was. Then Gary P called and they were all headed this way so I put my gear together. I had a wing here, a harness there, a reserve in another room, vario and gloves in a tool box in one truck - it took me 30 minutes to pull it all together. In the end I have a new Nova Factor 23 (20 hours), a semi-new Vamp Harness, new MayDay 16 reserve all in the bag waiting to fly. Klaus & Monica arrived but no Gary so we headed up to launch to find it leeside, but the odd cycle coming up. I laid out at 3:00 pm and waited 5 minutes for a cycle as Derek arrived on launch with Gary P. I launched and headed north to the spot where two eagles were soaring but they headed further north and to a spot with no lift so back to launch where I picked up a sweet climb that took me above launch and I met up with another eagle who showed me the way above the inversion layer. Click here for more pictures from today's Woodside flight as well as other activities. Gary and Derek were quickly in the air and "duking it out" with me for "top-of-the-stack" honours. We swapped positions many times during the flight, with Derek heading to the South Knoll and another eagle but that was a tactical error - never leave lift! Derek came back to the house thermals in front of launch and gradually made his way back up and we were gradually screwing our way into the ground as the day deteriorated just as Klaus and Monica launched. Klaus worked hard and got just above launch later in the flight but Monica left at lower launch height worried about making the Ranch. In the end I logged 45 minutes landing at the ProCircle in no wind. We are heading to Pemberton tomorrow for 2 days, but I called Corinne for a report and she said it has been stable for 3 days so we may no get any soaring but we should bag some flights for Joe and others.
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Click on the picture for more pictures from Woodside today, as well as other October activities.Woodside's Last Groupon Groundhog Day Report - it was a sad day for us as the last of 480 Groupon Tandems was completed with 11 finalized today. We actually completed many more full priced tandems so we think the official number is well over 550 tandems this year by the Awesome Tandem Team. Today was actually pretty easy as we had inflow winds all day and it got rather strong around 3 pm as many could not penetrate into the Ranch. Lots of pilots out today as the weekend days are getting shorter. Some bottlenecks at launch as pilots were sorting their gear in front rather than clipping in at the back and then laying out after sorting everything. They were reminded of the launch etiquette. Some pilots got an hour or more, some enjoyed sledders. Good news as Martin D broke thru 35 flights today and is ready to write his Novice exam. Rob M from Whistler came down for a few days and finished his 37th flight and his Novice exam and is now signed off. Wouter was out taking his Crazy Dutch Friends tandem today and celebrated by creating an out-take movie of the many great tandem landings this year by the Awesome Tandem Team. His words "You can expect some interesting landings when you do over 400 tandems in a year". No one was injured in the making of this film! Biff's Paleface Report - Biff, Alex R and Daryl had a para-hiker outing that involved a 3.5 hour hike up Paleface after many years of being away. Parahikers in Paradise 2 from Kevin Ault on Vimeo.
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Woodside Report - we started the day early with getting the Barn classroom ready for the Wilderness First Aid Course run by Jim Ontgena (for the WCSC). I had to start a fire at 7:00 am to get the place warmed up as it was frosty this morning. | We kept the tandem participants out of the Barn all day but that was okay as it was so nice out once the sun started warming the ground. Alex R took the SCirroco and hiking harness up Woodside for a morning sledder to report conditions to us and he got up in about 45 minutes arriving wet from a bushwhack. He arrived at the Ranch with plenty of height after launching into 2-3 kph inflow cycles. By 11 am when we started doing the first tandems the First Aiders were doing recovery exercises in the parking lot so that was quite a scene for arriving passengers and pilots! Wouter texted me after his third tandem ``I got won-ton souped on!``. Not sure what that meant? Click here for more pictures from October as well as other activities. er as well as other activities. The First Aiders took a lunch break at noon and went flying with Derek grabbing an hour flight (the only report I got). Others flew for 2-3 hours in nice punchy thermals with Martin H getting SkyPig awards for over 3 hours on his Delta. We got the Tandemonium going strong after 2 pm when the bulk of Rachel`s Birthday Group arrived with 10 tandem passengers. There were also others inserted in the mix with a total of 16 passengers with Awesome Tandem Team of Kevin, Tonya, Denis, Wouter, Colleen and Jim working hard all day with the last tandems landing at around 6 pm. The last launches were no wind to slight tailwind but we had an awesome group of girls that could run fast. My last passenger Lindsay was quite small and she was shaking from the cold while we flew down to a perfect touchdown in the ProCircle so it was getting pretty cold as the sun went down, perfect fall weather. Cheam Report - We flew Mt Cheam - great day, sweet views, and a long sleddie (and nice of Tom C. to break trail for us ... must have thawed a bit ... today only waist-deep for a 9-year-old ;-) - Claudia Benny Report - Igor, Artem and I flew St Benedict today. The inversion (970 meters) meant that the highest we got was launch height, but there was some good 3 m/s lift around. I flew for an hour and a half getting to Durieu and then turned back and landed at Danny Virtue’s ranch. Artem and Igor struggled a little because they were new to the area and were trying to work lift in close to a slope in a place where the lift is often a little farther out, but managed decent flights as well. I guess I could have flown longer, but just coming off a cold, what I did was fine - Rob S
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Woodside Tandemonium Report - the day started early with Jodi and Jeff going tandem at 10 am (small world as Jodi is Brian Stoner`s niece and she knows everyone). | Click here for more pictures from October 14th as well as other activities. The day went pretty smooth with some outflow cycles but thanks to Derek driving and organizing the Awesome Tandem Team (Martina, Tonya, Denis & Jim) flew 15 tandems with little fuss except my last guy Mitchell lost his runner as we launched so I aborted to grab the runner and we had a mess to sort out as we dragged the Magnum back on launch. Tonya showed her skills as she launched with Alex (280 lbs) and had a great flight for his birthday. No students today, but quite a few solo pilots hoping for some thermals but we were denied due to low inversion layers. The last tandems were done at 5 pm so an early Sasquatch meeting was called.
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Click on the picture for more pictures from Tom Chromy's Cheam Adventure today, as well as other October activities.Woodside Report - we flew Woodside all day training Martin D, Lasma & Joe N and doing tandems until 5 pm when it started blowing down. Some nice long flights by Denis (2 hrs), Nikolai (2.2 hrs) and Kevin (1 hr). Martin D got his first thermalling in today and had to escape cloudsuck by heading out. Some of the tandems got some thermals with eagles today too! Tom Chromy landed at Riverside after hiking & flying Mt. Cheam today. His original goal of landing at the Agassiz High School was changed as he arrived high over agassiz in east winds and calculated that he could make it to Woodside. His hike involved hiking through waist deep snow at the halfway mark, somehow he found launchable cycles straight up the front of launch. He did have to wait for clear skies as clouds kept developing.
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Woodside Report - I stayed at the Ranch doing chores, and then went into Mission for new tires on the Suzuki and a monsoon rain cell went thru Mission while I was waiting. | Figuring the day was done I headed into Vancouver to meet a friend downtown and I was sitting at a stoplight when I looked at the Woodside WebCam and saw this! 
Mini-tornado over Duncan's farm
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Woodside Report - we were at Eagle Ranch doing chores and watching the sky rain down hard so no flying. |
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Woodside Report - one flyable window around noon just before the rains hit. |
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Woodside Report - we flew a bunch of tandems in light conditions and also some solo pilots got a few flights. Norm & David stayed on launch patiently waiting for sun and around 2:45 pm they both launched and were climbing nicely at the South Knoll and the North Cliffs. | David's FaceBook Posting: 60 minute flight at Woodside today after the sun broke through. I now know why it's called Eagle Ranch... I had to share the air space with countless eagles throughout the flight. Cloud base was really low today, but who cares... I got there! Time to invest in a helmet cam. - @David Peck  Hedley Report - What a weekend! Some of the best flying I have had in a long time. We flew from the new launch West of Hedley. I flew over Hedley and made it to the old church LZ! 7.2 km! great flights and butter smooth. From the meadow launch above the Church, reports where ratty and not “fun at all”. We convinced a dozen or so pilots to join us on the new launch and we had two more days of AWESOME flying! - Jason W. 
Happy Thanksgiving from Hedley! Happy Speed Flying from Denis in Hedley!
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Woodside Report - we had 12 tandem and no students but many solo pilots flew including Vickie who has been away for 2 years. The early tandems had us landing in Mark's parents back yard below Woodside. | We actually got some thermalling today just in front of launch with 3 mature bald eagles "dukin' it out" with us on tandem on the later flights. Kevin radioed that he flew off Mt. Cheam and got an hour of soaring landing at Prairie Central Road.
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Woodside Report - low clouds and rain later in the afternoon around 3 pm made this a good chore day. |
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Click here for more pictures from October as well as other activities. | Woodside Report - we met at Eagle Ranch at 10:30 am and had to wait til after noon to head up to launch as it was clouded in. While I waited for the ceiling to lift, I picked up some new parts for the Suburban as it was losing coolant. The timing was perfect as the Suzuki was just completed and the new motor took us up Woodside with ease. New Mechanic in the area - Chris Miles (Joe's son) did a great job! He lives in Abe's old house east of the Koffee Kettle. Joe N was out today test-flying the Swift after 15 flights on the Element II and bagged two flights before cloudbase dropped again. He got his first 2 reverse launches today also. It never got soarable until much later and then cloudbase was too low to fly, so Ted drove down. We had already bailed on the day at that point.
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Hedley Report - the Hedley weather bubble looked better than Princeton today but the radar showed large cells coming our way so we bailed and headed west theu Merritt where there was snow mixed wth the rain. | Arriving at the Ranch it was clear we were not going to fly today so we disbanded until Thursday. It was a good time in Hedley and should continue to be fun as the weekend fly-in approaches.
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Click on the picture for more pictures from October as well as other activities.Hedley Report - we met at the LZ at 9:30 am, after bumping into Joe in Princeton early. Straight up to launch and into the clouds as the morning air condensed at launch height (1385 meters). We waited about 35 minutes for a decent clearing for Martin D to "wind-dummy" for the others with light east cycles and off he went with no issues for a 30 minute flight. Followed by Joe N and finally Lasma. By the time Lasma went it was clear. We were watching for the +20 kph east winds to kick in and on the second flight Joe got a surprise as he headed east and couldn't penetrate back to the LZ in strongish west winds. We had four flights each for the students with landings to the east and west and the only hint of strong conditions happened at 5 pm when a small rain squall came thru launch, but by the time we got to the LZ it had calmed down. Flights averaged 15 - 40 minutes depending on the conditions, nice buoyant air, not too cold, wispy clouds forming to show you the lifty areas. Nice launch cycles from S and E which worked perfectly at the Dodge Launch overlooking the LZ. The local ladies said there will be a film shoot at the Church on Friday & Saturday so maybe another LZ should be in use for the Thanksgiving Fly-In. Taco Bob pooching a top-landing at Tapalpa Mexico, our favourite winter spot to fly.
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Click on the picture for more pictures from October as well as other activities.Hedley Report - Howard & I headed out from the Ranch at 9 am arriving in Princeton at 1130 for lunch at A&W while it was still raining. We were going to go up Iron Mtn. but we couldn't see the top of the hill nor the LZs due to fog so we headed east to Hedley where we did the LZ briefings and then headed to launch. It was raining just west of Hedley but dry here so after putting up some ribbons we decided the place to launch was near the abandoned Dodge car where I could see the LZ from launch. Howard laid out the Ozone Element II and clipped in and was soon in the air in a calm cycle and crusing around the valley for a perfect touchdown in the LZ by the church. I raced down to get him and by now Martin D and Lasma had arrived and we came back up to launch. At launch Howard was first ready to go and had another brilliant forward launch and had lots of airtime to practice turns and approaches with 1000 meters vertical right over the LZ. It switched to east at launch, so we set up to the east of the Dodge and Martin was off followed by Lasma and all landed softly in the LZ in light to no winds. By now it was 530 pm, and we headed to Princeton for dinner and it was still raining there! Good call to go directly to Hedley! The SupAir Base Harness is now available from FlyBC - call for a price.
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Woodside Report - the weather looked good but the winds were very light. | We had 2 student tandems to start the day in almost no wind, and then all the other 10 tandems in very lame conditions calling for strong forward launches. We also had Jennie, Martin D, Joe N, Joe C, Lasma (new student), and Howard (new student) flying today and they did amazing with the lame conditions with super strong forward launches. Everyone got 4 flights with different landing on each flight as the winds kept swinging around in the LZ. Interesting to have such strong winds on the ground with no wind at launch? Thanks to Derek and George for driving for the Awesome Tandem Team - Colleen, Martina, Wouter & new addition Denis R. We finished the day at 6 pm tired but satisfied with the results. Claudia, Peter and Andrei came up to Woodside after flying Sumas and landing in strong East winds (at least at the 3 Road LZ).
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Woodside Report - we had a small problem with the dewpoint today . . . it stayed the same as the temps all day and the result was fog down to the ground. A few times we saw launch but then it dropped to less than 100 meters over and over. | We sent all the tandems home and the barn was converted into an HPAC Novice Exam Session Room and we had 5 new pilots writing the exam and we had a joint de-briefing to discuss the answers. All 5 passed so there will be a bunch of newly signed off pilots flying around here and the Interior.
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Woodside Report - we had an awesome day flying 5 student flight rounds with George, Joe and Colin, as well as some newly signed off Dutch Pilots Rommert & Eunice came to fly. | We also did 4 tandems today and Martina had the best tandem ever cloud-surfing with Stefan for 35 minutes. The parking lot was full of desperados and even Normando came out to ridge soar. Tonya brought out the SCirroco and it was not quite soarable with it, so she came back with the regular wing later. We also got a late report of Kevin's Elk flight from yesterday, when it was so lame at Woodside - he bagged an hour off Elk in +25 kph winds! |
FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day Reports
August 2011 Site of the Day archives - another 200 tandems done this month by the Awesome Tandem Team! Almost done the Groupons!
July 2011 Site of the Day archives - another 120 tandems done this month by the Awesome Tandem Team!
June 2011 Site of the Day archives - over 100 tandems done this month by the Awesome Tandem Team!
May 2011 Site of the Day archives - another rainy month with more road trips.
April 2011 Site of the Day archives - many long XCs in the Fraser valley by many pilots, and we roadtripped to the Ashcroft area many times to get flights between rain storms and snow storms.
March 2011 Site of the Day archives - got home from 2 glorious months in Mexico & New Zealand to try to fly in the Valley, but due to rain & snow we roadtripped to the Ashcroft area many times to get flights.
February 2011 Site of the Day archives - last days of the Mexico Tour went very well and then I headed to New Zealand to meet Colleen in Auckland and we had a great time flying there for 2 weeks.
January 2011 Site of the Day archives - Mexico Tour went very well with 8 attendees getting great airtime and safe guidance from us at FlyBC.
December 2010 Site of the Day archives - weather was so bad in BC, that Colleen and I had to book 5 days in LA to get a flight.
November 2010 Site of the Day archives - we had some sweet soaring flights at Woodside, and a really cold cold snap that limited flying for a week or more.
October 2010 Site of the Day archives - we had some sweet soaring flights in October at Woodside, and Robin flew to Hope in less than an hour!.
September 2010 Site of the Day archives - the wettest September in history had us running up to Savona and points east to fly, but we "got-er-done".
August 2010 Site of the Day archives - unstable conditions made for some great days at Benny and Woodside. Al & I had a Delta Day with me stealing Colleen's Small Delta and he on a Large one and we went over the back to Seabird on a strong day.
July 2010 Site of the Day archives - fantastic road trip to Revelstoke for 11 days of SIV Training and super weather.
June 2010 Site of the Day archives - wettest June on record so road trips to Savona a few times. Deltas are rolling in now!
May 2010 Site of the Day archives - nice flying in the Valley.
April 2010 Site of the Day archives - worst April in years weatherwise but we managed to do some awesome tandem groups and some nice flights with Justin, Nicole and Norm flying to Mission late in the month.
March 2010 Site of the Day archives - Crappy weather in the US on my return trip from Mexico. But when I arrived back at the Ranch there were some great days soaring Woodside.
February 2010 Site of the Day archives - super flying in Mexico for the FlyBC Mexican Tours. Good XCs. The locals were already flying at Mother Woodside back in BC due to the warm weather!
January 2010 Site of the Day archives - nice flying in Mexico for the FlyBC Mexican Tours. Good XCs.
December 2009 Site of the Day archives - our first time in Mexico for a full December and we flew everyday. 40-50 km XCs from Tapalpa.
November 2009 Site of the Day archives - very few flights as we had record rains and high winds.
October 2009 Site of the Day archives - Women's Fly-In in Chelan WA with the Barbie Theme, took first place honours again! More good soaring flights of 2 hours plus on special days.
September 2009 Site of the Day archives - more decent flying weather with a few road trips to escape wind by heading to Savona.
August 2009 Site of the Day archives - best flying conditions in years with little rain. My first hike up Cheam with pals went well.
July 2009 Site of the Day archives - the FlyBC SIV in Revelstoke was a blast, 280 SIV flights and only one wet pilot intentionally that is. Jeremy wished he had landed in the water.
June 2009 Site of the Day archives - dry all month locally so lots of flying, Al has been test flying the new ShotGun launch near Stave Lake having great flights out to Woodside.
May 2009 Site of the Day archives - local flying is getting great with nice XC's! Bridal was working well. The new bathroom was installed in the Barn at Eagle Ranch enriching the FlyBC experience.
April 2009 Site of the Day archives - we escaped the local weather by flying in New Zealand for 3 weeks. We will be heading back soon!
March 2009 Site of the Day archives - we were flying locally in snow, relying on Derek's sleds and chains on the 'Mog to get up Woodside.
February 2009 Site of the Day archives - the Worlds PG Championships in Mexico was hard work for the Canucks, the tasks and speeds were unreal.
January 2009 Site of the Day archives - Manzanillo, Mexico was a BLAST, many new sites flown and we have a new tour Destination for 2010.
December 2008 Site of the Day archives - the annual FlyBC Christmas Party was a cold success with Head over Heels entertaining us all night. And we left early for Manzanillo, Mexico on Dec 28th.
November 2008 Site of the Day archives - some soaring between rain storms, and it was pretty dry in Agassiz.
October 2008 Site of the Day archives - we went ot the Women's Fly In on Chelan for the annual Halloween Costume Fly-In, great conditions there to offset the wet month on the West Coast. Steve Fosset's crash site was found in Nevada after a year of searching.
September 2008 Site of the Day archives - great student conditions at Woodside and Bridal all month, with 10 students getting signed off this month, a record.
August 2008 Site of the Day archives - our second SIV Course of the 2008 season went well at Sale Mountain near Revelstoke (except for a few water landings and minor injuries). Wet all month at Woodside except the weekends.
July 2008 Site of the Day archives - our first SIV Course of the 2008 season went well at Sale Mountain near Revelstoke.
June 2008 Site of the Day archives - a few good soaring days at Bridal, lots of new students this month.
May 2008 Site of the Day archives - the cost of gas is keeping pilots at home and the weather isn't helping either. One good XC in May for me, leaving Woodside with Norm and Martin H and ending up at Elk at 1600 meters before landing by Hopyard Hill. 3 hours and 85 kms later by the GPS.
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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