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FlyBC "Site of the Day Archive" - September/2015
Woodside was flyable every day of September 2015
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@ 3000' in knots |
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| 9-30-15 |
 Agassiz BC Sunny. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High 22. UV index 4 or moderate. Kevin is out trying his new paramotor, he was doing the run in procedure on the ground for an hour at different rpms after we checked the weight/balance in the simulator.
Probably had the lowest, shallowest glide coming over the trees at the ridgeline but got a few lucky pops and cleared the fence and almost glided to the circle on the mighty Gin Bolero 4.  Hill 60 Report - this secret hill is near Cowichan Lake and Eric flew it today and managed to top-land on the road saving a huge bike ride up the 19 kms of road.
9-29-15
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. High 25. UV index 4 or moderate. There is a number of construction stops on Hwy 1 due to rock scaling but #3 to Princeton was open so we elected to try Hedley for a change. Pete R was just coming back from Europe and headed home so we met him up at the Colonial Inn LZ (one of the only open LZs at Hedley). We had Shafi, Chris, Johannes, John W, Clair & Shaun G (Ginger) along for the ride and conditions were perfect. Light up slope winds were bringing my road dust up the mountain wth us. The LZ directly below near the cemetary is no off-limits due to a fist fight between a local and an un-named Russian PG Pilot a few years back. The other option is the Rustic Campground LZ 3 kms east (a long glide for a newbie). The Colonial LZ is surrounded by powerlines on three sides but big enough for our more experienced guys and Pete flew off first & was in the LZ with a radio, so I sent off Shafi, John W, Clair & Shaun after Pete.
We arrived to nice launch conditions and everyone had brilliant takeoffs. Johannes was the "Star Pilot of the Day" with two perfect forward launches . . . not bad for Day 2 of a Intro Course! Shaun G is getting used to his new Ozone Geo 4 but seems to have it figured out, launching reverse in light to no wind last flight off the hill.
9-28-15
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. Fog patches dissipating this morning. Windy near Hope this morning. High 22. UV index 4 or moderate. A really good session with newbie Johannes doing really well once we got him on the small EONA.
9-27-15
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| Agassiz BC Mainly sunny. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High 18. UV index 4 or moderate. We arrived to perfect conditions and everyone took 5-6 flights even getting above launch at times as it was quite thermic.
We also had 9 tandems booked and thanks to Denis, Andrei & Colleen we got them done before 5 pm, some were a bit late but they all enjoyed the air time. Niki got here first high flight and was aloft for a long time, getting above launch flying straight out. I need to improve my Spanish as she reverted to her native Argentinian tongue right after launch only respondng to spanish commands! Logan & Shafi got 4 flights today and were able to thermal on most flights. Clair only did one flight but he was thermalling too! Good to see him back after a year long hiatus.
9-26-15
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| Agassiz BC Mainly cloudy. 40 percent chance of showers late this morning and this afternoon. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High 16. UV index 3 or moderate. By noon the rain had stopped so I mowed the wet grass off the training hill and we started kiting. Wind was slightly cross but Niki seemed to do just fine on the EONA S.
When the wind went south we moved to the circle in the middle of the field and Sean G joined us and he had clearly mastered the reverse launch sequence as he did many successful runs. After about 30 minutes it started raining so we went back to the Barn. Meanwhile Denis & Andrei were on launch with some tandems and got rained out, they were on the way down when it opened up and Tonya & Marcus flew off. The first set of tandems were happy to come back on a sunny day, so they went home and Denis went back up with the next tandems, who wanted to go separately so they could watch their son. Denis got both tandems done and on the second round, Colleen & I took Niki & David tandem for their first Woodside flights. Perfect launch conditions and nice smooth sledders to train them on the approach.
We may do some road work on the next rainy day, helps to set the mix. Blanchard Report - drizzle and low clouds til noon, at Blanchard too and then it opened up and TJ got to fly. 9-25-15
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|  Agassiz BC Rain ending late this morning then mainly cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. High 17. UV index 3 or moderate. 9-24-15
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| Agassiz BC Cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers this morning. Periods of rain beginning this afternoon. Amount 5 mm. High 16. Vince was pretty scared and uncooperative so it took many tries to get off the mountain but we prevailed and I got him to move his feet and we launched into nice buoyant air. No thermals but it was a nice ride and he enjoyed it fully! I left the Nissan up on launch for the rest of the day as I had errands in Chilliwack, and later Clair was around so I hitched a ride up with him. Thanks for the ride! 9-23-15
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| Agassiz BC Increasing cloudiness. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High 18. UV index 4 or moderate. I was running errands and left Denis to "man the show" as we had Shafi, Shaun G and a few tandems booked. I arrived at noon to hear Denis launching Shafi for his first high flight in sweet conditions, reversible at launch and smooth air on this flight. I guided Shafi in to a nice landing flying the SupAir EONA M. We continued this pattern and Norm took off and showed the guys how to thermal, and Shafi got a nice thermalling flight on flight #3 catching a low save over the Construction Zone and milking it almost back to launch with little guidance. Shaun G was test flying a new Sky Cima that arived for a trade in and was showing Norm how to thermal too.
We launched Shafi on his 4th flight of the day in light winds and by the time we got ready it was blowing down. As this is Mother Woodside we waited and it got stronger . . . but eventually the sun came out enough to give us a "puff" and we were in the air. It was a short flight but the air was bouyant and cold, good for showing a fellow aviator how the paraglider flies. Zero wind in the LZ so we made a field goal flying between the goal post trees. We went back up for one last flight and George came up too after a disappointing 6 minute flight at Bridal. As Shafi clipped in and got ready a rain shower came thru on launch and it blew down, but again we got a puff and Shafi was off and flying for flight #5. Lauara & Will followed them out to the Ranch. A very productive day. Report from Kevin at Elk with over an hour of sweet soaring above launch in +30 kph winds, with a rain shower on landing. Good day all around! 9-22-15
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. Becoming a mix of sun and cloud this afternoon. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High 19. UV index 4 or moderate. John W wrote his P-2 Exam and got a really nice score of 90%! Congrats on achieving your P-2 Rating (with thermalling/soaring signoff too). John i flying an Ozone Ultralite 23. Shaun wrote his P-2 exam last week and he is now P-2 Rated (with thermalling/soaring signoff too)! He will be flying a brand new Geo 4 as soon as it arrives this week. Denis was here helping the students as I had some errands to run in town and he showed them how to thermal at Woodside as I drove down for the first flight. James D is here doing his final paramotor training flights after a session in Spain, he is getting ready for the Adventure Race in October in CA. Owens Valley Cross Country Classic 2015 ~ US PG Nationals Report - Andrew B is kicking it hard in the Owens this week at Owens Valley Cross Country Classic 2015 ~ US PG Nationals . He is in sixth place in the Comp Class on his Ozone Mantra M6, dukin' it out with EnZo 2 pilots and doing very well. Another FlyBC pilot is David McC who is doing really well in the C Class on a Delta 2. 9-21-15
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| Agassiz BC A mix of sun and cloud. High 17. UV index 4 or moderate.
We had Shaun G, Tommy, James (from Victoria) & John W out today and they had an "awesome day". From the first flight on it was thermic and the students could stay up as long as they wanted. Shaun G has mastered thermalling and while I missed him up and behind launch on the Geo 2, I did catch the start of his first flight here.
Later Kevin joined us and he and John were "kissing clouds" around 4 pm.
Last flight of the day after Kevin & Gary P toplanded, was an extended sledder but we did get 4 student flights in today! Over at Bridal, Alan D & Claudia S were reporting nice climbs to cloudbase and trips to the Lakes and back were easy. 9-20-15
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|  Agassiz BC Rain. Amount 10 to 20 mm. High 16. George said it was indeed windy at 2000 metres at Cornwall near Cache Creek (which is why we cancelled the road trip). Pilot Report of the new Gin Carerra+ - Gin has re-engineered the trim on the original Carerra and FlyBubble has done a pilot report on what they found with this new Gin Carerra + Glider Test . Some rainy day video fun for this weekend, 45 minutes of awesome Euro footage. 9-19-15
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| Agassiz BC Rain. Amount 10 to 20 mm. High 16. 9-18-15
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| Agassiz BC Cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. High 18. 9-17-15
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| Agassiz BC Mainly cloudy. 60 percent chance of showers early this morning and late this afternoon. High 18. UV index 3 or moderate. Shaun passed his exam and to celebrate he did two flights before it started raining. No thermals but the day looked promising, nice light winds to practice reverse launches and no wind in the air made for extended flights. And then as I was picking up Shaun for flight #3 it started raining and it did not quit til late afternoon. Ben & Kym are leaving tomorrow for Aus with a shiny new Gin Carerra+ for him to fly when he gets back. 9-16-15
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| Agassiz BC Mainly cloudy with 30 percent chance of showers. High 18. UV index 3 or moderate. Tommy dropped in and Tobi & Max came to say goodbye as they head east to Vernon or Revelstoke for the winter. If you know of any good jobs inland, let me know. They are hard working guys. Claudia was going to try Bridal but I did not get any reports. 9-15-15
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| Agassiz BC Mainly cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. High 17. UV index 3 or moderate. After much research we ended up with a brand-new GMC Savana AWD Van which makes it up to Woodside Launch smoothly and even climbs out of launch without any wheelspin.
When I arrived on launch with KVA, the Germans were already in the air (yippee-kayaying to each other) as they tested their GoPro follow cam. Max & Tobi got really high under some nice CUs, and had Ben driving for them.
On a side note: We had better vote in a better government during this next Federal Election. I sent some euros to pay for glider stock and had to pay $1.51 CDN for each Euro (up 20% over the same time last year). Glider prices are going up as a result. Even the Mexican tour is getting affected as most hotels base their prices on the USD$. Do not try this at home! A nice inflation on a Paratoys/BlackHawk Edge paraglider though! First Cliff ParagliderTARD (w/ free bonus feature!) from Biz McTangles on Vimeo. 9-14-15
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| Agassiz BC Mainly cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. High 16. UV index 4 or moderate. Shaun G came out and test-flew an Ozone Geo that is in our used fleet and it was nice magic lift under a cloudy layer. I took Leo tandem and we floated around on the Magnum 41 climbing in front of launch, near the clearcuts out front and even over the Construction Zone as we checked out Andrei's new house. South winds in the Eagle Ranch LZ but very mellow conditions. Tobi & Max flew too and thanks to Ben for driving for us. A good day at Jim's used car lot as the Miata and the Ford Van both sold today off Craigslist, down to just the Nissan Atlas & the Prison Bus. If you know anyone that wants a Ford 7.3 Diesel engine & tranny this bus is a great donor vehicle. 9-13-15
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| Agassiz BC A mix of sun and cloud. Becoming windy late this morning. High 19. UV index 5 or moderate. Sean G was getting too good on the EONA L so I put him on the Carerra+ and he did very well, with the exception of the tree incident! We got back to Woodside it was still howling til dark, even the Hangies were not flying, just too gusty. 9-12-15
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High 25. UV index 6 or high. We managed 3 student rounds and the last one got windy but the EONAs all made the Ranch. Not with much height but they made it! It got very hazy as the inversion layers trapped in the smog from Vancouver.
9-10-15
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High 26. UV index 6 or high. We sent them to Bill Best's field for a change of approach and they all handled it well, light south winds in the Harrison Mills valley. It is a long glide to that field but the SupAir EONAs made it with lots of altitude, John's UL23 came in a bit low but I think he was fighting a headwind there as he was the last pilot.
9-10-15
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High 26. UV index 6 or high. Many students these days and we have a real solid group of new pilots going through the paces, learning the skills required to fly alone. Shaun got do so some real thermalling on his own and got above launch in very stable conditions. He also hit the circle on his own, a great improvement in the past few days!
9-9-15
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| Agassiz BC A mix of sun and cloud. High 22. UV index 6 or high. Denis and a bunch of senior pilots were out solo flying and had great flights until it shaded over. Denis & I took some British Ladies tandem after 3 pm and we had very nice lift right off launch and I was at 1000 metres in less than 2 minutes and it was smooth!
The landing field was quite nice today with light winds and the corn is all harvested.
If you are wondering what has happened to the webcam & weather station on launch . . . so are we?? Some bastards completely removed the entire system on Tuesday and we are abandoning the project until next spring when we can find a more secure location. 9-8-15
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| Agassiz BC Rain ending near noon then mainly cloudy with 40 percent chance of showers. High 17. UV index 4 or moderate. Tobia & Max did very well on their P2 Exams considering German is their first language but they studied hard and wrote the USHPA Exam as a practice exam with Denis last week. Nathaniel also wrote the exam and did well despite Aussie being his first lanuage. Congrats to all three for their dedication and practice and good flying! Welcome to our addiction! 9-7-15
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| Agassiz BC Cloudy early with partial sunshine expected late. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 18C. Winds light and variable. The first student launches were forward launchs and sled rides but by noon it was soarable for all but the hangies. Time to buy a bag! We managed to finish up 12 tandems today with Derek, Denis, Andrei and Colleen working hard and the lift was amazing at times. The students all got to soar including new student Rebecca (who had 25 speed wing flights when she arrived this morning). Rebecca logged three PG flights today and was soaring all around the mountain on the EONA S on the third flight getting about 45 minutes airtime. Derek, Colleen and Logan followed Rebecca on the last flight and all got way above launch with Logan having to be coaxed out of the air before it got dark as he climbed thru 1000 metres in the glassoff.
Blanchard reports were very positive too with lots of altitude and lots of wings despite the lame forecasts there.
9-6-15
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| Agassiz BC Cloudy early with partial sunshine expected late. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 18C. Winds light and variable. We had a few tandems to do with Denis, Andrei and Tonya taking care of them while I managed the students and drove. Bev flew her new Ozone Geo 4 and loves it, except apparently it glides too well in the LZ. You will have to ask her about this. Logan, Shaun, Tobi & Max all flew three or four flights with one of them landing in the Harrison River when he got too far back on the north ridge, the un-named pilot is signed off and was on radio but did not heed my warnings. Eric our neighbour was down at their Beach Camp and saw the drama unfold and went and rescued him for 2 feet of water in a small bay. Never go past the north ridge unless you are very high and still climbing . . . once you get in the lee of that ridge you are going down! Laater flights were cancelled as it stayed too strong for newbies.
9-5-15
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| Agassiz BC Sunny. High 20. UV index 4 or moderate. We took a load of students up at 11 am and everyone had good launches and got some thermalling in too, including Brian (newbie) who came tandem with me on the SupAir SORA for his first Woodside flight after 5 tandems around the world over the years (Nepal, New Zealand). Brian & I were inspired by Veronica who got high right off the launch, and we caught the same thermal in front of launch and hung onto it. It was windy on the way out but the tandem cuts through the wind pretty good, even lightly loaded, so I said send off the students. Colleen had them already queued up and Max, Tobi, followed by Shaun & Logan all got above launch with Colleen's most excellent thermal coaching. Brian and I had the pleasure of being the last of the 2015 Corn Huskers as we got blown into the corn just on final, nice soft touchdown and easy to kite the wing out of the corn . . . so I advised everyone else to stay over the landing circle area and that worked out well for them. Later the farmers came and cut/harvested the corn so it is just dirt and stalks now.
The students had a fun day of kiting in the gusty winds and everyone hung out until we called the day at 600 pm. Later reports from the weather station indicated gust to 40+ kph from the SW. The webcam was stolen/removed sometime this week by unknown thieves, odd as it is only a $65 DLink model available at most stores now (maybe someone thinks we are spying on them and does not like it?).
Lil Nic Report - A small group of pilots hiked up Lil Nic today.
I stayed at the bottom and watched several bears roaming the LZ while the boys flew - Nicole. Blanchard Report - I went to Blanchard. It was very very nice. Flew until too tired spending most of my time flying whispy clouds at up to 3400' over the LZ. I heard several pilots saying that they had never flown for so long, and one that I fly with regularly said he'd never been to cloudbase before but today he spent a lot of time there. That was 3200-3600 depending on the cycle. They were forming just at the edge of the water or just beyond the shoreline. I'm not used to flying the clouds at Blanchard. It was a rare treat. Sunday looks wet for a large part of the day. Possibilities at Blanchard and elsewhere starting around 3PM or possibly a little earlier - TJ Olney 9-4-15
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| Agassiz BC A mix of sun and cloud. Becoming cloudy in the afternoon with showers. Risk of a thunderstorm in the afternoon. High 19. UV index 5 or moderate. 9-3-15
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| Agassiz BC Showers. Risk of a thunderstorm in the afternoon. High 16. Thomas H sent me this forecast right from Environment Canada yesterday, hope it did not touchdown!
Lake Garda Report - Conditions looked dark and ugly at Lake Garda, Italy when we arrived. We drove to the north end of the Lake and saw Windsurfers going about 80 kph across the water and it was capping pretty good. Good option for when it gets too windy for PG.
Some German schools were here, perhaps Wolfie's SIV Instructor from a few years ago when he hit the water wrapped in his Rush 3? We saw some guys pooching their approach and landing in the Lake. This guys had it made and then did one more turn out over the water sand got drenched missing the LZ!
9-2-15
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| Agassiz BC Showers. Amount 10 to 20 mm. High 16. Pisa Report - Conditions looked strong with imbedded CUs all around so we did what anyone near Pisa Italy does . . . we went to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Amazing that this tower was started in the 1100s and still stands today. One does get a bit dizzy looking at it. The other buildings around it also have a lean due to the poor soil below but it is not as apparent.
We arrived in Arezzo Italy around 6 pm and found an interesting hotel right in the heart of the old square and found some jousting!
One by one the jousters did their practice runs and then the competition began.
After dinner we were treated to live marching bands in the square til past midnight, and then the clock tower started ringing every 15 minutes. Good thing I am a sound sleeper! 9-1-15
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| Agassiz BC Showers. Amount 10 to 20 mm. High 16. I won't complain about not flying as we have had the best year ever in terms of number of flyable days and graduating students in 2015 and we still have 2-3 months left. San Giuliano Terme (Pisa) Report - Conditions looked good at San Giuliano Terme Launch with forecast +13 kph SW winds in the afternoon. We headed out there armed with Google Maps on the iPhones and got lost a few times but found a nice outdoor patio lunch before getting back on track. We found the entrance to the paved road to launch as indicated on PGEarth and drove to the top. Our Fiat Punto is now 6000 kms older than when we rented it but running well. A short hike to launch is littered with deteriorating astro turf pieces and launch is quite ugly but it was coming in strong.
After he cleared away, I launched and was well above launch in two passes and heading north, reminding me of Bridal . . . just point at the ridge and go up. A no brainer for climbing. There is a beautiful spa hotel just north that I thermalled out over if one wants to stay close.
They landed right below launch in the designated alfalfa field.
Colleen drove down and found me easily just off the main road. A few others launched after I landed and it shut down, just sleddies for them as the winds dropped to zero. 8-31-15
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| Agassiz BC Rain. Amount 15 to 25 mm. Windy. High 16. Hard to believe some un-named tandem pilot was complaining about the rain cancelling a few tandems, while thousands were without power and others had trees crash into their cars & houses. This has been the best weather years I can remember in 20 years of paragliding, and BC needed the rain to quench forest fires. Annecy Report - Conditions looked south at the Doussard LZ and we saw a few pilots flying off the Planfait Launch. We had a beautiful hotel next to the Doussard LZ and Colleen went for a run around the LZ this morning while I slept in.
We came back to the LZ and found a big sign pointing towards Montmin Launch where we knew we could get lunch and possible a flight. We had a huge burger each and some beers before tackling the hike up to Montmin Launch. We could have driven as the gates were open but needed the exercise in 32C heat as Eurpoe is in a heatwave. I arrived on launch to find 10 PGers waiting on top. It looked strong but launchable and I started to lay out but the Launch Monitor cmae over and said "it is going to be shit, too much south wind". He also said no one flew to Doussard yesterday either because fo the strong south winds.
As we drove south we saw pilots launching Montmin and staying high. That is Paragliding - one needs patience and time. |
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Box 79, Harrison Mills, BC Canada V0M 1L0 Mobile: 604-618-5467 Skype: flybcpg E-Mail: FlyBC E-Mail |