Sweltering Heat at Woodside

Yesterday a friend from the States came up to visit, so I decided to do so some Fraser Valley flying with him along with another friend.

I didn't expect conditions to be great, and they weren't. It was disgustingly hot - around 35 degrees and barely a cloud in the sky. I hung out on the ground at Woodside launch for a while and didn't go until I thought I could stay up for a while. After launching I found small thermals just about everywhere but I couldn't get more than a two or three hundred feet above launch.

I briefly throught about attempting a low cross country, but the thought of having to ask someone for retrieve, even from the nearby Harvest Market, didn't much appeal to me in that heat.

So instead I bobbed around for a while until I got bored, landed, packed up my gear, and then just about passed out from the heat in Jim's barn.

Not a great day for flying, but a good socializing day anyway. I am missing Golden already - a short trip to Pemberton (mini-Golden) should happen in the next two weeks, weather permitting of course.

2010 Canadian Paragliding Nationals: Final Recap

Well the Canadian Nationals are over, unfortunately ending with some less than ideal weather.

The last few days of the competition mostly consisted of strong southerly winds, so I elected not to fly. My feelings were in the majority as almost nobody with a 2/3 and under launched during those days.

On one day we did fly but when I launched, about 20 of us sunk out at the same time. Thermals were small and with 20 people scratching along the same ridge – it was nearly impossible to get up. It was funny heading to the LZ – it ended up raining paragliders for about 5 minutes. Some people did end up flying most of the task that day, but those who did were part of the head gaggle who did manage to get up. The rest of us weren’t so lucky.

Here is a really well done video highlighting the 2010 Canadian Nationals. At the beginning you’ll notice my giggling with the girl asking me a question – it was just one of those times when you laugh for no reason with someone, so enjoy our giggles.

Canadian Paragliding Nationals 2010 from Blurry on Vimeo.

I don’t have any immediate flying plans although it would be great to go back to Golden for a few days in the next couple weeks. If not, I’ll head to Pemberton at some point. There are a lot of forest fires in BC again this year, so hopefully we’ll get some rain to clear the air out.