2011 Canadian Paragliding Nationals Washout

A few days ago we arrived in Golden for the 2011 Canadian Paragliding Nationals. Two days before the event I had a less than desirable flight off Mount 7 but at least I flew. My launch was absolutely atrocious (wind was cross which still doesn’t justify how poorly I did) and in the air I didn’t feel comfortable. It was rough, the wind was from the south and I got sick of it quickly.

For the next couple days we didn’t fly. It was either cloudy or rainy and although there were small windows where pilots flew, it was mostly sledders in conditions that weren’t great. A couple days into the Nats a few of us decided to try flying Mt. Swansea in Invermere after the day was cancelled in Golden. The wind was on the stronger side in the valley when we arrived, but it looked reasonable.

Cycles on launch were strong but five of us managed to launch safely and we had nice ridge soaring flights for the next half hour. I started to get concerned when I noticed my groundspeed was only 5k, so I started heading out into the valley, worried that the winds had picked up there as well. Sure enough, the further I went into the valley, the more I could tell that it had become more windy there too.

At one point I hit some pretty funky air and my glider started oscillating and just acting weird. It was lifty and sinky at times but mostly the air started to feel like something was building as it started to get a little too buoyant (there were quite a few t-storm cells around us, but nothing too close to be worried about) so I made it my mission to get down safely.

At this point I was pushing full speedbar and only going about 5k’s forward. I kept my upwind heading for a while, pulling big ears, then doing a few spirals. The spirals were great except for that they pushed me quite a bit downwind and when I exited and went on full speed again, I was now going 5’s backward. This is when I started to get very concerned. I was in contact with my fellow pilots, telling them about my experiences during my flight, (most were still ridge soaring) but now I was worried that things were deteriorating quickly and that we wouldn’t all be able to get down safely.

I pushed full bar until I was around 200-300 feet off the ground, then I slowly released. My glider catapulted me backwards and I kept looking behind me to see what I would be hitting. There was another big field right across the main LZ field which was what I was flying over at this point but behind that there was a treed area.
I was pretty calm throughout the whole experience, just focusing on myself, my safety, and keeping rational. The last 50 feet was an elevator down but thankfully the wind was lighter there and I plopped down into the field unhurt. My glider immediately started dragging me so the “safe your life manoeuvre” where you grab a line and just start reeling your glider in, came in handy. The long grass left me unscathed.

Meanwhile my boyfriend was running towards me making sure I was ok (he had landed a few minutes prior to me by doing some bigger manoeuvres) and I was looking up at the three pilots who were still in the air.

Now they were all 1000 feet or less above us, but all were going backwards with their gliders flopping around. One of them was getting lower so my boyfriend ran towards the woods thinking that he would probably hit a tree, and I meanwhile quickly took my flying clothes off, grabbed my SPOT and first aid kit and started running too.

Now there was only one pilot in the air who I was watching closely and who I started following so I could help him when he landed. At first I thought I could keep up with him, but it quickly came apparent that trying to keep up on foot with a glider who’s getting blown backwards and downwind is next to impossible. I found my boyfriend a few minutes later in the woods and though he didn’t find any of the pilots, he had radio communication with them and all were safe.

The three pilots in the air landed a few kilometers downwind from the main LZ – four or five fields down from where we landed. They were incredibly lucky that there were so many landing options down that way and I’m still shocked that nobody got hurt. They also said that the air become much more buoyant than when I was flying and that not only had the wind increased, it was even more difficult to get down. I felt very lucky too, having another field next to the main LZ to land in, and I was thankful that I didn’t get blown into the trees that were only a couple hundred meters from where I landed.

This was a flight I could have done without. All of us were pretty experienced pilots but in paragliding, I’d say there’s always some sort of element of surprise. Maybe it would have been better to stay in the air and wait until the winds died, but I'm glad we made the decision to get down. With overdevelopment in the area, rolling the dice that way seemed to have worse odds.

Driving back to Golden after that adrenaline-packed flight, it started pouring. The next day it rained on and off as well and the competition day was cancelled again. We left Golden that day.

Today is the last day of the Paragliding Nationals and I’m sad to report that so far, only one task was flown. The task was tiny and nobody made goal. The conditions sounded marginal as it seemed like damp flying but at least the task was valid. Last I checked it was raining again in Golden so I doubt there will be a task today either.

Last week during the Hang Glider Nationals in Golden, they had two tasks, and again, this was between showers. The mood in Golden was different this year – I think pilots were pretty bummed about the weather and not being able to fly such a world class site. The mosquitoes this year were at an unreal level this year too, and I don’t think that helped lighten the mood....

It looks like it may clear up this weekend in Golden, so I may make my way back and try again. I’m sad that the Nationals will be over by then but there’s not much you can do. The pilots in the meet who stayed all week have my admiration – my patience wears thin when camping in the rain, being eaten alive by bugs and not being able to fly. In any case hopefully the weather will improve soon and Golden will once again deliver.

Back at it

You know why I haven't updated my blog for over a month? Because I haven't flown since I last posted, that's why! Isn't that awful? I was sick for a few weeks and that prevented me from doing really much of anything. But now I'm back in the game!

I drove out to the Fraser Valley today and tried my luck at Mt. Woodside. I was really surprised at the cloud development as I didn't see anything in the forecast, but nothing was overdeveloping, so I didn't worry about it too much. There was talk of a strong wind developing, but I don't think that happened until very late in the day.

In any case, I prepped myself today for flying in Golden and I had a really great 1.5 hour flight. There was a series of conjoined clouds which hovered over the ridgetop behind Woodside for quite some time, but it was really fun to get up to base, try finding lift elsewhere, then returning back to the reliable clouds - I like cloudsuck when it's in small doses!

The big family of clouds slowly started dissapaiting and cloudbase rose too. After purposely taking a shitty climb in the lee for my Golden prep, I thought it was time to try to go somewhere.

I headed towards the antennas to the northeast of launch and at first it was a little sinky with kind of average climbs, but finally I managed to hook a ripper (ok, 3 m/s) and got myself back up to base.

I skirted around the cloud band and got to Aggasiz Mountain where the clouds there were a little on the big side (you can't really tell from the pictures). I thought about flying back to Woodside, but instead I thought I would hop over to Cemetery Hill, see if anything was there, and if not, land at Harvest Market. The thought of crossing over to Bear wasn't really on my agenda - had I hung out for twenty minutes or so around Aggasiz Mountain, I think it would have been more doable, but heading to Cemetery Hill seemed like more fun rather than landing out far again. On the way there, I took some pics:

You can see Harrison Lake in the background - so pretty!

I found no lift at Cemetery Hill (nobody ever seems to) and landed at Harvest.

The grass was quite long and it was the ankle twisting sort - it kind of bunched up as you walked and I tripped on myself a couple times. After packing up my glider in the heat, I hitchhiked to get back to the where my car was.

The lady who picked me up was super nice and offered to drive me all the way to my car, but I politely declined, thinking it was too much hassle, and told her that dropping me off by the highway was fine. I thought I could use a little exercise. BIG MISTAKE!

My walk back to my car was more Golden prep - the mosquitoes were terrible! There was an absolute swarm of them following me, biting my shoulders and arms, and as I waved my hat trying to keep them away (so glad I had it with me), my arms burned in the sun. That was one long-ass 1.5 k walk!

I got to my car sweaty, frazzled, and with severe blood loss, and so thankful I made it back in one piece. Ha ha ha, an exaggeration, but I was done for the day.

I've missed paragliding these last few weeks - as long as the weather holds over the next while, you can be sure I'll have more flights to write about.

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On a somber note, I think it's important I mention the deaths of three paraglider pilots this past week. Everyone in the community, around the world, is in shock that two pilots at the PWC in Spain died on the same day and Xavier Murillo lost his life in Peru.

I had the pleasure of meeting Xavier last year in Golden and will always remember his funny yet appalling t-shirts, his infectious smile, and his overall charm. Xavier gave me some sort of DVD on DHV Certification which I've yet to watch, yet whatever the DVD is about seems of less importance now than who it came from. It will serve as a reminder of how fragile life truly is. Bon vol Xavier.