Sunday Soaring
Click image for more pics!Tandems for Connie, Holly, and Dalton
Solos for Shabe, Lee, Simon (!), and Rick
Sunny with blue skies on Saltspring and lots of people keen to run off Mt Maxwell! After Shabe executed a fine forward to start the day, I was next with Connie from Nanaimo. Her son had set up a tandem flight for her birthday and she was excited to paraglide!
Shabe flew into some sharp edged thermals out front and then, smartly, headed right around to the cliffs where he found some smoother stuff before heading out to land. Connie and I found the lift a bit punchy out front as well and spent the rest of our flight flying with some turkey vultures along the treeline out front of the cliffs. Connie was a great passenger and we tip-toe landed to finish the flight.
'Simon' was next in the air for his first SS flight and he was doing great right from the start! I provided some radio instruction and it wasn't long before 'Simon' was getting up over launch. He recently purchased a new Kamasutra II harness so that must have had something to do with his new-found skills.
Wait a second.
"Rick, has Simon launched yet?"
"Uh no. That'd be Lee"
Lee and Simon have the same colour scheme on their Airwave gliders. Doh!
"Lee, turn tighter!"
Anyway, the real Simon then launched and did find some lift and climbed up nicely, getting a feel for the conditions.
Click image for more pics!Rick was last to launch and he didn't waste much time before getting up high over Maxwell where the north winds swirled the air around, adding some serious texture to it.
When everyone else was on the ground and packing up, Rick radioed down that he would come join us for another run.
Back up top, I went first with Holly from Duncan who, with her son Dalton, was scheduled for the DayTaster Course. After a safe launch, we headed for the cliffs and were soon looking down, WAY down on the mountain top. The views from up there were stunning - clear 360 panoramic of the whole island, with Mt Baker, the Coast Mtns, Mt Prevost, Crofton, etc. We spent 20mins or so taking it in before gliding out over Burgoyne Bay for some smoother air. We ended up making it all the way to Bruce Peak and then back to the landing area. Way to go Holly!
Shabe, Lee, and then Rick had another flight with Lee working the rock-climber laden cliff face for quite some time ("Those climbers are nuts!"). Rick, as per usual, climbed up high in the now smoother lift and decided to pass on the next run and just stay flying.
Back up for the third and final round. Dalton's patience paid off as he and I cruised the steep cliffs, getting shouts of encouragement from the climbers. It was more work than on his mom Holly's flight but we eventually climbed up and over, meeting Rick at the limit. The sun was getting lower in the sky but the thermals were still pumping and we flew until Dalton glumly said, "I gotta land so I can go do homework". We didn't get to the solo flying part of Dalton and Holly's DayTaster so that will happen another day.
Simon and then Lee each had another flight and Rick finally landed after clocking some good hours and we all eventually grinned our way home.
Special thanks goes out to Rick's mom Barbara for her impromptu babysitting :)
