Woodside February 22

The days are getting longer and the sun stronger, but the air is still cold!

The clouds were forming behind launch and drifting towards us in the light east wind.

Lots of clouds around and it was actually raining on the way out, but it dried up for the most part and was flyable for 3-4 hours today.  Cloudbase was still low...about 900m in the afternoon, but the lift was smooth and abundant.  The bald eagles were out in force today doing their talon-grab-tumbling routine but they ignored us for the most part.

Once again not quite XC-able, although Martin, Al, and James headed over to Sasquatch Mountain to try their luck, no joy and they all landed at the golf course.  A few others flew across the river to see if there was any/much lift on the Chilliwack side and returned pretty low.  I decided to play with the clouds and try for some "glory" shots.

A beautiful day amongst the clouds and watching rainbows over Agassiz Mountain.  Lots of moisture in the air after yesterday's and this morning's rain but the sun actually had some strength to it now; XC season is just around the corner!

Had a bit of icing after the cloud-surfing!

Woodside February 16

My first flight of the new year, and my first in 4 months.  I was feeling a bit rusty and the thermals were a bit on the weak side at first, so it was a struggle for me to finally get high after almost an hour groveling below launch and almost sinking out.  Martin and I had an awesome low save from 99m AGL directly over the Riverside LZ.  Most others sunk out (although Peter top-landed) and drove up for flight #2.

The air finally strengthened and it turned into a glorious 3 hour flight in the late winter air.  We had oodles of bald eagles out playing with us as the clouds formed.  Not quite strong enough to go XC, but it was good to get my gear sorted out and the cobwebs cleared for the upcoming XC season!

Woodside's new haircut directly below launch.