3 sites for 4 pilots

Click image for more photos!VIsland and SSpring Island Flying

Lee, P.Mac, Greg, and I headed to Saltspring this morning since Prevost was still closed (or so we thought) and headed up Lower Bruce. After laying out amongst the foxgloves that had invaded launch, Lee went first and, even though the sky was blanketed with cloud, still managed to climb up in the house thermal and drift out and up over the valley nicely. He considered heading for Maxwell but came back for an easier retrieve. P.Mac then added another solo flight to his list - making further progress towards his Novice rating.

Greg and I drove down and picked up the pilots, then we all drove up and hiked down to the Maxwell launch. It was cranking in when we arrived, doing its usual left-cross thing so having P.Mac fly was not an option.

Lee set up and waited for a lull of some kind and took one when it presented itself. He then headed right and it was active-flying time from that point on. He bagged nearly an hour, showing good poise in the challenging conditions. There was a distinct Fulford wind by this point and the strong thermals were getting blown apart by the even stronger valley wind.

For a while now I've though of bringing the Alpine Extreme up to Maxwell and launching it from the more-challenging and, as a result, unused west facing cliff. The predominant cycles blow in here and the LZ is an easy glide so it seemed practical.

I laid out the glider and, with Greg's help, inflated it up from the line-catching rock and into the air. P.Mac has some photos, I believe.

I was actually able to stand on the edge for a moment before launching (the glider is that easy to control) and flew off into a strong thermal. Having only flown the glider at Dallas in strong but laminar winds, I was unfamiliar with thermalling it and probably could have stayed up longer otherwise. I flew beside and below Lee before gliding out to the LZ with some height.

I was surprised by the amount of sink I encountered and then noticed the swirling grass below. The valley wind had increased and become gusty.

I controlled the glider right down to the ground and radioed the conditions to Lee. I actually was unable to kite the glider into the shade under the garry oaks so I told Lee to be very active on the controls.

He set up about a third of the way into the field and crabbed along his baseline nicely. The gusts seemed to be holding off until he was about 10' from touching down when one slivered down the field towards him.

"Here it comes" I radioed.

Being on the higher performing Cobra, the strong gust hit his wing and collapsed a section of it.

"Brakes down to the ground!" I urged him.
He did so and swung back and then forward, landing fine.

"Definitely not student conditions!" he said in his calm, air traffic controller way.
"Agreed."

Charlie then texted me to say that he had headed up Mt Prevost at 11am when he saw some hang gliders getting up and he flew in smooth, strong conditions for nearly two hours. Maxwell was flyable but Prevost was the better call.

How long will the gate stay open?