Sweet Sunday at Prevost!

Click photo for more images
Natalie and Trask get a healthy dose of thermal flying,
Paul and Rick fly east to the Raptor Centre, and I fly south to the Training Hill

I was on the fence this morning as the wind on the ground in Duncan was from the west at 25kph but decided to head up anyway, picking up Rick and Trask on the way.

It was still windy when we arrived in Duncan so we headed to the Garage for some coffee and snacks, hoping the wind would lighten. Less than 30mins later, Kuno called from the LZ wondering where we were.
"It's south here around 10kph".

That was fast. With Paul with us now as well, we headed up the mountain to find nice cycles rolling through Main and Middle and Super Dave already skying out.

Rick and Paul wasted little time setting up and launching from Main and were up at cloudbase before long. Natalie had a nice launch for her 24th solo flight and I guided her through her first real thermals as she linked consecutive 360s, gaining a few hundred feet in the process. Trask was next on deck and executed his first reverse launch and, under radio guidance, he too had his first experience of thermal flying, climbing up nicely over launch height. Way to go you two!

Here's a short video of Trask soaring out front

Kuno was up next and he had his first flight of the season from Mt Prevost, joining Trask for a bit before heading out to land. Welcome back Kuno!

I then pulled out Charlie's AIRWAVE Sport4 in the hopes of taking it for a sustained flight in which to get a feel for its flight characteristics.

I launched from Middle in a light cycle and found nothing but sink all the way to the lower clearcuts where I hooked a nice thermal and rode it up over the southwest corner of the mountain and then cruised up to base over the cairn, where I joined Paul for some cloud surfing. I couldn't see Rick anywhere at this point but Super Dave and another pilot where enjoying the widespread lift.

I flew with Paul for a bit and then finally spotted Rick WAY down near the first switchback (turned out that he'd gotten low after flying over to Mt Sicker and back) patiently working whatever he could find.

Short video I took early in my flight

I then headed over Highway#1 where it intersected with Highway#18 and got a nice climb, gaining enough height to easily make the glide to the Raptor Centre. Even though there was a southeasterly wind in the valley, I decided to try a southerly route and see what I could find over Duncan instead. I didn't have a flight instrument with me so I needed to stay focused and manually find lift and wind indicators if I was going to get very far.

I found some light stuff over the new car dealership but didn't want to turn in anything that wasn't substantial so I pushed on the speed bar and pointed the Sport4 towards Charlie's house.

I gained some height there and then stomped on the bar again, eventually stopping over the middle of town where I got a sustained climb. I noticed a red glider at this point (Don?) who I'm sure was happy to see me climbing as he/she were pretty low. I left at a good height and found another climb southwest of town near the gravel pits.

Click photo for more images I could see the Training Hill in the distance and wondered if I might make it that far? A few climbs later, I was past Jackson Road and on the ground, a happy camper (does anyone say that anymore?). Your Sport4 got me there Charlie!

After I'd landed, I radioed back to the mountain and was told that Natalie and Trask were driving to get me. Perfect.

I then heard from Rick that Paul had flown past the Raptor Centre towards Maple Mountain and then back, landing during one of Gill and Robyn's flying demonstrations! Congrats on your first XC flight there Paul!

Rick had been in the air for over 3hrs at this point and had made it to the east side of Maple Mountain where he was almost tempted to jump over to Saltspring Island but didn't feel he had quite enough height to do so safely so he came back and joined Paul at the Raptor Centre. Great flight Rick!

It was definitely one of the best flying days I've seen at Mt Prevost in my 9 seasons of flying on Vancouver Island and I'm glad we got up there when we did. Our timing was excellent.

We then grabbed a late lunch and stopped in to say hi to Charlie before heading home.

Paul and Rick ended their flying-filled day with some more airtime at Dallas.