Week of May 28 2011 - 5:00pm to Jun 4 2011 - 4:59pm

Only 1 mountain flight, but 45+ Training Hill flights

The wind was strong and cross (as per usual) on Main launch at Mt Prevost so only Rob's daughter, Emily, got to fly with me on tandem. She was totally relaxed in the air as we worked some lift and played over the LZ (like father, like daughter).

We then hit the Training Hill for a good session where Lars, Bev, Duane, Zay, and Rob all had numerous flights. Nice to see Lars and Duane back at the hill!

Finally looking like some summer weather coming our way this weekend :)

Two Tandems and Tonnes of Solos!

First BIG day of flying at Mt Prevost this season happened yesterday on a sunny Sunday with lots of south wind.

We started a little later than we could have, arriving at the LZ at 10am where tandem hopefuls Noah (15th birthday gift from mom, Rebeka) and Amelia from Victoria joined a large crew of solo pilots (Cal, Charlie, Cornell, Lee, Paul, Ian, Chris, Bev, Maurice, and Lars, and others).

On launch the wind was switching between coming in on both Main and Middle with a predominate east cross. After some 'launch-potato-ing' Lee stepped up to the plate and showed everyone that it was most definitely 'on' as he climbed up to base over the cairn.
Standard organized launch chaos ensued.

I helped Bev, Chris, Maurice, and Ian all get airborne from Middle and then all did well, - complete with Bev getting her first high flight of the season and showing great patience in the lifty and south-y LZ, Chris getting his first Prevost solo flight in (what, 30mins of airtime in a less-than-comfy harness position?), Ian showing his increase for bumps, and Maurice contently finding his own thermal and playing. Nice work everyone!

Lars? Where was Lars? He was back at Main watching everyone.
Rick took Amelie for a nice tandem and then the cycles starting getting stronger. The day before at Dallas, Lars had kited for 2 or 3 hours so I set him up on Main. He got airborne just as a cycle was coming through and, after a couple of quick tip tucks, he was clear! Once in the air, Lars did his thing - flying for about an hour, finding lift in all the unusual places. Welcome to Prevost Lars!

Well, it wasn't truly terrifying, but it was . . . interesting is the word, I guess. Interesting enough that three of us (Ian, Audrey and I) got some really excellent experience in staying cool and adjusting our flight plans as weather conditions surprised us and then worsened steadily.

At the beginning of this late May Okanagan trip we all had three uneventful flights off Coopers in Lumby, and my first thought was that there wouldn't be much to write up except for some sled rides. We'd gotten up early on Saturday morning and were on Coopers launch by 8:30 or so. I was first off the mountain for all three flights so I didn't see anyone else launch. Students Chris and Rob were doing forwards, and Ian, Audrey, Hans and I all worked on our light wind reverses. Flights of 8 to 11 minutes, little bits of lift to turn in, easy setups and landings at Randy's LZ. All lovely and peaceful, really. We broke for lunch at Little Tex in Vernon and then headed off to Mara Lake for what we hoped would be some good altitude gains and maybe a little XC. Enderby Cliffs, maybe? I was primed and ready after last year's jaunts with Audrey and Hans. My plan, as I had told Rick before the trip, was to get up, stay up and go someplace.