Hours at Prevost

Nearly 6 hours of airtime between Rick, Charlie, and Lee and a 45 min tandem flight for Jim!

(Click image for Prevost Photoset #1 -> )

Lee, Rick, and I joined Charlie and DayTaster participant, Jim, in the LZ Thursday morning at 9:30am sharp (after the previous days' early development, we wanted to be on launch a bit sooner). After once again cruising through the snow patches en route to the top, we hiked the last steep stretches and were greeted with 15kph cycles rolling through from the south.

The sky showed upper cirrus cover but cumulus still dominated the lower levels (cloudbase was around 3000'). Rick went first from Middle and quickly headed to the cairn, gaining most of the way there. Lee was next and soon joined Rick and it wasn't long before they were both looking down on the cairn, thermalling together.

Video of Rick's launch:

Charlie helped me get the tandem ready and Jim and I quickly launched off and headed for Lee and Rick. The lift was 'spicy' and Jim and I eventually found a nice thermal over the lower ridge, climbing back up over launch. Charlie didn't waste any time joining Rick over the cairn while Lee began some sky sight seeing - heading south towards Somenos Marsh, back to the lower ridge, topping out again, out west for a bit, back over the golf course, etc.

Rick and Charlie played around the cairn for over an hour before they headed for the LZ. At one point, Rick was actually below powerline height when he hooked into a nice climb and road it all the way back over the cairn!

It was Charlie's third test flight on the MISTRAL 5 and he has averaged nearly 1.5hrs per flight!

Jim and I set down in the active LZ (thermals rolling in from the SE) and joined Cal who was kiting. Cal gave me a quick ride to the first snow patch up the mountain and I hiked the rest of the way back up to retrieve the Delica. By the time I got back down, Lee had just landed, and Rick and Charlie were still flying!

(Click image for Prevost Photoset #2 -> )

A quick lunch and we then headed to the Training Hill where Cal put in a few flights and some kiting practice. After trying his hand at some inflations, Jim managed a nice flight from the top to complete his DayTaster - way to go Jim!


Just as Charlie and Rick decided to leave for Victoria, strong thermals started coming up the Training Hill which changed their minds. Charlie tried out the new KORTEL Kuick harness and made multiple passes above takeoff height.

( <- Click image for Training Hill Photoset)

Video of Charlie playing:

I had the L WAVE training glider out and almost pulled a 360 but there just wasn't enough lift. After being teased with conditions for nearly an hour, I pulled my MUSTANG 2 out of the bag, just missing the strongest, straightest cycle of the day!
Next time...