Triple Friday

Click photo for more images3 tandems, 3 hrs airtime for Super Dave, and 3 flights each for Russ & Bruce K.


The forecast was for soar-able conditions with cloudy skies and that's what materialized.
The sun never really broke through but lift was plentiful all day.

Russ and I started early by picking up newly wed couple Chan and Tania from the Aerie Resort and then hooking up with his girlfriend, Cat en route. Once at the Prevost landing zone, we met Super Dave and Bruce K. and then up we went.

We were on launch by 9:30 and thermic cycles were already coming through. Russ went off from Main for his first time (way to go Russ!), followed by Super Dave, Bruce K. (from Middle launch), and then Tania and I on tandem.

Russ headed over to the cairn but wasn't able to work the lift that is usually found there and cruised over to the lower ridge, with Bruce not that far behind. Super Dave quickly climbed over the cairn where he remained for most of his 3hr+ flight ('Super' partially refers to stoic bladder).

Click photo for Tania and Chan's Tandem GalleryJust before I launched with Tania, Cat said, "Hey look, Russ is back up!".
I thought she was mistaken but, sure enough, there was Russ, two thousand feet over the LZ after having made a great climb from below! I quickly radioed Bruce to head over to try and catch Russ' thermal (which he did!).

Tania and I quickly caught up to Dave and she was very relaxed in the air as we flew for 40mins or so, spending most of our time just under the 3500' cloudbase. Once we saw Cat and Chan arrive in the LZ for retrieve, we spiralled down, losing a couple thousand feet before landing on the mowed strip.

Russ and Bruce were pretty pumped in the LZ and we quickly headed back up for more.

More of the same for the second run with Chan on tandem this time (you did it Chan!). Thanks to Cat for driving retrieve.

Check out the video taken during Chan's tandem

Click photo for more imagesOn the third and last flights the lift was a little harder to find but Russ and Bruce still managed to gain nicely over the lower clearcuts. Yes, Super Dave was still flying.
Cat was excited for her first tandem but we had to wait for a bit of wind as things had started to die down. It wasn't long before a cycle rolled in and we were off!

Dave had just landed as we reached the lower ridge and there was little if any lift to be found and I was thinking that Cat's flight might be cut short but then we flew into a little bubble, turned, then turned again. This smooth thermal carried us back up high over the mountain and Cat was ecstatic!

Thirty minutes later we spiralled down and joined a very happy bunch of folks.
A great day! (and Happy Birthday Rick!)