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Okanagan Tour - Saturday, July 19th
Everyone was pretty tired after the trip so we just settled in, had dinner and called it a night. The next morning we were up on Coopers launch in Lumby with light cycles coming up early. Kuno launched first and, surprisingly, got above launch height for a bit. Everyone had good launches and safe flights down to Randy's LZ. On the second round, conditions had strengthened on takeoff and, as is often the case with students, Hans and Trask both flew straight into lift and got high over launch with little effort. I talked them both through some 360s and they did quite well. Trask wandered a bit, drifting back in his thermal and got a taste of rotor - but his stable Arcus looked after him with nothing more than a minor tip tuck. Hans found lift pretty much the whole way to the LZ and patiently did figure eights until low enough to go on final. Natalie spent some time on the lower ridge, soaring back and forth hoping for something to take her up but it wasn't to be. Kuno launched and again caught some good lift and conditions had definitely strengthened. Phil and Chris decided to sit this one out and drive down for us so I told our visiting Frenchman Romain to suit up! It wasn't long before his experience shone through and he was high over launch. He actually flew to Lumby Ridge and back twice then over to the Saddle and back twice again! No vario, no speed bar, and an unfamiliar student glider still gave him a 2hour flight! I had a rare opportunity to fly solo and clipped into my Mustang2 and took to the air. Randy the local hanggliding guru had launched before me and was about 500' below launch so that wasn't a good sign. It took me over 20mins but I eventually got over launch and drifted back over the clearcuts behind launch before making the glide over to Lumby Ridge. I spotted Randy at this point far below me but not losing much height and, way further down the ridge, Romain was scratching around above town. I hooked into my best thermal of the day on the highest point of the ridge and Randy quickly joined me. Smooth and strong, this thermal got me up to cloudbase (about 9000'). Romain, meanwhile, had caught his own thermal and was doing fine so I left him and Randy and glided to the Saddle. As per normal, it was working nicely over there and I was soon back up near base. I then radioed down to the crew and told them to grab lunch. I pushed out towards Rawlings Cliffs and arrived with lots of height (which was a good thing as the thermals there were weak and disorganized). Not wanting to deal with retrieve if I bombed out, I decided to head back to Lumby. I was impatient at this point and really should have stayed at Rawlings and got more height. Oh well. I had a head wind as I tried to glide back to the Saddle and knew I wouldn't make it but I liked the look of the sunny side slopes. I arrived half way below or less and was setting up to land when I thought I'd try the small gravel clearing and got a little bump. And then a small hawk joined me and together we climbed all the way back up to base! It is moments like this that will keep me flying for many years to come. I spotted Randy again at this point and we both went on glide back to Coopers - him much lower than myself. It was a bit rough over there at this point so we came back to the Saddle, then I went back to Lumby Ridge, etc. I thought of heading towards Vernon but was getting hungry so I decided to cut my flight short. I saw Romain setting up to land, so I spiralled down to join him.
Conditions were a bit cross from the north on launch but everyone got into the air safely and enjoyed the super smooth air that is often found at Mara late in the day. By the time Romain and I had driven down, we were greeted by a happy bunch of pilots :)
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