Honeymoon Tandems

Great flights for newlyweds Maryam and Vadim on Saltspring Island!
We arrived on our sailboat late afternoon on Saturday and met up with Merwan and Romain who brought the van over for us. It was about 5pm or so when Romain, Merwan, and I each had extended sleddies from Maxwell in super smooth air.

The next morning we met the new couple at Rocksalt Cafe and headed up the mountain. Natalie launched first with a solid inflation and good run for the first time from this site - way to go Natalie! Maryam and I were next and were soon in the air and climbing. It wasn't long before we were topping out over the cliffs and enjoying a wonderful view of the entire island!

Click below to see a video taken during Maryam's flight!
Romain, meanwhile, had launched but sunk out near the Fulford-Ganges road, landing in a field next to it. As it turned out, Romain was greeted by the landowners with big smiles and a cold beer. Welcome to Saltspring Romain!

This long weekend was the 31st Annual Saltspring Fly-In and there were many hangglider and a few paraglider pilots out which was good to see. We could see some activity across the valley on Bruce Peak with pilots of both persuasions starting to climb.

After about 30mins or so, Maryam and I glided away from the mountain towards Cusheon Lake where Maryam and Vadim were staying. We then cruised over to Fulford Harbour before landing at the airstripe in tricky conditions.

At this point, my only concern was Vadim. What if the conditions weren't as nice for him? We would have to see...

Shabe, Merwan, and Pierre had all flown from Bruce by then and were heading for lunch but I decided to go tandem with Vadim and eat later.

On launch, conditions were still good and again, Natalie launched first, finding some lift and putting in a few turns before heading out to land.

Vadim and I had one safe abort before taking to the air and gliding alongside the stunning Maxwell cliffs. We got below launch a few times and I had to work much harder than on Maryam's flight but we eventually climbed up high, giving Vadim some great views. Near 3600' we met up with long-time hangglider pilot, Les and I took a photo of him coring away. After some time above Maxwell, I decided to try and follow the route that Maryam and I had flown earlier and, as luck would have it, we had a nearly identical flight path! Vadim was keen for some G's so I put us in a spiral dive high over the landing strip before straightening out and touching down softly.

Click below to see a video taken during Vadim's flight!
What a great way to celebrate their honeymoon!

And, to end the day, Merwan clocked 1.5hrs, soaring high over Maxwell on only his second flight from the site!

Today was Paul's birthday but he had to work so we celebrated it for him :)