Fox River Flying in Nova Scotia

Celebrating our retirement, Judy and I spent over four weeks in the Canadian Maritimes in September. I took my paragliding gear and connected with several local pilots in Nova Scotia, visiting three sites on Cape Breton Island but alas, the wind was too strong to fly. A few days later, we dropped in on the Minas Basin area where I contacted another Nova Scotia Veteran, Brian Wheaton and this time I scored. 
https://vimeo.com/187747468

The Willi XC - Big Distance, Big Air, Big Flights

I just returned from participating in "The Willi XC Challenge",  a hang gliding and paragliding event held annually at the fantastic Mount 7 flying site in Golden, BC.

Busy Launch on Mt. 7

Compared with other comps, this is quite a simple format. Launch and go as far as you can, usually south "down range" above beautiful places like Invermere and Radium Hot Springs. Some pilots have actually flown all the way to the US border, which is over 250 kilometers!

For me it was simply about learning more about flying and doing better than my previous best flight of eighty-six kilometers at the 2015 Willi. 

Winding up in a Thermal

On July 24, the second day of the comp, I flew 146 kilometers to Canal Flats along with sixteen other pilots. The flight took over six hours and the air during the first three hours was some of the most challenging air I'd ever flown in - very turbulent in places with lift of up to eleven meters a second! 

Getting a Ride Back to Golden after an Epic Flight

I've got a great Doarama animation of this flight. Click here to see it. 

The Long, Long Commute

  On Sunday June 26th, I was hired by my friend, Martina Lang (Jetset Paragliding) to do a tandem at Woodside for 1:30 pm. The challenge was that I was also invited by Mt.Waddington's Outdoors to climb and fly Mt. Cheam, departing the store at 9:00 am. How was I going to get to my tandem customer? I arranged with Martina to drop off my tandem gear before I went to meet the hiking gang. Sam did his usual great job of showing the clients many historic and recreation details as we drove up the Chilliwack River Valley. We arrived at the parking lot in time for me to begin the hike at 11:00 am. Setting a steady pace, I make the peak in 1 hour 25 minutes with about 20% of the hike still on snow. The launch area was covered in snow which was really nice and could have accommodated a dozen wings. The wind was coming straight from Lady Peak with very nice 5-15 k cycles.  

 I don't need to write much else as the flight is replay-able using this incredible app called Doarama. Suffice to say, I made it to Mt. Woodside. In fact, I landed on the launch of Mt. Woodside, packed up my solo hiking gear and met my passenger for a great tandem flight. Thanks to Martina Lang and Mt. Waddingtons for making this unusual commute possible!

http://doarama.com/view/819704

Confessions of a Tardy Teacher

The story is here

Butterflies in Mexican Skies - Paragliding in Valle de Bravo, Mexico

After many years of hearing about Valle de Bravo, I finally visited this paragliding mecca from December 26, 2015 until January 3, 2016. The flying was great and got better as the days went on. I learned what it is like to fly with one hundred wings in the same thermal. I knew no one but left with several new friends. The charm and beauty of the town left a permanent imprint on me. I will go back. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. What do you think this video is worth?