2003 Testimonial from John Christholm:

I'll say it again to those who couldn't make it this year ……You missed a good one!!

Congratulations to Max, Frank and John (and I'm sure there are many others) on another great event. It was my second year in a row attending the Lakeside and they were surprisingly able to out do last years. Everyone was impressed, including family and friends, on how professionally organized it was with 80 pilots registered and all the activities planned. I'm sure there would have been a lot more pilots there if it wasn't for the fires and road issues, but the turn out was still great. The comment you kept hearing from everyone this year was…… "All this for just 35 bucks"

The Event started Friday evening with most of the pilots showing up for the "drop in party" at the local airport. I was surprised to see so many people there that evening with the road closures at hand, but
when there's free beer and bratwurst…..who would guess?? The organizers had arranged for an equipment expo as well, with Muller Windsporst, Paraglide Canada, and SkyRide putting on their displays…. (and that's when I met eyes with that new U2 hang glider….that's another story). It was also enjoyable to
stroll down to one of the hangers to find a large group of people enjoying live music from a local group. They were playing classical and a little classic rock, made up of a cello, violin and drums. It was a great environment to meet up with some old friends, make some new, and exchange stories about that big one they rode to cloud base that year.

Next morning everyone was up fairly early to prepare for the day. Hang gliders had to be dropped off by 9:00am in order to have their glider air lifted up to launch on Mt. Swansea by a local helicopter pilot. What a gift this was, there was no way I was going to miss out on this one. I carried my glider up top a couple of year's back and almost lost a lung…. I guess I've been spoiled over the years by the road to the top of Golden. Next we were off to the lake and the Lakeside Pub where the event was being held. They had arranged a breakfast for us on the beach field with all the fixings, and a bright blue day to start things off. At that time you could see the pilots (especially the new hangies ) grouping together scouting the "LZ" and discussing all the possible approaches. That's another thing we're spoiled by at Golden , the enormous object free LZ. The old "bat senses" sure start to tingle when you realize here your going to be dealing with water, buildings, boats and big gallery of spectators watching you gently bring it in …..Yes! gently.
Next we had a quick pilots meeting where a number of people were introduced, rules were noted, T-shirts were handed out, and local sponsors and volunteers were thanked. By that time around 50 paraglilders and 30 hang gliders pilots had registered for the event. The spot landing markers were then pointed out, with the hang gliders tube about 50 feet off shore in 3 feet of water with a couple of rescue boats on standby which was comforting to see. While the paragliders landed on the beach in a kiddie pool………not hard to see here that it must be a couple of "bag pilots" organizing this one. For those pilots who chose to land at the local LZ below launch, there was also a spot landing contest set up there as well…..I think free beer was first prize for that one. Once the speeches were made, a last quick look around the field, and a few pep talks to ensure we could pull this off, we all started to head up to launch. If needed, they had also arranged drivers and trucks to take us up top as well …(one could get use to all this).

Arriving on top with your glider already there waiting for you is a sight which is hard to explain,
especially just after that lovely bit of a climb to the top. This year they had cleared some extra room so there was lots of space for everyone to setup. On top again it was great to see all the help from the volunteers, a launch director in contact with the Lakeside, wire assists, photographers on launch and on the beach taking pictures that we could later buy, a new flour guy(gal) to indicate wind direction (Jim the regular "flour guy" couldn't make it up the hill this year due to knee surgery - I've been told he's done it for the past 14 years). There was even a local cable station up top filming the event as well. The day was looking great with blue skies, a few CU's, and local sail planes buzzing above. The plan for the day was to launch, do a few circles and then head for the beach to keep things moving. At the start of the day with a light south wind, the paragliders were launching off the south side, while the hang gliders went off the north ramp whenever a cycle would come in. A few of us didn't hang around and launched right away….I wanted to get down early so I could watch everyone else come in. The glide to the beach is about 5:1 so there is no problem getting there, it just looks far once your in the air and you don't have the comfort of your vario beeping to help you up and along (varios and water don't mix).

One of the pictures, which stick in my mind the most, was as I made it closer to the lake I could now see all the spectators that had come out to see us. There were quite of few boats forming a semi-circle off shore to get a good view the targets, and a large number of people spread out on the beach waiting for us to come in. At that point I was thinking …."Gee! this is a lot smaller than Golden's LZ, I sure hope this works out". As I was circling above it was also neat to hear the music below on the load speaker system, with Tihi (master of ceremonies) entertaining the crowd and introducing the pilots as they made their way over the beach. It brought a smile to my face as I worked my way in, heard Tihi say my name, where I was from, and explained my approach to the crowd……"Boy! Now I really hope this works out!" Usually when we fly and are coming in for landing you might be lucky if there's a couple of other pilots and a few horses to witness your landing. This time there seemed to be the whole town and a parade going on for us down there. It was great to hear the crowd applauding as we made our shot at the target while looking for that big splash. There were lots of curious on lookers who have never seen the sport before. So once we dragged ourselves up onto the beach they were now getting a chance to talk with the pilots, see the equipment up close, and have the sport explained in general….. I'm sure many of them walked away with a little more respect for the sport as well.

The rest of the afternoon was spent drying out, sitting back and watching the other pilots make their attempts at the targets. By that time the wind had picked up fairly good from the south. This put a delay on the pilot activity over the beach for a while, with 50 plus pilots on hold on launch waiting for things to calm down. During that time Tihi and the volunteers did a great job of entertaining the crowd with games and contests, with both pilots and visitors participating together. This worked out great for I'm sure we would have lost a lot of the crowd by the time people started flying again. It took a couple of hours before the winds started to calm, and at that time the sky was full of "bags" and "hangies" once again….. The Event was back on. It's great to sit back and watch your buddies come in, guys like "Was he dragging a Backhoe off launch - Clarkson", or "Is that guy doing a wing over, or did a cable break? - Herten", just to name a couple. It took the next couple of hours for all the pilots to make their way in with the stronger winds from the south, so things lasted to around 6:00pm.

Once all the pilots were in and the crowds went home, it was time for the dinner buffet inside the Lakeside Pub. The organizers had really out did themselves on this one by putting on a great meal with all the fixings. Pilots, family, and friends ate like Kings and Queens then sat back with bellies full, and exchanged stories of day. By that time the photos of the Pilots taken on launch and around the beach were ready for us to have a look at as well. The meal and stories went on for couple of hours and then it was time for the various awards and prizes to be presented. This year to add to the usual spot landing awards for both Hang gliders and Paragliders, they had added a few extra titles to be won and demonstrations to be made. Such as the….Mr. & Mrs. 27th Lakeside event crowning…….The biggest Ka hoo naa's…….Volunteer appreciation prizes …….a Thong pageant…..and the Mating ritual of a male loon - put on by three attractive ladies and Jim the "flour guy" (you had to be there for that one!)……to name a few. After all the awards and thank yous were made it was then time for the band TR3 to entertain everyone with some new and some oldies to dance and party the night away. The dance floor was full from start to until closing, with everyone having a great time.
Again, all you heard from everyone was …….." All this for just 35 bucks"

The Lakeside Event is more of a social gathering than a competition. It is not how high or how far you can go, but who can make the biggest splash. It is set up for all skill levels to enjoy the weekend and to have a good time with family and friends. It's an Event that without the many sponsors and volunteers it would not be able to happen ……So a big Thank you to all of them. Next year we shouldn't have the fire issues to deal with, so I can only see the Event getting larger and larger, with hopefully over a 100 pilot to show.

See you in the lake……..John

2002 Testimonials

John Janssen:
The 26 annual Lakeside Event took place on Aug. 10/02. I was out there with my family and everyone had a great time. This event is fantastic for the non fliers as well as the pilots. The beach is the landing area and also the spectator gallery. You really have to consider this one for next year. Even if you are not ready to fly there yet, you should come out to watch the splashdowns from the beach! I hope to have some pictures of the event to send out soon.