Rookie of the Year 2022

[Martin Zak]

Hello WCSC members!

This year we have an opportunity to award Rookie of the Year to some aspiring pilot.

The award represents the development of safe fundamental piloting skills and contribution to the community.

Please send your nomination to events@westcoastsoaringclub.com (or post here) by Sunday 11th of December.
Afterward, we will post a poll here, and members can vote for the Rookie of the Year.

Please send us where the pilot flies and, ideally, a photo.

Thank you for your submissions!

Note: Only pilots signed off this year are eligible.

[Martin Zak]

Here are all the nominated rookies. It's great to see all the new passionate and engaged pilots that will surely take the community and sport forward. Although only one gets the award, they have all proven their character, attitude, and skills. Make sure to say Hi the next time you meet them on the launch!

Aga

Aga did her first tandem flight with Derek last year and since then she was hooked. Aga is a very keen fit and joyful young lady. She plays in a women's soccer league and manages a landscaping business where she works outdoors using heavy tools . Aga is a caring and attentive person who would jump in to help others in a blink of an eye. When another student landed in a bush and spread their paraglider on a tree she drove her truck with landscaping tools which made the rescue a trivial job.
Aga is a great addition to our flying community!!
Aga flies in Fraser Valley, and graduated from Solaris School.

Babak Farahifar

Babak has about 30 hours of flight and about 80 flights. He got signed off in the spring and flew different launches such as Woodside, Bridal, Benny, Pemby, Revy, Blue Grouse, KE, Coopers, Mara Lake, and Mt Cheam. He has graduated from Fly BC.

Malcolm Goodman

I would like to nominate Malcolm Goodman. Since he has been flying this season I have witnessed a huge improvement in flying and decision making as well as going XC. He has actively sought out mentorship from his peers. He has always been keen to make himself available for most work parties to help out and lend a hand and do retrieves. He has a great attitude and a genuine love for the sport.
These are the qualities that I love to see in the younger generation coming up in the ranks. The willingness to put in the hard work to improve our community. He has graduated from XC Paragliding.

[Martin Zak]

Moon “Machine” Choi

He has now over 160 hours in about 5-6 months and flying all over BC and now in the USA at Marshal / Crestline. Flown from Benny to WS on his own. Moon took a chair on the HPAC Safety committee (as he is a medical doctor). Moon has already performed several top landings. His nickname “Machine” comes from quirky gadgets he has brought to launch (like a laser thermometer). He has graduated from XC Paragliding.


Nenad

Nenad started flying 30 years ago, back when wings looked like scary parachutes . He didn't continue at that time as life had other intentions for him.
After many years, he finally decided to go back to the beautiful sport which he had never lost passion for.
On his first session, he came with his 1988 Firefly and the original harness made only out of straps in which you hang in the upright position for the entire flight !
Ned quickly realized that he couldn't just refresh his knowledge and skills from an obsolete time, so he took a full P2 course!
He committed to each weekend and missed a class only once due to organizing a music festival in the Serbian Community.
During his training, Ned was a great student. He listened to his instructors, assisted with the setup and organized gear on each session. He tried his best to improve in every session, progressing from landing the glider in bushes in calm air on a large field to nailing his spot landings with precision. Above all, Ned is very caring and mindful; he always makes sure everyone is okay and offers help to others in need. When a pilot crashed in August, Ned aided in searching for the downed pilot. He was among the first few people that found the pilot, making sure that the pilot was uninjured. He came to our local work party to help upgrade the spur road to the launch site. Nenad knows a dozen languages and he surprises everyone by speaking their native tongue, making people comfortable and establishing great first impressions.
Nenad is a great addition to our flying community!!
Nenad flies in Fraser Valley, and graduated from Solaris School.

[Martin Zak]

Please find the voting on the top.

Thank you for submitting and voting!

Looking forward to meeting all the new outstanding pilots!

[James604]

This is awesome!!!!!

Congrats to all the nominated rookies, none of who will be rookies for long by the looks of their motivation for the sport and community.
Thanks to Martin, Greg, and crew for getting this award off the ground.

Hope you see ya on launch soon,

James

[AlexR]

What a great group of new pilots.
Hard choice!

[Martin]

Well the Paragliding Community spawns out students like a out of control puppy mill, I want to put forward a name for a Rookie Hang Glider pilot of the year....

This pilot demonstrated a safe attitude, advancing well with his skills, a real contributor to our Hang Gliding Community, a full member in the WCSC and first on any list when there's a call for a work party!

Nick Rolleman should be recognized has our WCSC Hang Glider Pilot Rookie of the year!

Comrade Martin

[Martin Zak]

I, unfortunately, cannot edit the poll and add more options. It would erase all the votes so far.

Here is another nomination that unfortunately arrived late. Nevertheless, It's still worth meeting Chris Phillips!

Chir Phillips
Chris Phillips is 32 years old from Squamish British Columbia. He loves camping, the outdoors and rock climbing. He did his first paraglide flight ever as a tandem with Guy Herrington and S2SPG in 2022. Chris enjoyed it so much that he immediately signed up for lessons and within about a solid month or so completed his P2 course. Since then he has flown many different sites around BC and really enjoys hike and fly. You can expect to see a lot more flying from this guy who clearly fell in love with sport! Chris humbly says, "Can't think of anything so we'll just go with I'm a guy who paraglides, among other things."...so we filled in the gaps for him. Cheers Chris and welcome to paragliding.

[Moon Choi]

Hi, everyone!

My post is a bit long, so if you are a TLDR person, just check out the youtube videos of the rookie flights!

First of all, I am very honored to find my name among the coolest rookies in BC!

I've had several pleasurable flights with both Malcolm and Babak. Both are wonderful flying buddies and blossoming pilots.
My glide paths have not yet crossed those of the other three rookie pilots. Nevertheless, I am sure in time we all will share the same air.

As a member of WCSC, I have cast my one vote for Malcolm. He is a very friendly young man who genuinely loves the tranquility of flying PG. He is generous in lending hands to WCSC's repair/maintenance work for the Woodside launch. He is very good at finding thermals and staying up. I call him, "the thermal sniffer". Malcolm deserves the title of Rookie of the Year much more than me.
Below is the video of his low save at Benny. (I had a subsequent video of him climbing out nicely but I can't find it!)
https://youtube.com/shorts/74wnRKKZscs?feature=share

Babak is also a good pilot! However, both Babak and I are much older than Malcolm, so my vote went to the young one with incredible potential to climb higher and glide further.
The video is Babak's landing at Miracle valley school field. Nicely getting out of the harness and loading the chest strap before landing! Good job~
https://youtu.be/jqy2HyS7TYc

And about me! I consider myself "Lucky of the year". My first luck was being taught by genuinely caring instructors - Al, John, and Dominic.

As some of you may know, I am not entirely new to paragliding - I flew PG from the age 8 to 14. So in that sense, I could be "the cookie of the year". Al had to 'hammer' out some of my old habits and retrain me to fly properly with newer gear and with an adult body. My second luck was good flying friends/mentors - John, Cat, Scott, Arlen, and Greg to name a few. They inspired me to go further and showed me the art of knowing when going further is not okay. After getting my P2, I mainly flew in the interior of BC, so I have not met many WCSC pilots yet. But all of those WCSC pilots that I did meet were wonderful mentors and friends who bestowed me with a sense of belonging to the community. To name a few, Alex, Tony, and Peter, thank you!

Too much luck to list all, but here are some:

-Fun luck: 4-hour tandem flight at Revy with Mac (Might it be a record tandem flight at Revy???); A pleasurable 7.5-hour flight with a top landing for snacking at Revy as a fresh P2; Trying three new launches in Clear Water and giving them names on RASP;

- Scary luck: Downwind gliding over inversion clocking 85 km/hr at Granite mountain in Clear Water; Being catapulted into the air from the rose position (unplanned throw and go) at Kahana launch with the base wind blowing 35~45 km/hr + gusts;

- Cool luck: Flying over smoke at Cheam Peak and gliding to Harrison with Malcolm and Babak as well as Alex and James! It's a 360 video so use your mouse to check out other pilots! Try to see if you can spot Malcolm, Babak, Alex, and Peter!
https://youtu.be/i32oZswh4qc
Malcolm and I decided to glide out. The smoke-induced inversion produced a fast headwind once we crossed the river and dropped below the inversion. Malcolm landed safely in the farm field near Harrison. I was able to continue gliding further toward the beach, but hit a brick wall with the venturi, and landed flying backward at about 10km/h (brought back memories of my childhood flying at 37kg AUW). In the video, you can hear radio chatter of Malcolm advising Alex and other pilots not to fly to Harrison.
https://youtu.be/MCudDtIYKv8

There are many more equally interesting and scary moments - but in the end, my luck prevailed. Not a single scratch, but lessons learned. So I am confident that I am "Luckie of the year" and "Cookie of the year"
One can only be a rookie once, but there is no limit to being the lucky one, right?

Congratulations to all the nominees and to the one who gets the trophy! Let's fly safe, support WCSC, and enjoy the free flights for years to come.

Thank you, everyone. See you soon in the air!

[Jeremy Séguin]

Congratulations to all the rookies of the year, and the years to come! Looking forward to seeing you all on the hill soon - and the oldies too!
Merry Christmas, happy new year and all the other wishes!

[Greg Martin]

CONGRATULATIONS MALCOM !
I would also like to congratulate all of the nominees, I'm sure it was difficult decision. Thanks to everyone who participated as well. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in the air next season.