Checking Houston weather

At the moment Im in Houston on one of those supershort 22 hour layovers of a Lufthansa work trip. It is hot and humid with low cloudbase, I guess we might see some storms when we leave tonight.
I wont be gone for long, I will just go home, pick up my harness and equipment for the worlds and hop on the same flight this Friday. My glider has already gone to Regina and Primoz, they take it over to Big Spring, so I only have to worry about getting myself there.
I will keep you posted with photos and updates about the trip, the training days in Big Spring and the worlds. I hope we will get a camera team over so I can bring some film footage back home.

More photos

After having been pulled across the field in my paraglider today, I had to accept that it was even too blown out for a bit of groundhandling. The perfect wind though to take some portrait photos in the surrounding of the old Munich airport in some of my favourite Adidas outfits.
Then I broke down my hangglider and folded it into the box, it is ready to be taken to Texas for the worlds now. It only took me about 15 minutes to pack it all up, a record time! I hope the set up in Big Spring wont take much longer. I will leave next week and fly to Houston, visit Yulia, Robin and the Hamilton kids and then drive up to Big Spring with Robin. He is the top ranked British pilot and had even flown some world records in Texas, so I hope to get some good advice on the flying during the drive up.

Nachdem ich heute mit meinem Gleitschirm über die Wiese gezerrt wurde, mußte ich einsehen, daß es selbst für Bodenhandling zu windig ist. Perfekter Wind aber für Portraitfotos! Auf dem alten Riemgelände gab es gute Plätze, wo ich mit einigen meiner Lieblings-Adidas-Outfits herumspringen konnte.
Hinterher hab ich in 15 Minuten Rekordzeit meinen Drachen kurzgepackt und in der Kiste verstaut. Er fliegt nächste Woche mit Regina nach Las Vegas, von dort fährt das Team nach Big Spring zur WM. Ich muß noch arbeiten, fliege aber einen Tag später nach Houston. Ich freue mich schon auf Robin Hamilton und seine Familie. Letztes Mal haben mich die 5 und 3jährigen Jungs den halben Tag durch den Pool gejagt ;) Mit Robin werde ich dann von Houston nach Big Spring fahren und hoffe, auf dieser Tour einiges über die Gegend zu erfahren. Robin ist der beste britische, wohnt in Texas und hat dort schon einige Weltrekorde geflogen.

Photos and more

Thursday I got the message that my new Litespeed 3.5s sail had arrived at Michi Friesenbichlers place in Graz, so I packed my gear, jumped into the car and raced to Graz. At least I intended to. Since the summer holidays have started in Europe, there are traffic jams everywhere, expecially down south. With me in the middle of it.
Late I arrived in Birkfeld, found the sail, went on to Graz to pick up Jamie and kept driving with her to Greifenburg. We arrived at 1am and were very happy that Bettina had already prepared some beds for us where we could crash.
The next day was one of the hottest days of the year, and I had to put the new sail on my glider. Many drops of sweat landed on the crispy new sail... but with Jamies and Herberts help we finally got the sail on, met a Journalist from Frankfurter Rundschau who is going to write an article about my flying and went up Emberger Alm together after having checked the weather.
The prediction was for strong southwesterlies, and when we arrived at takeoff, I decided it is too strong to fly. Even the German League had cancelled the day already, a good decision.
We sat down in Wolfgangs Cafe and started talking about everything connected to flying. We waited for the photographer, but even when he arrived at 4pm, the wind was still too strong, so we drove down again and started putting on all the stickers: Red Bull, Adidas, Timezone and Lizard.
The next morning, we started at 5.20 am and went up Emberger Alm, because the light is best in the morning and evening Samo the photographer said. I set up my beautiful new glider, all alone, just a curious fox looking at us, and Samo fixed his camera.
At 8am, there was enough wind from the right direction to take off even with the heavy camera equipment. I had a remote control for the camera and took about 300 (!) shots on the way down. We were very pleased with the first results, great new action shots for the Red Bull photo files! At 10.30, I took off the second time, now the camera on the keel. I managed to just get up above take off, but with the heavy camera I got tired pretty fast and decided to safely land and save my energy for the third and last flight.
Samo got a radio and told me how to fly where so he could take some photos from the ground, while i took some more pics in the air, flying around steep rocks.
I was exhausted when I landed, but after a red bull I had enough energy for the portrait photos. They also turned out really nice, so the long day of work had been successful.
On the way back to Munich, Jamie and I stopped in the mountains and found some fresh chanterelle and porcini mushrooms for dinner- I used them for risotto. The last porcini mushroom we found was nearly too perfect to eat!
At the moment, Im on my way to Frankfurt because I have to work tomorrow, flying to Bangalore. I already look forward to some great food!Photos and more
Thursday I got the massage that my new Litespeed 3.5s sail had arrived at Michi Friesenbichlers place in Graz, so I packed my gear, jumped into the car and raced to Graz. At least I intended to. Since the summer holidays have started in Europe, there are traffic jams everywhere, expecially down south. With me in the middle of it.
Late I arrived in Birkfeld, found the sail, went on to Graz to pick up Jamie and kept driving with her to Greifenburg. We arrived at 1am and were very happy that Bettina had already prepared some beds for us where we could crash.
The next day was one of the hottest days of the year, and I had to put the new sail on my glider. Many drops of sweat landed on the crispy new sail... but with Jamies and Herberts help we finally got the sail on, met a Journalist from Frankfurter Rundschau who is going to write an article about my flying and went up Emberger Alm together after having checked the weather.
The prediction was for strong southwesterlies, and when we arrived at takeoff, I decided it is too strong to fly. Even the German League had cancelled the day already, a good decision.
We sat down in Wolfgangs Cafe and started talking about everything connected to flying. We waited for the photographer, but even when he arrived at 4pm, the wind was still too strong, so we drove down again and started putting on all the stickers: Red Bull, Adidas, Timezone and Lizard.
The next morning, we started at 5.20 am and went up Emberger Alm, because the light is best in the morning and evening Samo the photographer said. I set up my beautiful new glider, all alone, just a curious fox looking at us, and Samo fixed his camera.
At 8am, there was enough wind from the right direction to take off even with the heavy camera equipment. I had a remote control for the camera and took about 300 (!) shots on the way down. We were very pleased with the first results, great new action shots for the Red Bull photo files! At 10.30, I took off the second time, now the camera on the keel. I managed to just get up above take off, but with the heavy camera I got tired pretty fast and decided to safely land and save my energy for the third and last flight.
Samo got a radio and told me how to fly where so he could take some photos from the ground, while i took some more pics in the air, flying around steep rocks.
I was exhausted when I landed, but after a red bull I had enough energy for the portrait photos. They also turned out really nice, so the long day of work had been successful.
On the way back to Munich, Jamie and I stopped in the mountains and found some fresh chanterelle and porcini mushrooms for dinner- I used them for risotto. The last porcini mushroom we found was nearly too perfect to eat!
At the moment, Im on my way to Frankfurt because I have to work tomorrow, flying to Bangalore. I already look forward to some great food!

The big flight, part 2

Once I got up to 3600m and was nearly at the main ridge, with a small cloud street in front of me, I thought now or never. The southwester pushed me across to the Pinzgau side and I even found some decent lift again, calm enough to take some photos with my mobile phone and send a text message to my friend so he knew he could start driving north now. Soon his answer came and I was grateful for such a perfect day.
IN Pinzgau, there were not many clouds around, but a sailplane showed me the next lift which took me up high enough to at least make it to Kitzbuehel. I got really low there, but since there are huge, perfect landing fields and it´s on the way home anyway, I didnt mind too much. When I found the perfect spot to land and had just opened my harness, I caught a bit of lift again. Hm, I stayed in it, and it turned into a great 3m up, in the middle of the valley, just in front of Wilder Kaiser. Up at 2700m I decided it is time to head further north, since I could see some nice clouds out in the Koessen valley.
It was easy to cross Hochries, I had a look at the landing field, then I turned west to find a nice place to land close to my friends car. In Brannenburg, just next to the Autobahn, I found the perfect spot,, and it even had a big tree in it so I could pack up the glider in the shade.
Later I found out that it was 151km that I flew, over some of the most spectacular, scenic mountains of the European Alps. The flight of my dreams had come true!

New photos

After two days of solid work, Im happy to present you the first result. The new sail, great stickers- and really high quality professional photos! I have to go to Bangalore now for work, so there will be more when I get back on Wednesday.

The dream came true/Der Traumflug

So finally I get to write about the great flight from Sunday. At the moment, central Europe experiences a heat wave with extremely hot air that provides us with quite strong southwesterly winds and turbulent thermals. When I flew on Tuesday, I had to land near Koessen and hitchhike back to my car - good to have such a humbling trip after such an exciting long one on Sunday.
After the conditions in the northern Alps were already quite blue, slow and uncomfortable on Saturday, Ute, Stefan, Yves and I decided to drive to Greifenburg in the evening. Even though we only had one day, it looked like it would be worth it. At noon we could take off, and for the first time this year I could climb up to 3000m! What a feeling, especially on a day with clear air and about 50km visibility.
I was flying with Hans Kiefinger and Semmo, together we flew along Annaschutzhaus and crossed over to Zettersfeld in Lienz. There our flights parted. Semmo went south towards Italy while Hans and I were fascinated with the view of Grossglockner, the king of Austria´s mountains. Since the valley breeze always reaches very high in the Matrei valley, I stayed high and flew quite far in the back of the high range. When I was north of Rotenkogel at 3600m and felt 23km/h southwesterly winds pushing me towards the main ridge of the alps, my heart was beating with joy and excitement. Carefully I went further and further north, staying as high as I could to avoid turbulence, until I could look into the Pinzgau valley.
Now or never, so I dove across the range with the majestic Grossglockner to my right. Cloudbase was just at it´s top, so not as high as you would wish for. ooops- now I just heard that my new sail arrived, I have to leave and drive to Graz to pick it up, put it on my glider and enjoy the brand new Litespeed 3.5 s in world championship shape! sorry guys, I promise I will write the full story later.

Flight of my Dreams! Der Traumflug!

Yesterday an old dream of mine came true - I crossed the main ridge of the alps in Austria, just next to Grossglockner, the highest Austrian mountain! I think I am the first woman to have crossed that impressive ridge in a hangglider. I will write more details and show more pictures of the flight soon.

Gestern wurde ein lang gehegter Traum von mir endlich wahr. Es gelang mir, den Alpenhauptkamm zu überqueren, direkt neben dem Großglockner, dem höchsten Berg Österreichs! Ich bin glaub ich die erste Frau, der das in einem Drachen gelingt. Mehr Details über den Flug und noch mehr Fotos gibt es demnächst.

Swiss Championships/Schweizer Meisterschaft

Another national championships just finished, and the Swiss have a new Champion: Chrigel Maurer won the only taks of the Swiss Nationals in Gstaad! The young PWC winner had a blast with his hangglider and only just started last year, now in his first comp he has beaten Christian Voiblet and Richy Meier!
The weather only allowed one task of 102 km which Chrigel finished with an average speed of 49,39 km/h, certainly a bit faster than with his paraglider.
I dont know if Chrigel will participate in the Texas worlds on the Swiss national team, that would certainly be one of the strongest teams with so many good pilots. Last year in Fiesch I had the chance to watch Chrigel playing around with his paraglider when I had already decided to pack up my hangglider because the wind was too strong. The 25 year old swiss pilot has incredible joy and talent for anything that flies, in the Red Bull Vertigo Acro World Championships he came 2nd in Synchro Class. I hope we will meet him more often in hanggliding comps around the world as well!

Gerade waren die Schweizer Meisterschaften in Gstaad, wo wetterbedingt leider nur ein Durchgang geflogen werden konnte. Diesen gewann der Gleitschirm-PWC-Sieger Chrigel Maurer vor Richy Meier und Christian Voiblet! Auf den 102km flog Chrigel eine Schnittgeschwindigkeit von 49,39 km/h, man merkt, daß ihm auch daß schnelle Deltafliegen sehr viel Spaß macht. Ein tolles Ergebnis für seinen ersten großen Drachenwettbewerb, vor allem wenn man bedenkt, daß auch Richy und Christian sehr gute Piloten sind.
Ich weiß nicht, ob Chrigel mit auf die WM nach Texas kommt, aber die Schweizer haben ein so starkes Team wie schon lange nicht mehr. Letztes Jahr in Fiesch konnte ich die Flugkünste von Chrigel beobachten. Ich hatte schon meinen Drachen schon längst zusammengepackt, weil mir der Wind am Kühboden zu stark war, da kam Chrigel vorbeigeflogen und spielte ein wenig in der Luft vor unserer Nase, Gerätebeherrschung in Perfektion! Ich hoffe, wir werden den 25jährigen Piloten nun auch öfter auf den Drachenwettbewerben sehen.

Finish German Open/Finale German Open

This morning the skies are grey again, another low pressure system pushes through the northern alps, so the day is cancelled and the German Open over. After three tasks, the winner is Minoru Kato from Japan (Litespeed 3,5 RS), I won the women´s class with a great 13th place overall (Litespeed 3,5 S), in rigid class it´s Andreas Becker (Atos V), best and only woman is Andrea Hetzel on 4th place. There were 25 pilots in rigid class and 58 pilots in flex class.
New German Champions are Klaus Peter Wilming in flex, me in women´s class and Andreas Becker in rigid class.
At the moment we are waiting for the guys from Bavarian Television for an interview, the award ceremony and party is tonight at 9 pm.
Tomorrow Im invited to a wedding in the north of Germany, but for Sunday the weather forecast looks promising for a long flight into the alps. I like the Chiemgau area very much for interesting cross country flights and I really hope we can organize the next women´s world championships here.
On the picture I was interviewed by the Bavarian Television, the news about the German Open will be aired on BR3 at 9.15 pm this Sunday.

Da der Himmel bedeckt ist und es zeitweise regnet, wurde auch der heutige Tag abgesagt, womit der Wettbewerb zuende ist. Nach drei Durchgängen hat der Japaner Minoru Kato (Litespeed 3,5 RS) gewonnen, ich hab die Frauenwertung für mich entschieden mit einem respektablen 13. Platz in der Gesamtwertung (ich flog meinen Litespeed 3,5S), und der junge Andreas Becker (Atos V) hat bei den Starrflügeln gewonnen. Beste und einzige Frau bei den Starrflügeln wurde Andrea Hetzel auf Platz 4.
Es waren 58 Teilnehmer bei den Flexiblen und 25 Piloten in der Starrflügel-Klasse, der Berg verträgt ein großes Teilnehmerfeld. Hoffentlich kommt nächstes Jahr die Frauen- und Starrflügel-WM in diese Gegend!
Neue Deutsche Meister sind Klaus Peter Wilming in Flex, ich bei den Frauen und Andreas Becker bei den Starrflügeln.
Morgen bin ich zu einer Hochzeit nach Hannover eingeladen, aber am Sonntag lädt das Wetter wieder zu einem Streckenflug ein.
Auf dem Foto wurde ich vom Bayerischen Rundfunk interviewed, die Sendung über die German Open kommt um 21.15 Uhr auf BR3 diesen Sonntag, 8.7.07

Results/Ergebnisse inoffiziell

Now it´s official, the protest went through and everybody got the points, no pitch police penalties! The reason is that it would have been unfair between pilots, as some did not land in goal but touched the 1km radius and their glider was not measured, others had their glider measured in goal voluntarily and after that had been threatened with a penalty.
From now on, the DHV wants to give pilots the possibility to measure their pitch before the comp starts, and it will be mandatory to land in the goal field if people want to claim goal.
So the day winner of the first day is Nils Dalby, and Jesper Hessing came 2nd in the long task.
Overall Minoru Kato (JPN) is ahead of Klaus Peter Wilming (GER) and Manfed Trimmel (AUT), Im in 13th place.
We dont fly today, because it is still raining and we have a strong west wind, but Dieter sees a 20% chance for a task tomorrow. The presentation will be tomorrow night at 21.00.

Der Protest ging durch und alle bekommen ihre Punkte, wortlaut:

Protest von Klaus Peter Wilming

Dem Protest wird stattgegeben, Jury Horst Küpper, Charlie Jöst, Klaus Tänzler

Begründung:

Die Ausschreibung des dhv beinhaltet keine Regelung, wonach die Teilnehmer, die das Ziel erreichen, an dem Landeplatz landen müssen, an dem ds Nachmessen der Einstellhöhen stattfindet. Nach Erreichen des Zielsektors sind einzelne Teilnehmer außengelandet, sie konnten sich somit der Kontrollmaßnahme entziehen. Es wäre sportlich unfair, wenn diese Teilnehmer einen Punkte-Vorteil hätten, gegenüber zB solchen Teilnehmern, die aus Sicherheitsinteresse freiwillig um das Nachmessen ihrer Geräte gebeten haben.
Beim Briefing des 3. Durchgangs hat der Wettbewerbsleiter erklärt, dass alle, die den Zielsektor erreicht haben, verpflichtet sind, an dem Landeplatz zu landen, an dem die Kontrolle stattfindet. Erst ab diesem Zeitpunkt sind etwaige mangelnde Einstellhöhen mit Annullierung des Durchgangs des betroffenen Piloten zu ahnden.
Anmerkung: Der DHV beabsichtigt, in Zukunft am Tag vor Beginn der Deutschen Drachenflugmeisterschaft allen Teilnehmern die Überprüfung der Einstellhöhen anzubieten.

Damit hat Nils Dalby den ersten Tag gewonnen, Jesper Hessing wurde zweiter am zweiten Tag, und insgesamt führt Minoru Kato vor Klaus Peter Wilming und Manfred Trimmel, ich bin auf Platz 13. Die Listen sind inoffiziell, da es bis heute Abend 18 Uhr eine Protestfrist gibt.
Dieter war glücklich, daß er endlich die gelben T-Shirts verteilen konnte. Meine drei gelben Tagessiegs-T-Shirts bei den Frauen habe ich gerne mit Monique und Natalia geteilt ;)

Der heutige Tag wurde wegen Regen und Sturm abgesagt, für morgen sieht Dieter allerdings eine 20%ige Chance für einen frühen, kurzen Durchgang.

Briefing delayed

As you see on the photo, some nice landing fields here are inhabited by bavarian highland bulls... I didnt dare to get closer!
We have a briefing at 10.30 at the club house, and since the weather doesnt look pretty today, I guess we might discuss the outcome of the protests. A high profile jury decided about them (Charlie Joest, head of the DHV, and Klaus Taenzler were here), but since there were no overall results after three tasks on the web, Im not sure what it means. I will let you know about the decisions as soon as I know details.
Thanks to Juergen Engel for some great photos from take off and landing!
By the way, the visits on my blog went ballistic yesterday, up to 675 visits in only 24 hours, thats a new record! Thank you all for your interest, y bienvenidos a todos los pilotos de latino america, bem vindos aos pilotos do Brazil tamben! Im also delighted to see a great interest in Japan, konichiwa!

Nicht alle Landewiesen sind sicher landbar hier - die bayerischen Highland-Bullen machen zwar einen friedlichen Eindruck, aber wenn sie die roten Kollegen auf meinem Drachen sehen würden... ich weiß ja nicht?!
Wir haben gleich um 10.30 Uhr ein Briefing am Landeplatz, und ich hoffe, dann werden endlich die Proteste der letzten Tage aufgeklärt. Charlie Jöst und Klaus Tänzler waren hier, es war eine hochrangig besetzte Jury, um über alles zu entscheiden. Im Internet sind noch keine endgültigen Ergebnisse veröffentlicht, wir warten alle gespannt auf den Ausgang und hoffen, es wurde eine für alle faire Entscheidung getroffen. Ich werde Euch informieren, sobal ich genaues weiß.
Danke übriegens an Jürgen Engel für viele tolle Fotos von Start- und Landeplatz!
Die Besuche meiner Seite sind die letzten 24 auf rekordverdächtige 675 Klicks gestiegen - vielen Dank für Euer weltweites Interesse! Insbesondere freuen mich die Neuzugänge aus Lateinamerika und Brasilien, auch in Japan gibt es sehr großes Interesse.

Another day of rain/wieder ein Regentag

Today July 4th is cancelled, a lot of rain pours down and the windspeeds increase. Yesterday only 4 pilots made goal, I was 3rd of the day;)
Winner in flex class was Lars Bo from Denmark (in Sydney some years ago Aussie legend Bill Moyes and I tricked Lars into eating a huge mouthful of vegemite by telling him it is the Australian Nutella... his face looked tortured after that), followed by Roland Wöhrle and me. Unluckily, many people bombed out, so we didnt get many points for our effort, only about 450 for the day winner.
Leading man of the comp is still Japanese pilot Minoru Kato. Overall yesterdays task took me up to 12th place.
Primoz won the rigid task, and Toni didnt make goal, so now young German talent Andreas Becker is in the lead of the rigid comp, followed by Primoz!
By the way, I never exactly translate both parts of my report, there are always a few differences so people who understand both languages have fun reading both parts!

Heute kübelt es herunter aus Eimern, auch ist für die Alpen Wind in Orkanstärke vorhergesagt, also werden wir heute nicht auf den Startplatz fahren.
Gestern kamen nur 4 Piloten ins Ziel, ich wurde 3., mein bestes Tagesergebnis bei einer German Open;)
Tagessieger war der Däne Lars Bo, einer der besten dänischen Drachen- und Gleitschirmflieger, den ich schon lange kenne. In Sydney haben Bill Moyes und ich den armen Lars eines Morgens kräftig auf den Arm genommen- wir erzählten ihm, daß Vegemite für die Australier dasselbe ist wie Nutella für die Europäer. Als Lars daraufhin 2cm Vegemite auf seinen Toast strich, wurde Bills und mein Grinsen immer breiter, während Lars die Gesichtszüge komplett entgleisten nach dem ersten Bissen... zur Erklärung, Vegemite sieht aus und schmeckt, als würde man aus Maggi-Würze die Flüssigkeit herauskochen und die übrige braunklebrige Masse essen. Mögen nur Australier, Kiwis und Engländer ;)
Roland wurde zweiter gestern, wir sind oft zusammen geflogen auf der Strecke. Leider gab es nur knapp 450 Punkte für den ersten, denn es sind einfach zuviele Piloten nach dem STart direkt abgesoffen. Immerhin bin ich nun insgesamt auf Platz 12! In der Gesamtwertung führt weiterhin der Japaner Minoru Kato.
Bei den Starren gewann gestern Primoz den Tag. Da Toni nicht ins Ziel segelte, führt insgesamt der junge, hochbegabte Andreas Becker, gefolgt von Primoz.
Eine kleine Randnotiz- ich übersetze die beiden Teile meiner Berichte nie wörtlich, es stehen mal hier, mal da ein paar andere Sachen mit drin, damit es auch für die Leute interessant zu lesen ist, die beider Sprachen mächtig sind.

3. Tag, Task 3

After a huge amount of rain yesterday, it cleared up today and we flew another task before the next front moved in. By having a race start today, the organizer wanted a fair day for everybody in case the task is stopped. The „storm rules“ here say that if they see a lightening on the radar on the internet within the task area, the task will be stopped 30minutes prior to the lightening.
Luckily we didnt have to stop the task. Scoring deadline was already 16.30, the front reached us one hour later. Very good tasksetting! We flew 66 km over to Stauffen turnpoint, which was difficult with todays low cloudbase, disorganized thermals and a good headwind. Took me a while to get there.
Flying back over takeoff was easier, we had another two turnpoints further west (Hörndlwand and Hochfelln). Just after I made the second turnpoint, I saw that a cloud shadow would move in rather soon. I was still together with Roland, not pushing too hard to stay up high. Passing the goal the third time, we could already see some flex and rigid gliders in goal. Oh well. We still had the turnpoint at Inzell.
Flying out to that little church in the valley, we got rather low, but Roland found some lift in the foothills just east of Rauschberg that saved us. He took off to goal a bit earlier than me, because its a fair glide across forest to get into goal.
In goal, Charly Jöst interviewed me after my landing, he is preparing a film for the Bavarian Television. Sure enough, Kristof and Hannes were measuring my glider again, which was way inside the expected tolerance, so no trouble there.
Later I found out that not too many people had made it in with all the turnpoints, so Roland and I will have scored well for the day!
Now we are off the all you can eat Pizza night. Oh I could do with some ballast...

Day Winner Task 2

Yesterdays winner, Minoru Kato from Japan, showed us on his Litespeed 3,5 RS how to keep pace with the rigid wing pilots! He sped into goal with the leading rigid gaggle after 119km, arriving 20 minutes earlier than Oliver Barthelmes. We were all deeply impressed!

Gestern überraschte uns der Tagessieger, Minoru Kato aus Japan, mit einer unglaublichen Leistung. Er flog mit seinem Litespeed 3,5 RS einfach mit dem Führungspulk der Starrflügel mit, und das über 119 km! Dadurch nahm er dem Tageszweiten Oliver Barthelmes 20 Minuten und fast 200 Punkte ab. Wir sind alle total beeindruckt!

Rain

With storms last night and rain today, we had a warm front and then a cold front passing Ruhpolding, so I was looking for a nice and quiet day off. After taking some photos with the team, we had the offer to measure the pitch without any influence on the competition. I was asked from official side to do that - no pleasure in a small tent with pouring rain outside.
The final decision about cancelling or disqualifying pilots with uncertified glider settings is still being discussed, and I feel sorry for Dieter Kamml who organized the German Open and is now in the center of attack because he had to follow DHV orders. It seems like he is very stressed and discouraged and might not want to organize the women´s and rigid´s worlds next year in Ruhpolding, which would mean that we would not have a 2008 world championships at all.
Tomorrow there will be a decision about the protests. We might get another task in tomorrow, but after that the weather looks rather sad and rainy.

Seit letzter Nacht sind Warmfront und Kaltfront durch Ruhpolding gezogen und haben uns mit Gewittern und Regen einen Ruhetag beschert. Wir haben noch einige Teamfotos gemacht und dann wollte ich eigentlich entspannen, doch ich mußte "vollspannen", wie sich zeigte. Von offizieller Seite wurde ich gebeten, meinen Drachen vermessen zu lassen, denn heute wurde gemessen "ohne Konsequenzen für den WEttbewerb". Trotzdem nicht gerade die Freude, im engen Zelt bei strömendem Regen Drachen auf- und abzubauen.
Die Diskussion hält weiterhin an, morgen soll über die Proteste entschieden werden, ob und wie eine WErtung oder Disqualifikation der Piloten stattfindet, die mit zu niedrigem Pitch geflogen sind. Organisator Dieter Kamml tut mir leid, denn er steht leider im Zentrum von Attacken, die er selber (einer unserer besten deutschen Starrflügelpiloten) am liebsten umgangen hätte, jedoch muß er sich an DHV-Vorgaben halten. Er scheint sehr gestreßt und entmutigt. Total schade, denn ob so noch etwas aus unserer Frauen- und Starrflügel-WM nächstes Jahr in Ruhpolding wird, ist fraglich. Wenn sich die Veranstalter nicht bereiterklären, dann wird es keine WM 2008 geben.
Das WEtter morgen läßt eventuell noch einen Durchgang im Zwischenhocheinfluß zu, eine kurze Aufgabe an der Nordkante der Alpen, aber danach ist die Vorhersage düster.

118 km Task!

Today we flew a 118 km scenic task all the way to Waller Alm at Wilder Kaiser, then to Asitzhaus and back. Cloud base was high and turbulence low, a beautiful flying day! Even though there were many discussions- now listen Davis, here´s your controversy - since yesterday´s day winner scored zero (Mr Dalby from Denmark) because his sprogs were too low, also 5 other people´s points were taken because of the same reason, measured in the goal field. Today they competed with "safe" sprog settings. There were probably 30 people in goal, so we are curious about the results tomorrow.
Heute ging es über 118 km und zwei Wenden zum Wilden Kaiser, danach zum Asitzhaus und zurück. Ein wunderschöner Flug, endlich mal gute Basis und geringe Turbulenz. Dem Veranstalter wird ein Stein vom Herzen fallen, weil wir nun mit zwei Durchgängen eine gültige German Open haben. Den Tag gestern und auch heute hat Toni Raumauff bei den STarrflüglern gewonnen, gestern war bei den Flexis Fleming der Däne der schnellste und ich bei den Frauen die weiteste (es kamen 4 Piloten ins Ziel).