First Flight!

...just in time!

After a tough work trip to Orlando (due to delay we spent 14 hours on board on the way there, only had 18 hours in Orlando and went back after that), I was superhappy to see rain at home. It meant that I didnt have to race to the Hessenmeisterschaft in Greifenburg. Finally some time to pack things, to get ready - and to find some sleep!
I only arrived last night, just in time to fly the first comp task today. The furthest guy went 35 km on a rigid wing, Oli made about 30km, and I had to land after 20km, with a cloudbase barely above take off. Hopefully tomorrow we will see more sun again.
We had a barbecue tonight and Klaus Staubach gave Oli the silver cup of honour of the Hessische Luftsportbund, the highest honour for all his successful flying over the last decade.
Also Walter Schurr is here, the guy who taught me cross country flying long time ago, also here in Greifenburg. One of the best pilots I ever met - and a Lufthansa A320 captain!

...more flying: 241 FAI

Yesterday we had another epic day at Hochfelln. The day started early, I took off at 10.30 am with the first cus forming above our heads. It worked well for me, I flew from thermal to thermal and entered Pinzgau at noon already. Looked like a really big day! Coming back from Gerlos pass, my team mate Ute had also made it into Pinzgau and we flew together for about 60 kms, along beautiful mountains. And the radio worked perfectly! So nice to fly with friends.
Ute made her longest flight ever, she happily landed back home after 160 km FAI! And when I checked my flight that night, it was... 241 FAI, a nearly perfect triangle. Another 7 hours of flying, great training. About 27 hours in 4 days of flying - this season is incredible and just wont stop! Today I had to work unfortunately, but my friend Peter flew another 275 km FAI and is now leading the German XC Cup. Im placed 4th overall, which is better than I ever expected. But it is only the start of the season - I guess now people aim at 300 km FAI triangles, this season is crazy. Even the paragliders all fly more than 200 kms from Hochfelln, my home mountain. Now 6 days in a row! Omega weather patterns are exhausting ;)
On the picture you see Günther Porath to my left and Peter Achmüller to my right, they flew 275 kms and 285 kms on that day. For days they´ve been chasing each other around the alps, always trying to cover more distance. The race has only just started, and they already have way more points than after the whole season last year: dhv-xc

142 FAI with Pinzgauer Spaziergang

I felt I was a bit tired after two days with 14 flying hours and 400 kms. Yet it looked good again, so Peter and I went to Hochfelln to try again. I was incredibly lucky that Gundram wanted to have some training and carried my glider up to take off - I had to save energy for the flight.
As it turned out, conditions at Hochfelln were very difficult to begin with. A lot of paraglider pilots and a few hangglider pilots faught about the few meters of height. Flying out low, I had a low save, but some people even landed in Ruhpolding already. The flight into the Pinzgau was not too difficult, yet the turbulence of the thermals was a lot stonger than the two days before. My reward was Pinzgau - I did the famous "Pinzgauer Spaziergang"- conditions were so perfect that I did not have to turn once for over 50 kms! From my first to the second turnpoint at Hundstein I just flew dolphin style, it was amazing.
Then I tried to get home and hit the not so amazing northeaster. When I landed close to Kitzbühel, it was blowing at about 40 kms/hr on the ground, so I chose the largest field I could find for my landing. So lucky that Peter was already at the car and picked me up.
Today the easterlies look even stronger, so I decided to have a rest day, catch up with everything that had to wait for a week.

and... 218 kms!

... and today looks like another flying day! Cant believe it, this was my biggest FAI-Triangle ever. I just wish it was easier to documentate for a world record, as it would have been a new women´s world record for FAI triangles ;)
Today the easterly is predicted to strengthen, so I will be more careful. But lets see- the Pinzgauer Spaziergang worked incredibly yesterday, it is highly addictive.
It was great to fly with a lot of friends, I met Hans Bausenwein at Hochfelln and in the air, I flew the best thermal of the day with Peter Achmüller, did quite a bit of the way with Günther Porath who is leading our olc at the moment. So much fun!

How to cure jet lag...

After the Austrian nationals, we arrived in Munich late at night, got up at 6 the next morning because I had to go to Frankfurt for work. The flight to Tokyo was about 11 hours, then we had 22 hours in the city before going back early next morning. I arrived wednesday evening in Munich and already knew it had been a big day for xc, cloud streets everywhere. And sure, the 200 and 300+km flights were posted in the evening.
No way around it, I had to go flying on Thursday and cure my jet lag in the air. Get a lot of fresh oxygen, great sights of high mountains, exciting thermals - a glorious day, nearly 7 hour flight and- my first 200km FAI-Triangle! today we will try again, so more details later, when the weather changes...

Austrian Nationals Day 3

Yesterday we had a third task at the Austrian Nationals in Greifenburg. Due to the weather forecast of od in the afternoon and also due to the fact that we wanted to have the prizegiving not too late, we stayed in the Drau valley with a 70 km task around 4 turnpoints.
Nearly half the field made goal, and Tom Weissenberger won the day. Also, unfortunately Friesi tried to push too hard and had to get up again from low, thus he lost a lot of time on the day winner, and - incredible - was overtaken in the overall result by Johann "Sulzi" Sulzbacher! Everybody also liked to see Sulzi win the nationals for the first time - he is a great and very experienced guy and has probably already been flying when Friesi wasnt born ;)
Second was Friesi, third Tom, on fourth Andre Djamarani, the first German pilot. I finished best woman - we were 7 women in the comp! - and was happy with a 13th place overall. I had a good, fast run yesterday, and it is always nice to climb up a few more places on the last day.
Now it is time to pack my gear and go to work. The weather in Tokyo looks great for tomorrow, just wish I had more than just 22 hours in the city...

Austrian Nationals Day 2

Today we flew 138km around 3 turnpoints. Well I have to say, about 15 people flew the task. I only made 105 km and landed in the shade. We went west to Hochsteinhaus first, then a long way east, and on the way the clouds kept spreading out. Oh and yes, if you are reading this Mr OzReport, we had a northerly wind and quite a bit of rough air sometimes.
The route was very scenic, leading us across the Dolomites of Lienz into Gailtal. Also lots of different ways led to goal today. Friesi was first in again, followed by Walter Maier and Andre Djamarani was first German in goal. Last pilot into goal was Jörg. About 15 made goal they guess, still a big number for a difficult day.
Lets hope that conditions stay stable as they were, because to our east, the prediction is for storms tomorrow.
And yes, I like Magnolias!

Austrian Nationals Day 1

Today we finally flew, 105 km over 4 turnpoints, all the way into Gailtal and back. Cloudbase was high, around 3000m, yet overcast after all the rain and the northerlies of the last days.
My battery runs out, so just a quick note. About 30 pilots of the 100 competitors made goal, Looks like Michi F. was first, Tom W. second and Tschurnig third (all Austrians). Then the Germans got in as well, Jörg was top German, Markus Ebenfeld, Semmo and me made it nearly into the top 10.
Im very happy that my team mate Christa Aichner also made it into goal, as 2nd woman! She was last in and flew 5 hours in these strong conditions! She is a great pilot and we will have a strong team for the womens worlds! Ute and Monique are also here so we can train together.
Lets hope that the wind does not increase as much as they predicted... then we can fly another two days!
pics and more later