Back in Munich

Back in cold rainy Munich, I am still dreaming of Mexico. Just to give you a picture when you haven´t been there for a while - last year for the pg pre worlds, the take off at el Penon quadripled in size. Still sandy then, it is now beautiful green, grass everywhere.
Also amazing: The landing field at the lake looks really big enough now for a hangglider as well. I only landed there once years ago and just made it with dry feet... now it looks much nicer.
Tomorrow I will meet Alex Ploner, Regina, Andy, Jörg and Tim in the Dolomites. The weather forecast is great and team Timezone is going to take some photos and films in the spectacular scenery.

Valle de Bravo - Timezone GMT-5

Today Miguel Gutierrez picked me up in Mexico City and took me out to Valle de Bravo. It didnt look very flyable, so we just cruised around and he showed me what he and Oscar are doing at the moment to prepare for the perfect paragliding world championships that will be held here in January 2009. I had flown a competition in the beautiful area two times and I was overwhelmed by the work they have put into take off and landing areas!
I will post more pictures as soon as I am at home - seeing how much work they all put into the event makes me want to be on the pg national team! Ewa knows this area very well and loves to fly in Valle, she will have the best chance to compete successfully in a really great event. With Nextel Miguel and Oscar have a really strong sponsor, and apart from amazing flying around the vulcanos of Valle, be prepared for some incredible events - these guys are really creative!
...by the way, the Monarca competition first week of January already has 91 entries, so if you want to go, you should consider entering now ;)

Screaming Mimi

Not exactly as pink as in the TV series "Riptide", but at least as screaming - when I joined a business event for Cisco a week ago, I was the only one allowed to sit in the cockpit during the flight in this great old Sikorsky helicopter. It had been painted in army green because it played a roll in the movie "the storm flood" some years ago. No digital screens in the cockpit, quite a different sight to the jet cockpits I usually see, only beautiful old instruments. The pilot was experienced and despite quite a strong sw wind, we had a really smooth flight.

Dieser Heli ist zwar nicht schreiend rosa wie die Sikorsky in der Serie "Trio mit vier Fäusten", aber mindestens genauso laut - als ich vor einer Woche einen Vortrag für Cisco halten durfte, wurde ich zu einem Rundflug eingeladen und war die einzige, die beim Flug im Cockpit sitzen durfte. Dieser Heli wurde in bundeswehr-grün angestrichen für den Fernsehfilm "Die Sturmflut", der vor etwa 2 Jahren im Fernsehen lief. Im Cockpit ein herrlicher Uhrenkasten, nicht ein einziges digitales Instrument! Der erfahrene Pilot flog uns sanft durch die Hügel von Heilbronn, trotz starken Windes kaum ein Wackler. Sah total einfach aus, vielleicht muß ich Guido anhauen, daß er mir auch mal Helifliegen beibringt...

Back to winter

It was superhot when we were setting up the glider at satellite beach in Florida. Had there been a dune like in Christchurch, we could have flown here all day with the pelicans.
Now back in Munich Im missing the heat - temperatures were down to 6 degrees celcius this morning, and the prediction is for snow in the mountains down to 1500m today! Winter cant be far away... lucky that there might be some flights to Mexico, Argentina and Brazil on my schedule soon!

Escaping the hurricanes

Long hours of work - I flew to Orlando with Jamie and Rolf Wenzel who is producing a film for the Lufthansa Magazine on Air. We filmed on board while I was working and Jamie was our very patient passenger. I had hoped to be able to fly and film at Quest, but we arrived one day too late- it was too windy on Monday and Tuesday with hurricane "Ike" passing along south of Florida.
At least Rolf could film my usual layover training - swimming, running, working out in the gym. In the evening we cooked porcini risotto and had a beautiful dinner on Jamie´s veranda 20 m away from the waves.
Thanks for your invitation, Rae-Ann, I only saw it when we were on our way back already. I would love to see you when Im around next time.
At the moment Im preparing a presentation about hanggliding and being successful in competition for some Cisco sales people - "The view from above". Tomorrow in Heilbronn I will present it and get to fly in a big helicopter with the guys, i hope the weather stays this nice ;)
More pictures soon.

Real people in every Timezone!

Walking through Manhattan, we had a lot of fun - but why keep people asking me for the way? Happened three times on this trip ;) do I look like a local?
Here on broadway a young guy walked past me and asked "Corinna? Bist Du Corinna Schwiegershausen?" I was stunned - out of all the 20 odd million people in Manhattan, I met a German pilot who said he knows me from the magazines and his friend who flies the competitions. Sometimes the world is small.
Now we are off to Frankfurt, then to Orlando to film on board and also hopefully at Quest if Hanna is fast and Ike is slow... Im not too keen on thermalling in the torandos of a hurricane!