Slovenian Nationals

Today they got some extra "wings" on launch at the Slovenian Open! Primoz is in the lead of the comp and it looks like he could become Slovenian Champion. After having finished 3rd at the Cucco Worlds and having been 1st in the world ranking for quite a while now, he proves his great flying skills.
Tomorrow the French and British nationals will start in St. Andre, first time ever that these nationals have been combined. International friendship, I like this concept! Maybe we can combine the German and Swiss Nationals next year too (I just always fall for their wonderful Swiss German language...)
Meanwhile Davis is raving about the great conditions in Big Spring - about the wild life he is absolutely right! I love those funny prairy dogs and went to the airfield really early every morning just to watch those cute animals. Sure, when you are landing you have to watch out for their holes, but I think we never had the Big Spring airfield as a goal during the worlds, we always kept our drivers entertained ;) At the moment, Zippy is in the lead, followed by Davis and Glen Volk.

Pre-European Championships Kayseri

The pre-European Championships will be on from Sept. 4-10th in Kayseri, Turkey, and only 20 pilots have entered the competition so far! You can inscribe here! I wish I could fly there, but I have to join a rehab-training then ("and I said - yes, yes, yes...!"). Looks like it might get the best flying in the whole Euro season this year, with lots of sun and really high cloud base.
Im posting this to help the Turkish organizers who are really keen on promoting this spot for hang gliding. Hey, accomodation in appartements for FREE! Please register if you intend to go, so they have a rough count on participation.
The place is quite rural, so bring your Turkish-English dictionary (yes there is an Iphone-app!) ;) I bet people will be really curious and helpful, as this area knows paragliding but not so much hang gliding yet.

Dutch an Austrian Open

After four days of flying at the Dutch Open in Tolmin, Italian pilot Paolo Rosichetti won the comp, with Joost Eertmann as the new Dutch champion on 5th place and Christa Aichner as the 1st woman. RESULTS
At Diedamskopf, they could only fly 2 rounds, and local hero Walter Mayer is the new Austrian champion, Monique Werner was the 1st ranked woman of the comp. RESULTS
The Slovenian Open, also at Tolmin, started yesterday, but they could not fly a task yet, they will probably start today.
Thanks to Jamie for the nice photos!

Live on air on Bayern 3!

It is a lot of fun to talk live on air at Bayern 3 about the fascination of flying! Radio is great! Time is running, but it is a while until midnight, until the end of the show...

Overnight stay in cable car at Tegelberg!

A tandem paraglider pilot got stuck in the cables of the Tegelberg cablecar yesterday and the whole cable car stopped immediately. Three helicopters were first getting the paraglider and his passenger out of the cables, then they winched 30 passengers of one cable car 50 m down to the ground.
The wind picked up a lot, so it was not possible to also free the 19 passengers of the other cable car cabin. They had to stay in the cabin in the air over night and were rescued this morning. See the video report in the German news here.
Luckily the paraglider pilot, his passenger and also all the people who had been stuck in the cable car overnight are fine!

Dutch Open Slovenia

After two tasks at the Dutch Open in Tolmin, Carl Wallbank (GB) is in the lead, first woman is Christa Aichner from our national team, and Jamie is third (on the photo you see her landing). It looks like they will fly another two comp days today and tomorrow. Results are here.
The weather situation is more difficult on the northern side of the Alps - tomorrow the Austrian Nationals at Diedamskopf should start, and with a bit of luck they can fly two days out of three.

Dutch Open next week

The next two comps happen in Tolmin - most guys will race from Laragne at the Belgian Open over to Slovenia. Carl Wallbank won the comp, Jochen Zeischka is old and new Belgian Champion after 6 racing days.
In Berlin, after only two tasks Jochen Zeyher won the rigid class, Konrad Lüders is new East German Champion and Bernd Otterpohl is the new North German Champion.
After the Dutch Open, also the Slovenians will organize their Nationals at the same scenic place in Tolmin with the famous Soca trout and a beautiful, icecold river next to the camp and landing site.
On the way back west, people could stop by at the Austrian Nationals at Diedamskopf and then continue down to St André for the British Nationals. Not exactly ecologically friendly organized this year... let´s hope the weather turns on again for the rest of the season, as we already see lots of rain and floods around the central alps.

German Flatlands and Belgian Nationals Laragne

At the moment they seem to have really great flying weather in Laragne at the Belgian Nationals - 4 tasks out of 4 days! Have a look at Jochen Zeischka´s blog - he is currently leading the Belgium rankings and hopes to become Belgian Champion for the 2nd time! And he is also doing a great job of posting about the flights, with help of Jamie´s wonderful photos really worth following!
At the same time, they flew 2 days so far (112 km and 94 km) in Altes Lager at the German Flatlands, and it looks like they might get another task on Friday, the last comp day. Jochen Zeyher (Atos) is currently in the lead, and Bernd Otterpohl is currently the first flex wing pilot. Also guns like Tim Grabowski, Toni Raumauf (Austria) and Lukas Bader are competing!

With style!

Back from the worlds at Monte Cucco, finally our team leader Regina can go flying again at her home. She just tried her stylish new harness - it looks hot!