Ispo Munich

It was fun to go to the international sports fair "Ispo" where I meet a lot of good friends every year, lots of Red Bull, adidas and other athletes.
"All I leave in nature are my footprints" is the motto of artist Simon Beck who was introduced by Icebreaker founder Jeremy Moon. Only with snow shoes, Simon Beck creates beautiful geometric patterns in the snow, now they are printed on some clothes of the new Icebreaker collection - a great idea to support the concept of sustainability!
At adidas eyewear, I was introduced to the Tycane Pro, the latest in sunglass design, invented for sailing, but REALLY perfect for us pilots! I will bring a pair of those fantastic wrap arounds with unlimited peripheral view to Mexico to try at the pre worlds!
Sure it was great to meet paraglider pilot Paul Guschlbauer again - he is one of the heroes who made it all the way to Monaco at the Red Bull XAlps!

Happy Australia Day!

All the best to my family and friends down under for the Australia Day celebrations today! I love the country of the kangaroos, wedge tailed eagles and record xc flights and wish I could fly and party with you guys today! While Im looking at the snow falling in freezing temperatures here in Germany, I get homesick for the warm sun (as in stinking hot Forbes desert days? - well actually more the cruisy Stanwell and Sydney beach days) and the wonderful people who always make me feel like I am part of their family! Thank you for all the great adventures and good times!

Beijing, China, Timezone GMT +8

When my last work flight landed, we dove into the smog you see on the photo, I imagined that the air must be really bad. A strong inversion layer pushes the dirt down on the people in Beijing. I didn´t think it would be 26 times worse than the maximum value they consider for polluted air in Europe...
I had packed some breathing masks, but even after wearing those the nose was black on the inside, and my face had a dirty patina too. Together with two pilots I went to see the Great Wall of China, where the air was slightly better. It is about a 1,5 hr drive from the city, and quite high up. In some parts, there are really huge steps, really good workout ot climb up as far as it runs in that place.
For the way down, there is a long luge - we were the last three people to ride it, just before the 4pm closing time. So we waited a nice long time before starting, and the guy already must have read my mind, as he kept saying "no fast, no fast!" The challenge was to race down without using the breaks. I almost made it, but there were some parts further low where I just wasn´t sure and couldn´t see if the slow lady in front of me had already made it through or not, so I was a little more careful than in the upper part. It was sooo much fun and is really recommendable if you ever go to see the Wall, go to Mutianyu!
The city of Beijing is buzzing, lots of really expensive cars these days on the roads, people are not scared to show their money anymore, it rather seems a competition. I preferred to take the subway, even though every single one is packed to the top, and I needed to get used to the fight for a space, and the pushing and pulling if you want to get out. Not what I would want to experience every day, but for the short two days I had it was a fun adventure.

Hatching dragons

I found some bizarre looking objects in China - I think they are dragon eggs, so I will hatch them and try to feed them with dragon fruits after the little guys get out! Hope they don´t burn my sail when I take them on their first flight...

Tandemflying in Rio on Youtube

This is a short youtube movie about tandem flying in Sao Conrado, Rio. It´s only in German so far, I just want to help German tourists and my colleagues to find to the place and have a good time with our friends who do the tandem flights!

Fireworks in Rio

I thought last year´s fireworks in Sydney are unbeatable, but Rio displayed an amazing 15 minutes of beautiful lightshow, accompanied by the sound track of the new movie "Rio 2"! They started the fireworks from 11 different ships/floats in front of Copacabana. The beach was plastered with people in white clothes, they say about 2,3 million partied at Copacabana last night.
What a privilege to have been one of them, to share this beautiful new beginning! The weather was great, no more rain since 6pm.