Nearly a task

Today we went up the mountain again even though cloudbase was nearly on the ground. Yet the forecast was for big improvement - instead we saw altocumulus fields spreading out at the inversion layer above us, with low clouds not quite willing to dissolve below us.
Anyway, I was delighted to meet an old friend at take off: Guido Gehrmann visited us! Good to see him around, fun as ever! He works for Lufthansa from Munich, me from Frankfurt, so unfortunately we dont get to fly to work together. But now Guido will fly with us for a few days. He arrived in time, it looks like the best day of this comp for tomorrow!
Our teamleader Regina decided to fly today as well, taking photos together with Jörg, and on the last picture you see Christa´s take off today.

Pitch discussions

Today we still have low clouds, rain and storms are forecasted for the afternoon, so we had a few hours of discussion after Dennis Pagen had published his pitch measurements, leaving the more detailed explanations to Gerolf.
Looks like tomorrow we might get another task in if the trough moves through fast enough. For sure we will fly on Thursday, Friday looks iffy at this time.

Sadness

The day started with sun and blue skies, we went up Emberger Alm really early because the forecast was for a warm front moving in during the afternoon. A task was set around 3 turnpoints with goal in Villach, 60km east of us.
I took off in the alternate launch at 11.15 already, climbing out easily and flying towards the east. Our startgate had a height limit of 2200m to avoid cloud flying. Lukas, Jörg and a few more of my team decided to try a different way than the obvious one, trying to stay away from the big gaggle and the clouds moving into Drautal.
We were lucky not to have witnessed what happened at Stagor. Richi Meier tumbled just after the task had started. Having been low above ground, his reserve chute didnt have enough height to deploy. Richi died when he hit the ground. I was devastated when Regina told me the sad news after I had landed. I had known Richi for many years, one of the strongest pilots ever.
We just returned from a service for Richi. My thoughts are with his love Vanessa and their young daughter Solea - and of course with the whole Swiss team, his family and friends.
Difficult to talk about scoring and points when there are other things on our minds. Today it was grey and raining, same prediction for tomorrow, so we will have a rest and some time to recover.
Im not sure if the Swiss team will continue the competition.

More soccer...

...than flying! What can we do? Today we went up the mountain even though the sky was overcast, but we had our hopes up that it would clear from the west. Instead some more rain moved in from the southeast, so we finally had to give up the day and pack up in the rain.
It is quite chilly now, even at the campsite. Tomorrow we need to be up really early because we want to try to get a round in before we are hit by a warm front tomorrow afternoon.
It was Franz Mandl´s 50th birthday this week, he is the Mayor of Greifenburg and set up the infrastructure for all pilots. On the picture you see the Greifenburg costume band playing a birthday tune for Franz.

Rainrainrain - snow!

Last night another front went through and left us with constant, merciless rain. Today there will be a pilots meeting to discuss Lukas´ and Gerolf´s proposal to try a height restricted startgate in order to avoid cloud flying. We expect low cloudbases for the next few days, so it might add to everybody´s safety if a sensible rule is agreed on today.
That hot stone massage really worked for my back, I slept like a baby and my muscles are all relaxed. I wish we always had the luxury of a physio or massage therapist at comps. The French know their secrets, they had a physio and doctor with them at big competitions for many years.
What to do on a rainy day? There are several hot springs in the vicinity, maybe we will go to Bad Kleinkirchheim later on and soak in hot water at the side of a mountain. And tonight Primoz might teach us a bit more about his healthy ayurvedic cooking – be sure it is superdelicious too!

4th day: More rain!

Just what happened to the great weather from a few weeks ago? The weather changed completely, until Sunday about 3 more cold fronts are supposed to move through. Lucky I brought warm clothes!
Today was cancelled in the morning, because grey clouds covered the sky and rain showers moved through. At the moment we have steady rain. Time for a rest, for some work, and for a wonderful hot stone massage by our team assistant Conny!
On the photo you see Andre, the highest ranked German in the comp at the moment. He is new on the team and scored straight away! Good on him!
On the other picture, my friend Carole from the Swiss team, and Antoine from France. As if they already knew about the weather at the opening briefing...

3rd day: cancelled due to storms

It looked incredible this morning, blue skies, no wind, just pristine! We went up the Emberger Alm, set up, and then - the clouds started forming. Too early for us. Now, at 14.10, there is heavy thunder, lightening and a lot of rain at the camp. The task was cancelled before it started, the overdevelopment was too fast and obvious. Some people had a quick flight, I took pictures and decided to pack up, because the rain was moving in and I get nervous when I see cb´s (well, in a hangglider, not when Im in a jet ;)).
FAI-Steward Dennis Pagen lost his bet today that the weather would stay flyable at least until 2.30 pm - it started raining at about 1.15 pm... sometimes the weather moves in fast over here.
Tomorrow and the following days look pretty sad weatherwise, luckily there is a lot to do and we will enjoy the "holiday" here as well!
On the photos you see Lukas at take off and Gerolf doing some nice wing overs in front of the bis clouds.

1. Task European Championships

Today we flew a 100km task around 4 turnpoints, out to Zwickenberg, over to Windische Höhe, then Gerlamoos, Lindner Alm and to Goal in Bruggen - finally a larger field without powerlines or other hazards! Except for this little Piper or what the plane on the picture is. It crossed the goal line quite low while people were coming in...
It was a tough day because cloud base was low for big crossings, I nearly went down in Hermagor/Gailtal. Looks like Gerolf won the day, ahead of Martin Härri and Christian Voiblet. The Swiss seem to lead the comp in the team scores! Roland was the fastest of our team, but unfortunately he didnt get the last turnpoint scored! Andre was the second fastest, then Lukas and Hans, Gerald and me. Except, I was too slow to be in goal. The task was stopped after I was in, but the 30 minutes that they deduct circled me back to about 90 km. Reminded me of the Womens Worlds, haha! Furthest woman today anyway, followed by Natalia Petrova and Uschi Broich from Austria is on third, then Swiss Carole and Monique from our team.
The other picture is a tribute to my Swiss friends and to the Swiss team - it will be an interesting race against a strong Italian and French team over here, also the Austrians have a lot of top pilots here.

First Day cancelled due to rain

Yesterday we went to Berg for the big opening ceremony of the European Championships in hanggliding. The hall was full of people when the teams of pilots were led onto the stage by boys of the Greifenburg soccer team in their team dress. Afterwards we had dinner together, a great group played the drums and they had even created a song for the Championships!

Today the sky was bluish, so we had our hopes up for a task. When it was time for briefing, the rain started to be harder and shortly after, the day was cancelled. Anyway, forecasts for tomorrow are better, Im positive that we will get in the first points tomorrow.

Team Timezone in the sun!

After everybody had arrived, we had our first team meeting yesterday. Regina handed out the Adidas team jackets – and I think Andre Djamarani looks best. I will take a photo for you tonight of our new team hunk – mind you, he doesnt just look very attractive, he was also the best placed German pilot here in Greifenburg at the Austrian Nationals.
I had a short test flight today. Oli had put new wires on my glider, and it flies straight and sweet, finding me the thermals. I didnt intend to thermal too much today though, because the rain was already on the way again, on both sides.
I landed in Thaler’s big field, much easier with changing wind directions. Only minutes after I landed, Jörg drove towards me and stopped. He had identified me from kilometers away by my Timezone wings and helped me to pack up the glider – big rain was on the way, and we just managed to put the glider into the den before it started pouring again.
At 5pm, we have a mandatory pilots briefing, and tonight at 8pm we will go to Berg to the opening ceremony. As you see on the photo with Jörg, it is quite dark in the background, we will need luck to stay dry tonight.

Greifenburg European Championships

Last night I arrived with my parents in Greifenburg to prepare for the European Championships. For the first time ever we are enough women to have an official title in women´s class as well!
With Monique and Christa we have two more strong women who know this area very well on our German team, the guys are Hans, Jörg, Andre Djamarani, Gerald Woll, Roland and Lukas. Unfortunately Oli pulled out, but he will be here at least a few days with Carol and Luca.
Together with Regina, I checked the weather - rain and storms, iffy conditions for this week. And then, of course, we checked the results of the East Coast Championships, where our team mate Jamie Shelden is in first place in the womens ranking at the moment! We are very happy for her and keep our fingers crossed! She enjoys her new Litesport very much, and fun is the most important thing, performance follows;) All the best to Jamie from Greifenburg! We cant wait to see you here on the 21st, our award night.
Today and tomorrow we can inscribe for the Euros, a few people are flying (sometimes through rain), tomorrow night is the big opening. I guess it will be small, because it is at the same time as the first game of the soccer Europeans in Austria - Austria plays against Croatia, and later Germany against Poland, just an hour drive from here in Klagenfurt... how can we compete?

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

Austrian Nationals Greifenburg

Hello from Greifenburg - the start of the Austrian Nationals was postponed to Friday due to poor weather. Today it is very chilly, big clouds rushing past faster every hour. I hope the weather calms down a bit for the weekend, so we can get a good training for the Europeans in June!
Had we been here last weekend, we could have covered 200km+, even some paragliders flew that far... anyway, I enjoy being back here in the mountains.
And thanks Adam for your comment - I dont have your email so I cant get back to you that way. I hope you still get some good flights down under, Scott says the weather is still pretty good. And much warmer than here! I met Oli Barthelmes on take off today, he was shivering, he only just arrived back in Europe after a "winter" in Oz and has not adjusted yet to the cold. But hey, I think I never will ;)
I will get some pics for the pilots who will fly the Europeans here. Greifenburg is a place with great cross country potential, because of the great landing fields, scenic high mountains and a lot of different possibilities to set tasks. After having organized the Womens and Rigid Worlds in 2004 and the pre-euros last year, the guys have a good clue about how to run a big comp here.

Epic Day on Rauschberg!

Yesterday the flying season started for me - I went to Ruhpolding, you see take off in the background. We still had to fight our way through the snow to get to take-off, but luckily there were some really great hanggliding and paragliding pilots to help me struggle my gear up.
After an early start, conditions weren´t quite as fast as expected. No clouds, strong inversion, strange air for this time of year. I decided to turn around at Wilder Kaiser and fly back to Ruhpolding, because I wanted to put a new sticker on my sail: the Timezone-wings. Looks great, but honestly, it took me 2 hours to put it on... On Wednesday a german magazine wants to write an article and take some photos with me, so all my gear has to be in best shape. I will post the new pics once we were lucky with the weather.

Free Tibet, free Zimbabwe

Now it is official, Mugabe´s party lost the election in Zimbabwe! The opposition now has the difficult task to rebuild the country - I was lucky to see Harare before the country closed down, it is a beautiful country with great people, I so hope things will get better for them now!
The other big topic is Tibet and the Olympic games in Beijing. I think everybody has the right to have his/her own opinion and should have the possibility to articulate it, without being persecuted or tortured for it. When we are flying high above mountains, far away from borders, free as birds, it might already demonstrate our position on this question - maybe the mere action of our sport is just more political than other sports already, without talking about it. Maybe that is why my blog is censored in China.
My prayers are with the Tibetans and the Dalai Lama - I admire his honesty, his humour and his peaceful strength. Some day things must change for the better, for freedom.

To qualify for the women`s worlds...

I was asked by a friend who wants to enter the Women´s Worlds how to get in if she has never placed among the top 2/3 of a competition she competed in. You can apply for an exemption:

... if you have never placed into the top 2/3 of a competition before, thus you think you might not qualify for the Women´s worlds at Monte Cucco this year, please just answer the following questions and email them to Paula Howitt (email: paula@fai.org ). If you can get your teamleader or your national hanggliding association to support your request as well, there should be no problem for an exemption to compete in the worlds.
They just want to make it as safe as possible. Still of course we also like to see as many women there as possible! So just take a few moments, and then see you in Italy:

QUESTIONNAIRE


General experience:
Year of first flights ?
Year of first competitions ?
Number of flights and hours flown every year ?

Experience in competitions :
Name of competition, Location, Date, Level, N° of tasks of the competition ?
Ranking of the pilot in each task/ Number of pilots in the competition ?
Distance flown by the pilot in each task/ Distance of the winner

Cross Country flight experience :
Location, Date, Type of flight, Distance flown by the pilot ?

Glider :
Glider used usually ?
Glider you will use?

Comments of the team leader about the pilot ?
Is she able to take part safely to the World championship?

Japan and Orlando!

I just got a pre-schedule for May, and it looks like I will have a short stay in Tokyo and a short stay in Orlando! Im looking forward to going back to Japan, and I have a few Schwenkel gloves size XS for my friends with the very small hands. Unlike last time, I unfortunately only have 22 hours in the country, so I wont be able to organize a meeting.
In Orlando, Im pretty sure that Jamie will take me either flying or to the beach to see her new house. Cant wait to get there!
Over here in Munich it is raining again, this is the third weekend in April where they had to cancel the German League. Im not too sad about that, because I had a change of my schedule: Instead of Portland on Monday, I already have to fly to Vancouver tomorrow. And the weather in Vancouver - like here, just worse, because colder, so it is rain mixed with snow :( so again no flight from Grouse Mountain.
On May 1st I will fly at the Austrian Open in Greifenburg, my first training for the Europeans. Until then, the weather has to improve a lot. Still snow on take-off! If it looks ok, I will get there a few days earlier because I was asked by an editor of the German magazine "Tina" to show her flying, take photos and do an interview. She wants a nice long story, and Im always happy to present our sport. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather!

Rockstar in Munich

I went away for work to Sao Paulo, and when I came back I found out that my team mate Jamie became a film producer! She has come to Bassano to fly and after we got back to Munich, she must have been bored, so she helped to create a video to participate in a Gibson guitar contest, and I think it turned out great. If you like to see some great shots of Munich and if you appreciate a solid rock guitar, have a look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rzqjFj9M5I

Bassano - the top pilots

The first time I ever got a trophy in pink, haha!

Primoz and Michi with their prizes look quite happy.

Bassano in the snow

Yesterday it was raining along the mountains, so we had a tourist day in Venice, saw Piazza di San Marco, Rialto and the nice old channels. Lucky it wasnt raining there!
Today it looks worse, it is snowing to nearly down the landing field in Romano. The awards are at 11.30, hopefully on time, because it will be a difficult drive home across the Brenner in the snow. I dont have snowchains...
After a year with just one comp day, next year will be hopefully better again. If Easter is in April, it is better for flying. It happened just too early this year.
The first flight was great, except extremely cold, but I rarely remember a cloudbase like we had, with a great view into the Dolomites. And now I am coldproof too, I just found out that two pairs of gloves work well for me, also my warm, goretex insulated Adidas boots are great for this kind of weather and still fit into the harness. Its too late for this time, but I will remember the winter setup for next year. And for some probably cold flying days in April in the mountains. Last year April had the only useful really big cross country days in the northern alps.
I look forward to getting home and having proper internet, here it was very difficult to find a connection at all, so I will update my page with photos tomorrow.
And tonight I will cook porcini risotto at home!

Bassano

Some of us optimistic minds went to Bassano despite the weather forecast. And we had a great first task on Thursday, 100 kms. What a cloudbase - and what a cold! Must have been minus 20 centigrade at 3000 m! Michi Friesenbichler won the day ahead of Primoz. I was just happy to make goal at some stage...
The wireless connection at headquarter sucks, so we had to go to Bassano to find a cafe. Took a long time, but now I can write a few lines to the rest of the world.
Yesterday was cancelled due to overcast conditions, difficult wind on take off and no thermals. Today it looked great in the morning, but then quickly overdeveloped. We waited for ages in the cloud, then eventually launched, but it got worse in the air. Cloudbase came down, lift everywhere, the wind picked up - paragliders were all going backwards! I decided to fly as far away from the black wall as possible and landed 13 km south of headquarter. Safely, happy to be on the ground. The organizers dont give us the possibility of a proper weather forecast. I heard the word "thunderstorms", but only in Italian. And yes, they arrived tonight, thunder and lightening outside now.
For tomorrow it looks like a tourist day in Venice, since predictions are worse than for today. Maybe we can fly on Monday, if we are lucky (and can get up the mountain, cause they predicted snow...)
I will try to get back online, but it is difficult in Italy! Still Jamie and I are having a good time, the pizza is fantastic, so is the cappuccino.

Brigitte

"Brigitte" is a women´s magazine sold in German speaking countries, and in the current edition, sold until March 11th, they published an interview with me which is quite fun to read. Have a look at it, if you get the chance - even the pilots on my last work trip had a good laugh!

New Team Sponsor: Adidas!

This Friday we went to Herzogenaurach with the german women team and got a lot of beautiful equipment for the coming world championships at Monte Cucco. Proudly we kept the gear on when browsing through the outlet strore and we could see a lot of people checking us out.
Next weekend, we will all meet at the Free Flight, a hanggliding and paragliding exhibition in Garmisch, probably in our new team dress for the first time on a public event.
I wish I could have gone flying with the other girls today, but the long work trip to Buenos Aires and a freezing, 8 degree centigrade cold crew rest gave me a bit of a cold Im trying to get rid of. Im looking forward to Bassano in two weeks and another work trip to Sao Paulo after that.

Women´s World Championships: Open for registration!

Hi friends all around the world. I just saw that the 2008 Women´s World Championships are open for registration at http://www.cucco08.org/
Looks like Russia and Germany will have full teams, how about the Japanese Women? Would be great to have a big competition in Italy this summer, so enter and come over!

And the winners are...

Yesterday night at the award ceremony, Yulia, Corinna, Hadewych, and then Attila, Jonny and Balasz. Jonny Durand won all the Australian comps of this season and won over world champion Attila who takes it with humour and respect!

Bogong Cup task 4: 103 km over 2 turnpoints

The day looked cloudy, the forecast was for rain later in the day with possible embedded thunderstorms. We went over to Bright and up Mystic anyway, a task was set into the northwest and hopefully away from the dark skies. Once the window opened, I was ready and took off soon after Attila, Lukas and a few others.
We found lift in the unstable air and got up, but it didnt look promising towards the courseline. I thought of staying west of course and maybe getting out of the way of the rain, but it moved in too fast and I didnt want to fly across non-landable area. As soon as I saw the windspeed picking up, I landed a few kms south of Myrtleford. More pilots joined me on that field. Later I heard the day was stopped and cancelled, because also other pilots and Carol in goal experienced strong gusts ahead of the rain - Carol couldnt even fix the goal line, it was blown away.
Today of course the discussion was started, pilots who did well yesterday loudly protested and attacked Heather because they wanted the day to be scored, and maybe they succeed. Heather did her best, made a safe decision to stop it and gave a good example for the young, new pilots not to dare too much, not to fly in these iffy conditions, not to head into the darkest of clouds. Taking risks like that should not be rewarded. Guess we have both seen too much tragedy to want to see anybody at risk.
I dont loose or gain anything whether the task is scored or not, but I certainly agree with Heathers decision and I admire her for standing up for it, because normally the comp directors only want to go with the flow and put all the responsability towards the pilots. And those were always the days when we saw severe accidents at big comps.
Whatever the outcome of the day, I think people clearly see how much Heather and Carol care about safety and I hope also the new pilots feel well looked after in the Bogong Cup and will come back next time.
It keeps raining today, so we will already start at 6pm with the award ceremony at Settlers Tavern. Time for me to update some pictures and get ready for the long trip back tomorrow morning. I havent seen final results yet.

Task 3: 166 km!

Today we went to my favourite take-off: Mount Buffalo! And the task was long, around 3 turnpoints with goal at Brown Brothers Airstrip. Unfortunately I landed at 5.30 pm, so the winery was already closed. Still I was very happy with todays flight.
We went way out into the flatlands and had a great cloudbase, good lift and even clouds later in the day. Jonny came in first and won another day, followed by a whole bunch of pilots, Lukas in 4th, Oli, Jörg, Roland and me not far behind. All i know is that Attila had only 6 minutes on me - not bad for 166km!
tomorrow more, we got back really late.

Bogong Cup task 2, 107km

Today we went up Emu launch again but waited a long time for the wind to calm down and to swing straight into the launch slope between the gum trees. Once more Heather got everybody off safely, and at 3.30 pm the first launch window started for our course around 3 turnpoints out to Bullioh in the end.
We just got back and it looks like the French had a very good day, with Mario Alonzi and Luis Rizo first to goal. When I got there, there were already about 15 gliders there, and after me a lot more arrived. The southerly change kicked in while I was packing up, but there were still a lot of gliders coming in. Pedro had a shocking landing, he is ok, but he broke the leading edge of his Aeros. Davis Ozreport Straub likes to look at a rasp weather model and today it was exactly right with the prediction of a strong southerly later in the day.
All Germans in goal again, but it was a tough day with strong headwind and turbulent lift. It felt like flying for 5 hours even though it was only two and a half.
Tomorrow will be an interesting choice for the takeoff as they predict southeasters. I would love to go up Mount Buffalo, I like that launch ramp a lot. A scenic start into a task!

Bogong Cup 4th day: too windy!

What a hard day in paradise! I saw big lenticular clouds over Mt Bogong this morning and expected strong winds. They measured up to 70 km/h from the north again, but we went over to Bright to wait and see if it calms down. At 1.30 pm Heather called the day for safety reasons, and I was very glad I didnt have to fly in that turbulent air!
Instead we went back to Mt Beauty and I just took some pictures with Tony and Karen who sponsored the best prize ever: The male and female winner of the Bogong Cup share a stay in their spacious holiday units of the Alpenhorn Motel with a scenic view, pool - and very useful, great cooking facilities, in walking distance to headquarter. During a comp it is most important to get a good rest, a good nights sleep and healthy food, and this is one of the best places to do that. Belinda, Davis Ozreport Straub and Scott Barrett are my neighbours, as well as usually quite a few more pilots. Last year I stayed with Attila and his family, the year before with Jonny Durand.
Weather for tomorrow looks more promising than today, the wind will swing around and we might go up Emu again, hopefully fly another nice long task.

Bogong Cup Task 1, 114km

Today we went up to Mt Emu take off. Blue skies, no wind and comfortable temperatures. The guys set a task of 114 km around 3 turnpoints, first up the valley to Gundowring, then over to Myrtleford hwy turnoff, after that back into the Kiewa Valley to Running Creek and back to Mt Beauty airstrip.
Already after the first turnpoint I got very low and had a good look at the enormous power station. Luckily, Jonny Durand flew over my head and showed me the last possible way out of that situation. I got up again, and after that it was piece of cake. I enjoyed flying with a wedge tailed eagle (I got the nice guy, the poor Russian pilot now has big rips in his leading edge...) and came into goal. There were already about 30 pilots, and I guess 45 made it in today. Difficult to say who won the day, probably Jonny. Roland and Olli did also very well and made it into the top ten.
We are 3 girls in the comp, Hadewych from the Netherlands, Yulia from Russia and me. Yes, and Katharina from Germany freeflying if she finds somebody to drive the car down the hill, we are working on that one. So far she was only driving, we definitely have to get her into the air in this beautiful place!
The flies at goal drove me crazy again, they keep trying to get into ones eyes, ears, nose and mouth. Carol saved me and lent me a big white mozzie net to wear while I was packing up my glider. The guys looked a bit puzzled when they saw me, but i could breathe and speak without a fly between my teeth, so it was worth the embarrassment of being a walking mosquito net.

Forbes photo

This is a great picture of Jörg Bajewski flying above the outback in Forbes, the previous competition. He flew 45 hours in 8 days! And dont ask how long the drives back to Forbes took...
You dont want to land in that desolate area, not enough shade out there, let alone signposted roads.

Bogong Cup Day 1 & 2

55 pilots entered for the Bogong Cup, and it started with a day off yesterday. People coming from long hours of flying and driving from Forbes didnt seem to be too sad that the wind was too strong. A hailstorm a 2pm proved the decision of Heather the meet director right. Thunder and lightening stayed with us until the early evening.
This morning, skies were bright and blue again, but the wind is still a threat. Ahead of a coldfront pushing in, it is supposed to swing around to the west at some stage this afternoon, but today was also cancelled as the wind seemed to increase during our briefings.
If you are in Mt Beauty area tonight, Olli is organizing the legendary Bogong Cup Barbecue again.
We hope for better conditions tomorrow and for the rest of the week. At least this year we can see and breathe! Last year we were covered in smoke from bush fires. More news and photos tomorrow, I hope a bit more exciting then!

Preparations

How can you do well if you go to a competition on a different continent where the timezone is upside down?
I started travelling 6 days ago and went to New Zealand first, so I could get into the right timezone in a relaxed way. It was a comfortable 24 degrees celsius in Auckland, while temperatures in Victoria went up to 40! When you come from winter, it is better to slowly acclimatize.
Last night I arrived in Canberra and did last preparations for the comp before we leave today. I will stay in an appartment with cooking facilities, so I shopped for some healthy, tasty food to cook, some rice and pasty dishes that are fast and easy to prepare, yet very nutritious for a long comp. As ballast in the first And the incredible cloudbase today tells me that we will cover a lot of kms next week!
Also the water supply is important. I always carry up to 1.5l of water and two cans of Red Bull in my harness, not just as ballast, but also to hydrate and refresh after landing. And sometimes, if I needed help from a farmer to find to my driver, they were quite enlighted if I handed them a can of Red Bull, usually quite chilled because it has been up high in cooler temperatures for a while. So I need to find Jonny Durand – he just won the Forbes competition and is undoubtedly Australias number 1 pilot – and he is also sponsored by Red Bull and usually helps me to stock up on energy in his country.
This morning I went running along the lake and realized once again that Im in Australia. Two rosellas were sitting in the grass, happily chatting along. I like parrots, as long as it is not a flock of cockatoos waking me up at 4 am. Tonys appartment has a spectecular view ober the lake. There is a big fountain that reminds me of the one in Lake Geneva. Just not as many houses and people out here. Canberra is quite designed and has a feel of Brasilia to it. It didnt develop naturally, but some people decided where the inhabitants would work, where they would live, where they would go shopping. There are a lot of parks, trees and green areas throughout the city, but that also means everything is quite far apart, and my walk to the shops this morning was quite exhausting.
Well the weather forecast predicts a cool change coming through tonight, so that means fresh air (and appropriate temperatures at night). Cant wait to get to Mt Beauty. I tried to call Carol, the organizer, but she is already giving interviews, talking to radio stations and tv channels. Heather and her do a great job for our sport with their competition!

I saw a ghost

I saw this little penguin on our boat trip and was just fast enough to catch a photo before he dove under water again. quite cute those small ones. And they seem to like the warm water!
At the ferry wharf I saw some fishermen and one of them had pulled out a baby stingray. Lying on its back it very much reminded me of a ghost. Probably haunting the guy who pulled him out of the water ;)
On my way over to Australia today, I hope the Qantas flights are not too overbooked.

Blisters in the sun

Training in paradise is hard, but nice! Yesterday I went sailing with my friends family, a fantastic cruise from Waiheke Island to Rakino Island, and I did plenty of rowing from the shore to the ship and vice versa, always with a loaded dingy. A lot of fun and a good workout considering that my arms need to be fit soon for the Bogong Cup!
There were numerous penguins in the water, very cute to watch, but difficult to get on a photo, as our boat was going along at quite a lot of speed. At 48ft length you can imagine the size of the beautiful big sails!
For me the trip ended with a few blisters on my hands, but well worth it!
Tomorrow I will meet my friends Phil and his family as well as his brother Stephen and his folks. Stephen is the legendary technician who once fixed the high tech camera of a German film crew at the worlds in Bright with a kitchen knife.

The way to Down Under

And again I worked hard to get a couple of weeks off to fly my favourite competition in January, the Bogong Cup. After the suitcase desaster in October in Canungra I was smarter this time- I left my harness with Carol and Oli and only travelled with carry on luggage! This time of year, flights are incredibly full so I had to go through Vienna and a 5 hour stay in Bangkok. I treated myself with a Thai foot and back massage at the airport, so time flew by very fast.
Now Im on the way to Auckland to stay with friends for a few days – no chance to fly straight to Sydney. I dont mind, the whole Sydney crowd is in Forbes at the moment anyway. Looks like my whole team is over there competing already, Lukas, Oli, Hans, Roland and Jörg. Great effort, this is the best winter training you can get!
Vicki from Moyes promised me I would get the great Litespeed 3,5s again that I already flew in Canungra – makes it easy for me, that way it is no problem to arrive only the day before the comp starts because I already know that the glider is perfectly trimmed!
Also I got very comfortable soft contact lenses, I already tried them on the plane on long flights and they are perfect to keep the eyes moisturized thus the perfect vision also for a long hanggliding flight.
Will take me a few days to overcome jetlag, I hope Carol has already organized the Red Bulls again.
I guess I will finally have some time on my hands to answer a few questions from Japanese pilots – Noma will probably be in Mt Beauty as well and help me with that.
During the Bogong Cup I will stay at the Alpenhorn motel again, so I will have intenet access to update my blog frequently with photos and news. You can also find news at www.dhv.de

Happy new year from Kuwait!

Hello everybody and happy new year! May you all have good health, enjoyable work, great friends, incredible flights and- most of all - always happy landings! I had to work again and ended up in Kuwait. There were a few signs of firework yesterday, because there is only a minority of Christians here, and the Muslim new year has already started.
Now we will go downtown and check out Kuwait city. Maybe I can find a race camel to take home ;) they are great animals. Or I find a sponsor for the fuel to all my hanggliding trips... there are oil rigs everywhere. Cant wait to see downtown. Back later.

Merry Christmas! Frohe Weihnachten!

Merry Christmas to all my friends around the world, whereever you are. I hope you are enjoying good health, great company and good food!
I had to work for Lufthansa these days and will have a few days at home before going somewhere I dont know yet for new years eve, since I will be on standby again.
Also Im preparing to go to Australia in January to fly the Bogong Cup - and to meet Carols and Olis newborn son Luca for the first time.
All the best for the new year to you, hopefully some big flying days and always safe landings!

Frohe Weihnachten an Euch alle, ich hoffe, daß Ihr gesund seid und mit Euren Liebsten ein leckeres Weihnachtsessen genießen könnt.
Ich mußte dieses Jahr leider arbeiten über die kompletten Weihnachtstage für Lufthansa, und auch über Silvester werde ich unterwegs sein für die Firma. Keine Ahnung, wohin es geht, denn ich bin auf Reserve, also immer und für alles einsatzbereit.
Im Januar geht es dann nach Australien zum Bogong Cup - ich freue mich schon sehr, den kleinen Luca von Carol und Oli kennenzulernen.
Alles Gute für Euch für das neue Jahr, ein paar Rekordtage zum Fliegen und immer happy landings!

DHV XC

Lukas Bader and I won the inofficial international part of the DHV XC cup, where the 8 best flights worldwide count. Maybe next year they could make it official part.
Nevertheless, we had a great party in Warstein, dancing until early in the morning, with Lukas on the dancefloor all night- I still remeber the great rock n roll acrobatics he taught me at the party of the Worlds in Big Spring! Also Regina was happy that some of our national team pilots are also great dancers!
On Sunday morning, just before the XC and League award ceremony, Lukas gave a fantastic speach about flying in the German flatlands. He is running a hanggliding and paragliding school up in Berlin, where we will have the German Open again next year, which might also become the pre-pre-Worlds, as the club from Altes Lager wants to put in a bid.
I will go to Berlin this weekend to celebrate my parents 40th wedding anniversary, after that on Saturday I will join a sports gala in Cologne, and then-finally!- have a few days off in Munich, before I have to fly again.

DHV-Jahrestagung

Bei der diesjährigen Hauptversammlung vom DHV wurden wir zunächst durch die riesigen Hallen der Warsteiner Brauerei gefahren.Nach einer langen Sitzung mit vielen Anträgen konnten wir Sportler uns dem großen Delegierten-Publikum sehr positiv darstellen, denn unser Nationalteam war mit Hans, Jörg, Lukas und mir stark vertreten. Auch der deutsche Meister Klaus-Peter Wilming war dabei, und ich hab mich gefreut, auch Regina, Primoz und Ecki endlich mal wiederzusehen.
Heute wurden dann die DHV-XC-Ehrungen vorgenommen. Leider gab es keine offizielle internationale Wertung, sonst hätte Lukas einen riesigen Pokal bekommen - er ist dieses Jahr der weltweit erfolgreichste Streckenflieger! Auch ich war glücklich über meinen 11. Platz in der Weltweit-Wertung, leider hatte ich im europäischen Vergleich 3 Punkte zu wenig um offiziell als Deutsche Streckenflugmeisterin zu gelten. Vielleicht nächstes Jahr wieder!
Schön war es, daß ich mit meinen Eltern zu Gast bei meiner Freundin Rebekka in Belecke war. Ihr Vater und sie haben den Großteil der Organisation für dieses Wochenende gestemmt und wirklich einen tollen Event aus dem diesjährigen Treffen gemacht. Nächstes Jahr hat Rudl Bürger die JHV zum Samerberg geholt.

Nagoya to Tokyo

Great, it worked, I went to Nagoya and took the highspeed train „shinkansen“ to Tokyo. Exciting to travel fast! Would be like going from Munich to Frankfurt in 1h 30mins by train. In Tokyo, Toru Goda picked me up and we now start preparing for the pilots meeting tonight that he calls „How to fly well as a small pilot“ – I hope I can give valuable information to my Japanese friends, and Im sure I can learn a lot from them as well!

Es hat funktioniert, ich habe meinen Hauptrequest mit drei Tagen frei in Nagoya bekommen und bin nun auf dem Weg nach Tokyo im „Shinkansen“, dem japanischen ICE. In eineinhalb Stunden fahren wir eine Distanz, die etwa München-Frankfurt entspricht. Die Züge fahren alle 10 Minuten und sind sehr komfortabel.
Toru Goda hat ein Pilotentreffen für heute Abend organisiert, auf dem ich einen Vortrag halten werde unter dem Thema „Wie fliegt man gut als leichter Pilot“. Ich hoffe , ich kann den japanischen Pilotinnen und Piloten interessante Informationen bieten und bin mir sicher, daß ich auch von ihnen jede Menge lernen kann. Zum Beispiel, wie man auch als leichter Mensch bequem auf einem Futon schlafen kann...

Neuseeland und zurück

Nach ein paar wunderschönen Tagen in Sydney ging es weiter nach Neuseeland. Erst auf die Südinsel zu meiner Freundin Tascha nach Christchurch. Wir hatten Glück mit dem Wetter und Tascha und Cris haben mir Dünen-Soaren beigebracht. Ein Riesenspaß, man kann ewig an den paar Meter hohen Dünen hin- und herfliegen!
Vier Tage später ging es dann nach Auckland, wo ich Phil und James besucht habe. James, Mary und ihr kleines Baby Annabelle sind gerade umgezogen in ihr neues Haus in Birkenhead im nördlichen Auckland. Wir kamen gerade recht zum Kistentragen, Bett umstellen, Schrank nach oben tragen und kochen. Ein wenig Krafttraining im Urlaub!
Heute hoffe ich, daß Thai und Austrian noch ein paar Plätze in ihren Fliegern überhaben, damit die Rückreise angenehmer wird als die Hinreise.
Sorry daß ich solange nicht geschrieben habe, aber ich hatte hier in Neuseeland nicht immer Internetzugang.

After those great days in Sydney the journey took me to New Zealand where I visited my friends Tascha and Cris in Christchurch. The weather was great and they taught me how to soar the dunes just around the corner from their home. That little Sonic was a lot of fun! So easy, you could stay in the air forever and play seagull! Tascha and Cris must be on their way to Australia now, as they will fly the next competition over there in Gulgong.
I went up to Auckland to see more friends and their new babies. So nice to be able to just sit down for a bit of time and catch up. This beautiful country is just too far away, wish we all could meet more often!
Today I have to fly back to Munich, trying to go with Thai and Austrian, and hopefully my suitcase will arrive this time.
I have to work this Sunday, my flight will take me to Nagoya and I already look forward to meeting a lot of my Japanese friends. Would be great if a lot of the Japanese female pilots would come to Monte Cucco for the next Women´s Worlds, maybe I can convince them with some photos of that incredible site!
Sorry for not having written for a while, but I didnt have wlan access most of the time.