Big Congrats to Seb!!!

Sebastian Vettel just won his 4th World Champion Title at the Formula 1 race course in Noida/New Delhi! Big congratulations!!! I know from own experience how hard it is to win once, and then it gets a bit harder every time to defend a title! Well done, mate! I hope I can party with you in Abu Dhabi next week-end!

Hang Gliding Course at Wasserkuppe!

On Sunday I started a hang gliding beginners course together with instructor Klaus Renz. I was happy to see two girls in the group of 9 people as well - I know the difficulties of small pilots and can help immediately with techniques and tricks to improve the ground handling a lot for us girls.

The wind was nice and strong, so the training I had with Nils at Boneyard was just the perfect preparation for the conditions here on the training hills of Wasserkuppe. The guys are progressing fast, and it was very gratifying to see the relieved smile of Alex, one of the girls, last night. She said her arms don´t hurt and she feels that she can control the glider now and run with it fine.
In the morning, the wind was way too gusty and it was raining a little, so I set up my own glider inside, teaching them the names of the glider parts, the type of loads on these parts, some aerodynamics - and of course everybody could pick my RX3 up or pretend to fly in it ;) we should have had a green screen behind it...
My leg muscles are sore from all the running on the training hill, but Im glad that autumn offers us such great weather.
The paragliding beginners were not as lucky as us, they didn´t fly so far, but theyleft very early this morning to go to a training hill which is much lower than Wasserkuppe (920m) and has hopefully less wind. If not, they should all just come over and try hang gliding!

Stratos documentary and 1 yr anniversary

It was a great pleasure to meet Sherry and Joe Kittinger as well as Felix at Red Bull´s Hangar 7 in Salzburg yesterday for the release of a new documentary and a talk show about the Stratos project on Servus TV.
Joe and Sherry were really pleased with the docu - I didn´t have the chance to see it yet. Luxury problem - if you are "behind the scenes" and meet friends who are usually racing from one event to the next (a bit like me?), you just want to spend every valuable split second talking to them, laughing and catching up with them.
A fantastic team which realized a project that seemed just impossible to do. A great step into the future, not just in terms of new records, but also in terms of their incredible media work!

Back in the cold

It wasn´t easy to leave Sydney. A perfectly blue day of pleasant spring weather, a big dinner at Bill´s place with Molly and Grace teaching me how to prepare Wonton - a HUGE lot of them, we folded about 400 of them for one "family dinner"... that means roughly 20 adults and at least 10 kids running around the kitchen and living room of the house in Bronte which is probably the most well known "home away from home" to pilots from all over the world!

Only 28 hours later, I was back in the grey, cold reality of German winter. It was pouring with rain and suddenly even huge snow flakes showed up, creating quite a chaos in southern Bavaria. The earliest snow ever in German weather history :( luckily it melted away, and my brave little bottle brush bush on the balcony kept it´s precious flower just to remind me of the good times I had in Australia!

Can I stay longer, pleeeeeeeease?

Just a few more impressions from Canungra - tactical discussions on Tambo, Jonny and Blenky task setting in the morning at the showgrounds, Jonny´s task briefing on Tambo, landing in the polo field where Mark joined me, and just some strong breezy weather!

Being spoilt

When I went down the coast by train to meet Kathryn in Thirroul today, the whitecaps on the sea showed quite a strong wind, dark clouds promised some rain. Kathryn invited me over to her place for a delicious home cooked lunch instead of hang waiting on the hill.
Before going back to Sydney, we had a look at take off - and it was perfectly on! We set up Kathryn´s new little Malibu and she put me into her harness and helmet and got me up into the smooth afternoon air at Stanwell. Might have been the last summer flight for me for a while, because autumn and winter are around the corner at home already. You have the biggest heart of all, Kathryn, I miss you already!
I was still wearing that big happy "I was in the air!"- smile in my face when Kathryn dropped me off at Vicki´s place - dinner with the family. Tasty Mexican food!
You guys make it really hard for me to leave Oz, and I wish you were all just living around the corner and I could invite you around for dinner at my place tomorrow eve! I had great support on this whole trip from so many friends, I can´t thank you enough. "You are travelling on your own?" many people are quite astonished about that fact, but I never feel lonely.
Because of all the big comps next year, it is highly unlikely that I will have the time for Canungra again, but be sure that I won´t give up hope and try all tricks I know to squeeze out some days to escape to the "center of the universe", to fly with Jonny and Davo, with Glen and Billy, to party with Linda and Nadine, to enjoy the most picturesque sunsets with Sue in her garden on Tambo. And hey, Gordo - maybe it is time for a trip to Europe soon?

Dune gooning at Boneyards

Back in Sydney, I had a great lesson in dune gooning today. Dick Heffer picked me up and took me to their "Boneyards" site - kind of strange when you go across a large cemetery first to get to a take off ;) then you fly with the gravestones behind your back. I like the irony in it.

The master of the dunes himself, Shannon Black, was there and played with his new toy, the Malibu 2. Impressive to see his flying - he makes it look just supersmooth and easy. When I tried, I felt completely out of control at first, but Nils gave me a really good lesson on how to cope with strong gusty cross wind on the slope. And without a place to land on the beach, because it was high tide.
It was a good physical work out for me jumping around like a kangaroo in a hang glider, but only when I saw the photos that Lynette took of us I realized that Nils must have worked just as hard as me to keep his gear with me in it in a safe place... certainly very different to the cross country flying in Canungra, but just as much fun!
Tomorrow Stanwell might be on, would be soooo cool to get as some airtime there before I have to go back to winter in Europe ;) might even be possible to watch some whales from above...

Canungra task 4 & 5 & party!

The last two days had been long and exhausting. I had my first bomb-out at Beechmont, and I was lucky that Dave is a really fast and smart driver- he got to the paddock just when I finished packing up! He and Bruce helped me to set up the glider again, and with a late 2.30 pm launch, I found the last thermal and went around two turnpoints!
I couldnt quite make it to goal, as the sunset turned my light (and thermals) off and the Jinbroken range was in my way. Tony and Dave helped me to pack up my glider at dusk, I was really exhausted, but happy that I got out of there at least with the second try, flying course all on my own.
Yesterday I went alternate and launched at 11.15 am, floating on top of the gliders at Tambo take off. Steve Moyes and Kim visited us, so I did my best to stay up high, waiting for the start gate.

I left with a good group, but we got split up pretty soon at Misery. When I met them again at the first turnpoint in Hillview, I was surprised and happy - and I wouldn´t let the gun pilots escape again! We flew along the ridge together, towards the 2nd turnpoint southwest of Beaudesert, but the day turned off at 2.30 pm and we all just glided as far as we could. Only Adam Stevens made goal, Jonny landed 9 km short and I had 13 km to go.
I landed in a polo field, just a perfectly flat, huge area of very short cut soft grass! A perfect ground skimming approach and fun landing was the final highlight of this comp. When I read in the final scores, I smiled - 3rd of the day after Adam and Jonny is quite something in this group of high class pilots!
Jonny won overall with Jonas Lobitz in 2nd and Adam Parer in 3rd.
The party was legendary as usual in Canungra, many friends came over who hadn´t been in the comp or were not flying for a while.
Nils Vesk got the award for most improved pilot, Billy Miller-MacLeod won floater class (and will soon flog his dad!), I was top ranked female pilot, finishing 20th overall.

Big thanks to the organizers Garbs and Morgan, to Tony and Sue, to Tim, Gordo and Dave, to Bruce Crerar on launch, also to Moyes for a glider that is fun to fly and even without ballast and head wind I can keep up with the "big guys", if my decisions were smart enough!

Day 6: strong wind, day cancelled

The clouds were racing past launch, so we went to Byron Bay instead and were rewarded with the sight of lots of whales on their way south. I also saw a shark, a large group of dolphins and a sting ray - just from the look out at the lighthouse.
The ramp wasn´t exactly facing the right wind direction, so nobody was flying. A great time anyway.
Today we might go to Beechmont again.

Task 4: 74km around 2 turnpoints, goal Boonah

After I was 25th in the ranking today, I decided to go open window, as the sea breeze might come in early on Tambo. Nils Vesk gave me a really nice motivational speech, trying to get me think positive and break the unlucky first days of the comp. I tried not to look too disappointed, but of course my friends see it anyway. Well, he succeeded with talking me back to a positive mind set!
I went 3rd off and had to wait an hour for the launch window to open. It wasn´t getting any higher than 800m msl at first, I could just stay above take off. At least I had most other gliders underneath, so I could watch carefully for the best climbs.
I left with Glen McLeod for the first start gate, and we weren´t too fast. The leading gaggle got us at Rathdowney turnpoint, 40km into the course. After that, it was just very enjoyable soaring under beautiful clouds.
There were about 10 gliders in goal at Boonah airstrip already when I got there, and I concentrated hard after almost four hours in the air to pull off an elegant landing. I was lucky and had a light breeze and a nice, soft flare.
Jonny won the day, but with Adam Parer in 2nd and leading overall, it will stay a close race between these two!
A few of the top ten didn´t make it to goal today, so there will be a fair bit of shuffeling! Watch the results here in a few hours! When we got back to HQ, my team mate Ai from Japan told me that she had three flights today from Mt Tamborine!!! She is very dedicated and will be a very good pilot. And she teaches me some Japanese every day when we go up the mountain!
Now we will go to the highlight of the whole comp- the red faces night, where teams are putting on something embarrassing and funny. Kind of a family and friends night, with a meal together.

Canungra Day 4: cancelled

Very strong NW wind and an early end of thermals led the organizers to cancel Tuesday.
Looking good for Wednesday, some showers just clearing.

results Task 1 & 2

Results here!

Canungra Classic Task 2: 72km around 2 TP

Northerly winds made us go to Flying Fox today. Not my favourite, because the bomb out is a bit dodgy. Only a few hundred meters below take off, still on the hillside, changing wind directions - and cows. Luckily, I didnt have to look closer at that place today. I got up right in front of take off, up to the clouds.
Going west was not as easy as it first looked like, as the wind higher up was a Northwest, and we were heading to Rathdowney, then to Lion´s Road, with goal past Mt Lindsay in Woodenbong.
About 18 pilots made goal, Glen McFarlane probably won the day. I flew about half the distance and we ended up with 5 pilots in my field, just between both turnpoints. As Im still working on getting rid of the bad cold I had caught on my long trip to Australia. I was happy when Luke offered help with acupuncture and put some needles into me. Corinna with whiskers must have looked quite funny ;) Hopefully it works and I will be back to my normal coordination abilities soon. No worries - I had great take offs and landings, just in the air I am slower than normal with my reactions.
On the photo my alltime favourite Canungra Classic pilot and friend for many years, Davo.
Oh and yes, there are too many big evil spiders around... at least the eagles here seem friendlier than the ones that got me in Forbes.

Canungra Classic Task 1: 75km around 2 turnpoints

After the Tour de France in Annecy, I was relieved that they didnt close down Beechmont today for the Tour Down Under, we could just drive up as usual and "share" the mountain with loads of cyclists.
The weather looked good, but it was more difficult than I expected in the air. A strong SE sea breeze didn´t create a smooth convergence with the strong W and strong N out in the flats, but a strong wind shear turbulence zone. I felt safe in my glider after a lot of pitch testing in the air today. Im glad the RX3 has such an easy handling! It was about 30 km/h, more in gusts, when I landed. Unfortunately far away from goal or any of the turnpoints.
About 8 pilots made goal when I passed it with the retrieve drive. Jonny probably won the day, I also saw Enda, Adam and Jonas there. Don´t know if any other guys made it, from my team Tony G. got closest to goal landing only 10 km short.
I havent found a link to any results yet, I will post a photo of the list when I see it at HG tomorrow morning.
Looks like a good day tomorrow and then a couple of days that might be blown out.

A Moyes coming home dinner

Bill, Molly, Jonny and Alaina, Jack, Rachel and I had just returned from all the different continents possible to Australia, so Vicki decided to take a day off from work and prepare a wonderful welcome menu for about 15 people. All vegetarian! And really tasty too. Here I am, having travelled half way around the globe, and I am warmly welcomed like their own family members. What a fun evening!
Sure enough Bill asked me to go swimming with him, so this morning I got to Bronte at 7am and had a swim in the crystal clear probably 18 degrees cold water of the Bronte rock pool. He is as fit as ever, it was a pleasure to see him and Molly.
The flight up to Brisbane with Qantas today was a pleasure, we had the best view of Sydney harbour bridge and opera house! And the guy sitting next to me told me he was into parachuting, but he also likes to have a look at hang gliding - after having shown him a few recent hang gliding videos on my computer, I guess I won at least one more visitor for the Canungra Classic starting this Saturday ;)
Blenkey and Ally are over for dinner at Michelle´s and Tony´s place which has the nicest tropical garden in the back yard, almost looks like mystical rain forest!