26 Juni 2015

Going to Voss

It was great to be greeted at Oslo Airport by Nils who works there at the moment, and Johnny. The drive up north took about 6 hours and took us through magical forests, loungy tunnels, mountains, snow fields and gorges. I was kind of expecting trolls, fairies and hobbits to jump out on the road at any time :) We didn´t see an Elg, but the guy with his dogs in front of his sledge was a pretty good show too! I´ve never seen anybody travelling like that in real life before.
It was still raining when we arrived in Voss, but the forecast is for the weather to improve.
The earthquake bass from the party next door on the camp site wouldn´t stop until midnight, and started again at 3am - it was still light outside, no wonder they have trouble making up their mind when to sleep and when to be awake here.
Meeting at hq is at 10, then they will tell us where we go up. I might be able to fly my old glider that is owned by Arne now :)))










24 Juni 2015

Going north

My cool, new speedarms arrived just in time before my next flying adventure. I decided not to hang around in the alps while another cold front hits with rain, snow and strong winds, but to pack my weatherproof terrex gear and just go north. There is an outdoor festival in Voss right now, and hang gliding is part of it - a great opportunity to meet athletes and friends from the other outdoor sports!
If the weather proves to be better in the north, I could get my first flight ever in Norway! The scenery is supposed to be spectacular, so stay tuned for more photos once I get there by tomorrow night hopefully :)

22 Juni 2015

Bengaluru

On our brief stop in Bangalore, India, I had the whole pool to myself, as the the water temperature only seemed appropriate for northern Germans ;) so I enjoyed my swim work out and some experimental photography.


20 Juni 2015

Primoz now with our German Team!

These are the news that really made my day: My friend Primoz Gricar now finally decided to change from the Slovenian to the German team. Primoz has been living and working in Germany for at least 15 years, and with him not having competed at the Mexico worlds, he can now officially change.
Our national team and also the German Hang Gliding association DHV is more than happy to welcome not just one of the top pilots of the world, but also one of the nicest guys of our whole sport! It will be great to fly with our new team mate at the German Open in Altes Lager/Berlin beginning of August :)

18 Juni 2015

Athens



Arriving at 2am at the hotel in Athens this morning, I had a mere 10 hours before pick up. With the Mediterranean in front of my nose (and the noisy breakfast buffet in front of my room´s balcony), I couldn´t really sleep that long and got up early to go for a swim. Pleasant temperature and clear water paid back a little for the long, booked out flights yesterday. I was happy as a snitch when I saw that they also rented kayaks! I got one and blasted around for some time. The best work out for shoulders, arms, back, legs and abs - and soooo much fun. Not quite as exciting as my first stand up paddle lesson with Dr Craig in Manly, but still just great!





17 Juni 2015

Moscow

After I cured my sore muscles from the trip to Brazil (we could try all fitness classes at our hotel for free, so for the first time I went to Zumba, Pilates, Aqua Gym, Bootcamp Xfit and DeRose method (which is kind of heavy duty yoga...), for a short moment I had hope to fly to Boston from my standby. Jamie is in the area and I was really happy that we would meet for a few hours, but then my schedule was changed again. No Boston, but a stay in Moscow and Athens, with several other short flights within Europe.
Right after my first work flight to France, my suitcase had been "accidentally" offloaded in Nice, which I got to know during the flight back to Frankfurt, so that was a disappointment to barely have any clothes but uniform going to Russia. At least I had my bikini in my hand luggage, but it was too chilly to walk across the red square barefoot and in a bikini.
In the morning, I was greeted by an epic Moscow sky, it was painful not to have the chance to go for a flight here - hey, no wonder the alps don´t have proper clouds anymore, if the Russians book them all for the sky above Moscow! The day was too nice to stay inside, so I borrowed a bicycle from the hotel (looking pretty silly on it with my uniform shoes, but I had no choice) and went for a ride. These buildings are so beautiful, and very edible in a wedding cake way ;)
Like in Munich, the linden trees here in Moscow are in full flower and fill the air with their beautiful, sweet scent of summer - I love it!
 I really hope that my suitcase turns up again in Frankfurt today, but it´s not the worst case if it doesn´t - my next stop tonight will be Athens, and it´s going to be very hot there, all I will need IS the bikini :)







10 Juni 2015

I love Brazil!

After the G7 meeting closed down half of our hang gliding air space last weekend (Garmisch area) and storms kicked in as well, I decided to volunteer for work on Sunday - and won the lottery :) They sent me to Sao Paulo!
I love the flights to Brazil, and I like to be in that beautiful country. Can´t get enough of all the fresh fruit, Açai, pão de queijo and agua de coco bem gelado! My favourite little restaurant "Recanto Vegetariano" offers their home grown organic vegetables and fruit in an all you can eat buffet at lunch for 10€.
The weather was glorious and I wish I had had more time to prepare for the flight, I would have loved to bring my harness and go flying in Atibaia. The Urubus certainly showed some nice lift around our hotel at Morumbi!









07 Juni 2015

200km FAI triangle - finally some flying weather!

It was great to see a kind of good weather forecast after a more than average May. Thermals started late (for a really good day), base was below 2000m at launch, and there were storms in the forecast for late afternoon, but I was positive anyway. 
When I arrived at Hochfelln at 8am, it was a good sign to run into Toni Raumauff and Dieter Müglich who were unloading their rigid wings, while Patrick Ruber had already lined up for the first gondola up the mountain. 
On the way up, I got a call from Ecki, he said he will be there very soon too with his Atos. Also Tom Becher was on his way. So nice to go flying with friends! 
Bezillions of paragliders took off very soon and marked the slow and low lift for us. The run to Wilder Kaiser was not easy, but I had an excellent rigid wing pilot with me (I think it was Markus Hoffmann-Guben) who helped me find the strongest cores of the patchy thermals. 
The run into Pinzgau was exciting, I think I never went over Wildkogel so low before (2500m) (there are no easy bombout landing for quite a while in those high valleys, just steep slopes). But then I was rewarded with the "Pinzgauer Spaziergang", an easy run along a cloud street for about 60km :) well - first of all I cut my planned distance short a bit because it already looked too dark towards Zillertal, and I didn´t want to get stuck. 
After flying almost without turning and catching up with Toni half way to Schmittenhöhe, I enjoyed flying with this top pilot until Hundstein, where we hit the beamer of the day, 6,5m, up to cloud base in 2 minutes :) and finally base was at a comfortable 3000m. 
The run back out was scenic, but also quite rough along the steep cliffs of Steinernes Meer. After 6,5 hours of flying I was happy to finally land in walking distance of my car, Also Ecki, Toni and Patrick made it back (Dieter had landed in Kössen), Toni and Patrick with an incredible 300km triangle (great effort for this day), and Ecki with 170km as his first rigid wing XC flight! 
Now I have to work another five days and will be back just in time for the Austrian Nationals in Kössen on Friday, hope we get some great weather there too!
My 200km FAI triangle got me up into 5th rank of our German XC competition, so I took a screenshot - it´s nice to be in the top 5 for once!