5th day: Task stopped, storm development

Today the wind was less strong than yesterday, so we happily set up at Monte Cucco North take off. We set a 69 km task, because the prediction was for possible storms in the afternoon, cloudbase at only 1800m, and a bit of wind.
When we took off, we could already watch a cell developing northeast of the first turnpoint, and before the startgate opened, it started raining on course. Also the second turnpoint in Gubbio was under a squall line of of a huge cu nimb, so the task was stopped in the air and we landed at Sigillo goal. The wind was very gusty and strong when we landed, and we were happy to be safely on the ground.
And on the photo you see why the Italians have such strong pilots - they start training very early! I invited the two girls for the Women´s World Championships in 2022 ;)

Day 5 cancelled, too much wind, low cloudbase

Today we could not fly, the rigid wing guys didnt even set up at Cucco north take off. The wind was howling, the clouds were exploding, and base was merely above us. They made us wait till 3 pm until we finally decided to pack up our gliders, because the wind still picked up. Must have been up to 60 km/h when we left.
Another day to revive and prepare for tomorrow. Maybe the following days are nicer.
And to my friend Patrick: If you get to the base in Frankfurt, could you pick up some Lufthanseat copies for me please? Apparently a photo of me flying above Greifenburg is on the front page of the current edition of our internal Lufthansa newspaper, with a long article inside. Cant wait to see that! It was a lot of fun to talk to the young, enthusiastic journalist who wrote it.
I just saw the team scores, we are in the lead with 500 points now, a great success so far! We will do our best to keep it - looks like we will have a lot more taskable days ahead of us.

3. Task: 59 km race!

Today the conditions improved by the minute. A low base of 1700m was the forecast, with cirrus moving in later. Turned out that the day was highly underestimated, I flew 59 km in 1 hour 12 minutes, so it wont be worth much. Im still happy that I won the day, with about 4 minutes on the second, Kathleen again!
Team Japan had 5 of their 6 pilots in goal, with Aki (to my right on the photo) the first Japanese in! Also our team did well today, five pilots in, only Jamie couldnt quite make it. Regina crossed the line only 10 minutes after me and just after Carole and Francoise! Regina was racing with me, always staying a little higher and watching me from above. Still she managed to increase our points on the Russian girls with her great performance today.
Monique landed as 3rd German girl in goal, still in the top 10 I think. Her zipper broke even before the startgate opened, so she had to fly with an open, upright harness, and she still did so well! She collapsed in goal, absolutely exhausted, and she will receive a relaxing massage tonight. Maybe she can try my harness or Tim`s.
After Monique, Christa raced over goal, then Ute followed.
The rigid wing pilots also had a short task, about 116 km. Christian or Alex were first in again, with Tim in 3rd! Tim and Andy are the youngest pilots on our rigid wing team, 21 and 20 years old, yet great pilots already! It´s a lot of fun to stay with these very positive young guys in our team residence. The German rigid team moved up to 3rd place yesterday, and today they have done well again! The Italians are unbeatable here though.
Sorry for just writing English today, but we have to look after getting Monique the best equipment for tomorrow. Looks like it might od tomorrow, so maybe another short task, maybe another day for travelling and touristing in this great corner of Italy!

Day 3 cancelled, too windy

Today a task of 72 km was set for the women, but the windspeed at takeoff increased to 45km/h and the local rules only allow a speed up to 40 km/h for a safe task. Base was at 1700m and apparently really turbulent, as Primoz just told me. I decided to pack up. The task for the rigid wing pilots was cancelled as well because they had a non-landable area ahead of them and could not go anywhere further on course. So we hope for nicer conditions tomorrow.
Jonny Carr had fractured his foot yesterday at take off and cant continue, also Ecki had to replace Arnold Nadlingers shoulder again after landing... all the women were fine and had a great flight yesterday, with 17 in goal, lots of them for the first time. Our team took first place in the overall ranking now, followed by the Russians and the Japanese in third. The Japanese have two new young pilots on their team, they are doing really well!

Heute wurde die Aufgabe wegen zu starken Windes am Start abgesagt. Die Local Regulations sehen vor, daß es ab 40 km/h unsicher wird für Start und Aufgabe. Primoz hat von der Strecke berichtet, daß es nur bis auf 1700m hinaufging und sehr turbulent war, teilweise kam man in starkem Sinken kaum vorwärts. Die Aufgabe der Starrflügelpiloten wurde abgesagt, als diese vor einem nichtlandbaren Gebiet einbremsten und keine Chance sahen, die Aufgabe weiterzufliegen.
Ich habe am Start abgebaut, ebenso unsere anderen Teampilotinnen. Wir hoffen, daß das Wetter morgen oder spätestens am Sonntag wieder eine größere, sichere Aufgabe zuläßt.
Ach ja, die beste Nachricht zum Schluß: Wir haben im Team gestern den ersten Platz übernommen, 300 Punkte vor den Russinnen sind ein schönes Zwischenergebnis.

First goal, and first in goal! Erstes Ziel, und erste im Ziel!

Today looked even better than yesterday, higher clouds and less windy. Still we only set a 70 km task to get more women to goal, and it worked! We got girls from most nationalities to goal, Russians, Japanese (Mitsuko, Akari and Akiko), Swiss, British, French, Argentinian, Dutch, and many more.
Again, in the air Kathleen (GB) and I ended up together with Carole Tobler (CH), and we raced into goal together, with a few seconds between us. Maybe I even have a few seconds on Kathleen today... she is flying great, as if she never had a break of 9 years of comp flying! Of course, I had a comment from Gordon straight away - amazing that so many people read my blog! Thanks, and yes, Kathleen`s and Gordon`s Litespeed 4 is a great glider, it is already 3 years old but in phantastic shape. Yet, the pilot is also great, so it makes the perfect combination. By the way, Kathleen won every task but one at the worlds 98 in Hungary, I only won one task but then the whole meet - is it going to be the other way around here now?
But the girl who impressed me most of all today was my team mate Christa. Yesterday she bombed out because she had trouble with her borrowed vario, the radio didnt work and was only fixed last minute - today everything worked fine, and she was the second German lady at goal, right in the top ten! Amazing mental strength, to just tick off yesterday and do so well today! Shortly after, also Ute and Jamie got to goal, what a great team result today.
The rigids had three Italians in the top three today, Alex, Franco Laverdino and Christian Ciech. In Swift class, Manfred was first again and landed even before me at goal, even though their task was 160 km... took him about two hours!
The weather forecast is promising for many more tasks, so keep thinking of us, it helps a lot!
For more infos and pictures, also have a look at my friend Rebi`s Blog: http://rebiintheairneu.blogspot.com/

Der Tag heute sah noch viel besser aus als gestern, höhere Wolkenbasis und weniger Wind. Trotzdem haben wir eine kleine Aufgabe von 69 km gestellt, um einfach mehr glückliche Pilotinnen im Ziel zu sehen. Und es hat funktioniert, etwa die Hälfte des Feldes stand heute grinsend im Goal!
In der Luft bin ich wieder mit Kathleen und Carole unterwegs gewesen, vielleicht habe ich sogar um wenige Sekunden den Tag gewonnen. Kathleen fliegt einfach gigantisch gut, als hätte sie nie 9 Jahre Wettbewerbspause gemacht!
Am meisten hat mich heute allerdings meine Teamkollegin Christa beeindruckt. Gestern hatte sie einen schlechten Start, denn sie mußte mit geliehenem Vario und Funk fliegen, nichts funktionierte richtig. Heute dagegen war alles perfekt repariert, sie kam als zweitbeste Deutsche in den Top Ten ins Ziel! Was für eine mentale Stärke, nach einem so schlechten Tag wieder so gut dabeizusein! Ute und Jamie kamen auch kurz darauf ins Ziel, also ein erfolgreicher Tag für Team Germany. Charlie hat sich gefreut, daß er im Ziel soviele schöne oder interessante Landungen filmen konnte.
Die Starren mußten heute 160 km fliegen, es haben drei Italiener gewonnen, Alex Ploner, Franco Laverdino und Christian Ciech. Als erster Swift stand natürlich wieder Manfred im Ziel, mit einem 80 km/h-Schnitt... tja, geniales Fluggerät und genialer Pilot ergibt erstaunliche Leistungen.
Das Wetter sieht sehr gut aus für die nächsten Tage, also haltet uns bitte weiterhin fleißig die Daumen, es nützt!

First Task: 82 km

Today we had a tough day, flying nearly half of the task against a 20 km/h headwind. We took off from the Cucco North launch and flew down to Gualdo Tadino and Nocera Umbra, after that the strong northerly kicked us around. I flew a lot with Kathleen Rigg- at launch she waited a very long time for the wind to be right (usually that is my speciality, but she beats me, and not only there...). In the air, I knew why! She flies her husband Gordon´s Litespeed, but her glide is better than his... i can only dream of a wingloading like that, I already took led ballast today, but I cant make up for 20 more kilos ;)
Kathleen was the only one who made it to goal. I havent seen results yet, but Regina and Monique landed with me just short of the 2nd turnpoint, Jamie and Ute a little further behind. I also saw a Japanese girl in Moniques field, she did really well too. The rigid team had two German pilots in the top ten (Andy and probably Ralf) with Tim just behind then, Alex won the day, and Manfred won in Swift class.
I guess I will be about 4th or 5th of the day - not the best start, but we will hopefully have plenty of days to make up for it. Just keep your fingers crossed!
It was a safe task with great landable fields, so I hope every pilot had a good time today!

First Briefing

Austrian Swift class World Champion Manfred Ruhmer at the opening ceremony - I managed to paint the German flag on his cheek ;) then his little boy Thomas also wanted to be painted and proudly ran around with the German flags in his face all evening.
Yesterday we decided not to fly because the wind was again extremely strong, at 5.30pm the first heavy storm hit us and didnt stop all night. Apparently Arnold Nadlinger from Austria dislocated his shoulder, went to hospital, and said he will be alright again for flying probably this afternoon. Tough guy.
The wind direction changed around to NE today, the skies are cloudy, but maybe we can fly this afternoon.

Bei der Eröffnungsfeier hab ich es geschafft, dem österreichischen Weltmeister der Swift-Klasse, Manfred Ruhmer, unsere Flagge auf die Wange zu malen - gleich danach kam sein kleiner Sohn Thomas zu mir und wollte sein Gesicht auch angemalt haben. Thomas ist den Rest des Abends ganz stolz damit herummarschiert ;)
Wir sind gestern nicht geflogen, da der Wind sehr stark war und wir auch noch alle möglichen anderen Vorbereitungen zu machen hatten. Außerdem haben wir viele schöne Fotos für Euch vorbereitet, laßt Euch überraschen im Laufe des Wettbewerbs!
Am späten Nachmittag brach der erste große Gewittersturm los, die ganze Nacht durch blitzte, donnerte und regnete es.
Heute hat der Wind auf Nordost gedreht und ist zur Zeit noch recht stark, aber das ist ganz gut, um schnell die Restbewölkung wegzublasen. Vielleicht können wir heut Nachmittag nochmal fliegen.
photo: ©Kappes Adventure Press

Opening of the Worlds

Today the wind is still blowing really strong, with the pridiction to become even more and also rain or storm development possible in the evening, so we decided to work, prepare, write- as you see on the photo.
Yesterday at the opening ceremony I was taken by surprise when Flip mentioned that Flavio Tebaldi (the comp organizer and Italian team leader), the Mayor of Sigillo and me are responsible that we have another World Championships, because we didnt want to give up and put a huge effort into convincing everybody and into organizing it. I had not realized before that I had such a huge part in it - we were also dependant on Flip, the CIVL President, to take our offer or plea to the officials and make it happen against all odds. I am very happy to see so many pilots here, women, rigid wing guys and also swift pilots, and I hope we will have a great comp and we will keep our sport and the Worlds going. Looks like there is enough interest from pilot´s side and definitely interest from the media side.
Heute kann nicht geflogen werden, der Wind bläst immer noch sehr stark, die Vorhersage ist für noch mehr Wind, sogar Regen und Gewitter sind heut Abend möglich. Aber es gibt genug vorzubereiten, zu schreiben, Fotos auszuwerten...
Gestern war die feierliche Eröffnung der Weltmeisterschaft in Sigillo. Ich war sehr überrascht, als Flip plötzlich auch mich auf die Bühne bat, um mir zu danken. Zusammen mit Flavio Tebaldi (Organisator der WM und italienischer Teamleader), der Bürgermeisterin von Sigillo und mir sei es möglich gewesen, wieder eine Frauen- und Starrflügel-WM zu organisieren. Ich hatte mich sehr dafür eingesetzt und lange emails geschrieben, viel diskutiert, viele Pilotinnen und Piloten motiviert zu kommen, denn ich weiß, daß Interesse von Pilotenseite existiert, und auch die Medien immer gerne über die Frauen-WM berichten. Daß ich allerdings mit verantwortlich bin, daß dieser Event überhaupt wieder stattfinden kann, war mir nicht bewußt. Schließlich hat auch Flip als Präsident der CIVL volle Überzeugungsarbeit bei seinen Delegierten leisten müssen, um sie wieder umzustimmen und alles zu ermöglichen.
Noch schöner ist es dann, all die vielen Pilotinnen und Piloten hier zu sehen. Seit vielen Jahren haben nicht mehr so viele Frauen teilgenommen an der WM wie hier! Ich hoffe, daß wir Glück mit dem Wetter haben werden und einen schönen Wettbewerb fliegen können.

In Sigillo

We got to Italy late Friday night, yesterday we first moved into our team house, then I had a first great flight in very smooth evening air. I took off at 6pm and landed two hours later. Today the wind is gusting up to 48 km/h, too strong for me, only a very few rigid wings took off. Chrissy and Stephan took a lot of photos with us yesterday and today, and we will go on this afternoon when we have our first team meeting with the women and teamleader.
Tonight at 6 the opening ceremony is going to take place in Sigillo, then we have another two days to prepare, get all instruments and gliders ready, test the area.
photo: ©Kappes Adventure Press

Wir sind spät am Freitag Abend in Sigillo angekommen, ab Verona hatten wir Stau, was die Anreise unfreiwillig auf 10 Stunden verlängerte. Es ist heiß und fast wolkenlos heute, gestern gab es dafür luxuriöse Wolken am Himmel. Ein schöner erster Flug am Abend! Um 18.00 6 Uhr bin ich gestartet, um 20.00 Uhr gelandet, denn ich hörte den Ruf der Pizza!
Mit Chrissy und Stephan war ich gestern und heute für Fotos unterwegs, es sind schon sehr schöne Aufnahmen entstanden, wie zum Beispiel dieses Bild vom Startplatz. Heute Nachmittag haben wir unser erstes Teammeeting und werden weitere Aufnahmen machen, bevor um 18.00 Uhr die Eröffnungszeremonie beginnt.
Montag und Dienstag haben wir zur weiteren Vorbereitung, zum Testen von Drachen, Gurtzeug und Instrumenten, zum Erfahrung sammeln in Umbrien aus der Luft, bevor es dann am Mittwoch ernst wird.

German Records!- Deutschlandrekord!

Great, today I got the news that two of my flights have been accepted by the German Aero Club as new German records: I flew the biggest FAI triangle flown by a German pilot with 226 km, and I also gained most height with more than 2000 m!

Ich hab gerade tolle News bekommen: Meine beiden Deutschlandrekorde sind jetzt offiziell vom Deutschen Aero Club anerkannt! Ich halte jetzt den deutschen Rekord für das größte jemals von einer deutschen Pilotin geflogene FAI-Dreieck mit 226 km und den Rekord für den größten Höhengewinn mit über 2000m! So macht das Fliegen noch mehr Spaß ;) Vom Hochfelln im Chiemgau bin ich gestartet, bis fast Mayerhofen ins Zillertal geflogen, danach ins Rauris-Tal und wieder zurück nach Bayern, rauf zum Chiemsee und dann am Weßner Hof gelandet. Sieben Stunden Training! Andere fliegen in der Zeit nach New York ;)

Preparing for Italy

And again, please everybody, send me an email so I get your email address again! I lost them all after a system break down. Por favor, todo el mundo, mandame un email para obtener su email otra vez, perdí todos mis email la semana pasada!

Back in Munich, Im preparing the last things for the worlds. Finally some time so I don´t have to rush! Chrissy and Stephan Kappes will come to Sigillo for a few days to take some photos for our sponsors. Im looking forward to working with them and I hope the weather will be great for some scenic flights.
The opening ceremony is on Sunday, and the first task will be on Tuesday. Charlie is going to film the whole event – it looks more difficult than ever before to win. The two Russian girls are very strong, they havent stopped flying since the Euros, went to Laragne and St. Andre. Well, Ive been flying to Calgary twice and once to Seoul since ;) so also lots of flying.
Regina, Jamie and Monique are already at Monte Cucco to settle in and do some training flights. Regina had a great competition at the Croatian Nationals where she ended up 6th overall, with her boyfriend Primoz winning the comp. Congratulations! We need all our pilots in top shape to be able to defend the title!
Soon there should be an article about me in the German based magazine „Tina“, and also the internal newspaper from Lufthansa, „Lufthanseat“, is preparing an article.

Jetzt bin ich wieder in München und freue mich, daß ich endlich mal ein wenig Zeit habe, um mich in aller Ruhe auf einen großen Wettbewerb vorzubereiten! Chrissy und Stephan Kappes werden für ein paar Tage mit nach Sigillo fahren, um für unsere Sponsoren zu fotografieren. Ich freue mich darauf, endlich wieder mit ihnen zusammenzuarbeiten – das Wetter sieht vielversprechend aus.
Die Eröffnungsfeier wird am Sonntag sein, der erste Flug der WM am Dienstag. Freitag werde auch ich Richtung Monte Cucco aufbrechen, während Regina, Monique und Jamie schon da sind, um sich einzufliegen. Regina hat gerade sehr gut bei der Kroatischen Meisterschaft abgeschnitten, sie ist 6. geworden! Herzlichen Glückwunsch, auch an ihren Freund Primoz, der den Bewerb gewann.
Wir müssen auch alle in Topform sein, wenn wir unsere Titel halten wollen, denn noch nie vorher waren die Russinnen so stark. Sie sind seit der EM nur noch beim Fliegen gewesen, in Laragne und St. Andre. Naja, ich war in der Zwischenzeit auch nur am Fliegen, zweimal nach Calgary und einmal nach Seoul...
Wer mehr Fotos sehen möchte, bald sollte das deutschsprachige Magazin „Tina“ mit einem Artikel über mich herauskommen, wahrscheinlich noch im Juli. Und auch der „Lufthanseat“, unsere interne Zeitung bei Lufthansa, bereitet eine Story vor.
Ich hoffe, in Sigillo einen zuverlässigen WLan-Spot zu finden, damit ich Euch täglich von dort berichten kann. Wir haben ein tolles, neues Team und viel für die Vorbereitung getan, es wird sicher eine spannende Weltmeisterschaft!

...and it goes on!

Thanks for the wishes, Rebi and Patrick, but the bad luck is very persisting. We arrived at the Lufthansa base after the Seoul flight yesterday and I realized that my colleague had confused her carry on trolley with mine!!! And she had gone straight to the airport to find her large suitcase there. Unbelievable, and not what you need after a tough time. I found out that she doesnt even have a mobile phone, so I left my number in her postbox at the base and ran to lost and found, but she had gone. My Mac was still in her hand! And my flight to Munich was due soon.
Luckily, Sabine called in time for me to run back to the base, get my suitcase, run to the airport and catch the flight to Munich. Kind of funny, looking back at it, but yesterday I was rather exhausted. I need a good rest and clean myself with sage or something to get this bad luck mark off ;)

Not so lucky

Suddenly all my tech devices break down at the same time, also my flight to China was taken away from me and now I am in Seoul, Korea, instead. So much went wrong, even my compeo ran out of battery on launch at Hochries on Saturday (and our team doc Ecki saved my flight with lending me his vario), the first time that this happened in all those years. And yesterday on the flight even my beverage trolley broke down and would not move... at least we have a wonderful, helpful crew that carried me along.
Guess Im just lucky that all this bad luck didnt turn on me while I am flying. And I hope this bad luck time is over soon.

Lost Database

Hello everybody - last week, before I went to Calgary again, my email program crashed and I cant recover the database. Please everybody around the world, send me a short email so that I have your email adress again. Thanks a lot, Corinna.

Calgary

After coming back from Greifenburg, I had to pack my suitcase again and leave at 4.15 am the next morning to go to work. The moment I picked up my gear, it started pouring outside. My flight to Frankfurt was overbooked due to a cancellation of a later flight. I got lucky though and was allowed one of the cockpit jumpseats. Amazing huge clouds after take off!
Our A330 to Calgary was nearly booked out. The flight took us about 9 hours. Calgary is growing, building places everywhere. Once I arrived at the hotel downtown, I contacted Vincene Müller, Chris Müller´s mum, and we met in the city, catching up on a lot of hanggliding and paragliding stuff, anything between Canada, Australia and Europe. I felt like Im connecting the continents!
Even more so when Bernie Winkelmann came over from work and mentioned Jeff O´Brien and I said that I just did some Yoga with the Jeffs yesterday in Greifenburg on the lawn in front of Bettina´s house, overlooking the Drautal! Sometimes the world is small.
Anyway, I have to return soon, the flight will be nearly booked out, a lot of work. But I will be back here soon, it is a nice place with a good feel – and always great to be able to meet friends during the layover time.
On the photo Vincene, me, Bernie and his wife Moon.

The Awards - European Champions 2008

On the photo next to me you see Elio Cataldi from Italy, Michi Friesenbichler from Austria and Christa Aichner from Germany. We were honoured yesterday at the big award ceremony of the European Championships in hanggliding.
I had a flight in the morning to get some good film footage with Charlie and his professional cameras. Oli Barthelmes flew around and above me as close as I usually dont allow anybody ;) the air was clear and we had a beautiful light, so watch out for some nice videos out on my sponsors pages soon!
I got one of those nice trophy´s that Elio is holding as well. It weighs about 25 kg, so you can imagine how people were laughing when I tried to hold the trophy up high above my head...
Today it seems like a great day for flying, maybe even crossing the alps once more. I will see what the wind does, if it slows down a little bit, it might be possible.
Tomorrow I have to work and fly to Calgary for a day, I hope I can visit Vincene Müller and Bernie Winkelmann there.

European Champions: Elio Cataldi and me!

The last day of the Championships is usually the most exciting one, especially when you only moved up to the third place in team ranking on the day before. I was lucky to have accumulated an comfortable 450 points on Natalia behind me, so I was quite relaxed today and looked forward to a last round here in Greifenburg. Three tasks is not exactly a lot. At least I had nearly 5 hours of airtime yesterday, Christa even more than 6!
We set up the gliders, but already during the briefing dark clouds moved in. The task was 92km around 3 turnpoints. I took off in the early launch, but it didnt look more inviting from the air, with showers going down north of the first turnpoint, also to our west and south. I reported that on the radio while our teamleader Regina stood next to organizer Wolfgang. A few minutes later, after having talked to the meteorolist, the task was cancelled.
Most people were relieved, and our team was superexcited to be on third place, the best ranking for a long time, with 5 pilots amongst the top 20. For the women, it is the first official European title ever, and Im very happy to have earned it here in my favourite place, Greifenburg.
The new European Champion is Elio Cataldi - his daughter Lisa will start hanggliding this year! Second is Tom Weissenberger and third Michi Friesenbichler. The top 3 guys and me all on Moyes gliders, all Litespeeds! A great success for our manufacturer!
When I met my favourite French pilot today, the Colombian Luiz Rizo, he looked quite sad - he had broken his nose on his landing yesterday. Where are your brothers when you need them? Carlos is a doctor, but currently in Toronto. I guess Luiz was happy too not to have to fly today. He was the top French pilot until the last task.
We are happy to have been able to fly here, together with an amazing force of strong pilots. Yet it is difficult to celebrate after the loss of our Swiss friend Richi Meier. Our whole team thought of him today while we were gliding to the landing field.

Der letzte Tag einer Meisterschaft ist immer der Spannendste, speziell wenn man sich am Vortag auf Platz 3 in der Teamwertung vorarbeiten konnte. Zum Glück hatte ich durch den letzten Durchgang ein bequemes Polster von 450 Punkten erflogen, sodaß ich dem Tag ganz locker entgegenblickte. Gerne wollte ich noch einen schönen Durchgang fliegen, denn nur drei gewertete Tage sind nicht besonders erfüllend für einen zweiwöchigen Wettbewerb. Auch wenn ich gestern mit fünf Stunden Flugzeit voll ausgekostet hatte – Christa flog sogar über sechs Stunden!
Wir bauten auf, doch schon während des Briefings ließen uns die schwarzen Wolken südlich überm Reißkofel und westlich Richtung Lienz erahnen, daß es kein langer Flugtag werden würde. Die Aufgabe ging dann auch nur über 92 km und drei Wenden.
Ich startete im Frühstartfenster, weil ich dann mehr Ruhe habe, um gemütlich an die Wolke hochzusteigen. Aus der Luft sah die Situation nicht besser aus, in Spittal ging schon Regen runter, der auf unsere erste Wende loszog, überall auf der Strecke schossen die Blumenkohle in die Höhe. Über Funk gab ich die Infos aus der Luft weiter an Regina, die gerade neben Organisator Wolfgang Sattlegger stand. Er erbat sich zwei Minuten für eine Entscheidung. Kurz darauf wurde der Tag abgesagt.
Ein Jauchzer der Erleichterung und ein Jubel über das hier Erreichte ging über unsere Frequenz.. Teambronze für die Männer, die beste Leistung seit Ewigkeiten mit fünf deutschen Piloten unter den Top 20.
Christa flog in der Damenwertung auf den Bronzeplatz hinter Natalia Petrova aus Rußland. Für mich gibt es nun den ersten offiziellen Europameisterinnen-Titel aller Zeiten. Bislang nahmen nie genug Frauen an einer EM teil, um auch hier eine Wertung zu erzielen. Erst Greifenburg hat dieses möglich gemacht.
Die Österreicher sind unangefochtene Team-Europameister, aber der Einzeltitel geht an den Italiener Elio Cataldi. Auf Platz zwei Tom Weissenberger aus Salzburg, auf dem Dritten der vorherige Europameister Michi Friesenbichler.
Trotz aller Erleichterung, allen Erfolges fällt uns das Feiern schwer angesichts des unfaßbaren Verlustes unseres Schweizer Freundes Richi Meier.

154 km!

Finally another task! Today clouds were low, but everybody was positive to see the best day of the meet, so they set an interesting triangle down towards Matrei, over across Gailtal, towards Goldeck and back home. The usual places were a bit rough, Anna Schutzhaus and also into Gailtal was not easy. The big crossings cost us quite some height, because the base for the crossings was at about 2700 m with a cross head wind.
Alex Ploner was first in goal, the Italians had many pilots in with the first gaggle. I guess I was the first (and maybe only) woman - I havent seen Natalia around. About 35 made goal today. Will be interesting to see the results later. Andre Djamarani from our team was in 10th, the fastest German today, followed by Roland, Lukas, Hans, Gerald and me.

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.