Day 8: Flying or no flying?

When we were finally on the mountain, it was quiet, romantic and - white. A lot of snow in the cloud. At least it is nice and clean to set up our gliders on the snow. Meanwhile the officials were preparing the ramps, cleaning ice and snow off. The task was Buching-Falkenstein-Buching-goal. But we were not even quite at the pilots briefing when a black long wall of rain and strong wind moved towards us. The task was cancelled, we packed up our gliders again and could not go down for a while - the wind was too strong for the cable car to run! So we were socializing and waiting. After some rain and snow it is clearing up a little, no sun but at least it stopped raining.
For more photos, have a look at Ashanta´s Blog and Jamie´s Blog

Day 8: Next decision at 12

Oli said yesterday the wind was off from the west, too much from the right, so he decided not to fly in the end. Lots of snow up there.
Today it seems to clear up a little, the sky is still grey and take off in the cloud, but there is some hope so there will be another decision at 12.

Update: Flyable?

We could see the cable car mountain station on Tegelberg for a while now, and Oli went up to see if he could go for a flight. NO sign of a glider in the air yet, I wonder if he had a really short flight that I missed because I was preparing porcini risotto for my parents and friends tonight? Carol, Oli and Luca are coming over to my place, so I will get a full weather report later.
It is nice to see some "lighter" and higher clouds than the last days anyway, my hope is up for tomorrow or Tuesday. It is great to see that we or the organization don´t get any bad words from disappointed pilots - today Benno organized "flying" for everybody in the "glider on the crane" at the Tegelberg base station, so we get back into the air again! Also pilots are getting wings from a lot of Red Bull. The party last night lasted again very long I heard...
Tonight Charlie will show Mike Harker´s movie (and more) at Helmerhof in Horn/Schwangau, starting at 9.30 pm. Will be great to have Mike Harker there to add some points about his flying and the movie - his whole life has been dedicated to freedom, independency and travelling, I am curious to hear more of his experiences. When he was sitting at our table the other night, we were only able to communicate for about half a minute each time between the songs of the bavarian orchestra... ;)

Day 7: Do we need to offer a sacrifice...?

There is a lot of snow on take off now, and it keeps coming further down. I got out my snowboarding pants to stay warm. Who is the culprit? Andi says it is my fault because I didn´t finish my pizza on the day before the comp started... I promise I have finished every single plate that I started this week, and still no sun in sight. But people are thinking about going skiing now, there is still drizzle outside and cloud base nearly touches the ground.
A small window of improvement might open up tomorrow, if the wind doesn´t get too strong too soon. We still remember the warm and sunny days with lots of flowers in the landing field...
At least Benno organized plenty of non-flying activities. Yesterday there was a walk from headquarter to Neuschwanstein castle and a visit of the castle afterwards, and an Italian night with a band. Even Heather jumped up the stage and sang last night, she is a great performer!
The Japanese team is on the way to find a place where it is possible to fly - I wonder how far they have to drive. On the southern side of the alps it looks sunnier, but that is due to quite strong Föhn which comes along with turbulence. But maybe they are lucky, who knows?

Day 6: Guess...

... no change for better weather yet - if you intend to visit us, bring warm clothes, there is snow on take off again ;) and we remember the good times, our training from the opening day of the worlds, with sun and thermals and warmth.
And we welcome Italian world champion Alex Ploner in our team Adidas! He is very happy to have the right gear to tackle the cold and rainy weather now. Currently it still looks like there will be a change on late Sunday, so we might get to fly on Monday or Tuesday.

Day 5: same procedure as yesterday

So what can we do about the weather? We can´t change that Tegelberg has been hiding in the clouds the last couple of days, so we just keep training - walking, running, some people are hiking or biking up the mountain again, I might go swimming later, and this morning we had a yoga session with Ute.
It seems like the weather will change to the better late on Sunday, and we might get to fly from Monday to Friday! As there is sunshine in our minds, it is just a question of time when the clouds will move.

Day 4: More rain, day canned, but Bob wins day 1!

Today no news about the weather - it gets colder and now everybody knows why the fields are so thick and green and why the cows of Allgäu are so incredibly happy and seem to smile all the time. The secret is: loads of rain! No task today, no class is flying, even the trike and the dragonfly are staying on the ground.
The good news: With quite a good amount of leading points Bob Baier won the first day ahead of Manfred and Steve Cox! And the other good news of the day: next week the weather looks very promising for at least 4 to 5 tasks in a row! We can´t wait for that...
Foolow us also on the adidas air team page with, we twitter the most recent developments to that site!

Day 3: rain rain rain - cancelled

At the team meeting last night, Andi, Tim and Norbert told us about their flight yesterday - they all agreed that take off was marginal and they had to wait a long time for 0 wind, most of the time it was about 20 km/h over the back. Once in the air, it was tricky, but flyable.
In the evening, we had some spectacular cb´s around, and now the sky is grey and it hasn´t stopped raining for a while. I contacted Stefan Hoermann who is providing us with detailed weather predictions at Gleitsegelwetter - he sees a small chance of a very brief window for tomorrow and Friday, but in general there is a LOT of rain on the map.
Some pilots are going to the Timezone Outlet in Rosenheim today, as shopping seems to be helping a lot of girls getting over weather depressions. Other are heading for the thermal baths - our meet director Heather warned everybody that people in Germany have mixed saunas and are naked in there ;)
Tonight we will have a DJ and it will be a party night with a prize giving for the winners of yesterday´s swift task.
I will just enjoy the first day of absolute free time in I don´t know how many weeks, answer emails, cook something tasty and healthy - and just relax!

2nd day of the worlds: Foehn, day cancelled for FAI 1 & 5

Today only the swifts flew a task - and Bob Baier came in just seconds after Austrian pilot Manfred Ruhmer, Steve Cox from Switzerland was in 3rd! We were at the glider airfield where the 10 competitors towed up with a trike and a dragonfly.
On Tegelberg take off we had tailwind for most of the day, because the Foehn is blowing in from the south and gives us very turbulent air around the mountains.
Tonight we have a team meeting and I am curious about Bob´s flying experience of today!
Ashanta got some new speedarms today - they are sold at headquarter, we made a new design together with Adidas. Around the upper arms and inside the lower arms there are specific patches to give us a much better grip on the uprights. I asked for this feature as it helps me as a small pilot immensely on take off if I have more control and not slippery fabric. Apart from that, I hope you like the colours and the design - with a hood that can be cut off if you prefer to have them without one. For sale until the end of the world championship here at Tegelberg.

Opening and first day of Adidas HG Worlds

Yesterday we had a great opening ceremony at Tegelberg for the Adidas World Hang Gliding Championship, the large tent was filled with pilots and visitors and locals. Special guest was hang gliding legend Mike Harker who made the first flight ever from Zugspitze. He is in great shape and wonders about another flight from Tegelberg...
We went up the mountain this morning and set up the gliders in drizzle. Yet we were positive that we might get a short window of sun. Our meteorologist Volker Schwanitz expected a short break before more rain moves through. At 1pm the wind switched around and it got unlaunchable, and as a band of rain was approaching us, the day was cancelled. A few gliders flew later in the afternoon and I was happy that Dolores and Ashanta pulled off a really good landing in pouring rain...
Tomorrow it looks like the southerly gets stronger and stops the overdevelopment for a while, so maybe we can fly our first task tomorrow.
Have a look at some great photos from yesterday, taken by Mike Hamel
Sorry that I didnt manage to post my photos here today, but the internet in our flat is very weak, slow and keeps breaking up, I need to go to headquarter tomorrow - or take my computer up the mountain, as we have a pretty good connection up there as well ;)

At Tegelberg

Tomorrow we will have the Opening Ceremony for the Hang Gliding World Championship 2010 at Tegelberg at 5pm. It is a great team, everybody is really motivated to take part in this special time here and Im very happy to be part of such a fantastic crew! Come along if you can, and participate. Everybody got here on time before the next dust volcano cloud starts closing down some airports... ;)
And by the way - no professional models, but real hang glider pilots, all of us.

Wings over Neuschwanstein

Last week I went to Tegelberg for flying and training with my team mates. I was filmed while I was flying around the castle - we had great weather, yes, it is possible! Please have a look at the videoclip Flying over the Castle

Seoul, Timezone: GMT + 9

After some training at Tegelberg and meeting Monique and the best pilot of the Japanese team and her team leader there, I headed off to Greifenburg for staying with the good flyable weather until the very end of this good weather period. On Friday I had to leave as a work flight to Seoul was waiting for me on Saturday. Just a very brief "there and return in 3 days" - I got back very late last night.
Yet it was sunny and warm in Korea, so I took the time to go downtown and check out the inner city pedestrian zone (way too many people there, I tell you...). I was happy to see the nicely decorated adidas flagship store in Seoul - every country seems to have it´s own line of designers, and the different styles are always interesting for me to see. Of course, the whole world shares the excitement about the soccer world championship in South Africa. I so wish that I could work on the flight to Johannesburg that will bring down our soccer team, but it looks like it will be the first official flight of Lufthansa´s new Airbus 380, and I am not working on that plane yet.
Seoul was my last work trip before our big competition, and soon I will move to Tegelberg for the world championship. Can´t wait to meet everybody again!

Team training at Tegelberg

Our team spent this weekend at Tegelberg to train for the worlds. Actually, yesterday I had a private Red Bull workout... I went up Tegelberg 3 times to takes photos and film footage, racing through the towers of castle Neuschwanstein. Will be quite spectacular!
Today I joined in our team training and went up the mountain with Ute and Christa. A bit later, Monique and Regina arrived. The clouds in the high mountains were growing quite fast, so I decided at some stage to escape into the flatlands, to the northeast. A completely new area for me, I made that flight for the first time and really enjoyed it a lot.
This week we might get some more good flying days for Tegelberg, so we will be back again. It seems like everybody there knew that "the national team" is there for training flights. Paraglider and hang glider pilots asked us many questions, everybody was really helpful (specially when I was too exhausted to carry my glider up to take off on my own ;)) thanks again, guys!) and they are very supportive, keeping their fingers crossed for us. I hope to see a lot of them again during the worlds, as we have planned some great parties too!
The flower picture is for my mum - it is really spring time now in Munich!

Schwangau press conference

We flew back from Dubai finally and arrived in Frankfurt yesterday morgning. A nice little rental car took me south to Schwangau and I arrived at the World Championship press conference just in time. Well, about 45 minutes late, but that was not because Im playing a Diva ;)
The Mayor of Schwangau participated as well as our patron His Royal Highness Luitpold Prince of Bavaria - always great to talk to, as he travels even more than me! The boss of the Tegelberg cable car was there as well as Charlie Joest, head of the German hanggliding association, some team members of our team, then Benno Osowski our organizer and Peter Achmueller, our team leader. About 15 journalists participated.
Today I prepared my gear for the coming days - it looks like good flyable weather at least until Sunday, and we will buzz around the castle to get some good training.

Party in Dubai

Yesterday in the afternoon our purser Sarkis had the great idea to organize a party for all the airline crews stuck in Dubai who stay in our hotel - we already met at the pool several days. The Grand Hyatt staff was very cooperative and set up a loungy area on the terrace of one of the restaurants. Arabian fingerfood and drinks all night - and thanks to Red Bull Dubai and Oli, we also had a great supply of chilled Red Bull - new wings so we can fly home tonight!
Two of our crews already left yesterday and flew out to Frankfurt and Munich, so they couldnt participate in the end. Yet the mood was great, it was interesting to meet colleagues from a different airline and to exchange experiences. Im very pleased how everybody in our crew, from Captain to flight attendant, keeps the spirits high and makes the best out of this situation, helping each other and enjoying the time while we can ;) We had a lot of fun working on the flight over here, and no matter how difficult the circumstances might be, we will have a great and safe flight back!

Red Bull Dubai

Now I feel at home again! I found out the telephone number at the Red Bull office in Dubai and they invited me over straight away! And sure I was not the only one stranded in Dubai. Quite a lot of the Red Bull Air Race guys came up from Perth and got stuck here as well. Nice, a cold Red Bull and a warm welcome from the Red Bull office crew in Dubai!
Tonight a barbecue is planned for all the airline crews staying in our hotel, and now I can provide them with some new wings again too – they will love it! We really need some energy again to fuel our batteries and stay positive. Over here we can enjoy the last few days of party and holiday before we come back and face the bitter truth of a desastrous loss for all airline companies.
More photos of the joint venture party tomorrow;)

Still stuck

Update: Our flight tonight has been cancelled again, as airspace is closed until 2am tomorrow morning, and our plane has to arrive from Germany first. I already think I might have to ask Guido for helping us with the Red Bull Falcon... We have a really great crew down here, altogether two Frankfurt Crews and two from Munich, and our purser organized a barbecue tonight and also invited the Virgin Atlantic crews who had been stuck for a week here to join in. If I find a Red Bull office in time, I will organize some drinks ;)
I found a great Indian take away with very pure Jain vegetarian food – comparably cheap , restaurants here in Dubai are quite expensive – just that It takes nearly one hour each way to get there by public bus. But then, what else do I have to do? I learn some Norwegian, I work a bit for our world championship that I can hopefully attend, and I train up in the fantastic hotel gym. Must be hard to be on exile in paradise!
I hope I can join the press conference at Tegelberg on wednesday via video conference...

Dubai - Timezone GMT + 4

Still in Dubai, there is a lot of great big architecture to see. I guess Felix would like the Burj Khalifa tower with more than 800 m of height...
I went to the beach and saw the Burj al Arab from the distance. Everything is very closed here, also most of the beaches are privat and have a wall, or it is a club and you have to pay for entry. I only found one part of public beach, really nice bright blue clear warm water.
The public bus system is ok and also includes some of the water taxis - my favourite! If you like to do a sightseeing tour, just hop on one of the public buses, as they usually dont go straight line to the destination, but they cover quite a lot of ground on the way there.
At home, my team mates had a great training session at Tegelberg with our team leader, Peter Achmueller. Im sad I missed out on that, but sometimes you can´t change things but just make the best of it. Not too hard to do that here ;)

Stranded in Dubai

Where did my luck go? I had to work on a flight to Dubai, and then the cloud of Iceland´s ashes shut down the airspace in Europe... I have no idea when we will get back, and Im really sorry that I miss out on some great flying weather with my team, we also had to postpone the filming with Red Bull, as Im not the only one of the team who got stuck somewhere in the world. Well it could be worse. Im here in Dubai for the first time, there is a lot to learn. For example that they have closed up bus stop houses that are air conditioned!!! And I walked through mountains of gold today, felt like in "pirates".
It is hot over here, but the sun was hiding behind a huge cloud of sand - a storm moved in and sandblasted us!
Poor Oli, Carol, Heather and the others who want to fly to the world championships from Australia, Japan, the US, I keep my fingers crossed that this stuff moves through fast and you will find a way over... What an absolutely crazy month.

More preparations

On my short trip to Shanghai, I sat down with two girls and prepared a great surprise for the world championship in a few weeks. Creative, individual, unique stuff.
Today I met Regina again, also rigid wing world champion Alex Ploner from Italy joined in and on the way back while stopping at Irschenberg we even met Steffen. It was raining all day, but we all really feel like we need to fly soon. The forecast for the weekend looks very good, so our team training, filming and photography for the worlds at Tegelberg will be promising.
Preparations for the worlds are running along at speed of light at the moment, it all looks really good, we hope to see a lot of participants and many visitors too, as we offer quite a large program around the actual championship.

Working for the Worlds

Yesterday I went to the DHV, our sports association, to keep working on the organization of the World Championship with my team mate Regina. On the photo, we just talked to Ute, our other team mate. She had made her first spring flight two days ago and was very happy that finally winter is over. So am I! A lot of sun out yesterday, so we were happy to receive the new adidas sunglasses for the new flying season. They are so nice we just had to wear them in the office already ;)
After some hours of DHV work with Klaus, Regina and Babsi, Regina and Primoz helped me to prepare my wing for the first comp in Bassano next week. Looks pretty fast, eh? Too bad that we have Foehn today, strong southerly winds, but that also brings hot temperatures to melt away the snow... I can´t wait to get airborne again and try this Moyes Machine ;)

Finding Nemo, Jeddah Timezone UTC + 3

After two work flights last night, we went out to the beach club again to adore the colourful fish. Today Nadine and Rebecca persuaded me to go a little further to see the anemone and "Nemo" - a little territorial clown fish lives there. The only problem - right next to that part of the reef I saw "le grand bleu" and panicked, hearing the jaws music.
With my heart beating fast and adrenalin rushing in, the other two came back and helped me, and in the end my curiosity won - those fish are just too pretty, so colourful and happy, and if I just concentrate really hard on all the beautiful colour and pattern details, I manage to keep my fear of water bearable. At least as long as I can float on top of the water.
We saw giltheads, puffer fish, a fire fish, and fluorescent orange and purple striped one I dont know. And a moray, scary thing. I was so glad that I had my Lizard Five Fingers shoes with me, so I don´t have to worry about the stone fish at the bottom of the stairs or about the sea urchins.
Nice shells in the sand everywhere, I guess Jamie will be here pretty soon ;)

Jeddah, Timezone UTC + 3

Yesterday we flew to Jeddah. It is great to be able to come here on work, because usually it is quite difficult to get a visa - no tourists. All the women of our crew have to wear the black abbaya everywhere, in the hotel and outside. Just at the beachclub where the walls are built into the sea we are allowed to swim in a bikini. Lots of colourful fish everwhere, you dont have to dive. I was snorkelling just without a snorkel, because I forgot it at home. Later today we work some more and fly to Khartoum and back, then some more hours here in the very pleasant temperatures (around 32 and a nice strong breeze, would be perfect for kite surfing today) before we go back to Germany on Monday night.