Season 2017 - A Retrospect

I was a bit lazy with posting regular updates on the past competition season. I was kept quite busy at work and finished my doctoral thesis in the last weeks. So I rather used every free minute to fly :-)

Nevertheless, I'd like to summarize a bit what happened.

Mosel Open 2017

After Trofeo Monte Grappa over the Easter weekend in March the next competition was the "8th Mosel Open" which was taking place in Zeltingen-Rachtig at the beautiful Mosel river. A wonderful four day competition with great organization. And despite an ambivalent forecast, we were able to fly three out of four days. Due to very weak conditions I bombed out two of three days early, probably only at 50% of the task. The last task I flew well and fast but made a mistake 8km from goal which brought me to ground early again. In the end I finished 5th in the Female Category and 65th overall.

Ammersee from above

After that there was a long period of cancelled competitions due to bad weather. I nevertheless had good free flying days. I flew from Schrattenbach to Ammersee, my current home, and had the possibility to first time fly in Pinzgau for a weekend. What a wonderful magnificent place with a convergence line over the main ridge and the snow-capped main alpine range to the south. I did some flights with close to 100km but didn't snap the magic line.

Picture by G. Hochmuth. Austrian Open Podium

On the first weekend of June, the Austrian Open took place in Zell am See (also in Pinzgau), where again an ambivalent forecast made many people think twice whether to go or not. We were able to fly on two out of four days, the first task with amazing weather and a long task which I again didn't finish by only 6km. The second task was with very weak conditions and in the end nobody made goal. I finished second in the female category by only 27 points behind the first and 53 overall. During this competition I had the impression that I finally found out how it works to keep constant and patient throughout the task. I had some parts where I wasted too much time to make height and was a victim to the cloud shadows in the end, which the first gaggle managed to avoid earlier.

All the following competitions mainly in Austria until end of July have been cancelled again due to bad weather and also the weather for free flying was - at least on the weekends - far below average.

Alsace, France

Finally end of July, the Palz Open took place one day later than planned due to rain, in Fellering, Alsace (France). On the first day we waited at takeoff until almost 4pm with strong winds, and barely sun. We didn't really believe, that a task would be possible. When we were finally in the air and started climbing to fly a 70km task, it was a big relieve. The wind calmed down and we were able to fly over Rhine river into Germany. I was in front with two or three others throught most of the task and only after Colmar took the wrong decision to go straight towards goal into the cloud shadow, making me land 8km from goal... again. The second task was a bit unfortunate for me from the very beginning. It took me long to gain height and when the race started I was still scratching below take-off. I landed after 30km.
Nevertheless, I  managed to become 3rd in the female category and 55th overall. And I had a good last training before the Paragliding World Cup in Disentis.

The PWC in Disentis took place in the first week of August and god was I excited to finally join my first world cup event. But as the weather was in the last couple of months, it continued during this week. We flew a task on Monday in strong southerly wind which I couldn't penetrate. I was forced to land after less than twenty kilometers. After that a week full of rain started and the mood of all pilots went down and down. On Thursday we finally decided to leave and head home to get the spirit a bit up again. We missed a task on the final day, Saturday, but it seems, conditions weren't that great on that day either. I hope, I'll have better luck with my next world cups to come.

Obermühle Mühlbach

Frustrated from this week, I went home to Altmühltal and on 14th August I finally made the obligatory 100km flight for this year. From Böhming to Crailsheim, over Brombachsee and Altmühlsee, with a quite low cloud base this flight was simply magic. One week later a flew to visit my sister, another great day. It paid off for all the frustration from the last months.

Take-off at Monte Pelpi

In the beginning of September, another highlight of this year was waiting for me: flying in the Apennines in Italy, my second home, were I spent a great part of my childhood. From Monte Pelpi I did a nice little round, watching the sea in 30km distance. A place I always loved and I definitely will come back to.

Picture: www.dhv.de - German Championship, Female Podium

The competitions season was finally closed by the German Open in Tolmin, Slovenia. And again, the forecast was not in our favor... The first two days out of six were cancelled right away. On Wednesday we then were able to fly a task at Lijak. Weak conditions, lots of shadow... not many made it to goal. On Thursday we  hoped for a task at Lijak again, but drizzle and strong winds made it impossible. With the forecast looking even worse for the next couple of days, we ended the competition on Thursday evening with the prize giving and pilot's party.
I finished 3rd in the female category and 28th overall. Despite the misfortune with the weather, my best overall result this season.

For now the competition time is over for me but flying will continue. I hope for some good days in the Dolomites in October and will be testing some new wings for the next season. My LM6 has close to 200 hours now and I guess I need to find something new :-)
Overall I managed to fly more than 100 hours since the beginning of this year and managed to get up in the top 1000 in the CIVL world ranking. There's still a long path to climb up, but I think I'm finally on a good way!

I'm looking forward to the next year in the German Paraglding League, this time even as part of the committee. I'll keep my fingers crossed for better luck with the weather then and hope to be able to take up with my learnings from this year. Stay tuned for more news to come :-)

Landing after 100km near Crailsheim