BaWü Open 2018 - 6.April to 8.April 2018

Day 1:
The first day of the first competition this year waited with sunny weather and a prediction for very stable conditions and a strong inversion. In the morning fog was lying in the valleys which quickly lifted up and brought us a bright blue sky.

After the general briefing at 9:00am and some waiting time we went up to the take off at Breitenberg near Pfronten to have the task briefing there at 11:30.

The task committee came up with a task along the Falkenstein ridge going 5 Times back and further over 7 turn points.

I took off around an hour before the race start which was at 14:00 in NIL wind conditions. With quite some running through the heavy and deep snow I was in the air and soon after above Falkenstein.

With steep south facing rocky flanks, Falkenstein is known to locals to provide turbulent but strong climbs being disturbed by the Bavarian valley wind coming in from north.

Additionally the day was providing a stronger easterly wind which provided additional turbulences. After being one hour in these exhausting conditions between 1300 and 1650m, between strong ridge lifts and inversion, the race started just when I had the lowest height. 

Additional cirrus clouds made the thermals on the south side of the ridge weaker and weaker and my impatience brought me back to the ground 10min later together with half of the other pilots. Only 15 made it slowly and patiently to goal with improving conditions later on the day.

On day 2 the conditions should be better. Let’s hope for more luck and patience!

Day 2:

The forecast for this day mentioned light Föhn winds. So I was sceptical at first how the day would develop. Having a deeper look into wind forecasts and the pressure difference between Innsbruck and Pfronten showed soon that there was nothing to fear for today. The day promissed to come with blue thermals with a max altitude at around 2200m and no low inversion like yesterday.

We went up to takeoff for a briefing at 11:00am and received a task of 60km from Breitenberg/Pfronten along Falkenstein to Buchenberg, Tegelberg, Trauchgauer and back over the flats to Pfronten. Weather on top was like in summer. Only the melting snow on the slopes along with NIL winds made takeoffs for many pilots difficult. Luckily I didn’t have any problems there.

The race was set to start at 14:00 with window open at 12:00. Having yesterday in mind I decided to start later to avoid staying in rough air before race start for too long. I took off 30min before start and it paid off well. I had a good altitude and Position when the race started and could easily make the first 4 turnpoints in the vicinity of Pfronten.

I then followed the Falkenstein ridge until the end towards Neuschwanstein and decided to cross to the next ridge at a point where it worked well on flights I did there before. From my previous flights I knew that not too much altitude was needed to do the crossing so I went on quite low. Well, today it didn’t work. Instead the valley wind washed me down in the lee within no time. I had to land after only 15km of the task and watch the others thermalling high above my head.

Day 3:

Today the forecast predicted even more Föhn than yesterday. When I arrived at the cable car in the morning I was pretty confident that we wouldn’t fly. Nevertheless a briefing was scheduled at 10:30 at take off so we went up. On the way up we checked the weather again and saw that the forecasts improved massively. The strong winds should now only start after 16:00 so a short task of 30km was set.

The race should start at 12:15 leading us over Falkenstein back to Breitenberg over Vils to Alpspitze and some kilometers into the flats to finally land at the official landing in Pfronten. I took off 38min before race start and other than many pilots at this time went directly to Falkenstein which again paid off. It was a bit chaotic right before start when all pilots were there since the maximum height we could reach at that time was only around 1600m.

Conditions were improving every minute though and so we could quickly make the first three waypoints. After that it took me a while to get up again but I found strong climbs on Falkenstein and could go on together with some other pilots. In the flats we found a nice climb again which brought as almost back to goal. Just some circles on the last turnpoint and we could make it - so I thought. In the end literally 3m lift were missing. I landed 20m before the goal line. I could have easily made it with just one circle more at the last turn point. But that’s the game :-)

I finished 90th overall. There’s definitely at lot of room for improvement.

Nevertheless it was a great end to this competition with a beautiful day and so much fun! I’m looking forward to the next (Mosel Open end of April).

Thanks to everybody who made it fun and especially to the organizers! It was really great!

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

Trofeo Monte Grappa 2017

This year I was lucky enough to be selected for one of the highest rated competitions aside from PWCs: Trofeo Monte Grappa. The competition - like every year - took place over the Easter holidays near the beautiful town of Bassano del Grappa, which since I started flying is one of my frequently visited home bases.

The level of pilots was as expected very high and among the 150 participants, big names were roaming around everywhere. Aside from that it was a great occasion to meet old friends.

The weather forecast didn't look too promising from the beginning, but we were in good hope for at least three days of nice task flying. The area around Bassano is generally well known for being flyable on almost any day through out the year. Being shielded by the Dolomites, Bassano's microclimate allows often to have good flights even if Föhn is forecasted. Or as some say: The best northwind-ridge in the alps :)

The take-off which is used for the competitions, Rubbio, however was new to me. It offers a huge grassy slope with plenty of space for even larger competitions than this.

On the first day, our race started due to some organizing effort pretty late at 2pm.
The task was set to be a 71km task towards Schio, then leading south into the flatlands and from there to the southern ridge of Monte Grappa. Unfortunately, the cloud cover made the day weaker and weaker and many pilots landed after a bit more than 30km flown, and so did I. Only 25 pilots managed to get into goal.

 Friday looked again promising for the morning with more cloud coverage in the afternoon. As we learned later during the comp, however due to a NOTAM which was applied for too late by the organizers, we were not allowed to start the race before 1pm. This day the race was set to start at 1:30pm and we were supposed to fly for 73km. The task lead us from Rubbio to the end of the Monte Grappa ridge, back to Schio and through the flatlands to the landing in Semonzo. Great I thought, this ridge I know like my own pocket. And so I went with a great height all the way to the first turnpoint. Unfortunately, since again the day started to get weaker, I didn't bear in mind that the ridge works great from below on sunny days, but didn't at all on a cloudy day like this day. Flying high would have been the key... but again, I had to land short after 35km. 95 pilots made it to goal and my positioning was therewith out of range.

Saturday was forcasted to be a rainy day and the day was cancelled. Many pilots used the opportunity to go to Venice for some sight seeing. I went with some friends hiking up to Col Serai and a little bit of free flying in the afternoon.

On Sunday we had a task set but it was cancelled after less than 60min due to heavy rain on course. The task was therefor not validated.

Monday, the last day of the competition looked similar than the day before forecast wise. The temperatures decreased over night from 25°C on the last days to only 8°C. We were skeptical when arriving on take-off whether flying would at all be possible on the day, since the dark clouds were slowly approaching from the east. However, a task of 52km was set, which should lead us away from the dark clouds and away from the mountains, where thunderstorms were predicted for later in the afternoon. We were flying towards Asolo over the small foothills and I was initially fast and in one of the first gaggles. The task was again cancelled, this time after 65 minutes and for that reason valid.

It hasn't been one of the best competitions weather-wise and the fact of starting late every day was annoying, especially with the rain predicted for every afternoon. It also hasn't been one of the most successful competitions, position-wise (I ended up 132nd out of 150). But I enjoyed the challenging tasks in the flatlands, which I normally barely use when flying in Bassano. And I definitely enjoyed the company of so many great pilots and am glad I could learn a great bunch of tactical skills from them. I hope to be part of the game again next year. End of April, the next competition for me will be Mosel Open 2017. Stay tuned :)

Autumn Time is Flying Time - A long weekend above lakes

Since I discovered mountains and especially paragliding as my passion, October never failed to excite me. After a extraordinary cold and wet summer which luckily paid a little bit out towards the end, also in 2016, late October didn't disappoint us at all. 

Since 1st of November was a public holiday we decided to use the long weekend for heading south for some flying. While probably most people were heading to Bassano del Grappa, we were looking for some more quite alternatives.

Our trip started on Saturday, 29 October with a visit of Tegelberg (1665m) and Neuschwanstein Castle. Not having in mind that it was holiday season and weekend both at the same time, I was a bit shocked about the crowd that was queuing in front of the takeoff. It was not a big surprise, since Tegelberg is one of the most scenic sites in southern Germany,, offering views over Neuschwanstein castle and Lake Forggensee. After some 45 minutes in the queue, I finally was able to get airbone. Thanks to the very stable day with some southerly wind (the take-off is facing northwards), the flight was rather short. But nevertheless beautiful :) I was luckily able to take some proper shots of the castle.

In the evening we continued our journey towards Laion in Grödnertal, with the plan in our minds to fly at Col Rodella, probably the most scenic site in the world the next day. But already in the evening a strong North wind made us clear that this won't be the site for the next day. We instead headed towards Trento and from there to Lago Toblino, a smaller and almost unknown lake just north of its big brother Lago di Garda. A beautiful flying site at Monte Gazza (1583m) was waiting for us. It offers two different landings: the first one just on the southern shore of Lago Toblino, between some vine and apple plantations. 

The second landing is around 700m in altitude higher and a lot more spacious situated in the small village Margone (936m). We met a bunch of pilots from the local club at the second landing. They offered us a free ride to the takeoff along with some Maroni and beers. 

The takeoff is a big grassy knoll right on the top of Monte Gazza offering plenty of space for taking off in multiple directions. The conditions were again very stable and therefore the flight ended after 20 minutes. With the surroundings, the wonderful locals and a beautiful view over Lago Toblino and Lago di Garda, this site is a real gem with 100% no German masses (yet). 

Our last destination was Levico Terme on the other site of the Adige valley. After having driven to Bassano del Grappa probably more than 50 times in the last years, the place was familiar to me, but only from passing by. Paragliding365 suggested a takeoff at the very top of Monte Panarotta (1800m) so up we went. What we found was a very steep slope that offered no space for mistakes covered with slippery grasses. After enjoying the view from high up there towards the Brenta Dolomites and some Alpine glaciers, we went down to the takeoff in Vitriolo (1490). It is a easy and spacious takeoff for hanggliders and paragliders with a parking space and a little Café just next to it. 

Jump for Joy (Picture by Philip Boesecke)

The flying site offers again wonderful views over Lago di Caldonazzo and the smaller Lago di Levico. In the valley landing spaced are manifold  and some smaller XCs are easily possible. A small drawback are the larger amount of prohibited airspaces towards the west of the takeoff. Even though a strong inversion was damping a lot, we still were able to fly in thermals on both Monday and Tuesday for each more than 1.5 hours. Overall a wonderful place with a nice old town in Levico and by far less people than in Bassano. In future I will definitely stop more often here :)

Lago di Levico

Florian flying around

Barco

My beautiful Ozone LM6 (Picture by Philip Boesecke)

Happy Landing (Picture by Philip Boesecke)

Trofeo Tre Pizzi and a bit of Adria

For the second year in a row, I decided to participate in Trofeo Tre Pizzi, a four day cross coutnry competition which takes place in the middle-italian region Marche, in a beautiful valley of the Apennines mountain range. With many cute villages and small towns like Matelica and Esanatoglia, the area is not only wonderful for paragliding but also a blast for everybody to visit (not to mention the delicious food and amazing people).
Unfortunately the area 100km south of Esanatoglia was hit by a devastating earthquake the day before the competition was supposed to start and many people left their lives in completely destroyed towns. People in Esanatoglia were luckier and got away with no more than a fright.
Since the first day of competition was cancelled to free the airspace for rescue maneuvers, we decided to spent a day on the coast to enjoy wonderful soaring over the Adriatic sea and swimming during sunset and sunrise.

The first day of competition welcomed us on Monte Gemmo with a beautiful East-facing takeoff with a lot of wind. We waited until the afternoon to let it weaken and were able to fly a 68.1km-task in a zick-zack course between Camerino and Fabriano. It was hard to decide whether to fly in the flats or rather close to the mountains. I stuck to the mountains until the 3rd waypoint and then went to the flats which turned out to be a mistake on this day. In the strong head wind I was washed down and landed 20km short.

For the second task we went again to Monte Gemmo where we realized that the forecasted west-wind was already setting in earlier and lower than expected. We waited for a while if it will change and finally were brought to the opposite side of the valley, to Monte San Vicino. This range offers a North-West-facing takeoff and beautiful rocky peaks where you can soar up in the west-winds. Since the whole procedure of shifting pilots over to the new takeoff took a while, we had a late strat at 15:40 and another zick-zack task, this time on the other side of the valley with 61.3km. The same fortune (wrong decition) as the day before brought me back on the ground. This time 30km short of goal. It turned out that on this day the flats would have been the better choice rather than flying on the mountains.

Day three, which was already the last day, started earlier from Monte San Vicino with again strong west winds and blown thermals. A task was set with 57.9 km, Again with the option to fly everything on the mountain range or in the flats.
I was high in the beginning but came quite low at the start. Patiently I made my way up again and flew with a good hight to the first waypoint north of Fabriano. Learned my lessin from yesterday, I decided to go in the flats on the western side of the small hills. It turned out to be a wonderful decision and while people spent a lot of time making hight on the mountain range I gained a lot of places on my course. According to the live-tracking I was second in between and made a very fast race. Unfortunately, a little lack of patience made me land 4km before goal and I finished 19th overall on this day.

In total I ended up first woman (although there was no extra ladies category since we were only two) and overal 40th out of 82. So far my best result in a competition and what's even more important, a wonderful three days experience. Here is a link to the results:
https://airtribune.com/trofeo-tre-pizzi-2016/results

I'd like to thank www.flugschule-hochries.de for the Ozone LM6, which brings more and more joy with each flight, and Richard Edlinger for the great company and for showing me beautiful places.

Many thanks to the organizers from the Lega Piloti and from the local club in Esanatoglia for a perfect competition and a very warm welcome. It was again a wonderful event! I will definitely come back again.