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!

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 :)

Breitenberg to Buchenberg (aka Breiti to Buchi) - Spring flying in the beautiful Allgäu mountains

Today I was for the first time flying from Breitenberg in the beautiful Allgäu. With just 11€ for one ascent by cable car, definitely one of the "cheaper" mountains. From the top station to take-off it is a 10min walk up the skiing slope, which was still covered with melting muddy snow. The take-off faces east.

The wind was light, slightly taily. With my LM6 though, which is a wonderfully-easy-to-start wing in nil-wind conditions, the launch was no problem.

From the takeoff I followed the south-facing small ridge until the top station building and from there headed straight to Falkenstein which is a lower mountain range 4km north from Breitenberg.

There I found strong but rough thermals that found a sudden end at around 1800m ASL thanks to a strong inversion. I took the chance and followed the Falkenstein-range further eastwards against the wind and towards the royal palaces Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. Both castles worked well today and arriving at each at eye level, I was able to thermal up to around 1500m, not being unnoticed by the thousands of visitors there.

Tegelberg with easterly winds was difficult to climb as usual and so I used some smaller climbs to extend my flight until Buching.

Nothing special, but a beautiful little spring-thermal flight on a wonderful day :) Thanks to all who where part of it and made it special!

Western Cape / South African Open 2016

From 9th December to 18th December, the South African Open (from 11th to 17th) should lead me for a short summer break in winter time to South Africa. Shortly after I've booked my flight I learned that a friend whom I know from the paragliding community in Singapore will be there for parts of the time as well. 

So I arrived very excited in Capetown, which many promised me to be the most beautiful city in the world. Although I arrived in rain, I already could guess what it meant. Nice little colonial style houses between Signal Hill, Table Mountain, the Lion Head and the Atlantic Ocean. 

Luckily the rain stopped around noon and after some lunch, my friend from Singapore, Stephane, and his wonderful fiancee gave me a sight seeing tour towards the Cape of Good Hope. The fresh air in my face with spring-like temperatures and watching the birds soaring above the cape's rocks made it a wonderful happy and refreshing day. Together we went for a beautiful dinner featuring the best steak I ever had in my life with some of Stephane's friends to a restaurant above the sea.

    

On Saturday, 10th of December, I got a morning ride with Flo (many thanks again!) from Cape Town to Porterville, where the competition was supposed to start the next day. We were planning to use the day for some training and getting used to the flying conditions there. We set ourselves a little task which a happily failed to complete, but is was wonderful to watch the endless flats and rocky hills from the air. And to finally after a long break get decent thermals again. 

In the evening we the first competition briefing took place.

The first task on Sunday, 11th a 81km task should first lead us down the ridge towards south and from there into the flats towards Piketberg and up towards north. I bombed out on my attempt to fly in to the flats with far too little height, hoping fore some decent thermals there (which there weren't). Some local kids came running towards me when I was just about to land and so my glider was packed quickly and retrieve already waiting (which is a big relief since temperatures reached soon over 40°C during the daytime).

The second task was a straight line from takeoff via Endekuil towards the north west of the valley. I was good on the way along the ridge and when heading out in the flats we had found some climb. The strong southerly winds  blew us up north with every turn and so, Bernd and I decided to leave the thermal together when it didn't lead to much of success anymore. I flew a bit more right than him. He found a thermal and I found myself in a 7m/s sink, not able to make it to the thermal against the wind. Minutes later I was on the ground and Bernd made it to goal on this day. Well, that's the game.

The third day was cancelled due tail wind on takeoff. So we went to the nearby waterfalls and climbed them up. What a nice and refreshing diversion. 

On the fourth day, a similar route as on day two was set, and strong winds brought me the same faith as on day two again. On that day, barely any non-CCC-wing was able to make it to goal.  

Photo by Stef Junker

Since the next day was cancelled again, this time due to too much wind, we made a nice little trip to Riebeek Castle, a small town with little houses, cafés and art galleries. And with a good sense of humor. 

On day 6, finally the luck was on my side. We had to fly a task of 67km which lead us first down south to Porterville and then up the ridge and into Citrusdal until the goal in constriction. I finally was patient enough to always make the required hight and I was finally flying full speed along the ridge. What a fun it was. And so I managed to get into goal only 25 minutes after the first pilot. Patience seems to pay out :D

Day 7 again found me impatient and the strong wind combined with not enough height made me land early again. Not the finish of the comp I was hoping for, but nontheless an experience to learn from.

Over all, the 10 days in South Africa have been amazing and the competition very well organized. Spending the time with old and new friends and flying this ridges and flats was just a big fun. On day 6 I seemed to have understood, how everything works and with this awareness I will go into the next portion of the winter-break. I finished 5th in the women class and 54th out of 98 overall. Not my worst result after all. 

To me it was a new style of flying again, even though I'm used to flat land flying. The strong winds sometimes gave me a hard time and showed me once more how important height and patience is. Also trusting the ridge to always provide climb, even though racing along it super low, was a new experience for me.

I hope, this experience will help me in the next comp season and I definitely hope to come back to this wonderful country and place again. 

Thanks to everybody who made this time so great and especially Stephane for the sightseeing and lovely dinner, Flo for the ride from Capetown, Kirsten for bringing me my radio back, Harry for the excellent shuttle and Bernd for some local guidance. The biggest thanks go to the competition organizers who really did a great job in making this whole week a blast.

The full competition results can be found here: https://airtribune.com/wcopen2016/results

Buchenberg - After-work flying at its best

Buchenberg is another mountain in the Allgäu alps range. It is just a few kilometers east of Tegelberg with a similarly beautiful view over lake Forggensee.

While Tegelberg offers a quite steep and rocky surface, Buchenberg is mellower and pretty much covered with trees. But this doesn't mean, it is less thermally active. Flights from here to Tegelberg and further are not rare.
With 1142m, Buchenberg is 700m lower and therefore, even after cable car hours, a good opportunity for beautiful evening flights, especially in summer time, where the sun sets around 9pm. Even with my rather heavy XC equipment, the 45 min of hiking are very well doable.

Enjoy some pictures of one of our flights there in mid-July 2016.

Pilots: Ewa Korneluk-Guzy, Thorsten Pausch, Martin Lukasiewycz