The Red Helmet

"The Red Helmet". We played this at Mountainfilm In Telluride and I was psyched to see it again... (and love the soundtrack)!

Pre-PWC Ukranian Open - Kruševo

The Pre-PWC Ukranian Open is the last comp on our European tour. Kruševo is a sweet town in the mountains, and the flying here is awesome! We've had 4 tasks in 4 days, and tomorrow is the final day. Day one had only 3 pilots in goal, day 2 also only a few into goal, and Yassen is winning. Yesterday was a super fast day, and i was 6th into goal! Today was a fun 58km FAI triangle, and I also made goal in the top 10.

Kruševo, Macedonia

Крушево

Another country! This is my first time to Macedonia, a small country to the south of Serbia. Kruševo is the highest town in Macedonia, situated at an altitude of 1250 m (over 4000ft) above sea level. We are here for the Ukranian Open Pre-PWC Paragliding Competition. More coming soon.

Pre-PWC Niš, Serbia

We had 4 of 4 tasks in Niš, with lots of sunshine and hot days. The first 2 days were the best for flying, with strong lift and clouds, and then super high pressure arrived. Only 2 pilots in goal on task 1, i finished 4th landing a few km before goal. Day 2 I landed at the first turn point: raced myself to the ground. The next two tasks no pilots in goal, conditions were very challenging with weak climbs not going very high. I placed 10th overall, and Melanie was 13th overall, and 1st ladies!

Niš, Serbia

Град Ниш - City of Niš

Melanie, Jens & I arrive to Serbia after some wonderful beach time in the Adriatic Sea in Croatia. We are excited to fly here and take part in the upcoming Pre-PWC Paragliding Comeptition.

Nordics Podium

The Nordics are over and I placed 3rd! Congrats to Bjorn in 1st and Ronny in 2nd

Nordics Task 1

We drove to launch today around noon after a rainy morning. The skies were clearing and hopes were high of flying a task. Yassen was our wind dummy today, and he reported 3.5m/s lift and great flying.

Wind was cross at launch, and launch conditions were tricky. Once in the air the flying was awesome even though base was low. There were ample thermals and we had a fast 37km task.

I was 1st into goal, and placed 2nd for the day. Bjorn from Norway won the day, arriving to goal 5s behind me but with 4 points more because he had higher departure points.

Results are at: http://www.nordic-open.eu

Slovenian Open

Jens, Melanie, Pete & I are in Železniki for the Slovenian Open. A very humid flow from the Mediterranean continues and the sky over develops daily.

We had one decent task that was unfortunately stopped before many pilots could make goal, myself included, and the other task was worth only 108 points to the winner as it was but a glide contest. We hope for better conditions at the Nordics next week in Preddvor.

Bohinj & Bled

A group of us went to visit Bohinj and see the waterfall Slap Savica and explore around the lake. The sky was an incredible blend of clouds, sunshine and falling rain.

Železniki

After the Ratitovec Open we have spent our time exploring Slovenia because the weather has not presented good opportunity for flying. Hikes in the rain, exploring towns and memorials occupy our time.




Pete and Joanna pose on a peak near Ratitovec during a moment of sunshine.

Ratitovec Open

Congratulations to 1st Jurij Vidic, 2nd Borut Hafner & 3rd Dušan Durkovič in the open category of the 2009 Ratitovec Open, and to 1st Melnaie Pfister in the women's cagetory.


I ended up 14th in the open category. We have been hanging out with a local pilot, passing the time as rain has bombarded most of Europe. The clouds have just broken and spots of blue sky are visible.... with luck we will fly tomorrow. The Slovenain Open/pre-PWC starts Sunday, more fun flying in the Slovenian Alpes!






Puddle fun: Melanie was a little slow to realize that when we said "don't get hit" we meant by the puddle, not by the car!

Slovenia

Allison has departed for NYC, and my heart is sad. Just in time to cheer things up, Melanie arrived from SLC and we began our travels by fixing our oil leak with a €10 part so that we don't need to spend €30 on another liter of oil. That's about a 10x price difference between Europe and USA for a quart/liter of oil.


We arrived late Wed. to Železniki, Slovenia for the Ratitovec Open. This comp has some serious prize money, with €500, €400, €300 going to the top 3 places. This is my first time to Slovenia besides quickly passing through this tiny country on the train in previous trips en-route to Eastern-Europe. I am so stoked to be here, as the place is amazingly beautiful, the flying is awesome, and the people super friendly.




Melanie, feeling left out of some of Allison, Jens', and my earlier cow adventures had to befriend a cow herself. Ski lifts climbed to the peaks above launch, and we got to explore a bit before today's 57km task. Yesterday we had a 72km task. I came in below the final turnpoint, and with no lift in the valley I had to glide into goal a little sad for not completing the task but stoked to have had such a fun and amazing first flight in Slovenia. Today both Melanie and I made goal!!!

Heidelberg

We spent Allison's last day in Heidelberg. Our guide, Jens, is a true Heidelberger, and the famous Heidelberg Castle is visible behind the trio. Tomorrow we go to Frankfurt Flughafen to do a chick swap: Allison departs for NYC and Melanie arrives from SLC.

Interlaken, Switzerland

This is my first time to Interlaken, where the Eiger, Monch, & Jungfrau dominate the eastern skyline. We didn't get any XC during this short visit, but had a number of fun flights and I saw some friends I hadn't seen since I was in Europe two years ago.





We didn't need an alarm clock as we were awoken by dozens of curious cows visiting our camp at 6am, each wearing a large and very loud cow-bell.

Coupe du Monde

This is one of the coolest paragliding competition posters I've seen. I just missed making the selection, so after nearly a week in France we are soon departing for Interlaken, CH.

Talloires

Our last couple nights around Lac Annecy we spent sleeping under the millions of stars twinkling high above the Rhône-Alpes. The forecast perdicts another day of brilliant weather before potential over-development. We are thinking about going to Interlaken in a day or two.

Life around Annecy

We are getting to know the area quite well, and the weather has been great for flying. Camping, flying, cooking, brilliant sunsets and starry nights, with the occasional shower/thunderstorm to keep things exciting... ahhhhh life in the Alps!




We've perfected a provincial lentil stew topped with a tasty regional cheese and of course enjoyed with a fresh baguette. Leftovers fill our bellies at lunch the following day. When we're not flying we invent ways to try and elude gravity.

Lac Annecy

Allison, Jens and I have arrived to Annecy. The Rhône-Alpes have huge flying potential, and we are psyched to be here.

Rainy Daze

Yatze, Speed, California Speed, Backgammon... the things we do to entertain ourselves on rainy days. Jens and I have the car packed for the Rhône-Alpes and he is printing a site guide for French flying sites. Tomorrow morning we pick Allison up at the Zurich airport and on we go to Annecy!



Between storms Jens & I wandered the forest trails behind his house, we just returned and dinner is in the oven... mmmmm I can smell it cooking!

BaWü Overall Results!!

Today's task was canceled because of high winds and development, and so after two tasks I remain in 2nd place overall! My UP Edge is such a sweet ship. Congrats to Davide Licini in 1st, Peter Jung in 3rd, Caroll Licini 1st of the ladies and everybody for a fun exciting meet!



Results can be found at http://www.dhv.de/typo/Ergebnisse.5430.0.html

BaWü Task 2

Yesterday we didn't go up to launch because of very strong winds both in the forecast and also observed in the morning. Allison and I went exploring in the forest and had a picnic lunch.

Today we called a 46.6km task, also to Landeplatz Bleibach, which is just 3.5km from Jens' house. It was very difficult to get out of the Oppenau valley today due to high winds and not getting very high. Just when I was almost giving up and heading over the valley I caught a great climb to some dark high clouds which made it easy to run downwind and establish on the high terrain. I flew alone the next 30km, only seeing Markus just before goal. Today there were fewer pilots in goal, as most pilots landed on course.

Deutschland

Allison & I arrived to Kollnau and the summer adventures with Jens have begun. We are off to the Bawü Open in Oppenau asap!

Budapest

Smiles continue to form on my lips when my mind wanders the recent memories from Europe. Here are a few pics while in Buda with Brian and Angela.

Genève