Best XC
This site describes my best XC flights so far. Not always the longest, but those I enjoyed the most. All my flights can be seen in my Flight book.
~2007~
| Date | Site | Distance | Glider | Track |
| 06.05.2007 | Kreuzberg (De) | 188km | Nova Tycoon |  |
It was sunday, an end of a long good, dry weather period. Next day it was supposed to rain.
I decided to go to Kreuzberg, an excellent take off in Rhön, well known for good XC potential.
I took off late, just after 12. I found a medium lift and decided to go. The beginning was difficult and I tried at the price of speed stay as high as possible.
Quickly came the first tactical decision - go north-east or north west cloud route. I decided to take the west route direction Hammelburg - a well known take off site. Soon after I got into the first big troubles. I was loosing height and could not find any proper lift. I tried to fly over potential thermal generators - nothing but few bubbles. I was not higher then 250m when I found a weak and unstable thermal - this one or landing I thought. With a lot of patience I started slowly climbing, the thermal got better and better and after a while I was at the cloud - back into the game.
Soon I was passing Würzburg and could quickly move forward getting good lifts. With excellent speed and big smile I was getting close to the trap of the day - area around Niederstetten Airport. I climbed high above 2000m again and was looking for the next thermal. Suddenly I got into a big sink - damm there was a mega lift here I could not find it. Quickly I lost 1000m and the ground was coming closer. I was lower and lower and nothing was there. Fine - time to land I thought and selected a nice spot. Flying there I decided to pass an alone tree in the middle on the big field, not really believing to find something there. Suddenly 50m above the ground I got a very small lift, I bit into it and started getting height. In a few minutes instead of being landed, I am back at the cloud base on 2700m - wow, what a ride!
It is getting late but I can still find good thermals and keep up at the cloud base. I am passing A6 and Crailsheim. The thermals are getting weak and I can not climb high anymore. Close to Aalen I am getting lower and lower. It is almost 7pm, so time to land. I glide out with the wind out and touch the ground in Königsbronn. I look at GPS - YES 180km broken.
| Date | Site | Distance | Glider | Track |
| 01.05.2007 | Erlau (De) | 51km | Nova Tycoon | |
Erlau is a small 100m site next to Darmstadt, where I work. Although it is small, one can often go for small XCs. This one was maybe not the longest flight but very interesting for its pure blue-thermals at max 2000m.
I started late afternoon and it was my 3rd trial. The first 2 attempts ended up 2min later at the landing zone. Very frustrating. Finally I started in to the good phase, made altitude and decided to go. It was a difficult low flight up to Bensheim, where next to swimming pool I got a big thermal. Unfortunately I could not find next lift above Worms and ended up on the ground in Grünstadt.
| Date | Site | Distance | Glider | Track |
| 28.04.2007 | Greifenburg (At) | 138km | Nova Tycoon | |
This was actually not private XC flight but a german Liga task in Greifenburg. The day was perfect and task committee set up a bold challenge - 140km classic triangle around Kreuzberg massive. Yeah!
It was quite a speed flying (26kmh average) so I was not making any pictures. This was the longest task I have ever flown. The best was, that we were landing around 5pm, meaning that this day had 200km potential :-)
| Date | Site | Distance | Glider | Track |
| 22.04.2007 | Nebelhorn (De) | 98km | Swing Stratus 7 | |
Nebelhorn is in my opinion the best german XC mountain. The classic route leads direction Landeck. However this time I decided to go for a new & challenging route, along the Alps chain.
The day was good, I started a little late at 11:30 and could immediately make a height and start XC. I flew first north and then turned right into Tanheimer valley. Then I went north again and was flying at the border of alps & flatland. The cloud base was good at 3000m and was moving quick direction Tegelsberg. Here I decided to try to go along a small hill line direction Buching and further down East. Unfortunately the air got very stable and was soaring small hill in north wind without any chance to get high again. I decided to turn back.
At Buching I got really low, thinking actually about landing. After a long fight I got a small lift and was soon high enough to jump to Tegelsberg. From here I decided to try my luck and go in straight line direction Nebelhorn over a flatland. It worked well and after 30km I turned left and was in alps again. With some scratching I could jump in Tanheimer valley, where I found a big convergence. I was on 2500m again and continued direction Obersdorf. It was my very lucky day, as I could find next convergence close to Oberjoch and glide out to Obersdorf, landing next to my car!
What a flight with everything paragliding has to offer: alpine hard thermal flying, small hills soaring, flatland piece and in the end riding on the giant convergences. It was one of my best flights.
~2006~
| Date | Site | Distance | Glider | Track |
| 21.09.2006 | Col Rodella (IT) | 42km | Nova Tycoon | |
Flying in dolomites is one of the most satisfying paragliding experience. Due to very stable air of late summer you can not make big XC flights but the scenery is unbeatable!
This was my longest Dolos flight. I flew at first direction Marmolada but basis was too low for overflight. I decided to check a new route and jumped to next valley and flew in very turbulent condition to Moena. Here I faced a very tough inversion - chance for a lift. So I turned around and with 80km/h I flew to Campitello. Very scenic, new route for me.
| Date | Site | Distance | Glider | Track |
| 09.09.2006 | Fiesch (CH) | 132km | UP Summit 2 | |
Back in XC Mecca - Fiesch. If you are serious about XC flying, you can not miss this excellent location, where a FAI triangle till 260km is possible!
September is not the best XC month, as the air is way to stable but Fiesch still works well. I did a classic valley route: Fiesch - Furka - Fiesch - Montana and back with triangle extension behind Brig to the south. It was second best OLC flight this day. The full triangle through Sass Fee was not in - the day was just too short. The scenery was as usual stunning, lifts were monster-strong - what do you need more?
| Date | Site | Distance | Glider | Track |
| 22.07.2006 | Nebelhorn | 105km | UP Summit 2 | |
My first flight after 4 months recovery from a bad accident in Austria.
I decided to go finally to Nebelhorn and try the classic FAI Landeck route. Despite difficult beginning with weak thermals and tricky route leading, I could get up to Landeck. Here I decided to land, as I felt not very well in strong lift after such a long pause.
Sorry - no photos from this flight.
| Date | Site | Distance | Glider | Track |
| 08.04.2006 | Speikboden | 105km | Nova Tycoon | |
Speikboden is my favorite spring place. Pustertal is quickly dry and generate great XC conditions already in very spring.
This was not a very lucky flight for me as it ended up with a serious accident and a very badly broken left thigh (leg). The day was actually very good, unfortunately the wind conditions were bad with too strong west wind.
I decided to fly one-way flight to east with the wind along Pustertal valley. It worked well, I got till end of Pustertal and crossed to Zettersfeld and decided to fly north. Again - no problems at all. At Matrei I turned back with intention to land in Lienz. Unfortunately just after Kienburg I got into unexpected turbulence, got collapse with huge cravat and spiraled down into the trees. Shit happens :-(