German Open 2008

Von Montag 18. bis Samstag 23. August fand die German Open 2008 in Altes Lager/Jüterbog (Brandenburg) statt.

Die Gewinner der German Open 2008 Rigid Wings

• 1. Primoz Gricar
• 2. Toni Raumauf (AUT)
• 3. Dirk Ripkens (NLD)

Die Gewinner der Dt Meisterschaft 2008 Rigid Wings

• 1. Primoz Gricar
• 2. Dieter Müglich
• 3. Tim Grabowski

Die Gewinner Kategorie Flex Wings FAI 1

• German Open 2008 und der Deutschen Meisterschaft 2008:
• 1. Roland Wöhrle
• 2. Oliver Barthelmes
• 3. Hans Kiefinger
• Beste Dame und Deutsche Meisterin: Corinna Schwiegershausen

The nicest moment of this years German Open was when Sarah, the cute little daughter of Henry Maek (he is one of the organizers), gave a great bunch of flowers to me for having won the German Champion title. Konrad Lüders played a song for the rigid wings on his violin, but I only knew the „Hungarian Dances“ that he played for the hanggliding pilots. Very fast run up and down the keys, very inviting to dance (at least for Regina and me), good job, Konrad!
Also special thanks to Wulf, one of the hardest working volunteers Ive ever seen in a comp. And my flying highlight was Harm the Dutch Dragonfly pilot when he dropped me off directly into a thermal yesterday – not an easy task up here in the north!
Uli Eysel was lucky and he is fine after the towing incident on the first day, but he has to have a gum surgery on Monday.
Im extremely happy that my Slovenian friend Primoz (Reginas boyfriend) is now German Champion in Class 5.
And now some of the controversies of the comp for dear Davis.
Concerning the competition, Im still not sure who really deserves the title. Hans Kiefinger won the first day way ahead, he was the only one in goal, but he had touched a restricted area that was close by, just a few kms north of the airfield. What can you do with a strong southerly when the towing guys pull you way off to the westnorthwest...? His result was zeroed, otherwise Hans would have been German Champion – now he ended up on 3rd place overall, congratulations to him, specially for having stayed in a good mood!
On that first day, I didnt even get a chance to leave the airfield. I had two tows of horror with huge lockouts and decided it is not safe for me to try and tow in a 90 degrees crosswind of up to 30 km/h in gusts. Call me chicken – anyway, I was still disappointed that I didnt even get a fair chance on that day, because I didnt get higher than 50m off the deck.
Elio and Lukas looked at the towing conditions, also at the strong southerly and just shook their heads and also did not get on course. When even the towing pilots call it Russion Roulette and have doubts to tow in those conditions...
Second day that we flew, the pitch measurement discussion started. We had to change towing directions and move our glider about 800m along the field – when Lukas moved the other way. I asked what happens, and he said they want to measure his glider´s pitch in the shelter now... in the beginning of the competition task? Lukas is very strong, but after carrying his glider over and back, take off had already started and he was exhausted. They did the same thing with Andre Djamarani, the top ranked German pilot of the Europeans. Lukas and Andre could only start really late into the task on that day and I suppose both of them were physically and mentally quite exhausted, so they did not get a fair chance to compete in their own national championships.
On the other hand, winner Roland Wöhrles glider was not measured once. It seems like similar problems as last year – lack of concept, thus more disturbing than helping or working together. I had my glider measured in the goal, in the morning of the last task and in goal again, and was able to find agreeable settings, I could move my glider over in time, so I was lucky. Andre and Lukas have been the best German pilots this year, always highest ranked in the competitions they flew, but even the best guys can´t perform properly when they are forced to cross the line of their stress level.
We had a lot of discussions about how to do the measurements and how to deal with them at the Europeans, and there it seemed quite constructive and positive. Over here, that system was not adapted. Numbers and names were published so everybody knew who were the „bad guys“.
Out of the seven comps I have flown this year so far, this was definitely the most disturbing one.