https://www.dhv.de/piloteninfos/wettbewerb-sport/drachen-szene/live-berichte/weltmeisterschaften-tolmezzoita-2019/

Thursday, July 18, 2019 - rest day The weather forecast is against
a flight day, so the day was already canceled on Wednesday evening!

Wednesday, July 17, 2019 - 3rd passage - 76 km with destination Bordano

Kajo reports: Flying is the best medicine This morning, no cock woke me, but my
back pain. Damn, and I was hoping they would go away overnight. As the youngest
member of the team, I feel very old now. But thanks to the loving care of Anna
and Regina and with the support of various tablets, it has at least a little
better.

Today the organizers wanted to see us on the mountain even earlier. After a
surprisingly uneventful, already boring ride, we arrived more than punctual at
the start. After the comfortable building a few umbrellas lulled low over the
start. Well that did not look so outstanding. And why did we leave earlier? Over
time, the conditions improved and it was a small 78 km task tender. You could
either fly on direct route through the lowlands or took the detour via the
supposedly faster mountains. Like almost everyone else, I opted for the direct
route. The day got better with time and we were able to finish quickly.

After Primoz and Roland I came as the third German pilot to the finish and was
thus able to make my contribution to the team ranking. To the delight of our
driver, a short time later, the other three arrived. Every minute, almost 100
pilots flew to the finish and provided plenty of exciting landing approaches.
Fortunately, the Landewiese is so big that you always find a gap between the
other dragons.

Much to my relief, my back was much better after the flight. The mix of
adrenaline and happiness hormones has probably worked wonders. At dinner (the
Uli has conjured a delicious curry) we learn that tomorrow will not be flown. It
is bad weather approaching and the organizers canceled the day tomorrow. So
let's end the day with a glass of wine quite comfortably and make plans for our
first rest day. Greetings from Tolmezzo Kajo.

All pilots are in the air. The time has been running since 14:15. We are just on
a cappuccino to look at the live tracking, then go full throttle into the finish
to Bordano. Yes, the distances to the starting place and back to the finish are
not without!

Exciting finish: Alex Ploner ahead of Manfred Ruhmer and Marco Laurenzi. From us
Primoz, Roland, Kajo, Jörg, Semo and Gerd are (in this order) in the finish.
Today we were not among the fastest, but we'll see what's on the bottom of the
list. Regina.

Tuesday, July 16, 2019 - Primoz wins the day's victory

Primoz reports: After the first task, I was not completely satisfied with my
performance. It was clear, more determination was needed. Task 2 has brought
better weather, base up to 2200m and good climbs. The route went back and forth
along the hills, with a jump to the north and the goal in Bordano near Gemona.

My start this time was with the first group, although not the highest - homework
!! With sparkling decisions, faster gliding and a little luck, I was able to
gradually settle from the main pulp, but finally after the Gemona valley
crossing. From there we had the lead with Christian. The turnaround behind
Tolmezzo has proven to be quite complicated. But Christian seemed to know what
he was doing, and in fact we were able to dig ourselves out of the vegetables.
In addition, there was the Peter and has shown a great trail back. Straight to
the lee of a rocky mountain.

The expected rodeo arrived, which I had survived best and was able to turn up
with Peter. Christian stayed a bit deeper while searching for the thermals. At
the penultimate turn, 15 km from the finish we met the Manfred, he flew his own
route and has overtaken all. When he sees us, he is deep in the direction of the
last turn, Peter and I have turned up at the point up to 1900 m, until the final
approach calculator 8: 1 has shown. From there, gas was the best tactic.
Greetings at home and keep your fingers crossed! Primoz.

3rd place in the team ranking, that's the result of today - yeahh! And thanks to
Primoz, who won today's victory of the day ahead of Peter Neuenschwander and
Manfred Ruhmer. Gerd flew in 9th place and Roland on rank 27. Kajo and Semo many
at the end of the Talwind victim. Now the boys are going to eat pizza, they
deserve it. Roland needs his daily Italian ice cream and kajo and I hold the
position here at home. Kajo has to treat his lumbago, but he'll get it back
tomorrow. I still have a lot to prepare for tomorrow.

Monday, July 15, 2019 - 86 km from Meduno to Bordano

Gerd reports: Airy Travel Day 1 Today the cock crowed early. The competition
begins! Getting up at dawn and eating the meal so that we would not get hounded
right at the beginning - at least that was the plan. Then we should make a
little wrong decision regarding the route, we decided on the way over the
highway. Already the driveway cost us the first minutes because of technical
problems. This should have been against the time we wanted to leave the highway
again, nor the lesser evil. After 25 minutes of waiting time and lane change in
the back of our coach, the pilots were slowly nervous and showed, each in his
own individual way, signs of mild restlessness. Our estimated time of arrival
shifted noticeably in the direction of the planned race start. Arrived at the
toll booth, this was then attached to his telephone set and not willing to grant
us early passage. But this angered the driver of our coach a lot and he threw
him unkind words to his ear. Since the latter was not able to speak the same
language, luckily there were no further delays, and we were then able to
continue our journey unmolested. The timetable should not turn out to be as
strict as announced - despite globalization, Italy has fortunately been
preserved. So we could start our intended hang glider flight as hoped with all
others.

The weather conditions were not optimal, but despite shadows were updrafts
available and you could work out with some initial effort a nice height, from
which we began our breezy journey over 87km. The thermal conditions improved and
our pack was on the journey at a considerable speed. That this should be better
was clear in the further daily routine, as more and more showers poured in the
area. Many dragons were able to master the way to the finish. Among them were
Kajo, Semo (Georg), Roland, Primoz and myself from our German troupe. Brother
Jörg, however, the rain played badly. The showers spread around him and
prevented his further journey to the finish. Not only that, when folding his
glider, the rain should anticipate the shower that was actually planned in our
accommodation. Now that we have finished our supper and have taken our supper,
we will lay down and wait for tomorrow's new day. Good night's sleep on all
sides, Gerd.

Again we started this morning. First at 8:30 am Teamleaderbriefing, then briefly
stopped by our landlady to pick up a modem and then quickly from the direction
of Meduno. Our boys left before me, so I had to accelerate. Finally, we wanted
to complete the sticker campaign for the leading edges today.

The organizers want to send us out early this morning, because it should
overdevelop soon. Anna, Roland's partner drove me. Direct way is announced,
which is 5 minutes faster than the highway, says the Navi. I hope I did not miss
a speed camera and sometimes I looked aside to see if Anna still had color on
her face. But she was brave. I gave gas. After 1:15 minutes arrived at the
launch site, everyone was already there, but not our boys. Oh dear, which way
have you taken the well? An hour later - finally, the bus turns the corner. It
was probably an odyssey. The tolls on the highway did not work at all. Already
at the ticket rent went nothing, then when paying at the toll booth… our
so quiet driver Uli has probably been a little irritated and accused the quiet
calling Mautstellenkassier as Grattler… Thank God he did not understand
Bavarian Language, otherwise he would have kept the boys waiting longer.

But luckily the already started paragliders could only sink into the valley and
the competition organizers were still waiting with the briefing. Everything in
the time frame. At some point, the Meet Director finally called for the
briefing: 86 km towards Aviano then the finish to Bordano. Everything was
ratzfatz, our boys were fast in the air. This time I could not drive fast enough
to get to the finish in time, then there were already about 30 pilots. Including
Gerd, Roland, Semo and Primoz. Kajo hit hard and came soon afterwards and that
with fancy Vario half way. Thankfully, there are the trackers that still record
the track. Jörgi had to land in front of the finish. He took another involuntary
shower in the pouring rain. Three Italians won the day today: Christian Ciech
ahead of Alex Ploner and Suan Selenati. Greetings from Tolmezzo Regina.