04 Juli 2010

Tegernsee, Timezone UTC +2












Right after returning from Sao Paulo, I went to Tegernsee for a congress of doctors of sports associations. Our team doctor Ecki had invited me, as he and Prof Dr Michael Bohnsack (also a paraglider pilot) from Diako Bremen made a presentation about hang - and paragliding. Then Ecki introduced me and I was asked by them about the difficulties and specifics of training in hang gliding.
I had set up my hang glider to let everybody have a try to pick it up, and also to lie down to show them how easy it is to steer the glider once you are airborne.
When I had packed my glider and asked for help to put it on the car, three guys got up immediately and brought my glider back up the stairs. Look at the photo - I didn´t realize that the "next generation" of medical doctors is really well reflected in "ER" or Grey´s Anatomy. I couldn´t find Dr. House, but in the afternoon, for sure we turned a great bunch of them into "flying doctors" ;)
After a lunch break, about 15 of them went to the training hill where Peter Rummel from paragliding Tegernsee taught them the basics and got them into the air - always nice to hear the screams of excitement and see the sparkles in the eyes of people who took off for the first time! Ecki and I helped them and had great fun - have a look at the photos, these guys looked immediately so comfortable and professional that one would think they had already been in the flying scene for ages. These doctors don´t preach theory, but they are very active in sports themselves, so it was a pleasure for Peter, Ecki and me on the training hill, as they were supereasy to teach, even though the conditions were not easy (well Tom flew a 345 FAI triangle on that day and started a couple of valleys east of us, so you can imagine the thermal activity on that day).
By the way, it´s not a "bullet proof vest" we are wearing on the training hill, but a fantastic cooling system called e-cooline - just what you need when it is 37 ' centigrade and you are running a lot. We will have some of that amazing gear with us at the European Championships next week in Ager to show to the other pilots and support teams.
Thanks to Ecki and Christian Obersteiner for the photos!

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