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432 km in 3 days on a freeX BLADE
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article + pics |  |
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Friday, May 17th looked even better: fresh, cold air in higher levels and a very warm day with light southerly winds was forecasted. After the great conditions, I experienced in the Pinzgau the day before, I decided to go to Schmittenhöhe/Zell am See to try a big out and return flight.
Beautiful sky heading East
But arriving there already late I got shocked: The cable car was not running yet and all other options around were still closed as well.
Lucky to have taken my Triumph Speed Triple motor bike today, I literally speeded along the Pinzgau over Gerlos Pass and up the Zillertaler Höhenstrasse, a take off accessible by road.
At 12:15 I'm airborne and soon can reach cloud base at 3600 m. To get into the Pinzgau from here means crossing the wide Zillertal to the Kreuzjoch now: I haven't tried it since a couple of years, but in the past I never succeeded. Today everything looks perfect: I arrive high and enter a very strong thermal that leads me to a perfectly developed street of sharp edged cumulus heading east in up to 4000 m.
More and more shadow towards Wildkogel
"Dolphin flight" with a paraglider that's really rare, but today I can glide without a turn for more than 30 km: accelerating within the thermals, slowing down to climb up to cloud base again…
At Zell/See I turn and can continue flying that style for another 10 km now a bit slower into the wind. The sky has slightly changed: The clouds are spreaded over huge areas and more and more shadow surrounds me. Before I reach Pass Thurn, I miss to get up to cloud base again and have to cross with medium height the next two valleys. Luckily I manage to find the best thermal of the day at the southeast shoulder of Wildkogel: constant 8 m/s up to 4050 m.
3900m at Schmittenhöhe, looking North
The next 4 km cost me 1500 m - Not really a good plan to go further that direction into the shadow! I flew 115 km in 4 hours so far, that's an average of 29 km/h. So turning again into better conditions, with the potential of another 3 hours flying could lead me to the magic 200 km, a very motivating calculation!
I slowly get up, cross the Pass Thurn again and creep along the ridge. At Schmittenhöhe I finally manage to get up to the clouds, a dark and huge one this time, helping me to cross diagonally to the Tauern in the southeast. Another 35 km and 4 valleys to cross, then I shout for joy: 204 km. I land on the service area parking at the Tauern autobahn tunnel north entry after 7 hours of great and safe flight with a great glider: The BLADE helped me a lot with its high performance but also stability and safety of a class 2 glider!
Data of the 204 km Flight
Day: 17.05.2002
Pilot: Christoph Kirsch
Glider: freeX BLADE M (DHV2)
Take Off: Zillertaler Höhenstraße, Hippach, Österreich
Task: 203,88 km: Flight over 3 turnpoints, following OLC-rules
Turnpoints: Zell am See, Wildkogel, Steinfeldspitze
Landing: Raststätte an der Tauerntunnel-Nordausfahrt
Take Off Time: 12:15
Landing Time: 19:17
Average Speed: 29 km/h
OLC-competition links:
www.segelflugszene.de/holc-i/wertung.html (Daily Results International,
HG+PG)
www.segelflugszene.de/holc-d/wertung.html (Daily Results DHV-XC-Cup, HG+PG)
www.segelflugszene.de/holc-d/ges6wertPGs.html (Total Results DHV-XC-Cup
PG Sport Class)
The landing area from the air...
and after touching down at the end of a great day.
