Authentic Chinese Cooking

One of the biggest advantages of taking part in international comps is making international friends.

Every now and then we have the opportunity to welcome a competitor from abroad at our home and to share a meal. Seyong Jung from Korea stayed with us last year on the way to the World Cup in Grindelwald. We cooked Spaghetti a la maison. On the way back, Yassen Savov from Bulgaria was our guest: home delivered Asian food, which came along with a rented movie (Bourne Identity).

Jörg and intern chef de cuisine Xianping

Now we are happy to host Xianping Hou, a Chinese pilot from Shenzhen. She came with us from Annecy. In Zürich's rain we're waiting together for better weather and the Swiss Championship in Flims to start. Meanwhile Xianping has taken over the kitchen, delightening us with her cooking skills.

On the menu: Coca Cola Chicken Wings

Tree Hugging

Annecy, France - my first and only Paragliding Worldcup this year.

A frontal system with heavy rain is coming through today. Which is good for me, because it gives me time to get my glider back from the tree, where I had to leave it yesterday. Second time in a tree this year... The way it happened: strong wind, strong lee, turbulence, both ears come in at the same time, deep stall immediately, spin, tree, end of story.

That incident worries me - I always wanted to become an old pilot. Now I'm not sure whether this will be possible… On the good side of that recent adventure: a helicopter ride by the sécurité civile and a free beer at the heliport in Annecy.

The dragon, their mascot, is part of the callsign of the helicopter group of the French civil security

PS: A friend commented "I am glad you are all right, trees are beautiful, but stop hugging them like that! Here in Mexico we avoid especially since we mostly have big cactus trees." Reminds me of this video... Enjoy.

More Women Competing

"Why do you think there are so few woman competitors?" Des Pansi, an excellent cross country and competion pilot from South Africa asks in an interview. I got some good news for you: times are changing!

Next long weekend, from Saturday till Wednesday, the "Ladies and Junior Challenge" will take place around Interlaken. The event is traditional in the Swiss League. Almost all Swiss top pilots started their competition careers in this camp with Martin Scheel. Pilots like Chrigel Maurer, Stefan Schmoker, Michael Sigel, Andy Aebi, Karin Appenzeller-Maurer, ... to mention only a few. Every year ten to twelve talents come together. They fly training tasks during the day, with a briefing in the morning and a debriefing at the end of the day. Evenings or bad weather days are busy with theory. A lot of things to learn! Since the event is sponsored by the SHV and the Swiss League, it's actually free for the pilots.

I'll be there for the second time. After 2003 in Fiesch, where I attended as a student, this year will see me as a scorer, a new role for me. I'm very much looking forward to spending my weekend with these ambitious yet less experienced pilots. The surprising part - at least to me: more than half of the participants are female. I wonder where this rush comes from. Well, for sure I'll ask.