Endlich 100km mit dem Schirm! || Air Design Soar 2

May 2nd, 2026 was probably the best flying day of the season so far in the Alps. In the Zillertal valley, I flew three FAI triangles over 300km, plus another 260km tandem flight (!), and so on... I wasn't really aware beforehand that the day would be so good. I was just happy to finally be able to take advantage of a promising day with light winds at altitude and good lift. Accordingly, we (Thompson, Robi, and I) met up early at the Seegrube. Even so, we weren't the first at the launch site, and certainly not the first on the cable car. After battling our way through the hordes of Indian tourists, it was time to prepare everything for the day's flying, and that's when I realized what, in retrospect, was a big mistake. I've tried to break the 100km mark with a paraglider several times before; I've managed it quite a few times this season with a hang glider, but never with a paraglider. Either the conditions weren't as good as expected, I didn't have enough time that day, or, quite often, it's happened that while the flight itself was perfect, after 3 hours and 30 minutes at the latest, I desperately needed the toilet and was forced to land. This time, I thought I was prepared. Armed with a condom catheter and tube, I got ready for takeoff around 11 a.m., only to discover, with my pants down, that I only had the empty packaging for the catheter. So, once again, no mid-air bathroom break, and the two liters of water in my harness were useless. Anyway, we were in the first launch group, and things got off to a fantastic start. Pius was also with us; he'd just happened to bump into us at the Seegrube. The plan was to head east first to the Hinterhorn Alm and then west towards the Arlberg. Above the alpine pasture at the first turning point, we were already expected by the DCI members, who had just started assembling their gliders. Robi and Thompson, with their C two-line gliders, were always a bit ahead of me, but through skillful line selection and a lot of straight flying, I was able to keep up and even take the lead briefly at Holstein. Of course, only briefly, because the two of them were significantly higher than me. This would prove important when crossing the Seefeld plateau, because I had chosen such a bad line that I was already eyeing fields for an emergency landing. The two of them were once again significantly higher than me and had caught the thermal that one of the many glider pilots that day had indicated. After a bit of tinkering, I was back on par and continued westward past the Hohe Munde. Quite unexpectedly, Robi then turned towards Telfs, which in retrospect is understandable because his variometer had run out of power, and without information about altitude and speed, it certainly wasn't much fun that day. Of course, Thompson and I weren't alone. At every altitude, we encountered paragliders and hang gliders; the day was truly fantastic. After crossing the Fern Pass, I got a bit overconfident again, thinking, "It's all uphill from here anyway." While I was slowed down by the lift, I didn't do any more thermals and didn't gain any real altitude. This almost cost me the 100km when, in Hochimst, instead of the expected killer thermal, I only found unfocusable crap. Luckily, the saving grace of a thermal was just around the corner, and so I climbed back up from 1800m to 3100m. At this altitude, and with over 3 hours of flight time already under my belt, my bladder started acting up again, so I decided to glide down to Landeck, even though the conditions were steadily improving. Thompson accompanied me as far as Landeck, then turned around and actually managed to make it all the way back to Innsbruck. 176km in under 7 hours speaks for itself. I enjoyed it nonetheless, and thanks to the variometer, I actually flew exactly the right distance west to cover the full 100km. And since it was only Saturday, there was a reward of sweets and beer for the drive home. I really would have liked to fly longer, but next time... So I was still able to tick off another goal for this year's flying season, and I also know for the future: either I manage to relieve myself in the air, or I simply have to fly faster to cover more ground in the same amount of time. As always, feel free to leave your wishes, complaints, suggestions, and feedback in the comments! Cheerio, Stay Up, Misi!