And I landed, and then the kids rushed towards me. And this one Felix came up to me, looked at me with big eyes, and asked, "Are you my birthday present?" That was such a lovely thing to say, it's stuck with me to this day. Five minutes later, I was sitting with the kids and some of the parents around the campfire, with a sausage in my hand and a kids' Exotic punch, and I had to tell them what kind of pilot I am, what I do out there, and how it all works.
Podz-Glidz, the Lu-Glidz podcast. Stories from the cosmos of paragliding. Today with Ralf Böhm. And I am Lucian Haas. There are flying personalities for whom the passion for flying dances straight from the heart onto the tongue. And that even after 30 years. Ralf Böhm from Mülheim-Kerlich near Koblenz is just like that. I know him from my neighboring club, the Fliegerfreunde Rhein-Moselan. There, he doesn't just coordinate the maintenance of the terrain with a lot of commitment, but is above all a flight motivator and role model for many. This also applies to his special approach to flying. In recent years, Ralf has, if possible, opted out of driving to the flying areas by car.
Instead, he gets on his bike, takes the train and bus, and of course, he also loves hike-and-fly. What sounds time-consuming and arduous is, for him, part of the overall experience of flying. Especially since without a car, he can walk the route much more freely at the launch site. In the end, after landing in the middle of nowhere, it's often the friendly encounters with complete strangers that still bring the biggest smile to his face even days later. In this episode 168 of Podz-Glidz, the 58-year-old talks about all of this. Among other things, it's also about how he manages to balance his addiction to flying and family values, drive for performance and risk reduction. By the way, in episode 128, I already had a Ralf Böhm as a guest.
It's the same name, but a completely different person and story. Since you're listening to the podcast, why not become a supporter of Podz-Glidz? You can find out how to do that on the Lu-Glidz Gleitschirm-Blog under the Förder page.
Ralf, I was just looking on Facebook earlier. Mhm. And you always love posting about your flights, how you get there, what you experience, and stuff like that. And you wrote a very nice post. It was one of your recent flights and I just want to read it out.
Yeah, I am.
I'm curious.
Finally, the train is running through the Lahn Valley again. Worked until 2:15 PM, home at 2:30 PM, packing, on the bike by 2:50 PM, at the station by 2:58 PM, and at 3:00 PM, the train arrives, almost on time. 3:45 PM in Nassau, a leisurely 45-minute ride up to the launch site, knowing that it's still too early anyway. Launch around 5:15 PM, landing at 8:30 PM, packing, back to the station. The train comes at 9:15 PM, 10:00 PM at Mülheim-Kärlich station, three kilometers cycling home, and at 10:10 PM I can crack open a cold beer.
I'm glad I tried it, expected nothing, and was then rewarded with a triangular flight lasting more than three hours. Ralf, does that look like a typical flying day for you?
That's how a flight day can sometimes look for me. It always depends on whether I have a lot of time that day or just a little. But I actually try to optimize the time, to say, okay, I know that the whole day isn't flyable, for example right now in Nassau, because that's an evening flight site. And then I think about whether I can still get there after work, and preferably, as I'd like it, by public transport, bike, or on foot, to then hopefully have flight conditions on-site that lead to being in the air longer. That's my goal too, to be in the air longer than it takes to get there and back.
So you always want to fly longer than you drive? That's definitely always the goal. And it actually succeeds very often when I pick the right flying sites. Nassau isn't a good example of that. The flights there are usually shorter.
It seems like it worked out reasonably well that evening, at least. Yes. You say that you try to fly longer than you drive. Yes. At the same time, you say you also always try to get there by public transport. How do those two things go together? Because usually, okay, public transport—if you were to say I had a small flight site where I know I can reach it in ten minutes by bus, that might be easy to implement. But as I know, you're not just driving to a small flight site near you, but basically all the flight sites you can find in your region here around Koblenz.
Yeah, that's how it is. But, you have to say, with some limitations, yeah, in the past, when I drove by car, it was usually the case that I spent more time in the air than I did sitting in the car. And that still happens sometimes now, because I'm going to airfields more often using public transport and, among other things, I try to fly home. So the return journey isn't unique at all. It's not a factor, technically speaking, because I flew it. That happens again and again. And above all, it's also the case when I go on cross-country flights, which is my favorite discipline,
I'm no longer tied to the airfield where I took off because I don't have a vehicle parked there; I just head out, see where I end up, and then try to get home from there by train, bus, or hitchhiking. That has also significantly changed cross-country flying for me.
for me. This idea of mainly using public transport to get to the launch sites, how did that happen? I mean, it's usually involved with significantly more effort. It's so easy to just get in the car and say, I'm driving to the launch sites now. What motivated you to do that?
There were times when flying alone was the most important thing to me. And after work, or when I had time off, I'd get straight into the car, get to the flight site as quickly as possible, and then the main thing was to get into the air and fly. At times, I put myself under stress and pressure, and that has changed. Fortunately. For me, flying is still very important, but the stuff around it is now part of it for me too. It means I do a flight day that consists of... exactly this part: how do I get there? Preferably actually by bike or on foot, or at least by public transport and then up the mountain on foot.
The flight and what happens afterwards, which is often sometimes even more exciting than the flight itself. For me, that's a package now, and it's more exciting than what I had before. So also moving, taking your time, constantly working for the launch site, and the experiences you have when you've been on a route that happen afterwards. Those often stay in your memory more.
than the flight itself. You certainly have a lot to tell about that, but maybe we'll get to that a bit later. I want to look at something first. You just said that it has changed over time. That means you used to be very flight-centered, you said. Over what period of time are we talking? I mean, how long have you been flying? Tell me a bit about your beginnings. Yes. And when did this maturity phase, or whatever you want to call it, slowly kick in—the "elder statesman" stage where you say, "I'm flying a bit more relaxed now and looking for the overall experience"? So, how did that develop? Yes,
So there were many different phases. I've been flying since '97. Oh, that's 28
Years. Yes,
it's been a while. It was a crisis back then. Sometimes crises—no, actually, crises are always good. Back then, I had just gone through a breakup, and my friend, my best friend, also at the same time. That was very good. We saw an ad in the German Herbergswerk magazine. Paragliding in the Black Forest. We did that. We did a training course in Schönau. And that really hooked us both. And yeah, that was the beginning. In '97, it took a year and a half until I got my license. The trip to the Black Forest was long. The flying days were few.
Back then
still with the car, right?
Back then, I actually still took the car. And the results weren't that great. And in '99, I had my license. And during that time, there was an encounter on the Moselle opposite La Sergue. I was on the other side of the Moselle on a business trip and saw a paraglider in the air. And I thought, when is he going to come down? And he flew there and flew for half an hour. And I quickly finished my work and waited until the paraglider landed. That was the chairman of the club back then, the Rhein-Mosel-Lahner. He addressed the thermals directly. He knew. He saw that I was very interested. That was Werner Schmidt, the chairman at the time.
And I couldn't escape him at all. He immediately asked me if I didn't want to join the club. I did. He handed me a terrain guide. And that's how I ended up on-site. Or rather, that's when I realized you can fly right here. Until then, that hadn't occurred to me at all. You always thought you had to drive to the Black Forest. You had to go to the Black Forest, to the Alps, or somewhere else with high mountains. And that you have these possibilities right here was new to me. And I think that's also the reason why I still fly today. Because that's the beauty of it. I can get to a flying area in the shortest amount of time. If I go by car, it's an hour and a quarter.
That's the furthest terrain I actually use along the Moselle. The next area is ten minutes by car or an hour by bike away. To the
launch site then? To the
launch site. That's the Rosenberg in Kurven-Gondorf. Then I'm right at the launch site, have my bike parked at the launch site, and can then fly. Sometimes it works out that I land up at the top. Or I just land on a Moselle riverbank and walk back up. And then I ride my bike back home. That was new for me. And then I tried out all the flying areas. And in 2002, a nice turn of events, I had my first child and went on parental leave. And two years later, my second son. And the parental leave lasted five years. And I can only advise everyone, take parental leave. Then you might also get into the air often. I have the...
Did you take the little ones with you? I took the little ones. Did you drop them off with your parents? No. Well, sometimes I did, if it was really about flying. I also took the little one with me. After a year, he already knew all the flying sites within a 150-kilometer radius. He knew them all. He had to.
Of course. I... I took off from the launch site and said, "Don't cry. Dad is just going for a quick flight. I'll be back in an hour."
I'd rather not talk about that now. No. But luckily, I had my wife in the background, of course. And my... my parents, who took care of the kids during that time. Yes, it was a very good time. And above all, because it was during the week, I learned to fly independently and on my own from the very beginning. It's different than today. We had very little information overall, especially regarding the weather. And then you were on your own and had to experiment. You had to see. And I explored the flight areas. I experienced and got to know that for myself. And I always had to decide for myself: am I going up into the air now, or am I not doing it.
And I'm actually not supposed to reveal the meager resources I had. Every now and then, I'd request a fax from the German Meteorological Service via the workplace. Back then, they cost a few and forty pfennigs.
And it said... I think it was called Fax Polling. You could call a certain number, then it would sort of call you back and you'd get this fax.
You'd get this fax on thermopaper and it would say something like "gliding, weather breaking, it's somewhat flyable. At least for gliders." That means back then it was really a case of trial and error. And yeah, you'd go to the flight areas very often. Half the time it didn't work at all, you couldn't even get into the air. And every now and then it would work. But mostly it was just a glide, and that was fine too. But over time, you'd figure out when it was a bit better. Or at some point, I got fed up with having to climb up all the time and tried to stay in the air longer. That eventually settled in relatively quickly. And short glides turned into increasingly longer flights in terms of duration.
And I also started cross-country flight relatively quickly, that was in 2002. Fast for my standards. My first cross-country flight, 2.5 kilometers from La Sergue, ended in Wierschem. I landed there. Someone saw me and said, "Wow, did you fly out from La Sergue? That's forever far." Yes, 2.5 kilometers. 2.5 kilometers. Back then
was that probably?
It was away from the Moselle bank into the hinterland. And that alone was the big difference. So I dared to fly away. And regardless of whether it was 2.5 or a bit further later. Where is your record today? I mean, in our area? In our area, I don't want to exaggerate, but I think around 130, at some point I flew all the way behind Aachen from the Moselle. From the Moselle. Yes, exactly. Also for a long time, for several hours. That works quite well now. Over the years, every now and then. But that developed so slowly. I'm very grateful for that. There was one in our club, his name was Ronny. He was one of the very few who also had the idea that flying away from the slope could be fun.
And he saw that I also enjoyed getting up in the air and flying for a long time. And he seemed ambitious even back then. And then he said, why don't you give it a try. And then it became completely new, I think it was the Moselfalken who started the XC-Cup back then to...
...time. The XC-Cup is, you can just put it in now, a regional cross-country flight competition that now covers almost all of the German highlands and lowlands, so especially the highland areas. Right, exactly.
And that had started with just these Moselle areas back in the day, but now it actually covers a very large area. And that... that interested and appealed to me, and then I started with it. And actually, the first routes came along. And now comes one of the first highlights I had. And it has less to do with the flying itself than what happened afterwards. But what contributed a lot to me not just sticking with this cross-country flying, but to me saying, that is so beautiful and that is one of the most beautiful sides of flying, is that at some point I also flew out from the Moselle all the way to behind Bonn.
Oberdres was the name of this village, a big meadow, kids, who... I mean, I live in Bonn, but I don't know Oberdres. But is it probably really a village? Somewhere between Rheinbach and Bonn, I have no idea. And I saw a big meadow. And kids were running around on this meadow. And it went downhill and I thought, yeah, come on, land here, you've got space and then you'll have spectators. And I'm there. I landed and then the kids came towards me, rushing. And a Felix came up to me, looks at me with big eyes and says, are you my birthday present?
That was such a great line, it stuck with me to this day. And five minutes later, I was sitting with the kids and some of the parents around the campfire, with a sausage in my hand and some exotic kids' punch, and I had to tell them what kind of pilot I am, what I do, and how it all works. And they were so interested. And then they all accompanied me to the next bypass road. The parents were cracking up because I said, I'm going to stand here now, put my thumb out, and try to get home. It didn't take five minutes. Then someone pulled over, a Russian-speaking person, and asked me where I was going. Yes, to Milan-Kerlich. Oh, you want to go to Koblenz.
You can drop me off in Milan-Kerlich. And that experience stuck with me. That was my first flight over 50 kilometers, and just that experience. I wanted more of that. It still fascinates me so much to this day. It hasn't lost any of its appeal. And these stories—I could talk about them for hours now, they keep coming back over and over. And I try to motivate our club members or everyone, all pilots, to try something like that. Many don't dare because they say, I don't know, how will I get back? And then I say, that's exactly what's exciting. And that's exactly what's beautiful. Just try it and you'll have your own experiences.
And yeah, I think I've already motivated one or two people to try it out for themselves with these stories and set off on their own journey.
So that was your first big cross-country flight where you say you had this awakening experience. I can also come back. And that's also an exciting story that always results from it. How did it happen that you reached the point where you say you don't want to drive to the launch sites anymore, because it might give you new perspectives or open up new possibilities?
Well, in recent years I've been trying to rely on vehicles less and less anyway, even outside of paragliding, and I'm trying to test other options. Cycling to work, using public transport. I'm getting better at that all the time, and so it was a given that I thought about it for paragliding too. It's not that bad either, because our flight areas, especially the Rhine-Moselle ones, are also quite well-located near train stations, most of them, so that's a good option too. Besides the fact that I've often experienced it in the past: you take off from Bobbert on the Rhine, you leave the car up there at the launch site, you fly away, you get back to the station sometime in the evening or at night in the dark, and then you still have to hike up the ridge.
You hike up there along a rocky ridge to the launch site to pick up your car. And then I just thought, there must be another way possible, and I had an experience where I started in Bobbert once. I went there by train, hiked up, took off, and then flew a completely different route that didn't go north or northwest, but rather south. So
Bobbert is actually eastern terrain. It's actually eastern terrain, exactly. There's also a restricted airspace where you should fly around to the north, or stay below it, and other things like that. But there you took a different route and flew south.
It was a weak north wind and I was lucky enough to be able to turn into a thermal at that east launch site and actually flew south towards the vicinity of Saarbrücken and landed in Kirkel at the end of the world.
Nobody knows that again, but yeah. You don't have to,
but it had a station, which I saw from above and hoped I could somehow get home. That train, which arrived at 7:40 PM, actually went via Trier to Koblenz, and I was back home super fast, just after midnight. If I'd had to go pick up my car, that wouldn't have been possible anymore that day. And I thought, okay, that would also be a good story if it were to work out in the long run. And you're no longer tied to the airfield. Since then, I've also been flying cross-country much more often instead of triangles. What does that mean? With triangle flying, I noticed that I was limiting myself.
I definitely want to get back to the car.
So you only do a small triangle because you say, I don't want to crash, I can manage the 20 kilometers, but maybe not the 40.
Maybe. And now I have the opportunity to say, oh, the plane isn't there. So I'll just head out in one direction. But it can still turn into a triangle from that. That happened to me this year too. Then I didn't have the airspace of Spandalen next to me. I flew around the Spandalen airspace, exactly. And actually, I managed a triangle there too. There's a nice story about that as well. May I tell it? You have to tell it. I'm forcing you. Flew around Spandalen. Near Föhren. Landed in a forest clearing again. Pulled up to a road. Held my thumb out. Actually, twenty seconds later, a car stopped.
He opens the door and says, "Hello, I'm Ralf." And I'm like, "I'm also Ralf." And he's like, "But I'm Ralf with a P.H." And I'm Ralf with an F. But he didn't know that you're the Ralf with an F. No, I don't know why he introduced himself by name either. But he was so nice when he came over, so nice the whole time. He took me in. Then he said, "I'm not taking you to the train station right now, but I live over there or here. And you still have time because I work for the railway. We still have half an hour. I'll take you home first. Then you'll get a beer. And then I'll make sure you get to the station on time." Ten minutes later, I was sitting in his garden, and he showed me his super great, well-maintained garden.
And he said very proudly that he's celebrating Commun this weekend. His wife came too. I was introduced. I got a drink.
And ten minutes later he goes, "From now on, I'm taking you to the station." He drove me all the way to the platform. Then he also said, "Here, you get on now. He drives as far as there, and then you please change trains and switch to the express." Those are stories. They're wonderful, of course. Beautiful, yeah. So you don't expect anything. And then you actually land right next to some Highland cattle, that's what they were. And then someone stops, and it was a super great encounter. I also sent him photos afterwards of the flight from above, of his place. And he then sent me photos from his side too. Nice encounters that are lasting or have a lingering effect, and that I can take with me into my everyday life. And that's what it's about for me, too.
Not just the flying itself, but perceiving a flight day as an event day and drawing from that in my everyday life. And that works very well. Because, I still have to say, this paragliding gives me energy, it gives me strength. I need that too. It's one of the pillars I have. Alongside, of course, my family and my circle of friends, who are very important to me, but also my work, which is important to me. I work at the youth welfare office and I really enjoy the work, even though it can be very exhausting and stressful at times. And for my psychological hygiene, for my health, paragliding and these stories I'm telling here,
balm and strength and energy that allow me to still say at 58 years old that I enjoy my work at the youth welfare office. That is also guaranteed to have something to do with...
do. That means stories like these are also about constantly experiencing the good in people. From the people you meet who suddenly approach you with such goodwill and basically give you something that you just have to accept.
Anyway. I just have it, of course. You know that too. If you have a backpack like that on your back, you can get into a conversation pretty quickly if you play your cards right. And then you always have a topic to talk about. Yeah. I always start with, I've got a plane in this backpack. And they first just crack up laughing. But then you've already got the topic. And there's another story like that, for example. I landed somewhere in the deep Eifel. A boy was watching, he was about eight years old. And he saw me land, came up to me and asked where I was coming from. I told him, I just flew here, a few hours from the Rhine. And then he seemed to get it and drove off with his plane. And then he came back on his bike. And five minutes later he came back with his mother in tow, who wanted to know very skeptically what kind of strange man this was and what he had been telling her son.
And then she sees me. And I can actually explain to her that I really flew here with this piece of cloth.
be. With the
Airplane in the backpack. And that all of this is now in this backpack. And that I've somehow made it back home. And I'm trying to find a train station now. And there was no sign of that skepticism from the beginning anymore. And she was totally thrilled that it was possible. She took me with her. There were several more children there. I got something to drink. And at some point it was like, "And now you're getting in. Into the VW bus. All the kids. We have to pick up my daughter at the station. I'll take you there now. Bam." And that's the next nice story. So these kinds of stories keep coming up. And this positive stuff.
And these beautiful experiences you have there—they all have to do with paragliding. Without paragliding, they wouldn't exist. It's a combination. And that has really developed. It used to be off to the flight site. Fly for as long as possible. Or as far as possible. Then park as quickly as possible. Because you still had other things to do. And home. But nowadays, I take my time. I take more time. Even if I think I go flying a bit less overall. Go flying less often. But I also pick out the cream of the crop. I'm very good at that now.
Does "the cream of the crop" also mean the cream of the crop in terms of weather? That's how it is.
Of course. It means I know relatively well when it's possible. Every now and then, you'll hear at the launch site, "Ralf is coming. It might be possible now." It's also like that sometimes. Yes. But that's already planned. And since I know our flying areas very well, having flown them for almost 30 years, I know that a Nassau flying area only works in the evening. A Bobberter flying area, due to its specific characteristics, works either at noon or in the afternoon. In the evening, it's for looking for retirees. You just know how the areas are to be used. And I use that. And I try to make a beautiful experience out of it. What I then, as you just read at the beginning.
I post it on Facebook. That's primarily for me, of course. I use it as a flight log, and for me to look back on. I've already experienced all of this. I always enjoy reading through it. But also, especially for my fellow flyers, but also for those who don't fly. So, the ones who know me. To show them how enthusiastic I am about it, and the beauty of the whole thing. Because paragliding isn't just beautiful. We know that. And when we're represented in the media, we're usually represented negatively. That's clear, too. Or it has to be totally spectacular. And I always say: for me, paragliding is banal. It's like riding a bicycle in the air.
Most people don't believe that. But that's actually how it is. In terms of speed and everything else, that's how it is for me now.
Cycling in the air. And to show people that it's not something spectacular. Something totally dangerous. Where you put your life at risk. We can get to that right away—how I came to see it this way. Like, that I also respect limits. And so on. So that it's reasonably safe. But that's what I want to convey. I want. I want. I want to convey the beauty of flying to people. That it can be a great hobby if you observe limits and rules.
And that it is a source of energy.
And that it's a source of energy. Well, you're a very positive person. That's why I've known you for a long time.
Your Facebook posts are actually always an outburst of joy. Your
Your Facebook posts are actually always an outburst of joy. Like that.
roughly. They just spray like that. With all those ones where you say, okay, I'm in Saarland. Not in Saarbrücken, but in Saarland in Krikl. Or whatever it's called. That's where I landed. I saw the train station. And then the train and everything else left right away. It all sounds like you're always very lucky. So that you're always experiencing a lot of happy moments. So that you're always experiencing a lot of happy moments that also have to do with luck, like coincidences. Have you ever had a real flop with all of this? That you were standing somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the Eifel and really realized that you were standing somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the Eifel
and really realized. My biggest flop, although it's really a minor one. My biggest flop, although it's really a minor one. That I once stood near the Nürburgring for two hours. That I once stood near the Nürburgring for two hours. In the wrong place. Keep your fingers crossed, nobody did. Only a few English people then had their fun with me.
Did they drive past five times or what? That
was the worst thing I've experienced so far. Two hours? Yes, and after that, another plane actually picked me up and that was it. Why are you saying
the wrong spot?
Exactly, you have to think a bit strategically and look and consider. The smaller the road, the more likely someone will take you with them. So don't choose a federal highway, they drive
everyone's zooming past you at 90 and they have...
Yeah, exactly, that's how it is. That's one example. And you can do that, there are several strategies, exactly. For example, what else? Approaching people, if you do that. Most of the time, if you approach them in a friendly way, you can get into a conversation with most of them, for example.
What other strategies are there?
Do you have a sign? I mean, there's something like a "take me with you" sign and other stuff. I have one.
I got one from my brother-in-law at some point, I had it with me two or three times, but it was just so cumbersome to unpack, and I also don't know if they can really see that from a distance, I can't say. No, you have to stand by the road, for example, without a canopy, without sunglasses, with a friendly face. And
thick... So do you show your big backpack too? Yes,
it's lying there
mostly next to me, yeah, yeah. I mean, you could also say I hide it at first, because otherwise they might get scared, oh, there's such a big backpack, I can't take that with me. No, I always leave it
nice with me.
Is it maybe also an attraction, like them saying, "Who's that with such a big backpack?"
Yeah, maybe I am, exactly, maybe it also makes people curious, like, what kind of person is that, yeah.
Interestingly, I also ended up once standing on the side of the road and then an old man pulled over and said... He picked me up because of that, not because of your bag, but because I saw your shoes, what kind of hiking boots you were wearing, or that you were wearing hiking boots. And then he took me along. So sometimes it's banal things, yeah, but it happens again and again. And actually, it's been very, very, very rare that hitchhikers haven't picked me up. But actually, the further inland, in the countryside, in the Eifel—we usually fly in the Eifel, if we think about the airfields we... we have here locally or I have locally,
the more rural it is, the easier the whole thing is, yeah. Or that you just go into the village and get into a conversation and ask where the next bus stop or the next train station is. No problem, then I would have just driven to the next station with the Probe or... Probe? What is that? It's like a faster car. Ah, yeah. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, that's it. I'd already had one, or I've even been in one, not a Mini, but one of those little Mercedes, like a Smart, that already had its mountain bike in the back and still had room for me and my glider. So it's incredible who you can all fit with and who takes you along. And my experience shows that women take you along more than men do.
That's also very surprising to me, because I thought, like, men could come across as a bit threatening. And because of that, the women wouldn't stop. So most of them are women who give you a lift. So, interesting stories. And the interesting thing is, as soon as you're in the car, you start telling stories. I don't stop telling them. Sometimes you're sitting somewhere,
they've already arrived. The train has already left and you say, oh crap, I missed it. And you're always telling stories...
...yet. But those are such valuable encounters you have there. And they linger. I think back to so many beautiful stories. And that wealth of experience, it stays with you. I always have, I always have this fear that sooner or later, I'm going to stop flying. And then I hope that this box of beautiful stories will still show me that it was a very, very beautiful time.
Have you ever met people more than once? Like, someone saying to you, "Hey, you landed in my front yard three years ago or something." No, I've landed in one place too rarely for that. I haven't managed that yet. You fly a bit further every time, so you're always getting more successful.
Something developed there too. In the first few years, starting around 2002 when I began flying, I naturally tried to get better and better in my class, the sports class. I even managed to do that in this XT Cup. So, I was the best at the end of the season.
And at some point, it shifted. Because then you were chasing the points, whether you were running or flying. And that took something away from the quality, or from the beauty of flying. And it took several years until I could live with saying, hey, it's nice if others also fly far or fly better. That doesn't change the fact that you have beautiful flights.
I don't have to have the win of the day. But that has
taken. Yes, at times I wasn't allowed to look at that overview in the evening anymore. Who flew the furthest today over the area? Because then it really took away my enjoyment of the beautiful flight I had. And I'm managing that very well now. And I also notice that I've become a bit more mature in this matter. And it's not just about the distance anymore, but what I've been telling myself for a year or two now: I want to stay in the air for a long time. That's worth more to me now, if I manage it. I still love doing that. And if I can just kiss the clouds for five hours in a confined space—I mean, kiss the clouds, so flying right up to the cloud or flying around near the cloud and letting my soul dangle from above, being able to look at the landscape.
And that's dreamy. If
Would you also just fly for five hours in La Sergue or Boppart or something like that? Just "ritsch, ratsch," flying 100 meters along the edge? I would...
not do, no. There has to be several hundred or thousand meters of vertical distance in between. No, as soon as I have a few hundred meters of altitude, I obviously go for a cross-country flight. But it's no longer just about doing a cross-country flight, but also simply about enjoying it. And that works. And even after 30 years, I actually still manage to say that it's still a gift that it becomes more than just a glide, that it's a nice cross-country flight, or that I'm managing to fly all the way to the cloud now. And depending on the day, sometimes I also say that it's like a grace for me, something very special. And this special feeling has held up over all these years.
How did you
did you manage that? I know some people who eventually lose a bit of the fun in flying, for whatever reason. Because
I've always taken a look at what's important to me or what's less important and readjusted things. At the beginning, the main thing for me was just being able to get into the air at all. So, I could make use of every flying day.
I have to drive out into the field.
So the effort, for example, the only flight area that was nearby back then where I dared to go was La Sergue. And there's the river in between and no bridge. And back then there was... there was a Klabautermann who ran... a small ferry. He had this little ferry at his floating pub, and then I had to walk there. He would ferry me across, and I did that sometimes four times a day.
The main thing was that I was in the air. And most of the time, the flights lasted two to three minutes.
Gliding over the Moselle, landing on the other side, waiting for the shuttle to finally head off again, and then hiking back up on the other side.
Then climbing back up for the next flight. And exactly that... eventually wasn't enough. And especially in La Sergue, I learned a lot. I also learned to get to know the wind or to see how much the leaves have to rustle for me or the tree to shake, so that I can also soar there, or that I noticed, okay, a thermal is coming here, you fly into it and you can then start in there and gain height to then land perfectly afterwards. That is terrain where you can do that. And at some point I realized, okay, or I realized, if I do this and that now, then it could be that I really catch a good day here and then head out nicely on the route. That developed, and that's how I progressed.
And later, when I realized that you just can't fly much further around here. We have the airspaces, which limit the whole thing quite a bit. For example, of course, you could always push that further, saying, yeah, you can't go straight, but just go around the airspaces. That, of course, people tried to do. But eventually, you hit your limits, including your performance limits. So, I didn't just keep developing myself. To say, okay. So, performance techniques. Performance techniques, yeah.
Otherwise, you've already evolved if you say you've actually changed your attitude.
Exactly, I can fly beautiful routes, exactly. But there's not much more to it now. But you can look again at how I just put it, okay, the points aren't everything, but maybe the surroundings or seeing the whole thing as an event and also enjoying the day as a whole. Because it is a great story, not having to work, but being out in nature that day, being allowed to hike, being allowed to fly, having encounters with people and being allowed to spend a beautiful day that gives you your strength back.
Now you hinted earlier as a topic that over time you've learned to somewhat limit the risks associated with flying. Yes. How did you do that, or what insights did you have? Did you perhaps at some point have something where you'd say, that was a really negative experience regarding risk? Like, did you ever actually get injured while flying and say, I have to do something differently? Or how did that happen? I have...
I was very lucky that I was never seriously injured. That's possibly... that's due to luck, in any case.
So there were hard landings, but nothing happened. Hard landings
...there were, but nothing major happened to me. Tree landings too, of course, I've had it all. But over the years, I've seen many pilots come and go who often got overwhelmed, especially with the equipment.
Or rather, that they just challenged conditions that overwhelmed them. The weather conditions, the conditions. At the launch site or in the air. And for me, some things were very clear. I wanted to do it reasonably responsibly, so that I can still get into the air tomorrow and continue this hobby tomorrow. I also see it as a responsibility toward my family. And I always thought about what it takes to have a good time. Accordingly, I chose my equipment. There were very many who, after the training, chose very quickly to switch to hotter gear. To paragliders that are good
...were, but overwhelmed the new pilots. And I've seen many people have a negative experience, who also got seriously hurt and then quit. And I always wanted to have the possibility of practicing this beautiful hobby in the long run, so I set my limits like that, saying, among other things, I fly 1-to-2 gliders back then and now the B gliders. That's completely enough for me, for what I do. I claim anyway, for our terrain here in the Rhineland-Moselle, for most of the ones I know here, for 90 percent of the pilots, these gliders—so these A gliders or B gliders—are enough to experience super beautiful things and actually everything that you might also be able to experience or live with C and D gliders.
You have less stress. I feel so comfortable under a B-glider. I've also had a C-glider for a few years now. I only fly it when I know it's reasonably calm and that I can handle it. I've never had a bad experience with this C-glider either. But I just feel more comfortable under a B-glider from the start and at all times.
That's why I might not have the intensity I've experienced in the right situations, because I haven't had a flight situation where I said, "Now I'm just the one reacting and fate decides." I don't think I've ever experienced that in all this time. But it also means flying a lot, flying over and over again, dealing with these issues, respecting limits, and then ground handling. Ground handling. Doing that for sure. Besides the flying itself, I think it's a super nice way to do it too.
And everything you learn in ground handling can also be applied in the air. Luckily, many, many years ago, I got to experience King—I got to experience Mike King. And at the Wasserkuppe, I took part in a... a kiss.
It rained for two and a half days. And there were only eight participants. And he motivated us so much. And I was so blown away by that. And with such great ideas. We were tumbling around with wet gliders, we were tumbling around and having our fun. And I was so fascinated by Mike King back then because he motivated us so much. And he could have also said, yeah, shitty weather, let's call it off. No. And luckily we also have a site nearby, a practice site. It's called Rodenbach. And I go there very, very often. The nice thing is, I stand on a stepladder in my yard and look over with binoculars. And then I see, okay, there are paragliders lying there.
And I see how they're lying, whether they're hanging in the air, how they're positioned. You can
recognize the wind direction. You can
...recognize everything. And I think, yeah, it's worth it. I get on my bike and I'm in this terrain about forty-five minutes later. I'm lucky that it's all nearby. But I also tell everyone who is starting out or finishing their training—many people contact me because I'm the flight terrain manager, the terrain coordinator for the Rhein-Muslaner area. And they ask, where can you fly? And I always say, there are options here or there. But you also always have the possibility to practice there, no matter what. In zero wind, even with a tailwind. You can practice there at any time. And those who do that will have success experiences very quickly. Especially in our terrains when the wind is a bit stronger.
The launch sites are very small, and that can be very tricky sometimes. And you immediately see who has practiced a lot on the ground and who has mastered it. And it's super fun. And these are things I do regularly. So ground handling until today. Flying a lot. Pushing limits. Staying within the limits of the equipment, so the paragliders shouldn't overwhelm me. I have to be able to rely on the glider to respond to me, and I believe that's working. And these are all the components that will hopefully allow me to keep doing this relatively accident-free for the next few years. Something can always happen. I've really been very lucky.
That has to be said. Of course, I've pushed my limits too, but thank God, nothing happened to me because of it.
What about other flying regions? I mean, we're talking about the Mosel, Eifel, and other areas all the time here. How often do you ever say, "I want to go, in quotes, like you might have thought before, where you can only do it there—like, really fly. I want to go to the Eifel, I want to go to the Alps," and stuff like that?
Since I have a family, it was of course great for me to have these flying areas right on site. That's where I spend most of my time. About 90 percent of my flights are done there. Of course, we also—I also—travel around. I know quite a few flying areas in Europe as well.
When I—when we were traveling with the family, or when I'm traveling with my wife now, the glider is of course always with us. Your sons are out of the house. The sons are more or less out of the house, exactly. And the older one, by the way, is also a glider pilot. He's currently making his way toward the Alps again. And the glider is always with him. Although, when I'm traveling with the family, it's primarily a family vacation. And then it has no priority at all. And then it was for two weeks, one or two afternoons, where I treated myself and asked the family to put up with me going flying again. That means it was also a balancing act between spending time with the family and time spent flying. And that's usually how it is.
But it's also been the case that I've gone flying there. Now that the kids are out of the house, it's happening again that I'm out in the Alps more often. But I've also been in Norway and Sweden with the glider. I'm out at the dune quite a bit, in Denmark or in Holland.
I've even flown in Iceland. Besides the other well-known hotspots, of course in the Alps. I know those, of course, too.
I know your wife doesn't fly that much. No. How?
Did you manage to make it so that she didn't take it badly, this hobby of yours that's so fascinating to her and maybe also very consuming for a while?
You just mentioned luck. I've been very lucky, especially with my wife. Luckily, she met me just as I was in that hot phase.
She knew what she was getting into. In '97,
I started, I met her. She knew. And still, I'm so glad she told me. That she wished it for me, and still does, and that she was very generous at times. I did overdo it sometimes, especially in the early years. And she bore it, she put up with it. Because when my son started flying, I noticed how worried I suddenly became about him. And sometimes, when he had his license and we were flying together, I'd go down to land because I couldn't take it anymore, because I was so worried about my son. And then I thought, what did my wife have to put up with all those years? And she bore it.
And my son has been on a glider since he was 14, and he did ground handling before that. So he's been involved with paragliding somehow since he was 9.
So he grew up with it; actually, you shouldn't have to worry because you're saying if someone is into it, then they probably...
too. Yes, of course. And in terms of ground handling, he's a thousand times better than I am. But yeah, and she's put up with all of that. And what... what has always been an issue for me, and I'm saying this right now, for those of you who are starting out and are all fired up: make sure you're always earning enough social points at home. Social points? What do you mean by that? What I mean by that is that it's not just about paragliding; if you only focus on paragliding, then one thing or another might potentially fall apart, which I've experienced myself. So, every now and then, skip a flight and do something nice with your wife or your family. And maintaining that balance, I think, is also that great art. The great art of saying, yes, I have a family, friends, I have my job, and I have my passion for flying.
And keeping that balance isn't easy at all. I hope I've managed it better over the last few years. And I'm glad my wife still supports that to this day. Not just supports it, but also occasionally says, Ralf, go fly already. You
...annoying. You're annoying. I can tell you're missing something. You come home a bit more satisfied. So she notices it positively, that you're really more balanced or whatever. Yeah, definitely.
Ralf, with so much luck at the end, I'd just say we'll leave it at that for this podcast. Thanks for sharing. Yeah. I think some people might even have a bit of fun themselves right now. I'll try that out too. Not driving to the launch site and then seeing myself forced to land there again, but I'll see which launch site I can get to in some other way and then really fly out on a little overall adventure and come back and do something like that. I'd wish that for everyone.
That was Ralf Böhm. Before I point out the funding opportunities for Lu-Glidz and Podz-Glidz as usual, I'll just let Ralf have the floor one more time. Because at the end of the podcast recording, he told me,
There are so many people who have such beautiful stories to tell. I think it's so great that you do this. That you pull that out of them. And that is really something special. In the past, there were things like paragliding magazines and so on. You don't need any of that at all. But what you pull out of people like that, I think it's great. From the whole world of paragliding, as you always say. From the cosmos. And I find that so beautiful. And it shows all the different facets. And exactly, this here was just one small facet.
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under the Support section, you'll find all the necessary information and links on how you can keep this project alive with a financial contribution of your choice, whether large or small. I want to thank all the supporters. See you soon. Enjoy the freedom of flight in all its facets. Ciao. Your Lucian.