“I'll be flying my best to keep the German Team at the top”

The final step that put Oliver (“Olly”, for his friends) on top of the PWC podium of 2004 has been the crown for a long and successful flying career for this German pilot who, 13 years ago, left his home town Colonia and hitchhiked to the mountains determined to live for paragliding, and fly to live!
Oliver discovered paragliding together with his father in 1988, but at that time paragliders “had such poor performance that flatland paragliding had barely been invented yet”. The paragliding fever not only took him to Obersdorf (Bavaria), where he is still settled bellow the Nebelhorn –"the best flying arena in Germany"- but also his career as a dental technologist was soon left behind for more exciting adventures in the sky. Now, he spends his time flying tandems, giving PG clinics, testing gliders and doing promotion for UP, or flying on his own at his home site (he actually can see the launch from his window!), when he's not off to international top level competitions. Despite his excellent season and winning the most important title of the Paragliding world, Olly does not consider himself “The” best pilot and says that fun should always be the top priority for comp pilots, as “nobody earns any serious money doing this”.

[Interview © Ojovolador.com, November 2004. All rights reserved.]

If you'd like to reproduce any information
or images from this website,
you must ask us at: info@ojovolador.com
before doing so. Thank you!

© Ojo Volador 2002-2004.
All rights reserved. Please respect the rights over intellectual property.

-Oliver, how long have you been competing?

My competition career started in '94. My best result so far has (obviously) been the overall PWC victory this year, the second best was my 3rd place in the Worlds in 2001 (Sierra Nevada, Spain). In that comp I was actually in the lead until the last day where I suddenly found myself in the bushes 2km before goal – that cost the first place in the comp.

-How was your experience this year at the PWC events? 

The nice thing about this year's PWC was to once again be able to go and discover exciting new flying arenas together with the best pilots in the world. There's no better way to get to know a flying site than to fly a comp there. I have in my head, hopefully engraved for eternity, a large number of beautiful pictures of colourful gliders milling around over countless landscapes – what a privilege!

It is obvious that one is from time to time subjected to decisions, for example, in the task setting, that one doesn't agree with. However, since I have begun to also be involved in the task setting it has become clearer to me how difficult it is. There will always be weather situations that make any chosen task hover on the edge of doable/dangerous. Personally I feel that it is important to always err on the side of caution, before we have any casualties, as these are always bad for our sport. I would however like to say that it is also the responsibility of the pilots to evaluate the conditions and make their own decisions – after all it is their life we're talking about here!

The German Paragliding Team. Olly is determined to be the next World Champions. (Photo © DHV.de)

-Why do you think you're the best pilot in the world?

I don't consider myself the best pilot – there are a bunch of very very talented pilots out there, and I'm proud to be considered one of them. To fly among the world's top pilots you must not only be an outstanding pilot yourself, you must also, and in long meets in particular, have a good constitution. This means keeping in shape by training a lot, but it also means eating a balanced diet. All this because once the body is being over-stressed the head also starts to falter. To be able to make fast decisions you mustn't be too stressed as stress impedes decision-making and eats up all the enjoyment that is equally important to make decent results.

I believe in concentrating on the important things and not allow emotions to distract. I wasn't actually very successful with this on the last two days in Mexico – when it doesn't work I apply what I call the “drawer” technique, when I mentally stuff all the irrelevant things into drawers to get a clear head. This isn't to say that I ignore the dangers, I just try to stow away all thoughts and emotions that aren't related to the task at hand. This only works however when I then address the other issues after I have landed – otherwise they keep pushing the drawers open again, even during flight. I guess the mind just won't be fooled :-)

It is also very important to be able to analyse one's own mistakes - I'm a firm believer in analysing mistakes and learning from them – this gives peace of mind. Everybody makes mistakes but if you can't learn from them you cannot improve!

Sharing the joy of being firsts in goal! (Photo © DHV.de)

-Tell us about your glider: how has it helped you become a champion?

Back when I first switched to flying UP I had, for the first time, a real chance to win. Before that I was always disadvantaged by my equipment – frustrating but excellent training! With the Targa 1 proto I suddenly had a wing that was very stable at high speeds and had the performance I needed. This often meant an advantage when on the speedbar in turbulent conditions near the ground. Now the wing alone doesn't do it alone, you must also be able to take advantage of it and that isn't always so easy… That wing also had an edge at full speed on final glides –I believe that was what convinced Alex (Hofer) whom I overtook on final glide in a task in Morzine in 2002.

With the Targa 2 we now have a worthy successor. This wing has a definite advantage when speeding against a head wind, and on top of this it has the coolest handling. And the safety again places our wing in the more harmless end of the spectrum and is controllable even in extreme situations. I have flown that wing all this season and had no particular incidents, in spite of a lot of flying at top speed.

-How's the competition scene at the moment? Have you seen changes in the last, say, 5 years?

Something that I enjoy particularly much is the friendly atmosphere among the different pilots and nations. I always have the feeling that I'm travelling the world with a great big family! I didn't have that feeling so much before, maybe it is different now because I have been doing it for so long. I really enjoy the parties where you get to know the newer people, or the ones who aren't in it full time – this strengthens the sense of mutual belonging and increases the FUN. Nobody earns any serious money doing this, so the fun should always be the top priority!

The other important new thing to come around in recent times is the GPS checking system and the flexibility that this has given us (but I guess this hasn't eluded the rest of the world!!). Finally the gliders are once again getting a tick better which means we're able to fly even larger tasks. The overall level of the pilots also keeps increasing – other than that not much has changed.

-Are there good new pilots? Who are the bests?

The question is not easy to answer, as there are many very good pilots and I don't want to be the one who evaluates their strengths. In Germany we're lucky to have a number of strong young pilots coming up –all from coach Stefan Mast's talent-smithy that goes by the name “Junior-Challenge” (Norman Lausch, Achim Joos and I all assist him in this field). I'm referring here to the brothers Dani and Marco Hierling, and Michi Königer, all youngsters that we'll hear a lot more of in the future!

-How do you see the XC comps in the future?

I'd be happy to see the organisers of the events getting better at marketing our wonderful sport, maybe even on TV! We need to strengthen our image and attract new people, and that really isn't done by having “secret” events in the middle of nowhere. I think it is time to consider that if the people won't come to us we may have to come to them, possibly by having our goals placed near big events like football games or rock concerts.

-Finally, now that you're World Cup champion: What's your next goal?

That's easy: To be the World Champion, individually and as a team :-). If that doesn't happen I want to have as much fun as possible, life is short!

The way things are looking now I'll be flying full time for the next three years, doing my best to keep the German team at the top!

Oliver Rössel is UP's factory pilot. More info about UP in: www.up-europe.com

Get the latest news of the paragliding / PPG world and our website updates through our virtual informative,
sent directly to your email every month. Non commercial, and free!

To subscribe fill in the form that will appear when you click here.

*All data submitted is treated as confidential information and is not given to third parties.