What have Honza and Martin Rejmanek, the father-son Team Pilot duo, been up to all summer? A lot. Including taking little brother Tomas on a tandem adventure.
Honza just sent us an update, which started with the following fabulous line: "As I sit on a very windy launch in Owens Valley, California, waiting for the wind to ease, I finally have a moment to summarize our summer highlights..." What he then goes on to describe reads like a textbook example of successful family life among paraglider pilots. In the sense that it brings together school, adventure, and life lessons in just the right mix and seasoned with a lot of airtime.
Martin, who will turn 18 next year, was busy with a chemistry class and stayed at home in the US. Which meant only Honza and Martin’s younger brother Tomas flew to Europe for their traditional paragliding holiday in the Alps. June 23 and 24 they enjoyed a clockwise Hike & Fly tour of the Mont Blanc massif in 25 hours. With a cloud-base above 4000m and light winds the flying with the K2 3 tandem was a joy and only about 12km were covered on foot. A great warmup for a 6 day Hike & Fly in early July from Annecy to Fiesch via Zermatt. The combination of a lightweight tent and the tandem as a bedspread made for the ideal sleeping setup. Tomas now calls the K2 a “magical flying blanket”. Perhaps we, as manufacturers, should consider including sleeping comfort in the product specifications.
Later in July they had a trip to Sitka, Alaska. After several days of rain there was one perfect flying day. Using Martin’s previous wing, the DENA (EN-A) with a light harness Honza enjoyed an afternoon of flying from peak to peak and turning in thermals with bald eagles. Back in California, during the last day of July, Martin was finally done with his chemistry class and he flew his personal best distance with his MAKALU 5 (EN-B). Starting in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Lee Vining and all the way to Walker Lake in Nevada. As Martin was staying cool at 4,800m, Honza drove a stressful chase in a car that overheated the radiator and almost left Martin to figure out his way back. Luckily the engine was fine and all ended well.
We're already looking forward to the next update from the Rejmanek family, and we'd love to share it with you. Follow UP Paragliders and Martin on Instagram so you don't miss a thing.