The Centro turns into a cinema

by firmm Team

Text: Brigitte, photos: Sylvia Kyprian

«Get out of your own comfort zone.»

That is Rüdiger Böhm's motto. For him, these are not just words. He lives by it by always looking for new challenges and rising to them.

In the summer of 2020, Lars Kyprian and he started in Tarifa for an extraordinary challenge. The two wanted to sail their catamaran across the Mediterranean along the coast to Palermo in about 30 days. The special thing about this 3750 km or 2020 nautical mile challenge: Rüdiger has been without legs since an accident in 1997. The unequal duo was accompanied by a team of five on land and water. You will remember, we had also reported about it in blogs.

We already had the pleasure of meeting Lars and Rüdi in 2019. Back then, they approached Katharina during the firmm meeting to tell her about their project. They wanted to involve firmm from the very beginning and Katharina immediately showed interest in the project and agreed to support the team at the start. In 2020 they presented their adventure on stage in Aarau, and since then they have often been welcome to speak at the gathering of all firmm friends in Switzerland in February. This year, they made us want to see their cinema film about the GP Challenge by showing a trailer. They announced to Katharina that they would be visiting Tarifa and they wanted to take the opportunity to bring the film with them and show it to us.

At the end of August, the time had finally come. Of course, the two did not miss the opportunity and took part in trips on three following days, together with their wives. On 2 September, there was a special encounter. Rüdiger was sitting in the back left corner of the VISION when a group of five Pilot Whales approached him. One of them started to roll and then again and again, its tail flukes slapped the water ... right next to Rüdiger, as if to say «Hello» to him. Katharina found it impressive and Rüdi was also moved.

In the evening, the Centro was turned into a cinema without further ado. The tables were rolled to one side and chairs were set up. Lars put a GP-Challenge bracelet and Swiss chocolate on each chair.

Almost the whole firmm team came, including the crew from the boat. Jörn acted as translator and summarised what was said in Spanish. But the pictures spoke for themselves. We experienced the challenge with them. When they waited for the wind in its absence, when they didn't reach their destination for the day or when dark clouds announced an approaching thunderstorm.

We rejoiced with them when they successfully solved a problem and could feel their disappointment when it was finally over at the Italian border. Because of the existing Corona regulations, the two were not allowed to enter Italian soil.

After the last pictures the firmm crew applauded. "Just get up from the sofa and hit the road", these words especially get under your skin after the film. With this challenge, the two wanted to show that "the vast majority of limits simply exist in our heads. Something always happens, and you always find a solution if you have the right people with you. Life is not about what you can no longer do. A lot of things are possible if everyone is willing to keep pushing their own limits and do their best." And that's what the two did.

The film was shown in cinemas in Switzerland. Furthermore, they have a contract with the Swiss television for 3 broadcasts.

You can find more information about the adventure directly on the GP-Challenge website:
GP CHALLENGE 2020 | 2 men 2 legs - an extraordinary challenge (gp-challenge2020.com)

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