Random Ramblings

 There are a few things which I have noted down to add to the blog but haven’t had a chance to include, so here are some random things.

At the first safety briefing one of the Standard Class pilots asked for more speed during the aerotow. A PW5 pilot called out, “If they go any faster I will redline. We need less speed not more”. The contest director agreed that they would tailor launch speeds to suit the gliders being launched.

During the opening ceremony in 30C heat, with endless speeches the Majorette Flag bearer for Finland collapsed with heat exhaustion and split her chin open on the Finland sign.

There are a lot of storks here and when they thermal, because of their colouring, they flash from black to white to black, it’s odd to watch.

At briefing they warned pilots not to stay up too late, or to drink too much. They will breathalyse pilots if they suspect that they are not completely sober.

During the opening ceremony we had a display of “Dancing Dynamics”. Basically Dynamics taxiing to music.  We were pleased to see that they always thermalled to the left as per the local rules.

Each day winner is presented with a “Yellow jersey” (and a bottle of wine) with “Day 1 Club Class” for example on the front. It’s a nice touch.

Also the gang who help with the gridding (who are now trained to greet us everyday with “G’day mate”) all wear white cotton gloves so that they don’t put fingerprints on the gliders.