Monday, June 21, 2010

Logistics and Arrival - June 21st

Well this is it - all logistics taken care of, eldest daughter graduated from UCLA (do I sound like a proud Dad?) relatives all gone home and I'm climbing aboard a 747 tomorrow to fly to Frankfurt and pick up my rental LS8 and tow vehicle - a day transferring my instruments and (hopefully) doing a little winch-launching with the owners at their home field, and then a 12hr drive from Central Germany to Slovakia, through the Czech Republic.

After all the logistics,IGC shenanigans, forms, fees, medical checks, licenses, contracts, emails, phone calls, equipment purchases, bank transfers, file transfers, map studying etc etc we're finally ready to go - and now the transition from conceptual planning to actual reality feels a little surreal.

Since I have no prior experience at Prievidza I'm heading out early and praying for good practice weather - though if it doesnt cooperate theres outlanding areas to check out in the further reaches of the contest area. And of course, catching up on jet lag. Heading East is always worst it seems, my theory is its due to missing a nights sleep, as opposed to just having a very long day when returning.

We'll be staying near the castle in Bojnice (featured in most of the WGC 2010 SK web site videos) and the town looks historic and quite interesting. The field itself looks to be very well organized and we're all looking forward to a fabulous contest. Hopefully everything will go smoothly with glider, car, instruments and journey across Europe - next time I write I should be settled in in Prievidza - time now for some zzzz's in preparation for the long zombie mental state needed for 12hrs in cattle class. - Must remember to get a Slovensky phrase-book....

Ciao! 2T (CW in the contest)