Looks like today was all about getting settled over there. Hopefully in the next couple of hours (Tuesday Morning) Brett and Bryan will be able to pick up the planes . . . . fingers crossed.
Just a few pics from Mark. What an interesting restaurant with a plane in the middle of it! I'm looking forward to seeing the museum full of planes that I think is supposed to be right there at the competition site; more on that when I get there, probably over the weekend.
Just a few pics from Mark. What an interesting restaurant with a plane in the middle of it! I'm looking forward to seeing the museum full of planes that I think is supposed to be right there at the competition site; more on that when I get there, probably over the weekend.
Here's what Mark had to say about Day 2 over there:
Day 2 -
It was another beautiful day here in Zurich. So far the weather has been fabulous. Sunny warm days in the upper 80’s and moderate, pleasant evenings in the low 60’s. Today was a bit of divide and conquer. Andrew and Darin set out early to find our practice field which is about an hour’s drive away. Jason and David followed soon after, while Kevin and I stayed back to recover his luggage from the airport and pick up the rest of the team.
Our woe’s continued though as Brett and Bryan arrived around 8:30, sans airplanes. Somehow Delta left them behind ( and knew this ) even with 24hrs to load them on a half empty flight. Frustrating. But Brett took it all in stride and we’re hopeful to be able to pick them up in the morning. We were successful in picking up Kevin’s luggage and were also able to connect with the South African team to deliver some much needed Contra parts that Brenner Sharp was able to get to me at the last minute to help repair one of their contra setups. As an aside, this happens a lot at this event… competitors from all over the world bringing parts, know how, or whatever is needed to assist their direct competition in being able to perform at their best.
Don and Joseph Szczur were the last of the US team to arrive, coming in mid day via London’s Heathrow airport. Their challenge began in Washington where TSA was insistent that they could not allow an internal combustion engine (Joe’s YS 1.70 in his new Allure) on board the aircraft. A number of phone calls and the removal of the fuel system was required to pass inspection, but they were successful and everything was pretty smooth thereafter.
Andrew and Jason had a good day at the practice field, each putting up 6-7 good flights. This was especially good for Jason after having to make the repairs to his primary plane. The practice field is a nice grass field out in the Swiss countryside surrounded by cornfields. It’s a tight landing strip, but the flying area is wide open and we have it pretty much to ourselves. A big thanks to Mike Cohen (D4 Masters flyer from Michigan) who put us in touch with a local club member at this field (Michael Bucher) and helped facilitate our use of the property for the duration of the contest. The club has painted box markers for practice and Michael has even supplied us with a generator for recharging batteries on site. Some more pictures of the field when I get out there tomorrow.
Everyone regrouped back at the hotel late in the afternoon to make a trip out to the contest site. We were able to get there (thanks to GPS) in about 15 min. The site looks wide open, but it’s not quite set up for visitors yet so we didn’t get to look at the flight lines and flyover area up close. Thursday is team registration so we’ll see it all then.
From there it was dinner and back to the hotel for battery charging and getting ready for an early start (6:30am) to the practice field tomorrow. Bryan and Brett will hopefully be able to pick up Brett’s airplanes by 8:45 and then head out to join us at the practice site. Only a few photos today, the practice site, and the interesting restaurant we had dinner at. We’re still struggling a bit with the very high cost of food. As a point of comparison, a 6” sub/ chips /drink from Subway was $22. We’ve decided we know the answer to why Europeans are so thin! Overall though we’re starting to settle in well and with a good day of practice tomorrow for everyone we hope to put the stress of the past few days behind us.
Mark
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Until tomorrow . . . Cindy
UPDATE: Wait just a minute! I'm going to be fired. Somehow I missed a few photos when I first posted, obviously leaving out the best one!
Okay, now I can say . . . until tomorrow. . .