Arriving at the Destination

Post by Tony
This morning I was awake at 3:30am with the sounds a strange dream I was having and then was unable to fall a sleep again. So back on the internet and browsing web pages and catching up on some emails. At 7:30am we headed down for some Breakfast and was treated to an awesome array of food. Wow the Black Elephant hotel is really great and very well priced. The team assembled and headed off for an uneventful drive to our Airfield for the competition in Nove Mesto nad Metuji. We followed the ‘Man with the Red van’ and decided to let him get lost as the Nuvi in our van was telling us to take another route in one of the un-pronounceable  name towns. We had Ricky trying his best to stay on the correct side of the road and us babbling away with all sorts of instructions from the back. The Nuvi was in the rear of the Bus because it was the only power adapter available. You see Keith is making some incredible time-laps fotos for all of you to see on this Blog page some time soon. Stunning stuff. We arrived at the field to find our Crate and the other three Boxes perfectly ready for us. Ricky and Keith were like little kids with new toys at Christmas, opening there brand new Pap Boxed containing the new Motors they had sent to the field. I opened our crate to find everything in good order. Anton got his new Advance Bi-Beta4  Wing and unfortunately has to find a way to get his motor from Spain to the airfield as it was sent back once it arrived in the Czech Republic the other day. Tomorrow it will be send again.
We arrived at the hotel later to book in to an OK Hotel, but not like our other one. We settled in for 30min and then headed out testing the area for lunch. Food was good and the Beer on tap is great and half the price of the Beer in Prague. The food is 70% cheaper than in Prague. We got back to the field later the afternoon and settled down to build all the kit. Well yes, it would have been great if it was so simple but in the end everyone with kit, managed to put all there motors together then Riaan managed some how to destroy his new Carb butterfly arm. I told him to strip down my motor we brought as a spare and while working that one into some type of a contraption managed to unravel a strand of cable in the sheath so now the cable is also jammed in the sleeve. For him we have a nightmare unfolding already. Alison has been working with Jana and is now up to speed with everything and even has more info than them. They said they might call on her if they need info.  Go Alison! We have sorted out the 3rd party insurance and we are set for some flying now. Ricky, Keith and Pieter  have already had a small test flight but the rest stayed grounded for now. Callie and Martin managed to do a Full service on Martins motor as he had damaged it just before Packing for the trip. I think it will be fine now. My Motor will only arrive later as you know but I am having so much fun Chatting to all my old buddies from around the world. I have met Mr Piere Dudek himself when he came waking over to me and we had a short chat about the incredible wings he is making .  David from Canada is already here and again stunning to meet him and his team. My other friends from Japan, Thailand, Poland, Germany, Slovenia, and the Czech Rep were arriving. Richard the Meet Director was also some one to arrive today. Again we stood chatting about the comp and his incredible Trip across the channel he flew yesterday in a Microlight with 100 other pilots in recognition of the first channel flight done to the day 100years ago. We also chatted about the Epic flight over Everest he was involved with towing a Hanglider and then also flying in the Himalayas on his Microlight trike. Some great epic tales and interesting for me, as I have just watched the DVD with Alison only 2 Weeks before.  Dinner tonight was well and adventure. We never found a place that would feed us at 10:30pm on a Sunday, so the team ended up driving to another town and ate bread rolls at a filling station before returning home to get some sleep. I am now typing this after 12 am and am now ready to turn in, but can still hear the other chatting away creating video footage and fotos for you all to view  of the trip we are experiencing. This is going to be hard work, flying hard from a 6am to a 9:30pm sunset and then to keep the bloggs flowing for all of you to experience the thrill of this trip. We will do our best to keep you on top of the day to day adventures. Hold thumbs for us and we will be pulling out the stops for SA.


Regards
‘Fly Safe’

Tony Gibson