Szeged, Wed July 21
Today was the first official practice day. We also did the scrutineering, weighing, and registration. Interestingly, worlds do not do all the paperwork ahead of time as we have learned to do at US contests, and they also demand a mountain of it. Anyway, the US team got it all accomplished swiftly and now we’re ready to go. Teamwork helps; Ron Tabery figured out it was time to get in line fast, told the rest of us, and we all showed our buffet line skills finely honed at US contests.
The flying today was much better. It’s hot and humid, reminiscent of a good day at Cordele. Bases were in the 4,000-5,000 range, It looked like it would blow up around 1:00, but despite big vertical development it never really got bad. Apparently there was a decent storm in the last turn area that took some delicate maneuvering.
I wouldn’t know, as I spent the day tending to little electrical and mechanical issues. Hint: When you install bugwipers, be really really careful not to drill right through the main power lead. But it’s much better to get through this on a practice day than on a real contest day!
Szeged itself is pretty interesting. The town center where we are staying was all built in the late 1800s and has a Parisian feel, as do the people. Left to rot under communism, it’s all been spruced up recently, and much of the downtown is a big pedestrian area. Cafes and restaurants spill over into the street. We’ve had dinners most nights out in the open, as the lovely evening cool steps in. Then a walk to the favorite gelato store and walk back to the hotel. It’s all much too civilized to be a glider contest.
John Cochrane
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