Uvalde! Memories!!!

Only four months to go and the 32d WGC in Uvalde will be in full swing! When I see their site I get more and more excited. www.wgc2012uvalde.com
Looking forward to meet several people again, pilots as well as officials, as well as crew members and people I met already in 1991, when I was Team Captain for the Dutch team in Uvalde. Some I have not seen for ages, as over the last years, I was the journalist on location, for the small ships during WGC’s and JWGC’s and on other national and international comps.

It looks like my daughter, who was in 1991 in Uvalde as well, will visit with her family and they are looking ahead at “tubing” over there. Luckily I will be too busy, as I do not have too good memories on that day off; very red and painful arms, the rest of the teams, however, LOVED it, certainly the little “eski” with a rope hanging behind the tube in the cold water.

Also catching up with jurors as Peter Ryder, who will be the president and Eric Mozer and Hannes Linke, will be great fun. Eric was a competitor and third in 15m class that year. Not to forget my “boss” Dick Bradley as Chief steward in Finland and now in Uvalde, together with one of my mates Art Grant. He is famous by now as well, not only as great scrutineer [especially weighing] at several comps in the world, but also as “the voice” belonging to the tracking system from Post Frontal in Rieti. His “Pink Panther” is known by all who were there as well.


The pink panther and Art as “the voice”.

At this stage 104 pilots will be part of this great competition, but the deadline is April 4th, so more participants can be added to the list, as the limit is 120.

Saw some female pilots on it as well. Fantastic! And a lot of former champions in each class. It will be a HUGE event and very competitive. Knowing most of the pilots I really feel happy to be part of it! Bill, who together with Rand, “runs” the Soaring Café, is part of the USA team and will make you happy with stories of his flights. I will be there to keep you busy with on-going daily news, so keep the F5 ready and oiled.

I just looked in my photo book from 1991, with
–a picture of ALL competitors,
–an A4 about Fort Clark Springs [ the Historic home of the US 5th Cavalry Regiment and the Seminole-Negro Indian Scouts], where we stayed with nine other countries before the comps started, with a 50 m pool with water straight from a spring
–pictures from the local papers, one with Roberto [crew from Giorgio Galetto who flies this year too], Karl Heinz Schneider and me,
–we…learning the Texas 2-step,
–my daughter dancing with young 25 year old, Finnish pilot Anssi who sadly died that year in a mid-air collision ,”Anssi may not be visible in the gaggles of the upcoming contest days but all can rest assured his spirit flies amongst us”.
–the famous and unforgettable PARADE in town, with all pilots crews but also Miss Texas and Miss Uvalde and the organizers, with Bernald Smith as Director of the Championship, Mark Huffstutler as Contest Manager and Hannes Linke as Competition Director, in a huge open American car
–my welcome- letter by Ann W . Richards governor of the State of Texas,
–a great cartoon drawing by Alf Ingesson Thor, “W all love soaring in Texas”,

–the Purple Sage with Video DJ Scott Hoyt,
–all the scores,
–the school where our team used the black board to “count/calculate ” the km for the then called “pilot selected course speed task”
–the storm during one of the finishes,
–the heat…we had each huge water cans to drink from
–the WGC report from September by Bernald Smith
–our visit to Mexico and the view on the Bridge over the Pecos
–we became friends with Rogers and Camille Hoyt, would they be still there?
–the Soaring Magazine of July 1991
–our world champions Baer Selen and our Aussie friend Brad Edwards [flies this year too!]
It is still ALL here and more…. and brings back SUPER memories.

Great soaring conditions in the East of Australia [Jondaryan] with a nice 780 km in a Nimbus 4T by Gerrit Kurstjens yesterday. Mind you it is autumn in Australia and days really get shorter.
The weather in Europe, as well as here in Holland is changing, however, from nice warm to pretty cold again; this and more news from last week you can find on www.soaring.eu

Wishing you a Happy Easter time and CU at Easter.

Cheers,
Ritz