Official stuff, preparing for the Euros

After having arrived and settled in late last night, we started with a team meeting this morning to get each others new Spanish phone numbers, talk about the "must do´s" like mandatory safety briefing tomorrow at noon and opening ceremony at 6.30. I went ober to register today and didn´t see many pilots there - so far only 98 have entered the comp, I thought we would be 150 on the mountain...
After the official CIVL document check and gps downloads, I went to the big white tent to have my glider measured. More pilots over there, the full Dutch team, some Swiss pilots and some British guys were waiting in line. And the line wasn´t moving too rapidly, as they had to adjust quite a few times.
When Thomas Pelicci called me for the pitch measurement, he finished in record time - nothing had been changed since the measurements of the worlds where Gerolf Heinrichs and Oli Barthelmes had helped me to find the right settings. I was pleased that it worked out and was approved in a few minutes, as the glider flies beautifully with these settings!
Our new "HandiRack" passed the first stress test and found many admirers - sure we are travelling to other continents where we often have to get a rental car and the problem of not being able to attach a glider rack. With these very light, strong and inflatable racks, you can fit them on the smallest car and they carry up to 80 kg, plenty for even two gliders! Jörg had found this great invention when we flew the worlds in Texas, and this time it saved me a 20 hour drive in my own car down to Spain.
It was good to see Shedsy (UK) up and running with not too many bruises - one of his side wires had snapped a few days ago when he was approaching goal, and he had to release the reserve. Since his a-frame had folded around him, he said it was not easy to reach the reserve chute at first. Lucky that he is strong and got it out in time to have a comparably "smooth" landing. He found a glider to borrow and will be back in the air for the Euros!
Primoz Gricar (SLO) was first in goal today and won the Spanish Nationals, congratulations!