Preparation day - tomorrow we start!

Today it was probably the hottest day I ever experienced in Forbes - the car temp showed 49 C in the shade! I decided to stay in the air conditioned house, have a rest and prepare my food for the next 11 days. A lot of wind is in the forecast for some days, which means we might go just one way really far and have long retrieves back to Forbes. Last year we were back after 1am on some days and had to start early again the next morning!
The food you find in the pubs in the villages on the way home are, well, not very nourishing for a pilot flying long hours. French fries, burgers or sandwiches. If you are lucky and they are still open... so I cooked loads of nice food, put it into daily porions and into the freezer, so I can just send my food to goal every day and eat it on the way back - another motivation to get to goal!
The opening ceremony last night was really nice, set in Forbes Park where Guido Gehrmann zoomed in when he won the World Championships here in 1998. Don´t know how he did it, the oval looked not too big, but he has always been a flying wizard - I so wish he could be here flying with us, and many of the other competing pilots told me they would have liked to see Guido here as well!
I was very touched when Joy Russell welcomed us pilots in the local Aboriginal language called Wiradjuri. I often landed in beautiful, remote places that made me wonder about the history of the country.
Tonight I invited the team over for a tasty, energizing dinner. It is great to be part of this crew of extraordinary pilots - Roland Wöhrle, Jörg Bajewski, Gerd Dönhuber, Christian Zehetmair and Lukas Bader. Olli Barthelmes and Regina Glas are doing a great job supporting us in every way possible. So is our volunteer Tobi Bauer - I already wondered if he regrets having spent his valuable vacation time for a trip to the hot hell of Forbes... it will be the toughest World Championships ever, strenuous, exhausting and challenging all our skills. Some of the best pilots of the world are out here to compete - stay tuned and we will report about the coming days!