Monday 31 December 2012

December 29 to 31, 2012

Saturday, December 29th, the day after Luis and Kilo-Yankee arrived was spent assembling and inspecting the glider, tying it down in our assigned portion of the glider tie-down area (Box No. 16, which we share with Sorin Lingureanu, the Romanian pilot), replacing the variometers (really important instruments for gliding, which help locate the updrafts) with the ones I brought with me from Canada, changing some of the old instrument tubing, getting the glider (and the pilot) officially weighed by Art Grant, and having the parachute repacked, just in case. A lot was accomplished, but the instrument electrical wiring had to be left for the next day.


Sunday morning I started the wiring project and was able to finish everything by about 2 PM. Luis helped with cleaning and polishing the glider, adding tapes and doing everything else that had to be done. We make a great team.


Getting Kilo-Yankee ready for the race

Since Sunday was the first official training day, the organizers handed out task sheets for all three classes. However, since the weather didin’t appear to be very good, I decided to fly locally for a couple of hours and check out if everything is working, plus get some stick and rudder time on the KY under my belt before taking it cross country. As it turned out, this was the right decision. About an hour into the flight, the big 17 AH battery, which I borrowed from Gugui, quit and all my fancy electronic gadgets went blank, including the radio. Since I was just hanging around the airport, this wasn’t much of a problem and I used my cell phone to call Luis and tell him that I was about to land. It’s still not totally clear why the battery quit, but there are several spare ones that I can use, so it should not be a problem in the long run.

Once I got airborne, I was shocked to discover how much standing water there was on the airfield and everywhere around it. The scenery looked a lot like Finland with its 10,000 lakes. Just take a look at the “before and now” photos below. The big puddles on the runways are going to pose some problems for the organizers, trying to safely launch and land 90-odd gliders. Hopefully, the drying trend, that has been forecast, will help alleviate the situation.


Otto Balod airfield in January 2012 (before)

Otto Balod airfield in December 2012 (now)

Sunday night brought another storm, hopefully the last one. I was awaken by the wind and got up at 4 to check on the glider, turn out that Luis did the same an hour earlier. Anyway, everything was okay.


The flying activities for the day were called off by 2 PM because of the strong wind and very soggy runways – a good call. Tonight is a New Year’s Eve party, so getting some added rest before is welcome. There will be an official party in the big tent, but Luis and I will be partying with the Brazilians who will be making their own assado (barbecue) and who knows what else. Have I mentioned that the food in the camp is fantastic, home cocked meals three times a day!!! I can only imagine what the tonight’s supper will be like.

Happy New Year to all the followers of this blog!

December 28, 2012

Last night brought another thunderstorm with high wind, lightning and about 50 mm of rain, which made it a good test for my newly acquired camping equipment. The tent stood up to the elements very well, and I and everything inside, stayed completely dry. I was glad that I bought the sleeping bag, as by morning it was quite chilly, but I had no problems staying warm and comfortable.


Because of the damage to the antenna caused by a thunderstorm a few nights ago, the Internet at the airfield has been out of service, and as you can imagine, this is quite a problem. As Marcel put it, in order to stay alive, you need air, water, Internet and food, in that order. Hopefully, the organizers will be able to fix it later today, so I can email back home and post the blog entries that I have been typing.

Luis had more driving problems, having to do a lengthy detour, and is now expecting to arrive today in the afternoon. I told him not to worry and to take it easy (tranquilo) as we will have a lot of time for preparations and training before the competition officially starts on January 6th. Furthermore, the last night’s rain left a lot of puddles everywhere around the airfield, including both runways, so the organizers weren’t sure if flying today would even be possible.

Tennis anyone? Good for practicing fluidity.
Luis finally made it to the airfield in the afternoon, with everything in one piece. Now, we are in business…
Luis (on the left) unpacking and talking to Hector
Cirrus 75 VTC (KY) after arriving at Chaves

December 27, 2012

After 48 hours travelling, I made it to Adolfo Gonzales Chaves. My trip started when the alarm clock went off at 3:30 am on Christmas day, followed by a quick drive Vancouver to the airport with my mother, who volunteered for the duty. I boarded the 6:30 flight to Houston, Texas, where I had an 8 hour layover before getting on a plane to Buenos Aires. I landed in Buenos Aires at 10:30 AM the following day (5:30 Vancouver time), and then took a taxi to the Lennox hotel in the downtown area, checked in for one night, Skyped home to let them know everything was OK and then took a 30 minute walk down to the main bus station called the Retiro Ombinbus terminal. There I bought a bus ticket for the 11:35 PM bus to Adolfo Gonzales Chaves (Chaves for short) and then walked back to the hotel, stopping in a deli to buy a sandwich. After a shower and a 3 hour snooze, I took a 15 minute taxi ride back to Retiro (I couldn’t have walked down because of the 120 lbs of luggage I was carrying). I also managed to phone Luis, my Argentine crew, who told me that he would be driving from Cordoba to Chaves (a 1000 km trip) the next day with my Standard Cirrus 75 glider (call sign KY, or “Kilo Yankee”) in tow.


The busses are the preferred mode of intercity transportation in Argentina and they are very comfortable. The one I took had luxurious plush seats which recline waaaay back, so I managed to get some sleep during the 6 hour overnight ride to Chaves. I arrived at the Cahves bus station at 5:45 AM, a little earlier than I expected, so I waited till 7:30 and then sent a text message to Marcel, the Brazilian team captain, to see if he could come pick me up. Since I didn’t get a reply (It turned out that Marcel was still in bed), I arranged for a 10 minute ride to the airfield in a local unmarked taxi, which didn’t even have the license plates, let alone a “taxi” sign.

At the airfield everything looked pretty wet, as the night before they had a thunderstorm with high winds and lots of rain. The first order of business was to locate the Brazilian camp and figure out if I can stay with them, as previously agreed. A bit of background information is due here: I meet Gugui, Marcel and the Brazilian team a year ago during the pre-world’s competition in Chaves. Then, past September I spent a week flying with them in Bahia (I wrote an article about that experience for Free Flight – the Canadian gliding magazine). While in Bahia, Gugui invited me to stay with them in the Brazilian camp during the World’s, which I gladly accepted.

I had no trouble locating the Brazilian camp and was cordially welcomed in. I felt at home right away, exactly like I felt when I stayed with them in Bahia.

The Brazilians had a couple of extra tents, which I was welcome to use. However, the tents were rather small, considering they had to accommodate me plus all the luggage and gliding equipment I had brought with me. Instead, we decided to check out the local stores and see if I could get a bigger tent. Gugui and his wife Carol took me to Chaves, and after about an hour of local shopping, we came back with a nice big new tent, a pillow, a sleeping bag and a towel. Carol gave me a good mattress with a blanket and a set of bed linen and Marcel helped me erect the tent, so by 1 PM I was fully set up in my own loggings.

Next, we had lunch, prepared by Gugui’s wife and mother-in-law. As I discovered during my visit to Bahia, I really enjoy the Brazilian cuisine and love the Brazilian coffee. Judging by the lunch and supper on the first day in Cahves camp, it looks like I will become even more spoiled over the next three weeks.

The large Brazilian team of about a dozen people is very well organized, equipped and well connected with the locals, so all of the logistics are taken care of and everything runs smoothly and with the least amount of fuss possible.

I also bumped into a number of people from Argentina and elsewhere around the world, whom I met last year during the Pre-World’s. It’s a wonderful feeling to meet and greet people who share with me the same passion for gliding. I had a couple of beers with Art, the other Canadian here, who’s official duty is doing the scrutineering of the all the gliders competing in the Championships, i.e., checking that they comply with all the rules and regulations, and most notably the official weight limits.

During the day, the weather was quite nice, with the temperature in low to mid twenties and some very nice looking Cumulus clouds in the sky. Several pilots, including Gugui, took advantage of it to do some practice flying.

In the evening I phoned Luis to check in on his progress. It turned out that he had some trouble on the road, so he was expecting to make it to Chaves by 8 AM the next day.
Brazilian (and Serbian) Camp

Welcome

This is a blog of the Serbian Gliding Team, taking part in the 32nd FAI World Gliding Championship in World, Club and Standard classes. The competition is hosted by the Otto Balod gliding club at their airfield just outside of Adolfo Gonzales Chaves in Buenos Aires province, Argentina. Yours truly be flying in the Club class representing Serbia, my “old county”. Being the only Serbian present here, I am also doubling up as a Serbian team captain.


Most of the entries will be in English, so that my wife and family in Canada can follow, but from time to time I may add a few in Serbian.

The first few entries will be back dated because I didn’t get around to setting up the blog until today, the New Year’s Eve.


If you post comments I will do my best to reply, but time is generally in short supply during the competition like this one.