We all rigged and got the glider on the grid and just like home, sat there on the grid in the heat while they continued to delay launch again and again. By 2.30 we were in the air and like the previous practice days, the release from tow was the highest altitude I saw all flight. I managed to stay airborne longer than most pilots while trying to come to grips with the glider and the site once again. Nearly everyone landed back at the airfield and only 2 gliders attempted the task but had to turn short of the last turnpoint to avoid landing out on the practice day.
The good news was tomorrow was forecast for the same type of weather only 38° this time! Did I mention the humidity? Again, just like home (Queensland) but a little tougher for the southerners to deal with. The bonus is that while we are feeling the heat, we are coping much better than the Europeans.
After flying was the "come together party" to welcome the pilots and crews the competition. It was a nice evening with some speeches from local people telling about the history of the area. Storms came through late in the evening providing some much needed relief.
The region has been ruled by many different Kings over time including Polish (Prussian), Bohemian (Czech) and Hungary. It was not until after WW1 that this region was included into Germany.
Slovak people moved into this area about 300 years ago and since then the region has survived with two main ethnic groups, the Saxons or Germans, and the Slovaks. The people descended from the Slovaks speak their own Slovak dialect and the area is officially bi-lingual. All of the road signs are written in both German and the local dialect. The local people are proud of their unique cultural heritage and their ability to co-exist together in relative peace. The main cathedral in Bautzen is shared by both Protestant and Catholic churches, with 2 alters and seating areas inside the one building. A result of the mixed heritage of the region and evidence of their acceptance and tolerance.
My crew have disappeared off to visit the German Open Class National Championships this afternoon, so I have been left to my own devices. This resulted in some retail therapy and a visit to the shopping district of Bautzen. If you look here you can find some bargins: I picked up a belt for 7 euro. 5 pairs of socks for 3 euro, and a backpack for 3 euro! Back at home the options are more limited and mostly involve watching the cable TV provided. Don't get too excited, most of it is in German so you don't really know what is going on. German Big Brother is interesting and appears to be very similar to ours, even though I can't understand much at all. The main options are limited to Bloomberg, MTV and CNN (which is surprisingly British as nearly all the reporters and presenters are poms). We have discovered that Stan Grant migrated to CNN, it is weird to see an Aussie on an American Channel shown in Europe. CNN specialize in repeating the main stories again and again approximately every half an hour. Eventually you get sick of the same news and flick to MTV. Tonight is very interesting as there is a special on rich rock stars and the multiple very expensive cars they drive. Most are African-American rappers or similar and ones I have never heard of but they are obviously rich. Some tell you about the specifications and capabilities of the cars, some tell you about the custom leather interior and how many TVs & DVDs there are, and some open the boot to show you the speaker system worth more than the cars we drive at home. Everyone has either a Ferrari or Lamborghini and a mandatory Hummer. No one hides the fact that it is about status and street cred rather than what the car is actually like and how it performs. It is an interesting look at the world.