Hang Gliding Pre Worlds 2013, Annecy, France

Tuesday 8th January 2013
A day for chilling out on the hottest day on record


Waking up to see rain drops on the window and seeing the trees bending considerably in the wind I knew there was a fair chance that the day would be cancelled. Nonetheless, the team gathered at the competition HQ for the briefing but the weather forecast told the story - high winds was going to make launching unsafe, so no task had been set. 

Courtesy of the Guardian

The competition organisers took the opportunity to inform everyone about the fire threat which is now becoming very serious - the extreme heat-wave is causing a plethora of bush fires all over New South Wales, with houses being destroyed and roads being closed. There is a high risk of cars causing fires by driving in to cropped fields or high-stubble fields. We have been warned.
So Team GB had an R&R day. As I am staying in a large family home I invited the team round to the house to relax, get their washing done and catch up on emails, with many logging in to Skype for free video calls back home to family and friend (what a great facility that is). I caught up on the team accounts and it became obvious that we are  ploughing through the Aussie dollars - its very expensive.

Steve took the opportunity to get the truck fixed which had been causing a couple of problems. Trudy suggested that we have a team dinner at the house so a shopping expedition ensued followed by a dip in the local Forbes swimming pool, a 50 metre "lido" type of pool, where we met up with the Dutch and Italian teams. It was the first time that our body temperatures felt as thought they had reduced to somewhere near normal.

Gary and Trudy prepare dinner
 while Grant shows off his latest moves

Early in the evening Trudy, with the help of Gary and Grant, took control of the kitchen and set to work on the team dinner - melon followed by chilli with salad and garlic bread - while the rest of the team relaxed with a drink or two. 

Dave relaxes...

... while the others catch up on the weather.

The Team Dinner
From L-R: Ben, Kathy, Gordon, Dave, Grant, Trudy, Gary, Carl, Steve, Tony

So, a great evening with great food and, unsurprisingly, lots of flying stories and not much chatter about football! A big "Thank You" to Trudy for organising and cooking the meal. Hopefully we can do this again sometime....