Sunday, March 17, 2013

The season has started

Congratulations to Tim, Skip, Andy, and Greg for getting the 2013 season off the ground today!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Be careful what you wish for

I just got home from the Netherlands and the annual meeting of the International Gliding Commission (IGC). Delegates representing 35 countries made a bunch of decisions before adjourning to the local gliding club for dinner.

One of our decisions was to elect Eric Mozer as President, the first American to be elected since Bill Ivans in 1976.  Here's a picture of Eric (on the right) talking with one of our Dutch hosts.


It's a big clubhouse, as you can tell by the 16.4 meter span glider mounted on the ceiling.  It's a "Sohaj," the Czech-built version of the one-design glider that was scheduled to be used in the 1940 Olympics. The Olympics were cancelled that year, alas.

The glider on the ceiling is completely intact, which meant that it had to be mounted upside down to make room for the tail.  But that made the whole thing more interesting.

The only person in the room who had ever flown one was Jiří Cihlář, the Delegate from the Czech Republic. Jiří told us about the nice handling characteristics of the Sohaj and how much he wished he could fly one again.

After a few more rounds of beer, he got his wish.