Saturday 2000-8-19
    Today's choice of starting ground had to be decided by two teams of organizers which drove simultaneously up to the Pansky Diel and the Baranovo Zadky starting grounds. After waiting for about 15 minutes between the two runways, the loaded motorcade finally set out West and stopped, just like yesterday, at the Baranovo runway. The temperature, noticeably higher than yesterday, forced everyone to quickly build their wings and this time not even the favorites hesitated.



    At the briefing, the event that had been refused yesterday for fear of storms was announced. A flight to the 71 km distant goal by the village of Sumiac below Kralova Hola. " I see the first cumulus!", Jozo Kunik announced victoriously at 6 minutes past noon and pointed somewhere into the haze in the distance. But by then a gusty wind had already started blowing hats off and forcing pilots to keep close to their wings.




    Shortly after 13:00, with the help of several strong men, a jittering Atlas was brought onto the runway, beneath which a Hungarian kick-off pilot, weighing at most 50 kg, fastened himself. Everyone was curious as to what the wind would do with such a daring aviator and his relatively slow wing. And an interesting show it really was. With evident difficulty of keeping his flight direction and tossed by the strong turbulence the pilot after all finally fought his way to the blown side of the southwest rib, where he remained, helplessly hanging in space in the strong headwind, unable to move forward. The guy obviously had nerves of steel because he steadfastly refused the option of turning 180 degrees and landing at the motorest at the edge of Jakub county directly below the runway. After a while he dropped below the level of the rib's edge and disappeared from sight. Most sighed audibly in relief that they at least didn't have to watch it anymore. But for the pilot himself, the show wasn't over. And because over the course of his career he had hung from many a fruit tree, this time he chose, for a change, a large grown walnut tree near Jakub county upon which he safely hung his wing.

    Barely 10 minutes later another hot shot appeared on the runway, this time with relatively better wing from the former workshop of Tomas Suchanek. Surrounded by many onlooking pilots, he fearlessly decided to take off.



    In a strenuous struggle to get over the rib, he demonstrated the same as had the pilot before him with the difference that on the edge of the rib he took such a severe wind beating that he immediately gave up the idea of flying that day, and with an instinct of self-preservation, turned and landed down by the motorest. He landed on the slanting meadow, into a strong headwind, flawlessly and his feat was rewarded with the loud applause of all onlookers.



    "Let's go swimming", some pilots sweaty with the heat and some with fear began to say loudly, while those with weaker consistencies among us, in the interest of self preservation had started to pack up before one-thirty.

    At 13:40 a short briefing was called at which, to the relief of most all pilots, Saturday was declared a non-competing day. The gliding rubbish was quickly loaded onto car roofs and in an hour the meadow on the Baranovo starting ground echoed with emptiness. Only the strong wind swayed the big tree branches at the edge of the forest and blew dry leaves around on the sun-dried grass.




    So nothing changed in the Podbrezova Cup placing or in the overall placing of the Czech Republic Championship.

    The race organizers held an outdoor party with live music and plenty of great food for all pilots on Saturday night.



    Delicious meat roasted on the grill, beer flowed in streams and the goulash was hot and spicy, as if prepared by demons in Hell under the personal supervision of Lucifer himself.




    Delicious meat was realy great !




    The guitar, harmonica and violin played on virtually without stopping and the singing of the pilots echoed over the village of Lopej long past midnight.




    It will certainly be interesting to see if the pilots hurl themselves into flying tomorrow morning with the same vivacity as they did tonight towards the aromatic meat on the grill.