Opening Ceremonies

Balloons were tethered:


Vehicles were prepared:


And Joe Zvada gave the Austrian people what they wanted - an appearance out the side of his cargo van:


Want an Austrialian perspective on the event? Click here or here.

At Last, the Event Starts

Today is the official start to the event. No flying yet, but the master briefing just finished, and the opening ceremonies are coming up in about an hour. Among other things, they gave a brief weather outlook for the next few days. A low pressure system over Italy is bringing a lot of clouds in from the south, and it looks like some rain may develop during the next 24 hours. They weren't explicit, but it sounds like the first couple flights might be questionable. However, there was some indication that after that system passes, things may get better. Also discussed during the master briefing were the specific requirements for a gravity marker drop (GMD) as well as clarification on mid-air collisions and reckless flying. Hopefully the later won't be an issue this week.







Prior to the master briefing we made the short drive up to Pollauberg. There's a beautiful church on the hill with a great view of the valley below. Shawn even managed to find ice cream there.


And for those worried about John Gibbons finding food, here's his first Austrian dinner: chickenfingerwurst and pommes frites.


Not to be outdone, Shawn and Sandy sampled some very tasty pumpkin seed soup.


It sounds like the opening ceremonies will involve each nation driving their retrieve vehicles past the crowd. Once that's finished we need to refuel the balloon. With the competition starting tomorrow, it will probably be a pretty uneventful night.

Today's parting shot: Joe Zvada continues his preparations for the big race:


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Time to call my family...