Our first day of flying!

It was a slow start for our first practice day but considering all the travel & just getting used to everything this was OK. We all met at the Hotel's buffet breakfast and decided on which field to head towards. We wanted one that is not crowded as this can make the breaks between flights quite long making the day even longer. We decided to head south to a field near San Lorenzo. As this is 120km from Santa Fe and only a short distance from Rosario the girls decided they would follow along and take a tour of while the guys flew.


Heading south.





The girls follow us down the highway towards Rosario.



We headed out in a three car convoy and after a bit of searching for the correct exit, we found the field occupied by only fellow team members Dezso Vaghy and Xavier Moureux.

We unloaded and prepped the planes for the practice session. We had only brought our primary planes so we started putting in rounds one after the other. We are on our team frequency of Channel 30 which means nothing to anyone here.. it's 72.390.





We met Joe (the owner of the "campo" field) and his family and managed, through his wife's broken English, to explain who we were and what we were doing. They were very happy to have us visit and wondered if other teams would be arriving? That we did not know. We had the place to ourselves so we managed 7 rounds each.


The girls hooked up with Rosemary Ells and, along with Brian Northeast they headed into Rosario to check out the sights while we flew.

The winds were blowing out so we worked hard to maintain distance throughout the day. It was nice to finally fly and get some practice as this is probably what we will expect at the "Official" site. I let Mark take the sticks on my last flight.. hey he came all this way to helps so i thought it appropriate for him to get the chance. He had fun.

We headed back to Santa Fe and went for a late dinner. The lifestyle here leads to this as everyone goes out after 9 at night. The restaurants start to fill and it gets busy. Tonight it was the legendary beef that we wanted and after getting some tips from the Canadian interpreter Nick, we found a very good place down near the main part of town.


Mark finally got his steak!



The food was great and everyone was pretty tired as we headed back to the hotel. It was a late night and not really what I had expected.... hey I need some sleep! We made the next days departure arrangements and headed for bed.

Update later today.

Sorry folks, really busy this Wednesday. I'll update and bring everyone up to speed later on Tuesday. Connectivity is an issue on our floor so I have to head to the lobby to blog... bit of a pain. :-)

We made it!

Sorry for the delay in updates but we have had sporadic connection issues with our wireless system..... and we have been very busy! Lets bring you up to date shall we......

We arrived at the hotel just before midnight after a 6 hour, 450 km drive from Buenos Aires. Although it was rush hour (and after a short 10 minute detour when we got off track slightly) we managed to hit Hwy 9 north to Rosario and on to Hwy 11 to Santa Fe. The drive up was uneventful other than a stop for fuel and the numerous toll booths along the way. The topography is much like Alberta in summer, flat with lots of green fields and the highway is populated with many hundreds of heavy transport trucks... like the I-5 in Washington State only more trucks. Tourists are easily recognized as they are the only one's using turn signals for lane changes :-)

We awoke about 9 a.m. local and after showering etc, we headed down for breakfast in the hotel and a short walk around the area. A general plan was made to have the guys start assembling planes and the gals to get some pesos and.. well go shopping! The place closes down between noon and 4 p.m. for siesta so this helps save me some money:-) I was pretty bagged from the travel so I opted to not fly today.. just get prepped and ready for practice Wednesday.

Mark and I got the planes put together and then we followed Chad's lead and headed to the store and then on to Parana (to the east) to check out the practice field. After stopping for supplies (chairs, cooler, water etc.) at the local Walmart. We continued the drive out and easily found the practice site. We met up with D-7 's Adrian Wong and the rest of the Hong Kong contingent. The Chilean team was also there practicing.

Adrian mentioned several teams having both shipment and transportation issues. USA had planes stuck in customs for two days.. others with packages still in customs!.. and I am told it apparently took the South African team 12 hours to get from Buenos Aires to Santa Fe... ouch!

We stayed for a half hour or so to watch some flying then headed back to the hotel to prepare the van for transporting the planes. Once assembled the planes take up almost all the van's interior.... this one's anyway! Much work was needed.

Driving here is not, shall we say as "controlled" as in North America... it's more like a race to the finish line. Some are determined to win and other are just happy to finish the race! Every style of vehicle is here... new BMW's to 1950's relic's sporting original paint on their crushed fenders. Pedestrians have no rights and the four way stops..well any stops for that matter, have yet to find there way into the mindset of the locals. There are Stop signs but those appear to be "for display only" :-) As much as the driving seams like semi-organized chaos to us, we have not observed any accidents to speak off.

We had grabbed some cardboard boxes and tape at Walmart and Mark and I started to dream up some stands for the two planes to fit into. After about an hour & a half we had the van prepped and ready. Mark had a local reporter stop and take some pictures and a short interview. We hope to see his mug on the front page tomorrow morning!

We "accidentally" crashed the organized meal for the competitors after being told this is where dinner was served (?). We were all so hungry we put up little resistance and settled with the organizers after we finished the nice buffet... so no "free" meal :-).

After dinner we met up with Harry & Rosemary Ells and Brian & Chad Northeast in another dinning area. We had a short visit and got caught up on our adventures to date. We'll met for breakfast in the a.m. to organize our practice day.

In bed early as we try and catch up on lost sleep we suffered in the past few days. Mark has some additional pictures he will post once he gets up. Please ignore his comments on my tumble into the fountain... it never happened! Ok.. well maybe my hand might have gotten a little wet.... no 2-1/2 gainer though :-)

Well We Know They Left Victoria

When traveling by air there is always the concern if the airplanes are with you. Here they are being loaded out of Victoria. We are now sitting in T.O. and hope the transfer goes smoothly

In Toronto

Here is a picture Robyn took of us at check in in YYJ. After a brief stop in Vancouver (and lunch) we arrived in Toronto to little fanfare... obviously the fans were too tired after sending Chad & the gang off on the 2nd :-) We decided to snack at the YYZ airport before loading onto the flight to Santiago, Chile. The flight is some 10 plus hours long and we hope to sleep the majority of the way down. Once we arrive in Santiago we will deplane for a while as the plane is "groomed" (this is "nice" speak for getting the lavs dumped and the plane cleaned up before departing to EZE)

We are awaiting a post from Chad on his blog to see how the rest of the team is making out. FYI Chad's Blog is at http://chadnortheast.blogspot.com/

Another "Twist" Perspective

Hi Everyone,

Since Dave will be putting in a lot of time in flying and I will have some downtime between hauling luggage, charging his batteries....yeah right!!!!, I have offered to add my perspective to the trip.

It's getting close now so I'll have to think about packing on Saturday night after our indoor Foamie session. Should be easy....don't take anything warm as it's almost summer in Argentina so it looks like shorts and T-shirts are on the agenda. Now where did I put my sandals??

Adding a new "Twist" to this Blog

I will be enlisting the assisitance of my fellow flyer, friend and caller/helper Mark Byrne to author some content on this blog. Mark is Duralite Flight Systems tech guy and Canadian F3A Team Alternate. He will share his thoughts and perspective on this page when he's not polishing the planes, charging my batteries and other general duties I'll have him do throughout the trip :-). Look for input shortly :-)

I am busy at work until late Saturday and then we will all head out Sunday afternoon through Toronto and Santiago, Chile to Buenos Aires. Hotel arrival is sometime Monday night in Santa Fe, AR.