'Standa Lahvinka!!!' a double shout is heard from the car, which is hardly decelerating with a loud brake squeal beside a side ditch in a turning now. I quickly zip my trousers after a forced break somewhere near a forest close to Zamberk town and I don't want to believe in my own eyes. Manci and Bukac! Native Martin Vavra celebrates his birthday today (a little bit more than 30) and a birthday of Jakub Eifler is almost every day. The polite invitation to join in a great celebration at "Manci-haus" simply can't be refused. However a brilliant plan to arrive to Krkonose mountains this evening is frustrated by that. I turn my car back on the narrow road and after several kilometers of following white Volkswagen Caravelle which widely cruises a hilly country and tries to find an acceptable place for getting out a hitch-hiker we finally draw up in Horni Tresnovec village in front of Manci's house on the top of which new roof a wind sleeve has upset beside a completely new chimney-stalk.

    'Masarka will drink it up,' Manci laments holding one of his birthday presents - a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon wine from Karel Hubl while Milan Masarik alias Masarka has been drinking a beer for the time being. The spicy steaks roasted by Bukac are so delicious that arriving pilot Petr Dvorak impatiently takes the second portion totaly raw before roasting.

    'Well, I won't probably go there again,' Karel Charlie Vejchodsky finishes his attractive tale about flying in Kazakhstan and as I can see on faces of the others nobody will leave for Krkonose mountains tomorrow morning. Maybe two persons will but one of them will have to be me.




Saturday 17.7.04
    The first day of the competition in Krkonose mountains is very nice weather, the same as was in the last year. And Yellow Point company in which office in a centre of Spindleruv Mlyn a pilots registration has been proceeding from this morning holds the competiton as well. Nobody waits for any latecomers and more than 30 registrated competitors go up to Medvedin hill by cable railway at 10:30 already. The competition director Ota Cerny declares 36km long task shortly before noon. The task spans four turning points - Vrbatova bouda, Plan, Strazne and Cerny dul. The goal of this task is located in Svaty Petr village.

    Sadly there are too many clouds overhead at the moment of a task window opening and there is no possibility to hold up in a light wind above a slope. Team leader Martin Sliva commands his young and hopeful boys to take off after half an hour waiting and the group of six pilots headed by theirs coach reach for a cloud base above Medvedin hill ten minutes later roughly and they fly away then. A next group takes off shortly before 1 p.m. and Mirek "Radar" Stehula with an outspread carabine lands back on the taking off point about ten minutes later. Two calibrated blows with a heavy stone, screw up a safety lock and up to the air again.

    Radomir Vyhlas is for change landing next ten minutes later because he needs to change totally discharged battery in his GPS device. At the same time Martina Pospisilova at the head of a small group of unsuccessful pilots is comming again to the taking off area and Michal Orolin with Stefan Bendik go up by cable railway roughly half an hour later. Both Slovak pilots came today to compete with Czech competitors only for pleasure and their first attempt wasn't successful.

    Cloud base height varies only between 1800 and 1900 meters above the sea level initially and the second turning point becomes a touchstone for everyone. A group of 14 pilots has to land on the way to this point or very close to it. There are only nine pilots in the air behind the third turning point and purely five competitors fly over the fourth turning point towards a goal of today's discipline.

    Eventually Jan Kupka and only two minutes late David Ohlidal have reached a goal of today's task in the best time. Their wait-and-see policy evidently came right. Ludek Prochazka reached the goal twenty minutes later and Peter Vrabec arrived one hour later. Unfortunately Ales Trtil, the last from this group of five, didn't succeded in reaching the goal. He had to land eight kilometers before it.

    Tonight's lodgings are offhand because usual Penzion Kukacka will be available for competitors until tomorrow. Regarding to a high possibility of tomorrow's thunderstorms a morning briefing will already be held in Yellow Point office at 9 a.m. and a departure to Cerna hora hill seems to be suspected.