Riete - Thank You to EPGC Members

Written by Andrew Monday, 18 August 2008 13:31

Rieti is over and done and as with anything of this nature, there are always people who contributed behind the scenes to make something like this possible.

To my fellow EPGC members as well as the members of Soaring Society, thank you for your support and enouragement.  Taking part in a competition on foreign soil can be daunting and intimidating.  Reading your messages and e-mails really made a difference and gave me a bit more motivation for the day.

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To those of you at EPGC who made financial contributions, my gratitude to you too.  As we all know, travelling overseas is a rather expensive exercise for a tourist from South Africa.  It is very much the same for a South African glider pilot taking part in an international competition.  In my opinion your financial assistance made the competition possible for me.

And then someone I have to mention by name, Aldo Basson.  Aldo lent me his ASW20 and equipment on numerous occasions with no strings attached.  He basically said "Here's my plane, fly it in the comps."  Gaining experience on the 20 in terms of competition flying was invaluable.  As with the support and financial assistance, without Aldo's plane, Rieti would have been so much more difficult.

Lastly I would like to thank Janine, for being crew, head doctor and agony auntie.  She always made sure my head was right for the day and acted as a barrier, ensuring that my head was focused on the important things.  Without her the results would have looked a lot worse.

It is always difficult to thank you after an event like this because 'thank you' seems to be a very weak phrase but having my club members behind me made the Rieti experience all the more memorable.

Andrew Bester