It is a beautiful world again.

Back from a great holiday. We had a fantastic time in Dubai mainly thanks to Susie, Chris and Tracy. Dubai is very interesting and hard to explain and understand without going there. Even once you have been there, a lot of it does not make any sense. It is a strange mix of shopping malls, fundamental Arabic attitudes to behaviour, a truly multi cultural society with social divides along cultural lines. It is also a great example of how effective a government can be without the burden of pretend democracy. The rate of development there is amazing, and I would like to understand more about it.

We went to Sri Lanka and went diving which is a strange mix of calming yourself as a way of dealing with the panic you feel. It was great and very strange. Sri Lanka is a very beautiful war zone where any minute you could be dead, but luckily we survived two road trips from the airport to the hotel and back, although the laws of physics and road safety would predict otherewise.



I met up with the Dubai Moth Fleet at the DOSC and I got what I think is my first ever Moth sail in swimming trunks. It was great to visit the site of the worlds that will be run in a years time and to see such a healthy fleet of moths at a club. However after 2 mins in Chris's boat I realized that no sport in 6 months has taken its tole and I need to get fit now.




Back to reality

Fitness training started with a mid week touch session now that it is just about warm enough to play without ice skates. This made me realize just how lazy I have been this winter.

All the plans to sort out loads of Moth gear for next season have turned into a rush to get Flashheat on the water ASAP. I did have all weekend to do this until I fell out of bed and spent a day not moving and thinking that I should also have got the stairs up to the high bed built so I can get rid of the wobbly ladder.



Still at least I got some lipstick on the pig on Sunday.



I guess I had such a busy winter last year that I have been resting on my lorels (or arse) this winter. Time to get back up to racing speed.

This week I went to a lawyer fee fund raiser for a guy who got the shit kicked out of him for being black. He knows who attacked him but unfortunately they are part of an organization that protects their own and see it more as an unfortunate mistake as a case of kick the shit out of who ever you like because it is fun. Anyway that is the Austrian police for you. So if you are a person that would like to keep a child in your cellar and rape them for a number of years then come to Austria because the police have better things to worry about like kicking the shit out of black people in the middle of the day in and underground station. Maybe this guy is making up a story but unfortunately there is no video camera evidence or eye witnesses to prove otherwise. So the police guys are not able to protect themselves against his claims, or come up with a remotely realistic version of events. So with help this guy will take them to court and loose, because apparently no one has ever successfully sued the Austrian police. "One of" I hear you say, but no. This guy teaches at a school where the rich and powerful kids of Austria go, so it has become an issue, like the other black guy that worked for the UN and showed them his UN ID so that they could say it is a fake and continue to kick the shit out of him.

I am a bit depressed at this point.

Then came the great paper from Bill! What a great bit of work that I am still trying to understand. Makes my paper on Moth design look like kindergarten stuff.

The facking vidio from Dave, has got Niki all excited. We got to get out there (on the unusually deep puddle) and try to do that shit.

I get a facebook message for a guy asking about a Moth in the middle of the biggest shopping street in Vienna. He clearly is on drugs but it makes a nice change from the usual SPAM. So he sends me a this picture and Niki went there today. Holy fuck there is a fucking Moth in the fucking middle of Maria fucking hilfe fucking Strasse.




Interest in the Moth here is building and there are boats here I do not even know about. So it looks very realistic that we could really get a fleet (like the fleet I was jealous of in Dubai) going here which is my hope for 2009.

Then Anja posts a video from Grada.



It is a beautiful world again.

Goodbye Snow Hello Sun.

There has been a fair bit of snow in Austria this year. Here is a picture taken a month ago while snowboarding of a hotelier digging his hotel out of the snow.



Kati and I are off backpacking to Dubai and then Sri Lanka so we are in for a bit of a climate change. I hope to catch up with the Moth fleet in Dubai. Unfortunately I will be a bit late for the Dubai GP but getting to the start line on time was never one of my strengths.