scott.projectsomewhere

We didn’t go sailing today, despite it being warm, sunny and a
great prospect for the Ora.

Instead we climbed up the hill to see the old castle at Arco. Arco
sits at the top of the triangle that is Riva-Torbole-Arco. Not a
bad view from the top as the photos suggest.

There was apparently an art-exhibition of sorts at the castle.
Something to do with clouds. Interesting, but I thought the works
were more representative of floating condoms… hmmm…

Dave came home yesterday and started bouncing off the walls with
excitement after almost winning (aka losing) the “Mr Instituto”
contest at school.

Basically no teachers turned up at his school yesterday for some
unknown reason… so one of the things the senior kids decided to
organise was a glorified meat market… also known as Mr & Mrs
Instituto.

Dave was selected for the contest - his ego really didn’t need
that. Then makes it to the final two. The winner was undeserving
apparently… voted in through sympathy so we’re told…

Anyway, lucky for Dave he managed to get the number of one of the
finalists in the Mrs Instituto contest… to add to the growing
collection…

Fun times.

After much deliberation (not on my part of course), we’ve been
given the green light to go to Denmark and Finland.

So we’re flying to Copenhagen, being taken to Kerteminde, camping
for the regatta (cold!), driving to Stockholm, catching the ferry
to Helsinki, staying for a week or so, then flying back to Italy.
Organisation I tell you!

The Finnish are so keen to have us there, they’ve been ringing the
Hitachi (our faux sponsor) distributor in Finland for sponsorship
on our behalf… wow.

Yep, I’ve finally got around to disconnecting one of the net
terminals in the club and plugging my machine in… but shhh…
don’t tell anyone
There’s now a bunch of photos available… with plenty more I could
upload.

Tina & Dan visited for the weekend, plenty of shopping, gelato
and stuff like that. Now I’ve got to find some time to go and visit
Amsterdam.

The gossip network has been saying that 2002 World Champion John
Winning will be making a comeback for the 2004 Worlds in
Switzerland! With Yngling World Champ foreward-hand Sam Newton on
the front. Word is that they’ve started training already!
It will be interesting to see how they go considering they’ve
got loads of talent and experience, but are a fair way over optimum
weight. With the combined budget of a team with that much $,
there’s not much they couldn’t do!
Anyways… the Ora has made a comeback today, and it looks as
though we’ll be able to get the c’board in and out… so we might
get a good bit of training in. After Dave does his Maths test of
course - muhahaha.
In other news, Nathan has done pretty well in the
Laser Radial Youth Worlds. Taking out second place it seems at
the end of the series. Not bad considering he killed the Youth rep
in the class (not even sure where that guy finished).
Also, our Italian 49er buddies from the Fraglia are competing in the 49er
Worlds in Athens at the moment. At last check they’re coming
63rd, so I’m not sure if they made Silver or Bronze fleet. Looks
like Nicho is getting back to some form… though a fair way to go
to catch up to Iker and friends from Spain!
Our calendar for the next few months is coming together very
well, with a regatta in Kerteminde (Denmark) at the end of may,
followed by two weeks of training in Denmark and Finland. Hopefully the plans get the OK
from Dave’s mum…

Argh… last time I needed a day off, and now I want to go
sailing again! 4 days off in a row!
Well its raining, cold and no wind today. We’ve spent plenty of
time working on the boat - so much so that the centre-board no
longer fits in the case - there’s still a bit more work to be
done.
I think I’ve blown another $25 Euro on my wireless internet
habit… ouch. Does anyone know a good phone plan with cheap-as
GPRS?
Tina & Dan arrive on Saturday, so hopefully the weather is a
bit more cooperative. Sorry - not much interesting to say