You know, this has alot to do with how things run over here (I should say there, as I am in Norway for the moment
).
In Nederland, we had (and they still have) +20 competitors at 5 or 6 TP's per year. We also attended at least 2 in Germany with more than 30 pilots, and 2 in Belgium with the same turn out. Show these numbers to the sponsors, tell them that folks come for the weekend, and they are genuinely interested in throwing in some dough. And at the beach comps, they are really packed with spectators as well. Given that we can drive less than 3 hours for nearly all these competitions (some are as far as 6 hours) between Germany, Belgium, and Nederland, it's easy to see why we have it easier over here. (I used to drive 5 hours for a weekend home from University back in the day between Chicago and northern WI
)
You guys are separated by a whole continent, with some are as far apart as Seattle and Florida
!! That's the equivalent of a dutch person driving to Greece, or worse...Istanbul.
What would be great is to find a way to select the best from the USA, and then raise the dough to fly over to Nederland. We could organize a America/NL/GE/BE tricks party next year if you give us the date. Given enough warning, and there is a good chance that Debray and Mayet would come as well.
Just a thought or two.
obi
