Skywalker Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 To celebrate my birthday, I decided to bring my family in France, Cote d'Azur, Nice, where it was scheduled a 2-days Level III IPSC handgun match. I was determined to have a Nice weekend! Travelled on Friday, with a warm sunny weather greeting our crossing of the border, "and I said to myself ... what a wonderful world..." literally. Forum member Jerome took care of checking for me the road to the range and then gave me a call with all the right directions. I must admit I'm not particularly fond of "nouvelle cuisine", but there are several french dishes that suit my taste particularly well: one of these is renowned "Tartare", a dish of raw mincemeat blended with spices. It was a great dinner with teammates, sprinkled with red french wine. I woke up on saturday, ready for the match start and well determined to shoot ... for fun! My last matches were really to be trashed, thus I decided to slow down and admire the panorama while shooting, without expecting anything else than having all my hits on the targets. Being in the sunny country, I didn't event slightly think to bring with me waterproof clothes or even an umbrella! Well, after the initial sun/clouds ballet, heavy clouds prevailed, and at about luch time it started snowing! Really! After an hour we had the whole grounds covered with a white layer and the thunderstom began, with lots of lightnings. The whole thing went on until 5 p.m when we left the range. One of the match organizers told me he had been shooting there every weekend for 17 years, and this was actually the third time he saw snow! Maybe this was France's way to greet my birthday... I must say the organizers handled it perfectly, since the match went on according to the scheduled time, apart for a couple of stages that were postponed for the last squad to the following day, due to slippery grounds. A very professional and perfect organization. Of course, to attend the second day of the match I needed a real good source of energy, thus I arranged dinner with a bunch of friends and teammates in Antibes, to eat oysters and other raw seafood, this time with a good flow of white french wine. Needless to say, the day after I was perfectly fit for the match, and shot quite good too. During my stay on the range I had the chance to meet two great gentlemen (and from now on good friends) I previously had only wrote to, forum members Jerome Poiret and Julien Boit (boy is that young gun fast! . I proved wrong in thinking France had been blessed by Grauffel's talent alone): I eagerly look forward to meet them again, as well as all the other cool people hangin' here around! All in all, the match that started as a fun shooting ended up with me in 9th place overall, which is actually the best score I've ever scored, and in a level III match too! The Standard division was regulated by Julien, who beat up the actual european modified division champion and 3rd classified at recent world shoot XIII in the same division Edoardo Buticchi, shooting standard this year, while Jerome had some serious problems with his gun, and eventually had to give up due to chronical malfunctioning. Definitely the best birthday celebration I had in the last 10+ years (or, as someone else suggested, the best time I could have had with my clothes on...)! I will be posting pictures soon as I get my film developed and printed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A33435 Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 Julien Boit (boy is that young gun fast! . I Hello Luca i sounds you had a more than great time overthere. And France had some nice cold and windy birthday presents for you too Congrets with your birthday from the netherlands! In a few weeks forummember Spook and myself will leave for Vienna and try to kick some ass overthere. Last year i had a good time overthere and it was nice to meet you. Hope to see you in one of the following editions of that match. And remember : the older you get the faster you looked I hope we see Julien getting very old! Greetings Adrie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skywalker Posted March 2, 2004 Author Share Posted March 2, 2004 Hi Adrie, thanks for greetings. I do believe if your shooting has been steady from last year's performance in Vienna, you'll definitely kick ass, while I have no doubt at all about Spook's possibilities, from what I have read here on the forums. I'll be in Cheval-Blanc for the Med-Cup in may: will you attend that match too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A33435 Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 Thanks for the faith in the performance of Spook and myself. One of the things i am trying to improve is to be steady during the whole shooting season. (hoping a peak towards the end of august ) Last year i a was a bit over my peak during Czech Nationals and Czech Euro open. This year i try to avoid that be a good choose of the matches to attend. Considering data, traveltime, competition matches in the Netherlands and family matters unfortunately i had to make another choose for the match in Cheval-Blanc. Thusfar i am registred for the following level III matches 27 march Vienna Austria 7 mai Lauf Germany (Ironhands) 6 june Sprimont Belgium (Euregio) 26 june Oparany Czech Nationals So i wil not be at the Med-Cup but i am sure we can meet again somewhere somehow in the future. Greetings Adrie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julien Boit Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 Skywalker : Bring all your gear for the MedCup. Last year we had an Horrible rainy first morning . Then the rain stopped so we were drying in the mud. Then the next two days were bloody hot and we fought with wind dusting everything on its way. But this time we wont have snow (I hope ) See you there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skywalker Posted March 2, 2004 Author Share Posted March 2, 2004 Bring all your gear for the MedCup.Last year we had an Horrible rainy first morning . I'm still wondering: is it possible IPSC matches degrade to such a level the wonderful weather of south France? Have you ever taken into account the possibility of having the range blessed by a Roman Cardinal? An exorcism perhaps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julien Boit Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 We are currently in the process to invite Voodoo priests But you can bring your own chicken to sacrifice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
short_round Posted March 3, 2004 Share Posted March 3, 2004 First, Happy Birthday! I needed a real good source of energy, thus I arranged dinner with a bunch of friends and teammates in Antibes, to eat oysters and other raw seafood, this time with a good flow of white french wine. Wow, you guys really know how to train. That's a much better menu than power bars and gatorade. I want to hang out with you guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skywalker Posted March 3, 2004 Author Share Posted March 3, 2004 Thanks, SR. You're welcome whenever you'll decide to show up! Be aware that my teammates are equally interested in shooting and eating well, so be at least prepared for the second part...(we don't shoot as well as we eat, thus you can skip the shooting part) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skywalker Posted March 6, 2004 Author Share Posted March 6, 2004 OK, I still have to develop my films, but for those of you who don't believe snow can make its way into the (formerly known as the) sun house, actually Nice, cote d'azur, here you can get a pretty decent idea of what happened on saturday afternoon. Courtesy of Club de Tir de Cadres Militaires de Reserve, Nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skywalker Posted March 6, 2004 Author Share Posted March 6, 2004 Oh, I almost forgot: the pictures won't tell you about the thunders and lightnings... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmitz Posted March 7, 2004 Share Posted March 7, 2004 Short Round, Le Cote d'Azur c'est fantastique! I never went there to shoot a match, but I went there on holidays! Menton (F) to be precise! Enjoying the beach and the roads, driving up Col du Tende with my 1966 Porsche. Went up to Ventemille (I) for a lovely dinner at the seaside, perfect! According to your interests, les mademoiselles (read girls) incredible Skywalker is married so he turns his attention to food DVC, go there and enjoy, Henny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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