Postcard from WSXIII

[Vince Pinto]

Sunday 8 September: The advance party from the Philippines, lead by PPSA Secretary Myro Lopez and which included IROA Range Masters Vin Lava and Chepit Dulay (who are both working WSXIII as CROs), arrived at Hong Kong airport at 1930hrs. As previously arranged, I met them in the arrivals hall and helped them clear their guns with Customs.

After an hour of shuffling papers and swearing we were not terrorists (despite appearances to the contrary), we all adjourned to Starbucks (and the adjoining smoking lounge), to await the arrival of IPSC Japan Regional Director Kazuharu Kudo, who eventually joined us at 2100hrs.

After an espresso macchiato or six (and way too many cigarettes and war stories), we did a bit of duty free shopping. At 1030hrs, we proceeded to departure gate 60 to catch our 2330hrs Cathay Pacific flight to Jo'burg.

When we arrived there, we were pleasantly suprised to stumble across the 20 member delegation from IPSC Indonesia, lead by our old mate and Regional Director Bambang Trihatmodjo, who were waiting in the departure lounge. More war stories and more laughter ensued.

When boarding time passed without an announcement, we suspected there was a problem due to our arsenal of guns, however it turned out that they simply couldn't kick-start our Airbus, so we had to transfer gate 7 and another Airbus, which took us 90 minutes. We didn't depart Hong Kong until 0130hrs Monday morning.

Monday 9 September: After a tiring 13 hour flight, we finally arrived at Johannesburg Airport and spent the next 90 minutes clearing Immigration, getting our baggage and clearing our guns. After another hour or so sorting out our car rentals, we started our 3 hour drive to Pietersburg.

Yours truly was in the lead car and it was a uneventful drive, except when we went through a speed trap and a brave lady from South Africa's finest leaped out into the middle of the road to stop Myro (in the second car) for speeding. She claimed Myro was guilty of the serious offence of doing 125km/h in a 120km/h zone !! Anyway, after pleading insanity and an urgent call of nature, the nice Police lady let Myro off with a warning, and we continued on our journey.

Half way to Pietersburg, we stopped at a Shell station for a quick drink and a restroom break, when we ran into IROA Range Master Juergen Tegge and his mate (whose name escapes me) from Germany, who had the same idea 10 minutes earlier.

After arriving at our hotel, we checked in, dumped our bags in our rooms, then proceeded to the range, which is a 30 minute (at 120km/h) drive away.

At the range, we caught up with the usual IPSC stalwarts including Match Director Johnny Gidenhuys, Range Master Greg Moon and various other hard-working officials who, despite looking worse for wear, all managed a smile and a friendly "Howdy".

After a brief tour of the range, which still required some work, we decided to return to the hotel to unpack and see who else had arrived. It didn't take me long to find IPSC President Nick Alexakos, IROA President Dino Evangelinos, STI President Dave Skinner, IPSC Belgium RD Yvan Vogels, IPSC Switerland RD Milan Stojanovic, IPSC Greece RD Dimitri Tzimas and numerous other characters who make up the wonderful world of IPSC.

That evening, we all had dinner together at the "Cock 'n' Bull", hosted by the IPSC President, who single-handedly managed to devour a 1 kilo T-bone steak, a slab of ribs, a huge side salad and 8 scoops of Haagen-Daaz ice cream. You had to be there to believe it.

Tuesday 10 September: We had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel (0700hrs to 1130hrs!) then we all went to the range to "kick the tyres" which, thankfully, didn't fall off.

As expected, we found many more old friends including IPSC Canada RD Sean Hansen and his dad Fred, IPSC Ecuador RD Victor Ferrero, IPSC Slovenia RD Peter Forgac, IPSC Germany RD Fritz Gepperth. IPSC Australia RD Des Lilley and a full complement of IROA and South African Range Officials, who were all busy adding the final touches to their stages.

The final range inspection was completed at 1700hrs, after which we all returned to the hotel. After another fantastic dinner, this time at "Panarotti's Italian Restaurant" hosted by yours truly, we retired to our rooms at 2300hrs, because the poor buggers shooting the pre-match on Wednesday morning need to leave the hotel at 0630hrs to fire their first shots at 0730hrs.

We've had beautiful clear blue skies for two days however the wind has made things "a bit nipply". Evening temperatures drop to 12 degrees C but the wind chill makes it feel like 9 degrees C. Those of us who didn't bring jackets (such as Mrs. P and I), had to buy them.

No sign of Team USA yet, but I expect to find the advance party tomorrow.

More to follow ........

[TDean]

Thanks for the post card Vince.  Keep us updated please.

I hear the US team is departing Atlanta International  today Sept 11th.  A very patriotic thing to do.....

PS, Isn't there one of those "Cock'n Bull" places near the harbor in Hong Kong to?  I remember place like that whenI was a drunken sailor back in 94

[ErikW]

"Bambang Trihatmodjo"

Now that's a good shooter name. It could only be better if his last name were Fastalphamojo.

Thanks Vince, keep us updated.

[Detlef]

I'm leaving tomorrow (Sep 12). I know Mike Voigt is already there, and I hear that the US team's ammo shipment has not arrived yet. I guess that could end hopes for a few right there....

--Detlef

[steve223]

Thanks for the post Vince, I was on the world shoot web site last night looking at pics. of the range wishin i could be there :-( mabey the next one :-). Good luck to you and Detlef and everyone else thats going, Keep us updated so i can at least live vicariosly thru you guys.

Steve

(Edited by steve223 at 6:37 pm on Sep. 11, 2002)

[Luiz Francisco Ramos]

Vince:

Great idea!

Thanks...

Here, in Brazil, we are expecting to know what kind of changes will be made in the rules for the next 15° version IPSC rules. Where will be the next WS, and so on... Any news like thats Modifieds pistols made for Philiphines WS ...

Have a nice WS and good shoots!

DVC

[Vince Pinto]

Wednesday 11 September: The pre-match started today and most Range Officials, Regional Directors and sponsors are participating. Initial reports are extremely positive about the courses of fire, which have been very well designed. Sadly I'm unable to shoot the match due to a never-ending series of meetings and preparations for the General Assembly, but it's all good stuff and it's still great to be able to spend quality time with IPSC colleagues from all over the world.

Thursday 12 September & Friday 13 September: The pre-match continued and concluded smoothly with six DQ's but only one arbitration, where we upheld the protest and reinstated the competitor. Team Australia arrived and I caught up with Errol Thomas, Brodie McIntosh, Ivan Rehlicki and John Bellman. Everybody was in remarkably good form and high spirits despite having endured long journeys.

I also caught up with many members of Team USA including Robbie Leatham, Todd Jarrett, Mike Voigt, Phil Strader and USPSA NROI Chief John Amidon. I also caught up with my many friends from Team Philippines, Team Papua New Guinea, Team Thailand, Team Macau and, of course, Team Hong Kong.

This is my 3rd World Shoot, and each time the biggest pleasure is catching up with friends from all over the world. The atmosphere is just incredible and, unless you've been to a World Shoot, you cannot imagine the colour and camaraderie.

Saturday 14 September: The whole day was taken up by the General Assembly, which went smoothly. The 14th Edition Pistol Rule Revisions were adopted and incumbent IPSC Nick Alexakos was reelected unopposed for another 3 year term. IPSC regions Canada, Denmark and Ecuador all submitted bids for WSXIV and the eventual winner was Ecuador, who will host WSXIV in 2005.

Sunday 15 September: The opening ceremonies were held in a stadium close to the range and the event went smoothly and it was as colourful as usual. Each region marched passed the stands in alphabetical order lead by a local native holding the name of the region. Brief speeches were made by the Mayor of Pietersburg, the Governor of Limpopo Province and IPSC President Nick Alexakos. We were then entertained by native dancers who put on an exciting show to the tune of 20 drummers. After the formalities concluded, we all adjourned to a nearby tent for refreshments.

Monday 16 September: I was saddened to learn that two members of Team Australia were DQ'd for ADs, which they did not protest.

More to follow ......

[Bill Schwab]

Match results are being posted here

http://www.worldshootxiii.co.za/

Obviously too early to tell anything.

[Carlos]

Results are appearing fast and it looks as if Team USA (largely concentrated on Squad 8) is holding their own against stiff international competition. As of today, Grand Master Phil Strader is in the lead for the out right win on stages 12 ("Cheers") and 17 ("Et's horse") - way to go Phil Strader!! Of course there are more shooters to come so results can change and page does not show a running count of who is in the lead. However, keep in mind that Phil Strader is barely 30 years old - can you say "Future World Champion"?

Looks as if local Area 8 fast guy Todd Jaret is also doing well against the likes of Eric Graufal - but there are still plenty of stages to go and anything can happen. No surprise that Jerry Miculek seems to be dominating revolver - good job jerry. By now, Squad 8 should have shot stages 9-20 at least. Keep it up guys!

A big "Thank You very much!" goes out to those on the ground (especially you Vince!!) for providing us with the live reports - you make BE.com the great site that it is.  Good luck and good shooting!

(Edited by Carlos at 7:13 pm on Sep. 17, 2002)

[benos]

Vince,

A hearty thanks for (the pro job) keeping us up to date!

be

[Jerome Poiret]

Vince,

Thanks for the reports.

Please say hi for me to the forum members when you see them !

PS: I just talked to Julien on the phone, and he's trying to meet you.

(Edited by Jerome Poiret at 8:41 pm on Sep. 18, 2002)

[BamBam]

Looking at the results by squad on the match total through day 3... it seems Grauffel is leading Jarrett by about 60 points, with Barnhart a half dozen or so points behind Jarrett.  In Limited Leatham has a lead over Voigt by about 60 points, and Strader is hanging tough behind them in third by about the same distance.  Hard to say if there are any underdogs doing any better the way the RSA web page is set up.

[Vince Pinto]

Wednesday 18 September: Today was fairly uneventful. The "Super Squad" standings have not changed much in Open Division, with Eric Graffel leading the pack, followed by Todd Jarrett, Jerry Barnhart and Brodie McIntosh.

Athena Lee from the Philippines has a convincing lead in Open Ladies and the battle for Standard Division is between Mike Voigt and Rob Leatham.

Production Division is arguably the most interesting battle, especially since this is the first World Shoot where it has been recognised. Jerry Miculek has a big lead in Revolver Division and he seems unbeatable.

We had two arbitrations this morning which took us 3 hours to resolve. The first was from a competitor who was DQ'd for handling his firearm outside a safety area and the second was from a competitor who wanted a reshoot after slipping on a magazine left on the range surface by the previous competitor. After a thorough investigation, both appeals were denied.

More to follow .....

[Vince Pinto]

As it seems my thread has vanished into cyberspace, the best I can do is refer you to my thread on the IPSC Australia website here.

Please note that the above has an Australian "flavour" but I think you guys will get the general idea.

[THS]

Vince,

Can you cut and paste?  I can't get to the Aussie website as it times out every time.

Thanks,

Tom

[benos]

Yes Vince, it seems your post was one of the few that was lost in forumland on Thursday/Friday.

That site won't load for me as well...

be

[Vince Pinto]

Friday 20 September: Well it's all over bar the shouting. While official results will not be available until tomorrow, here's how it looks:

Open Division was definitely won by defending champion Eric Grauffel, but 2nd place is a very close race between Brodie McIntosh from Australia and Todd Jarrett - the suspense here is killing us!

Open Ladies is an upset victory for Kay Cabalatungan who has beaten defending champion and fellow Filipina Athena Lee, who suffered a major gun jam today which cost her a devastating 6 seconds. Third place is either Kay Clark-Miculek from the USA or Mary Grace Tan, also from the Philippines.

Standard Division has been won by Robbie Leatham who has beaten defending champion Mike Voigt. Revolver Division was easily won by Jerry Miculek but I've not seen any hints about Production or Modified Divisions.

More to follow ..

[Vince Pinto]

The Aussie forum which has my daily reports is now back on line here.

[Luiz Francisco Ramos]

Vince

Please, can´t you put that pdf file with the rules in a site to download, or send direct for sicred@zaz.com.br ?

Everybody is asking everytime for the changes.

You understand...

Thanks

[Luiz Francisco Ramos]

Be:

I think the Vince stuff´s was lost because there is a limit length to respect (lines, words or caracteres...) in database for one post, and Vince exceed it. Try to identify the limit with the BE´s site administrator and tell us ...

[Vince Pinto]

Luiz,

The 14th edition rules revisions are available here.

(Edited by Vince Pinto at 2:39 pm on Sep. 24, 2002)

[Luiz Francisco Ramos]

Vince:

Gracias amigo!