It's A Small, Small World

Over the summer months I help the Royal Aero Club Records Racing and Rally Association (the 3Rs) run their series of handicapped air races as the Chief Marshal (www.airraceuk.co.uk). In the past we've held races on Menorca but also hold ones at Abbeville in France and on Alderney as regular and annual events.

In my other job as a guide on HMS Alliance, I was taking a group through the boat this afternoon. At the end I chatted to one gentleman who was Spanish and from Majorca. I replied that I only had ever been to one place in Spain which was Menorca and that wasn't a holiday but for air racing. We chatted a little more about his interest in submarines and military matters before he asked me if I had said 'air racing'. I replied that it was and he said that he had a friend who also air raced. "It's not Gabriel, is it?". Astonishingly,  this man who is a Spanish commercial pilot currently flying from Stockholm to Vietnam and SE Asia, and I both knew the same man who generally attends the 3 air races above. In fact this man, Onofre, and Gabriel have been friends since childhood and Gabriel was responsible for getting him into flying (and for helping him get a flight at 7 years old!).

A clip from the Schneider race on Alderney with Gabriel at the controls

I can't imagine what the probability of this happening must be as for one thing, our running order as guides is decided on the cut of the cards, and this guy could have appeared at any time during the day.

Alderney 23- 25 September 2011

Early evening at Saye Campsite

These little devils were verywhere and only about 2-3mm

Dates? We don't need no stinkin' dates! It tasted OK and I'm still here to tell the tale

I was playing with the flash - oft times it's better without it seems

A couple more experiments with and without the flash

As you may have guessed I've just come back from Alderney in the Channel Islands. This was the last air racing weekend of the season for the Royal Aero Club. It's a wonderful little island, barely 3 miles long packed with things to see and places to do.... Over the summer there are a myriad events including fishing competitions, a half marathon, hill climbs and so on.

The history is similarly extensive with evidence of a stone age occupation and a Roman pier but the most evident history is more recent. There are a lot of Napoleonic fortifications and in the Second World War these were added to by the Germans. They not only reinforced existing structures but added others of their own and there are many elements still standing. The dark side of this is that these structures were built by slave labour. During the war, there were 3 labour camps and a concentration camp and the occupants were mainly Eastern European; many of the locals left the island. Alderney's history is well documented on the web and readers can find the details behind these events there. The Hammond Memorial stands for the memory of those interned and who died.

I've always found the 'natives' friendly and welcoming and love going back there. If you have the opportunity I'd advise you to go too!

My pictures can also be found here