It's pretty clear that last Saturday was a world record day in
Zapata and now the hurricane (Alex) comes to wipe out any chances for a record
for at least a week. We might get a chance or two after that before we head for
Italy and the pre-Worlds on the 13th, but our really good chances are gone. I've
never seen the conditions set up correctly in Zapata after a hurricane comes
through.

I had been advertising the WRE as starting on June 21st for over six months in
the Oz Report, but it was not to be as the tug pilot had other things more
lucrative to attend to. As I looked at conditions in Zapata starting in the
first week of June I was wishing I was there instead of in Maryland, but without
tugs Zapata is worse than useless, it is painful.

Without overwhelming financial resources allowing us to have a Dragonfly setup
in Zapata starting at the end of May, and the ability to fly in a tug pilot and
ourselves on a moment's notice, setting records in Zapata is really handicapped.
Of course, this is true for any "remote" operation.

No one wants to "hang" in Zapata. It is a dead zone, same as the mouth of the
Mississippi. There is only one reason to go there, to fly in the best conditions
in the world.

On Sunday it blew up early up near Big Spring, so no records for that day. There
were plenty of other good days last week, but Saturday was the killer day.

Of course, further north east from Zapata there are existing tug resources in
Schertz (northeast of San Antonio) and Luling. And that's where all the nice
clouds have been showing up and causing such gnashing of teeth. Additional
sources of tugs further east near Houston and sometimes at Hearne.