Kickoff is getting closer. Final itinerary being prepared, but we’re hampered by the lack of squadding times from the NSRA, who are swamped, since they’ve gone from 130 to 160 shooters this year. Sent to the team today:

 Okay folks, here’s what we have so far. Excuse the minddump format.

Flights are booked, Accomodation is booked, Car hire is sorted, Gear transport is sorted, in fact all the big stuff is now in the “done” category.

Here’s our schedule so far:

Friday August 3 : Gear packing, WTSC, 2000h. Everyone bring your gear, your suitcases and so on and we pack the lot in Matt’s van. We’ll have the tracksuits and shirts for everyone at that point as well. We’ll sort out the team photo once we hit Bisley.

Sunday, August 5 : Meet in Dublin Airport, 1000h. Our flight (Ryanair, flight 114) leaves at 1140h; meeting at 1000h gives us a chance to do head counts, have a cup of coffee, and not worry about getting through security in time. All you need to bring on the plane is your passport, your money, a book to read on the plane if you want, and that’s it. No baggage please folks, that all goes in Matt’s van (Geoff and Matt will have left at this point and will meet us in Bisley). The plan is to fly out, hire two cars in Gatwick (the team goes in the 8-seater and everyone else goes in the smaller car) and drive to Bisley. We’re staying in the ATSC (Marina and Laura are in the L&M and Eddie, Matt and Jim are in the HAC), and we’re eating on camp. The plan is to get in, get settled and get some rest.

Monday, August 6 : There’s official training in the afternoon and equipment control just beforehand.

Tuesday, August 7: The first match – Junior Men Air Rifle and Final

Wednesday, August 8: The second match – Junior Women Air Rifle and Final

Thursday, August 9: The Grand Prix event for both Junior Men and Junior Women. That night, the Banquet.

Friday, August 10: Heading home. We’ll leave Bisley by noon, have lunch on the way back to Gatwick, and our flight out is at 1730h (we’re aiming to get to Gatwick for about 1530h) and we’re back in Dublin by 1845h.

A word here on food: we’ll all be eating breakfast together in the Surrey every morning. Breakfast will be early – serving runs from 0730 to 0800 on Monday and 0715 to 0800 every other day. Breakfast is a team event where we’ll go over the day’s itinerary and so forth. So 0730 every morning in the Surrey. Don’t be late (and that means getting to bed early the night before). Dinner is also a team event; 1915h every evening in the Surrey. After dinner, you’re free to head off into town to decompress or hang out with the other teams or whatever you want, but – no alcohol until the thursday night (and then in moderation and only for those over 18!) and remember you have to be in the Surrey by 0730 the next morning. The idea here is that we are a team – so we travel as a team, we eat as a team, we sleep as a team, we do everything as a team. If you’re not shooting, that does not mean you don’t have to be on the range – it means you’re on the range, in uniform, helping your teammates.

About the uniform – Geoff’s gotten tracksuits and poloshirts for everyone, we’ll hand them out on Friday. I’m still trying to find out about laundry services on the camp itself, but there is one in Brookwood just outside the camp, so we might make a run to that once or twice during the week. Basicly, you’re in uniform from when you wake up, through breakfast, while you’re in the LRC, and at dinner and the banquet – outside of that, whatever you want but do try to look smart, you’re representing your nation while you’re there. Also, I’m bringing the camera, the laptop and wireless broadband so photos can go up on the web during the week.

They have armoury arrangements – so far as I can tell, our firearms are all to be stored in the L&M. Other kit stays in your room from what I can see.

There is the usual NTSA code of conduct, with the following additions:
1) The team is a team. We eat together, we train together, we travel together, we shoot together, insofar as is possible.
2) All contact with NSRA officials is to go through the team officials (myself, Geoff and Marina). We need to know what’s going on to do our jobs.
3) We’re working up an itinerary for the trip to try to keep some sort of controlled chaos going instead of total chaos. So follow it. That means we have breakfast together in the Surrey every morning at 0730 and dinner there at 1915. Families and friends and hanging out can all happen afterwards, that’s not a problem, but see rule 1) – we’re a team, we eat together.
4) No-one in the team rooms other than team members. In other words, no pulling folks, you’re here to compete. 😛
5) No alcohol until the Banquet and then only in moderation and for those over 18.
6) Stay presentable throughout the week – so stay in uniform when on the LRC and with the team for breakfast or dinner or whatever. Definitely stay in uniform for the presentations every day. We’ll arrange laundry runs for the evenings every two or three days so that things stay hygenic.

It’s not an official curfew unless it has to be, but bedtime by 2300h every evening bar Thursday is the only way you’ll be able to get through the week without dying from exhaustion 😀 Us old fogies will probably be snoring by 2200h…

We’re stuck with regards to squadding times at the moment. This year’s even bigger than last year (they had 129 people last year, they have 165 this year), and they don’t have squadding times yet. We’ll wind up sorting this out when we register you on Sunday evening (you’ll all get ID cards, you’ll have to take care of those!).

Our flight information for those who want it:

GOING OUT
From Dublin(DUB) to Gatwick South Term Uk(LGW)
Sun, 05Aug07 Flight FR114 Depart DUB at 11:40 and arrive LGW at 12:55

COMING BACK
From Gatwick South Term Uk(LGW) to Dublin(DUB)
Fri, 10Aug07 Flight FR117 Depart LGW at 17:30 and arrive DUB at 18:45
Lastly, a note from the rules issued to the GB Juniors, which applies to all of us equally well!

“Mixing with other teams is expected, however their rules may well be different to ours, NEVER loose sight of OUR rules !!”