GBRT : Canada 2011

The deal on the hire cars was that we return them empty of fuel. Amazingly enough, no one ran out of gas before reaching the airport. No one packed live ammunition in their hand baggage or had Hoppes wrapped in their Y fronts. Davids Dyson and Rose had arrived without mishap yesterday. It took them 15 hours to cover the 1600 kms from Halifax to Ottawa (including the minor detour around Montreal).

Danny had kindly arranged the fishing trip. We all managed to rendezvous downstairs at the appointed hour and piled into the vans. The only van equipped with sat nav is driven by the team airline captain who duly put in “Government Wharf” into the magic box, not noticing that there was a choice of 4 “Government Wharves”. He set off in his big white fun bus, the other 2 vans following. Naturally his choice of wharf was wrong. A fact duly communicated in no uncertain terms by next year's GBRT Captain as they all barrelled along merrily toward Boston (Massachusetts).

A very relaxed day for all. Some went cruising around the shops. Some went whale watching, no whales seen, but three of our younger “blades” had a serious discussion (they claim) with the barmaid on the boat.

One group mounted an expedition to the South West. By recommendation of one of our shooting friends, they detoured via Prospect, a beautiful very quiet little village at the end of one of the many peninsulas on Nova Scotia's south coast. At the time of the visit, there was still some low cloud around, so everything was still a bit gloomy. For those who enjoyed Alfred Hitchcock's film “The Birds”, Prospect could have been used as the town in the film. There was even a house that could have doubled as the Bate's motel in “Physco”.

A muddy, salty, thrilling day. 13 of the team travelled up to the Shubenacadie River in order to commit Tidal Bore Rafting. Having fortified ourselves with hearty breakfasts, we nearly left a team member behind, something to do with jalapeno peppers. He was informed that “time and tide wait for no man.”

A lie in! Shooting starts at 0900. An 0715 reveille resulted in all of us at the range in good time for 0830. A very relaxed morning's shooting at 800 metres, accompanied by our Fags, who all squeezed into various nooks and crannies in the vans and provided some much needed culture and elegance.
In case you are wondering, Fags = fiancees and girlfriends.

A day of school boy errors, team lows and highs. Glorious weather, more interesting winds and some high scoring, as ever.

The flags on the range are made of very light material – almost parachute silk. A question was asked, “ if you had heavier silk on your parachute, would you fall faster after you had jumped?”
Answers on a postcard please.