The first reactions are coming in.
People are asking about hotels - which we're working on.
Aaron, from Boca Raton, FL says he had a blast in 2003, and is ready to come back.
Chuck, from NJ says: "Cool!"
Blaine, from KS is ready to register
etc.....
Here' s an interesting e-mail exchange with Bob, from Tucson, AZ this afternoon:
Bob:
Thanks for the notice!! I'm planning to be there to observe. . . .
Philippe:
Only observe...? You may very well play better than some who claim to be "advanced" ;-)
Anyway, thanks a lot for letting us know! Maybe we should make a provision for our customers who come to watch without registering to play....
Bob:
I'm a infrequent player. . . here in Tucson once a year at the French Day picnic and some times in France if I can get into a local game. But I do enjoy the sport and would love to play more. . . guess I'll just have to move to France! Whatever you do to help observers have an interesting time would be helpful....
We invite anyone to send us tips to make sure the tournament will be what you expect from it!
August 12, 2005
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Here's a word to the wise to those planning to fly to Miami.
Please consider checking your bags.
SERIOUSLY, guys. I had a beautiful nearly-new set of competition boules confiscated from my handcarry at Charles de Gaulle Airport last July. Sheesh. *Paris* of all places.
After going through the x-ray scanner, where the smiling agent correctly identified the objects in question: "Boules a petanque, oui?", I was handed over to a big security gorilla who informed me that they'd have to be confiscated--and destroyed--since "On peut tuer quelqu'un....." ("You can kill someone with these things.")
Obviously, he'd never seen *me* play.
Please note that while CDG has a big display case showing all the obvious objects dangereux which are banned from all hand luggage --tweezers, knives, gas canisters, etc.-- boules a petanque are *not* among them.
In spite of that, I had to kiss my boules goodbye at the gate. It was way too late to try to check them through in baggage.
I'm not totally convinced that they were demolished, however. I'll bet there's a game going on in a gravel lot out behind the terminal now, as I write.....
While this may not be a universal airport restriction (I had no problem flying from Madrid with a cheap Chinese set in my backpack the year before---and that was not long after the railroad bombings there, and security was equally tight), why risk losing your prized equipment en route to the Tournament?
So I suggest packing well, and checking your bags through, just in case. It's worth the wait at the carousel. The worst that can happen is that your baggage can get left off the plane at the airport of origin, or misdirected onto a flight to Mauritius. But you'll stand a good chance that it will get recovered somewhere, and you should receive your boules sometime around the end of the Tournament. Maybe someone from the Mauritius team will bring them.
Oh well. In a pinch, the nice guys from Petanque America should have all kinds of new boules and other cool stuff for sale when we get to South Beach......right?
Looking forward to meeting you all in a couple of weeks....
A bientot,
batja from nj
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