First, there have not been any protests so we have not had to rely on the jury members to settle a dispute. These significantly reduces our reliance on CIVL personnel and the opportunity for friction. I assume that if we continue to competently run the meet and we deal with any difficulties that arise due to the impending poor weather, that we will not have to deal with any protests and thereby spare us great pain.

Second, Heather, Flip, Rodrigo and Vitor have been interacting with me and other members of the organization helping us run the meet. They have been out on the line getting pilots ready to launch, retrieving carts, checking that pilots are ready to go. This has improved the safety of the competition. Flip and Heather have helped with the goal line and today took all the goal line equipment out to the goal and set it up.

Third, Flip and Heather also have been helpful and cooperative, supporting the meet organization and the principals. They recognize the competence of the individual organization members and trust them to do their jobs. This has significantly reduced the likelihood of conflict between the two organizations.

 Flip mentioned to me that he wanted CIVL to represent the interests of the competition pilots and he felt that there was a significant lack of communication between each nation's comp pilots and their representatives on the CIVL Plenary (and Bureau). I responded that this is a major problem and has lead to a lack of trust between the competition pilots and CIVL. Flip has addressed one major concern that competition pilots have about CIVL just by being here and being so cooperative, helpful and friendly. This builds a level of trust.

The fact that the CIVL delegates meet once a year and that they are often not in contact with their competition pilots is a major problem for CIVL and for the pilots. The CIVL delegates are supposed to be representatives of their pilots. They are supposed to vote on the concerns of those pilots, but there is just not enough understanding on the part of these representatives of what the pilots need.

It would be best if the CIVL delegate was an active competition pilot, so that at least they would have some understanding of the current issues.

CIVL's current structure is mired in the twentieth century. It doesn't recognize the fact that we have much better means of communicating these days. One meeting a year is not enough to address pilot concerns. Certain individuals have too much say in how the organization is run. CIVL needs to address its structural inadequacies.

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