#eichgraben

It is about 9.30 a.m in the morning in Eichgraben and finally the day has come to start the WAVE 2013! With weeks or even month of preparation the teams are eager to get on the road with their electric vehicles! It is a wonderful morning with a lot of sunshine in Eichgraben, Wienerwald. Quite a few visitors and members of the press gathered to witness the start of the WAVE. Every Team had about one minute to present themselves before heading towards today's first stop in Vienna.

Our first host today was Phoenix Contact in Vienna. As expected, all teams managed this first stretch of about 40 kilometers easily. Together with Frank and Frank from Team 19 "Phoenix Contact" we received a warm welcome and a second breakfast at the premisses of Phoenix Contact Austria. Beeing a short visit only and with no charging planend for most of the teams, we soon continued to go to the Casino of Baden.

After another short 30 Kilometer drive everybody arrived at the woderful Kurpark in Baden just next to the Casino. This time the stop was scheduled to last at least four hours, to give some teams the possibility to charge their cars and to take a look at Austria's oldest Casino. Also it was time to run the first competion of the WAVE. The competion was all about Design. The independent jury with representitives from the local authorities and the Casino management took a very close look at all the vehicles of the teams. Surpringly for many, the winner was Team Lonely Viking with the Corbin Sparrow! Congratulations to Robort!

With plenty of time to spare, some Teams took the opportunity for some quick games at the Casino. Having about 40 teams taking part at the WAVE 2013 it was obvious to play a game of Roulette based on the team numbers. The lucky winners with team number 33 will certainly enjoy their bottle of champagne together with finest chocolate!

In the late afternoon it was time to start to the last stage with the destination Eisenstadt. With some teams taking a detour to visit the wind farm in Mönchhof, everybody arrived safely in Eisenstadt at about 7 p.m. In front of beautiful Castel Esterházy all teams joined to get on a guided tour through the historic village.