After leaving Passau right on time, the Argus and Széchényi conducted sampling at the only station scheduled for August 17 near Jochenstein, Germany, accompanied by a Bavarian TV crew. Ms. Ursula Schmedtje, the JDS2 National Coordinator for Germany, then cheerfully shook hands with Mr. Richard Stadler, representative of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, as she handed her duties over to her Austrian colleagues. Arriving in Linz, Austria by 19:00, the JDS2 team and crew were welcomed by representatives of the local government of Upper Austria and Mr. Philip Weller, ICPDR Executive Secretary, followed by a much-appreciated dinner.
The JDS2 Core Team and National Team members then had several "serious disputes" about which Danube country produces the best wines. Unresolved, a wine competition was officially launched with the requirement that six bottles of "the best" wine from each country be stored on the Argus, to be judged at a final exercise in Tulcea at the end of JDS2.
It also gave an Austrian team from via donau the welcomed opportunity to install new DoRIS (Donau River Information Services) systems on the two JDS2 ships, improving their capabilities to see and be seen by other ships cruising the Danube for the rest of the expedition. Via donau is an Austrian company that operates waterways and executes sovereign functions on behalf of Austria's federal authorities with regard to waterways and waterway transport (see http://www.via-donau.org/).
