今年非常榮幸能夠獲得邀請，到德國孔雀魚俱樂部（GZD – Guppyzüchter Deutschland）所舉辦的歐洲冠軍錦標賽－對魚賽擔任其中一位裁判。這對我來說是一件意義非凡的事情，為什麼呢？
It’s my honor being invited by GZD – Guppyzüchter Deutschland to be their European Championship guppy pair show judge this year, this is very meaningful to me in personal.
因為就孔雀魚在人類寵物圈的發展史上來說，德國是最重要的地方。第一個有紀錄的孔雀魚採集標本在柏林，而世界上第一場的孔雀魚比賽，則是在萊比錫，一切都跟德國有關，不管是學術研究、飼養嗜好、寵物競賽均是如此，所以能到這裡參與一場比賽，心情上是特別不同。
Because Germany is the most important place of guppy hobby development. The first guppy specimen is in Berlin, and the world first guppy show was in Leipzig, no matter academic research, breeding as a hobby, or contest are all point to Germany as origin. So I feel so different to participate a show here.
德國比賽會場的位置，是在北方大城漢堡（Hamburg）旁的一個小鄉村：席爾福斯特（Schiphorst），開車大概要40分鐘左右的距離。許多歐洲的城市發展就是這樣，很多人會到主要城市上班，然後就住在車程約1小時以內距離的周邊村落，概念上就類似到台北上班，然後住在桃園或者宜蘭這樣吧！那我則是搭機14小時後，到南方大城法蘭克福，再搭車6個小時到會場。說真的，已經很久沒有這樣長途旅行了，這是在疫情後的第一次，也稍微感受到一點歲月的無情了。
Germany show venue is in a small village: Schiphorst just near the north big city Hamburg about 40 mins away if you drive from Hamburg. Many of Europe big city development just like that, many people will go to work in a big city, and live in a small town or village around the city about 1 hour driving distance. And I was taking 14 hours flight to south city Frankfurt first, then took a 6 hours ride to show venue. Saying honestly, it’s the first time I made such long distance travel after pandemic, and I actually feel a bit old now.
而到了比賽會場後，德國俱樂部GZD早已經在前一天就將展示魚缸都搭建完成，所以當日（2023/6/15）就是全天在等候魚隻入缸。那德國賽事想參賽，是先採取預先登記制，因為現在魚缸數量只會準備216個，所以在比賽前就需要跟賽事主辦人booking好參賽魚隻數量。雖然一開始註冊就有超過200組魚，不過最後因為各種原因，最終實際參賽組數為193組，但這也是一個很驚人的數字。
After I arrived show venue, GZD already setup everything one day ahead, so we just did guppy entries registration and benching all day at June, 15. If you want to participate Germany show, you have to book with show manger first before the benching day, because there are only 216 tanks prepared. However, even there were more than 200 entries booked before the benching, but there were 193 entries actually to the end due to many reasons, however, it’s still an amazing numbers.
因為IKGH的賽制，裁判是需要對每一組參賽魚做評分，不是先選好入圍的魚隻後，再開始針對少數幾尾魚進行評分，所以相對非常耗時。假如現場有200組參賽魚，1組魚平均花費2分鐘的話，也將近要6個多小時的時間。當然，實務上是不會花這麼久的，有些魚的表現較差，相對花的時間就會很短，可以把多一點的時間留給表現較佳的魚，不過整體下來，也還是需要花費4~5小時的時間來做評分。
In IKGH standard, judges need to evaluate every entry, not choosing shortlist first then judge those few ones, so it will take many hours in judging. If there are 200 entries, and you spend 2 mins average in each entry, it will still take 6 more hours judging. However, it usually won’t take that long, because some entries may not take that long time due to their lower performance, then you can save more time to evaluate some higher performance entries in details. But normally it will still take 4~5 hours to judge in average.
比賽會場看起來就像是一個村民活動中心（但實際上用途是什麼我並沒有問），裡面除了寬廣的場地外，也還有吧台可以提供在場人員飲料與餐點，另外還有閣樓可以讓人休息，或者讓伴隨父母一起來的孩子們玩耍用。更重要的是，裡面有足夠的桌椅，可以讓所有參與者都坐在裡面輕鬆的閒聊，以及一起用餐。
The show venue looks like a town community center ( I don’t ask actually :P), there is a large space inside with bar counter to provide drinks and food, you can also go to the attic taking a rest, kids can also have some fun there. The most important is, there are enough tables and chairs for everyone can eat and chat inside together easily.
讓魚在星期四休息了一晚恢復狀態後，星期五一大早從9點開始，裁判群們便要對所有的參賽魚隻進行檢查，內容就是校正參賽魚的編碼，或者看魚有沒有問題，例如死亡、嚴重生病或者公母配不起來之類的問題，需要被判失格，無法參與評分。在將所有魚隻後確認完後，便開始進行評分作業。值得一提的是，現在IKGH的評分系統，也是由德國的Tim Hermann所建置，可以完全在線上使用的系統，這讓許多舉辦比賽的俱樂部都輕鬆了不少，且在五位裁判評分後，馬上就能夠雲端計算產出結果，不需要再經過人工計算，非常可靠。
After one night rest for all fishes, all judges need to check all fishes since Friday morning 9 am, correcting codes, or disqualifying fishes due to dead, sick or unmatched male and female etc. After all entries correction, judges will start to evaluate entries. I want to mention one more thing here, now IKGH judge system is set up by Tim Hermann, it’s a cloud system, you can use it online entirely, every show host club are way much easier now. After 5 judges finished their works, you can get result immediately from cloud, don’t need to calculate manually, it’s much more reliable.
星期六則是對外開放參觀，同時也會進行頒獎典禮與競標，現場的工作團隊，也會在最後校正確認完參賽魚的資訊是否正確後，將各分組得獎的名次，與各組魚的細部分數標籤都貼在對應的魚缸下方讓人參考，那如果在星期六有想要參與競標或者想做些紀錄的人，都可以利用今天好好記下來自己想要什麼魚，或者拍照錄影留念。在此同時，星期六也會進行有趣的水族相關產品抽獎活動，只要花少量的錢就能夠買到彩票，也有機會能夠抽到大獎帶回家！
Saturday is opening day for public, there will be also an auction and award ceremony. GZD working team will put on all correct show information, including the winning rosettes, fish score tank cards will put under the show tank as reference. If people want to bid or do some records, all should spend time to memo, or take pictures or videos. Also, there is a lucky draw to win some aquatic products, you just need to spend a bit to buy some tickets, and then you may win a big reward back home!
最後星期日就是到了撤場和告別的時候了，共四天的過程裡，身為裁判除了評分外，各類大小事情也都可參與其中，才能讓比賽更順利，而在德國比賽最大的特點，無非就是有喝不完的啤酒吧！但無論如何，在歐洲的比賽會場裡，與同樣喜愛孔雀魚的各國同好們見上一面，放鬆的閒聊，只討論孔雀魚的事情和交流彼此的看法，相較之下，參賽魚是否能贏，似乎也沒那麼重要了。
Sunday is move-out day and farewell, in these 4 days, a judge can help everything, not just judging to make whole show better and smoothly. And there is one thing special in Germany show, endless beer to drink! No matter what, meeting all friends coming from different countries in European show, discussing guppies and chatting casually, winning the show suddenly isn’t that important at all.
在這裡，要再次感謝René Wolff, Torsten Rickert, Henrik Schneider, Reinhard Stier, Tim Hermann, Tobias Bernsee以及GZD在德國的熱情招待，還有所有在德國相聚的各國友人，讓我在德國能夠學習到許多新的事物，以及再次體驗到孔雀魚比賽的樂趣。
I want to thanks for René Wolff, Torsten Rickert, Henrik Schneider, Reinhard Stier, Tim Hermann, Tobias Bernsee and all GZD members host me in Germany with full passions, and all friends meeting there, I can learn some new things in Germany, and experience fun again in a guppy show.
Guppy Master Project 