Saturday July 25. Autumn here today!!!19 dgr. C ,torrential rain,storm up to 9 at the coast, gusting to 110 km./h.Not often we have a summer storm here in Holland.Just arrived back from Amsterdam where they had code red as all coastal provinces , the rest of Holland code orange and yellow[more to the east] .Never seen so many fallen trees and so much “red”  from fire brigades.The first summer- storm in 100 years!!!
Busy day for rescue teams in Holland, but here I am.
Just heard that no trains travel between Amsterdam and Utrecht anymore , so I was lucky.

It’s all over again, this 18th FAI EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP at the airfield of Ocseny in Hungary and it was a great competition to follow from home, even when I could do so only for one week.They had great weather and 9 out of 12 days which is terrific. One day was an official  rest-day one day a non flying day and they had a invalid day.
It looks from far , that Hungary was a great host.
As the UK TC mentioned:” A quick reflection on the past three weeks in Hungary. The club at Ocseny has just 30 members, but they have gone “above and beyond ” to welcome us and help us.”
I missed a bit an organizers blog with news, as I could only find “sec” important facts , as runways and delays of first launch, both on FB and the site.But,…luckily a lot of countries shared their news in blogs which is good.
We want our sport to be well known and LIKED by MORE.

Ready to go home after the last flight, the party and the prize giving ceremony.
As shared by the organizers and below by team UK.

How was the situation before they started for their last day of soaring in Ocseny.
In 18 m. Sebastian will not give easily away his lead of 207 points, or he must out-land. So I guess it’s between the numbers 2 and 5 , Andy, Yves, Thomas and Roman, to see who will follow him on the podium.
In 20 m. is the difference in points  the most exciting as at least 6 teams have a possibility to win and  5  of them to be European Champion, so tactics and help from others team members is welcome.
Between Wolfgang [TWO] and Mac [32, who flies as you know by now HC] is a difference of 7 points . Then the Polish team [EL]  is 37 points behind Wolfgang on spot 2 and the German team [WA] on 3 with 116 points to win from TWO. THEN,…the Polish team with Janusz [CS] is ONE point behind WA and the German team with Chrissie and Uli [V8] is 7 points behind CS.
In open ; Would the 2 Polish pilots Lucasz and Adam fight each other for spot 1? And between “our” Jeroen and my friend Ricky is only a difference of 65 points. May the best win.
Here some impressions from my Finnish friend Katja!

What happened on the last day???

Friday July 24 2015 last day of the comps with 2.30 AAT’s in each class. The first start was postponed to 1PM. Then the B task was handed out for 2 classes, so more delay, BUT,…they all went up at 2 PM for 2.30 [18 m.] 2. 15 [20 m.] and for open 2 hour AAT’s. It was another scorcher-day!!!!With other words,…BLOODY HOT!!!!
No cu’s either.
On such a last day , nobody shares news DURING the day, I would n’t do either. So I understand.

18 m.class ;
Roman is a kilo-meter-eater and today he showed that by flying the most kilometers in the best time and winning the day;826 points for him for a speed of 115.79 km./h. [2.33.57] His young Czech mate Radek started 22 minutes later and finished 12 minutes later and with that he was runner up on the last day; 755 points!!
So Radek was not in the top 5 Roman was. He “jumped” to spot 2 overall, coming from 5. [ 7642]Good on him!!!
Sebastian lost more than 150 points but no worries he was far ahead and so the NEW EUROPEAN CHAMPION. AGAIN CONGRATULATIONS for him and his dad.[7885]
Andy who was on 2 dropped by being 13 on this last day, to 3 [7606] , Thomas to 4 , Yves to 5 and Radek stayed on 6.

As shared by the UK team

20 m. class ;
Team Mac finished on a daily spot 10 and team Wolfgang on a 12th spot.Mac and Akemi got 665 points, Wolfgang and Andreas 659….!!!!6 points!!!!!! The difference was SEVEN!!!!
So Mac/Akemi  lost with ONE point. As said you don’t even wish that for your worst enemy, loosing by ONE point. But it happens/happened.
Hope Mac will not think for the next couple of years : ” Where did I loose that point?” I will ask him.
So; easy Wolfgang and Andreas are the new EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS. The so ” maniest”  title for Wolfgang and for them both nowadays as well.
Task 2 and 8 AND 9 were won by team Erazem and that brought them to a 15th spot overall, after a bad start on day 1 where they were last [23] with 94 points.
So Mac was runner up in HC mode.
The “real” European runner up was team Poland with Jakub and Christoph [7644] and the number 3-spot on the podium was for the German team Marco and Sebastian [7570] . Their mates Uli/Chrissie, just missed out on that spot and finished on 4. [7561]
A pity; I miss Akemi and Mac on pictures.

As shared by the Finnish team.

open class ;
Bostjan flew 278.11 km. in 2 hours  on the dot, so a nice speed of 138,51 km,.h. Good enough to receive the last bottle of wine for a daily win.
No ” brother-fight ” between the 2 Polish mates, they nicely share the title EUROPEAN CHAMPION and RUNNER UP!!!Well done.[7886 and 7767]
Proud as well on our Dutch pilot Jeroen who was on a 3d spot overall EVERY DAY [except for day 2 when he was second] and KEPT that spot till the end.[7619]
Ricky remained on spot 4  and Tassilo had 2 great last days and he managed to climb up from 8,after task 7.

And to finish this fabulous picture I found on FB by TOP photograher Jacek Lewinski
Not from this EGC but a beauty!!!

Cheers Ritz cu on Wednesday.