Victory and Defeat

When the Swiss national team began trickling in on Monday—three days before the Thrace Cup (qualifying tournament)—construction of the European Championship village near Saray, in the middle of nowhere, was still in full swing. Gerhard Schwinn and I flew to the European Championships, while the rest of the Swiss national team (Thomas Eichenauer, Thomas Rössner, Helmut Röner, and Julian Benz) traveled by RV. The two days leading up to the Thrace Cup could only be used for training to a limited extent, as wind speeds at times exceeded 12 m/s with gusts reaching up to 16 m/s.

Since the preliminary competition was part of the F3J Eurotour—and thus not only the seeded European Championship pilots were allowed to compete—we were able to celebrate our first success even before the European Championships. Our coach, Thomas Rössner, won the Thrace Cup after a very exciting fly-off. After the European Championships opening ceremony, things got serious, and the hunt for the European Championship trophy began. There were 14 preliminary rounds with one discarded result and 3 fly-offs. Spread out over the five days, each participant flew 3 rounds. Then came the big surprise: On the first day of the European Championships, wind speeds were only

5–6 m/s. Despite a collision between Thomas Eichenauer and an opponent, the Swiss team got off to a good start in the European Championships, and the two pilots—Thomas Eichenauer and I—managed to place around 20th at the end of the first day. We started the second day with confidence, but wind speeds increased again to as high as 10 m/s, and then came the infamous “wind drops.” It’s not easy to brush off setbacks like that! But with the help of our great teammates, we were able to quickly refocus on the next round.

The third day was similar to the second—except that we’d learned from our mistakes and were able to rebuild our confidence. On the fourth day, there were still three preliminary rounds to fly, and there were no more major surprises for the Swiss team until the very last round. Thinking that a good flight could move me up a few more spots, I started this round. Unfortunately, the risk didn’t pay off, because I lost sight of the model, which resulted in a round with 0 points. So I couldn’t use the discarded result to improve my higher scores—what a shame! I was very frustrated after that round, as I had secretly hoped for a mid-table finish. Even though the European Championships didn’t end the way I’d hoped, I gained a lot of experience and insights that have helped me improve in the F3J competition category. Last but not least, I’d like to thank the great Swiss team, which worked together exceptionally well. That allowed me to enjoy the closing ceremony of the European Championships in Turkey over a nice banquet.