By : Rutger Coucke

One can feel the heat, see the heat, smell the heat. One can almost touch the heat. From my eyebrow sweat is dripping in my eye. I hardly notice it anymore. I have been sweating day and night for the last couple of days. When I close my eyes I still see the landscape with the colours of van Gogh, a gentle sea of sunflowers, vineyards and cut off corn. Ribbons of turmac rollercoasting through the hills and valleyís, small villages, no more than some farms gathered round an ancient church, spread in between.

But Iím not here to enjoy the countryside, no sir! Iím here to work hard and make long days. Iím here for a ballooncompetition: Le Coupe díEurope.

After his involvement of the Europeans in Belfort Jacques Bernadin was concerned about the loss of experience obtained. Knowing the next Europeans or Worlds would not be held in France every two years he decided to organise an international competition every year. An organising partner was found in the Foyer Rural Mainfonds Aubeville. This team proved to be very capable of organising such an event. (At the main day of the festival they control a crowd of 20.000 Frenchmen with their eyes closed). The Coupe díEurope could well be embedded in their ëFÍte de líairí, an airshow with parajumping, helicopter and ultralight baptism flights, airmodels and hanggliders as well as a genuine fixedwing stuntteam.

The Coupe carries the title ëEuropeí with pride and reason. Pilots from France, UK, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Hungary and from outside the Old World: USA and Japan came to Mainfonds. This year was a special year: the Foyer excisted 30 years. To celebrate this all-former winners of the previous 6 coupes were invited and a special price was founded for the ìchampion of the championsî. Unfortunately not all of the old titans answered the call, but Jolanta Matejczuk (PL), David Bareford (UK), Guy Cinquin (FR), William Crispin (UK) and Mathijs de Bruyn (NL) made a pretty interesting field. Another ëcompetition within a competioní is the 10th Ladies World Cup, for the 3rd time in Mainfonds. Here again we find Jolanta Matejczuk (PL) next to Tomoko Chiba (JP), Jannet Folkes (UK), Nancy Thomas (USA), Geraldine Boudart, Marie Do Oudin, and Danielle Racois from France.

The official-team deserved the prefix ëEuropeaní too. We have Spanish, German, English, Dutch and of course French officials. On our arrival, on day before official check in, we acclimatise at the ëcourí of Chez Charron, an old farm near Mainfondss and headquarters of the organisation. With a pastisse in the hand we practice our rusty french, and after the second pastisse itís not so rusty anymore. The people of the Foyer take care of last minute organisation, while we prepare for the competition. New locations have to be inspected and new (target)fields have to be found. Missions are divided among the present officials. In charge of the competition is Allison Odell (ëoui, ma generaleí) from UK, while Jacques Bernadin will do the tasksetting. Because the team is more or less the same as previous years, everyone knows his/her job. Ramon Noguerra, Spain/UK/Belgium (now here is a real European) is in charge of the various launchfields and myself, assisted by many others, for targets. For agricultural reason the farmers change crop every year. Fields that were perfect last year may well be covered with sunflowers or mais this year.

In absence of observers the Coupe works with targets, scoring areas and measurement teams only. This limits the possibilities for tasks. A fly in, a fly on nor a pilot declared goal are really possible, although, counting on the honesty of the pilots, fly ins are held. Talking about honesty, Jacques had an other little trick in the sleeve for the pilots. To bring back competition to what it is all about, capability to fly a balloon as accurate as possible, Jacques ruled out the use of GPS and radio (radio only to use for landing or safety matters). For us officials this rule was not to monitor. We couldnít bodysearch the pilots, could we? Especially in the Ladies World Cup. So trust and honesty. And the pilots took it very well. There were no questions about this issue in the main briefing worth mentioning, and in general they took it as a challenge, which added much to the sporting spirit of this event.

We did feel the absence of observers at La Rochandrie, a castle where almost traditionally a minimum distance was held. At the walls of the castle is a long stretched meadow where normally goats and dear room. This is the launchfield with he minimum distance target in the middle. We had to launch 42 balloons in 20 minutes, check their take of times, control if they cleared the launcharea within 3 minutes, and see if they did not turn back before the end off the launchperiod. As a launchmaster I can tell you it is not possible. With so many balloons so close together all your attention is needed for save take off. If a balloon comes from the far end of the field one cannot tell its take off time and the balloon is out of sight for the launchmaster who did the actual launch.

One who was not in favour of the Coupe this year was the weathergod. He showed his grim side. With a humidity often 80% or more and temperatures of 32ƒC we could expect thunderstorms every evening and fog in the morning. Clouds build up within less than an hour. We have been watching the sky so often, so long and so intense it hurts. When thunderstorms roar, itís not hard to cancel a flight. When thunderstorms only thread, the pressure on the competition director is severe. Pilots want to fly, public want to see balloons, not to mention the organiser. Particularly when we were at Ile des Vaches, a commonground in the centre of AngoulËme. This is where the Foyer leaves its card, this show has to succeed. Well, the grumpy old weathergod had a different view, the black flag had to be raised. Ally made her decisions with great consideration and, no doubt, with pain in her heart, but safety in her mind.

Another sponsor obligation was a take-off from Sauvingac, one-hour drive away from Chez Charron. I had been driving all afternoon down the surroundings of tropical Sauvingac for suitable targetfields. There were none. If there was a scratch of land without forest it was occupied by cows. I arrived at the launchfield only to find Ramon in a bad mood. The field was a swamp, with hidden wells in the grass, even uphill. In our opinion there was no way a flight could take off from the field and have a fair score in the area. Being ëcommissairs internationaleí we recommended Ally to do a Fly In. She was in doubt and the weather did not help, Donor woak from his afternoon nap, it was becoming a routine. But the people of the Foyer were desperate. They had organised a paying audience, they needed to deliver. At the latest possibility, some half-hour before sunset, a free flight was possible and pilots played with the crowd. Flying low over the people, making an odd box and, gaining height, speed in to the sunset. Applause and cheers, the organising people went euphoric and so did we (with the help of a welldeserved pineau from the VIP-tent).

From very close I watched the sponsor-pressure on a competition director, she needed the skin of an elephant and the head of a mule (sorry, Ally) to resist the bagging, threatening and charming of a desperate organiser.

The morningfog was the cause for 7 complaints, that is 7 photocopies of the same complaint. Three judge declared goals were set, with a scoring period till 10.00 on the last one. Because of the fog the take off was postponed. When the fog cleared and balloons took of they could make it till the first target before 10.00. But since the scoring period was only set for the third goal some pilots went on for the second and scored. Some didnít, thinking the scoring period counted for all three targets. Significantly the french pilots were the ones that didnít went on, while the more internationals scored on the second goal. The complaints never turned into a protest.

But the Coupe díEurope is not all flying. Itís also a social event. Itís the place where old friends meet and new friends are made. No Coupe is complete without the gala evening, were a live band persuades everyone to move their legs and bodies. While an endless diner is served (in the past three years I for one never made it till dessert) the competition continues on the dancefloor. Too bad there are no points to gain here, because it would shake up the score dramatically. There are some odd, exotic people involved in ballooning, well, here is where they dance. With elegance and style or with energy and enthusiasm. Sometimes with both.

For the results I kindly refer to www.fai.org/ballooning/competitions/result99.htm#7coupeu

The only result you will not find there is the battle of the titans, the champion of the champions. On fifth and last position is David Bareford with 6832 points, followed by Guy Cinquin 7212 points, Grispin Williams 7451 points and Mathijs de Bruijn 7767 points. These giants in ballooning had to find their master in a woman (next to their wives of course): Jolanta Matejczuk from Poland with 7777 points.

The day has come to drive back home. We leave the golden fields to the friendly french again, the croissants or ëpain au chocolateí at the morningtarget, followed by a cafÈ au lait at an early openingbar. We put the alarm on a civilised wake-up hour. Put the car on automatic pilot and have only one thought in our minds: "next year again".