Friday, 26th August 2016

Despite the disappointment of not completing the meet, everyone gathered on the Terrasse at the Hotel for drinks before dinner, to celebrate the life of Gage Galle.  Dressed in Hawaiian Shirts with tiger stripes in their hair there was a great atmosphere to take with us to the actual closing banquet and prizegiving.

The prizegiving was one of the shortest I have ever attended, with no overall World Champion - however we did have two events and were able to award medals and World Champion status in those.  Speed was simple, but Accuracy, after only one round, had many ties and so we have Joint World Champions, and four Bronze Medal winners.

Buzz Bennett, our friendly meet director, acted as the master of ceremonies, and asked Mrs. Galle to present the medals for Speed. 

christopher ian bobo, USA – world champion

gred windmiller, USA – silver medal

cornelai Mahai, UAE – bronze medal

We then moved to the presentation of the medals in Accuracy.  Each medal winner was called to the podium and awarded their medal as their flag as raised individually - at the end they stood on the podium together for a photocall.

Joint World champion - accuracy

Eric Philippe, France

Christopher Ian Bobo, USA

Joint Bronze Medal Winners

Julien Guiho, France

Rhys Kempen, New Zealand

Abdulbari Qubaisi, United Arab Emirates

Christopher Ian Bobo, USA

After the dinner we were treated to two video presentations, one a compilation of video clips put together by SkyDive TV, and the other of stills, to celebrate the life of Gage Galle.  Very moving, but his smile made it joyful as well.

After the prizegiving Dr. Rainer "Exi" Hoenle formally thanked everyone for their part in making the competition as successful as was possible, given the weather conditions, and announced that the Jury had confirmed the results and that the organisation had met their obligations and he could close the competition.  So the FAI flag was lowered, and the party began.

Thank you to everyone who worked so hard behind the scenes; manifest, pilots, judges, course construction and work, drivers, canteen, and all the organiser's staff, for making us so welcome.

The Jury issued their 

 and the  which officially ends the competition.