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The variable conditions at the EST championships held Sept 3-5 in Lake Bussloo, Netherlands made it extremely challenging for all the competitors. Low clouds, strong winds, fast approaches and very challenging courses were all that were needed to cook up one nail bitter of a swoop meet.
 Henny Wiggers has been solely responsible for organizing the EST over the last two years and the Bussloo Beach EST finals in his home country of Holland, is his baby and I'm sure his favorite event to organize! This is the one where Henny calls all the shots and is free to set the courses as challenging as he feels the competitors (including himself) are capable of stepping up and swooping... with out, of course, putting anyone in serious danger! A quick pan thru the scores will show progressively more and more zeros as the rounds got more and more challenging towards the end of the meet.
Official practice, scheduled one day before the meet, yielded only one low load, with clouds and high winds hampering the fun. This limited opportunities to see the event location from above and hampered competitors chances to get familiar with both the courses and the pictures from the air.
 Speaking of air, the first round in Bussloo quickly revealed it was to be a very different meet from the previous weeks world championships in Austria. The air density and ground winds were down even though the upper winds and clouds were up! This combination made for deftly quick dives into a protected area where changing and unpredictable winds were savage to deal with! Many swoopers had to quickly and deftly dig out of the corner to save their first few approaches... including Jay Moledzki!
Round 1, 2 and 3 were the "straight" runs. I.P.C. standards... Speed, Accuracy and Distance all setup facing into the wind with only a very slight uphill from the entrance gates on the lake to the zones in the sand. Start off with the basics, then gradually become more and more difficult from there... This seemed to be Henny's plan for the meet.
Rounds 4, 5 and 6 consisted first of the carving courses, the entrance gate was now moved about 120 degrees so that it is almost in line with the natural right hand curve of the beach. We have all the same events as before but now all have a steady carve and now all the courses are essentially downwind at approx. 5 knots! Spicy swoops to be had all around.
 The final 3 rounds were definitely the most challenging of the meet, with only about half of the final 30 competitors receiving scoring runs on each of the final 3 events! S-carve was the name of the game, with the entrance gate offset to the right a quick chicane to the left and then a very solid right hand carve. All with a 5-10 knot down wind approach! Wow, talk about a challenge only the very best and the luckiest pilots were able to tune down the "S" to more of a subtle step to left and then hold as smooth a line as possible. That line, when your talking about the Speed course at least, screamed just past the last marker on the course, up the beach, over the crowd control tape (well beyond the defined landing area) and off into the grassy meadow adjacent to the lake.
As with many times in the past the final round, this time being downwind S-carve Accuracy would ultimately be the deciding factor as to who was going to hold the title this year. The scores and the pole position had changed hands more than a few times this meet and the points were very close going into the last round. Moledzki held the lead but not by more than a few points, and with the Accuracy scores getting converted to percentage points for the totals the championship could go to any of the top 3 places if they out scored each other by even the most modest margin.
 Reverse standing order leaves the first for last and builds up the tension and drama for the spectators. Henny has always done a superb job of ensuring all scores are posted before the start of each round and this time as always it allowed the public as well as the competitors to know what was on the line.
Jay watched from the plane and tried to see where the other pilots were setting up and how they were scoring but a cloudy sky often blocked the view and left him reminding himself that it never matters what the other guy does, it only matters what you do!
 Last jumper in the sky, last major swoop meet of the season, only need to score a solid run pick the EST championship title and call it another successful season... If only it were that easy! Jay set up as deep as was imaginable and that 5-10 knot tail wind did the rest. A fast approach out of a quick turn and get the feet on the water asap and pick up points... but a pop up and over the 1st water gate! "Oh no this could be fatal! Get down score points, lift up over the zero zones and float with all you've got to get the higher zones!!!!" These were the thoughts swirling in the mind of Jay during his last run. Boom, down in zone two, "Oh no, oh no it could be over! A missed first water gate, and a zone two! That might not be enough to hold off the other pilots!" The tension and the pain of waiting to know, cannot be understood with out being there... What will the final say from the judges be?
 Henny knew the whole crowd was waiting to hear, as he slowly and almost comically played with the harts and souls of the top ten finishers. "Chris Hayes 3rd place" the crowd cheers... and Jay's hart lightens slightly... "Jeffro Provenzano 2nd place" the crowd roars louder again and with a shake of the head and a sigh of disbelief Jay exhales to huge bear hug from Tutti and numerous pats on the back from other pilots and friends. It's over it's done and it was a second year success for Jay Moledzki, not only winning the finals but also clenching the EST overall title for the second year in a row.
A huge thanks goes out to Henny Wiggers and all his staff, for all the work put into making the EST such a great tour this year! Additionally we would like to thank all the pilots who flew the EST this year, weather it was for every event or even a single round. We look forward to seeing you all next year!
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October 11, 2006 
Straight from the podium sweep of the EST stop in Kolomna, Russia, the PDFT descended onto the beautiful beaches of Empuriabrava, Spain in July to battle it out at the premiere swoop event in Europe for the third year in a row. Each member was privately hoping to wear that incredibly audacious crown and become the reigning 2006 King of Swoop. The King of Swoop organizers are offering 10,000 Euros to the first competitor to stand atop the podium three times. Needless to say, last year’s winner, Pilcher, was especially hungry to repeat his 2005 performance.
Skydive Empuriabrava host and organizer, Reinier Bos, again created a great setting and structure for a spectacular event. The beachfront location at this German / French / Spanish vacation town promises a constant flow of thousands of spectators along the shoreline of the Muga River and its intersection with the Mediterranean. Event sponsors Solomon, and Red Bull completed the perfection with an ample prize purse of over $20,000 USD, which paid down thru 10th place. The field of 26 competitors began the meet with 5 preliminary rounds in straight Distance, Accuracy, and Speed designed to thin the field down to the finals where the scores where reset to zero to create more drama for the crowds who lined the courses. All four PDFT members skated thru to the finals with mistakes across the board that proved to be nullified by the scoring system. The final 5 rounds completed under blustery beach conditions that challenged all but the most seasoned competitors, and the lucky few who had nothing to lose.
Course design was again pushed to the limits as the competitors navigated their wings thru a carving zone accuracy course and a double "S" carve distance event. This distance course and a little downwind component yielded some spectacular runs for the PD Factory Team, who each in succession blew past each other and proceeded to land farther and farther out into the ocean. Well past the bounds of the marked distance course, hats go off to all the event judges for their enthusiasm and creativity by marking the distances deeper and deeper into the ocean. This years champion Jonathan Tagle and King of Swoop 2006 went the distance literally and landed in water well over his head. "I didn't know what to do... I just kept going and going... a part of me didn't want to land in the ocean... but a bigger part just had to keep on flying. It was surreal as the beach left my peripheral vision for a quick second."
The battle was close towards the final rounds as typical for the guys in blue, but Tagle was victorious over teammate Jay Moledzki by a narrow margin in the final round of accuracy. The crowd went wild, Tagle took home 4,000 Euros for first... and the event secured itself as the premiere swoop event in Europe again. Special thanks go out to organizer Reinier Bos, Gabby and Bruno for the incredible accommodations, and the successful team of Richie, Henny, and judging crew that puts this event on the map every year. The PDFT won't miss it next year... count on it!!!
This year's inaugural World Championships of Canopy Piloting (WCCP) was more than just a competition. It was an in-your-face, public display of skydiving's most exciting discipline-SWOOPING-and in usual fashion, the PD Factory Team stole the show! On the competition front, Jay Moledzki led all competitors with three trips to the podium, including 2nd place in Distance, 3rd in Speed, and 3rd Overall. Jonathan Tagle suffered a zero early in the meet, and then remarkably clawed his way back to 5th overall, winning a gold medal in the distance event along the way. Reigning world champion, Ian Bobo, struggled to find his rhythm, but fought valiantly, always supporting his fellow competitors, and inspiring others with his sportsman's attitude.
Less acclaimed but equally impressive (and crowd-pleasing) were the chase-cam performances of factory pilots JC Colclasure and Shannon Pilcher, who skillfully followed numerous pilots thru the course, peripherally navigating the "busy" sidelines.
