posted Sep 21st, 2018 - It's time for the next NSL News live coverage, this time from the ESL Championship 2018, which is hosted once again by the Fallschirmsprungzentrum FSZ Saar in Saarlouis, Germany.

It's the same skydiving center that had welcomed international teams for the FAI World Cup 2011 and the same event last year. FSZ Saar has also hosted German national championships a few times. The Bastuck family is running the operation, and Markus Bastuck has also been a member of the German national teams in 4-way Open and 8-way for a long time. He will once again compete with Airbus at the FAI World Meet 2018.

Five more teams signed up for the event after the last NSL News preview on 14 September 2018. This has generated a new record participation since FSZ Saar has become the event host. A total of 23 teams from five different countries will compete in Saarlouis this weekend.

Friday and Saturday are the meet days, Sunday is the departure day after the ESL party on Saturday night. Several teams used the perfect weather on Thursday for few training jumps, and the NSL-TV camera recorded ground action after arrival at the event site.

ESL Championship 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		H,P,7,8	Q,N,B,G,15	10,19,K	3,16,1	13,D,21	M,F,A,C,J	O,E,11,17	12,6,20	5,L,9	14,18,4	2,22,A	Total	Avg
-	NeVa FSZ Saar	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	JETMAX	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	HorschD FSZ Saar	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Dark Energy	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	AtomiX-YUU Skydive	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rank	AA Class		H,P,7	Q,N,B,G	19,K,8	15,1	13,D,21	M,F,A,C	O,E,11	6,20	L,9,J	14,18	2,22	Total	Avg
-	Windfall	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Team Red	NL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Stardust	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	NOFX	NL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Das KO´s FSZ SAAR	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Blok 43	NL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Black Forest Four	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Bazinga FSZ SAAR	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Ayro	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	4Motion - Eisenach	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rank	A Class		H,P,7	Q,N,B	19,K	8,G	D,21	M,F,A	O,E,2	6,4	L,9	C,J,H	2,P	Total	Avg
-	Skyflakes	NL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Rubix	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Nebula	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Heartbeat Skydive Team	NL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Aeropotam's	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rank	Rookie		H,P,O	Q,N,B	K,E,L	G,C,J	D,H,P	M,F,A	O,E,Q	N,K,G	L,B,D	C,H,J	P,M,F	Total	Avg
-	Mach 4	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	High Five	CZ	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Flying Cowboys	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Some of the teams brought their coaches to Saarlouis, and the NSL News met Roy Janssen and Paul Hofstee who are both at the ESL Championship to prepare the teams for the competition. Roy Janssen was working with the German team HorschD and Paul Hofstee with the Dutch Heartbeat Skydive Team on Thursday afternoon.

Host Markus Bastuck and Meet Director Mike Pennock welcomed the teams Thursday evening at the opening briefing, and Chief Judge Gundel Klement supervised the live competition draw.

The numbers and letters for the ten sequences were pulled from the hat, and the judges produced a draw that includes a Super Sequence (M,F,A,C,J) in Round 6. The draw for Round 2 (Q,N,B,G,15) almost ended up with an even earlier Super Sequence, as well, before Block 15 ended the early excitement during the live draw.

However, the teams look forward to performing the two fast sequences, which will boost the meet averages and may allow the teams to finish the outdoor competition season with new record averages.