What a wonderful day today!  Jumped on the train at 7h42 direction Zaventem where Johan from the organization came to pick me up.  After picking up some other pilots we headed for Coo for the first task of the Belgian Ardenne Open.  Along the road, it didn't look very promising: lots of cloud-cover and the sun didn't seem to be able to punch through...  Arriving in Coo, we got our nice Belgian Ardenne Open T-shirt and together with Geoffrey I walked up to take-off.  My first flight sucked: i went up until 1050m but wasn't able to join the gaggle above me and i had to return and make an emergency landing near take-off.  My second flight sucked even more: about 4 minutes of flight in a downwards direction... not much of a big deal for a championship if you ask me.  But hey, then there was this third flight!  Almost immediately after take-off, i got a nice climb and being high i could see a whole bunch of others following me.  Geoffrey, Stef and Dimi managed to climb up until where i was and together we continued taking the thermal until cloudbase (1870m) somewhere between take-off and Stavelot.  After pulling the big ears not to enter the cloud, we started our first transition towards the second turnpoint.  Near Malmedy, our group was separated and i had to make a choice: follow my mental coach Geoffrey in the shadow, or take my own decision and head for the sun, hoping to catch another thermal.  I headed for the sun, and this seemed the right decision: southwards of Malmedy, I was at 830 m but was able to catch my second big thermal up until 1415m.  Being not completely at cloudbase yet, and a bit afraid of being sucked into a cloud (these are my first cloudbases after all, and they scare me a bit...) I headed for the turnpoint near Bütchenbach.  Unfortunately, when I crossed Waimes i was quite low and was not able to climb anymore, so i picked myself the biggest field in the area to make my landing.  After 54 minutes of flight and 18km away from take-off, i was back at the ground and happy as never before: this was my personal best in Belgium!  Almost suddenly after, a car stopped and picked me up.  Near Waimes, my mental coach Geoffrey was also waiting so we picked him up.  The driver dropped us at about 4km from Malmedy, so we had to walk a bit.  Then near Malmedy, we jumped on the bus near Trois Ponts.  Next, again a bit of walking until finally arriving in Coo again.  Quickly going to the GPS download, getting something to drink and back on the train to Kortrijk.  I was home at 23h57 and my love Tine was still awake and waiting.  Life is good.