Story by: Els De Bie
Photo credits Karl-Heinz “Charlie” Woytech

From July 9 through July 12, the annual Friends Meet was hosted at Skydive Teuge (NL). The Friends Meet is an international FS 16-way competition whereby teams exit from 2 planes (2 Cessna Supervans). As the name suggests, the Friends Meet is all about meeting skydivers from different countries, and making new friends within the skydive community. This is one of the reasons why the competition takes place in a different country each year.



The 2024 competition was the 8th edition of the event and was again organized this year by Dieter Kirsch. A total of 7 teams participated. Sub-optimal weather conditions and air traffic at the nearby Amsterdam Schiphol Airport prevented the completion of all 6 training jumps and competition jumps. The 4th and final competition jump was done on Thursday afternoon the 11th.




The gold medal was won by team “Ratatouille Cheese Potatoes”, coached by Luc Vereecken. Ratatouille Cheese Potatoes is an international team consisting of a total of 10 different
nationalities. Besides coach Luc Vereecken, Aerodyne-sponsored athletes Joanna Hulbój and Els De Bie were part of the winning team. Ratatouille Cheese Potatoes managed an average score of 10 points. This makes it the first team to succeed in winning over Tutti Saluti, the team coached by organizer Dieter Kirsch, since the Friends Meet was initiated eight years ago.