Another year has passed and we have 4 new champions in the 4-way event. The weather turned out be fantastic again and it did not take long to complete the remaining loads.

In the Rookie class, Pete Allum's project team ADHD took the gold a clear 5 points ahead of Jet Blondes. This lead had been continuous throughout the competition except for round 5 where Jet Blondes were able to pull back 5 points. It just goes to show what can happen with one duff jump. 3rd place went to Burble who scored a respectable 98 points.

In the single A class, army team Exodus won easily with a 13.75 average 23 points above that of Strangers. They did this despite loosing an average of a point per round in busts. Single A class suffered the most from busting and this was a combination of not showing clear separation and bad camera angles. RAFSPA Firefly took the Bronze with a total of 80 points.

VRW is the newest 4-way discipline and for the first time, there was a National Championships running alongside the the FS. 2 teams competed both running neck and neck. Many thanks go to Outbreak and in particular Jim Harris who has pushed hard to get exciting new discipline accepted. The first 3 rounds saw exactly the same points being scored with only camera busts differentiating between the 2 teams. In rounds 4 and 5, NTR were then able to pull ahead 2 points per round to give them the final win. Outbreak Vertical would have won without the camera busts and it goes to show how particularly difficult it is to get good video. Speaking to Dan Parker from Outbreak Vertical afterwards, he mentioned how important it was for the cameraman to move around the formations to show the grips.

Two battles were going on in the AA class between 1st and 2nd and also between 3rd and 4th. It was pleasing to see Phobia win Gold especially after their near misses on the podium over the last 3 years and in addition to taking on a new team member at the beginning of the season. Kaizen were beaten to 2nd place. Liz Ashley broke her leg a few weeks before the Nationals started so Steve Hamilton filled in for her. It would have been interesting to see what the scores would have been if Liz had not sadly been injured.

Frenzy and Phantom fought it out for 3rd place with Frenzy winning by only 2 points. Frenzy also had taken on 2 new team members this season but trained hard putting 100 jumps in.

Finally in the AAA class, everyone knew it would be a battle between Bodyflight Storm and Satori. Both teams had spent long periods of time on training camp with their coaches and in the tunnel. The draw was a slow one with many of the fast random's missing. Slowly but surely Bodyflght Storm started to edge ahead taking a point here and a point there off Satori. In Rounds 8 and 9 this was reversed. However by now all the jumps had been completed and the judges were catching up. Storm won with a resounding 188 points over 10 rounds and Satori took 2nd with 176 points. Congratulations must also go to Fusion just back from the World Championships in France. They redeemed themselves with an average that they felt much happier with here at Skydive Hibaldstow.

Photos and more reviews will posted here soon.

The weather is clearing rapidly at the moment and 10 minute calls have been given. Only a couple of hours are needed to complete this competition, so fingers crossed.

24th August 2008 08:50

Unfortunately this morning, the dropzone is on a weather hold. Its overcast and spitting with rain. However the forecast is due to improve. The judges are working on Round 5 and 6 for just the AAA class. Satori did a 13 on Round 5 with Bodyflight Storm slightly ahead on 14. Round 5 was a slow round.

23rd August 2008 16:35

Well its been a grand day with 115 lifts and most teams completing 8 rounds of competition. AAA still have to do rounds 9 and 10 and that will commence at 9am. A lot of jumpers will be partying tonight and quite a few more are planning their 8-way teams for next weekends 8-way event Nationals.

Swoop the cameraman from Bodyflight Storm has said that he has done more jumps today than at any other World Meet or National Championships. He also said that he wishes his team had not made the cut for Rounds 9 and 10 so that he can party tonight!

There will be another update later with more scores from the judges. They have announced that they will be completing the judging of Round 4 tonight.

23rd August 2008 16:35

After a brief shutdown with one of the Dornier's, everything has started up again. Round 6 is in progress. In the AAA class, Round 3 is being judged. Bodyflight Storm have shot ahead taking 2 points on Satori close behind in second to score 18 points in time. Their Block 22 moves were very accurate.

Lift Green 32 has just been given a 10 minute call and its only 16:35 local time here. A few more hours to go. At this rate many of the classes should complete before the end of the day?

In the A class Exodus have done around 5 hours tunnel this year and are coached by Sparky from Bodyflight Storm. They are fighting it out with Strangers (remember them last year as Strangers in the Night?). In the Grand Prix at Netheravon the battle was even closer.

RAFSPA Firefly is a scratch RAF team with only a handful of jumps together. Nonetheless they did a 10 and an 11. Round 2 where they scored the 11 could have been so much more if they had not lost 6 points of busts there. This has been a common theme amongst some teams and the judges are really emphasising separation and good camera angles here.

The sun is shining brightly and most teams have completed their Round 4. It also seem

s that the prize of who can consistently load the aircraft the fastest will get a slab of beer is a good motivation. Every 4 minutes a load drops.

Judging has been completed on Round 1 and they have just started on Round 2.

All the staff at the top of the eagles nest making sure the jumpers are safe and coordinating the run-ins.

Saco preparing for Round 5.

Team Vision

Springbox just had 3 NJ's unfortunately. Team With No Name in the AA class did a fantastic 8 points. Not bad considering they have not jumped together before Round 1. The top 6 teams are only separated by 5 points.

23rd August 2008 08:15

Each of the aircraft are already on their 5th loads. Storm have just done a clean 16 points on their first round which is a triple block. Wingnutz who are doing their first season as a AAA team did a fine 11 points.

Right on Storm's tail Satori did a 15 with a 16 just a smidgen out of time.

23rd August 2008 06:05

Good morning campers. Dan BC summed up the weather perfectly this morning when he said "we are going to get right into this". Its blue skies.

Sunrise.

Hannah running one of the 3 breakfast bars this morning.

The draw has just been handed out and was drawn live by Karla. Evidently, we are not using the ESL draw as in the last few years. There are 46 teams registered.

See you bright and early for a 7am take off. The AAA and AA class are filling the first loads.

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