posted Feb 26th, 2012 - The NSL News story on 4 February 2012 pointed out an exciting 8way battle between a French and a US team in the 8way competition at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championships 2012. Bonjour Blue Sky and the new Paraclete XP8 lineup were in a race for the 3rd place throughout the whole meet.

The Golden Knights were in a league of their own on the very top of the leaderboard, and XPX8, the second Paraclete 8way team with the high-profile lineup, had no competition for the 2nd place either.

Bonjour Blue Sky, with the reigning 8way world champions Martial Ferre and Damien Sorlin as player coaches, had a serious race for the 3rd place with Paraclete XP8, where Kirk Verner and John D'Annunzio have two player coach positions.

The new NSL-TV video clip features both teams with their Round 9, plus a few extra scenes. The second half of the clip is a live NSL Talk with Martial Ferre and Damien Sorlin and two young 8way team members after the end of the 8way competition.

Paraclete XP Indoor 2012		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	8way	11,12,1	13,4,F	J,G,P,K,8	B,A,Q,15	D,16,19	21,E,17	10,O,3	6,9,M	C,18,L,H	22,N,2	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights Gold	33	27	28	38	29	23	28	25	31	27	289	28.9
2	XPX8	27	23	22	29	24	17	25	21	23	24	235	23.5
3	Bonjour Blue Sky	23	21	20	25	20	18	22	19	21	15	204	20.4
4	Paraclete XP8	22	22	18	23	20	15	21	20	18	19	198	19.8

The video clip begins with a few seconds of Search and Destroy, one of the other two French 8way lineups with Formation Skydiving veterans Paul Langlade and Francois Burgaud. Prof. Dr. Hanshelmut Thiele from Germany, father of Paratec-Saar brothers Max and Jörn Thiele, followed the NSL News updates of the Paraclete XP event coverage and provided additional information, along with his best wishes to the French 8way competitors who competed at the same time when he was active with the German teams:

"We used to have great fun together. By the way, there was no 8way competition in 1975. Paul Langlade was in the French 10way team that won the bronze medals at the World Meet 1975 in Warendorf, Germany. The attached photo shows his team during exit practice at the European Cup in 1974 in Innsbruck, Austria."

The first clip of the video also shows Kirk Verner in action with the new Paraclete XP8 lineup. He has a very powerful style, and the NSL News got a few words from him right after he came out of the flying chamber at the end of the competition.

The live NSL Talk with the French competitors had the situation of the French national 4way and 8way teams as the main topic. Martial Ferre's brother Marin is coaching the 4way lineup, Aerodyne Aerokart. Mathieu and Guillaume Bernier, Julien Degen and Emmanuel "Manu" Sarrazin try to defend the French 4way gold medals this year at the World Meet in Dubai. They also try to win the 8way competition for the 4th time with the Aerodyne Maubeuge lineup at the same competition.

Martial Ferre's brother Marin had his own double gold attempt at the World 2003 in France where he won 4way gold medals. Martial Ferre tried to help the family effort in 8way, and the brothers lost against Russia and Airspeed. They tried together again in Menzelinsk 2010 and succeeded this time. Martial Ferre won gold in 8way, and Marin Ferre coached the French 4way team to gold medals as the official alternate. 4way member Mathieu Bernier became the one and only Formation Skydiving competitor in history who won both gold medals at the same event.

This year, all four French 4way members try to win both gold medals, and it will not be easier than it was in 2003. In fact, both US teams, Arizona Airspeed in 4way and Golden Knights in 8way, are actually the top contenders in both events, and they focus only on one event each. The long 2012 season offers the French delegation at least the opportunity to get more training in both events. It will still be extremely difficult to accomplish the double gold challenge this year.