posted Feb 1st, 2015 - The aftermath of the Wind Games 2015 was not complete with the InTime videos that followed the usual event coverage. The Sun Path Products NSL News also discussed the competition with NMP-PCH Hayabusa coach Gary Smith a few days after his arrival at home.

Gary Smith, 4-way world champion of 2004 (DeLand Majik) and 2006 (DeLand Fire), was not only coaching Hayabusa in Empuriabrava. He also competed once again with Voodoo at the same time. He said that the coaching job was more important, as Voodoo will most likely have Liz Matthews back in the lineup later this year.

His team was reminding him jokingly that Voodoo was scoring higher with Liz Matthews anyway. Gary Smith is also training, coaching and competing with the Dutch national 8-way team M8trix and will represent the Netherlands at the nexy world meet.

Wind Games 2015		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open	C,17,6	3,4,M	F,11,15	D,2,5	J,13,N,K	Q,1,O,P	19,22,B	10,7,9	14,G,H,16	L,E,8,12	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa (BE)	33(-1)	28	31	32	32	36(-1)	28	29	29	26(-1)	304(-3)	30.4
2	Arizona Airspeed (US)	32(-1)	30	30	29	34	32(-5)	24(-3)	30	29	24(-3)	294(-12)	29.4

Videos: NMP-PCH Hayabusa at the Wind Games and NSL Talk with Gary Smith

Gary Smith said that his coaching job for NMP-PCH Hayabusa was mostly the supervision of goal setting for each day and then each round. There was not much engineering and technical advice necessary, as the team came well prepared to the competition.

However, the technical side of the meet was still very interesting. The top teams are watching each other very carefully and compare their techniques and continuity plans. Gary Smith said that Arizona Airspeed has a significant advantage at the moment, as Hayabusa is still working Jeroen "Bob" Nollet into the Hayabusa continuity plan.

Hayabusa's engineering options are limited at this point in time. The new team member has to feel confident about the negineering of each sequence to be able to keep up with the speed. Airspeed on the other hand has new engineering options with Tail Thiago Gomes coming from the Point slot and Point Niklas Hemlin being very familiar with the rear piece. Gary Smith explained some of the examples at the Wind Games.

NMP-PCH Hayabusa will compete at the World Challenge 2015 after more indoor and outdoor training. Gary Smith is hoping that the team will be ready for the next step in broadening the engineering options and the continuity plan in Bedford.

He thinks that his team is stronger at indoor meets and that Arizona Airspeed still has the upper hand at outdoor meets. He reminded on the results of the 5th Dubai International Parachuting Championship where Evolution outscored the Belgians at the most recent outdoor competition.

Gary Smith also recalled some of the injuries at the Wind Games that included one of his own team mates, Vana Parker, who went home with two black eyes. Then he elaborated on the situation of DeLand Majik and DeLand Fire who both had to get past Arizona Airspeed to become 4-way world champions. He is now coaching Airspeed's opponent NMP-PCH Hayabusa, while his former team mate Shannon Pilcher tries to guide SDC Rhythm XP to the same results. They both know that the road to the US and the world titles still has the same biggest obstacle: Arizona Airspeed...