posted Aug 28th, 2017 - The 4-way AAA Class competition at the UK Nationals 2017 was not the only exciting event, due to the qualification for the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2018 in Australia in the Open Class and the Women's category. The competition in the three other events was even closer for the medal positions.

The other British teams did not have the same intensive meet schedule as the six AAA Class teams that had also competed at the FAI World Cup 2017. In fact, several members of the same six teams competed on three consecutive weekends.

They spent the first week in Saarlouis, Germany, where the world cup competition was concluded on Saturday, August 12. They traveled back to the United Kingdom to attend the UK Nationals in 4-way on the August 19 weekend and finished up last weekend with the national championship in 8-way.

Most of the British teams in the other three 4-way categories had only the national championships on the agenda, even though the 2018 season is not over yet. They still have an opportunity for their own international competition at the ESL Championship on the September 23 weekend.

UK Nationals 2017		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class	K,D,M,Q	4,B,21	L,8,14	C,N,15	7,19	G,O,E,13	6,2		Total	Avg
1	Salty Jacks	19	10	9	11	11	13	11	8	92	11.5
2	Pajama Pumas	18	11	11	11	11	11	9	9	91	11.4
3	Vantage	11	9	8	13	11	14	10	11	87	10.9
4	Sausage Addicts	13	9	8	11	7	9	9	7	73	9.1
5	Funtime Piglets	13	10	6	7	9	9	7	5	66	8.3
6	Dive Hard 4.0	11	9	8	6	6	9	8	8	65	8.1

The three teams that won the British AA Class medals this year would be strong enough to collect top ranking scores for the British delegation at the same place where the six AAA Class teams competed earlier this month. The Fallschirmsportzentrum Saarlouis is also hosting the ESL Championship this year, a year after the German 4-way delegation won the ESL Spirit for the first time.

The British ESL delegation took the sword across the Channel the last time in 2014, and the AA Class teams played an important role. Bodyflight Aero (11.9) and Entropy (9.8) placed 1st and 3rd in the Netherlands and contributed heavily to the British total of 30 ESL points that won the ESL Spirit.

Salty Jacks, Pajama Pumas and Vantage fought a serious battle throughout the eight meet rounds in the AA Class in Hibaldstow, which ended with a 1-point difference. Vantage in 3rd place was only five points behind the winner after a very slow start. The strong second half of the meet, with four highscores in the last five of the eight rounds, came too late.

Only the AAA Class teams complete ten rounds at the UK Nationals. Two more rounds could have changed the outcome in the AA Class medal positions.

ESL Championship 2014			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class		18,N,K	4,22	A,M,8	19,20	H,D,11	P,E,14	7,L,O	Q,15,2	Total	Avg
1	Bodyflight Aero	UK	10	10	15	9	15	13	13	10	95	11.9
2	Zoonte	CZ	7	9	9	8	13	11	13	10	80	10.0
3	Entropy	UK	9	8	12	8	8	11	13	9	78	9.8
4	Jump	DE	8	8	8	9	9	8	11	9	70	8.8
5	Gravity Abuse	BE	9	6	10	8	9	10	9	5	66	8.3

HF Flying Circus lifted the winning average at the ESL Championship 2016 to 11.4 after seven rounds. The Czech team has moved up into the AAA Class, while the British AA Class teams are also ranked high in this year's world rankings.

The hosting nation Germany is in the middle of the national championships, and the results will show what the German AA Class teams have to offer this year. The German team Horschd placed 2nd at the ESL Championship 2016.

RAFSPA Lightning and Tyanno4us Rex competed for the British delegation in Saarlouis last year, and Tyanno4us Rex came back to the same place in the AAA Class just a few weeks ago for the world cup competition.

The 11.7 average at the UK Nationals is the new team record including all three categories (A - AA - AAA) that Tyanno4us Rex went through since 2015.

The 11.7 average would be significantly higher compared to the British AAA Class scores last year in Saarlouis...

ESL Championship 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class		M,9,L	4,Q,20	19,15	K,18,6	13,14	22,D,1	O,B,A,21	Total	Avg
1	HF Flying Circus	CZ	20	11	8	9	7	10	15	80	11.4
2	Horschd	DE	17	9	6	10	7	10	14	73	10.4
3	RAFSPA Lightning	UK	16	9	9	7	7	9	14	71	10.1
4	Jetmax	BE	14	9	5	10	4	9	14	65	9.3
5	Tyranno4us Rex	UK	16	7	6	8	5	8	13	63	9.0
6	Blok 43	NL	14	7	7	3	5	8	11	55	7.9
7	Dimension	NL	10	9	4	5	3	6	8	45	6.4