posted Jul 23rd, 2018 - The three meets of the United Kingdom Skydiving League were still not the end of opportunities for British 4-way teams to get ready for the national championships.

Skydive Hibaldstow, once again host of the UK Nationals 2018, invited teams to the Hib Cup last weekend, and 13 teams showed up to complete the six scheduled rounds. Several teams of the Midwest Skydiving League were ready at Skydive Midwest in the United States to take on the British teams and were completely weathered out for the whole weekend.

However, the British leaderboard alone provided enough new and interesting information, especially in the AAA Class this time. Pineapple Jesus had a comeback with a new and very young family member after a long break. The UK Nationals 2015 was the last competition for the AAA Class team that has posted scores in the United Kingdom since 2013.

Pickup team Some Mathers do Av Em, with Satori XL member Peter "Taf" Mathers, former Eros member Cath Leather, NFTO member Debbie Lamsley and Jeremy Price of the Dynamite Wolf Squadron, gave Pineapple Jesus a tight 1-point battle at a comeback without previous training.

Hib Cup 2018		1		2		3		4		5		6		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	B,N,J,10		C,9,P,Q		18,13,H		A,15,L,6		3,17,M		14,11,21		Total	Avg
1	NFTO	23	-1	31	-1	16		19		19	-1	14	-1	122	20.3
2	Some Mathers do Av Em	12	-4	20	-4	10		14		11	-2	8	-3	75	12.5
3	Pineapple Jesus	14		17		10		14		10	-1	9		74	12.3
Rank	AA Class	B,N,J,6		C,9,P		18,13		A,15,L		21,4		14,11		Total	Avg
1	Alola	12		15		9		11		9		8		64	10.7
2	Draconis	12	-1	14		7		10		10		8		61	10.2
3	Anti Climax	11		11		5	-1	9	-1	9		9		54	9.0
4	Satori XS	7	-2	12	-2	7		9		10		5		50	8.3
Rank	A Class	B,N,J		C,9		H,Q,M		A,L,6		21,4		D,G,K		Total	Avg
1	Average Joes	12		12		16		8		7		7		62	10.3
2	Imperial Leather	11		8		6	-1	5	-1	5	-1	-		35	7.0
Rank	Rookie	B,N,J		C,F,P		H,Q,M		A,L,O		E,B,C		D,G,K		Total	Avg
1	4Reigners	0		12		12		7		11		6		48	8.0
2	Jersey Beans	5	-2	8		8		7	-1	5		9		42	7.0
3	Pick n Mix	7		5		5		3	-1	7		5		32	5.3
4	Happy Kamls	0		0		0		0		2		1		3	0.5

Debbie Lamsley has actually turned into a former NFTO member, as she left the British national team in 4-way Women after the UKSL May meet this year. She trained and competed with NFTO since the beginning of the 2017 season, when Vana Parker and Anna Hicks came back from the world meet season with two new members, Catherine Anderson and Debbie Lamsley.

The new NFTO 2017 lineup did not improve the 17.5 outdoor average that the previous lineup (Anna Hicks, Vana Parker, Ane Brentford, Maria Russell, with Simon Brentford on camera) posted at the FAI Mondial 2016 where the British team won the bronze medals in 4-way Women.

However, the latest personnel change was promising with the 20.3 average that the team posted last weekend in Hibaldstow.

It was a 6-round meet with two fast sequences at the beginning of the competition, and the 31-pointer for the fastest sequence of the meet in Round 2 (C,9,P,Q) was a new team record at an outdoor competition.

World Challenge 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		D,B,6,22	12,E,17	20,G,C,10	N,M,15,H	Q,19,K,4	8,21,L	P,9,J,7	O,11,1	13,A,16	3,18,5	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	33	29	29	46	34	28	47	28	28	29	331	33.1
2	Weembi Lille	FR	33	31	29	43	35	28	46	29	29	27	330	33.0
3	French Weembi Girls	FR	30	29	28	38	32	24	43	28	26	25	303	30.3
4	RealFly-Sion	FR	29	29	26	38	31	26	42	27	24	23	295	29.5
5	SDC Rhythm XP	US	29	26	24	37	30	26	40	27	24	23	286	28.6
6	Gavroche Weembi	FR	27	26	23	35	29	23	39	23	21	21	267	26.7
7	IFS-Moscow	RU	26	26	23	35	29	21	40	24	24	18	266	26.6
7	Espoir Saumur Weembi	FR	27	26	23	33	28	23	37	24	23	22	266	26.6
9	Volition	UK	25	24	19	34	23	21	36	24	22	21	249	24.9
10	ISR FireFlash	BE	25	21	21	33	23	21	35	22	21	20	242	24.2
11	Chimera	UK	27	21	22	35	24	21	32	23	18	18	241	24.1
12	Amnesya Fly-In	IT	25	22	20	35	25	21	34	21	17	19	239	23.9
13	NFTO	UK	20	22	21	29	26	20	32	22	21	18	231	23.1
14	ACM	UK	25	15	18	31	25	19	34	21	21	20	229	22.9
15	Tenanine	MR	23	19	21	28	23	21	28	21	21	20	225	22.5
16	Pro Team	FI	23	20	16	32	22	21	30	22	19	18	223	22.3
17	Savoodoo	ZA	22	20	17	31	22	18	33	18	19	17	217	21.7
18	HF Flying Circus	CZ	20	18	16	28	19	18	29	19	17	15	199	19.9
19	Antimatter	UK	21	18	17	23	20	17	25	19	17	15	192	19.2
20	Flyspot Sky4four	PL	21	14	16	23	22	18	27	19	16	15	191	19.1
21	Flyzone Les Affranchise	FR	17	16	17	25	19	16	26	18	16	15	185	18.5
22	Aladeen	HU	18	17	15	22	18	15	29	16	16	15	181	18.1
23	JETMAX	BE	17	15	17	24	17	15	24	18	15	15	177	17.7
24	Equinox	LT	18	15	16	23	20	15	25	15	15	12	174	17.4
25	Corbas Coyotes JCM	FR	17	16	17	20	20	16	20	18	13	14	171	17.1
26	Eros	UK	17	16	17	24	14	16	25	17	12	12	170	17.0
27	H4O	IE	17	15	14	20	18	15	23	17	15	14	168	16.8
28	Formihyrodynamitevisionx	UK	16	12	16	22	19	16	24	16	14	11	166	16.6
29	Skyfool	UK	18	15	15	21	17	15	23	17	13	10	164	16.4
30	HF Skycentrum	CZ	16	11	14	21	17	15	20	15	14	13	156	15.6
31	Nova	SE	15	13	13	18	16	13	19	12	12	12	143	14.3
32	Quasar	UK	15	11	12	14	15	12	20	14	10	10	133	13.3
32	Mental BloX	UK	15	11	11	17	12	12	21	13	11	10	133	13.3

Sian Stokes is the new team member and replaces Debbie Lamsley in the tail slot. The personnel change will surely not weaken the NFTO performance. In fact, Sian Stokes has outscored all other NFTO members in the past and will probably make the team only stronger.

NFTO and Sian Stokes have been opponents for several years and now joined forces for the first time. Sian Stokes was a member of the British indoor team Volition who finished ahead of NFTO at British indoor events and qualified as the national indoor team in 4-way Women for the FAI Indoor World Meet 2017 in Montreal, Canada, where Volition won the silver medals for the UK delegation.

Sian Stokes has also been ahead of NFTO at outdoor meets. She trained and competed with Team 4mula between 2014 and 2016 and won silver medals at the UK Nationals in 2015 and 2016, always ahead of NFTO. Then she left Team 4mula to focus on her indoor goal with Volition in 2017.

Volition had no plans for the 2018 season, and Sian Stokes was available when Debbie Lamsley decided to step back after the UKSL May meet. The new lineup could not have hoped for a better start than the 20.3 average last weekend, and the goal to turn the bronze medals of 2016 into silver in Australia has become even more realistic...