posted Feb 16th, 2004 - The coverage of the NSL Cloud Mondial 2020 begins on Monday with the 8-way competition, and the best 4-way teams in the world will follow up later next week. There is still enough time to add some more information of the reigning 4-way world champions and their challengers.

NMP PCH HayaBusa has been the dominating indoor and outdoor 4-way team since 2014, and the NSL News is once again going back into the archives to explore the team's very beginnings. The recent update on October 21st included a preview of the 4-way regime change in Belgium in 2004.

The story provided more information about the Belgian national 4-way team before HayaBusa took over. It was posted on 9 February 2004, and the NSL News followed up a week later with the introduction of the challenger, the HayaBusa lineup of 2004.

HayaBusa were only the national challenger in Belgium at that time. However, brothers David and Andy Grauwels knew by then that they were after more than that, and their team mates Sven Ibens and Roy Janssen shared the high goals. Ten years later, in Prostejov 2014, they won their first FAI world championship title with new member Dennis Praet. Another six years later, they are now trying to win their 4th FAI gold medals next year at the FAI Mondial 2020.

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NSL Cloud Mondial 2020			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		22,21,M	5,C,J,H	7,3,6	10,E,9	18,L,B,F	D,20,15	17,P,A,1	8,Q,12	N,13,K,11	G,14,O,2	4,19,16	Total	Avg
-	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	SDC Rhythm XP	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Arizona Airspeed	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Qatar Tigers	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Paraclete XPG4	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Out of the Blue	NL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Airbus Illertissen	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	CTR Optimum	BR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	SDC RhEvolution XP	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Ayro	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

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NSL News update on 16 February 2004: Did you know that Hayabusa challenges the defending champion in Belgium this year?

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Today is a good opportunity to finish the Belgian story before the scores of the season opener in Eloy will arrive at the NSL headquarters and keep the NSL News busy. The story of the tough Belgium 4-way competition to be expected this year still misses the introduction of the challenger. The NSL News of February 9th covered the history of the Belgium 4-way competition and the situation of the defending champion, NMPV, the Belgium Army team. Team Hayabusa is getting ready to stop or at least interrupt the dominance of the current Belgian national team. The chances are better than ever before.

Hayabusa was formed in October 2002 and consists of Andy Grauwels (point, age: 19), David Grauwels (outside center, age: 23), Roy Janssen (tail, age: 25), Sven Ibens (center inside, age: 33) and Bruno Vandeneede (camera, age: 30). Ibens has been actively involved in forming the Belgium Skydiving Trophy (BST) and the European Skydiving League together with Willy Boykens. His team participated in the BST 2003 season and won the first European Skydiving League championship in September 2003. This event was synchronized with the NSL Playoffs 2003. Hayabusa took the second place behind DeLand Majik with a 15.1 average in the 10-round meet.

The result at the ESL Championship 2003 was not the highest score for the young Belgian team. Hayabusa had already posted a 15.8 average at the Belgium national championship after approx. 150 training jumps in 2002 and 2003 and a few windtunnel hours in Paris, France. Training headquarters for the team was Maubeuge, home town of the French national 4-way team and current world champion. However, Hayabusa did not take much advantage of the French expertise and went mostly their own ways. 2003 was supposed to be just a trial year for the new team.

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ESL Championship 2003			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		15,18,Q	3,C,O,11	H,2,19	B,21,6	16,12,14	10,5,L	4,F,G,E	20,K,1	8,D,A,J	N,13,7	Total	Avg
1	Spa Hayabusa	BE	13	17	18	12	14	12	20	10	20	15	151	15.1
2	De Jokers	NL	11	12	15	15	11	13	17	12	16	15	137	13.7
3	Südwest	DE	10	13	13	13	11	13	16	12	15	15	131	13.1
4	FILA	AT	11	12	12	14	10	12	15	11	10	14	121	12.1
5	Pushing Air	BE	11	7	10	14	10	11	15	11	9	12	110	11.0
6	Diva	BE	10	10	10	12	9	8	12	7	11	10	99	9.9
7	North Face	NL	8	8	9	11	7	8	11	8	10	9	89	8.9
8	Sonic Air	BE	8	4	10	11	9	10	12	9	7	8	88	8.8
9	Albtraum	DE	7	8	11	10	9	5	10	9	9	8	86	8.6
10	Phos4	DE	8	8	9	10	7	7	9	5	10	7	80	8.0
11	Play Outside	NL	5	8	9	9	6	5	7	6	9	7	71	7.1
12	Rockdrop	DE	6	6	8	7	4	3	7	5	7	6	59	5.9

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The first season was at least as successful as expected. It was not difficult for the team to commit for another year. Hayabusa's talent and potential seem to promise significantly higher scores for the new and second team season. The chances to win the national championship and qualify for the 2004 world meet are also very real this year and made it easier for the team members to continue with the efforts. The defending champion, NMPV, had personnel changes and currently rebuilds the team, while Hayabusa has exactly the same 2003 lineup for the 2004 season.

The commitment and plans for the new year were made early enough in 2003 to allow at least some training efforts during the quiet European winter. Hayabusa has already spent five hours in the windtunnel in Paris, France, since the end of the 2003 season. One tunnel hour per month has kept the team in shape during the time when team training is not possible in Belgium. The February camp at Skydive DeLand, side by side with their Belgian 2004 rival, was Hayabusa's first training camp after the ESL Championship 2003. It added 25 team jumps and additional five SkyVenture Orlando tunnel hours in the team's logbook.

Hayabusa is planning to complete 200 training jumps and has scheduled additional tunnel time in Paris, France, before the qualification event in June 2004. The training efforts depend directly on the financial situation of the team members. Hayabusa is a weekend team, and the individuals are fully responsible for the team's budget. The Belgium skydiving association will cover the costs of the national team for the trip to Croatia this year. However, both teams have to win the qualification event first before this resource can be used.

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Belgium Skydiving League June 2004		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	17,C,2	21,1,18	D,G,J,22	5,16,P	12,3,M	9,F,E,O	11,7,10	8,20,B	Total	Avg
1	Hayabusa	19	15	21	18	12	32	16	15	148	18.5
2	NMPV	17	13	16	15	5	27	13	14	120	15.0
3	Diva Lapalisse	11	11	14	12	11	21	11	11	102	12.8
4	Sonic Air	12	7	12	11	9	8	9	9	77	9.6
5	Joint Venture	9	7	9	8	6	14	8	6	67	8.4
Rank	A Class	C,2	21,19	D,G,J	8,6	4,M	9,F	E,7	P,O,B	Total	Avg
1	Sparks	8	5	10	3	6	12	11	13	68	8.5
2	Les Ours bleus	8	7	7	5	0	9	10	10	56	7.0
3	Vlakmonauti	4	2	6	6	3	8	11	10	50	6.3
4	A.S.A.P.	3	7	0	7	7	3	8	5	40	5.0
5	Black & Blue	9	1	1	0	6	6	10	0	33	4.1
6	Sparada	5	3	0	3	0	6	5	10	32	4.0
7	No Contact	1	0	3	1	1	5	3	4	18	2.3
Rank	Rookie	E,C,D	O,G,J	B,P,M	E,F,K	O,H,A	B,L,N	E,Q,C	O,D,P	Total	Avg
1	Sky Rockets	1	1	1	1	5	1	2	2	14	1.8
2	Puzzle	1	0	4	0	1	2	1	1	10	1.3

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The situation in Belgium is very interesting. NMPV has to rebuild the team and can count on the resources and the support provided by the Belgian Army. Hayabusa has limited resources and the same lineup with a lot of talent. Two of the current NMPV members already posted an 18.2 average at last year's world meet. The two new NMPV members are coming from a 13.2 average level. The calculator says that NMPV would begin around a 15.7 average level. This is almost exactly the scoring level where Hayabusa finished the 2003 season. The numbers seem to promise a very exciting race for the qualification of the Belgian national team for 2004.

The Hayabusa team members are fully aware of this situation. They are still realistic enough to see that the future will probably belong to the Army team with the better resources. However, 2004 might become a great journey for the team that they plan to enjoy as much as possible. The stops on this journey alone are exciting enough. Hayabusa will once again fully participate in the Belgian and European Skydiving League events. The qualification meet in June is one of the BSL/ESL competitions of the 2004 season. The NSL News will surely get back to the Belgian story at that time. Hayabusa has the French Cup and the Belgium national championship in July on the team schedule, as well.

Looking at the team's busy meet schedule, Hayabusa obviously knows and values a lot of competition experience. If training and meet practice work out well, then the season will not be over for Hayabusa before the end of September. The trip to the world meet in Croatia could finish the 2004 Hayabusa season with a very happy ending. Another interesting aspect of the Belgian race between NMPV and Hayabusa to the world meet at the Mediterranean coast is the fact that both teams are using DeLand Majik coaches. Joey Jones is working his second season with the Army team, while Hayabusa hired Doug Park for the DeLand camp. One of the teams will definitely meet their coach in Croatia and compete against him. Who will it be?