posted Jan 11th, 2010 - There is obviously much less drama in the female 4-way competition in Dubai. In fact, there is no drama, and it was not expected to be any different than that.

The competition is still a great opportunity to see how the French national team, Aerokart Deep Blue Maubeuge, performs at this point in time. Deep Blue already clearly dominated the female 4-way competition at the World Cup 2009. There was actually just as little competition for the team in the Czech Republic as there is now in Dubai.

The two other top contenders in the world, Team Bodyflight with former Bodyflight Storm and other UK female world champions and US team Spaceland Blue, competed neither at the World Cup nor traveled to Dubai. CYPRES rep Rob "Dutch" Kendall uploaded the videos of Deep Blue's first two rounds, which show once again a very strong French team.

Team Bodyflight and Spaceland Blue will surely make it more challenging for Deep Blue later this year. They would probably have pushed the German Chicas and the Empuria Gatas out of the money positions in Dubai. However, the French team has a big head start and would take the $20,000 back to France, no matter which teams competed this week.

A closer look at the videos of the first two rounds shows that the French scores on the leaderboard don't even reflect the real strength of the team. Deep Blue struggles with the exits from the Bell 212 helicopter just as much as the other teams.

The Piver of Block 22 in Round 1 did not fly very well and needed some time to settle. This had an advantage though, as team videographer Christophe Chekroun was able to capture the first formation of the sequence.

He was not able to keep the first formations of Round 2 clearly in the frame for the judges. The NSL News has no information how many points got lost in the judging room, but it was a pretty good damage. Deep Blue's raw score was much closer to the top scores of the Open Class teams than the official 20-pointer on the leaderboard.

The video of Round 3 has not been available so far. However, it seems as if the 16-pointer is also below the actual performance level and may include point deductions and/or exit problems.

Deep Blue will compete at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2010. The scores of the outdoor competition in DeLand will probably provide the first realistic picture of the French team in 2010. For now, Deep Blue will enjoy the walk in the Dubai park and exchange $20,000 into Francs after eight rounds.