posted Jul 3rd, 2012 - A special event took place not even two weeks ago in France, and Aerodyne Deep Blue Defender Perrine Sanchez provided the NSL News with the details: "It was a long wait. Last year, Patrick Boulongne FINALLY asked Sophie Deremaux if she wanted to marry him. After six years, Sophie Deremaux thought that marriage wasn’t really something Patrick Boulongne was interested in. So she didn’t expect it anymore. However, she did not hesitate a second when it was eventually time to say yes."

"The next step into a more private and personal world came when Sophie Deremaux decided to discontinue her international skydiving career for France in order to have more time for her personal, professional and love life after ten years of hard work to become a world champion. The "Queen of the to do list" could check off one task: World Champion."

"Her very special day came on Saturday, June 23rd, 2012, and took place in Merville, a charming village near Toulouse. The weather was perfect: blue skies, no wind, paradise - Merville."

"The ceremonies began in the morning with the official marriage at town hall. This is usually a short event - but not this time. Pierre Deremaux, Sophie’s father, had prepared a surprise celebration to begin the special day in style. He works for the town hall and could set up a big place, side by side with the official city representative, to read the articles of marriage."

"Mr. Deremaux made a touching and funny speech. He said that he was happy to unite the two and proved to Patrick that numbers talk by themselves. According to the Deremaux family statistics over five generations they should have between two and six children within the next nine years."

"This important message passed well. Sophie Deremaux and Patrick Boulongne signed the certificate and were married a few minutes later in full view of the witnesses: Sophie's Deep Blue team mate Bérangère Duplouy, Patrick's former team mate Guillaume Bajolet, and two other skydiving competitors, Valérie Allemand and Christophe Homehr."

"The celebrations then continued at a nice hotel with a swimming pool where the 180 guests could rest, have fun, talk and eat, while waiting for the religious ceremony, which was scheduled for 3 pm in a church nearby."

Perrine Sanchez recalls the details of the wedding ceremony in the church: "There we could see Sophie, in a voluptuous dress, walking at her father’s arm to beaming Patrick, with Gospel music playing. The ceremony was really beautiful, lead by a priest who personalized his blessings drawing parallels between marriage principles and skydiving."

Those surprising skydiving blessings were very well received by the audience which was largely composed of skydivers. However, it turned out not to be so surprising when Perrine Sanchez learned that the priest was one of Sophie Deremaux's former AFF students. Eventually they gave each other the "Yes" and the kisses and exchanged the rings, which was a tough job for Sophie. She was laughing with the audience when she had a hard time putting the ring on Patrick’s finger. Then it was then time to celebrate for the whole audience. The guests walked to a castle nearby for the “vin d’honneur”, which offered a perfect scenerie for beautiful photos with fabulous gardens and a labyrinth. The guest list included 50 regular skydivers and 36 tandem passengers. Another 20 guests are now ready to try a tandem jump...

Perrine Sanchez said that all disciplines were represented at the party, with VFS 4way expert Roland Garnier, Freeflyer Jean-Christophe Cambreleng, and of course Deep Blue and Defenders, including Accuracy expert Laurence Hervé. Patrick Boulongne himself is a world class Canopy Pilot and 4way competitor. She added that "Deep Blue transformed in Deep Green for the special occasion..."

Aerokart Indoor 2012		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	10,9,3	4,Q,F,22	B,E,11,19	8,15,A	16,H,20	D,K,L,C,18	P,21,J,14	O,17,N,5	12,M,G,6	13,2,7	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	31	33	33	30	30	39	32	45	32	26	331	33.1
2	Aerodyne Aerokart	31	34	35	27	30	38	32	45	29	27	328	32.8
3	Aerokart Maubeuge	27	28	31	24	25	35	29	35	26	22	282	28.2
4	Thunder	25	29	28	24	24	35	28	38	25	23	279	27.9
5	Deep Blue Aerokart	25	26	27	21	24	31	27	37	24	21	263	26.3
6	Aerodyne Deep Blue D.	25	25	27	21	24	29	24	36	22	21	254	25.4

The wedding dinner was next, and Perrine Sanchez provided some of the details, as well: "It was delicious and punctuated with interventions by friends, family and witnesses. Speeches, choreographies, photos and videos, sometimes amusing, sometimes touching, all testifying of friendship, love, respect and excellence about the two of them. Knowing Sophie and Patrick, humor was of course present."

The party lasted almost all night, and the last guests left after 4 am. Next day, all guests were invited for a brunch at the same place, to share some more time with the newlyweds before going back to the four corners of France and the world.

Sophie Deremaux could now check off another task on her list, as Perrine Sanchez noted: "Marriage = Check..."

She also added a personal note for her former team mate: "I want to thank them again for inviting me, and I wish them more and more happiness if it is possible."

Last, but not least at all, was another topic related to Sophie's check list: "I let you check this item when it will be done: Baby = ???"

It will probably not take too long for Sophie Deremaux and Patrick Boulongne to get to this task. Even the priest suggested this next step during his skydiving related blessings: "It seems Boulongne-Deremaux babies are really expected pretty soon."

It would be no big surprise if it happened quickly. Her Deep Blue team mates Françoise Simons-Hamouchi and Bérangère Duplouy were pregnant less than half a year after winning the gold medals in Menzelinsk 2010. They even took their babies into a competition at the Dubai Championship in January 2011. Then they came back to compete for Deep Blue at the Aerokart Indoor Championship 2012 and posted a 26.3 average - with substitute Patrick Boulongne in a lineup of two mothers and a newly wed couple. How long can it take...?