posted Sep 12th, 2012 - The Irish 4way community recently celebrated the biggest and best national championship in the country's history of Formation Skydiving competition. Eleven teams came together last weekend and applied the same competition draw that was used at the ESL Championship 2012. Last weekend's overall leaderboard shows how the Irish teams finished compared to the ESL teams.

Two teams were visiting from outside of the Irish island and competed in the AAA Class. Satori White (UK) and DKUK (International), along with Fast Air and The Muppets, made this year's nationals also the biggest competition ever in the AAA Class. The six Rookie Class teams included the very first all female team in Ireland, Ladybirds, and NYOL in the A Class completed the largest field of teams at Irish Nationals.

Ronan Whelan, who competed with The Muppets in the AAA Class, wrote the meet story for the NSL News and provided the photos.

Irish Nationals 2012		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	12,10,14	D,N,21,O	M,17,13	Q,2,9	E,6,15	4,P,19	Total	Avg
1	Fast Air (IE)	9	13	10	14	12	14	72	12.0
2	DKUK	7	13	12	12	12	10	66	11.0
3	Satori White (UK)	7	13	11	11	9	8	59	9.8
4	The Muppets (IE)	9	9	9	12	8	7	54	9.0
Rank	A Class	O,9	D,N,21	M,19	Q,2	E,6	4,P	Total	Avg
1	NYOL (IE)	11	4	9	5	9	3	41	6.8

After coming to terms with the loss of a visiting aircraft at late notice, the teams soon began getting themselves ready for exiting the resident aircraft at the Irish Parachute Club, a Pilatus Porter.

The competition got of to a great start after some mist and fog cleared on Saturday morning with all teams ready to go. Fast Air, who have had it their own way over the last couple years, found themselves in the middle of a dog fight in 2012 and realised as much when the scores from round one were posted, finding themselves tied at the top with The Muppets, while Satori White and DKUK were only two points behind and as they tried to come to terms with the right hand door of the Porter.

With Fast Air, Satori White and DKUK scoring 12-pointers in the second round, all four teams knew that there was a race. The same four teams kept pushing themselves hard, but it was Fast Air's experiance that seemed to be showing them the way as they tagged on points on the other three teams from Round 3 on.

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With the Porter doing its best to replicate a yoyo, it put in a great 30 lifts on Saturday to complete five rounds for all 11 teams.

By this time, Fast Air had put a little day light between them and Satori White and DKUK, with The Muppets holding their own and keeping the other three teams honest. Round 1 was the team's very first jump as a 4way team...

NYOL were the only A Class team and had done well in 2012 up to now, coming 6th at the World Challenge 2012 and 2nd at the UKSL meet at Langer. However, due to different circumstances, this year's Nationals was the first time they jumped together since Langer. They opened brightly in Round 1 and then had to go through a rollercoaster of ups and downs before eventually missing the 10-average target.

Irish Nationals 2012		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Total	Avg
Rank	Rookie	O,K,B	D,N,J	M,H,L	Q,G,C	E,A,O	P,F,D	Total	Avg
1	Tail Spin (IE)	11	7	11	9	12	6	56	9.3
2	Rapid Fire (IE)	3	3	7	7	7	2	29	4.8
3	Ladybirds (IE)	6	2	5	3	5	4	25	4.2
4	The Odd Quad (IE)	5	6	7	1	3	2	24	4.0
5	Gravity Bombs (IE)	3	3	3	5	6	1	21	3.5
6	Undockables (IE)	0	1	3	1	2	5	12	2.0

The Rookie Class battle was just as intense as in the AAA Class, except for the lead. Tail Spin, who had also put in a great show at the World Challenge, showed what some training and commitment can do. They scored a great 11-pointer in the first round and from here never looked back. The 9.3 average would have won the 3rd place for Ireland at the ESL Championship on the same weekend.

The actual battle was behind Tail Spin, where only one point seperated the Ladybirds, Ireland's first ever female team, and the Bedford veterans of The Odd Quad. Those two teams raced each other throughout the whole meet, but behind them, the Gravity Bombs were gathering pace and chasing them hard. After Round 5, only two points seperated the three Rookie Class teams. Roll on Sunday...

The Undockables, who came together for the learning experiance, grew in confidence over the competition and were getting better scores round by round. They actually outscored all other teams except Tail Spin in Round 6.

Rapid Fire were left short on team members the morning of the competition, but with some reorganising they got some help from experienced jumpers to fill the two open slots. This meant they could not win the comp, as one member was not Irish, but with the help of the two experianced jumpers, they felt part of the meet and improved their scores round by round for a very happy end in 2nd place.

With a bad forecast for Sunday, except in the morning, all teams rose early in the hope of getting in a complete Round 6. They would not be waiting too long... Round 6 got off the ground at 8:30 AM and would prove to be very important, as it would be the last round of the meet.

Fast Air performed very strongly and clearly confirmed the lead after the thin 2-point lead over DKUK before Round 6. Satori White had to fend off The Muppets and held their nerve for the 3rd place finish in the AAA Class.

With Tail Spin uncatchable in the Rookie Class, the battle was going to be something else. Gravity Bombs, Odd Quad and Ladybirds went for it in the last round. The judges then helped to build the suspense by holding back the final scores until the medal ceramony. Then the loudest cheers of the weekend came when the Ladybirds were confirmed silver medal winners by only one single point over the Odd Quad, with the brave Gravity Bombs coming in 4th.

Ronan Whelan summarized the Irish Nationals 2012 for the happy teams and competitors: "This was by far one of the best events and competitions ever to be held in Ireland, and a huge thank you to the PAI and the IPC for pulling out all the stops to help make the event what it was, and of course the teams for their great showing."

He said that the future of skydiving in Ireland, and 4way in particular, has never been better: "The scores, when put in with the rest of the results at the ESL Championship, show how well the Irish teams performed. Here is to the future. Can we make 2013 bigger and even better? Watch this space..."