posted May 25th, 2009 - The scores from France were the first ones arriving at the NSL headquarters.

IPC Delegate and 1st Vice-President Gillian Winter, who was also the Chief Judge of the first Coupe de France 2009 competition, provided the scores and additional information.

She reported that the host used three jump planes, a Casa, a Pilatus Porter and a Twin Otter. The weather was in favor of the competition, and the French teams completed all rounds well in time.

She added that it was the first Formation Skydiving competition where France included the Vertical 4-way event. Only one team participated, but three teams have already signed up for the Coupe de France meet in July.

The host also provided two coaches who were helping the teams to prepare for their jumps - Damien Sorlin and Martiel Ferré. Both are 4-way and 8-way veterans with gold medals at world meets who recently joined the new French 8-way lineup for the next year's world meet in Russia. They also organized a 40-way for the participants when the competition was completed.

Gillian Winter explained that Damien Sorlin and Martiel Ferré were available for coaching since the members of the French national teams do not participate in the French Cup competitions. She said that winners of the AAA Class competition in France are the team who have been on top of the French league for some time now: the Monaco Parachute Team.

She added that this team includes two former national 8-way team members, Didier Boignon and Jeff Ronzevalle, who also won the 8-way competition last weekend. The NSL News had introduced this very unique lineup already with the story on 18 May 2007 (Archives > 2007 > News > Search for "Monaco").

Didier Boignon and Jeff Ronzevalle competed with the French national 8-way teams between 1986 and 1992 and won gold medals together at several world cups in that time period. They joined forces with two younger "amateur skydivers", Laurent Hayot and Stéphane Mattoni, with the goal of competing at meets in France.

This goal changed after a while when the Monaco team finished on top of the 4-way field in France that was not part of the national teams. Eventually, the Monaco Parachute Team already represented France at the ESL Championship 2007 and placed 2nd behind Hayabusa Defence.

The same lineup continued in 2008 and attended the Coupe de France events, which were hammered by bad weather. Once again, Monaco finished as the best "amateur team" behind the national lineups at the French Nationals 2008. This time, Didier Boignon, Laurent Hayot, Stephane Mattoni, Jeff Ronzevalle and Claude Ferraro on camera traveled even much farther for the last meet of the 2008 season. They competed at the USPA Nationals 2008 in Eloy.

They have obviously enjoyed the international competition, as the NSL News met the Monaco team again earlier this year, once again away from France. The Monaco Parachute Team had traveled to Bedford and competed at the World Challenge 2009.

This was not even the first competition for the team this year. The Monaco team had already attended the Aerokart Indoor Championship 2009 in Paris, France.

The World Challenge 2009 was the second indoor competition for the French team this year.

The outdoor veterans had attended their very first indoor competition at last year's Aerokart event in Paris and increased their average by two points (16.0 - 18.0) between 2008 and 2009. Last weekend's Coupe de France competition was the first outdoor competition for Monaco this year.

Didier Boignon and Jeff Ronzevalle are still just as passionate about 4-way competition as they were at the time when they represented the best of the best in the world between 1986 and 1992. The NSL News had the opportunity to spend some time with the Monaco team in Bedford.

The team continues to make great plans for this year and for the near future. The goals don't include any longer gold medals at world meets. However, the team is still very competitive and enjoys the meets and the trips.

And by the way: 29 AAA Class teams have posted their scores so far, most of them from overseas, as the US teams have a long weekend with the Memorial Day vacation. The Monaco Parachute Team is still on the top of the AAA Class leaderboard, while the NSL News is waiting for the missing US scores. They still are competitive...