posted May 3rd, 2017 - The first national outdoor championship event of the 2017 season was not the South African Nationals, where Savolo successfully defended the 4-way title last week. There was an earlier competition that generated this year's first national 4-way champion.

The winner is also well known in the Formation Skydiving community. Rotor Out has been the Australian national 4-way team for many years and collected another title in March.

The Australian Nationals 2017 were not the qualification event for the FAI World Meet 2018 on home turf in Gold Coast. Rotor Out still has to win again next year, even though there does not seem to be any serious opposition in sight at this point in time.

Rotor Out copied the 17.6 average that won the Australian Nationals last year before the same lineup competed at the FAI Mondial 2016 and finished with a 16.6 average in 12th place.

Australian Nationals 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		22,14,6	19,13,12	5,18,2	L,N,A,K,16	J,D,M,O,8	11,20,C	9,3,21	E,P,H,15	7,4,17	F,B,1,10	Total	Avg
1	Rotor Out	AU	12	14	14	23	23	16	17	24	16	17	176	17.6
2	L'Attitude	AU	10	10	10	14	18	11	5	15	11	15	119	11.9

The Sun Path Products NSL News had reported the 2-point battle with Denmark's Pangaea on 9 December 2016, which included the videos of the ten competition rounds at Skydive Chicago.

The new Rotor Out videos from the national championships feature a different lineup though. 2016 member Michael Strickland did not come back for the 2017 season and original Rotor Out member Stephanie Vaughan stepped in for the nationals.

Rotor Out had completed only seven training jumps and two hours of indoor training since the FAI Mondial 2017. Plan was to add a few more jumps at the competition site prior to the meet. However, Rotor Out member George Attard had to withdraw due to a family emergency situation just the day before training and competition were scheduled.

Fortunately, Rotor Out 2012 member Gary Nemirovsky was available to fly the point slot for George Attard on a very short call.

FAI Mondial 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		12,A,16	18,15,O	1,F,E,C	17,B,14	10,2,20	21,11,G	J,5,19	L,M,K,7	D,8,4	3,13,Q	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	24	25	35	26	19	22	27	39	23	22	262	26.2
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	21	23	31	26	18	22	27	40	23	23	254	25.4
3	France	FR	21	20	30	21	18	21	27	39	21	20	238	23.8
4	Black Cat	RU	22	20	30	24	17	21	24	33	21	19	231	23.1
5	Qatar Tigers	QA	21	20	30	24	17	20	23	36	17	18	226	22.6
6	Evolution	CA	20	18	29	24	16	18	23	32	18	16	214	21.4
7	Satori XL	UK	18	19	27	24	16	18	22	30	18	18	210	21.0
8	Airbus	DE	16	18	29	19	15	18	22	29	14	19	199	19.9
9	Savolo	ZA	15	15	25	19	14	15	16	28	17	15	179	17.9
10	Final Fire	AT	16	15	25	17	12	16	18	29	17	13	178	17.8
11	Ex3mo	IT	18	15	21	18	13	14	19	25	17	14	174	17.4
12	Rotor Out	AU	16	16	24	14(-3)	13	16	18(-1)	22(-2)	14(-2)	13(-1)	166	16.6
13	Pangaea	DK	15(-1)	16	24	19	11(-1)	13	16(-2)	25(-2)	12(-2)	13	164	16.4
14	China	CN	14	15	21	15	12	11	16	24	12	12	152	15.2
15	M4trix	NL	13	13	16	11	11	12	14	20	12	12	134	13.4
16	H4O	IE	13	13	17	8	9	12	9	15	10	10	116	11.6
17	MeXtreme	MX	8	8	13	8	9	9	9	12	8	7	91	9.1

Rotor Out member Craig Vaughan explained that his team needed a few rounds "to get in the groove" but then performed well and were "reasonably happy" with the performance.

The old and new Australian national 4-way team will continue with training this year, even though Stephanie Vaughan will not be in the lineup after winning the national championships.

Rotor Out had to start looking for a new team member in the point slot after the meet. The 2017 plans include plenty of indoor training during the Australian winter (May through August).

The outdoor training will kick in with full force at the end of the year. Rotor Out plans to complete 250 training jumps before the national championships in March 2018. The Aussies then have six more months to get ready for the FAI World Meet 2018 on home turf. Rotor Out is also considering a trip to Germany this year for the FAI World Cup 2017.