posted Jul 8th, 2017 - The July 1 weekend did not only feature the highly anticipated first outing of the two Duch 20+ project teams, Orange and Blue, at the Tomscat Trophy 2017. French 4-way teams also competed at the second Coupe de France event on the same weekend in Bouloc.

The French skydiving federation does not run a specific team project. There is always a delegation of selected teams and competitors who are supported by the federation and guarantee the strong foundation of the French Formation Skydiving powerhouse, the most successful nation in the sport, together with the USA.

It was not only coincidence that two teams of the new privately organized project in the Netherlands and two of the French national B teams competed with the same draw on the same weekend.

French national coach Mathieu Bernier had agreed to use the same competition draw that would be applied on the July 1 weekend, and the Tomscat Trophy has traditionally joined the synchronized meet weekend for many years. Result was a AAA Class leaderboard with teams from four countries, including the two French national B teams and the two Dutch 20+ project teams.

World Challenge 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		D,B,6,22	12,E,17	20,G,C,10	N,M,15,H	Q,19,K,4	8,21,L	P,9,J,7	O,11,1	13,A,16	3,18,5	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	33	29	29	46	34	28	47	28	28	29	331	33.1
2	Weembi Lille	FR	33	31	29	43	35	28	46	29	29	27	330	33.0
3	French Weembi Girls	FR	30	29	28	38	32	24	43	28	26	25	303	30.3
4	RealFly-Sion	FR	29	29	26	38	31	26	42	27	24	23	295	29.5
5	SDC Rhythm XP	US	29	26	24	37	30	26	40	27	24	23	286	28.6
6	Gavroche Weembi	FR	27	26	23	35	29	23	39	23	21	21	267	26.7
7	IFS-Moscow	RU	26	26	23	35	29	21	40	24	24	18	266	26.6
7	Espoir Saumur Weembi	FR	27	26	23	33	28	23	37	24	23	22	266	26.6
9	Volition	UK	25	24	19	34	23	21	36	24	22	21	249	24.9
10	ISR FireFlash	BE	25	21	21	33	23	21	35	22	21	20	242	24.2

It was not a surprise that Espoir Saumur Weembi had the upper hand in the four rounds that the French weather allowed in Bouloc. The strength of the French national B team was well known after impressive scores at two indoor meets this year with the new lineup.

Gaéélle Giesen, Aurelien Lemaire, Eliott Lesimple, David Ricard had posted a 24.7 average at the French Indoor Nationals 2017, followed by a 26.6 average at the World Challenge. The 2016 lineup, with three of the current team members (Aurelien Lemaire, Eliott Lesimple, David Ricard) also has an 18.3 outdoor average in the books, posted at the French Nationals 2016.

In other words, Team Orange was probably happy to be competitive with the strong French B team. In fact, Team Orange tied the French highscore for a round two times in the first four rounds, before finishing the additional four rounds alone on the top of the leaderboard.

The starting point is now defined for both 20+ project teams, and it is on the expected level. Team Orange is almost at the Top 10 level of the last world meet, more than a year before the next one in Australia 2018. Out of the Blue launches the new team project on the performance level where the previous Dutch national 4-way team M4trix ended up at the Mondial 2016.

July 1st, 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		14,E,20	3,7,4	B,15,10	H,F,2,6	5,1,16	P,8,K,22	19,J,M,L	17,21,11	Total	Avg
1	Espoir Saumur Weembi	FR	19	16	17	19	-	-	-	-	71	17.8
2	Team Orange	NL	15	16	15	19	15	17	23	15	135	16.9
3	Out of the Blue	NL	14	13	14	15	8	13	18	13	108	13.5
4	Espoir Maubeuge Weembi	FR	12	11	12	17	14	-	-	-	66	13.2
5	Ookpik 5rd Agen	FR	10	12	11	17	-	-	-	-	50	12.5
6	HF Flying Circus	CZ	10	11	-	14	11	-	-	-	46	11.5
7	Cool Runnings	NL	11	10	11	13	8	11	15	10	89	11.1
8	Les 4cretins Clermont Bouloc	FR	11	11	9	12	-	-	-	-	43	10.8
9	Gravity Abuse	BE	8	11	8	12	10	10	13	10	82	10.3
10	Hvezdy	CZ	9	11	6	13	6	-	-	-	45	9.0
11	Airbivores Annecy Pamiers	FR	9	7	8	11	8	-	-	-	43	8.6
12	Bouloc Onthehill Existenciel	FR	6	8	7	11	5	-	-	-	37	7.4
13	HF Skycentrum	CZ	7	8	9	-	4	-	-	-	28	7.0
14	Under Construction	NL	5	5	6	9	6	6	9	5	51	6.4

Team Orange commented the results of the Tomscat Trophy 2017:

"A great Tomscat Trophy once again, with 23 participating teams. It was a great demonstration of the interest in competitive formation skydiving, just one of the disciplines in our great sport, a sport which in the Netherlands unfortunately is being threatened by recent developments in airspace reconfiguration with severe implications for many dropzones in the Netherlands, including the likely closure of a large dropzone.

"Hopefully policy makers will take a sincere initiative to actually get informed about the sport and realize that serious solutions are required.

"Team Orange completed its first competition, the Tomscat Trophy 2017. Weather predictions couldn't have been worse; however we finally made 8 jumps in total. It was our first opportunity to see how far we progressed, and of course how much we still have to work to achieve our goal.

"The draw wasn't at all favorable for having a first great score though, than again also with these types of draws we have to jump the best we can to achieve our goal. So we're not quite there yet. We scored 16.9 which is still a long way from our goal of 20+.

"We still have to work hard to keep it small, especially in some of the blocks, and not going too fast too quickly in the jump. It's still a long, hard, but most of all, fun road to the World Championships in Australia in 2018.

"Team Blue had their first competition as well. Hopefully they will progress as well and achieve even higher scores soon. Great to see so many teams at the Tomscat Trophy again, even with international participants from Belgium and Germany. Hopefully teams will continue investing in competitive skydiving and train hard. Members of the Dutch 20+ project will be available for coaching (mostly in the tunnel though).

"Thanks to the organization for a great competition. Once again, it was a great event in remembrance of Remy and Sjaak from team Tomscat. Great to have Jos, Gerard, and Arie attending the competition once again as well."