posted Aug 6th, 2017 - The transition of the NSL News to the Fallschirmsportzentrum Saar in Saarlouis, Germany, has been completed successfully, and the live coverage of the FAI World Cup 2017 from the event site is beginning.

Teams and competitors have been in training for several days, and Monday will be the last opportunity to jump from the Cessna Caravans that will lift the participants to jump altitude in Saarlouis. The first competition round is scheduled for Tuesday morning.

The weather on Saturday did not allow much jumping until late in the afternoon when the rain stopped and the winds subsided. Many of the teams and competitors had left the dropzone when the skies finally cleared, and the first loads were called to the planes.

There was more than enough time for the first NSL Live Talk in the Coaches Corner, which was set up on the top of the manifest building this time. It was still windy during the interview, as the video clip is showing; however, the conditions were jumpable shortly after the conversation, and training operation was in full swing.

Joey Jones and Gary Smith launched the Coaches Corner in Saarlouis and explained what their job assignments are. The weather situation also reminded them on other events in Germany that had to deal with challenging conditions.

In fact, it was only six years ago when FSZ Saar hosted the FAI World Cup 2011. All 4-way teams completed the ten competition rounds, and the Top 3 teams of 2011 are back now with different lineups. France won over NMP PCH HayaBusa, and only current national coach Mathieu Bernier is back in Saarlouis in his new position. His 2011 team mate Julien Degen is competing with a pickup 8-way team, and France has a completely different and new national team in 4-way Open.

HayaBusa placed 2nd in 2011 with Roy Janssen in the tail slot. He is back in Saarlouis as a coach only, while he is still competing with the French team Weembi Lille. Jeroen "Bob" Nollet is HayaBusa's new tail.

Germany placed 3rd in 2011, with two members who have now joined Airbus, Markus Bastuck and Joern Thiele. The Bastuck family is hosting the event, and the Airbus member will have his hands full with his special double duties.

FAI World Cup 2011			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		C,22,19	E,M,1,2	12,9,16	O,8,10	Q,14,5	P,17,K,18	21,L,J,13	3,11,B	20,G,H,4	N,F,A,7	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Aerokart	FR	22	27	23	22	26	25	25	24	24	37	255	25.5
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	22	27	23	21	24	25	21	23	24	39	249	24.9
3	Paratec-Saar	DE	16	23	19	15	19	18	16	19	20	31	196	19.6
4	Sky Panthers Barkli	RU	18	21	19	16	19	16	15	19	19	33	195	19.5
5	Gradient Alpha	RU	17	21	17	13	20	20	19	18	17	27	189	18.9
6	EX3MO4	IT	15	19	17	17	17	16	19	18	16	28	182	18.2
7	Bardagi	SE	15	20	17	15	16	14	19	15	17	29	177	17.7
8	Dynamite	DE	14	18	16	16	17	17	17	17	17	-	149	16.6
9	Rotor Out	AU	14	18	15	13	17	18	16	15	17	-	143	15.9
10	SonicNutz	UK	11	16	16	12	15	16	16	16	16	-	134	14.9
11	Whooops	NL	11	15	13	11	14	12	16	13	13	-	118	13.1
12	Maubeuge NPC B2	FR	11	17	14	13	15	16	15	16	-	-	117	14.6
12	Maubeuge NPC B1	FR	14	16	15	14	13	15	16	14	-	-	117	14.6
14	Unagi	UK	10	16	12	13	12	13	13	11	-	-	100	12.5
15	Atmosfera G4	PT	12	16	11	11	11	12	14	12	-	-	99	12.4
16	Escondido	UK	12	15	10	11	12	12	12	9	-	-	93	11.6
17	Neva	DE	9	14	10	9	9	9	11	11	-	-	82	10.3
17	Evolution	IT	10	13	9	9	10	12	12	7	-	-	82	10.3
19	Skyraiders	AT	10	7	10	8	9	9	9	9	9	-	80	8.9
20	Lupus	EE	7	9	9	9	8	7	10	10	-	-	69	8.6
21	Turkey	TR	3	3	2	2	2	3	1	0	-	-	16	2.0

The 8-way competition was the only event in 2011 that was not completed, due to a storm that approached when the teams had barely completed Round 9.

The Golden Knights had just turned back the meet after giving up the lead over France for the first time in Round 8.

The 1-point advantage after Round 9 became the final result, and the U.S. Army team was on the way to the 8-way gold medals in Dubai 2012, Prostejov 2014 and Ottawa 2016.

The Golden Knights are back in Saarlouis with the new 8-way lineup that will post its first scores after the personnel changes at the end of the 2016 season.

France has only a pickup team this time and will probably not be able to challenge the reigning 8-way world champions. Tanay from Russia might give the French team a hard time in the battle for the second place this week.

The 4-way Women lineup of the Golden Knights attended their first international competition in Saarlouis 2011. They finished in 4th place and won FAI gold medals six years later at the FAI Mondial 2016. Jennifer Davidson is back at the same place where her road to gold medals began, this time in 8-way...

FAI World Cup 2011			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		7,M,15	8,14,D	5,18,J	B,9,2	Q,K,12,20	21,A,F,10	1,4,E	13,P,H,6	L,19,17	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	23	18	18	19	23	21	25	20	19	186	20.7
2	Aerodyne Maubeuge	FR	21	18	19	18	23	19	29	21	17	185	20.6
3	Barkli 8	RU	17	15	14	17	16	15	19	19	15	147	16.3
4	EADS	DE	15	13	14	9	16	15	22	15	14	133	14.8
5	VIVA	CH	15	11	12	14	15	14	18	14	-	113	14.1
6	Brit Chicks	UK	10	10	11	11	13	11	15	13	10	104	11.6
7	Südwest	DE	12	9	8	10	11	11	12	12	11	96	10.7
8	Phoenix 11	RU	11	8	9	11	10	11	9	11	6	86	9.6
9	M8trix	NL	8	6	9	6	9	8	9	11	8	74	8.2
10	Saar 8	DE	7	7	4	7	3	5	5	8	6	52	5.8