posted Aug 26th, 2017 - The recent update from the UK Nationals mentioned that the British top teams have moved closer together. Team 4mula finished only seven points behind Satori XL by winning one round and tying the winner's score four more times. Even Chimera posted a highscore in Round 3 and finished with a new team record average.

Satori XL still never left a doubt that the new lineup would defend the top position in the United Kingdom successfully.

Pete Allum, Steve Hamilton, Ady King and John McIver, with Rich Orford on camera, gave away only two rounds, one to Chimera and the other one to Team 4mula in Round 6. The top challenger was still only two points behind after winning their first round by one point. Satori XL responded like a highly experienced team would do it and won the remaining four rounds by five points for the 7-point difference after Round 10.

The new Satori lineup is not up yet to the same scoring level as the one that finished in 7th place at the FAI Mondial 2016 with the 21.0 team record average (Pete Allum, Ian Hodgkinson, John McIver, Julia Swallow, Gary Wainwright on camera). However, Satori XL had only 40 training jumps in the books with new member Ady King, which were done in the week before the national championships.

UK Nationals 2017		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class - Open	K,10,D,M	3,Q,4	B,21,L,8	14,C,N,16	15,7,12	19,G,O,E	13,6,2	5,17,1	11,F,9	A,20,18	Total	Avg
1	Satori XL	22	18	19	19	17	22	17	20	24	18	196	19.6
2	Team 4mula	22	16	19	18	17	23	15	19	22	18	189	18.9
3	Chimera	18	16	20	16	15	20	13	17	21	17	173	17.3
4	NFTO	15	16	17	17	15	21	14	17	21	16	169	16.9
5	Heavenly Pests	18	15	15	15	13	15	13	15	19	14	152	15.2
6	Antimatter	16	15	16	13	13	17	12	14	20	13	149	14.9
7	Eros	15	14	16	12	11	15	9	14	15	12	133	13.3
8	MFT	14	13	14	12	12	16	10	14	12	13	130	13.0
9	Helios	11	11	14	13	11	14	11	15	17	10	127	12.7
10	Skyfool	15	11	13	11	10	16	9	11	11	12	119	11.9
11	Tyanno4us Rex	13	11	14	9	11	15	10	11	11	12	117	11.7
12	Kintama	10	10	13	11	10	14	9	11	14	9	111	11.1
13	PTW	9	10	11	10	9	12	9	12	15	9	106	10.6
14	Quasar	10	9	12	10	9	11	9	10	11	8	99	9.9
15	Kesshin	9	7	9	7	7	11	6	7	10	8	81	8.1
16	Mental Blox	7	9	8	6	6	10	5	5	5	9	70	7.0

Satori XL now has more than a year before the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2018 in Australia.

It is probably only a matter of time when the 2018 lineup will be back on the same or a higher performance level that brings back the British national 4-way Open Class team to the same Top 10 position.

The competition draw at Skydive Hibaldstow did not offer the teams a great opportunity for team record averages, with seven rounds that started with a block move after the exit.

It was all the more impressive that Team 4mula and Chimera both ended up with their best 10-round averages.

The other British teams that had competed at the FAI World Cup 2017 copied their scoring level from Saarlouis.

Sebastian XL member John McIver also came back from a serious shoulder surgery that he had after the world championship in September last year. The UK Nationals 2017 were the first outdoor competition for him.

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	13	16	18	22	14	13	166	16.6
13	Pangaea	DK	15	16	24	19	11	13	16	25	12	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

New member Ady King would not be new at a world championship if Satori XL goes to Australia with the same lineup. He competed with Vision 99 for the United Kingdom at the FAI World Meet 2014. Vision 99 had also finished in 7th place in Prostejov, only with a 16.4 average.

Steve Hamilton was his player coach in 2014, who is now in the Outside Center slot for Satori XL. Vision 99 of 2014 and Satori XL of 2017 had even more in common. Original Vision 99 members Mike Hayes and Pete Mather both could not compete in the Czech Republic, and John McIver stepped in for the world meet competition.

The same three Vision 99 members now won the UK Nationals together and may compete at the next world meet in Australia, this time with Pete Allum in the lineup who is by far the most experienced competitor in the Satori lineup and one of the most experienced skydivers in the history of the sport.

His Italian indoor team mate Ivan Quadrio (Ninja 4) recently discussed with Pete Allum his number of national titles in Italy and the United Kingdom, and they counted 27. The number of world meets and world cups is next...