posted May 1st, 2018 - The weekly NSL competition draw has been manipulated ever since the National Skydiving League introduced the four competition categories many years ago.

This does not count for the AAA Class sequences which have always been drawn randomly to begin the process of a complete competition draw for all four categories.

However, the following three sets of ten sequences for the other three categories (AA - A - Rookie) are based on the AAA Class draw as the starting point.

Goal was to make every draw even more interesting for teams in all four categories. Especially the teams in lower categories would once in a while get the opportunity to compare their scores directly with teams who had already moved up into a higher competition class, and vice versa.

This is always the case when any sequence applies for two categories at the same time. It happens regularly but not too often and makes it a special occasion.

World Challenge 2018	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
AAA Class	10,H,F,13	20,6,22	12,1,11	4,M,G,J	9,B,P,A	N,C,8,3	K,7,L,D	18,19,14	5,Q,21	15,16,O	E,17,2
AA Class	H,F,13	20,6	1,11	4,M,G	9,B,P	N,C,8	K,7,L	18,19	Q,21,22	15,O,J	E,2,A
A Class	H,F,D	6,G	P,L,E	4,M	9,B	N,C,8	K,7	19,2	Q,21	O,J,A	E,2
Rookie	H,F,D	G,K,Q	P,L,E	M,O,A	B,J,H	N,C,F	E,G,N	P,C,M	Q,K,L	O,J,A	B,D,F

The World Challenge has used the NSL competition draw for a long time, together with many other events and even national championships, and host Paul Meyer asked for a public explanation of the procedure at this year's World Challenge. World Challenge TV anchor Brian Cumming and NSL founder Kurt Gaebel used this year's draw to demonstrate the manual technique.

The World Challenge 2018 draw generated four occasions where teams in different categories applied the same sequences. AAA and AA Class teams were not able to compare any scores in Bedford, even though the AA Class sequence for Round 9 could also be drawn for a AAA Class competition.

The ten or eleven AAA Class sequences remain untouched as they are drawn, and none of them could be used for the AA Class competition. Block 5 in Round 9 is a slot-switcher and had to be replaced by a different block of the AA Class dive pool.

However, one of the AA Class sequences (Round 6 - N,C,8) could be used for the A Class competition, and all 27 teams in both categories could also look at the other leaderboard and compare their own performance directly with more teams.

The winner of the A Class competition, Oman Wolf, in fact tied the highscore of the AA Class winner, Tempo from Finland. The four best A Class teams were actually highly competitive with the best AA Class teams in Round 6. The four best AA Class teams combined for a total of 64 points, while the four best A Class teams won by two points (66).

World Challenge 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class		H,F,13	20,6	1,11	4,M,G	9,B,P	N,C,8	K,7,L	18,19	Q,21,22	15,O,J	Total	Avg
1	Tempo	FI	22	17	16	21	28	19	23	15	16	21	198	19.8
2	Windobona Angels	ES	19	16	13	20	28	16	22	14	17	14	179	17.9
3	Ayro	BE	18	15	13	19	26	15	20	13	14	17	170	17.0
4	Tahma	FI	19	11	12	14	22	14	20	11	14	15	152	15.2
4	Alola	UK	13	13	10	16	25	15	20	12	13	15	152	15.2
6	Fantastic 4	HU	18	15	13	18	21	14	13	11	11	13	147	14.7
7	Hybris	DK	16	13	12	14	22	14	17	11	13	13	145	14.5
8	Intrudair	HU	14	12	11	15	22	15	17	9	13	13	141	14.1
9	Airbivores	FR	15	13	11	15	21	13	19	7	11	15	140	14.0
10	Free Burds	IE	14	11	11	14	23	14	17	10	11	12	137	13.7
11	Davidson	BE	16	14	11	14	15	11	19	10	13	13	136	13.6
12	Vertigo	UK	16	6	12	13	24	13	16	9	13	8	130	13.0
13	IISYIOCILY	UK	15	8	9	13	16	12	13	9	11	11	117	11.7
14	Flies4Cake	UK	12	10	9	14	17	11	16	8	9	10	116	11.6
Rank	A Class		H,F,D	6,G	P,L,E	4,M	9,B	N,C,8	K,7	19,2	Q,21	O,J,A	Total	Avg
1	Oman Wolf	OM	35	17	23	16	25	19	22	14	17	30	218	21.8
2	Omega4way	PL	36	16	28	19	20	14	22	12	17	29	213	21.3
3	4eigners	IT	29	15	23	15	24	18	14	13	17	21	189	18.9
4	Aeropotam's	BE	29	14	21	16	23	15	18	11	15	27	189	18.9
5	One Shot	IT	29	12	25	19	26	10	14	14	11	24	184	18.4
6	The Flying Penguins	RO	24	15	19	16	21	14	17	11	14	16	167	16.7
7	Nebula	UK	29	14	17	13	21	9	17	10	14	19	163	16.3
8	VR UniQ	IE	21	13	17	13	18	9	16	8	12	22	149	14.9
9	Recruitz Ice	UK	18	13	10	10	15	9	16	9	14	16	130	13.0
10	Anemoi	UK	14	10	16	10	18	11	12	9	11	18	129	12.9
11	Black Magick	UK	18	10	14	12	15	13	7	10	11	14	124	12.4
12	Anaconda	IE	10	7	6	8	9	7	8	4	6	13	78	7.8
13	Back Panthers	UK	10	7	4	7	5	7	6	3	7	13	69	6.9
Rank	Rookie		H,F,D	G,K,Q	P,L,E	M,O,A	B,J,H	N,C,F	E,G,N	P,C,M	Q,K,L	O,J,A	Total	Avg
1	MAD Team	PL	29	22	26	25	18	29	18	32	22	25	246	24.6
2	We are 4	IE	18	9	10	19	19	17	11	17	12	14	146	14.6
3	Funnel the Tunnel	UK	12	14	13	15	17	14	11	20	10	8	134	13.4
4	Tunnel Vision	UK	14	10	12	19	13	10	10	16	8	13	125	12.5
5	Strictly Come Flying	IE	13	8	11	19	14	12	9	12	11	15	124	12.4
6	Bumblebex	UK	10	7	7	12	10	9	7	12	8	9	91	9.1
7	Recruitz Fire	UK	13	9	8	9	9	6	6	10	6	8	84	8.4
8	Ninja Turtles	DK	7	5	5	10	12	7	5	4	6	6	67	6.7
9	Annetastic	NO	2	6	4	10	6	5	6	7	4	4	54	5.4

A and Rookie Class teams have naturally more sequences in common, as there are only eight blocks in the A Class dive pool, compared to the 16 blocks in the AA Class, while both categories use all 16 random formations.

Three sequences (Round 1, 3 and 10) were identical with only random formations. Rookie Class winner MAD Team from Poland was able to outscore (26 - 23) the A Class winner once in Round 3.

It was still not the highscore for this sequence, as another team from Poland, A Class team Omega4way, posted the highscore with a 28-pointer.

Of all the Rookie class teams, only MAD Team was on a similar scoring level as the A Class teams in the three rounds with the identical sequences. The other rankings of the other 21 teams in the two categories (A - Rookie) were roughly in good order in the same three rounds.

The draw for the World Tunnel League's April competition is posted and includes two identical sequences between AAA and AA Class.

The next outdoor weekend is coming up, and the NSL competition draw will once again be manipulated the same way, not for the AAA Class though...