posted Jun 5th, 2018 - French national coach Mathieu Bernier and his 4-way Open Class team, Aerodyne Realfly, were just as happy with the performance at the Coupe de France May competition in Pamiers as the Aerodyne Weembi Girls in 4-way Women.

This time it was videographer David Ricard who was filming the new 25.7 team record average. He is new on camera for the 4-way Open Class team. Olivier Henaff was filming the team in 2015, and Loic Campy took over in 2016, including the bronze medal performance at the FAI Mondial at Skydive Chicago.

Eric Cadiou was on camera for Aerodyne Realfly at the FAI World Cup 2017 in Saarlouis, where David Ricard competed with the French B-Team, Espoir Weembi Saumur. David Ricard was then selected for Aerodyne Realfly's camera slot, and his winter break during the team's indoor meets was not as long as Michel Laynaud's.

He made the trip to Skydive DeLand with his new team in March and completed his first ten meet rounds behind the camera at the Shamrock Showdown 2018.

Coupe de France May 2018		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	J,C,O,16	21,E,A,8	3,13,D	Q,N,9,2	M,B,12,K	4,11,5	G,6,H,L	17,1,18	19,P,7	10,14,15	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Realfly	34	24	21	33	28	20	32	20	26	19	257	25.7
2	Aerodyne Weembi Girls	32	22	19	33	28	19	25	19	26	17	240	24.0
3	Odin Parachute System	18	13	12	19	18	13	18	12	17	11	151	15.1
4	Espoir Saumur Weembi	0	15	14	19	14	12	16	13	20	12	135	13.5
5	Airbivores Annecy Pamiers	15	12	9	17	12	8	15	9	6	8	111	11.1
6	Be Air Force	0	9	7	15	9	9	13	7	7	9	85	8.5

David Ricard trained and competed with the French B-Team (Espoir Weembi Saumur) for two years in 2016 and 2017. Three of his new team mates (Damien Gouriou, Kevin Mansion, Charles Rommel) started in the French B-Team, too, before they were eventually selected for the national team in 4-way Open.

Inside Center Laurence Fugen-Herve was training and competing with the French national team in 4-way Women before she joined the 4-way Open Class lineup after winning her FAI gold medal with the French Girls in Prostejov 2014.

David Ricard has now taken a different route with the camera slot. His former B-Team will have a new lineup for the 2018 season, while he is competing with the best 4-way teams in the world for medals at the FAI World Meet in October.

His first camera job helped to generate the 24.5 average at the Shamrock Showdown, which was the team's outdoor record average since the selection as the French national 4-way Open Class team in 2015.

In fact, the new lineup has shown consistent progression ever since and is on the way to battle for gold medals with NMP PCH HayaBusa and Arizona Airspeed in Australia.

The 25.7 average in Pamiers on the Coupe de France May 19 weekend is only seven points behind Airspeed's 26.4 at the Shamrock Showdown, just two months later.

Coupe de France May 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		J,C,O,16	21,E,A,8	3,13,D	Q,N,9,2	M,B,12,K	4,11,5	G,6,H,L	17,1,18	19,P,7	10,14,15	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Realfly	E	34	24	21	33	28	20	32	20	26	19	257	25.7
Roster: Damien Gouriou (Point), Laurence Herve (Inside Center), Kevin Mansion (Outside Center), David Ricard (Video), Charles Rommel (Tail)
FAI Mondial 2012			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		5,12,E	6,D,B,K	O,8,7	N,13,18	10,21,M	19,H,11	C,G,1,A	20,9,15	16,F,P,Q	2,J,4	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Aerokart	E	26	30	27	21	23	25	29	23	37	24	265	26.5
Roster: Guillaume Bernier (Tail), Mathieu Bernier (Point), Julien Degen (Outside Center), Olivier Henaff (Video), Emmanuel Sarrazin (Inside Center)
FAI World Meet 2010			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		10,7,12	3,11,5	J,M,Q,P,L	19,1,13	N,18,20	K,17,8	2,15,H	4,D,6	O,E,9,G	22,B,16	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Aerokart	E	21	22	56	20	22	24	22	24	40	26	277	27.7
Roster: Guillaume Bernier (Tail), Mathieu Bernier (Point), Julien Degen (Outside Center), Olivier Henaff (Video), Jeremie Rollett (Inside Center)

Three highest averages in French 4-way history

The same 25.7 average would have placed the French team five points behind the Belgian 4-way world champions in 2nd place at the FAI Mondial 2016.

HayaBusa and Airspeed have both moved forward, as well, and the main French question is how far. The Belgians have not attended an outdoor competition this year and will not any time soon. Airspeed will follow up on the Shamrock Showdown with the next outdoor competition at the Paraclete Summer Classic 2018 in two weeks.

Both top contenders were currently still ahead of Aerodyne Realfly. The French team has four months to close the remaining gap and make it a 3-team battle in Australia. The progression is promising, and the video is showing an impressive performance in Pamiers.

The 25.7 average is already the third highest French outdoor average in the country's 4-way history. Only Mathieu Bernier's lineup of 2010 (27.7) and 2012 (26.5) ever scored higher. Aerodyne Realfly may indeed need a new record average to win the gold medals in Australia, and the 27+ level is not out of reach...