posted Jun 27th, 2018 - The rankings on last weekend's AAA Class leaderboard did not change after the adjustments, which bring all five teams to the same conclusion after Round 6.

Seattle Swift's additional four rounds to complete all ten rounds were much stronger, and the Northwest Skydiving League team posted a 14.3 average for this part of the 10-round meet. Judge Bill Selig also had much less work with these four rounds compared to the first six rounds.

The U.S. team was still not even close to the best Dutch team at the Tomscat Trophy, where all teams completed eight rounds. However, Seattle Swift tied Out of the Blue's last two rounds (7 and 8) in Hoogeveen, Netherlands, during their stronger finishing stretch.

CSC Wing It in 3rd place competed at the Midwest Skydiving League's June meet at the Chicagoland Skydiving Center and will at least miss one member at any later events. SDC Rhythm XP member Steve Lefkowitz, who organizes the Midwest Skydiving League, filled an open slot, which happened to be his former one with Rhythm (Point). He is now in the outside center slot for his own world class team.

June 23rd, 2018			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		16,M,14		6,G,11		C,P,E,10		D,Q,20,B		19,18,7		N,A,2,12		22,L,5		1,8,F		4,K,13		21,9,O		Total	Avg
1	Out of the Blue Project 20+	NL	13		14		17		16		13		14		13	-1	13		-		-		113	14.1
2	Seattle Swift	US	14		11	-1	13	-1	13	-3	9	-2	12	-1	13		13		13		18		129	12.9
3	CSC Wing It	US	9		9	-1	11		9	-1	9		11		-		-		-		-		58	9.7
4	4igami	NL	9		9		9		8		8		9		7		8		-		-		67	8.4
5	Shinobi	NL	8		8		9		7		8		7	-1	8		8		-		-		63	7.9

AAA Class winner at the Tomscat Trophy and on last weekend's combined leaderboard, Out of the Blue, is one of the sponsored teams of the Dutch Project 20+ that the NSL News has covered since it was launched in 2017.

Out of the Blue was one of the original teams that participated in the project, even though some of the team members are very experienced 4-way competitors, headed by Mechie Voermans, who has competed for the Netherlands in 4-way at two world meets (Whooops - 2012, M4trix - 2016) and with 8-way team M8trix in Prostejov 2014.

Mechie Voermans was again selected for the original Out of the Blue lineup and staid on it when the changes came at the end of the team's first year.

She continued with her rear piece partner Mandy Feijen (Tail), while the 2017 front piece (Danny Dorfel, Leon van Leeuwen) was replaced by Ralf van Pijnenburg (Point) and Rick Verbunt (Outside center). Bart Daenen continues on camera, as well.

Rick Verbunt and Ralf Pijnenburg were recruited from the project's farm team of 2017, Team White, which was coached and guided by Paul Hofstee.

June 23rd, 2018			1		2		3		4		5		6		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		16,M,14		6,G,11		C,P,E,10		D,Q,20,B		19,18,7		N,A,2,12		Total	Avg
1	Out of the Blue Project 20+	NL	13		14		17		16		13		14		87	14.5
2	Seattle Swift	US	14		11	-1	13	-1	13	-3	9	-2	12	-1	72	12.0
3	CSC Wing It	US	9		9	-1	11		9	-1	9		11		58	9.7
4	4igami	NL	9		9		9		8		8		9		52	8.7
5	Shinobi	NL	8		8		9		7		8		7	-1	47	7.8

Mechie Voermans' rear piece partner, Mandy Feijen, now re-unites with Ralf Pijnenburg who she started skydiving with at PCV Zwartberg in July 2012. They were also together in their first Belgian 4-way team in 2013, Hoppaaaa, and attended their first 4-way meet in the Rookie Class of the ISR Grand Prix 2013. Mandy Feijen was inside center by then, and Ralf Pijnenburg was already in the point slot.

Mandy Feijen and Ralf Pijnenburg went through all four categories with their first team, from a 7.3 average in the Rookie Class of 2013 to the 14.8 indoor average in the AAA Class at the ISR Grand Prix 2016. Hoppaaa had Paul Hofstee and Roy Janssen for coaching and made approx. 100 jumps each year.

However, Mandy Feijen and Ralf Pijnenburg were finally separated after coach Paul Hofstee invited them to the Project 20+ team selections late in 2016. Only Mandy Feijen got a slot in the Out of the Blue lineup.

She switched to the tail position for her new team, while Ralf Pijnenburg continued to work really hard on his skills, together with Team White team mate Rick Verbunt. Team White was only an indoor part of the Project 20+ and coach Paul Hofstee was in charge to get the team members ready for outdoor competition.

ESL Championship 2014			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	A Class		N,K,O	4,B	A,M,8	19,J	H,D,21	P,E,G	7,L	Q,2	Total	Avg
1	Fire Coopers	CZ	15	11	15	11	15	18	13	11	109	13.6
2	Equinox	LT	12	13	14	11	13	16	13	8	100	12.5
3	Hoppaaaa	BE	11	10	11	10	9	11	8	10	80	10.0
4	Dimension	NL	13	8	8	8	7	11	11	8	74	9.3
5	Sky4s	DE	7	10	8	6	7	7	8	8	61	7.6
6	Maverick	NL	9	7	5	6	4	8	8	5	52	6.5
7	4Midable	NL	5	5	6	5	5	8	5	1	40	5.0
8	Anatolia Pittcell	TR	8	4	6	2	5	4	6	4	39	4.9
9	Shinobi	NL	4	0	7	6	7	6	4	4	38	4.8

Rick Verbunt was working as a tunnel instructor before he started jumping in 2016 and was now selected for the new Out of the Blue lineup with only 300 jumps. Ralf Pijnenburg made the selection this time, after his training with Paul Hofstee in the farm team, and he is now back together with his 2013 team mate Mandy Feijen.

NMP PCH HayaBusa member Dennis Preat is now in charge for the Out of the Blue training, and the new lineup has arrived at the finishing level of the 2017 season with the 14.1 average at the Tomscat Trophy last weekend.

The team is very happy with the first AAA Class scores of the new lineup with a team member who has 300 jumps and mostly indoor training. Out of the Blue plans to compete again at the national championships in August and will then represent the Netherlands at the FAI World Meet 2018 in Australia. Out of the Blue has scheduled one longer training camp and several long weekends for training this summer and expect to add 150 more jumps before the trip to Australia.

This year's world meet is only a stepping stone for Out of the Blue. The project's 20+ average is scheduled for the next world meet in Russia 2020...