posted Sep 6th, 2018 - The recent series of national championships also included the Dutch Nationals 2018. Out of the Blue, the AAA Class team of the Dutch Project 20+, won without serious opposition, as the second project team in this category, Team Orange, last year's winner, did not attend.

Out of the Blue was selected as the Dutch national team, as the NSL News reported on 27 June 2018, and will compete for the Netherlands at the FAI World Meet 2018. Out of the Blue used the last meet opportunity before the trip to Australia to post a new team highscore with the 18-pointer in Round 1 and finished with an increased 10-round average, as well.

There was still a serious battle on the AAA Class leaderboard between 4igami and Shinobi for the spot behind Out of the Blue. The NSL News had explained on 29 June 2018 how both teams had stepped up into the AAA Class this year, and they had their first internal showdown at the Tomscat Trophy 2018. 4igami won the first battle (84 - 79) and both teams had a re-match at the national championship in August.

The duel between the same two teams was even closer this time (80 - 77), and it ended up with a reversed finish and Shinobi in the silver medal position.

Dutch Nationals 2018		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	5,17,D	N,A,13,J	16,P,4	M,Q,10,6	9,12,7	15,E,8	19,3,14	K,22,1	20,11,B	G,18,H,C	Total	Avg
1	Out of the Blue Project 20+	18	16	16	16	15	11	12	11	14	16	145	14.5
2	Shinobi	11	9	7	8	9	7	8	6	8	7	80	8.0
3	4igami	5	9	10	10	9	6	7	6	8	7	77	7.7

Team Red of the Dutch Project 20+ won the AA Class competition just as easily as Out of the Blue did in the AAA Class and improved the meet average from 11.6 at the Tomscat Trophy to 12.5 at the national championship.

Team Red was facing serious competition from Belgium in June when Ayro finished tied with the Dutch team in 1st place after eight rounds. Team Red won the first place with the highest score between the two teams in Round 3. The Belgians did not make the trip to the Netherlands in August, and Team Red won easily.

The same two teams will still have their re-match this year. Team Red competes for the Dutch delegation at the ESL Championship 2018 this month, and Ayro is registered for the same event in the Belgian delegation.

Ayro will be posting the team's most recent scores at the upcoming Belgian Nationals 2018 before traveling to Saarlouis in Germany for the next showdown with Team Red and several other Dutch teams on the AA Class leaderboard.

Dutch Nationals 2018		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class	7,4	8,P,15	22,G,13	Q,14,J	1,18	2,F,21	6,D,O	M,L,H,E	A,B,11	20,19	Total	Avg
1	Team Red	13	13	6	14	8	10	13	23	14	11	125	12.5
2	Lightning	7	3	7	7	6	8	8	11	6	5	68	6.8

The A Class competition at the Dutch Nationals created a new record leaderboard with a total of nine teams. Two Rookie Class teams at the Tomscat Trophy moved up into the A Class (Go Figure, Get A Grip) and joined seven other Dutch teams in this category.

Go Figure, winner of the Rookie Class competition in June with a 7.8 average, finished with 8.3 in the A Class little over two months later and ended up tied with V-Power in 2nd place after Round 10. There was enough time for an extra round, which both teams tied again.

Go Figure eventually won the silver medals with the 9-pointer in Round 10. Both teams had matched their highest scores of the meet (12) for the first step of the tie-breaking procedure, and Go Figure's higher score in Round 10 finally broke the tie.

The A Class winner, The Funneling Four, had won the Rookie Class gold medals with 9.0 last year and attended only the ISR Grand Prix 2017 ever since. An outdoor year later they were back in the A Class at the national championship and won the gold medals with a 9.1 average. Only Skyflakes and Heartbeat Skydive Team have signed up yet for the Dutch delegation in the A Class at the ESL Championship 2018.

Dutch Nationals 2018		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	A Class	D,B,Q	G,9	K,2	8,P	O,7	J,L,F	M,19	6,E	H,4	A,21	C,N,D	Total	Avg
1	The Funneling Four	10	9	7	7	11	14	9	7	9	7	-	90	9.0
2	Go Figure	12	8	3	7	11	11	8	8	6	9	8	83	8.3
3	V-Power	8	9	8	7	10	12	8	7	7	7	8	83	8.3
4	Stratosvier	9	9	7	7	8	5	8	7	4	9	-	73	7.3
5	Mañana Skydive Team	10	6	8	5	6	3	8	7	7	8	-	68	6.8
6	DEA	9	3	7	5	7	5	8	6	6	8	-	64	6.4
7	Get a Grip	7	7	2	5	8	4	7	5	5	4	-	54	5.4
8	Skyflakes	5	6	5	4	4	6	6	5	2	5	-	48	4.8
9	Sliders	4	3	3	0	2	6	4	3	3	2	-	30	3.0