posted Nov 21st, 2018 - The annual indoor 4-way competition at SkyVenture New Hampshire used to be the last event of the year in December when original Mass Defiance member Ben Liston launched the event in 2008.

He hosted it at the same location three more times before changing the date, and it became the first competition of the new year in 2012. The 2019 event, 12th Annual SVNH 4way Formation Skydiving Tunnel Meet, is once again the indoor season opener and scheduled for January 26th. The ISR Grand Prix in Roosendaal is now concluding the competition season every year.

The SVNH Tunnel Meet is not only the first 4-way competition of the year. It has also become the most popular indoor event in the United States over the years. A total of 36 teams competed in four different categories in January 2018, and the participation at the event was even higher in 2016 with 42 teams. The popularity is still growing, as teams like Ranch 2nd Generation (R2G) and Spaceland Lite have joined the field.

Arizona Airspeed members have joined different lineups, too, and Niklas Hemlin has become a regular at SkyVenture New Hampshire. Meet Director and host Ben Liston is one of the original Mass Defiance members, and his team mate Jim Rees is the chief judge of the small and efficient judging panel. Original Mass Defiance members Brian Stephens and John Silva are regulars at the event, as well.

SVNH Tunnel Meet 2018		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	3,F,E,14		16,N,9		K,17,J,L		10,P,6		G,D,C,5		7,21,B		M,O,22,9		18,A,Q,H		H,7,15		14,M,O,20		J,21,K,G		Total	Avg
1	Ranch 2nd Generation	21	-2	24	-2	32		22		30	-1	28		23		24	-2	27		23		-		254	25.4
2	Spaceland Lite	21		19	-1	29		17		27	-1	23		23		19		19	-3	16		-		213	21.3
3	Nik’s Angels	19		20		23	-1	16		21	-1	21		18		18		20	-1	17		22		193	19.3
4	Defiance	19		21		18		16		21		22		21		18	-1	19	-2	18		19		193	19.3
5	#Chipmunks	15	-1	18		15	-2	13		14	-2	16	-1	15		12		15	-2	18		-		151	15.1
6	Fly Girls	11	-1	12	-2	14	-1	13	-1	16		18		15		12	-1	16	-1	14		-		141	14.1
7	Fabio’s Angels	12		13	-1	12	-1	8	-1	16		13	-2	15	-1	5	-2	15		10	-2	-		119	11.9
Rank	AA Class	F,M,9		E,B,P,6		Q,H,G,N		D,7,11		J,14,C		15,K,A		9,H,P		6,O,L		K,14,O		7,C,F		TBD		Total	Avg
1	The Mostly Asian 4way Team	31		19		20		14		18		14		23		17		14		22		-		192	19.2
2	Flashpoint	34		19		17	-1	13	-2	18		15		21	-4	13	-2	18	-2	22	-2	-		190	19.0
3	SnatchForce	28	-2	18	-1	20	-1	11	-3	17	-1	15		20	-2	18		10	-3	25		-		182	18.2
4	Ride it Like It’s Stolen	28		19		17	-1	12		15	-1	13		15		17		14		21		-		171	17.1
5	Waffle Bellies	23	-1	18		17	-1	13		16		12		21		14		14		17	-2	-		165	16.5
6	MC2	12	-3	13		14		10		6	-1	7	-1	17		11		11		15		-		116	11.6
Rank	A Class	D,F,E		9,7		J,N,A		C,Q,9		P,G,O		F,E,7		Q,B,K		7,C		N,9,L		P,H,M		TBD		Total	Avg
1	3 Men and a Midget	34		22		24		25		20	-1	23	-4	28		23		22	-1	33		-		254	25.4
2	CT True Blue	32	-1	19		24	-1	25		24	-2	24		26	-1	19		21		33	-3	-		247	24.7
3	Shut up, liver, you’re fine.	25		18	-1	21	-1	24		21		23		20	-2	18		14	-5	24	-3	-		208	20.8
4	Paying it 4ward	24		14	-1	20	-1	17		17	-1	19	-1	26		15	-1	17	-1	33		-		202	20.2
5	Weightbelt Mafia	24		16		18		18		19		22		17	-1	18		16		25	-3	-		193	19.3
6	Jeff Who?	24		15		19	-1	17		17		19		22		14		12	-1	24		-		183	18.3
7	R2G Wanna B’s	24		12	-2	17		18		13		18	-1	16	-2	15	-1	11	-2	23	-3	-		167	16.7
8	Ranch 2nd Degeneration	22	-3	14		17		13	-2	16	-2	16		18	-1	14		13	-3	22	-2	-		165	16.5
9	Somethings Gonna Happen	26	-1	11		12	-1	16		19	-1	14	-1	13	-2	13		3	-5	21	-2	-		148	14.8
10	Schweddy Balls	18		12	-3	14		16		12		13	-1	17		11	-2	13	-1	16	-1	-		142	14.2
10	aiRWorthy	6	-3	17		15		15		14	-3	22		14		10	-3	13	-1	16	-5	-		142	14.2
12	Burble Machine	15		9	-1	10		13		16		14	-1	14		13		10	-1	21		-		135	13.5
13	Club Eu4ria	17	-1	11		7		10	-1	8	-1	7	-1	7		12		9		19		-		107	10.7
14	The Caged Sparrows	16		9		5		7		10		11		9		9	-1	5		23	-2	-		104	10.4
15	Better N Nothing	18		11		10		6	-2	6	-1	11		8		8		8		11	-2	-		97	9.7
16	Skydive Runaways	10	-1	7		8		8		9	-1	10	-1	6	-3	6	-2	6		10	-4	-		80	8.0
17	Master Blasters	11		8		4	-1	7		7	-1	3	-6	4		3	-1	7		7	-3	-		61	6.1
18	Priapismic Sloths	6	-2	9	-1	6	-1	5	-3	6	-2	1	-3	7	-4	4	-3	0	-1	12	-1	-		56	5.6
Rank	Rookie	J,N,M		H,C,B		O,D,E		L,F,M		Q,K,A		P,N,F		E,M,A		B,L,O		K,D,C		P,J,Q		TBD		Total	Avg
1	The Minis	16		13	-1	9	-4	17	-2	16		14	-1	11		14		10	-2	14		-		134	13.4
2	3 Guys with Wood	11		11		14		15		11		16		10	-4	12	-2	9		11		-		120	12.0
3	Blood on the Glass	13		7		13		14		12		12		15	-1	9		13		11		-		119	11.9
4	Undecidables	10	-2	8	-1	6	-2	11	-2	6	-2	7	-3	9	-1	9	-1	4	-2	5	-2	-		75	7.5
5	Charlie’s Angels	11		6		8		7		3	-2	6		9	-1	7		1	-1	6	-1	-		64	6.4

Mass Defiance has not competed with the original lineup at the event in the past years, and R2G has won the AAA Class competition in 2017 and 2018. However, Ben Liston still finds enough time for himself to put together Defiance lineups and join the 4-way fun every year, while he is conducting and organizing the event.

He has recently begun directing attention to the event, which is not too far away. The number of teams is limited to 48, and this limit could be reached at the upcoming event on Saturday, January 26th, 2019. The competition will begin at 8:30 am and finish same day in the evening. The award ceremony takes place immediately after Round 10.

Ben Liston announced that "multiple top notch event coaches will be available for free coaching during the meet". The lineup of meet coaches features Arizona Airspeed member Eliana Rodriguez this time, 4-way and 8-way world champion with Airspeed Odyssey. He added that the registration fee now also includes full team pages and edited videos of each round on SKYLEAGUE.COM.

Playground is the 12-foot flying chamber at SkyVenture New Hampshire with strong re-circulating air, and the four categories have their special dive pools due to the size of the flying chamber. Each of the ten Rookie Class (RRR) sequences is made of three random formations (A - Q). Only the Cataccord (G) is not in the dive pool.

The 3-to 4-point sequences of the A/Intermediate Class sequences include all random formations and three blocks (7, 9, 14). Block 14 (Bipole - Bipole) was added to the A Class dive pool for the 2019 event.

The AA/Advanced Class teams perform 4- to 5-point sequences with seven of the 22 blocks (1, 6, 7, 9, 14, 15, 21). The new version of Block 1 (Molar - Molar) replaces Snowflake - Snowflake in their dive pool, and Block 21 (ZigZag - Marquis) replaces Block 11 (Photon - Photon). The AAA/Open Class dive pool will include both new versions of Block 1 and Block 13 (Mixed Accordian - Mixed Accordian) and most of the other blocks (1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22) for the 5- to 6-point sequences.

Ben Liston recently announced more of the registration details:

"$100/person for the competitors first ten round FS meet regardless of competition class, $70 for each additional FS event. Registration cover warm-up and competition flights, judging, full team pages and both individual per round edited video and all 10 rounds of your meet jumps available for download from skyleague.com, a meet shirt if you register early enough, water, and pizza lunch, etc. First come first serve - limit of 48 total teams. Register by Sunday, December 23 to receive a free shirt. We filled up two years ago so register early - registration will likely fill prior to the deadline. Email nhtunnelmeet"at"gmail"dot"com with: team name, team members, each person's shirt size (standard mens cut or ladies cut), your competition class, and every team member's email address (list is just used for this tunnel meet and never given out to anyone). If you are registering for a second or third team, only submit a t-shirt size in your first team register and note "John Doe is on another team - no shirt" in the t-shirt size section of your email."