posted Sep 19th, 2019 - The 4-way Open Class drama at the USPA Nationals almost over-shadowed the fact that NMP PCH HayaBusa, guest team from Belgium, finished the 10-round meet with the highest outdoor average in the history of Formation Skydiving competition.

It's no surprise that most of the attention was paid to the SDC Rhythm XP victory in the same event. It happened at the country's national championship, and it was the first time since 2006 that Arizona Airspeed did not win the USPA gold medals in 4-way Open. NMP PCH HayaBusa were a guest team at Skydive Paraclete XP, and the U.S. qualification for the next world meet had the highest priority in Raeford.

It was still unusual that two visiting national teams won the two traditional Formation Skydiving events, HayaBusa in 4-way Open and Tanay in 8-way. Both teams will be the same strong opponents for the U.S. teams next year at the FAI World Meet 2020 in Tanay.

NMP PCH HayaBusa made their statement in Raeford, as they will not compete at the FAI Outdoor World Cup in October. They have to compete at the military CISM championship and collect their third world championship title (FAI Indoor - FAI Outdoor - CISM). The statement turned out to be even stronger than expected.

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USPA Nationals 2019			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		7,C,H,P		J,21,20		O,3,11		B,2,K,E		8,Q,10		15,D,F,12		N,L,M,14		6,1,9		A,18,13		G,4,5		17,16,22		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	45	-1	24		27		37		21		25		34		25	-1	26	-1	25	-4	-		289	28.9
2	SDC Rhythm XP	US	41		22		21	-1	33		21		23		27		25		24		25		21	-1	262	26.2
3	Arizona Airspeed	US	40	-1	24		22	-2	32		19	-2	24		29		25		21	-2	26	-1	20	-2	262	26.2
4	Defiance	US	30	-1	21		15	-4	28		16		19		22	-3	21		18	-1	18	-1	-		208	20.8
5	Ranch 2nd Generation	US	26		19		19		24	-2	16	-1	17	-1	24		18	-1	19		19		-		201	20.1
6	Kinetix	AU	26		18		17		22		13	-1	17		18	-1	17		17		17		-		182	18.2
7	Lite XP	US	24	-1	17		17		22		15		17		20	-2	16	-1	14		17		-		179	17.9
8	No Name	US	22	-4	17		14		19	-2	12	-2	13		14	-3	15		14		16		-		156	15.6
9	Aviatrixx	US	21		14		13	-1	18	-1	12	-2	15		17	-1	14	-1	12		14		-		150	15.0
10	Perris Force	US	20		13	-1	14		18		11	-1	11		18	-1	13	-1	12		12	-1	-		142	14.2

NSL Live Talk with NMP PCH HayaBusa - Competition rounds at the USPA Nationals

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It was not only the fact that the Belgian world champions put 27 points between themselves and the two best U.S. teams. They also delivered a 28.9 average, which is one average point higher than the previous record average of 27.9 that Arizona Airspeed posted at the FAI World Meet 2012 in Dubai, and that HayaBusa tied last year in Australia.

It is difficult to imagine that SDC Rhythm XP or any other 4-way team in the world will be able to catch up with the Belgians any time soon. This was the very strong message that NMP PCH HayaBusa left in Raeford.

It could have been even stronger without the seven point deductions that HayaBusa collected in the ten rounds. In fact, HayaBusa point Dennis Praet was sure that his team had skipped the 28-average level and had moved right up from 27.9 to the 29+ level. He was surprised to see the HayaBusa scoresheet for Round 10 and a surprising 4-point deduction.

His team studied the competition video carefully and agreed with one of the four penalties. Then they could not find the other three infringements, which kept HayaBusa from posting a 29+ average. The 28.9 is still the highest meet average in history, and the pace is obviously on an even higher level.

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FAI World Meet 2012				1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open			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	Arizona Airspeed	US	E	27		34		27	-1	22		23		23	-2	32		25		40		26		279	27.9
FAI World Meet 2018				1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open			21,L,B,G		22,18,17		19,7,O		J,16,12		10,A,D,15		Q,M,F,C,N		H,20,P,13		6,14,11		E,2,5		4,1,3		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	E	32		21		27	-2	24		22	-3	62	-2	22	-2	20	-1	27	-1	22		279	27.9
USPA Nationals 2019				1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open			7,C,H,P		J,21,20		O,3,11		B,2,K,E		8,Q,10		15,D,F,12		N,L,M,14		6,1,9		A,18,13		G,4,5		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	E	45	-1	24		27		37		21		25		34		25	-1	26	-1	25	-4	289	28.9

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It is always difficult to compare meet averages directly, as the competition draw is the major deciding factor for the scoring level. The 8-way competition is another example for the difficult evaluation of the scoring level. The Russian Tanay 8-way team won the competition with a significantly lower average compared to previous events. They still outscored Golden Knights and Paraclete XP8 despite the slower draw for the ten 8-way rounds.

Josh Hall, Airspeed world champion of 2012, owned the 27.9 record average for almost seven years and explained how different the three draws were (Dubai 2012 - Australia 2018 - USPA 2019). The dive pool of 2012 had two different blocks (1 and 13) which were slower or easier to integrate into the flow of a sequence.

The two new and easier or faster blocks were not in the dive pool last year in Australia. However, the competition draw included a sequence of five random formations in Round 6, and all teams were able to boost their meet averages. NMP PCH HayaBusa won the round with a 62-pointer and a new world record for a single round.

This week's competition draw included the two new blocks and was on the faster side, too, and most of the 4-way Open Class teams posted new team record averages. NMP PCH HayaBusa would have to perform the ten sequences of Dubai 2012 once again for a direct comparison...