posted Apr 12th, 2020 - Last week's update on Friday covered the current situation in Great Britain. The story zoomed in on the national team in 4-way Open, Chimera, and needed another new update after a recent change in the lineup.

The NSL News asked the whole team to join forces for an online meeting on ZOOM. It took Chimera only a day to find the time and prepare the technical execution of the meeting for a new NSL Live Talk.

Life in general includes a lot of time on screens these days, and the internet is well used for many different purposes. Chimera was well prepared for a remote conversation, as they have been engaged in their own online activities. Team member Laura Hampton was recently running an online program for their team audience, "4 Way Tips: From FS1 to The Podium".

It was the first NSL Live Talk with the complete Chimera team online, after previous conversations at events where they competed and the NSL News reported. The first one was recorded at the FAI World Cup 2017 in Saarlouis, the next one at the World Challenge 2018. Both interviews featured the original lineup, even though Aaron Faith was helping out in Saarlouis when Chris Judd was not available for the world cup. Easter Sunday's NSL Live Talk included new team members Will Cooke and Pete Harries.

---

NSL Live Talk with Chimera at the FAI World Cup 2017 and at the World Challenge 2018

---

The personnel change happened after the end of the 2019 season. Original team member Chris Judd and team videographer Matthew Wilson did not plan to continue with Chimera after a very successful period of four years with the team. They left after Chimera qualified for the first time as the national 4-way team for the next world meet.

It was a well fitting coincidence that there was a perfect candidate available. Will Cooke had trained and competed with ACM Weembi in 2018 and 2019, the British national indoor team in 4-way Open. ACM Weembi attended the FAI Indoor World Meet 2019, where they finished in 8th place with a 26.7 average.

ACM Weembi had turned into an indoor-only team, while Will Cooke still enjoys jumping from planes. He and ACM Weembi member David Rodgers had been team mates with 4mula in 2017 and were back at the national outdoor championships in 2019 when ACM had no outdoor plans.

Chimera have been training and competing indoors and outdoors, and they had actually outscored ACM Weembi by one point at the World Challenge 2019. It was a perfect match for the new Chimera lineup.

---

World Challenge 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		P,H,Q,5	19,16,E	L,3,2	B,A,22,D	J,14,8	11,M,G,1	15,21,18	7,O,4	C,N,K,13	20,6,F	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	52	32	28	39	29	32	28	34	42	31	347	34.7
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	48	30	27	37	27	31	25	33	36	28	322	32.2
3	IFS-Moscow	RU	44	29	26	33	27	29	23	33	34	31	309	30.9
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	44	29	26	35	24	29	24	31	32	31	305	30.5
5	SDC Rhythm XP	US	46	28	24	32	25	29	24	31	35	27	301	30.1
6	Airheads	CH	44	28	22	36	24	27	19	29	33	26	288	28.8
7	Weembi Unicorns	FR	43	28	23	32	23	28	19	28	33	26	283	28.3
8	ISR FireFlash	BE	40	26	24	33	24	25	19	25	28	26	270	27.0
9	NFTO	UK	35	25	24	29	24	25	20	27	30	24	263	26.3
10	Odin Parachute Systems	FR	35	28	21	29	22	25	20	25	29	25	259	25.9
10	Chimera	UK	36	24	21	27	23	27	21	25	29	26	259	25.9
12	ACM Weembi	UK	38	22	24	28	21	24	21	25	29	26	258	25.8
13	Gavroche Weembi	FR	38	27	23	26	21	25	14	27	28	23	252	25.2
14	Tenanine	MR	37	25	22	22	20	24	19	26	29	22	246	24.6
15	FlySpot Sky4Four	PL	36	19	18	26	20	22	19	25	21	21	227	22.7
16	Eros	UK	27	21	22	24	19	23	17	24	27	21	225	22.5
17	Jazz Republic	ZA	29	22	18	23	19	20	18	24	23	22	218	21.8
18	Falco	BE	22	20	17	19	20	20	17	24	26	19	204	20.4
19	Blackjack	FI	24	20	17	23	19	19	15	21	22	18	198	19.8
20	Pajama Pumas	UK	27	21	16	21	19	19	16	21	20	17	197	19.7
21	Tempo	FI	26	18	18	23	18	19	15	21	20	18	196	19.6
22	Aladeen	HU	28	21	19	16	16	19	13	19	18	20	189	18.9
23	Alakran	ES	26	18	12	18	17	21	17	23	18	18	188	18.8
24	FlyPonots	FR	26	19	17	21	16	18	10	18	18	18	181	18.1
25	Nefertit	UK	24	18	16	18	15	16	13	20	17	16	173	17.3
26	Windobona Angels	ES	20	16	14	18	16	17	15	21	17	18	172	17.2
27	Ayro	BE	16	18	15	18	17	15	14	19	19	17	168	16.8
28	Koloncok	HU	21	16	13	19	14	16	15	19	18	16	167	16.7
29	Stardust	BE	21	15	12	17	16	16	11	18	17	13	156	15.6
30	Nova	CH	21	14	12	16	13	13	11	17	19	16	152	15.2
31	Barak	ES	25	19	17	21	16	19	14	19	0	0	150	15.0
32	Wood Fella’s	UK	17	13	10	16	13	13	11	17	19	13	142	14.2
33	Draconis	UK	16	13	12	13	12	15	10	15	13	15	134	13.4
34	Free Burds	IE	16	10	11	11	13	12	11	15	15	13	127	12.7

---

The three returning Chimera members (Sarah Ashworth, Laura Hampton, James Woods) were familiar with their new team mate in many ways before he now joined the team. Will Cooke and James Woods were team mates for two years in 2012 and 2013 with Hyrrokkin. They moved up together from AA Class competition to the complete dive pool in their second year. Leaving Chimera member Chris Judd was in the same Hyrrokkin lineup. James Woods pointed out that he and Will Cooke were front piece partners with Hyrrokkin. Seven years later, they are back together, this time in the rear piece, James Woods in the center, Will Cooke in the tail slot.

Laura Hampton goes even further back with both of her new team mates. Will Cooke and Pete Harries were her Enigma/Block Party team mates in 2009, together with Chris Judd. She talked about the AAA Class experiment that her team did with the 2009 lineup. It was successful with a 7.9 average at the UK Nationals that year, and she explained the details during the NSL Live Talk conversation.

Laura Hampton and James Woods had another exciting 4-way year together when James Woods' sister Katie joined as the player-coach for the 2014 season. Chris Judd was in this Lowabusa lineup, too. Two years later, they launched Chimera together, and another five years later they are the British national team in 4-way Open, together with Will Cooke and Pete Harries.

There is still an open account, even though Chimera will compete at the world meet. They have not won the national 4-way title yet, which is in NFTO possession. There is another goal...