posted Jul 12th, 2020 - The recent NSL News update from Brazil became even more interesting after taking a closer look at the history of the returning CTR Optimum members, André Ferraz and George Narita. The Brazilian national team in 4-way Open was formed in 2005 by André Ferraz and Fábio Diniz, with Ziara Abud and Pedro Ushizima in the original lineup.

George Narita's competition history actually began in the mid 90's when he trained and competed with his first 4-way team, the Zossers. The new team began with 4-way training in 1996. The Zossers were aiming at winning the national championship early in 1997 and qualify for the FAI World Meet 1997 in Turkey.

It was a very close call, and the Zossers missed the 1st place by just a few points. The winning team then lost two team members shortly after the national championships, and they asked George Narita to help out. He agreed and attended his first World Championship of Formation Skydiving in Turkey 1997.

The NSL News also pointed out in a few earlier updates from Finland that two current indoor teams include 4-way competitors who competed at the same world meet together, Vesa Vuorenkoski (Just4Fun) and Mathew Iles (Blue Steel).

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FAI World Meet 1997			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		13,Q,D,9	5,K,F,12	1,14,22	H,M,11,7	A,E,3,G	15,18,3	20,L,23	O,19,4	17,10,J	6,C,21	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	26	20	18	23	27	15	20	16	21	24	210	21.0
2	France	FR	25	19	17	22	25	16	20	21	20	21	206	20.6
3	DeLand Equanimity	ZA	25	20	16	20	20	15	17	20	21	19	193	19.3
4	Russia	RU	24	18	17	17	23	14	12	19	17	19	180	18.0
5	Sebastian XL	UK	24	17	14	21	19	13	16	19	15	18	176	17.6
6	DeLand Norgies	NO	20	14	12	18	20	12	14	17	16	18	161	16.1
7	Switzerland	CH	21	15	13	17	18	13	14	16	16	16	159	15.9
8	Australia	AU	17	17	14	17	19	10	14	17	17	16	158	15.8
9	Spain	ES	21	16	13	13	19	13	14	16	18	14	157	15.7
10	Daedalus	DE	19	14	13	17	20	12	12	16	15	17	155	15.5
11	Velox	SE	19	11	12	16	18	11	13	17	16	-	133	14.8
12	Japan	JP	19	13	11	15	19	11	11	17	14	-	130	14.4
13	Italy	IT	19	11	11	15	18	11	12	14	12	-	123	13.7
14	Monkey Circus	AT	19	13	11	8	16	11	14	17	13	-	122	13.6
14	Finland	FI	19	12	13	13	16	12	10	16	11	-	122	13.6
16	Belgium	BE	18	13	12	14	14	10	13	14	11	-	119	13.2
17	Hungary	HU	15	12	11	14	17	9	10	14	15	-	117	13.0
18	Canada	CA	18	12	12	10	15	9	7	15	13	-	111	12.3
19	Netherlands	NL	17	11	10	9	15	9	12	12	13	-	108	12.0
20	Croatia	HR	17	11	10	11	15	9	9	9	-	-	91	11.4
21	Brazil	BR	14	8	11	14	11	9	9	13	-	-	89	11.1
22	Luxemburg	LU	12	10	10	11	11	8	10	13	-	-	85	10.6
23	Mexico	MX	13	9	9	11	12	8	10	12	-	-	84	10.5
24	ProDytter	DK	15	12	0	10	13	6	11	12	-	-	79	9.9
25	Czech Republic	CZ	14	6	9	7	12	9	9	12	-	-	78	9.8
26	New Zealand	NZ	12	8	8	9	11	8	8	10	-	-	74	9.3
27	Lithuania	LT	10	4	6	9	9	5	9	9	-	-	61	7.6
28	Slovakia	SK	8	9	7	5	10	6	7	8	-	-	60	7.5
29	Ireland	IE	7	7	9	7	5	7	8	9	-	-	59	7.4
30	Israel	IL	10	8	9	4	9	3	5	9	-	-	57	7.1
31	Portugal	PT	12	4	7	3	9	6	8	7	-	-	56	7.0
32	Poland	PL	6	6	3	3	9	6	2	7	-	-	42	5.3
33	China	CN	8	2	5	5	3	2	6	4	-	-	35	4.4
34	Venezuela	VE	6	0	5	6	4	1	6	6	-	-	34	4.3
35	Turkey	TR	6	7	3	4	0	2	6	3	-	-	31	3.9
36	Indonesia	ID	0	5	7	7	2	0	4	2	-	-	27	3.4
37	Cyprus	CY	2	0	0	1	2	3	4	2	-	-	14	1.8
38	Korea	KR	3	0	0	0	1	1	3	2	-	-	10	1.3

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MAX5 from Finland was much better prepared for the world meet after two years of training with the same lineup, while Brazil’s national team had to be scrambled together after their national championships.

MAX5 was battling for a slot in the finals and a Top 10 spot in Round 9, while Brazil was eliminated with the first cut after Round 8.

Vesa Vuorenkoski and Mathew Iles retired from 4-way training and competition after the world meet in 1997, while George Narita continued for several more years. He was done at the end of the 2003 season, just a year before André Ferraz launched the CTR Optimum team project in Brazil.

It was only a 6-year interruption for George Narita, who was back in the 4-way world of 2010. Vesa Vuorenkoski and Mathew Iles were still in hibernation at that time. It did not take George Narita much time to make it back to the top performance level in Brazil, and he was in CTR Optimum's 8-way lineup at the FAI Mondial 2012, where he connected with André Ferraz. He continued with CTR Optimum's farm team in 4-way, and it was no big surprise that the next open slot in the national team was his.

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World Tunnel League - June 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		K,18,A,16	H,L,C,5	B,17,3	7,M,9	11,Q,13	1,21,6	20,E,G,12	N,4,2	O,22,D,J	14,F,15	Total	Avg
1	Pro Team	FI	23	34	28	36	24	22	23	23	24	24	213	26.1
2	CTR Optimum	BR	21	28	21	34	19	19	20	20	-	-	182	22.8
3	Blue Steel	FI	19	29	22	31	17	18	18	17	22	20	171	21.3
4	Just4Fun	FI	18	26	19	31	17	17	16	18	22	19	162	20.3
5	Só Pressão	BR	17	23	21	26	18	17	16	17	-	-	155	19.4
6	CTR Storm	BR	13	17	20	27	16	17	17	16	-	-	143	17.9
7	North Force	BR	19	21	16	22	13	14	15	16	-	-	136	17.0
8	Harpia	BR	15	17	18	21	16	16	15	13	-	-	131	16.4
9	Amitie	BR	13	20	16	21	13	13	13	11	-	-	120	15.0
10	Adventure Flyers	PY	11	17	14	21	11	11	13	13	-	-	111	13.9
11	Anima	BR	11	17	14	21	12	11	12	8	-	-	106	13.3
12	SCZ ZEUS	US	6	15	12	15	10	13	13	10	11	10	94	11.5
13	Breja Team	BR	11	11	10	16	11	10	9	10	-	-	88	11.0

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CTR Optimum - Blue Steel - Just4Fun at the World Tunnel League meet in June 2019

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Hibernation for the two Finnish 4-way competitors was over when two wind tunnels were built in their homeland. They were finally back with Blackjack and the complete 1996/1997 lineup, 20 years after the world meet in Turkey. Vesa Vuorenkoski then launched the Finnish Tunnel League as soon as the Fööni windtunnel in Helsinki opened its doors.

Blackjack did not continue, and Vesa Vuorenkoski and Mathew Iles joined Just4Fun and Blue Steel.

CTR Optimum's André Ferraz had also launched his own Brazilian Tunnel League in 2018, and both leagues were a part of the NSL indoor network. Finally, George Narita, Vesa Vuorenkoski and Mathew Iles were back on the same leaderboard last year, as they had been at the FAI World Meet 1997.

CTR Optimum, Just4Fun and Blue Steel have posted scores for the same sequences twice, with two different results between the three teams. Both leagues have scheduled the next indoor meets for September, which will create the next indoor competition between the same three teams. George Narita is still jumping from planes with CTR Optimum and will probably attend his next world meet in Tanay 2021. Vesa Vuorenkoski and Mathew Iles try to get closer to the Pro Team in Finland, who will meet the Brazilian team in Tanay.

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World Tunnel League November 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		K,13,E,17	11,C,1	N,M,16,6	14,9,B	Q,D,3,7	21,18,L	8,10,G	4,H,O,F	J,A,22,5	12,15,P	Total	Avg
1	Pro Team	FI	29	24	27	30	26	23	21	35	24	22	215	26.1
2	HF Cubs	CZ	23	24	28	30	25	23	19	32	25	21	204	25.0
3	HF Flying Circus	CZ	23	24	26	26	26	19	19	35	20	19	198	23.7
4	Just4Fun	FI	21	21	22	22	20	17	16	27	17	18	166	20.1
5	So Pressao	BR	20	19	21	21	22	16	16	28	-	-	163	20.4
6	Go Fly	BR	18	20	23	18	21	18	18	26	-	-	162	20.3
7	Blue Steel	FI	21	17	21	22	21	18	16	23	19	16	159	19.4
8	CTR Optimum	BR	19	16	21	21	20	18	15	25	-	-	155	19.4
9	North Force	BR	18	19	20	16	17	13	16	22	-	-	141	17.6
10	Carpe Diem	BR	15	18	17	18	16	13	15	21	-	-	133	16.6
11	Netuno	BR	13	16	17	18	16	14	14	22	-	-	130	16.3
12	Anima	BR	15	16	17	16	15	13	15	20	-	-	127	15.9
12	Amitie	BR	16	16	16	12	17	14	15	21	-	-	127	15.9
14	TeiwaZ	US	16	16	17	19	14	11	12	19	16	12	124	15.2
15	M Team	CZ	15	14	16	19	13	13	12	21	15	11	123	14.9
16	SCZ ZEUS	US	14	13	15	15	15	12	11	18	14	11	113	13.8
17	Paradocks	BR	13	13	16	16	15	11	10	16	-	-	110	13.8
18	FSL Kickers Tampa	US	14	14	16	7	13	15	9	20	14	13	108	13.5
19	4 V Tunelu	CZ	12	10	15	16	15	11	11	16	12	11	106	12.9
20	Accord	CZ	10	14	13	15	14	10	10	17	12	11	103	12.6

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Just4Fun - Blue Steel - CTR Optimum at the World Tunnel League meet in November 2019

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