posted Nov 26th, 2021 - The development in the Belgian HayaBusa headquarters is now one of the main topics in the Formation Skydiving competition world. Of course, this is no surprise, as the outdoor 4-way world champions of 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020 have been the role models for many teams and competitors for a long time.

Not only his team mates called departing outside center Andy Grauwels "THE BEST flyer in the whole world". HayaBusa coach Gary Smith confirmed this statement when the NSL News had the opportunity to discuss the situation with him directly.

Gary Smith has been coaching NMP PCH HayaBusa to the first FAI gold medals in 2014 and has been working with the Belgian 4-way indoor and outdoor world champions ever since. Nobody knows the team better than their coach, who is a 4-way world champion of his own (2004 - 2006).

It was a different lineup when Gary Smith started his work with the team. Original HayaBusa member Roy Janssen was still in the tail slot, when Andy and David Grauwels had already moved to other positions. They were first connected in the front piece, with Andy Grauwels in the point slot, David outside center. The slots changed when Dennis Praet joined the team in 2011 as the new point.

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NSL Live Talk with Gary Smith - NMP PCH HayaBusa at the CISM World Championship 2021

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Andy Grauwels moved from point to outside center to make room for Dennis Praet, and David Grauwels switched to inside center. Result was the first world championship title in Prostejov 2014.

Dennis Praet, Andy and David Grauwels have never changed their slots ever since, including the years after Jeroen "Bob" Nollet replaced Roy Janssen as the HayaBusa tail. The latest change came when the next original HayaBusa member, David Grauwels, stepped back to move to the camera slot, and Michele Silvi became the new inside center.

The recent departure of the last remaining original member of the active lineup before the camera creates a difficult HayaBusa situation one year before the next world meet. Gary Smith explained the available options during the NSL Live Talk.

Jeroen Nollet and Dennis Praet will most likely continue in their slots of the past years, even though Dennis Praet could also switch to outside center with his vast front piece experiences. HayaBusa is in the fortunate situation that David Grauwels did not completely retire when he became the new team videographer. He was still the alternate for the world champions if it came to active slots, as well.

HayaBusa lineups between 2004 and 2021

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Gary Smith said that David Grauwels will be ready to do whatever it takes to bridge the gap until a new team member will be fully integrated. David Grauwels knows his brother's outside center slot well enough after the first six years with HayaBusa. Then he won three world championship outdoor titles as HayaBusa's inside center.

Michele Silvi's 4-way career offers additional options. He was actually new in David Grauwels' driver's seat and had to learn everything from scratch. HayaBusa still won the next FAI gold medals with the new inside center. Michele Silvi has plenty of outside center experiences, as well, after his years with the Italian world class team Amnesya.

Coach Gary Smith seems to prefer David Grauwels in his inside center slot, instead of going back to his brother's slot that he performed from 2002 to 2008. He said that he has the best eyes in the sport, just as well trained as his brother's unique flying skills. This means that Michele Silvi would be facing another significant change, even though this will be an easier one and bring him home to his Amnesya slot.

No matter what the team will decide together with coach Gary Smith, it will be a temporary solution and could change at any time, possibly even before the world meet. In the meantime, Gary Smith will also help the Qatar Tigers to cut even more into the distance to HayaBusa. And then there is Arizona Airspeed...