posted Sep 15th, 2023 - The NSL News has paid attention to 4-way family teams for a long time, and the recent update from the combined Belgian/Dutch outdoor championship featured the next and latest version with Belgian bronze medal team Family Flash and the Ibens family at their first competition together.

The special attention has been directed at family teams that consist of different generations and/or siblings. Married or unmarried couples together in 4-way lineups have never been unusual in the sport at all, and some of them even made it to the gold medal level in the past and presence.

One of the most popular, successful and extraordinary family stories was created by Canada's national team Evolution. Father Michel Lemay and his three sons Martin, Vincent and Benoit Lemay, dominated 4-way competition in Canada for several years and made it close to the medal level at world championships of Formation Skydiving in 2008, 2010 and 2012. Father Michel Lemay stepped back after three world championships with his three sons, who then continued together and won FAI bronze medals in 4-way Open and 4-way VFS both in Prostejov 2014.

The Evolution presence at the world's Formation Skydiving top level eventually faded, which did not mean at all that Canada's history with family teams came to an end. There was a new family project that is still lasting, the Bisson family (father Richard, Daughter Valerie, son Yannick) and their 4Astrophe team.

Canadian Outdoor Nationals 2023		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	21,Q,13		5,1,15		J,C,9,22		E,O,N,3		B,2,F,14		12,A,H,17		K,M,D,6		16,10,P		4,8,11		19,18,20		Total	Avg
1	4Astrophe	19		15		17	-1	22		17		15	-2	22	-1	15		13		13		168	16.8
2	Flying Fuzion	13		10	-1	11	-2	13	-1	14		13		11	-1	10		10		9		114	11.4
Rank	AA Class	11,18,G		A,22,P,15		K,9,N,7		B,E,J,1		13,6,C		20,H,21		8,L,14		F,4,2		19,O,D,Q		M,O,C,6		Total	Avg
1	The Inflatables	5		7		10		12		7		9		5		10		8		11		84	8.4
2	G4CE	5		2		6		7		8		6		4		8		6		11		63	6.3
3	Lunatiks	4		3		7		5		5		6		6		8		8		9		61	6.1
4	Spectra	4		6		6		8		6		5		5		7		6		6		59	5.9

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4Astrophe - Flying Fuzion at the Canadian Outdoor Nationals 2023

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4Astrophe was formed when Evolution were still active. Richard Bisson's son Yannick was still to young for outdoor training and competition, and 4Astrophe competed only at indoor events. Evolution won the national indoor championship title in the AAA Class of 2013 where 4Astrophe completed their first eight rounds and won the A Class competition.

A year later, Evolution won again in the AAA Class, 4Astrophe in the AA Class this time. The Bisson family 3-way continued at indoor events, while daughter Valerie and son Yannick Bisson also joined Canadian national teams at the same time, Valerie Bisson in 4-way Women (Fuzion), Yannick Bisson in 4-way Junior (Air Devils). Both competed with their second teams at world championships, Valerie at outdoor events, Yannick indoors only.

The NSL News then reported on 18 October 2016 that Yannick Bisson had completed his skydiving training and was ready for his 4-way outdoor career. 4Astrophe with all three Bissons eventually competed at their first outdoor event and won the national championship title in 2019. Nicolas Malley completed the lineup, Sean Paquette was filming the team.

The new Canadian national 4-way team did not compete at the FAI Tanay Mondial in August 2021 and traveled to Dubai in December instead, for the 6th Dubai International Parachuting Championship (DIPC).

FAI Outdoor World Meet 2022			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		20,16,B		P,D,21,13		17,K,11		E,A,19,22		2,9,M		C,14,F,12		3,6,18		4,10,1		8,Q,O,H		5,7,J		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	21	-1	28		27		27		31		23		21		20		32		31		261	26.1
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	20	-1	25	-2	21		23		28		20	-2	19		17		29		26		228	22.8
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	19	-2	23	-1	22	-1	21	-1	26		18		17	-1	17		28		28		219	21.9
4	France 4-way Open	FR	19		23	-1	22		23		27		20	-1	18		15	-1	20	-5	27	-1	214	21.4
5	Chimera	UK	16		21	-2	19		19	-1	18	-5	18	-1	16		14	-1	23	-1	24		188	18.8
6	Papea Masculino	ES	17	-1	20	-1	18	-1	21		21	-2	18		15		15		21	-1	20	-3	186	18.6
7	Echochamber Oceanside	SE	14	-1	21		19		19		20	-1	17		16		15		24	-1	20	-1	185	18.5
8	Airbus Oceanside Illertissen	DE	16		18	-2	19		16	-1	20	-1	13	-3	15		14		19	-2	22	-1	172	17.2
9	Agera FS 2022	NO	16		16	-2	17	-1	17		18	-1	15		15		13	-1	18	-3	21		166	16.6
9	4Astrophe	CA	15	-1	20		19		15	-2	21		15		15	-2	14		16	-3	16	-2	166	16.6
11	Out of the Blue	NL	16		16	-3	17		17		14	-2	17		12	-1	13	-1	21	-1	18		161	16.1
12	Ripper	AU	14	-1	16	-1	18		16	-1	21		15		12		10	-3	19	-1	19	-1	160	16.0
13	Sky4Four	PL	13	-1	14	-3	14		16		16	-2	12	-1	12		13		21		18	-1	149	14.9
14	HF Flying Circus	CZ	13		10	-7	16		15	-1	18	-2	12	-1	13		11	-3	16	-5	17	-1	141	14.1
15	Sequenz	DK	10	-2	16		15		14	-1	17	-1	12	-1	12		11	-1	17	-1	11	-3	135	13.5
16	INIT-Y	BR	12	-2	14	-1	14	-1	13	-4	16		11	-2	10	-3	12		17	-1	15	-3	134	13.4
17	HSV Red Bull Aerodynamix	AT	10	-2	16		14		15		15	-1	8	-3	9	-2	10	-1	15	-1	13	-1	125	12.5
18	Adventure Flyers	PY	9	-1	13		12	-1	11		16		11		10		9		14		14	-1	119	11.9
19	Equinox	LT	10	-1	12	-2	12		12	-1	13	-1	10		10		9	-1	12	-4	14	-1	114	11.4
20	Tina & The Dinosaurs	NZ	5		8	-1	4		9		9	-1	8		5		4	-2	10		8		70	7.0
21	La Playa	GT	2	-1	7	-2	5	-1	3	-3	7		5		3	-1	5		-		-		37	4.6

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4Astrophe at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2022 - Video Footage Courtesy of FAI/Omniskore

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4Astrophe had won the national championship title again in 2021 and finally made plans for the first outdoor world championship together with the same complete family lineup. Result was the 9th place at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2022 in Eloy, tied with Norway's national 4-way team Agera.

The same lineup continued, now with Steven Bittan on camera, and they recently defended their national 4-way title successfully with a new team record average for outdoor competition, slightly higher than in Eloy last year.

Nicolas Malley, 4Astrophe member since 2017, said that his team was pleased with their performance, especially at the beginning rounds of the competition and after dealing with bad weather all morning on the first day. It was the first competition for new team videographer Steven Bittan, after Sean Paquette's departure to France, and 4Astrophe gave away only two points due to the camera angle. Flying Fuzion, with former Fuzion team member Stephanie Longchamps in the lineup, were back as the AAA Class opponent, and they finished with exactly the same average as at the national championship of 2021.

4Astrophe did not make it to Norway for the outdoor world cup, however, they are making plans for meeting some of their 2022 opponents once again at the next outdoor world championship in Israel next year.