posted Nov 30th, 2023 - The annual ISR Grand Prix includes the national indoor championship of the Netherlands, and 19 of the 45 teams at this year's event competed for the Dutch indoor titles in the four categories. Out Of The Blue won the outdoor championship in September, after coming back from the 23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving at Skydive Voss in Norway, and they added the indoor title on Saturday.

They were challenged at both outdoor events by their closest domestic opponent, Chaotic Motion VIXX, who had finished only five points behind OOTB at last year's ISR Grand Prix. OOTB increased the distance to Chaotic Motion VIXX at the two outdoor events with the help of coaching by NMP PCH HayaBusa member Dennis Praet, and they had no other serious domestic challenger last Saturday in Roosendaal.

None of the Dutch 4-way teams could make it to the top of the four international leaderboards, except for Ladies First in the Rookie Class, who had only one visiting team from Romania in their category. Dutch A Class winner Windkracht finished in 5th place, while Funky Falcon placed 3rd in the AA Class. Out Of The Blue finished right behind ISR FireFlash in 2nd place on the AAA Class leaderboard with six other Dutch 4-way teams.

Dutch Indoor Nationals 2023		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	F,E,17,D		O,14,1		5,B,L,16		18,N,H,7		22,10,G		6,C,P,M		A,13,Q,21		12,2,11		Total	Avg
1	Out Of The Blue	39		23		29		26		17		36		24	-1	19		213	26.6
2	Trance Ition	25		17		19		18	-1	13		22		19		13		146	18.3
3	Lux	21	-2	17		17	-1	18	-1	14		22	-1	18	-1	14		141	17.6
4	Aquila	19	-2	17		18	-1	19		14		21	-1	16		13		137	17.1
5	Atomic	17	-1	16		15		17		13		20		16	-1	13		127	15.9
6	Shinobi	16	-2	10	-2	13		12	-1	10		15		14		10		100	12.5
7	Patchwork	13		10		11		6	-1	8		12		11		6	-1	77	9.6
Rank	AA Class	F,E,D,7		O,14,1		B,L,M,21		18,N,H		22,G,15		6,C,P		A,14,Q		2,11		Total	Avg
1	Funky Falcon	26		14		20		14		11		17		18		11		131	16.4
2	SouthernCom4T	12		10		18		10		11		16		12		10		99	12.4
3	Spare Rib Masters	14		11		15		11		9		14		10		9		93	11.6
4	4Good Times	19		11		11		9		6		14		11		8		89	11.1
5	BIB	18		11		14		9		6		12		11		7		88	11.0
6	Cool Runnings	14		9		13		9		8		11		11		7		82	10.3
Rank	A Class	F,E,D		O,7		B,L,M		N,H,P		G,K,21		6,C		A,Q,J		2,9		Total	Avg
1	Windkracht 4	21		14		18		12		8		7		16		9		105	13.1
2	4 No Reason	21		13		19		11		7		10		12		10		103	12.9
3	In Before The Funnel	12		9		15		12		7		8		13		7		83	10.4
4	Tunnel Vision	12		14		9		12		4		5		11		9		76	9.5
5	4Fun	13		10		4		9		5		3		8		4		56	7.0
Rank	Rookie	F,E,D		O,G,K		B,L,M		N,H,P		A,Q,J		C,E,N		K,C,G		P,M,F		Total	Avg
1	Ladies First	9		9		6		9		8		8		7		17		73	9.1

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Out Of The Blue at the ISR Grand Prix 2023

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OOTB coach Dennis Praet was actually coaching both teams who finished on the top of the AAA Class leaderboard, while he was competing for NMP PCH HayaBusa at the same time. He confirmed in the latest NSL Live Talk conversation that his own team had not planned to attend the ISR Grand Prix. The decision came very late when the team members realized that they would all be present at the event one way or another.

The eight rounds at Roosendaal came not only surprising for new member Ray Lodens who was facing his first B-slots in a few rounds with slot-switching sequences. In fact, all HayaBusa members had their own distractions on top of the lack of enough time for any careful meet preparations.

Dennis Praet himself was busy helping the two teams he is working with, and Jeroen Nollet had double duties with NMP PCH HayaBusa and Phoenix. Ray Lodens was paying attention to his brother's performance with A Class winner Hybris, and Neal Willems was also watching another team very carefully.

ISR FireFlash eventually copied their 27.9 average at the Weembinamic 2023 exactly, without a Super Sequence, and with a totally different competition draw. Out Of The Blue posted a new team record average, while HayaBusa ended up in 4th place behind Echochamber, as the NSL News reported on Tuesday.

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NSL Live Talk with NMP PCH HayaBusa member Dennis Praet, Recorded on 30 November 2023

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The NSL News also reported with the first update from Roosendaal that Out Of The Blue begin to see the results of consistency in training and competition with the same lineup since 2019. Coach Dennis Praet confirmed how OOTB moves closer to the highest 4-way level behind the professional teams in the world.

The 17.7 average at the national outdoor championship in September was the team's new record number in a 10-round competition, which was preceded by the 17.3 average for a challenging competition draw at the outdoor world cup in Norway. The 26.6 average in Roosendaal last week beats the team's 24.1 last year by 2.5 average points.

More evidence of the OOTB progress came with the outdoor results of the Qatar delegation at the same two outdoor events. Qatar Cheetahs outscored Out Of The Blue in Norway by three points (176 - 173) and the Dutch national team left Cheetahs and Lions both behind at the combined Belgian/Dutch outdoor championship two weeks later.

It seems like Out Of The Blue could soon be within striking distance of the teams who are aiming at the 5th place at the next outdoor world championship next year. They had finished close to Germany, Norway and Canada in 11th place at the 25th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships 2022 in Eloy, then moved up and closer in Norway (10th), even though Italy was back with Amnesya, and finished in 8th place of the national teams only. Agera and Airbus may have to consider OOTB as one of their direct opponents in the near future, as well.

23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving 2023			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Top 10 National Teams		3,G,N,19		11,17,L		13,7,C		2,D,O,8		14,K,J,12		9,M,P,H		5,4,18		15,1,10		16,21,E		F,20,6		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	26		27		26		25		22		48	-1	22		21		25		25		267	26.7
2	France 4-way Open	FR	23		25	-1	26		24		19		45	-1	19		19		23		23		246	24.6
3	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	20	-4	20	-2	25		23	-1	18	-2	45		20		19		24		24		238	23.8
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	20	-1	22	-1	23		20		19		40		13	-4	17	-1	22		19	-4	215	21.5
5	Airbus Illertissen Oceanside	DE	17	-1	18		20	-1	17		14		31	-1	15		15		18		18		183	18.3
6	Amnesya	IT	16	-1	17		19		17	-1	16		31	-1	15		14		18		18	-1	181	18.1
7	Papea	ES	14	-3	17	-1	18	-1	17		14	-1	32		14	-1	15		18		18		177	17.7
8	Out Of The Blue	NL	17		15	-1	18		16	-1	15		31	-4	14		13		16		18	-1	173	17.3
9	Agera	NO	15	-2	13	-2	16		18		12	-1	32	-1	13	-1	15		18		13	-4	165	16.5
10	Aurora	SE	14		14		15	-1	13	-1	12		26		11	-1	13		13	-1	17		148	14.8

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Out Of The Blue at the 23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving, Video Footage Courtesy of FAI/ISC/InTime

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