posted Dec 4th, 2023 - The NSL News covered an interesting 8-way team with the Weembinamic update on November 27th. The complete Rock8 Fullfly lineup consisted of members of the current French national Formation Skydiving delegation in 4-way Open and 4-way Women, including the young B-Team with former Aerokart Ak'demie 4-way juniors.

The three French 4-way teams finished right next to each other on the traditional 4-way leaderboard. Nephtys (4-way Women) and Aerokart Ak'demie (B-Team) ended up tied, one single point behind Chesspaf. None of the three French teams with members of the national Formation Skydiving delegation were able to post a highscore for a round, which were all claimed by the teams in the three top positions, Black Hole Dynos, ISR FireFlash, Weembi Unicorns.

Only one other team was able to match the highest score of Round 9, the 21-pointer by Black Hole Dynos and ISR FireFlash. It was Nice Autrement, with two members of a very different French generation of 4-way and 8-way competitors, Julien Losantos and Erwan Pouliquen. Marco Arrigo and Frenchman Arnaud Camproux completed the lineup, and Nice Autrement finished right behind the three youngest French national teams in 8th place. It became even more interesting when the 4-way and 8-way veterans of many years ago were paired with Chesspaf in the last duel of the elimination format. Nice Autrement were six points ahead of Chesspaf on the traditional leaderboard after Round 8. They had lost their previous two battles against Black Hole Dynos (Rounds 5 - 6) and FCUK Weembi (Round 1 - 8) at the same time.

Weembinamic 2023			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class Top 10		L,4,20		B,14,6		19,O,D,15		2,13,5		11,17,22		3,P,K,G		18,10,1		A,H,12,J		8,21,16		Q,M,F,C,N		Total	Avg
1	Black Hole Dynos	UK	22	-1	23	-2	28		23	-1	21		31		20	-1	29	-1	21	-1	75	-3	293	29.3
2	ISR Fireflash	BE	19		19	-2	27		21		22		29		20		30		21		71	-4	279	27.9
3	Unicorns Weembi	FR	24		26	-1	21	-3	21		21		30		19	-1	29	-1	20	-1	66	-2	277	27.7
4	FCUK Weembi	UK	22	-1	23	-1	23		22		19	-2	26	-1	19		27	-1	20		71		272	27.2
5	Chesspaf	FR	21	-1	25	-1	23	-1	20	-1	17	-1	26		18		25	-1	20		72		267	26.7
6	Nephtys	FR	21		23	-1	25		21		19		28		19	-1	27		19		64		266	26.6
6	Aerokart Monaco	FR	22	-1	25		27		19	-1	20		23	-5	18		28		20	-1	64	-1	266	26.6
8	Nice Autrement	FR	20		25		22	-1	19	-1	21		29		17	-1	28		21		34	-11	236	23.6
9	Once Pakoi	FR	21		21	-2	23		20		16		22		16		23		19		49		230	23.0
10	Oblivion	IT	17		22		18	-1	17		17	-1	21	-2	15		19		14		52	-2	212	21.2

---

Chesspaf - Nice Autrement at the Weembinamic 2023, Video Footage Courtesy of Weembi Lille

---

Chesspaf had lost against Weembi Unicorns (5 - 6) and Aerokart Monaco (7 - 8) after the four qualification rounds, which brought them together with Nice Autrement in their last battle for the 7th place in Round 9 and Round 10. That's when Nice Autrement tied the highscore for Round 9, the first of the two duel rounds.

However, Chesspaf were only one point behind the 21-pointer in Round 9>. Nice Autrement then followed up on their best round of the meet with the worst one. The total of 11 point deductions in the Super Sequence became the highest penalty number of the whole competition, while Chesspaf posted the third highest score with their 72-pointer.

Chesspaf won Round 10 by 38 points over their direct opponent, and the point difference between the two teams was higher than the 34 points that Nice Autrement saved over the finish line. Chesspaf's score for the Super Sequence also lifted them up and ahead of the two other French teams with members of their French delegation on the traditional leaderboard. Julien Losantos, Erwan Pouliquen and Marco Arrigo did not suffer long from the devastating loss in the 4-way duel. They were compensated more than adequately with the 8-way performance and the 1st place of Ultim8.

Weembinamic 2023			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way		G,L,E,3		B,14,6		6,2,P		15,4,17		9,D,8		A,21,22		7,1,11		H,19,N,5		18,F,12		M,Q,J,16		Total	Avg
1	Ultim8	FR	36	-1	25		21		35		23		23		27	-1	22	-1	31		42	-3	285	28.5
2	After 8 Weembi	FR	30	-4	20	-3	21		29	-3	18	-1	21		22	-1	23		25		47		256	25.6
3	Veloce QRF	FR	33		19		18		29		19		19	-2	24	-1	21		20		39		241	24.1
4	Rock8 Fullfly	FR	34		19		19		27		20		14		24		20		24		34		235	23.5
5	Veloce QRF 2	FR	24		19		19		28		18		20		22		19		20		35		224	22.4
6	Once FCUKed Pakoi	FR	24		18		18		19		16		17		18		17		23		30		200	20.0
7	Veloce QRF 4	US	25		16		15		22		11		16		16		16		19		26		182	18.2
8	Veloce QRF 3	FR	24		16		14		19		13		15		16		14		17		26		174	17.4
9	UBEND8	UK	21		13		13		17		14		12		16		14		15		25		160	16.0
10	Veloce QRF 8	DE	17		14		12		16		13		13		12		13		9		23		142	14.2
10	Pink Rabbits	FR	20		14		13		16		14		12		12		9		12		20		142	14.2
12	Veloce QRF 6	US	18		11		12		18		12		11		13		13		14		19		141	14.1
13	Veloce QRF 7	UK	12		13		8		14		9		8		10		8		12		12		106	10.6
14	Veloce QRF 9	CZ	15		12		8		11		8		6		8		11		10		14		103	10.3

---

Ultim8 at the Weembinamic 2023, Video Footage Courtesy of Weembi Lille

---

In fact, the 3-way of this year's Nice Autrement lineup have at least as much 8-way experience as they have collected in 4-way. Julien Losantos and Erwan Pouliquen were team mates in the French 4-way lineup who won gold medals at the FAI Outdoor World Championships 2003, after a 2nd place in Spain 2001 and before another 2nd place in Rijeka 2004.

They finished 3rd in 8-way when they won the 4-way gold medals in 2003. They did not try the double-gold challenge again in 2004, when a new French 8-way team with Julien Degen and Emmanuel Sarrazin competed in Croatia. Erwan Pouliquen continued as the French 8-way coach under national coach Jerome David, and won 8-way gold medals as a coach in 2006 and 2008.

Julien Losantos and Erwan Pouliquen came back together to 4-way action in Gera 2006 and won their next FAI silver medals. Erwan Pouliquen was also back in the 8-way lineup when France won all Formation Skydiving gold medals in Menzelinsk 2010. Julien Losantos and Erwan Pouliquen decided to celebrate a reunion with Nice Autrement, and they seemed to like it. The Weembinamic 2023 was their third indoor competition this year with flexible lineups. The comeback began with the 4-way and 8-way lineups of Nice Odin at the Weembinamics of 2021 and 2022. Now they defended their Weembinamic 8-way title with Ultim8's 2023 lineup successfully.