posted Jun 10th, 2024 - The comeback of regional leagues in the National Skydiving League's 4-way Network continues with the Virginia Parachute Council. Returning league director Kat Osipova has scheduled two 4-way events for the 2024 season, and she is hoping that her 4-way community in the Virginia region is ready to resume activities of the longest standing skydiving league in the country.

The last event took place in May 2019, and the corona virus crisis was the same major obstacle in Virginia that got in the way all across the planet. RhEvolution XP and Burble Me Softly were the last teams that posted scores on a VPC leaderboard before the pandemic break.

RhEvolution XP was in the team's second year, after the start in the AA/Intermediate Class. Team founder Chris Normandeau and his lineups attended meets in different regions to collect competition experiences, first only in the Midwest Skydiving League, later at other events, as well, including the Virginia Parachute Council.

VPC 2024	Date	Host
Meet 1	July 13th, 2024	Skydive Orange
Meet 2	September 7th, 2024	Skydive Shenandoah

Three years after the visit in Virginia the RhEvolution XP lineup of 2022 (Christine Bruchac, Chris Normandeau, Alex Bucevicius, Zachary Winoker, Radim Studeny on camera) won the 4-way Advanced Class gold medals at the USPA Nationals 2022. The current lineup, player-coach Andrew Happick with Christine Bruchac, Kim Hollander and Chris Normandeau, competes in 4-way Open at indoor and outdoor championships.

Virginia Parachute Council May 2019		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	M,21,E,O	C,10,1	F,A,K,13	7,5,11	19,17,D	4,8,12	N,16,14	H,2,G,Q	18,22,3	J,20,P,L	Total	Avg
1	SDC RhEvolution XP	17	9	17	8	10	10	8	16	9	12	116	11.6
Rank	AA Class	M,21,E	C,O,1	F,A,K,13	7,Q,11	19,L,D	4,8	N,6,14	H,2,G	18,22	J,20,P	Total	Avg
1	Burble Me Softly	10	7	5	6	5	6	-	-	-	-	39	6.5

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RhEvolution XP in 2023 and 2022

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The Burble Me Softly lineup of 2019 included VPC Director Kat Osipova and Leslie Noble, who is a new member of CSC Constellation XP and won the 4-way Intermediate Class title with her new team at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2024, where Chris Normandeau competed with RhEvolution XP in 4-way Open.

Burble Me Softly with Kat Osipova and Leslie Noble still competed in the 4-way Intermediate Class of the USPA Nationals 2019 after the long break of the Virginia Parachute Council had begun, which became the longest one in the history of the 4-way league.

The NSL News records of the Virginia Parachute Council go back to June 2004 when four teams competed at Skydive Suffolk. The National Skydiving League's 4-way Network already applied the synchronization of competition draws, and the four VPC teams shared the AA Class leaderboard with ten other 4-way teams of the Carolina Skydiving League and the Northern Plains Skydiving League.

The relevance of smaller regional 4-way events in the bigger picture of the sport became evident when the June meet of the Virginia Parachute Council created a tie-breaking situation that eventually initiated a rule change on the highest FAI/ISC level. The NSL News update on 25 June 2016 provided the details.

Virginia Parachute Council June 2004		1	2	3	4	5	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class	6,19	B,A,9	D,22,13	14,11	G,15,K	Total	Avg
1	Suffolk Pickup	9	11	6	8	9	43	8.6
2	West Point Innuendo	7	10	5	5	8	35	7.0
3	Forced Entry	7	10	6	5	5	33	6.6
4	West Pointless	5	10	5	6	6	32	6.4

The FAI/ISC rules book until 2015 defined the tie-breaking procedure with the highest score in any completed round if there was no time for a jump-off. This changed for the 2016 season and the next world championship after a controversial ending at the FAI World Cup 2015 that the NSL News covered on 25 June 2016.

The tie-breaking procedure changed to the fastest time (measured to hundredths of a second) to the last common scoring formation in the last completed round. However, the new rule with all its good and logical intentions did not last very long for practical reasons.

The tie-breaking without the possibility of an extra round, or a new tie after the extra round, went back to the previous rule. The quick look at the leaderboard would provide the needed information in a much easier way. The highest score in any completed round, followed by the highest score starting with the last completed round and continuing in reverse order, round by round, until the tie is broken became again the deciding factor. The tie-breaking procedure has not changed ever since, even though the finish-line could still be relevant as the last option if nothing else helps to break the tie: "The fastest time (measured to hundredths of a second) to the last formation scored without infringement by both teams in the last completed round. Starting time must be that used for original evaluation of the jump."

NSL Meet Weekend 12 June 2004			1		2		3		4		5		6		Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class		6,19		B,A,9		D,22,13		14,11		G,15,K		21,M,F		Total	Avg
1	Carolina Ice	Carolina	10		18		9		7		11		-		55	11.0
2	Fox Force 4	Carolina	10		14		7		7		7		-		45	9.0
3	Suffolk Pickup	Virginia	9		11		6		8		9		-		43	8.6
4	Fast FWD	Northern Plains	7		14		8		6		5		10		50	8.3
5	Imagination	Carolina	7		11		7		7		6		-		38	7.6
6	West Point Innuendo	Virginia	7		10		5		5		8		-		35	7.0
7	Forced Entry	Virginia	7		10		6		5		5		-		33	6.6
8	Microburst	Northern Plains	7		10	-2	6		4		6		6		39	6.5
9	West Pointless	Virginia	5		10		5		6		6		-		32	6.4
10	Where's Tom	Carolina	6		10		6		3		6		-		31	6.2
10	JFF	Carolina	6		9		7		5		4		-		31	6.2
12	Effen	Carolina	7		7		8		4		4		-		30	6.0
13	Critical Mass	Carolina	7		9		5		3		5		-		29	5.8
14	Cockeyed	Northern Plains	5		7		2		2		5		3		24	4.0