posted May 11th, 2025 - Members of South African 4-way team Voodoo began to dominate South African 4-way competition between 2001 and 2012 just as much as DeLand Equanimity did in the preceding years, and before Solly Williams and Gary Smith took their team to Florida, won FAI bronze medals for South Africa in 1997, followed by gold medals with U.S. teams DeLand Majik (2004) and DeLand Fire (2006).

Voodoo members then represented South Africa in Australia 1999, Spain 2001, Gap 2003, Croatia 2004, Germany 2006, Maubeuge 2008, Russia 2010 and Dubai 2012, even though Vana and Dennis Parker had already taken their own team to the United Kingdom at that time. They have been competing for British 4-way and 8-way teams ever since, and NFTO member Vana Parker won her FAI gold medal in 4-way Women in Eloy 2022.

South African 4-way team Savolo was launched in 2012 while Voodoo were still dominating 4-way competition in their country. Savolo took on Voodoo once at their first national championship in 2012 and then won their first 4-way title in 2014, after Voodoo had moved to the United Kingdom. Savolo then represented South Africa in Prostejov 2014 and Ottawa 2016, the Edmunds family with Meraki in Australia 2018. No 4-way teams from South Africa competed at any FAI world championships after that. At this point in time, South Africa missed only the first three world championships (1985, 1987, 1989) and the last three ones (2021, 2022, 2024), with Equanimity, Voodoo and Savolo covering most of the 15 consecutive events in between.

Participation at FAI World Championship in 4-way Open since 1985

---

Jazz Republic, with InTime ineventors and owners Claire King and Dirk Venter in the lineup, shared South African and other 4-way AAA Class leaderboards with Savolo a few times in the period when Savolo was representing South Africa at the outdoor world championships. However, more often they attended different events, as they were sharing a team member.

Colin Rothman was already a national champion in South Africa before he joined forces with Vana and Dennis Parker for the different Voodoo lineups under various different team names. He was a member of all Sount African and Voodoo lineups between 1998 and 2013 before taking a break from Voodoo 4-way training and competition.

Then he came back with Jazz Republic in 2015 and continued with the team that soon attended mostly indoor events, even though there is no windtunnel in South Africa. Colin Rothman eventually took regular turns at indoor or outdoor meets between Savolo and Jazz Republic. Savolo founder Bailey Edmunds Jr, whose father Bailey Edmunds Sr. was one of the earliest Voodoo members, had obviously created a more competitive team than Jazz Republic, as they even represented South Africa at world championships. Amy Kirtland was one of the original Savolo members, and they have trained and competed together since 2012.

South African Outdoor Nationals 2025		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	K,H,16,9	4,3,5	Q,A,21,8	15,O,17	18,2,19	6,F,P,B	N,7,13	L,M,D,14	J,12,11	G,E,10,1	Total	Avg
1	Savolo	16	13	17	14	11	24	14	19	13	14	155	15.5
2	Aerium	13	8	10	8	8	10	12	12	9	7	97	9.7
Rank	AA Class	K,H,9	4,8	Q,A,21	15,O,2	18,19	6,F,P	N,7,13	L,M,D,14	J,11,B		Total	Avg
1	DWAG	12	8	11	8	3	13	9	9	-	-	73	9.1
2	High on Biscuits	10	5	9	5	6	9	7	5	-	-	56	7.0
Rank	Rookie	K,H,Q	A,O,F	P,B,N	L,M,D	G,E,C	J,B,O	P,N,H				Total	Avg
1	2 Pros & 2 Cons	6	9	4	6	3	6	-	-	-	-	34	5.7
2	Fall Guys	6	6	1	9	3	1	-	-	-	-	26	4.3
3	Cape Quarters	0	4	1	2	2	3	-	-	-	-	12	2.0

---

Savolo at the South African Outdoor Nationals 2025

---

Last month, 13 years after their first competition together, South Africa held their national outdoor championship at the Bloemfontein Parachute Club, and Savolo were back in action, with the two original members Amy Kirtland and Bailey Edmunds Jr, and Colin Rothman, who is now one of the longest standing 4-way competitors in the world.

Bailey Edmunds' wife Carmen completed the lineup, with Riaan Bergh on camera. Carmen Edmunds is not new to 4-way competition at all. She and her husband competed together for South Africa with Meraki in Australia 2018. The 15.5 average was a new personal record number for her.

The Savolo lineup of 2016 (Amy Kirtland, Debbie Lamsley, Bailey Edmunds Jr., Alex Jordaan, Warren Hitchcock on camera) have a 17.9 average and a Top 10 finish in the records that they accomplished at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2016. Colin Rothman has a 17.9 average in his Voodoo records at the FAI Dubai Mondial 2012. Savolo have shared the South African AAA Class leaderboards at national outdoor championships with Aerium since 2021. Savolo won again and would be eligible to compete at the next world championship to bring South Africa back on participation track.

FAI Dubai Mondial 2012			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		5,12,E		6,D,B,K		O,8,7		N,13,18		10,21,M		19,H,11		C,G,1,A		20,9,15		16,F,P,Q		2,J,4		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	27		34		27	-1	22		23		23	-2	32		25		40		26		279	27.9
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	25	-1	34	-2	27	-1	21	-1	23		24	-1	32	-1	27		40		25	-1	278	27.8
3	Aerodyne Aerokart	FR	26		30	-2	27		21		23		25		29	-1	23	-2	37		24		265	26.5
4	Evolution	CA	22		31		24		17	-1	19	-1	21		28		22		30	-2	22		236	23.6
5	Sky Panthers Barkli	RU	19	-2	29	-1	22	-1	21		21		18	-2	28		20	-2	35		20	-1	233	23.3
6	Satori	UK	18		26		21		17		15	-3	18	-1	23		17		27		18		200	20.0
7	eX3MO	IT	17	-1	24	-2	20		14		17		19		22		18	-1	28	-1	-		179	19.9
8	Paratec-Saar	DE	18		26		21		13		14	-2	16	-1	21	-3	18		30	-1	-		177	19.7
9	Rotor Out	AU	14	-2	25	-1	18	-1	15		17		18		22	-1	17		28		-		174	19.3
10	Bardagi	SE	17		26		20		14		16		15	-2	23		17	-2	24	-2	-		172	19.1
11	Voodoo	ZA	16		24		19		13		15		16		23		17		-		-		143	17.9
12	Ravens	AT	18		23		17		15		17		13		22		16		-		-		141	17.6
13	Qatar Tigers	QA	15		21		19		14		15		17		19		16		-		-		136	17.0
14	VIVA 4	CH	14		21		19		11		17		14		20		14		-		-		130	16.3
15	CTR Optimum	BR	17		19		16		13		15		14		19		16		-		-		129	16.1
16	Dubai Asaar Red	AE	16		20		16		12		15		16		18		13		-		-		126	15.8
17	China	CN	7		21		15		14		14		15		21		16		-		-		123	15.4
18	Spain	ES	16		21		16		13		9		13		21		10		-		-		119	14.9
18	Lize	CZ	13		21		17		12		17		11		17		11		-		-		119	14.9
20	Bodyflight Voluntas	DK	15		21		17		10		13		11		18		12		-		-		117	14.6
21	Rebootizer Aerial	MC	15		14		16		11		16		13		17		13		-		-		115	14.4
22	Silver Knights	FI	13		18		16		10		13		14		18		12		-		-		114	14.3
23	Magic 4	LT	14		17		15		11		14		14		14		13		-		-		112	14.0
24	Whooops	NL	10		18		17		10		13		14		16		11		-		-		109	13.6
25	Singapore	SG	14		21		16		12		13		9		14		9		-		-		108	13.5
26	Fast Air	IE	11		17		12		8		12		11		14		12		-		-		97	12.1
27	Ukraine	UA	11		15		11		10		11		10		14		10		-		-		92	11.5
27	Atmosfera G4	PT	12		15		12		10		8		10		13		12		-		-		92	11.5
29	Lupus	EE	10		14		12		9		11		10		14		11		-		-		91	11.4
30	Sky Dragons	SI	12		11		13		9		11		10		12		10		-		-		88	11.0
31	Kazakhstan	KZ	10		11		11		9		6		9		8		8		-		-		72	9.0
32	Argentina	AR	8		13		7		7		8		7		10		9		-		-		69	8.6
33	Cyprus	CY	7		6		10		7		6		7		10		7		-		-		60	7.5
34	Colombia	CO	6		9		9		5		8		6		8		6		-		-		57	7.1
35	Oman	OM	5		8		10		8		6		5		6		6		-		-		54	6.8
36	Turkey	TR	0		6		8		4		6		6		5		7		-		-		42	5.3
37	Thailand	TH	3		7		7		4		5		0		6		2		-		-		34	4.3
38	Ecuador	EC	0		0		2		2		2		3		3		3		-		-		15	1.9