posted Dec 12th, 2025 - Gary Smith brought this up during the latest NSL Live Talk, referring back to the earlier NSL Live Talk conversation with Pete Allum on December 3rd. It was a coincidence that two skydiving legends found themselves in the NSL News spotlight so close together—Gary Smith upon returning from Qatar, and Pete Allum after his recent visit to DeLand.

The two met frequently as opponents nearly 30 years ago in the early days of the Florida Skydiving League: Gary Smith with South Africa’s national team DeLand Equanimity, and Pete Allum with the British national team Sebastian XL. During the NSL Live Talk, Gary Smith not only mentioned Pete Allum—who remains highly active in formation skydiving—but also noted Pete’s ongoing involvement with both outdoor and indoor competition. Earlier this year, NSL News reported that he competes in 4-way Open with the British national team SOAR outdoors, and indoors with NFTO, who recently won the British Indoor Championship.

Gary Smith also highlighted another long-standing 4-way competitor whose roots stretch back as far as his and Pete Allum’s: Paul Hofstee of Out Of The Blue (OOTB). Paul Hofstee trained and competed in the Netherlands during the same era when Gary Smith and Pete Allum were living in Florida, and he became a frequent visitor to the Sunshine State—especially after the first SkyVenture wind tunnel opened in Orlando in 1998.

Weembinamic 2025			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way AAA Class		11,N,B,15		C,12,19		1,10,8		O,G,13,16		H,7,5		17,14,3		M,2,J,A		O,21,22		K,4,L,D		P,F,6,E		Total	Avg
1	Aethers Remix	FR	31		27		22		32		34		23	-1	34		23	-1	33		42	-2	301	30.1
2	Dynos	INT	26	-2	27		20	-1	27	-2	34	-1	25	-1	33	-2	24	-2	33		43		292	29.2
3	Unruly	INT	30		27		21		28	-1	31	-1	23		34		20	-2	34		42	-1	290	29.0
4	Yasuke	INT	23		24		17		24		29		19		29		22		24		38		249	24.9
5	Skjoldur	FR	24		21		19		21		26		20		30		22		24		36		243	24.3
6	Monaco F1	FR	22		24		19		24		25		13		25		22		29		38		241	24.1
7	Les Krocmous	FR	23		22		16		19		25		20		28		22		22		40		237	23.7
8	4 de Coeur	FR	21		20		17		25		21		18		26		19		25		38		230	23.0
9	Aerokart Ak'demie Monaco	FR	21		20		17		23		24		17		28		20		22		36		228	22.8
10	Oblivion	FR	23		21		18		22		27		20		21		15		21		36		224	22.4
11	XPerimental	US	18		19		18		21		23		18		27		21		24		33		222	22.2
12	Kuaisude	UK	19		16		14		20		22		15		21		18		17		31		193	19.3
13	La R Force	FR	13		15		13		17		18		12		20		17		17		31		173	17.3
14	Silver Linings	UK	13		16		11		17		17		12		19		17		16		24		162	16.2
15	Nexium	FR	15		15		13		14		14		11		22		15		17		23		159	15.9
16	Quo Volatis	DE	14		9		11		15		17		11		17		12		17		28		151	15.1
17	Syncope	IT	11		14		12		15		16		11		17		12		9		18		135	13.5

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Yellow: Lineups with player-coaches

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Dynos - Unruly at the Weembinamic 2025

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Paul Hofstee has been training and competing with Dutch 4-way teams since at least 1995, when he first won the Tomscat Trophy. His long career has been well documented by the NSL News over the past 30 years, and—as Gary Smith emphasized—he is far from finished. Out Of The Blue are now beginning preparations for the next outdoor world championship in October 2026 and other major events, with new team member Siem Ibens.

Gary Smith and Paul Hofstee also connect through their early involvement in player-coaching, a topic discussed in the recent conversation. The Weembinamic 2025 event was filled with combinations of recreational 4-way competitors and professional player-coaches. The NSL News update from November 27th highlighted several standout lineups.

Player-coaching lineups are often composed of international mixes, which limits them to non-FAI/ISC events, since world championships and world cups require fully sanctioned national teams. Still, player-coaching has become an increasingly popular training method—especially indoors, where logistics for both training and competition are considerably simpler than in outdoor 4-way and 8-way. Both Gary Smith and Paul Hofstee recognized the benefits of accelerated progression through player-coaching long before wind tunnels were available for formation skydiving competition. Smith and his South African teammate Solly Williams even supported an additional 4-way team while competing with DeLand Equanimity and later with DeLand Majik.

USPA Nationals 1999		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Advanced	J,K,19,G	L,D,20,1	16,15,18	24,4,23	10,A,13	M,O,H,B,P	17,Q,2	F,E,7,21	12,9,8	C,3,22	Total	Avg
-	Optik Nerve	16	15	12	12	14	23	15	15	12	10	144	14.4
-	Elsinore Alpha	16	15	11	12	12	21	16	15	12	13	143	14.3
1	Frost	15	11	10	13	13	21	15	16	9	13	136	13.6
2	Euphoric	14	16	11	11	11	23	10	15	13	10	134	13.4
3	ZSpot	15	13	11	11	11	22	14	14	12	8	131	13.1
4	Sebastian TBA	16	15	3	11	11	22	10	16	11	9	124	12.4
5	Hinckley Mach 4	10	14	8	4	11	19	14	5	11	7	103	10.3
6	Perris Cruise O'Matic	14	16	9	11	11	19	7	12	2	1	102	10.2
7	Teiwaz	14	13	10	12	11	21	9	11	-	-	101	12.6
8	Elsinore High Pressure	13	11	7	9	8	15	12	11	9	-	95	10.6
9	Raeford Express	8	6	9	9	10	16	11	11	8	-	88	9.8
10	Fusion 4	9	6	7	9	9	14	10	12	-	-	76	9.5
11	Fun Luvin Freaks	13	9	8	6	8	12	10	9	-	-	75	9.4
12	Vertical Addiction	9	11	8	8	7	15	7	9	-	-	74	9.3
13	Mr. Pink	13	10	5	5	7	15	7	8	-	-	70	8.8
14	Block Heads	9	9	5	7	9	12	7	7	-	-	65	8.1
15	Windbreakers	8	11	5	7	7	13	1	10	-	-	62	7.8
16	Air Force	11	6	2	7	8	8	10	10	-	-	62	7.8
17	Random Axis	6	9	7	4	6	12	8	9	-	-	61	7.6
18	4ce Majeure	6	9	8	5	5	11	5	9	-	-	58	7.3
19	Elsinore Zulu	13	15	9	9	11	-	-	-	-	-	57	11.4
20	Flashpoint	12	9	7	9	-	-	-	-	-	-	37	9.3
21	Man In Tow	11	12	7	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	30	10.0
22	Hinckley Heat	8	7	0	9	-	-	-	-	-	-	24	6.0

Eye surgeon Dr. Joel Shugar and his close friend Scott Keeler hired the two South African 4-way bronze medalists well before they earned their 2004 FAI gold medals with DeLand Majik. Their team, Optic Nerve, went on to win the AAA/Advanced Class at the USPA Nationals 1999 as a guest team, before Gary Smith and Solly Williams had become eligible for USPA medals.

Around the same time, Paul Hofstee created his own player-coaching lineup with Dutch teammate Bert Hajee. They brought in Dawn English and Joey Jones, then competing with Space Center FX, Arizona Airspeed opponents by then, and later worked with members of DeLand Norgies. The 2-2 professional–recreational team format was already well known and successful, even if recreational members had to step away from their professional teammates for national championships.

Former DeLand Norgies—Dynos member Pal Kolbenstvedt, Carl-Erik Tuv, and Torstein Valen—no longer aim for national titles, while Unruly’s Sarah Ashworth and James Wood continue to return to British 4-way with SOAR. Mark Fletcher and Hari Ganapathy teamed up with Julien Degen and Roy Janssen only as a guest team for the Weembi Slow Rollers at the British Indoor Nationals 2025, where NFTO claimed the new British indoor championship title.

Shamrock Showdown 2002			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		12,H,2	J,L,G,D,P	6,Q,C,B	K,N,7,16	F,A,14,M	5,13,15	18,3,10	9,19,18	17,4,22	11,O,21	Total	Avg
1	DeLand Majik	US	19	34	31	23	22	20	17	21	18	21	226	22.6
2	Airspeed Vertical	US	19	34	28	24	23	19	17	19	19	21	223	22.3
3	Sebastian XL	UK	17	27	22	20	23	16	14	17	17	18	191	19.1
4	Sinapsi PD	IT	14	27	18	21	21	14	14	17	15	17	178	17.8
5	Punky Fish	NL	14	24	21	16	17	13	11	14	13	13	156	15.6
6	Phenix	SE	14	19	19	17	17	11	13	6	14	14	144	14.4
7	Blue Eye Majik	US	11	23	14	19	14	10	11	14	12	14	142	14.2
8	Space Center Teiwaz	US	12	18	18	12	10	13	11	14	9	15	132	13.2
9	Jetstream	US	11	15	15	13	13	10	11	12	11	11	122	12.2
10	Superfly	US	11	15	12	11	10	9	10	11	7	11	107	10.7
11	TBD	US	5	14	9	9	12	8	4	10	9	8	88	8.8