posted Oct 29th, 2010 - A 4-way team from Ireland caught the NSL News attention a few times this year. Team Fast Air was visiting DeLand for a training camp in April. It was too late to attend the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2010, which would obviously make a perfect fit for a team from the home of the Guinness and the Smithwicks.

The NSL News story on 23 April 2010 introduced the team and provided some background information. The team name came back up when Fast Air competed at the June meet of the Coupe de France in LeBlanc:

"There was also a guest team competing in the Intermediate Class. The NSL News had introduced the Irish team Fast Air with the NSL News story on 23 April 2010. The Fast Air members mentioned during the live NSL Talk that they were planning to attend one of the Coupe De France events. The Irish team finished with a 14.5 average after eight rounds and outscored all the French 4-way teams in the Intermediate Class on competition site. The best French team in this category posted a 9.6 average.

The leaderboard of the French Intermediate Class competition could not be synchronized with the NSL leaderboard since France applies a different set of rules for this category, including a Star for each exit and a 5-second delay for the start of the sequence.

Those rules fit well for the Irish team that would represent its country at the CISM Championships 2010, the annual military world meet. The 4-way teams apply the same rules at the CISM Championships.

Fast Air outscored all French Intermediate Class teams with a 14.5 average in June and then finished in 12th place with a 15.3 average in a 28-team field at the CISM Championships 2010. Belgium's national team NMP-PCH Hayabusa won this competition with a 35.0 average after six rounds.

Fast Air also competed at Ireland's national championships this year, which turned out to be the most closely contested competition in the history of Irish 4-way. The last Fast Air event of the 2010 season was held on October 2nd.

Ireland does not have the largest 4-way community in the world. However, this year, and for the first time in the history of the Parachute Association of Ireland (PAI) there were two well trained teams who were ready to battle seriously in the AAA Class competition, Fast Air and Celtic Spirit.

The national championship would be the first AAA Class competition for Fast Air, and the team had a personnel change after the last NSL News update. Enda Walsh had to replace Graham Nuttall who was injured and unable to compete.

Celtic Spirit members Fenton Murphy and Jim Gunning used to train and compete with Team Spirit, a former Irish national 4-way team. Column McGovern and Tony Higgins completed the lineup, and Dave Clarke was filming Celtic Spirit. He was the videographer for IPC Vision, another former national lineup that competed at previous World Meets.

Along with these two teams, the French 4-way team Equipe Vol Relatif Altitude-Soulac made an exchange visit to Ireland and attended the meet as a guest team. Fast Air reported that the French Team "gave a fine display of skill and while they were not in a position to win the PAI title, their members made themselves available to give tips and advice to our two teams who were fighting for the national title".

The competition also had some Rookie Class teams who used the same draw but applied only the first random formation of each block.

It was a very close battle in the AAA Class competition, as Fast Air reported:

"After the first couple of rounds, it was immediately clear that the competition was going to be very close. Following a single point lead for Fast Air after Round 1, the two teams traded points until the last round when Celtic Spirit came back to draw level for a final round jump-off."

It was the first jump-off in the Irish 4-way history, and Fast Air managed to draw back and win the national title by two points and after a very shaky exit.

Fast Air has big plans for the 2011 season. The plans include the Shamrock Showdown, which gives the 2011 season opener in DeLand eventually the real Irish touch on the weekend after St. Patrick's Day (March 17).

Fast Air is launching the 2011 season with two windtunnel camps and outdoor training in January. Fast Air will then travel to Deland for a 2-week training camp with Shannon Pilcher. This camp has the Shamrock Showdown 2010 at the end as the team's second test in the AAA Class competition. The team will continue the annual Spring Tour as several others have in the past and compete at the World Challenge 2011 in Bedford next. It will be the first time for an Irish team to attend the popular indoor competition.

Fast Air has plans for two more training camps next year prior to the participation at the CISM Championships 2011, which takes place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Irish team will then switch back to the AAA Class competition for the World Cup 2011 in Germany.

Fast Air's Tail Graham Nuttall will be back with the team for the new season, and his team mates are looking forward to getting back in the air with him. The Irish team had to compete with four different Tail flyers in the four meets of the 2010 season...