posted Jul 15th, 2004 - The European Skydiving League (ESL) has been growing consistently in the past years. ESL founder Willy Boeykens, Director of the Belgian Skydiving Trophy (BST), still continues with efforts to include more European countries. The United Kingdom already has its own "BPA Formation Skydiving Grand Prix" going. Boeykens and UK organizer Andrew Scott discussed plans to synchronize some of their events this year. Finally, the UK Grand Prix applied the same competition draw as ESL and NSL on the July 10/11 meet weekend.

Unfortunately, it was not a very busy weekend in the core parts of the ESL and in the NSL. However, it was a start, and Scott plans to synchronize the draw with ESL and NSL again for the UK Nationals. ESL and UK's Grand Prix are not ready yet to fully merge and work together. Only the AAA Class is the same on both ends at this point. The UK applies a slightly different system for the competition classes, aimed in its own way at steadily progressing through the learning curve of 4-way, as Scott explains:

"We have three categories which have the following criteria:

Junior Class with 35 seconds work time, 12 of the 16 Random Formations only, and each round as a three-point sequence. Team make up is one member with unlimited jump numbers, while the other three have a total of no more than 900 jumps combined, counting from the day they got the UK FS 1 grade awarded.

Intermediate Class with 35 seconds work time, the same 12 Random Formations and 12 of the 22 Blocks, and each round is a three- or four-point sequence. Team make up is one member with unlimited jump numbers, while the other three have a total of no more than 1800 jumps combined, counting from the day they got the UK FS 1 grade awarded.

Senior Class with the same rules as the AAA/Open IPC Class. The Junior and Intermdiate Class teams register at the start of the year and are then allowed to go over to train and exceed jump number limits, which allows them to train enough.

The UK Formation Skydiving scene uses a series of meets to determine the Grand Prix champion but also has BPA's (British Parachute Association) national championship to determine the national team for world meets. The Grand Prix is a competition league where positions equal points and rankings as a new idea.

The winner of the Intermediate Class will receive free coaching over the winter/spring season in the Senior Class and will also be offered the chance to compete alongside other UK teams at the world cup as a senior team. This has really put the gander up in the UK. One team (South Parc) has been on a TV quiz show, won $76,000 and invested it back into the team. They currently lead the Intermediate Class with 60 points, with others close up on them. With 20 points per first place and 15 for a second place, it is all to play for.

The latest Grand Prix meet on July 10 - 11 had two former XL members re-united and winning the Senior/AAA Class with two new team mates. The other UK top 4-way teams were absent, so it looks promising for a AAA showdown at the national championship. We hope to use an international draw again for Nationals to see who else is out there."

The July 10 - 11 meet was attended by three teams in the AAA Class and 12 teams combined in the Junior and Intermediate Class. The current rankings can be found at the BPA website.