posted Aug 10th, 2004 - The July 31 meet weekend was the first one this year when the National Skydiving League and the European Skydiving League did not synchronize the competition draw. Timing and communication did not work out as usual, and both leagues had different sequences for the meets on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Great Lakes, Carolina and Georgia Skydiving Leagues competed in the USA, while the British Parachute Association (BPA) held their national championship and the Austrian Skydiving League its third meet of the 2004 season. Teams in the United Kingdom and Austria used the same competition draw in the AAA Class.

Both countries use different dive pools for their A/Intermediate Class. The leagues, which are already affiliated with the European Skydiving League have synchronized the A Class dive pool with the National Skydiving League. Austria is already a part of the ESL, while ESL founder Willy Boeykens currently discusses the future of the league extension in the UK.

NSL, ESL and UK's Grand Prix of Formation Skydiving already synchronized meets earlier this year. Now, the AAA Class competition draw of the UK Nationals 2004 was also used at the meet in Austria. The BPA rules include a different dive pool for the Intermediate Class though, which is located somehow between the A Class of the ESL/NSL and the AA Class of the NSL.

The BPA dive pool for the Intermediate Class consists of 12 blocks (2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 17, 19, 21) and 12 random formations (A, B, C, E, F, G, J, K, N, O, P, Q). Each competition jump has a 3-4 point sequence. The 12 selected blocks include the two that create mirror imaged sequences, Block 5 (Opal - Opal) and Block 17 (Danish T - Murphy).

NSL and ESL use eight of the 22 blocks for the A Class (2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 19, 21), excluding mirror images and slot switchers, and all of the 16 random formations. The jumps have 3-4 point sequences as the BPA Intermediate Class. The NSL has the AA Class as the next step up with 16 of the 22 blocks, still excluding mirror images and slot switchers, using 4-5 point sequences.

BPA also has the additional "Junior Class", which is very similar to the Rookie Class of the NSL. The British Junior Class dive pool includes only 12 of the 16 random formations. The jumps have 3-point sequences, which is identical with the NSL Rookie Class.

Due to the different dive pools in the other classes, Austria and the UK competed together only in the AAA Class, which is the Senior Class in the United Kingdom. The scores are posted below and can also be found at the BPA website and the ESL website.

The top scorers in the UK include familiar names. The Wizards won the national championship with a 14.7 average after ten rounds and consist of Simon Brentford, Christian Hinchcliffe, John McIver, Steve Hamilton and "Goody" Goodyear on video. McIver and Hamilton are former members of the British national team Sebastian XL who accepeted player coaches positions with the Wizards. The team made 60 training jumps at a winter camp in Florida and added weekends in the United Kingdom to the summer training schedule.

It was a close race, even though the Wizards took the lead in the first round and never gave it up. The Spanks in second place is the current national 4-way team that was already selected at last year's national championship. The Spanks ended up only three points behind the Wizards after ten rounds with a 14.4 meet average and will represent the United Kingdom in Croatia in September.

The competition in Austria brought together once again the three arch rivals 4-Matrix, Fila and Monkey Circus, who have been racing each other throughout the whole 2004 season. All three teams had set a new 25-point Austrian record at the last ASL meet in June in the same round. The July 31 meet over five rounds was another horse race with exactly the same final placings. 4-Matrix won the June meet by one point over Fila, this time they managed to increase the distance to two points. The Monkey Circus ended up once again shortly behind.

Southwest Skydiving League and Norwegian scores are next.