posted Aug 29th, 2011 - Several World Cup 2011 competitors were again in action on the August 20/21 weekend. This time, they were US competitors, and they were all Golden Knights competing at the second meet of the Carolina Skydiving League 2011 at Triangle Skydiving.

It was the Golden Knights Black team that battled with the female 4way lineup of the US Army. The Black team had competed only in 8way at the World Cup, while the Golden Knights ladies are 4way experts. However, the Black team came back from Germany with great confidence and brandnew 8way gold medals. They were ready to enjoy a fun 4way competition.

The female lineup of the Golden Knights enjoyed the meet, as well, and probably took advantage of a more relaxed environment, compared to the World Cup where the stakes were much higher. Result was a 16.3 average, which seriously challenged the Black team. It was also exactly one point higher in average than at the World Cup. In fact, a 16.3 average would have won the bronze medals, not too far behind the 2nd place, and the competition draw in Carolina was not faster than the one in Germany...

August 20th, 2011		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	N,15,20	G,K,Q,E,16	F,6,D,1	11,22,L	21,13,8	7,18,M	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights Black	13	21	20	11	14	20	99	16.5
2	USA Golden Knights	14	20	19	14	13	18	98	16.3
Rank	AA Class	N,15,20	G,K,Q,E	F,6,D	11,22	21,13	7,18	Total	Avg
1	TSC Ultra	11	14	17	9	11	11	73	12.2
2	Reluctant	5	5	10	5	5	5	35	5.8
3	Reconstructed	5	5	7	5	2	5	29	4.8
Rank	Rookie	N,E,D	G,K,Q	F,B,L	M,J,C	O,H,N	P,A,E	Total	Avg
1	Shenanigans	4	3	8	8	6	5	34	5.7
2	Just in Time	1	2	1	2	-	-	6	1.5

New CASL Director Andy Honigbaum, Paraclete XP4 member, reported that Golden Knights team leader Brian Krause was the chief judge for the meet. He said that it was great to have both Golden Knights lineups there to help with coaching the four pickup teams. TSC Ultra XP improved the meet average from 11.3 in July to 12.2 in August and is becoming one of the national top contenders in the AA/Intermediate Class.

The Shenanigans upped their meet average in the Rookie Class even more (4.0 - 5.7) and won the second meet against a different opponent. Andy Honigbaum was glad how the meet ran at Triangle: "Overall the weekend was a success. We had an iffy weather forecast for the day and got off to a late start because of morning fog and clouds. We owe Debbie Lane and Greg Upper big thanks for providing us with everything we needed to run a good smooth meet. They provided us with our own plane, rescheduled some tandems, and Greg even competed too. We got the last round in on a beautiful sunset load."

He said that the Golden Knights will be competing and coaching again in full force at the September meet in Raeford, along with CASL directors and coaches Jan Lane and himself.

World Cup 2011		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Round 9	Round 10	Total	Avg
Rank	4way Women	C,22,19	E,M,1,2	12,9,16	O,8,10	Q,14,5	P,17,K,18	21,L,J,13	3,11,B	20,G,H,4	N,F,A,7	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne DB Defenders	16	20	16	17	19	20	19	17	17	28	189	18.9
2	Illusions	12 (-2)	21	17	14 (-3)	16 (-3)	16 (-3)	19	18	15	19	167	16.7
3	Polaris	13 (-2)	19	13 (-3)	15	15	17	17	13	16	23	161	16.1
4	Golden Knights	13 (-1)	16	14	15	14	14 (-1)	13	15	15	24	153	15.3
5	Bodyflight Aerodyne	13 (-2)	18	12 (-1)	14	12 (-1)	16	12	14	14	23	148	14.8

The NSL-TV audience has the opportunity to watch the female 4way lineup of the Golden Knights in action at the World Cup 2011. The next video clip features Rounds 5 and Round 6 in the female 4way category. Once again, the point deductions have been added to the extended leaderboard, and the audience can check the judging calls.

The earlier stories of the World Cup coverage had included the earlier point deductions and a critical review of the judging calls. The Illusions from Russia had developed the reputation of a not very clean performance by then and were leading the penalty records with five deductions after four rounds, together with Polaris. The Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders were the only clean team so far, which remained unchanged through Round 6.

Round 5 and Round 6 added the same damage to the Russian account as in Round 4 - three deductions per round. The distance to France was now 12 points after six rounds on the official leaderboard. It would be only one single point without the total damage...

The NSL News took another critical look at the videos and detected a few more questionable judging calls. It begins with Round 5 of UK team Bodyflight Aerodyne. The first Bipole of Block 14 after the Phalanx exit does not count because the judges apparently do not see a complete formation. Once again, there canot be a doubt for any observer with 4way knowledge that the Bipole is complete. However, the scoresheet explains that there is a lack of "grip visibility", and it is not due to the weather conditions. The camera angle does not allow the judges to score the point.

The judges can use the rules to explain the point deduction, however, the interesting situation comes on the next page. The weather situation is the same, and one Bipole grip is just as invisible as it was the case on the hill. This time, the Bipole counted as a scoring formation. Good for Bodyflight Aerodyne, if you can say so, as they were just lucky that they did not lose another point that was clearly built.

The Illusions must have lost any benefit of a doubt in the judging room at this point in time. The first two points after the exit in Round 5 were gone, even though it is difficult to understand why the transition to the Bipole or the Bipole itself would not count, especially after watching the Bodyflight and Polaris videos. The first Russian Bipole of Block 14 on the 4th page was incomplete, and the infringement was called an "incomplete separation".

It did not get any better for the Illusions in Round 6 where another three points did not count as scoring formations. The damage begins right after the exit where the judges did not accept the transition from the Sidebody to the Danish T of Block 17. It surely is not pretty how the Russian team builds the DanishT, however, the transition has more than enough frames to show a clean separation - compared to the time frames of other top teams.

The judges may have been really tired of the Illusions' way how to perform since the first Zircon of Block 18 on the 2nd page did not count as a scoring formation, as well ("no stationary contact"). Perhaps the two relevant grips were not held long enough together to make it easy enough to score the Zircon. A complete formation is still a complete formation, and the top teams don't waste a frame any longer when they have built a formation.

The red button for the 15th point of the Illusions completes the damage in Round 6 and is a similar situation. Once again, the pretty Russian ladies completed Block 17 in a pretty ugly way ("no stationary contact"). However, there are no bonus points for good looking formations, as there is no rule that punishes a nasty style.

The judges may not have liked the Illusions style in Germany, and the Russian team will probably be eager to clean up some parts of the performance. Judges are still supposed to neutrally and carefully evaluate each formation and each transition, no matter which team is under the microscope and how the team performs. An ugly formation may still be a complete formation, and an ugly transition may still show enough frames to be correct. The teams hold themselves back if they apply an "ugly style", it does not get them very far usually. It is the coach or the team captain who is in charge of the cleanup session when it gets too ugly and inefficient...