posted Mar 29th, 2008 - The first event day of the World Challenge 2008 began with the official briefing in the morning. Paul Mayer himself welcomed the teams and competitors and gave a brief overview of the rules and procedures.

The meeting hangar was crowded. 40 teams and their friends and staff filled the hangar with more than 200 people. The NSL-TV camera captured parts of the meeting and a walk through the hangar. The video of the scenes in the hangar can be viewed by clicking here.

The NSL News met Team Aeon with teenager Ellie McCoy and her mother in the same hangar and used the opportunity to ask both a few questions. Ellie's piece partner Emma Beyer could not make the trip to Bodyflight Bedford. Team Aeon found the best substitute possible. Former Airspeed world champion John Eagle fills in for Emma Beyer. The video of the interview can be viewed by clicking here.

Finally, the NSL-TV camera followed one of the teams into the flying chamber during the official practice session. The teams have three minutes to warm up and find the specific airspeed that each team wants to use during the competition.

It was also very interesting to see the actual performance so up close and personal. The teams are talking, dirtdiving, preparing in front of the flying chamber, and a minute later they have to deliver the competition performance next door. This situation is very different compared to a skydiving competition.

The NSL News picked Team XL of all the teams since this lineup appears only once per year at a meet, and only in the windtunnel. Pete Allum trains and competes with Italy's Sinapsi PD, Thomas Hughes is a Fastrax member in 4-way and a Knight Trax member in 8-way, Brian Johnson is a former Airspeed member and has not competed recently, the same counts for former XL member Steve Hamilton.

All team members seem to like their skydiving history. They used their three minutes of flying time in a very different way than most other teams. The first of the three practice sequences consisted of random formations and Block 14 of the current dive pool. Things fell apart after that.

It was challenging for the NSL News to keep up with the following action. It was hard enough to film the XL flight and became even more challenging when the sequences looked confusing. None of the maneuvers and formations looked familiar and were expected, neither by the NSL News nor by the judges and audience.

The NSL-TV video shows what the XL members presented to the NSL News and to the whole DZ-TV audience at Bodyflight Bedford. The video can be viewed by clicking here.

The NSL News followed Team XL on the way out of the chamber and filmed the debriefing, as well. At least, the XL members could explain some of the strange maneuvers of their official practice session. Others remained unknown.

The practice session is almost completed, the competition draw will be handed out next. The first competition round is scheduled for 11:30 am. The NSL News will post the first scores soon.