posted Apr 20th, 2008 - The second meet of Florida Skydiving League 2008 season was stopped by a weather front in the middle of Round 6. However, several teams used the opportunity of the 10-round meet option at Skydive DeLand. The national teams of Denmark (Danish Blaze), Canada (Evolution), Norway (Arcteryx) and the US female lineup (Fastrax Blue) had planned for a 10-round competition, and a few other teams continued with the meet on Sunday, either to complete the six rounds or go for all ten rounds.

The four national teams that will represent their countries this year at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving in August in France jumped from Skydive DeLand's Pilatus Porter. Seven other teams exited from the Twinotter, including two teams from the Netherlands (Turbulence, Orange Blue).

The two teams from Denmark (Danish Blaze and Sequence) already completed their third competition of the still young 2008 season, including the windtunnel competition at the World Challenge 2008, and tied Airspeed Odyssey's top number this year.

Canada Evolution is the 3-meet leader of outdoor competitions after attending the Valentine's Meet 2008 in February, the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2008 in March and this weekend's FSL competition in DeLand. The scores show that the Canadian team keeps moving up. This time, the Norwegian national team Arcteryx was the benchmark for Evolution, and the LeMay family managed to tie the scores in Rounds 2, 3 and 4.

Arcteryx competed with Thomas Hughes in the Tail slot. Ole Petter Hjelle had to leave DeLand for a few days, and the team was interested in getting input and feedback from Fastrax' Center Inside. Thomas Hughes was coaching the US female team, Fastrax Blue, at the same time.

Arcteryx surely has a great momentum going. The performance at the World Challenge 2008 was already very convincing, and the outdoor meet with Thomas Hughes continued with what the Norwegian team had already shown at Bodyflight Bedford. Arcteryx and Evolution both have their eyes on a set of medals at the World Meet in France.

The Dutch teams Orange Blue and Turbulence were the only teams that competed for the first time this year. Fastrax Blue, Teiwaz, Optic Nerve, Sequence, FSC Wind Damaged and Zero Tolerance Miami all competed at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2008 in March.

The competition draw at the Shamrock Showdown was much faster compared to this weekend's event, and none of the teams was able to beat its own outdoor scoring average of March - except one. FSC Wind Damaged, FSL team from Lake Wales, has quietly worked on the team skills in many ways, and the results are showing. Gilles Dutrisac (Center Outside), Joel Kmetz (Center Inside), Mario Luppa (Tail), Martin McKerrell (Point), with Pascoal Angelo on camera, went from their 9.6 average at the Shamrock Showdown to an 11.2 average this weekend.

The complete Round 1 can already be viewed on NSL-TV, more videos will follow this week.