posted May 29th, 2008 - The expectations of the Ranch Skydiving League's new director, Ranch Fallout member Bob Schuyler, were fully met at last weekend's season opener in Gardiner. Seven teams attended the first RSL competition of the 2008 season. Five teams was the highest number of teams at a meet in 2007, and the new record attendance came already at the very beginning of this season.

In fact, it happened only once since 2003, in August 2006, that seven 4-way teams competed at a Ranch Skydiving League competition. RSL Director Bob Schuyler was happy with the turnout, even though the expected Rookie Class teams and competitors did not even attend the season opener. He hopes that they will join at the next meet on June 21:

"We had a good turnout, but we had less than expected rookies competing. That should change for the next meet. We expect a couple of rookie teams to form by then. Many of the rookies are just starting to jump again for the season and preferred to do more relaxing fun jumps during the boogie."

He thinks that another upcoming event will be helpful to bring out the new competitors: "There’s a rookie 2-way event coming up in a couple of weeks run by Tanya Hannington where we hope to generate some more interest in 4-way. There are at least five rookies who have recently expressed interest in doing 4-way, but schedule issues have so far prevented four of them from getting together all at the same time."

The Ranch weather was good enough on Saturday before the winds became too gusty in the afternoon.

The teams that were willing to jump in those conditions finished the meet on Saturday. Everyone else completed the 6-round competition on Sunday, which turned out to be a beautiful day.

Bob Schuyler and his team took advantage of the downtime on Saturday and used the time to go over the exits and blocks with new A Class team Ranch Screaming Monkey Sex (Ranch SCS).

Ranch Fallout started the 2008 season already with a new team record average of 11.8 after six rounds (9.3 - 10.5 - 11.7 - 10.8 in 2007). Bob Schuyler said that his team had a good meet, and the windtunnel training paid off. He added that is looks promising for the 2008 season after some small jump related issues will be cleaned up.

Ranch Spanakopita was a lineup for the meet. Three former Ranch Pulse members decided to get together and jump at this meet. Bonnie Vucetic, formerly with Billie's Bitches, was the 4th and took Brian Ball's place. Her husband Miro Vucetic was on camera for the team. Ranch Spanakopita will probably come back for some other meets whenever all team members are available.

AA Class team Ranch Delusion used to be called the Graybeards.

Former team member Kurt Neuert is now one of the Twinotter pilots at the Ranch. Joe Mangan has taken his place in the team. He has been on many Ranch teams over the years, including Ranch Equinox and Ranch Tribe.

Ranch Vortex competed in the past as Sikorsky Vortex from Connecticut Parachutists. The new 2008 lineup now jumps at the Ranch since CPI no longer has a suitable plane for 4-way training. Vortex is training hard at the Ranch and could become a top contender in the AA/Intermediate Class at this year’s USPA Nationals. Bob Schuyler said that the scores at this meet don't reflect the team's potential. Vortex had some costly video issues last weekend.

The Ranch Demo Divas used to be called the Ranch Lolas in 2007.

The new Divas had a good meet and lost a few points due to video issues, as well. Two alternates filled Divas slots last weekend.

Bob Schuyler explained that Kay Hoiby's husband Kenny Griep did a great job, especially since he's usually flying the Twinotter instead of jumping. The other alternate was Kelly George. She's a former member of Billie's Bitches.

The West Point Autobots was a beginner team of cadets from West Point who got together for this meet. Former Ranch Pulse member Jon Dunn filmed the team and helped with coaching.

Ranch Screaming Monkey Sex consists mostly of Rookie Class competitors, except Inside Center Jeremy Price. The team members have been jumping together since last year, both in RW and Freefly, as Bob Schuyler explained: "They're having lots of fun and are putting in the time and effort to improve their belly skills and learn 4-way."