posted Jul 25th, 2008 - The next meet weekend is already coming up, and the NSL News has traveled to Europe in the meantime. The Nuggets Cup in Leutkirch, Germany, is on the agenda on the way to the final destination in Maubeuge, France, for the live coverage of the World Meet 2008.

The Nuggets Cup is a part of the German Skydiving League (DSL) schedule and is one of the major events of each competition season in Europe. Teams from Germany, Austria and Switzerland use the annual opportunity for a serious competition experience.

This year, several national teams use the Nuggets Cup as the final test for the World Meet in France. Owner Peter "PG" Grossmann, member of the German national 8-way team for several years and currently competing for X-Ray Remscheid, has a Twinotter and a Pilatus Porter that has been used frequently for world meet training.

In fact, all German national lineups, the EADS 8-way lineup, AAA/Open Class team FSC Eisenach and Chicas, the female lineup, have signed up to compete this weekend in Leutkirch in the beautiful Allgau. All three German national teams have been working with Davide Moy from France to prepare for the World Meet 2008.

Davide Moy is a former member of the French national 4-way team that won gold medals at the World Meets in 1999 and 2003. He also tried to win the 8-way event at the same time in 2003 with his 4-way lineup and lost to Russia and USA. However, he knows both events very well and is the German national coach at least for the Nuggets Cup.

The French world champion has additional experience and knowledge that is crucial for the national teams this year. He has been through the switch situation from the left-hand door of the Twinotter to the right-hand door of the Pilatus Porter, and he was successful with it.

France Maubeuge won the the gold medals in 1999 from a Twinotter. The same team lost to Airspeed in 2001, and exits were again from a Twinotter in Spain. The World Meet 2003 in Gap, France, had the Pilatus Porter as the jump plane, and Davide Moy won the gold medals after switching to the other door.

He is very familiar with the jump plane in Leutkirch this weekend and in Maubeuge in August. French teams have mostly been training from the Pilatus Porter for many years. The German national teams don't have much experience with that plane, especially the 8-way team EADS and FSC Eisenach.

The 4-way and 8-way lineup needs special attention since the difficulty is even on a higher level. The five members of FSC Eisenach (Dr. Jörn Thiele, Max Thiele, Dieter Schwarz, Markus Bastuck and Alexander Hau on camera) are also competing in 8-way at the same time. They have only two days at the Nuggets Cup this weekend to complete ten rounds in 4-way and ten rounds in 8-way.

The situation will be similar at the World Meet. However, 4-way and 8-way are separated at the IPC events, and there are five competition days available to complete both events. The Nuggets Cup will be a tough drill for the Germans to prepare for the World Meet. The 8-way team is hoping to be in contention for a set of medals in France.

The three German lineups for the World Meet 2008 have international company at the Nuggets Cup. The Swiss national 4-way team (Enrico Piffaretti, Samuel Kummrow, Andi Guler, Cornel Gmuer and Marcel Aeby) will compete in Leutkirch, as well. Finally, the Austrian Monkey Circus (Werner Trummer, Horst Scheiber, Christian Royer, Thomas Haber and Roland Habel on camera) has already been on site for training and is registered for the meet, as well.

22 teams are registered for the DSL event in Leutkirch, additional German teams will compete in Kassel at a synchronized competition. The NSL News is live on site and will post scores beginning tomorrow morning.