posted Jul 1st, 2012 - The annual Z-Scrambles brought 12 teams together on a very hot Saturday at Skydive City. Laura Song and Oren Kalb had once again prepared the event for 4way fans and recreational skydivers who mix up with more experienced team captains and player coaches for a casual day of 4way fun.

Dive pool, competition draw and working time are specific and only taylored to this event. The 3- or 4-point sequences for the four rounds include only the easier random formations and most popular blocks. Block 6 (Stardian - Stardian) and Block 21 (Zig Zag - Marquis) were drawn for this year's event.

The working time is traditionally 50 seconds, and the teams exit at 13,500 feet, which matches the usual jump altitude for recreational skydivers in general. Laura Song was still excited when she announced that this year's scoring average was significantly higher than ever before.

Z-Scrambles 2012		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Total	Avg
Rank	A Class	O,M,G	6,E	P,J,F,B	H,21	Total	Avg
1	Bi-Winning (US)	11	13	17	8	49	12.3
2	Cinco (US)	13	10	13	12	48	12.0
3	Pyro4ic (US)	12	9	15	9	45	11.3
4	Z4 (US)	8	8	13	11	40	10.0
5	Luck of the Draw (US)	11	8	8	9	36	9.0
6	Unemployes Skydivers (US)	13	8	7	6	34	8.5
6	P.A.T. (US)	8	8	11	7	34	8.5
8	Kobayashi Maru (US)	9	7	9	8	33	8.3
9	Z4ce (US)	9	7	9	6	31	7.8
9	Seriously Laid Back (US)	9	6	7	9	31	7.8
11	Zombie Apocalypse (US)	9	6	5	6	26	6.5
12	Mo Girlz (US)	7	8	7	2	24	6.0

Last year's winner had finished with a 9.5 average. The scoring average of all teams was 5.7 in 2010 and 6.0 in 2011. The team in last place, Mo Girlz, had a 6.0 average yesterday, and the 12 teams at Skydive City combined for a 9.0 meet average. Laura Song was right, the performance level had gone up quite significantly.

There are good reasons for the increased performance and scoring level at the new powerhouse of Formation Skydiving competition in Florida. Many of the participants have been attending the FSL Tunnel Kicker events at iFLY Orlando on a regular basis and keep working on their individual skills at additional indoor training camps. The results are obvious.

Florida Skydiving League and iFLY Orlando have been working together for several months, and the program is very successful. iFLY Orlando/Florida Skydiving League and iFLY Seattle/Northwest Skydiving League are now working together on a project that will extend the efforts and activities in both regions. The NSL News will follow up with more information.

Laura Song and Oren Kalb also recruited more experienced team captains/player coaches to this event who provided even more guidance for the the Z-Scrambles lineups than in the past. It was no big surprise that FSL Tunnel Kicker head coach Ari Perelman even ended up in 1st place with his Bi-Winning lineup.

The organizers assign one team captain to each lineup and scramble the rest of the participants together. Ari Perelman, Bob Byrne, Keith Walter, Yvette Walter, Paul Bartkus, Kurt Gaebel, Eric Haller, James Saine, Craig Sagalow, Patty Woods, Mike Woods and Annemarie Hammond served as team captains/player coaches yesterday and helped to lift the performance level this year.

Jay McCahan, Randy Swallows, Kyle Schiegner, Pip Redvers, Michael Wilks, Ron Brabant and Mick Jones were the videographers who were assigned to all teams in different orders and rotations.

Ari Perelman had three FSL Tunnel Kicker participants in his winning lineup who had to jump from the Twin Otter this time. Matt Hilson had done this approx. 100 times before he won his first competition yesterday...

He was still not even the youngest skydiver in the meet. The Pyro4ic lineup had Becca Kristoff in the lineup who has a total of approx. 70 jumps. She won the 3rd place after her regular participation at the iFLY Orlando indoor training for the FSL 4way community. Kevin Lynch and Rob Waspe completed Kurt Gaebel's team.

Team captain Eric Haller guided FSL Tunnel Kicker participants Kolla Kolbeinsdottir and Gary Fox to the 2nd place finish. Gregg Flowers completed the lineup. Kolla Kolbeinsdottir is the editor of the Blue Skies Mag and contributed in her own way to the monthly NSL News column: She was Turning Points...