posted Jul 4th, 2012 - The longest day of the year, Midsummer Night on June 21st, is probably the biggest celebration of all holidays in the Scandinavian countries. The summer is short in the northern parts of Europe, and skydiving events need to be squeezed into the short window. It's a time with higher frequency of meets and events than in other areas.

Finland's Juhannus Day midsummer boogie took place from 18th to 24th of June, starring big way training from two Cessna Caravans, wing suit flocks and abundant rainfall. This year's event was hosted by the Tampere Parachuting Club at the home dropzone on the Jämijärvi Airfield. Marko Saaresto, manager of the 4way competitions in Finland, reported that the facilities and the overall organizing were exemplary.

He said that the 4way meet, which was a part of the midsummer boogie, raised unprecedented interest by the boogie participants: "Especially those skydivers who are new to this flavor of the sport showed great interest."

There was a big obstacle for actual participation though. The midsummer boogie in Finland also means party time, which has usually a serious impact on next day's skydiving, as Marko Saaresto also confirmed for this year's event: "Unfortunately only two teams survived the Juhannus festivities the evening before. Some casualties were expected but three out of five was, well, not that unexpected either. Next year we'll give Juhannus a wider breadth..."

The scores of the two teams that managed to be up and running on meet day were posted earlier and reported by the NSL News on 26 June 2012. Marko Saaresto said that they competed wholeheartedly, and the scores showed it. He also provided some more team insights from Finland:.

June 23rd, 2012		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Total	Avg
Rank	A Class	E,8	L,7	C,H,4	J,K,9	G,D,N	B,6	Total	Avg
1	Umppa Lumpat (FI)	8	10	5	4	5	-	32	6.4
2	Plug It In Anywhere (US)	6	8	5	6	5	8	38	6.3
3	Wissota Beavers (US)	6	5	7	2	7	7	34	5.7
4	Skywalkers B (CZ)	4	2	5	6	5	5	27	4.5
5	Random Blocks (US)	4	5	5	2	5	5	26	4.3
6	Bad Exit (US)	3	3	4	5	4	5	24	4.0
7	The 182s (US)	2	1	2	3	2	3	13	2.2

"This time, the scoring was clear with Umpa Lumpa casually taking the winning spot. Being the only returning team from the first meet they are taking a solid lead on the Finnish national league. Umpa Lumpa was now in their standard lineup and managed to raise their average by two points from the previous meet. Many are expecting them to exceed the 10-point average in the A Class by the time of Finland's national championships."

"Nollat Tauluun was the second competing team, apparently a one-shot for this event. The name celebrates the fact that the whole team passed a breath analyzer test early on the meet morning. The team comprises of three members from last year's Crème Brûlée, with Mari Putus replacing Malla Mäkelä."

Mari Putus is a new license holder and has only 160 jumps - none of them in 4way. Thus the team decided to compete in the Rookie Class, and Marko Saaresto hopes that Mari Putus will join for a long run after his impressive first-time performance. The meet was judged by the Honorable Harry "Halli" Latvala.

The next meet in Finland is coming up this weekend, and it is combined with the last day of this year's Finnish Team Camp. Marko Saaresto said that weather permitting he is expecting to see some more intense competition. Midsummer Night's party time is over, and more Finnish skydivers may pass the breath analyzer test early in the morning...