posted Apr 13th, 2009 - The Southern California Skydiving League is reaching even futher south this year.

The NSL News reported on 25 January 2007 that the Southwest Skydiving League split into the Southern California Skydiving League and the Arizona Skydiving League:

"The Southwest Skydiving League has finalized its schedule for the 2007 season. Actually, the new schedule includes only the events at the two major hosts in California, Skydive Elsinore and Perris Valley Skydiving. The Southwest Skydiving League will be split up and turns into one league in California and the other one in Arizona.

The travel distance between California (Perris/Elsinore) and Arizona (Eloy) is significantly longer compared to other leagues in the country and has been in the way for the SSL teams. There were a few occasions when teams made the long trip in the past, mostly from California to Arizona and rarely the other direction."

The Southern California Skydiving League has shared the meets of the regular season between Skydive Elsinore and Perris Valley Skydiving ever since. The two skydiving centers are only 20 miles apart from each other. Many visiting teams from other states and nations, and also from northern parts of California, have attended the SCSL meets regularly.

This year, there will also be a team from even further south in California. Skydivers at Skydive San Diego have formed the "PACK'D" 4-way team and plan to compete at all SCSL meets this year.

PACK'D consists of Padu Merloti (Center Inside), Aniz Rasslan Filho (Point), Chris Starsky (Center Outside), Katie Chvistek (Tail) and Donald Humphries (Camera). Padu Merloti is a seasoned competitor and was a member of several teams in Brazil years ago. He recently initiated the team project at Skydive San Diego.

Padu Merloti trained and competed in 4-way and 8-way in Brazil between 1996 and 2000. His 4-way team (Palacete das Luxurias) won the 1st place in the Intermediate Class of the Brazilian Nationals 1997. He was also on the 8-way team Os Saltimbancos, which won the gold medal in 1998.

He was excited to launch the 4-way project in San Diego for the Southern California Skydiving League, as PACK'D will be the first 4-way team from San Diego in a long time. He said that he remembers only a 10-way speed star team from the late 60's.

The team's goal is to advance very quickly through the different competition classes and finally compete in the AA/Intermediate Class at the USPA Nationals 2009. The progression of the team training is planned to run parallel with the progression from one category up into the next one, beginning with the Rookie Class.

An interesting aspect of the PACK'D lineup is the fact that all members are very experienced skydivers and still don't know much about 4-way competition, except Padu Merloti himself and Katie Chvistek on a smaller scale.

Chris Starsky is Skydive San Diego's resident load organizer, master rigger and AFF jumpmaster. Aniz Filho is an accomplished freeflyer, AFF jumpmaster, rigger and canopy pilot. Katie Chvistek is the least experienced team member and just made her 1,000th jump. She has been on a 4-way team with no serious training program.

PACK'D completed the first training on March 28. Padu Merloti said that the team "exceeded their expectations". PACK'D will work without a coach for now and while "laying out the basic foundations of 4-way", as Padu Merloti reported. His team has a partial sponsorship with Skydive San Diego and wants to initiate more 4-way activities on the home turf.

60 to 100 jumps are on the agenda for the 2009 season, plus a couple of hours in the Perris windtunnel. Padu Merloti hopes that Skydive San Diego will eventually join the Southern California Skydiving League and become an event host, as well, in the longer term. He has already initiated the communication with Dan BC in Perris and John Hamilton in Elsinore. The first SCSL meet of the 2009 season is scheduled for 25 April in Elsinore.