posted Apr 22nd, 2009 - The 2009 season gets another opening kick this weekend.

Valentine's Meet, FSL Shamrock Showdown and World Challenge have already given the new competition season a lot of momentum, and the Florida Skydiving League even followed up with the second meet last weekend.

This weekend, two of the strongest leagues in the country, the Southern California Skydiving League and the Carolina Skydiving League, join the 2009 action and will add even more excitement to the great start.

The Carolina Skydiving League actually had its first event already in February, as the NSL News reported in February. CASL Director Dan Winkelstein had organized a windtunnel competition at the CASL Paraclete XP "home tunnel" in Raeford. The scores were posted on the NSL leaderboard, and a meet story provided a lot of additional information. The CASL teams will now post their first outdoor scores this weekend at Skydive Carolina.

More action happens on the west coast at the same time, actually with a 3-hour delay. The Southern California Skydiving League opens the 2009 season at Skydive Elsinore this year. The NSL News posted a related preview already on 13 April 2009. A new team from San Diego, "PACK'D", had announced its participation at all SCSL meets this year.

Another new team will attend its first meet on home turf. Elsinore BTE is a very colorful combination of a lot of 4-way experience, talent and young 4-way blood. Melanie Curtis (Center Inside) and Steve Simar (Center Outside) are guiding this promising lineup. Both 4-way veterans are very well known competitors in the skydiving and 4-way community with several achievements under their belts.

Melanie Curtis trained and competed with Elsinore Adrenaline years ago and won gold medals in the AAA/Advanced Class (13.2) at the USPA Nationals 2004. Steve Simar joined Melanie Curtis in 2005, and together they won silver medals with Elsinore Gravity (14.2) in the AAA/Advanced Class at the USPA Nationals 2005.

Together they moved up into the AAA/Open Class with Elsinore Gravity (John Hamilton for Erin Murphy) at the USPA Nationals 2006 and finished 9th with a 16.6 average.

Melanie Curtis and Steve Simar then had a new idea for the 2007 season. They joined the new 4-way VRW event where they trained and competed with Meili Modini in the Elsinore Jedi lineup, who is now team videographer for Elsinore BTE.

The 2008 season became even more interesting for Melanie Curtis when the 4-way and Freeflying experts decided to train and compete in both events. Steve Simar did not join this double fun project. Elsinore Jedi (Melanie Curtis, Jonathan Tagle, Adam Tippie, Meili Modini, with Jared Miller on camera) finished 9th in the AAA/Advanced Class at the USPA Nationals 2008 with a 9.7 average and won silver medals in the VRW 4-way Advanced Class competition.

Melanie Curtis and Steve Simar now have joined forces again for the 2009 season, as Elsinore BTE focuses only on 4-way competition. Nick Grillet (Tail) and Julia Herrmann (Point) complete the lineup, former Jedi member Meili Modini is filming the team.

Nick Grillet is Sandy Grillet's 23-year old son and grew up in the Northern Plains Skydiving League that his father has managed ever since it was launched in 2001. Sandy Grillet is one of the most passionate 4-way fans in the sport, and Nick Grillet inherited a big portion of this passion. He already dedicated his whole life to skydiving when he moved to Florida and became a representative of Performance Designs.

He soon became a Teiwaz member after moving to DeLand and attended a few meets with the ever changing Teiwaz lineup. He shares a household with Spaceland Force XP member and former 4-way world champion Shannon Pilcher and trained with several top competitors indoor and outdoor to sharpen his skills.

Julia Herrmann's last team was Elsinore Kabong that competed at the USPA Nationals 2008 in the AAA/Advanced Class competition. Kabong also attended three of the four SCSL meets last year and consistently improved the scoring level throughout the USPA Nationals 2008.

Elsinore BTE has defined the team goals related to the history of the team members:

"BTE is built primarily around fun, friendship and focused goals, knowing that the best skydiving is born from that kind of team vibes."

The new Elsinore lineup is also the driving force behind the events and the Formation Skydiving coaching program at Skydive Elsinore, as Melanie Curtis explains. She is also the Marketing & Event Director for Skydive Elsinore:

"The team members are running events for up-and-coming jumpers, such as the Excel Basic Camps, 2-on-2 BTE Tunnel Camps, and several other fun and skill-based events peppering the Elsinore calendar."

Former Elsinore GT member Steve Miller will evaluate the first meet performance of Elsinore BTE. He is a national USPA Judge and will be in charge for the numbers on the scoreboard this weekend. The NSL News will update this weekend's leaderboard as the scores from Carolina and California will be coming in.