posted May 27th, 2014 - The Northern California Skydiving League (NCSL) continued its resurgence on Saturday May 24 with its second meet of the 2014 season at Skydance Skydiving.

Though the day dawned warm and sunny, Mother Nature toyed with the teams a bit with moderately high, gusty winds, which eventually calmed down enough for everyone’s comfort, and the seven teams across three classes were easily able to complete their competition jumps by late afternoon. Meet Director Krisanne Combs didn’t have to make the call to put all the competitors on a wind hold after all.

Two teams competed in the AA Class with Team Sparkle making its second NCSL competition appearance and taking 2nd place with 11 points. Unlike the first meet, now there was competition in the AA Class, with Team Fifth Wheel making its first NCSL outdoor appearance and taking 1st place in the AA Class with 43 points. Fifth Wheel has been a regular participant in the Indoor Cloud League, regularly putting up points in the AA Class for iFLY SF Bay.

NCSL - May 24th, 2014		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class	22,L,1	19,F,N	D,2,M	14,8	B,K,J,6	7,13	Total	Avg
1	Fifth Wheel (US)	7	9	9	4	9	5	43	7.2
2	Sparkle (US)	2	4	1	1	3	-	11	2.2
Rank	A Class	L,N,M	19,F	D,2	8,6	B,K,J	7,H	Total	Avg
1	Counterpoint FX (US)	5	4	4	3	-	-	16	4.0
2	Incapable (US)	2	4	1	4	-	-	9	2.3
3	High Anxiety (US)	0	3	2	1	-	-	6	1.5
Rank	Rookie	L,N,M	F,C,G	D,P,Q	E,A,L	B,K,J	H,O,N	Total	Avg
1	Last Minute (US)	4	4	5	5	-	-	18	4.5
2	Team Ron (US)	0	2	0	3	-	-	5	1.3

The A Class was the most competitive with three teams vying for a spot on the leaderboard. High Anxiety made a return appearance with Kristin Sosso filling in for regular Inside Center John Verley, finishing in 3rd place with six points. Team Incapable finished in 2nd place in its first official NCSL appearance although Outside Center Ian Pedowitz and Point Cristian Trefault competed in the first meet as part of Rookie Class team Lady Helicopter. League Director Lori Connor’s Team Counterpoint FX was again atop the NCSL A Class leaderboard with another strong 1st place finish.

The Rookie class saw the return of Team Last Minute, who finished the day in 1st place. They were joined by Team Ron, who took home the 2nd place medal.

Former Rhythm and R4 videographer Jason Imamura and Skydance’s own Kurt Issel spent the day shadowing teams in the air and on the ground, making sure the day was fully documented and that even the video flyers got their moment in the spotlight. The NCSL is scheduled to return to The Parachute Center in Lodi for the third meet of the season.

A Class team Incapable were facing a very unfortunate situation after watching their video of Round 1. They had to realize that their order of the random formations in this sequence (L,M,N) was not the same one as the competition draw required (L,N,M). Incapable's Adder counted two times, while all other formations within working time were incorrect.

A zero on the NCSL leaderboard for team High Anxiety in Round 1 was caused by a malfunctioning camera. NCSL Director Lori Connor said that High Anxiety also suffered an ankle bruise injury on exit for the team's alternate, Center Inside Kris Sosso. Kris Sosso had to take a break, and Meet Director Krisanne Combs approved a last minute alternate, Singularity member Sylvain Florand.

Counterpoint FX competed with alternate Ashlee Deskin. Team Ron was a new pickup team in the Rookie Class. Last Minute had two alternates in the lineup, Boomer and Misty Cain, who celebrated their last day at Skydance after ten years of being a fixture there. Boomer took a job at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, and Saturday was their last day at Skydance. The next NCSL meet is scheduled for June 28 in Lodi.