posted May 9th, 2016 - The Northern California Skydiving League launched its 2016 outdoor season on the first day of May. It was originally scheduled for the last day of April, however, the very windy weather forecast changed the plans, and it was actually a surprise that the meet took place at all.

NCSL Director Lori Connor was glad that it still worked out: "Well, in spite of the wind on Saturday, Meet #1 happened on Sunday."

She said that the winds were surprisingly calm at Lodi, and the teams were jumping starting with the first load of the day. The Parachute Center eventually flew over 30 loads on Sunday with its two Twin Otters.

The meet was scheduled for Saturday at SkyDance, but the weather forecast caused the change on Friday before the meet weekend. Lori Connor said that the change came too fast for a few teams.

Nine teams had planned to attend the first meet of the year, and six of them still made it to Lodi.

NCSL April 30th, 2016		1	2	3	4	Total	Avg
Rank	A Class	P,9	6,F	J,G,K	O,B,L	Total	Avg
1	Helter Skelter	10	6	5	10	31	7.8
2	High Anxiety	4	9	2	8	23	5.8

Meet story by Lori Connor

Julius Frank was the Judge and Ground Coach for the meet. His help at the creeper pad and mock-up was invaluable. Rob Pooley, organized four camera flyers for our meet and even flew on a team himself. Without Rob providing video for our teams, the meet would not have happened. Bill and Kathy Dause were welcoming, as always, and teams did not have to wait more than a load or two after manifesting. Most teams were done with their four jumps by mid-day. Stretch and Manny our pilots for the day gave us great spots and smooth rides to altitude.

Look out for team Helter Skelter, who formed for the 2016 season. Kiran Shivaram, Michelle Hart are returning flying together, but joined forces with Ethan DeLano and Eli Rhodes. Bernardo was their camera flyer for the day. Helter Skelter took 1st Place in the A Class with 31 points.

High Anxiety returned for another competition season, having its roots begin in 2014. Jeff Bodin, Karen Cruz, Jeff Jensen and Mahlon Chute comprise the team but Deanna Frank was an alternate at this meet flying Tail in Mahlon's slot. Rob Pooley flew camera. High Anxiety took 2nd Place in the A Class with 23 points.

NCSL April 30th, 2016		1	2	3	4	Total	Avg
Rank	Rookie	P,H,C	F,N,D	J,G,K	O,B,L	Total	Avg
1	Lodi Mix	3	6	2	5	16	4.0
2	Team Chill	1	3	4	5	13	3.3
3	Double Pluggers	5	0	3	3	11	2.8
4	Team X-Men	0	4	1	3	8	2.0

Meet story by Lori Connor

In the Rookie Class, Lodi Mix took 1st with 16 points. Lodi Mix's origin is a mix of Team Block party, an all-female team who formed for 2016 with Angie Clifford, Lauren Pruett, Joanna Kulbabinski and Tamara Bartlett. Angie Clifford sustained an injury last weekend and couldn't fly and Lauren Pruett couldn't make the meet. Lori Connor filled in for Lauren Pruett as Inside Center and Ron Put filled in for injured Angie as Point.

The team decided to fly under the name Lodi Mix. You couldn't tell at all from the video or the score, but Joanna has 60+ jumps and Tamara 135+ jumps. They have both been training in the tunnel receiving coaching from Julius and Deanna Frank and it really showed. They also received coaching outdoors from Christy Frikken the weekend before in Perris for 4-way training. This team also received the Judge's Choice award for its hard work in the tunnel and skill progression.

Second place in the Rookie Class was taken by Team Chill with 13 points. Regular team members in A Class teams Vignesh Elamvazhuthi and Lukasz Weber teamed up with Achal Asawa and Lee Wilcox to form Team Chill. Third place Rookie Class saw another new team who formed for 2016, Team Double Pluggers with Bolek Kulbabinski, Ben Myles, Richo Healey, Maciej Katafiasz with Campbell Pool flying camera. This team had not flown together with its full line-up until yesterday. The members of this team have all been flying in the tunnel receiving coaching and tunnel time in the Tunnel Kickers and it shows.

Meet story by Lori Connor

We were very excited to see Team Xmen come out to Lodi to participate at the meet. This team was comprised of the Hebert family with Russ Hebert, Ray Hebert, Clynt Hebert and Jersyn Sharp. Russ and Ray have been flying for many years, and it's been fun to see the next generation of the Hebert clans, Sharp and Ellis, start flying in 2015, with Clynt, Jersyn and Ben Ellis (who couldn't make the meet). The team flew well, but unfortunately received a video bust in Round 1 and also lost a point in another round for a formation flown incorrectly. They know what their score would have been if things had gone well... Sometimes these things happen at meets. It was great to see the team join us for the day and we hope they return for the next meet and claim some titles.

An end of the day 12-way that Julius organized with NCSL members was super fun. The first two points were no contact to show the skills of the tunnel work the NCSL members have been putting in. Thanks for organizing the jump, Julius - it was a great wrap-up jump for an awesome day.

Next up is the Tunnel Kicker this Wednesday at iFLY SF Bay, and several other tunnel events between now and our next premier weekend event with Mikhail Markine of Arizona Airspeed on June 3-5 with tunnel on Friday night (June 3), a skills camp/mock meet on June 4 at SkyDance and a team training day on June 5 at Lodi. Until then, blue skies!