posted Jun 21st, 2017 - The first meet of the season for the Northwest Skydiving League was forecast to have good weather on Saturday, and even better on Sunday. Five teams registered for the competition, and for the first time in many years, two teams registered for the league's AAA Class competition: Seattle Swift and Otter Droppings, in addition to two A Class and one Rookie Class team.

Since the NWSL encompasses three states (Washington/Oregon/Idaho), it is set up so that teams can compete at whichever drop zone they prefer. For Saturday, the two AAA Class teams were signed up to compete at Skydive Snohomish.

The weather cooperated most of the day, and Seattle Swift completed six rounds, Otter Droppings four.

NWSL Director Deb Correia said that Seattle Swift had a great meet: "They had exited Block 1 (Snowflake - Snowflake) only once before, and the exit on Round 4 didn't go quite as planned. Point Dmitry Rudchenko got stuck in the plane and left about five seconds after the rest of the team. He made a great dive, and the team managed to get four points in time."

June 17th, 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		P,11,H,16	15,5,K	3,7,18	1,O,21	9,8,14	17,Q,B,D	Total	Avg
1	Seattle Swift	NWSL	14	11	11	4	11	16	67	11.2
2	Otter Droppings	NWSL	11	5	8	10	-	-	34	8.5
Rank	AA Class		P,11,15	K,14,4	7,18	1,O,21	9,8	Q,B,D,H	Total	Avg
1	Platinum 4.0	SSL	6	3	7	7	7	13	43	7.2
2	Fourtified	SSL	6	4	6	7	7	8	38	6.3
Rank	A Class		P,H,9	K,4	7,A	O,21	8.J	Q,B,D	Total	Avg
1	Still Pending	NWSL	3	4	2	3	3	-	15	3.0
2	Random Blockage	NWSL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rank	Rookie		O,F,C	K,P,M	A,E,H	G,L,O	J,N,F	Q,B,D	Total	Avg
1	Struggle Bus	SSL	7	6	7	6	7	6	39	6.5
2	Frankin' Giants	SSL	7	7	1	3	1	-	19	3.8
3	Get A Grip!	NWSL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Regular participation in the Indoor Cloud League lead to the creation of Otter Droppings, who completed their first outdoor competition last weekend. Jeremey Eggum and Monica Aikins were previously on We Don't Have One, and they were joined by Jerome Jeal and Dale Findlay, who are both new to the Northwest Skydiving League.

Still Pending, one of the NWSL A Class teams, competed at Skydive Kapowsin. The DZ usually has a Twin Otter and a Caravan, but both planes were away for the weekend, and the teams exited from a right-hand-door Pilatus Porter.

Deb Correia had more details of this meet: "The exits were definitely a challenge, and the team had not flown together prior to the meet. Jay and Kelli Alspach were formerly on Fun Sponge, and Isaac Bahr was on Das Booties. They all flew their regular slots, and newcomer Katie Gregg took the tail position. Isaac had just returned from Japan on Friday, so he was dealing with some jet lag. Their last jump was from 8.5k in the rain and sleet. Their exit blew up, but they still managed to get three points. Kelli made her 1000th jump during the competition. The team averaged 3.0 over the five rounds they were able to complete before the weather moved in. The team had a lot of fun, and hopefully will come up with a real team name before the next meet."

Two teams were scheduled to join the meet on Sunday. At Skydive Snohomish, Random Blockage, composed of two former members of Das Booties, Monika Brunnenkant, and Kurt Ferstl, along with Jeremy Richmond and Sarah Mireles Jacobs, who would be filling in for Randy Barbee, were ready for the A Class rounds.

Deb Correia said that Randy Barbee had shoulder surgery over the winter: "While he thought he'd be recovered for the season, a training jump determined that he's not quite ready for skydiving yet. Unfortunately, the weather at Snohomish didn't clear until late evening, and the team was unable to jump anyway."

The second team scheduled for Sunday was a new Rookie Class team, organized by Olga Nikolova, scheduled to compete at Skydive Kapowsin. Deb Correia said that Nikolova has really been scrambling to put together a team this year:

"She recruited player coach Steve Platt, along with Steve Kowalczik and Angie Clifford. They were debating the merits of a variety of exits from the Porter. Olga has been participating at the Indoor Cloud League events, focusing on the Inside Center slot. Due to a weak shoulder, she didn't feel that she could make it through an entire meet exiting from the outside. The team had more or less called the meet due to weather in the morning, but a couple of the team mates went to the DZ anyway, hoping to put together a team. The weather there didn't clear until late afternoon, and no jumps were made."