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The teams were called to the Fallschirmsportzentrum Saar for a 9:00 AM takeoff on Tuesday morning, even though the weather forecast was not very promising at all.
It turned out that the meteorologists had it all right for Tuesday, as overcast skies and rain showers did not allow any competition activities, except for dirtdives, creeping sessions and any other preparations for the competition rounds.
The first standby announcement was followed by a second and a third one, and all teams and competitors were finally released by meet director Dr. Rainer "Exi" Hoenle at 14.00 PM. The world cup participants were still not released for the whole rest of the day, as the opening ceremony takes place at the end of the day at 18:00 PM. It will be the same downtown location where the festivities were held in 2011. The weather forecast is better for the opening ceremony than it was for the competition day.
It was not the Coaches Corner this time that had the top experts in the sport in front of the camera for some insights. The British team Chimera accepted the invitation and represented the largest belly flying Formation Skydiving delegation from the United Kingdom, with four teams in 4-way Open, two teams in 4-way Women and two 8-way teams.
The Chimera members compete in 4-way Open and with the Awkward Turtles in 8-way, except for substitute Aaron Faith who is only competing in 4-way. The former original Satori member of 2008, who moved to Bahrain after the FAI Mondial 2012, is filling the Chimera tail slot for Chris Judd who was injured earlier this year. Former Eclipse member Jonny Flowers will be in the tail slot at the UK Nationals which will follow on the weekend after the conclusion of the world cup.
Chimera is in the team's second year and attends the first international outdoor competition in Saarlouis, and team videographer Matthew Wilson is filming his first Open Class competition. The experiences in Saarlouis will be highly valuable for the upcoming national championships where Chimera will be in contention for medal positions.
Matthew Wilson has also created the Chimera mascot, which missed the first part of the NSL Live Talk. However, the team used a short break to bring Gwyneth into the conversation. The second part included greetings to their injured team mate Chris Judd, coach and sister Katie Woods and all Chimera fans, as well...