posted Dec 31st, 2021 - The beautiful photo featured on the NSL front page is a Stairstep Diamond, which the Vertical Vixens pulled from a Twin Otter a couple of weeks ago. Tony Hathaway made the shot while filming a training jump.

The Vertical Vixens is a very new 4-way team from the team factory at Skydive City in Zephyrhills. All team members are women, and they are new to 4-way Formation Skydiving training and competition. Only team videographer Jack Larrison is male, and it's his first filming project, as well.

The Vertical Vixens were local recreational jumpers at Skydive City before Rachel Vivier and Cathi Hodge decided to build a 4-way team and started looking for two more members.

It wasn't their original goal to have an all-female-team. they tried male candidates, as well, and they all failed.

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Florida Skydiving League May 2000		1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	O,10,18	A,G,4,11	6,15,22	2,9,1	16,P,J,K	21,L,D,13	Total	Avg
1	DeLand PD Blue	16	18	15	22	21	18	110	18.3
2	Optik Nerve	12	13	12	15	15	13	80	13.3
3	Tonic	12	13	9	12	14	13	73	12.2
4	Teiwaz	12	14	11	12	12	11	72	12.0
4	DeLand Chain Gang	9	11	12	16	15	9	72	12.0
6	DeLand PD Gold	12	12	9	13	14	8	68	11.3
7	Skydive America EH	9	11	9	12	12	13	66	11.0
8	DeLand Tunnel Rage	9	4	3	13	13	-	42	8.4

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Cecilia Ferrer joined next before Eliana Rodriguez completed the lineup. The Vixens are planning to make more than 200 training jumps before the USPA Nationals 1999 and participate fully in the Florida Skydiving League.

The FSL management will hopefully provide a team portrait picture soon - if the team looks as pretty as the exit...

Vertical Vixens member Eliana Rodriguezeventually turned out to become a 4-way and 8-way world champion.

She met her first team mates with the Z-Hills team Illusions. In December 1998, and with a total jump number of about 200, she joined Rachel Vivier, Cathy Hodge and Cecilia Ferrer, with coach Kurt Gaebel.

While the team was mainly out for fun, they did compete in several Florida Skydiving League competitions. Coach Kurt Gaebel was already very impressed with Eliana Rodriguez' outstanding skills and positive personality structure by then.

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USPA Nationals 2000		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Intermediate	9,7	6,F	Q,A,K	21,O	J,2	D,P,20	TBD	Total	Avg
1	DeLand Tunnel Rage	15	15	22	12	13	15	-	92	15.3
2	Blaze	15	15	15	13	10	13	-	81	13.5
3	Focus 4	13	13	16	11	11	11	27	75	12.5
4	Dallas 4-Quest	15	14	20	4	10	12	26	75	12.5
5	Vertex	11	9	18	7	10	10	-	65	10.8
6	Loki	11	7	14	11	11	10	-	64	10.7
6	Float'n Otis	10	12	13	11	8	10	-	64	10.7
8	Sirens	12	10	10	8	11	11	-	62	10.3
8	Crosskeys 4	11	10	14	8	8	11	-	62	10.3
10	Pepperell Event Horizon	11	10	10	9	11	10	-	61	10.2
10	Hinckley Defcon 4	10	10	11	9	11	10	-	61	10.2
12	Sintrifugal Force	11	11	10	10	9	7	-	58	9.7
13	Boondock Saints	11	11	9	8	10	8	-	57	9.5
13	Air Buddha	11	8	11	9	7	11	-	57	9.5
15	Checkpoint	6	10	13	9	9	8	-	55	9.2
15	Wings Of Blue	11	13	8	10	7	6	-	55	9.2
17	Minimum 60	6	8	12	10	9	9	-	54	9.0
17	Formula 4	6	8	12	7	10	11	-	54	9.0
17	Flashpoint	10	11	6	9	8	10	-	54	9.0
20	Da Vinci's Dream	9	10	11	6	9	8	-	53	8.8
21	Foreigners	11	0	13	9	8	11	-	52	8.7
22	Kokomo	10	10	8	7	7	9	-	51	8.5
22	Ground Zero	10	9	9	6	8	9	-	51	8.5
24	Arizona Fusion	9	10	9	7	6	8	-	49	8.2
25	Pepperell Expedition	6	11	8	7	8	7	-	47	7.8
25	B & B 2000	6	11	8	7	8	7	-	47	7.8
27	Perris 2000	6	10	7	6	9	7	-	45	7.5
27	Burning Daylight	10	10	7	9	8	1	-	45	7.5
29	Elsinore 4 Quest	9	6	10	5	7	7	-	44	7.3
30	Mark-4	5	8	8	7	6	5	-	39	6.5
31	Un4given	3	9	8	7	6	4	-	37	6.2
32	Hot & Nasty	3	6	7	4	6	5	-	31	5.2

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However, Eliana Rodriguez only completed approximately 50 training jumps with the Illusions before she had to quit. Her mother was sick, and she wanted to be with her. Eliana Rodriguez stopped jumping until September when she went back to her job at SkyVenture Orlando.

Eliana Rodriguez became quickly involved in 4-way training and competition again. Several acquaintances at her windtunnel working place in Orlando, including Thomas Hughes, generated a new 4-way team, Kinetics, who asked Eliana Rodriguez to join.

Kinetics made its debut at the first Florida Skydiving League competition in January 2000. Within the first month though, personnel changes became necessary. As a result, two of the team members were replaced with co-workers of Eliana Rodriguez at SkyVenture Orlando, and the team name changed to Tunnel Rats, then to DeLand Tunnel Rage. The team eventually won the USPA Intermediate Class gold medals in 2000.