posted Oct 9th, 2009 - Yesterday's NSL News update and preview of the 2009 USPA National Skydiving Championships had an impact on the latest results of the NSL Poll for the 8-way competition.

None of the four listed teams had a significant advantage, and Arizona Airspeed's lineup had collected the majority of votes at that point in time. This changed overnight. The Golden Knights are now far ahead of the other three teams. It seems as if the focus on the 8-way event has given the US Army team the edge in the poll.

The Golden Knights have the longest and very successful 8-way tradition in the USA. Different lineups won several gold medals at world meets and world cups before Arizona Airspeed was even founded.

The Golden Knights still own the world record for a single round and scored the highest 8-way meet average in the history of Formation Skydiving competition.

The NSL News reported all the details of this 8-way history when the French 8-way team challenged the Golden Knights records at the USPA Nationals 2008 in Eloy. The NSL News will again go back to this topic later. The new Golden Knights lineup of 2009 could set the foundation next week for a new era of 8-way world class competition by the Army team. The results of the latest 8-way poll seem to indicate just that.

The weather forecast for the Houston area has not improved much in the meantime. The huge weather system that reaches from the southwest of Texas all the way up to the Canadian border raises concerns. The weather situation could give the meet an additional twist, as each round becomes more important. It could be the last one...

IPC and USPA rules define very clearly that one round is enough to declare the winner. This rule change came already years ago and still counts. The top teams surely have a plan for such a situation. In fact, Airspeed's Craig Girard recently elaborated about the opening of a meet in the interview with the NSL News on 4 October 2009. The French national team changed the strategy at the start of a meet too, as national coach Martin Ferre explained in an interview at the FAI World Cup 2009.

The best trained team usually has an advantage if a meet goes over all ten rounds, as almost the whole dive pool will be exhausted. The shorter the meet - the better the chances for the underdogs. They have to take chances hoping to keep up or get ahead and then stay there as long as possible.

A shorter meet does not offer the same opportunities for the trained team to make up for a mistake or after a peak performance of another contender. The first round at the USPA Nationals 2009 will be an exciting one, no matter how the weather will be for the whole week.

The NSL office will be moved to Texas tomorrow, and the coverage will continue from there, with the first update hopefully tomorrow afternoon. The NSL website will offer the usual services, with scores, stories, photos and videos. The link on the CYPRES banner also leads to the NSL Blog at the CYPRES website.

This will be the spot where quick updates will be posted before the more comprehensive information comes with the NSL News stories. CYPRES and AERODYNE offered special support for the NSL News to make the event coverage possible at all.