posted Oct 10th, 2009 - The transition of the NSL News operation from DeLand to Skydive Spaceland in Texas has been successfully completed.

The weather situation at the hosting site of the 2009 USPA National Skydiving Championships is the same as it appeared to be on the weather map in the past days. The skyscrapers at Houston's downtown area greeted the visitors only half-way, as the tops of the buildings were covered by clouds.

The situation did not change much on the way to Rosharon, southwest of Houston. This time, the radio towers on the side of the highway were covered with clouds. It has been a quiet day ever since the NSL News arrived at the dropzone in the early afternoon. All planes were on the ground.

However, Solly Williams, who has been coaching Denmark's national 4-way team Voluntas in Spaceland this week, reported that the team completed almost 50 training jumps. There were interruptions due to rain and storm, but the planes lifted willing skydivers to jump altitude.

The weather situation will hopefully change soon, as the sun seems to be working hard to get through the cloud cover.

The competition jumps require better conditions, as the judges can evaluate the videos properly and give scoring points only if the video shows it all. Clouds are not only in the way of good performances. They can also obstruct the judges' evaluation. Training and meet conditions are not the same.

CamScore is ready to provide the judging and DZ-TV services. Jo Bell and Andy Mansfield have already been at the competition site for a week to set up hardware and software. The NSL News has found a spot right next to the CamScore, which will hopefully benefit the coverage.

Team registration is in full swing. The NSL News counted twelve Open Class and eight Advanced Class teams on Saturday afternoon. 25 teams were registered for the Intermediate Class competition.

Golden Knights team captain Brian "BK" Krause told the NSL News that he had a great year with his new 8-way lineup. He is competing in 4-way, as well. It's a very strong lineup that will probably challenge the three top contenders round by round. Kurt Isenbarger, Matt Davidson and Sean Sweeney complete the Golden Knights' 4-way team.