posted Dec 13th, 2009 - The SDC Rhythm XP tryout for the Tail slot was completed successfully on Saturday evening. It was a long and intensive day for Rhythm, the three candidates, coach Kirk Verner and the NSL News. The first two candidates, Samer Haija and Nick Grillet were already featured with videos of their flying sessions in the two stories that were posted at the event site, the Paraclete XP wind tunnel in Raeford, North Carolina.

Thiago Muradas was the last candidate for the slot and finished off the tryout with the session that began at 8:30 pm. The three Rhythm members and Kirk Verner now have a few days to come to a decision. It will not be easy, as all three candidates melted well with the Rhythm 3-way in the flying chamber and have the motivation and commitment to make this step.

Nick Grillet was still leading in the poll for the NSL News audience. Thiago Muradas' video was not posted at the time when the latest poll results were posted. It has now been uploaded and is available for reviews, as well.

Tim d’Annunzio, owner of the Paraclete wind tunnel, was visiting his tryout place. He is stepping back a bit with his Paraclete work, as he has decided to go into politics and run for Congress in North Carolina's 8th district. His son John and Kirk Verner are in charge of the actual tunnel business operation.

The situation for the three candidates was very different. They did not only have their own competition draws for the flying session. They also had very different schedules. Samer Haija was the first candidate early in the afternoon and then had plenty of time to relax after his flying session. Thiago Muradas had to wait until 8:30 pm until he would enter the flying chamber.

It was very interesting to see how all three candidates applied their own flying style and eventually came out with very similar results. It surely looked like Rhythm would be in good shape with any of the candidates after enough training.

Samer Haija was flying like the most competitive and agressive Tail. Nick Grillet looks like a clone of his room mate and 4-way world champions of 2006, Shannon Pilcher, minus the experience level. Thiago Muradas was extremely smooth and calm. The videos provide an idea of the different styles.

The classroom sessions before the flying time were mostly discussions about the current situation, details of the Rhythm history and the profiles of the three candidates. There was another shorter classroom discussion with each candidate after all flying sessions were completed. The details of the schedule for the 2010 season were the main topic by then.

Everybody was very hungry and thirsty when it was all said and done at about 11:00 pm. It was late, but the three Rhythm members and the three candidates still went to a local restaurant together for some food and beer. There it was finally time to relax and exchange stories and impressions.

Then the Rhythm Tail Tryout was officially over. However, it was not the end of the tunnel time for the three Rhythm members. They had embedded the tryout event into one of their tunnel camps. The campers had half a day off on Saturday afternoon and would all be back early Sunday morning.

Nick Grillet, Thiago Muradas and NSL News were back on the road on Sunday morning, 24 hours after leaving DeLand. Both candidates had a lot to talk about after these intensive and exciting 24 hours. They continued to discuss their experiences and the technical part of their flying sessions. One thing was for sure: they all had a lot of fun and a great time.

Nobody knows yet who of the three candidates will be the lucky one. The Rhythm members will announce the decision early next week. Steve Lefkowitz had an interesting comment on the NSL News photos with each candidate: "One of these photos will be the first team photo with the new lineup..." Very true, and the NSL News will follow up as soon as the decision has been made.

SDC Rhythm XP Tail Tryout
Who will be the new Rhythm Tail?	Nick Grillet Samer Haija Thiago Muradas
	Current Results