posted May 23rd, 2010 - This weekend's leaderboard, the first one with several meets happening at the same time, has the scores of 36 teams so far. The results of the meets in the Mideast and Carolina are still to come. The United Kingdom provided the most scores with a total of 26 teams.

The NSL News traveled to Skydive Twin Cities to cover the season opener of the Northern Plains Skydiving League. NPSL Director Sandy Grillet managed once again to get his 4-way community out to play at the 2010 season opener.

Eight teams competed in three competition classes and tried hard to beat the Wisconsin weather on a rainy and very windy weekend. Several NPSL teams and competitors of the past years showed up to enjoy the fun NPSL meet weekends, and there were also new lineups and participants with a lot of talent. The NSL News will introduce the teams later and upload the meet videos as soon as possible.

Northern Plains Skydiving League - May Meet Entertainment

The first NPSL report from Baldwin features mostly the weather and entertaining ground activities with a video clip that shows what was happening at the dropzone on Saturday.

It was quite amazing how quickly things changed on one day. The weather forecast was very promising for Saturday, and two teams were ready to beat the tandem traffic with a take-off at 6 am for Round 1.

It did not happen, and especially those two teams would have a very long day after that early and false start. HTH and Flewid4 are two new, very talented and eager NPSL lineups who could not wait to launch the 2010 competition season.

The weather did not cooperate well, and the other six teams did not miss anything when they showed up later in the morning. From then on, all teams and NPSL Judge John Goswitz, who once again volunteered his time and efforts, were on stand-by for the whole Saturday.

Eventually, all teams completed at least two rounds by using the short periods of blue skies efficiently, together with DZ management and pilots. The weather made it as difficult as can be, as low clouds, storm cells with thunder and lightning, rain and strong winds offered very limited chances to predict the next chance for a load.

The NPSL teams and competitors managed this challenging meet situation as if they were used to it, and they probably are. The video shows all kind of recreational and social activities while waiting for the next call to the jump plane.

The ground activities during this weather situation did not allow any frustrations to arise, and it was actually very entertaining to watch how participants and visitors managed the free time.

It also did not seem to bother the team performances that much. The teams and NPSL Director Sandy Grillet were pleased with the scores and the quality level, which indicates the growing potential in the league's region.

The video clip finally offers an insight of the NPSL nightlife. The activities did not end after the long day with a lot of daylight to use for skydiving far into the evening hours. The NSL-TV camera continued to capture some of the entertaining activities later on Saturday night. Enjoy the new NSL-TV show.