posted Nov 10th, 2005 - There is only one single event left on the NSL Calendar of Events this year. SkyQuest 2005, including the NSL Championship, the Kaleidoscope Dives with BJ Worth, Team Elite with Guy Wright and the Fantasy Swoop, organized by Chris Hayes, is coming up next week. SkyQuest will once again be hosted by Fantasy of Flight, the aviation theme park and museum in Florida, located between Orlando and Tampa.

SkyQuest 2005 will be the 5th event at Fantasy of Flight. The very first NSL Championship was hosted by Skydive DeLand in 1998. DeLand Genesis won the inaugural event and put the first team name on the NSL Shugar Cup. Shannon Pilcher, Ian Bobo, David van Greuningen and Kyle Collins repeated the NSL victory in DeLand one year later.

The NSL Championship 2000 was the last time that Skydive DeLand hosted the annual event. DeLand Genesis had turned into DeLand PD Blue and defended the NSL title successfully on the team's home turf. The NSL headquarters was offered the opportunity to run the 2001 championship event at the unique Fantasy of Flight location and agreed without much hesitation.

The move to the new hosting location also concluded the DeLand Genesis/PD Blue winning streak of 1998, 1999 and 2000. The Golden Knights attended the NSL Championship 2001 and took the NSL Shugar Cup from Florida to North Carolina for one year. MidAtlantic Skydiving League team Xodus won the AA Class competition. The NSL Championship turned into SkyQuest Florida the same year.

Fantasy of Flight was a dream coming true for the National Skydiving League. The beautiful event site has everything that is needed to run a big skydiving event, and it also offers the opportunity to create a bridge between skydiving as a sport, the public and the media.

The plans were extended, the SkyQuest name was created, and the first event in 2001 already included other attractive events happening at the same time and at the same location. BJ Worth was invited and brought the Kaleidoscope Dives into the game plan. The Fantasy Swoop, CReW jumps and an Accuracy competition completed the inaugural event at Fantasy of Flight.

The first SkyQuest in 2001 was already very successful. USA Today had a great article with skydiving pictures of the event on its front page of the sports section, and other media outlets also reported of SkyQuest 2001. Host and management were satisfied with the results and agreed to continue with the cooperation.

SkyQuest 2002 was a copy of the 2001 event - with one minor difference: the weather was terrible. The NSL had set the date for the championship event on the same November weekend since 1998 and never lost a round for weather reasons. However, the three event days in November 2002 were a sad affair.

There were a few small parachutes in the air to test the winds once in a while over Fantasy of Flight's swooping pond. Even the small and fast swooping canopies could not control the high winds well enough and had to give up. Finally, late Sunday afternoon, the front was through, and the 4-way teams were able to complete one round.

The Golden Knights were on site to defend the NSL 2001 title, and the Army team had just won the USPA Championship 2002 at Skydive Chicago. DeLand Majik had lost the competition for the slot as the US national team in 2003 and was eager to challenge the Golden Knights again at SkyQuest 2002. The one and only round ended up 28 - 21 to the advantage of Majik, and the NSL Shugar Cup went back to DeLand. Air Force Blue won the AA Class, GT Inviscid from Georgia took the A Class gold medals.

SkyQuest 2003 went as smoothly as if the 2002 weather conditions were not even an option. The third year at Fantasy of Flight was as successful as the first year, and the last event of the season had now become a well known and popular skydiving attraction.

DeLand Majik defended the NSL Shugar Cup successfully after winning the USPA Nationals 2003 in Lake Wales, as well. Majik would move on from there to sweep all 4-way competitions in 2004 and win the World Championship of Formation Skydiving in Croatia. The Air Force team from Colorado won the AA Class competition at SkyQuest 2003, the Victims of the Wind of the Northwest Skydiving League took the gold medals in the A Class.

SkyQuest 2004 was once again a flawless affair. Guy Wright's Team Elite was added to the line-up of events and made a series of beautiful 40-way jumps. An extra day made it easier for the larger groups to get organized, warm up and complete the planned dives. Thursday was now action day for Kaleidoscope Dives and Team Elite, while Fantasy Swoopers and NSL teams used the opportunity to train on competition site.

Arizona Blade with Natasha Montgomery, Mark Kirkby, Thomas Hughes and Robert Healy won the NSL Championship 2004, and Carolina Ice beat Elsinore Equinox in the AA Class. GT Airlock won the A Class trophy once again for a team from the Georgia Skydiving League.

SkyQuest 2005 is ready for the new show. Paul Fayard's jump plane fleet prepares for the transit to Fantasy of Flight next week. The host in Polk City has made intensive Public Relations efforts, and there will most likely be a large crowd of spectators, while several TV stations plan to film the skydiving action.

The NSL News will follow up with more information. In the meantime, a video clip of SkyQuest 2004 can be viewed on NSL-TV by clicking here.