Jim and Ellen Vandevelden in Lake Wales

posted Apr 21st, 2004 - The second meet of the Florida Skydiving League 2004 season was competing with a large formation event at Skydive City last weekend. Several FSL competitors who are not currently in a team visited Zephyrhills for the 140-ways. However, the hard core 4-way fans still made their way to Lake Wales, including current and former Z-Hills locals as Ron Hill and Jim and Ellen Vandevelden. Hill (Tail) and Jim Vandevelden (Video) were both Teiwaz members for this meet with Robert Chromy (Center Inside), Kristina Peterson (Point) and Kurt Gaebel (Center Outside) completing the line-up. Ellen Vandevelden kept on the ground at the Florida Skydiving Center. The Vendeveldens were Z-Spot members in 1998 and 1999 and had won USPA's Intermediate Class gold medals in 1998. Gaebel had been coaching the team at that time. It was an unplanned reunion in Lake Wales.

Denmark Vitesse with coach Pete Allum

The FSL teams, together with a CReW skills camp organized by the current U.S. national team, still kept the host of the USPA Nationals 2003 busy enough. The total of seven teams in Lake Wales included four AAA Class teams that visited from DeLand to attend the meet. Vitesse and Air4s are both part of the Danish team project and have currently trained in DeLand with Danish national coach Pete Allum who also guided both teams through the competition last weekend. Vitesse is the "B-Team" and consists of Birgitte Fisher (Point), Kenneth Gajda (Center Outside), Kaspar Svanekier (Tail), Peter Anderson (Center Inside) and Kim Jensen (Video). Vitesse finished with an impressive 13.3 meet average and showed their national coach that the team members will be ready to support the national "A-Team", the Danez.

Denmark Air4s at the Florida Skydiving Center

One member of the Danish national team, Jess Romer, was present in Lake Wales and witnessed the Vitesse performance while filling the point slot for the project's "C-Team", Air4s. Allan Stejlborg (Center Outside), Johnny Hansen (Center Inside), Torben Tiedemann (Tail) and John Pedersen (Video) complete the line-up for this team from Denmark. Air4s posted a 10.7 meet average after six rounds. Coach Pete Allum was very pleased with the performance of both teams.

The other two visiting teams came from Norway. Arcteryx is the new national 4-way team with Ditta Valsdottir (Point), Ole Petter Hjelle (Center Outside), Lise Aune (Center Inside), Oyvind Buer (Tail) and Martin Hamalainen (Video). The NSL News will follow up on the Norwegian situation with an update later on. National coach Lise Aune, former center outside of the DeLand Norgies, only filled the open center inside slot in Lake Wales and mentioned that the fourth new member will be "imported" for the next and upcoming training camp. Arcteryx finished the competition with a 15.7 meet average, which was the highest result and the first place in the AAA Class of last weekend's competition, including the Carolina Skydiving League meet.

Norwegian Basic Camp team Captain Karlsen's Crew

Captain Karlsen's Crew is another line-up that came out of the last Norwegian Basic Camp at Skydive DeLand. Four different Rookie Class teams from Norway had already competed at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2004 in March. Roger Bach (Point), Heidi Karlsen (Center Outside), Lise Wollan (Center Inside), Rune Satre (Tail) and Martin Hamalainen (Video) did not have the advantage of a player coach in the line-up as the other Norwegian teams in March. The team's 11.8 average was all the more impressive and not far away from the scores in March. The Norwegian Basic Camps are the recruiting field for the national teams. Norway has produced many world class competitors with this concept. Two of the current members of the national team were participants of the Basic Camp in 2003.

Windline Lightning 2004 line-up

Windline Lightning competed in the AAA Class for the first time. Two members of last year's AA Class team USPA's Advanced Class gold medalist, Billy Bradshaw and Mike Mathes, came back to compete in the AAA Class this year. Bruce Robertson, a former member of the Canadian national 4-way team, and Tiffany Short joined the Lightning line-up for the first 2004 meet on home turf. Four of the six rounds had six-point sequences, some with memory and mirror images. Windline Lightning mastered the new challenge with a 9.0 meet average.

FSC JAMMM 2004 line-up in Lake Wales

FSC JAMMM attended their second meet of the 2004 season in the A Class. Mike Green (Center Outside), Joel Kmetz (Center Inside), Maria McCaffrey (Tail) and Kent Lang (Video) had already posted a 6.0 meet average at the season opener in DeLand. The team's original point, Martin McKerrell, had to be replaced last weekend. Lisbeth Laurent from Denmark filled the slot and helped to maintain exactly the same scoring level. In fact, FSC JAMMM lost a total of four points due to penalties and could have increased the previous meet average quite easily. The new team record of 10 points for a round in March will most likely soon be followed by a new highest meet average.

Florida Skydiving Center manifest window

The Florida Skydiving Center's facilities and staff once again guaranteed a perfectly smooth operation. The teams had the chance to either jump from the Twinotter or the Casa. Arcteryx used the opportunity for more meet practice from a tail gate that will be waiting for the team at this year's World Meet. The two Danish teams exited from the Casa, as well. USPA's national judge and Southeast Regional Director Richard Schachner once again put the scores on the board. Robert Chromy helped the teams as the event coach. The combination of great weather and a smooth operation helped to complete the meet early in the afternoon on Saturday. The Florida Skydiving League now moves back to DeLand for the May meet.