posted Jan 18th, 2003 - The first meet of the Florida Skydiving League 2003 brought seven teams to Skydive Sebastian on a very cold morning.

The host was well prepared for the start of the FSL 2003 season with a Skyvan to fly the local 16-way team and fun jumpers and a Twinotter for the teams. Both aircraft are from Cross Keys, NJ. The event location was the site of the USPA Nationals in 1999 and is set up very well for a competition.

While the jumpers had above average facilities and aircraft, the NSL staff was spoiled by the location. Chief Judge Richard Schachner had his own almost private judging room. NSL President Kurt Gaebel also used the room as a temporary headquarters to keep out from the morning cold.

Other NSL support personnel for this meet included all the Sebastian XL team members as event coaches who helped the attending teams with their jump preparation.

FLAir member Helena Poleo was on site to report the meet for the USPA Parachutist. Last year's Frost member Ron Hill was on hand to write for the NSL News and help the A class teams when needed.

With the unseasonably cold weather and the early start of the season, the event participation was lower compared to the last few years. Four AAA class teams and three A class teams competed in Sebastian. Several of last year’s FSL teams are still in the rebuilding or relaxing stages.

Sebastian XL, the current British 4-way champions, took the lead in round one, and - as expected - never let it go. Even with a penalty in the first round, XL finished far ahead of the other AAA Class teams before handicap. and posted the highest score in every round.

The 19.2 meet average was a good start for XL into the new season after hardly any training between the British National Championship 2002 and the FSL season opener. Sebastian XL consists of Pete Allum, Steve Hamilton, John McIver, Thomas Hughes and Rob Stevenson on camera.

The Danes are the national 4-way team from Denmark. The team showed some amazing skills at this meet. Anyone who saw this team perform was impressed with the solid skydiving and precision that the team showed in Sebastian.

The Danes' performance was as smooth as any top team's and only lacked the raw speed that the top teams have. The meet average of 13.8 points was the highest result for the Danes in team history.

More great scores can be expected from the Danish team soon. The Danes consist of Rene Andreasen, Jess Romer, Brian Lindgreen, Mikael Toft, and Bjarke Gjoedesen on camera. Sebastian XL captain Pete Allum is the Danes' coach.

Last year's Florida Skydiving League winner, Space Center Teiwaz, was on hand to defend their title. Teiwaz is made up of a rotating roster of very experienced 4-way competitors. The team's line-up for this meet consisted of Kurt Gaebel, Richard "Rambo" Calledare, Rob Larsen and last year's Nemesis member, Jim Goempel.

Seth Cohen was filming the team once again. Teiwaz only jumps at the meets and almost never competes with the same team squad. This makes the teams 12.2 average for this meet quite impressive. The remaining AAA Class team was another team visiting from Denmark. The Levitators finished the meet with an 8.2 average.

The Levitators already attended the April meet of the Florida Skydiving League in 2002 and posted a 6.7 meet average by then. This year's Levitators have a new line-up with a lot of potential. The team consists of Birgitte Fischer, Jesper Rasmussen, Peter Andersen, Peter Knudsen and Kim Jensen on camera.

Three teams competed in the A Class in Sebastian and signed up for the whole FSL 2003 season. The competition between these and other teams promises an exciting race for the FSL medals in the A Class.The winning A Class team at this meet was Pandemonium from Skydive Miami in Homestead.

The team is lead by Pete Reynolds and made up of three other experienced freeflyers who are giving belly flying a try. It seems as if the team is now hooked on the challenge of good 4-way competition. Pandemonium posted an 8.7 meet average at their first competition.

This result already matches the highest season average of all 52 A Class teams that competed through the NSL 2002 season. Pandemonium consists of Pete Reynolds, Chris Jacobus, Dan Rheaume and Naftali Mizrahi. Kevin Kschar is filming the team.

Team FLair is another team from Skydive Miami in Homestead. FLair is made up from two members of last year’s FSL team Zero Tolerance, Helena Poleo and Guido Marti, and Rick Lyes, a former member of team Elsinore Un4Given that competed in the Southwest Skydiving League 2001.