posted Aug 7th, 2006 - The weather has improved, and the teams are back in the air. First of all, the first round in 8-way needed to be completed. Only Arizona Airspeed and the South African 8-way team had missed round one and boarded the Twinotter for the last 8-way activity today. The 8-way teams were done for the day after round one.

South Africa posted an 8-pointer and is one point ahead of Belgium in 8th place. Arizona Airspeed had a strong first page and got caught with an incomplete Frisbee at the beginning of the second page. As France did a few hours earlier, Airspeed completed 19 points in time and received a score of 18 points from the judges.

It was a split decision. Three judges did not accept the officially incomplete formation, while two other judges counted the Frisbee in. All five judges had seen France's mistake in round one. However, the flaw stopped the title defender from taking advantage of the opportunity. The horse race has begun, and USA and France are tied in first place at the end of the first 8-way day.

Fun Flag flies high

The Canadian team Evolution finally let the Fun Flag fly over Gera, and it seems to be in a safe position. In fact, it is located at the highest place on the airport, the control tower. It will be very difficult for any possible treasure hunters to get to this spot. The Canadians might have a good chance to take the Fun Flag back home.

However, there are already secretly developed plots how to get access to the well chosen position. The current owners have to deal with the serious problem that Evolution is jumping in the meet. Usually, there is a Fun Flag truce thoughout the actual competition.

Cheerful walk to the boarding area

The teams are currently and once again on a weather hold. Strong winds keep all participants on the ground this time. The skies are blue enough, and as soon as the wind slows down the meet will be continued. The atmosphere on the ground was very cheerful from the very beginning. The walk of the teams to the boarding area has become an exciting part of the competition and keeps getting more sophisticated.

The cheerful crowd waves flags, sings songs, dances, wears colorful clothes and even paints faces. This tradition began years ago at the last rounds of the international skydiving meets. Meanwhile the "cheer walk" begins already at the first round of the meet. The German crowd did not have to re-create the procedures. Flags and other necessary tools were already available from the World Cup Soccer party all over the country only weeks ago. The same party just continues in Gera...

Teams are back in the air

The teams were sent back in the air at approx. 5:30 pm. The wind slowed down enough to guarantee the safety for all participants. Sad news for the Canadian team: the Fun Flag already disappeared from the well chosen spot. The thief did not allow the flag to fly very long, and Canada did not have much time to defend the treasure.

Sad news also for the fans of the Russian Ladybirds. The medal contender in the female category had serious problems building the first Compressed Accordeon of Block 16 and ended up with only 12 points. Good news for the Punky Fish fans: the Dutch team delivered a clean performance and have a 16-pointer on the scoreboard.

The French team in the Women's Class had a great start into the competition with 17 points in time. Unfortunately, the industrial haze made it difficult for the team and for the judges, as well. Luckily, the judges looked at the jump three times to make sure they can see everything, and France recived these 17 points points, which is the highest score of all 4-way teams so far.

Scoreboard and NSL-TV are getting updated on a regular basis - stay tuned. There are still several loads ahead before sunset.

End of the day in Germany

The complete scores of round one in the 4-way Open Class are posted, many videos can still be viewed on NSL-TV/RealXstream.com. The NSL News will be back tomorrow morning.