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The National Skydiving League Championship, the end-of-the-year meet for 4-way formation teams, was nearly weathered-out last weekend. The 10-round event was reduced to one round thanks to clouds, rain and wind over Lakeland, Fla., which didn’t dissipate until late Sunday afternoon. DeLand Majik, Air Force Blue and GT Inviscid posted the high scores in their individual classes earning each team a NSL 2002 Championship title, trophy and medals. DeLand Majik topped the U.S. National Champion Golden Knights team 28 to 21 in the AAA class, while Air Force Blue took first place over Sebastion 7L in the AA class by a score of 19 to 17. And in the A class, first-year team GT Inviscid earned the gold with an 11 over its competition, Booty Surf, which scored a 0 for the round. A total of 16 teams entered the NSL Championship event, which was the result of a qualification process throughout the year in an attempt to bring the nation’s best teams to this meet. This year was an improvement for participation from last year’s 12 teams. Still, a number of the top teams were missing from the event possibly due to the timing of this meet being after the U.S. Nationals and the accumulated expenses of a long skydiving season. Not helping this year’s championship was a steady diet of wind, clouds and rain over the 2-day event. Five teams threw in the towel and headed home before the single competition round made it off the ground at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday. This essentially brought the attendance below last year’s showing of 12 teams, as only 11 competed this year. The NSL is the brainchild of competitor Kurt Gaebel who is continually tweaking the formula for his skydiving league in an effort to make it the premier event in 4-way formation skydiving. Moving the championship event before the U.S. Nationals as well as extending the number of days of this meet may help bring Kurt closer to his goal. Go Compete!

An article in this month’s Parachutist magazine on extending the reserve repack cycle surely drew much interest from all skydivers. Parachuting organizations and companies have tried to extend the cycle in the past, but have been denied. The requirements for our reserve parachutes fall under Federal Aviation Regulations Part 91, subpart D, and states, “Sec. 91.307 Parachutes and parachuting. (a) No pilot of a civil aircraft may allow a parachute that is available for emergency use to be carried in that aircraft unless it is an approved type and--(2) ...has been packed by a certificated and appropriately rated parachute rigger-- (i) Within the preceding 120 days…” According to Parachutist, the United States Parachute Association and the Parachute Industry Association have “agreed to cooperate on research to extend the reserve repack cycle.” The PIA and USPA will conduct 24 drop tests with different containers and reserves to time openings. In the meantime, a petition to the FAA is underway for a 180-day reserve repack cycle exemption for USPA members. According to Parachutist, “A similar exemption was granted before the repack cycle was extended from 60 to 120 days in 1974, which soon led to the acceptance of the longer repack cycle.” Many riggers and parachute manufacturers don’t expect a 180-day cycle to affect reserve opening times. Previous tests by the Navy showed no dramatic difference in opening times after 30 days. Where riggers raise questions is on wear and tear issues. The container is part of the reserve inspection/repack process and takes a lot of beating from hard landings as well as incorrect storage and high use. Extending the repack cycle will necessitate routine inspections by individual jumpers to spot wear, tear and safety issues on containers. As for the reserve, if packed correctly, I don’t see any problem with keeping it packed an extra two months.