It's Wednesday morning and the DZ is rocking and rolling. It's fun to see how the different teams prepare. Some are more intense than others while others appear to be so completely relaxed it's amazing. Needless to say the US Nationals is an amazing place to be....the energy is awesome when 5 Twin Otters are continuously meeting hot. Turn to your right and you see swoopers diving out of the sky and skimming across the water, to your left you see Arizona Airspeed flying in formation under canopy, canopies of all shapes, sizes and colors overhead.
The intensity on the competitors faces is interesting....namely from some very talented teams who had one bad round and are desperately trying to play catch-up, to those more relaxed who have a solid lead and then those that are so far behind that it's all fun for the rest of the way in.
There is some anticipation this morning with Round 6 in the Open class division. The draw is a complete random and very fast. The current world record is 44 points set by two Russian teams in 2006. A talented team like AZ Airspeed, Spaceland Force or the Golden Knights could set a world record for most points in a single round. Everyone will be watching the video screens in earnest.
Quite literally the world's best skydivers are here....what makes skydiving special is you could strike up a conversation with any world champion at any time. Craig Girard and Eliana Rodriguez of Arizona Airspeed could not be more friendly along with Amy Chmelecki of Arsenal among so many others. You couldn't rub shoulders with Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan without getting through the security detail....a positive for our sport being as small as it is.
Something of interest since arriving is that indeed everything is bigger in Texas...especially the mosquitoes. As I walked in to the DZ this morning there appeared to be an inordinate amount of swallows and dragon flies flitting all over the place...they were feasting on the huge volume of mosquitoes that are hunting the bare appendages of competitors not dressed in jump suits.
New Photos posted from yesterday are now up. Have a gander!
Below VTSD's Round 5 from yesterday.
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