Countdown to Nationals! Thursday 10/8, T minus 4 days

Hey everyone, it's great to be at Skydive Spaceland right now! This particular blogger hasn't been here in a few months and the changes are spectacular. Huge new hangar for planes and creeping, more bathrooms, team rooms, mega swoop pond, full carpet in the main hangar, gravel walking paths (less mud!)... we'll take a full photo tour of the facilities later on.

For now, we'll just enjoy a sunrise photo from this morning...

Spaceland sunrise.

Things are hopping here; the hangar is opening at 7:30 a.m., teams are checking in and practicing, and the first load just took off (8:45 am). The weather's great, come on out and play!

IMPORTANT NOTE: This year, Omniskore will not be scoring the USPA Nationals... we'll be using CamScore. To stay tuned to the scores and happenings at Nationals, please visit www.USPAnationals.com. We'll have scores, a blog (shortly), live judging video feed, and much more.

Stay tuned for more updates!

1:15 pm: Load 10 is in the air and last-minute Nationals preparations are in full swing.

3:20 pm: Winds are up, and most of the teams are down after 12 loads. Airspeed, Voluntas, Raptor, and Spaceland Force have made training jumps so far. Seems like a good time to catch up on that Skydive Spaceland photo tour...

Skydive Spaceland hangars from the parking lot.

The main hangar faces the parking lot; it will be the primary congregation point, and is where manifest, rigging loft, cafe, pro shop, air-conditioned packing, etc., are located.

The second hangar to the left holds airplanes and offers plenty of creeping space.

The air-conditioned packing area (a serious perk in South Texas!) measures about 8,000 square feet and contains the satellite manifest office.

The covered spectator area offers a bit of shade and tables/benches facing the landing area.

Spaceland offers patriotic creepers...

...and regular ones.

The swoop course is set up... man, those gates are a long way off! The pond measures 500x250 feet.