Nationals, T minus 1 day (Sunday, 10/11)

8:40 am: Good morning from Spaceland! So far today's looking a lot like yesterday... cloudy, with a hint of rain on the way here. No planes have flown yet. The drop zone population's a little thin this morning, no doubt due to yesterday's weather followed by today's forecast. I'm thinking at least a few of our competitors figured there was no reason the party had to wait till after the competition!

Stay tuned to this page for more updates!

9:45 am: Registration is hopping, we now have 411 jumpers registered and 224 of them checked in. Current team count: 84. Current 4-way team count: 49, with more than 8 hours to go before 4-way registration closes tonight at 6 p.m. Draw and briefing will be held at 6 pm in hangar 2 (the one on the left as you walk in from the parking lot, with the registration tables and award stage).

Registration hot tips:

• #1: Register/pay online and print/fill out your waiver before you get here!!! Your check-in will take as little as 2 minutes if you're prepared.
• #2: Girls' shirts run small.

Registration is busy this morning.

Competition briefings for each event will happen the later of the following:

• The night before the event begins at the close of registration (6 pm).
• When jumping ends, or
• After any medals are awarded for previous events.

12:30 pm: Registration update: We've got 432 jumpers registered, 265 checked in, and 91 teams (all events). Right now, there are 54 4-way teams registered.

It's still pretty thick out there, but here's a few shots of what's going on around here...

8 pm: All right ladies and germs, the briefing is over and we've got a potential world record round in the draw for open class (there are 57 4-way teams registered, 16 Open, 8 Advanced, and 33 Intermediate). More on that in a moment, first let's run through a few notes and quotes from the briefing (bulleted for speed's sake):

• "Just look at this place, they've really pulled out all the stops! The Boyd family has shown a real commitment to skydiving with this place."--Scott Smith, meet director
• "Welcome to the 2009 USPA Nationals, I've been waiting a long time to say that! Thanks to our sponsors--Sky Systems, Aerodyne, Vigil, and Jumper Sportswear for helping us produce this event!"--Eric "EZ" Boyd, DZ manager
• "We're working really hard to get this done, when the sun is shining, be prepared for 45-minute calls (the minimum specified in the Skydivers' Competition Manual). If you land out, have a mal, or whatever, let manifest know right away. We want to keep things moving when the weather is good.
  "There is an official notice board next to the registration tables; look there for any updates on weather or anything else. There will also be a 'non-official/official' notice board at www.uspanationals.com--check it at 6 a.m. to see if you need to be here at 7 a.m. for a 15-minute call. If we are on a weather hold till, say, 11 a.m., by 10 a.m. we hope to have an update on www.uspanationals.com. If there's a chance we'll be jumping, we're going to hold everyone here so we can jump our a$$es off and get this done once weather's here. There is no maximum number of jumps per day, we'll keep going till we have 10 rounds in or it's sunset."--Smith (Weather's not looking too great for full altitude tomorrow morning, but keep your fingers crossed!)
• Early rounds will go according to team number, but by round 5 we're expecting to have teams jump in reverse order of standings. "Really pay attention to the manifest calls!"--Smith
• If moisture proves an issue for video at lower altitudes, jump altitudes may be raised but 35-second working time is still in effect.
• 5 Otters will be in use, 4 with outside floater bars and one without as a backup. All planes are considered the same and outside floater bars are fair game.
• Jump runs will run north or south for consistency with four teams per plane, three teams for the first pass and one for the last. Green light=exit, red light during jump run does not mean to stop climbout. The next team out will get a go-around.
• No grips on flap handles!
• Jump run speeds will be 90 +/- 5 knots, with 85 as the target.
• Landing procedures: NO HOOK TURNS IN THE MAIN LANDING AREA! "Land safely straight in for two weeks, then we can all party like rockstars after that. If you gotta do a hook turn, sign the swoop park waiver and land over there, but remember you'll still be on a 45-minute call when you land. And swoop park competitors have right of way (practicing or competing)." --Rabbitt Staib, air boss/S&TA
• Hook turn violators may or may not get a warning...
• Avoid landing on the runway or the short-mown grass next to it, the planes use both... Beware of aircraft if crossing the runway, they'll be using it about every 4 minutes...
  
• "You guys are going to be way, way impressed with the CamScore system this year. Video staff, judges, and I am all really impressed with it." --Smith (more on this tomorrow!)
• Video downloading is all digital with touchscreens on this system.
• "This is the first major meet where CamScore's random electronic draw has pulled an all-random round (Round 6 is A-N-H-P-O). We have FAI judges here to certify a world record if it happens!" --Judy Celaya, chief judge

What, you want the draw? OK, here you go!

• Open/Advanced draw (PDF, 500K)
• Intermediate draw (PDF, 420K)

Team list: (it'll be on CamScore tomorrow, but here's your preview!)

OPEN-TEAM NUMBER	TEAM NAME
401	Elsinore BTE
402	Spaceland Force
403	Ranch Delivery
404	Perris Fury
405	Amphibious Attack Tigers
406	LOL
407	Golden Knights Gold
408	SDC Rhythm XP
409	Arizona Airspeed
410	(G) Black
411	Golden Knights Black
412	Spaceland Blue
413	(G) Crystal
414	A4C
415	Sebastian Tempest
416	(G) Voluntas
ADVANCED	TEAM NAME
301	DiZturbia
302	Ranch Fallout
303	SDC Furies XP
304	Spaceland SPX Lite
305	SPX Edge
306	Spaceland Havoc
307	4 Schzl
308	Cross Keys Aerodyne
INTERMEDIATE	TEAM NAME
201	(G) Blue Ice
202	Perris Matrix
203	300% Deviation
204	Dallas Vertical Velocity
205	Venture 4 Fun
206	Elsinore FLV
207	(G) First Point
208	Apocalypse
209	Kaleidoscope
210	Elsinore Rigby
211	Spaceland BS5
212	(G) CSC Pareto Optimal
213	WPT Apocalypse
214	VTSD
215	Perris 4 Shock
216	Spaceland Funnel Approach
217	First Time Out
218	Perris Jimani
219	Dallas Flash Point
220	Carolina Ice
221	Bisquits and Gravity
222	Spaceland 2BD
223	MP4
224	Piece Out
225	Spaceland Mamba
226	Cross Keys NRG
227	Dallas Fusion 4
228	Air Force Epic
229	Syncing Feeling
230	Air Force Groove
231	Elsinore TBA
232	(G) BAM
233	Air Force Raptor

Photos to come later, must find dinner now!