posted May 18th, 2011 - The NSL News has followed the current Norwegian national team in the female 4-way category, Polaris, from the very beginning. The current lineup (Ellen Burchardt, Kristine Willadsen, Trude Sviggum, Sissel Maria Finnseth) got together for the 2010 season and attended its first competition at the World Challenge 2010.

The members of the Polaris lineup were introduced by the NSL News shortly after the team plans were finalized for the 2010 season (Archives > 2010 > News > Search for "Polaris", January 20th). An update followed after Polaris had competed at the April meet of the Florida Skydiving League in Sebastian.

The NSL News story on 25 April 2010 explained that Polaris was planning to challenge the Norwegian record average of 16.2 that the Norgie Girls had posted at the World Meet 2003 in Gap. Polaris' Center Inside Trude Sviggum still owns this highscore.

World Meet 2010		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women	10,7,12	3,11,5	J,M,Q,P,L	19,1,13	N,18,20	K,17,8	2,15,H	4,D,6	O,E,9,G	22,B,16	Total	Avg
1	France Aerodyne Cypres	20	19	47	18	19	20	21	21	32	19	236	23.6
2	UK Team Bodyflight	16	17	44	17	17	19	18	19	30	19	216	21.6
3	USA Spaceland Blue	17	14	38	15	16	15	17	15	29	12	188	18.8
4	Germany ISB Air	16	15	39	13	13	15	16	14	28	11	180	18.0
5	Norway Polaris	14	12	30	11	14	12	14	15	22	15	159	15.9
6	Russia Prygalky	13	10	21	13	13	12	10	13	17	12	134	13.4
7	Sweden	9	7	20	9	11	8	11	11	16	-	102	11.3
8	China	9	9	17	5	6	6	11	8	15	-	86	9.6

Polaris did not get to break this record in 2010. The Norwegian team finished just three points short at the World Meet 2010 in Menzelinsk and will try again this year. The last Polaris update on 23 November 2010 announced that the same lineup finalized team plans for two more years.

The second Polaris season is now in full swing. The team just finished the second 2011 training camp in Empuriabrava, Spain, which was a short one this time. Trude Sviggum reported that her team left Norway on Thursday last week and came home on Sunday. DeLand Norgies member Torstein Valen supervised the 29 training jumps, as coach Steve Hamilton was not available.

Polaris had completed the first outdoor training camp in April at the same location and had some interesting travel experiences. Trude Sviggum had to work until April 19, and Brit Chicks member Lynne Murray filled the slot for the first days of training.

Trude Sviggum arrived very late in the evening of April 19, and her team mates came to the airport to pick her up. Kristine Willadsen is usually the team's designated driver, while Ellen Burchardt reads the map. Sissel Maria Finnseth and Trude Sviggum like to sit in the back seat.

It was different this time since Kristine Willadsen was very tired after a long training day, and Polaris' Center Inside Trude Sviggum also took the driver's seat of the car. She told the story of the driving adventure:

"Sissel was supposed to read the map and tell me where to go. Ellen was in another car with her brother. Well, Sissel navigates air planes and I used to navigate big ships. You should think that we would manage to drive a car from A to B as well... However, Kristine fell asleep, and when she woke up she asked me if we had taken the exit to Figueres/Roses. Uhhh, no, we had not. My navigator Sissel never told me to take that exit. She said later that she had probably fallen asleep a minute or two... We actually ended up in France before we managed to turn around and spent two additional hours to get from Barcelona to Empuria."

It is a funny experience looking back. It was probably not so funny at 3 am and with an early start for the team training next morning. However, Trude Sviggum said that it was a great training camp in April.

Polaris completed 30 jumps with Lynne Murray before Trude Sviggum arrived and then added 46 more jumps with the complete lineup. The team goal of 80 jumps at this camp was almost accomplished.

The quick visit to France at the beginning of the camp was not the last adventure for Polaris. Trude Sviggum had another even more exciting story for the NSL News:

World Challenge 2011		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	10,C,5	20,P,2	H,M,Q,K,A	L,J,16,12	E,7,15	O,11,22	14,B,17	6,13,9	4,3,21	1,G,8	Total	Avg
16	Austria Alpen Glow	18	18	34	18	20	19	21	20	17	17	202	20.2
17	UK SonicNutz	15	17	37	21	22	16	17	20	16	18	199	19.9
18	Switzerland Bodyflying	18	17	29	20	22	16	20	19	17	19	197	19.7
19	Norway Polaris	16	17	38	17	23	17	19	17	15	13	192	19.2
20	Portugal Atmosfera G4	15	16	37	19	20	17	17	17	13	17	188	18.8
21	DK Bodyflight Voluntas	19	17	28	18	23	15	19	18	17	11	185	18.5

"The Twin Otter pilots switched in the middle of the day, and they obviously did not have a good handover. Because of clouds we could not see the ground when we exited the plane and were kind of surprised when we found ourselves on the wrong side of the dropzone under canopy. We were on top of the city, and if you are familiar with Empuriabrava you know that there are not many landing options downtown.

Ellen, Kristine and Gudrun went directly for a safe landing field west of the city, but Sissel and I were convinced that we could fly back to the dropzone. I could not. Before passing the last canal I realized that I would not be able to fly across the houses to the field on the other side and decided to land in the canal. Wet but still kind of safe - I can swim - I was picked up by a German couple in a small dingy. They asked me if I landed without a parachute - No, I did not...

Sissel was still missing when people from the dropzone picked me up. We drove to one of the other canals and to the small lake to look for her, but she was nowhere to be seen. Finally we got word that she was found on the roof of the supermarket. She told us that she had a good landing up there with lots of space, but she had a hard time getting people's attention to communicate that she needed help to get down from the roof - even though she speaks Spanish fluidly."

The next Polaris training camp is scheduled for June 1 - 12 at the same location. A tunnel camp follows on July 6 - 7 July and a weekend of jumping in Norway (Tønsberg). A complete training week in Spain prior to the World Cup 2011 will get Polaris ready for the competition in Germany after a total of 250 - 300 training jumps.

The Polaris efforts seem to almost guarantee that the 16.2 average of the Norgie Girls will fall this year. The Norwegian federation supports the team financially to a certain extent, and Norway does not have an Open Class team this year. However, there will be a training and selection camp later in 2011 and another one in 2012. The federation will once again try to find young talent to build a new Open Class team.

The Norwegian Nationals 2011 are scheduled for August 9 - 13. Another meet is scheduled in Voss for June 25.