posted Apr 3rd, 2008 - "All rookies - no ringers" is the motto that a Rookie Class team of the Carolina Skydiving League is proud of. Carolina Windfall joined the 4-way competition of the Carolina Skydiving League's Rookie Class in June 2006. The team already attended the Paraclete XP tunnel competitionin February and now prepares for its second CASL season.

The Windfall members already loved 4-way when they met and then learned the difficulties of bringing four athletes together who share the same passion, goals and commitment level. This true beginner team currently consists of four women (Tamara Blue, Dani Bridges, Julia Lambe and Ashley Seitz) and a male team videographer (Quincy Kennedy). Carolina Windfall's home is at Skydive Carolina in Chester. The skydiving center in South Carolina supports the team as much as possible.

Three of the current team members (Tamara Blue, Dani Bridges and Ashley Seitz) got off to a tough start with Carolina Curves on a cold and rainy day in January 2007. The brandnew team began learning the random formations and spent many weekends with ground training, as the winter winds howled above the hangar in South Carolina.

Eventually, Carolina Curves, with Janine Cone in the Tail slot, attended the team's first competition in April 2007 and finished with a 1.5 average after four rounds. Just before the second meet of the season, the founding team member quit, and the team had to miss the CASL May meet, as the three remaining members did not want to pick up a fourth or have a ringer fill in.

Team member Dani Bridges remembered the team thoughts by then: "If this team was to win, we were determined to do it as a true rookie team."

However, the 3-way still wanted to compete in the 2007 season and also remain an all-female team. The three former Carolina Curves members still changed the team name in order to fill the open position in 2007 with either a male or female member, and Carolina Windfall was born.

As it turned out, the open Tail position was filled by a female skydiver, Julie Habermann, and training was on again with the balance of the 2007 season still ahead. The new lineup also followed up on the team commitment, attended all three of the remaining CASL competitions in 2007 (3.0 - 1.3 - 4.3) and collected the first valuable competition experinces.

Dani Bridges explained that it was not easy for the new lineup to continue through the remainder of the CASL 2007 season:

"The team struggled through the meets until the last competition of 2007 at our home DZ where we won the gold medals and reached our highest score of the 2007 season!"

Carolina Windfall has another new team member coming back for the 2008 season. The new Carolina Windfall lineup consists of Dani Bridges (Point and team captain), Tamara Blue (Center Outside), Kathy Stringer (Center Inside), Julie Habermann (Tail) and Quincy Kennedy (Camera).

The new lineup is still a true Rookie Class team, as all team members combine for a total of less than 1,000 jumps despite the average age of 46 years. Carolina Windfall started the ground training already in December. Training at the new Paraclete XP windtunnel in Raeford was added to the team's agenda. Coach Jan Lane, former Carolina Ice member, will continue to work with the team.

Carolina Windfall has already made four training trips to Paraclete XP and competed in the windtunnel competition on February 9 in Raeford. Eight Rookie Class teams attended the event, and Carolina Windfall took the second place with a 7.2 average. Carolina Windfall plans to compete at the CASL 2008 meets and at the NSL Championship 2008.