posted Oct 8th, 2009 - The start of the 2009 USPA National Skydiving Championships is only three days away. The 2-week event begins with the 4-way competition jumps on Monday. The NSL News will be reporting the 4-way and 8-way competition live from the event site in Texas, with all the exciting features that the audience has become used to.

The current weather situation in the Houston area seems to make it difficult for the teams that are trying to get a few more training jumps in before the competition begins. Windy conditions have come with a big storm system that crosses a large part of the USA at the moment. The forecast is not much better for Friday and Saturday.

Even Sunday and Monday may still have critical weather conditions. However, Tuesday and Wednesday look better, the 4-way teams may just have to go on a faster pace than possibly expected if Monday cannot be used fully, due to the weather conditions.

The situation in the 4-way Open Class competition does not seems to open to the audience, according to the latest results of the NSL Poll. Arizona Airspeed is the clear winner, while Perris Fury and Spaceland Force XP are just competing for the silver medals.

The other 4-way poll, which is posted at the event page for the Advanced Class competition, has been asking the audience who may break the Mass Defiance "amateur record" this year. Only SDC Rhythm XP seems to have the potential to beat the 19.3 average. "Nobody" had the majority for a while until Rhythm recently took the lead back.

The 8-way Open Class competition could begin on Wednesday, according to the official event schedule. A weather delay at the beginning of the 4-way competition could make it more challenging for the competitors who compete in both events. 4-way and 8-way competition could overlap if the weather does not cooperate.

The audience is expecting a much more interesting competition in 8-way. None of the four listed teams has a significant lead at the moment. The Golden Knights is probably the team that is most focused on the 8-way competition, even if some members may compete in 4-way, as well. The new lineup wants to win the 8-way competition and has no serious ambitions in 4-way.

Members of the other three 8-way teams, especially Airspeed and Paraclete, are serious in both events. Airspeed obviously wants to win the 4-way competition and is not too serious in 8-way. However, Airspeed is the defending 8-way champion and always wants to win as many USPA titles as possible.

Paraclete XP members Thomas Hughes and Gary Beyer have very serious plans in both events. They want to win in 4-way and in 8-way and compete for the USA in both events at next year's world meet in Russia. Gary Beyer's recent problems with his shoulder make it at least more difficult. He doesn't know yet whether he will be able to compete, and Brian Johnson has been training with the team. He is also filling in for Paraclete's Kirk Verner in 8-way.

The polls will remain open until the competition begins.