SkyQuest 2002 was almost completely weathered out. Two 110-ways were completed on Friday. Pond Swoopers and Accuracy Challengers did not complete a round.

SkyQuest 2002 took place for the second time. And it was the fifth year for the NSL Championship at the same time. The event has been taking place on exactly the same November weekend each year without ever completing less than ten rounds. It seems as every series has to end one day. The NSL Championship ran out of weather luck last weekend.

SkyQuest and NSL management were in the fortunate situation that all participants came to the event with a lot of skydiving and event experience. Skydiving veterans simply know that nothing can be done if the weather turns foul. Teams and competitors are used to hang in since there might be a chance for the meet management to complete one round.

After the recent changes by IPC and USPA, the NSL leagues have not been alone any longer considering a meet completed after only one round. Many of the NSL leagues had determined their regional weather meet winners after one round only several times in the past. After the recent rule changes by IPC and USPA, World Champions and USPA Champions could also receive their gold medals after only one competition round.

NSL President and event manager Kurt Gaebel mentioned the importance of the first round a few times when announcing the next weather hold. Round one of the NSL Championship 2002 could easily be the one and only round according to the weather situation. And this round might also determine the winners. Gaebel commented further that the teams should imagine that the first round was actually round ten, and the teams were tied after nine rounds. This might create the excitement of a close finish.

When Saturday was gone without a jump and the Sunday weather did not promise much better, the event management finally hoped for just this one round by the end of the day. The skies opened up Sunday afternoon when the cold front had rushed through Florida. However, the strong winds on the back side of the weather front still did not allow any jumps. While the other SkyQuest 2002 events, including BJ Worth's 110-way Kaleidoscope Dives, Nance LaRiviere's Accuracy Challenge and Lyle Presse's Fantasy Swoop, gave up Sunday afternoon and called it for 2002, the NSL meet management was still hoping for a chance to get the teams in the air.

The winds finally slowed down and the rest of the day turned into a beautiful Sunday afternoon. However, there was not much time left for skydiving when Gaebel called the teams back to stand-by status after the last weather hold was over at 4:00 p.m. At this time, one round could still be completed. But there would be no time for a second round, not even for a jump-off.

The competition draw fortunately offered a natural solution. The sequence for round one (B-G-17-P) was a fast one. Thus the chances for a tie and a possible jump-off were very little. Finally, after two days of waiting for the first call to the planes, the weather conditions allowed event manager Gaebel to get serious with this call for the first and last round of the NSL Championship 2002.

A total of 11 teams were still on site at 4:00 p.m. Together with the other SkyQuest events, five of the 16 invited teams had also given up on the weather and withdrawn from the competition. While the remaining teams began to re-focus on the actual competition jump, one more team had to have their eyes on the clock. Booty Surf from Illinois had a very long way home.

The A Class Champion of the Midwest Skydiving League 2002 waited with their final decision as long as they could. When the second of three Twinotter loads took off, Booty Surf had to realize that they would miss their flight back home and sadly took the jump suits off, packed up and rushed to the Orlando International Airport. GT Inviscid would win the A Class gold medals without a competition when Booty Surf had to accept a zero as the score for round one.

However, the remaining teams were now in the air, and soon the NSL Champions 2002 would still be announced at Fantasy of Flight.