posted Feb 28th, 2009 - The best team of the Florida Skydiving League 2008 and winner of the NSL Championship 2008, Sebastian Tempest, recently reported a personnel change for the 2009 season, as well. Tempest's Center Outside of 2008, Ari Perelman, will not continue with the Sebastian team this year.

The team story of the Sebastian Tempest 2008 line-up began in August 2007 in Zephyrhills when the Teiwaz 4-way scramble with two line-ups brought Chris Ash, Thiago Murradas, Ari Perelman and Kris Byrne together in one of the two line-ups for the FSL meet. Ari Perelman also competed in the other Teiwaz line-up at the same event.

It was already obvious by then that there was a great chemistry in this lineup. The four Teiwaz members kept in touch, and the NSL News story on 10 October 2007 (Archives > 2007 > News > Search for "Teiwaz") announced that Tempest was working on team plans for the 2008 season.

These team plans materialized well, and the NSL News eventually introduced the new team project on 28 January 2008 (Archives > 2008 > News > Search for "Tempest"). Sebastian Tempest became one of the busiest teams and attended eight competitions in 2008, including the indoor part of the Paraclete XP Money Meet 2008, the USPA Nationals 2008 and the NSL Championship 2008.

Sebastian Tempest moved quickly up from the 13.5 average at the FSL 2007 August meet to new scoring heights in 2008. The 19.7 average at the NSL Playoffs 2008 in September was the best 6-round result, and Tempest posted a 22.5 average after the ten rounds of the Paraclete XP indoor meet.

The team's best 10-round outdoor average of 17.1 came at the right time. Sebastian Tempest posted it at the USPA Nationals 2008 in Eloy and ended up in 8th position of all US teams that competed in the AAA/Open/Advanced Class.

Sebastian Tempest's 2008 lineup would have been eligible for USPA's Advanced Class medals but volunteered to compete in the Open Class. Plan was to qualify as one of the four US teams for the FAI World Cup 2009 in the Czech Republic. However, the 17.1 average beat CSC Rhythm's 16.9 average and would have won the Advanced Class gold medals last year. Tempest concluded the 2008 season with the NSL Championship title at SkyQuest 2008 and took the NSL Shugar Cup back to Sebastian.

The preparations for the 2009 season began after SkyQuest 2008 in DeLand. Skydive Sebastian became once again the team's home for the 2009 season. The training resumed with a few tunnel sessions, and Tempest members actively supported Becca's Bootie Boogie in February 2009.

The news of the personnel change came late and surprisingly. However, it did not take very long until the open slot was filled. The new Tempest member is Gilles Dutrisac who has competed with FSC Wind Damaged in the past two years.

His former team from Lake Wales did not have plans for the 2009 season when the opportunity came up. In fact, Gilles Dutrisac had already tried out for another high-profile AAA Class slot earlier this year. He made a few jumps with SDC Rhythm XP when the Midwest Skydiving League team was looking for a new member, and he almost won the slot.

Gilles Dutrisac works for Performance Designs in DeLand, next to his new team mate, Kristina Peterson. He has not competed in the AAA Class yet, however, he is well prepared, as he began learning and training the complete IPC dive pool as soon as he decided to step up to a higher level.

He used to be Center Outside for FSC Wind Damaged and will now fly the Point slot for Sebastian Tempest. Thiago Murradas, Tempest Point of the 2008 season, replaces Ari Perelman in the Center Outside position and will be able to provide his new piece partner Gilles Dutrisac with all the information he needs for the new slot. The rear piece remains unchanged, with Tail Chris Ash and Center Inside Kris Peterson.

It's a challenging situation for Gilles Dutrisac, as he moves from a 12.1 average in the AA Class to a 17-average level in the AAA Class. However, he is mentally and physically well prepared and will receive all possible support from his new team mates who look forward to training and competing with the new Tempest Point. The Sebastian team will also continue to work with coach Thomas Hughes throughout the 2009 season, which will help the new Point even more.

The new lineup of Sebastian Tempest will post the first scores of the 2009 season at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2009. It would not be a big surprise to see the FSL team pick it up where it finished last year.