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 Sunday,
October 1
0815
Good morning
campers! The sun came out bright and early this morning
and we're skydiving hard!
Those Tunnel
Ragers really smoked round 3 in Intermediate and have
pulled ahead of the pack with two rounds to go. Dallas
4-Quest stumbled with a 4 on round 4 to fall into a tie
with Focus 4.
4-way Open round five: the top six teams
all scored 16s and 17s. Vertical
showed some nice Tee work and is skydiving the cleanest of
all the teams; they add a point to their lead over FX
and PD Blue. FX is going to have to dig deep to catch
Vertical down the stretch; perhaps that all-random round
10 may give them that chance. It's quite possible that six
rounds will close out today's jumping and put 4-way in the
can.
~1030
[t2 waits for the building to stop shaking as the DC-3
rotates off the runway] Okay then, we're rolling into
round 6 and the only team with a significant lead is
Tunnel Rage in Intermediate.
T1 wrote yesterday that he thought the GK
Gold 4-way looked like, well, half an 8-way team doing
4-way. Well, they really didn't look that way to me for
four rounds, staying right up there with PD Blue and the
Norgies through the opening rounds, but they stumbled in
round 5 with a bust and a score of 13. Some very
respectable 4-way by any measure.
Cool...if things keep going like this I
might get to FUN JUMP tomorrow...;-)
For those of you who wish to send e-mail
to a team or competitor, send it to this address:
firstname_lastname@nationals.com (substitute the names
accordingly) and the drop zone will post it on the
bulletin board. For those of you who wish to send me
adoring fan mail, I'm webmaestro@omniskore.com.
If you like what OmniSkore does, the wizard behind the
curtain is tedw@omniskore.com.
Back to work...round five of Intermediate
just wrapped up and DeLand
Tunnel Rage, barring a total collapse in round six,
will win the gold while Focus 4 and Dallas 4-Quest battle
for the silver and bronze. Guest team Blaze should finish
second in the point standings.
1130
As the two judging panels do 4-way Open simultaneously,
I'm glued to the TV watching the action. Vertical was the
fastest on round six, but busted to a 23, while FX, PD
Blue, Zulu, GK Gold, and Maubeuge all posted fast 24s. FX
and Vertical are separated by a single point with three
jumps to go. Who will earn the right to represent the US
at the World Meet next year? Will Maubeuge hang on for the
points victory heading into the World Cup next month?
PD Blue gets some bonus OmniPoints for
outstanding video work and clean, judgeable skydiving.
Those guys look like the most improved team of the meet.
Let's hope they stick together, I see a lot of potential.
One of my dear friends scolded me lightly this morning
for my remarks regarding Maubeuge's video quality. I would
like to make it clear that I'm not picking on Maubeuge
because they are Perris or France or whatever (not that
that wouldn't be fun). I try to give credit where credit
is due and be critical where critique is due, and when you
are the defending World Champions, your performance bears
scrutiny. Ask my home team (Airspeed Vertical)
videographer about remarks I made to him several weeks
ago: “Stein, if you fly any flatter, I'm going to pour
syrup on you and have you for breakfast.” Maubeuge is a
group of very talented young men that I personally hold in
the highest regard. But their video and judgability is not
nearly in the same class as teams like Airspeed.*,
PD Blue, or the Norgies.
1300
Well allrighty then, the scores march in. Round 6 of
Advanced just wrapped up, and BJU5
has upped its lead to three over Optic Nerve, five over
Teiwaz, and ten over Nemesis.
Every now and then I manage to get out of the DZTV room
and walk around, take a few pictures, and eavesdrop on
some conversations. There is a very high spirit of
competition at these championships. Melanie promised a
meet that catered to competitors, and she has delivered a
winner. Most people are talking about the great battle in
4-way Open.
4-way Intermediate is now in the can, and DeLand Tunnel
Rage - who pulled away from the pack with a 22 on round
three and never looked back - is the winner, with a
jump-off between Dallas 4-Quest and Focus 4 to determine
the silver and bronze.
LATE BREAKING NEWS the Advanced Class leader BJU5
has just been declared a GUEST team, handing the outright
medal lead to Teiwaz.
Whoa! Is there an Aussie on the team? Orla maybe? Okay,
4-way Open round 7 is coming up...
...and Airspeed
Vertical did a near-perfect 21 that's going to be
tough to match. And indeed, FX/Norgies/PDBlue all put 19s
on the board, so Vertical's medal lead is now three
points, and Maubeuge has a...ouch, that looked like a
busted compress step...yes ouch it is, and they get a 17,
and we now have a new leader on the board in Airspeed
Vertical. A four point swing on round 7! Wow.
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|
The judges hard at
work earning their $40.00 smacks a day. |
T1 Bit #2
So what does everyone
think about the new rules? (Naturally that’s just
a shallow lead-in line. ;) The rules are never
perfect, and here’s what I think about them,
because you certainly are entitled to my opinion ;)
Thumbs Up:
- New Event Class
Definitions
.
Kudos to Brenda Reid, Danny Page and the USPA
Competition Committee for the new Open / Advanced
/ Intermediate classifications; after years of
debate and trial and error, they finally have it right.
The "professional" teams are competing
for the U.S. Team slot in the Open category, while
a whole lot of very good teams are duking
it out in the Advanced.
- New/adjusted
Intermediate rules
.
The reduced dive pool, 3-or-4 point page, six
round meet, and
no-additional-point-loss-for-penalty rules are all
working as intended. A keeper, but the rules need
one simple adjustment: if a team omits an inter
(e.g., in an attempt to save time and get more
points), award an "Omitted Formation"
penalty on the second point of the block, instead
of "Incorrect Inter", since the second
point of a block and its inter are judged as an
atomic (indivisible) unit.
- Ten rounds
for Advanced and Open, always forever & ever,
"on" and "off" years, with a
cut only if deemed necessary by the Meet Director
and only at Round 10.
Thumbs WAY [editor:
WAY WAY WAY] Up:
- It’s bring-your-own,
it’s bring-your-own!!! I’m speaking
of your videographer, of course. For everybody,
all classes. If you leave your home DZ without
one, don’t expect Scotty Meet Director to beam
you one down. More on this one below …
Thumbs Down:
- Blindly adopting
the IPC’s new double-bust rule.
They took a well-intentioned but ill-thought-out
rule and cut & pasted it into the SCM. Sure,
it’s no fun getting two busts for one mistake,
but this can (and does) happen in situations not
covered by this rule; are we going to have new
rules for those situations too? As a minimum, USPA
should add just enough verbiage to make it clear
that the team must correct the mistake early
enough in the inter to show the intent of
the inter. For example, if a team builds an Open
Stairstep with an extra grip by the point or tail
(making a sidebody instead of a stairstep), and
then executes most of the inter before dropping
the extra grip just prior to building the
Compressed Stairstep, then half the team has done
the inter of a Zig Zig – Marquis (a faster
block!) instead of Open – Compressed Stairstep.
As it is, the new rule has got protest written
all over it. (Fortunately, no team has yet to
benefit from the new rule … knock on wood!)
- There is still no
adequate definition and discussion of "Not
Judgeable."
This is not a new issue of course, but as a judge I
have grown weary of [not] finding a consensus on the
distinction between "NJ" and, well, what is
judgeable. This wouldn’t be a big deal to me if
"NJ" was treated the same as a penalty in
the calculation of the score (deduction of a point),
but it’s not – it results in no additional loss
of a point. But the same competition rules say it is
the responsibility of the team to show the
formations, inters and separations. Now, if a team’s
videographer habitually flies very flat and/or far
away, where the judges simply can’t see what’s
going on, should the judges assess penalties or NJs?
My position on the matter is that since the
videographer is part of the team, it is their
responsibility to clearly present the formations on
the video, and any failure to do so should be
treated consistently. At what point in a video of
dubious quality is the lack of visible separation
due to lack of team demonstration (i.e., flashing),
or lack of quality (steep) video? Inquiring mind
wants to know!!!
Let your own opinion
be known to the USPA Competition
Committee! |
Yeah. What he said.
1530
4-way Advanced, the jump off for the silver medal was
a tie, so they are up for a second tie-breaker jump. 4-way
Open round 8: the tight races continue. Airspeed picked up
another point on Maubeuge, but FX and PD Blue closed the
gap on both of them with their own 19s. This one is
looking to be a classic finish!
Thank you j**** and t**** for the wonderful virtual
cocktail <hic>. we apresheate it <hic>.
With 4-way nearly complete, there has been only one
rejump (I'm not sure what for). With a video pool, that
number would be more like 10 or 20 or more. This is *SO*
nice.
If the judges are able to push buttons fast enough, the
meet will be having the 4-way awards tonight...with two
rounds left to judge that will be a late one...
1700
...and we finally have a silver medallist in Intermediate,
as Focus 4 edged Dallas
4-Quest on the second jump off. Congratulations to
both of you!
Now they're judging Open round 9, and in reverse order
of standing (way cool). Norgies: 17 points...PD Blue: 16
points...this isn't a fast skydive...Maubeuge: 18...FX:
ouch, not a good jump, a 13, a disastrous jump for
them...Vertical: looking strong, an 18! So after 9 rounds,
Vertical has a two point lead over Maubeuge and a seven
point lead over FX and the Norgies. PD Blue in third for
the medal standings!
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|
A big crowd is
riveted on the final rounds of 4-way Open and
Advanced. |
1800
Advanced Class - after some early miscues, defending
Advanced points champion Optic
Nerve has recovered nicely and taken a three point
lead over BJU5, with Teiwaz holding on firmly to the gold
medal position.
The Norgies need to kick some butt in round 10 or T1 is
visiting the swimming pool!
Oops, I think I jinxed Optic Nerve - they busted the
end of round nine and got a 9. Sorry Doc!
Manifest just announced they've done 130 loads today, a
Perris record. That's a lot of parachute packing! Round 10
coming up here in a few, ya'll stay awake now, hear?
As I type the below results, the DZTV door is open, and
a resounding cheer is going up with each team just yards
away. World Meet team selection and Top Gun bragging
rights now develop in the final round -
4-WAY OPEN ROUND 10, being judged in reverse order
of standings:
404 GK Gold: 31 points, nice and smooth
409 AZ Zulu: A little out of synch, 31 points
407 PD Blue: Smoother, another 31
406 FX: Trouble again...33 maybe busted...no, a 33 clean!
408 Norgies: After a slow start, a 33!
411 Maubeuge: Very sloppy start, out of synch...a 29, a
gift from the judges, that was very sloppy skydiving
401 Vertical: Needs to outscore PFM by one to win -
a slow start, but smooth as glass, and it's a...32!
Airspeed Vertical wins! What an exciting finish!
T1 thinks that five randoms for round ten should be a
rule, and I just might agree. Airspeed Vertical showed
substantial poise under pressure, and the best team won.
What an amazing two days of 4-way. I've never seen it done
so fast, and with 77 teams.
But 4-way is not done, as the judges now go to work on
round 10 of Advanced. Final report coming up shortly,
meanwhile it's off to the Bomb Shelter for a brew!
2000
The last of the Advanced class is being judged, final
results coming up...
...and Teiwaz wins
the gold, followed by Nemesis
and DeLand PD Gold.
Out in front of all in the point standings are guest teams
BJU5 and Optic
Nerve. Can you tell we're tired over here? What a long
day of great skydiving, but I'm sure you're tired of
hearing it. We got a day off coming tomorrow, with 8-way
starting on Tuesday. Great job by everyone!
We'll have a report here tomorrow just to let you know
what's going on, but there won't be any competition jumps.
Can you believe that? C'ya!
t2/t1
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