Wednesday 24 October

0600
So I crawl to the inbox at 0430 this morning and the first e-mail I see says "BIG ERROR on Tidbits page." Ugh, I think I'll just go back to bed. Better read it first though... Hah! A reader has written "4-way this, Freefly that ..... who the hell cares. What people really want to see is ..... the Norway girls."

Point taken.

The very next reader writes "[blah blah blah blah] need more photos of ladies!" Indeed. Where is the guy that was supposed to take care of that for me? Okay all you teams out there, bring me your Politically Incorrect team photos!

In the news, the IPC has published the proposed dive pool changes for 2002, and you can look at them here: http://www.fai.org/parachuting/committees/fs/proposals2002/. The proposal reduces the dive pool to 20 blocks and 14 randoms (down from 24 and 16). All you competitors out there, send us your feedback and we'll post the results. Should the dive pool be reduced or left as it is? Should competitions be reduced to 7 rounds or stay at 10? The IPC web site says that the smaller dive pool could still be used for a 10-round meet, with the possibility of a formation or two being used twice. 

8-Way FS is getting under way with round 7. Say, that's a pretty tasty breakfast burrito they are serving at the chuck wagon...I just uploaded some new Style & Accuracy scores...

Tackified Gloves: $25.00 Helmet: $250.00 Team Rig: $2500.00 Ten rounds against the best: Priceless.

Several readers have asked why the Freefly teams have the competitor names instead of the team names on the results pages. That is because Pegasus (OmniSkore for the "Free" events) is configured according to IPC rules...

1100
I just paid a visit to the Style & Accuracy area, which Skydive Arizona set up a mile south of the DZ. It's quite nice, and the competitors seem real happy with the competition. They have just a couple rounds of accuracy left, with a lot of final positions riding on the outcome. 

Some shots from the Style & Accuracy area. That's Ted Strong to the right, photo by Michael McGowan (I shot the rest).

Back to FS, we are finishing up round 9 of 8-way Open where Airspeed has an insurmountable lead.

Clockwise from upper left: Purple Haze, Airspeed 8, Deguello, and the Golden Knights. Upper photos by Michael McGowan.

1300
I was just out shooting video in the landing area and Airspeed 8 landed from their round 10. Several members of the team did a sliding belly-flop to the hoots of the crowd.

I wonder...who is going to train 8-way to win the Nationals next year and go to the World Meet? Hmmm....Airspeed 8 closes out with a 20 on round 10 to finish with an 18.2 average, pretty good for no training but that's the lowest winning 8-way average in five years...Elsinore Matrix 8 repeats their bronze medal performance of last year...I think we will see the finish of the Freefly competition today, they started up around nooon...I just posted some more of Kermit's "Free" event bits....

...a quick visit to the inbox...more people moaning that I don't have more pics of chicks yet...wanna know why? They see me coming with a camera and scatter like fish from a shark...the CF sequential draw is now posted on the results page, I'll try to get the speed draw up soon...CF Sequential is also in the can, and Soul Purpose ran away with the gold medal, and Lodi Express squeaked past the Zoom Dweebies for the silver medal...

1500
As the middle of the afternoon slips quietly by, it's hard to imagine we've already finished 4- and 8-way. The jostling for talent for the 16-way teams is going on; that event will start in the morning, along with the last jumps of CF. 

End of Day
They are still judging the Free events, but there aren't any new scores posted outside yet, so it will be tomorrow morning before you see more of them. It's beer thirty and we are k-chink outta here SEE YOU TOMORROW.

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