Saturday 7 September

0700
Click click click click tap flip whirr whirr hummm click Hello? Hello? Testing, one two tres testing, are we on? Yes? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllrighty then! It's showtime!

Welcome to the EIW network cyber surfers, it's dawn on day one and there's a fleet of Otters on call to haul the 68 4-way teams that are creeping all over the place here at Skydive Chicago. It's wheels up at 0700, so warm up that refresh button folks, we are under way!

Photo by Tony Hathaway

T1 reports: well, we hit the first technical oopsie during the competitor's briefing last night, and with this one I must offer my humble apologies to the Intermediate 4-way teams who were handed a 6-round competition draw that had 3- and 4-point skydives.  Holy SCM, Batman!!! When USPA updated the competition rules, I caught everything except the new min/max points. Fortunately it was an easy fix to the OmniWare and within twenty minutes we had a proper Intermediate draw. Note to USPA: please follow the IPC's lead and publish a "Summary of Rules Changes 200x" document each year. That will give me a hit list to check things off of each time the rules are changed :)

T2 adds, well, that means the 4-way Intermediate draw that I have posted is not valid...will fix that next...

Some more nice photos courtesy of Tony Hathaway.

...okay the 4-way inter draw is fixed and reposted...just tried to walk through the hanger without stepping on a team on creepers, it's wall-to-wall in there...it's going on 0800 here and we are about half way through the Intermediate. A quick glance Photo by Chris Schindlerdownstairs, and boy did I see this problem coming: there are over a dozen camera flyers waiting to dub, but they have to wait for the judges and it's taking a long time. There are two FS panels, and I think the meet is going to make some adjustments to speed the process up here...I think they should save this semi-live judging for the final rounds after some cuts have been made, it's just too much to ask with 68 teams trying to do six rounds in a day...let the camera flyers dub to VHS and get 'em back out to the teams...hopefully next year we'll have an all-digital solution and firewire all the teams straight to hard drives, yeah, that's the ticket...

...speaking of camera flyers, we're still in the Intermediate class round one, and I am seeing lots of nice camera work. It used to be pretty easy to pick out the top two or three camera flyers during a competition, but it's going to be tough to pick a winner at this show...I hear from the goings on below that the meet director is going to slow things down a bit, that's good...

T1 Reports: Come on, judges!!! It should take 3 minutes to judge a 4-way jump, 4 tops. You're taking 8 to 10 and more and the cameras are lined up two dozen deep. That's ... well, ridiculous. T2 adds: Yep, it's pretty ugly down in the dubbing line. If we're going to judge semi-live, we need judging panels that are scoring in one pass, two tops, and mowing 'em down...round one has finished jumping...they are handing out team tapes now and canning the semi-live approach...okay, that's today's ration of sniveling. There is plenty to be impressed with and positive about here.

...and we're into Open finally, Majik gets under the buttons first, they look pretty good on that jump except for one brain fuzz, they get a 19 clean...a good but beatable score...now it's Zulu, jumping with Alan Metni in Eliana's slot, a 17 for them...GK Gold, nice and smooth for a 19 too...Airspeed Vertical now, going fast and OOH they JUST missed #20 out of time, it looks like the billing for these three teams is going to live up to the hype!
Left: Majik Rocks! Memories of FX 1998. Majik has Bigger Rocks, but not more of them -  we're still uncovering them at Eloy.

 

Right: The webmaster tries to sort out 68 team photos.

1030
I think we just set our OmniTeam record for getting all the team photos posted. Ya'll check'em out, there's a good chance that we got a couple of the mixed up, as usual.

Besides the cute Majik rocks layin' around, there are a dozen or so copies of this cute poster picture of Solly "Wierd Austin Yankovich" Williams. Even Mike Meyers would be impressed! ---->

Heheheee, the things DZ operators do. Roger rented an Otter from Larry Hill, and screaming across the top of the door in new five-inch block letters is "SKYDIVE ARIZONA", and if the videographer wants to give the judges a timeable exit, Larry gets a free ad.

All you skydiving competition junkies out there like to like to sit at a results page and pound on the refresh button, you better be filling up T1's inbox with praise and salutations (and a bottle of wine if you can squeeze it in). We used to spend HOURS of every day inputting those results into pages, and now it's all done automatically by Ted's software, team photo links and scoring summary links and all (not to mention it puts the teams in standing order). I can't BELIEVE we're not charging $$$ to log in here. Hmmm, now THAT'S a thought...nah.

Gloria, Sid, and Mary (sorry it's fuzzy Brent) in a hopping big hanger.

More photos by Chris Schindler.

Noonish
4-way Open round two is being judged now...let's see if one of these teams can make a statement...

TEAM PHOTOS ANNOUNCEMENT

We have been informed that many of the team pictures for 4-way Intermediate are wrong. We know. Please don't send us an e-mail saying "The pictures are wrong" or "That's not Team Foofoo." We need something like "The team picture that should be in 234 is in 205." Thank you! Also please send all corrections to webmaestro@omniskore.com.

...okay, where wasn't I...4-way Open...Majik up first again, their jump is like round one, good but one glitch in the middle, a score of 19...now, they are judging round 3 of GK Gold, we haven't seen round 2 yet! Majik is up again with round 3 now, GK Gold got a 19 on it, and Majik turns a 20. Yes, they've gone from semi-live judging to VHS dubs all the way, and this is an effect...those judges are some hard-working muldoons right now...they are up to round 4 in Intermediate on one panel...hi Ryan! My baby boy just popped in to say hello...did I ever say how much fun this is, having the best seat in the house...who needs sleep anyway...in the Open class now, they've judged 3 jumps of round 4, but not 5 jumps of round 2. No rhyme or reason to it. I sure hope they don't treat the final rounds like this! I'm told now it's a side effect of the dubbing difficulties from earlier today...a correction, in some earlier bits I referred to Dan BC's 8-way team as Endeavor, they are of course Vengeance...

1430
Well, the judges are judging and we are posting, but it looks like it will be a while before the Open class is caught up with the judging. Otherwise this meet is rocking right along, we have great weather and everyone is having a great time (except T1, who is sorting through Intermediate team photo printouts with an "I could be doing something else" look on his face).

Finally, some more Open scores! WOO did Zulu just squeak #18 in time on round 2. Those guys are skydiving well! GK Gold up with a very solid 21, and Vertical does a 21 also (although I think I would have busted at least one inter for a centerpoint violation). Check that - they got a 22, not a 21, they got that last formation on the freeze frame, and they best Majik by 3 points on round 2! Wow. Roger just paid a short visit, says we will finish through round 7 today and slow down the pace for tomorrow.

Airspeed Vertical on round 3, they put up a 18, so after three rounds it's only a one point spread. Yes ladies and germs, we're going to have a battle to the very end, me thinks.

T2 goes to the little boy's room and T1 swoops upon the keyboard. King of a new domain, he surveys the information horizon with practiced insight in a vain attempt to come up with something original to say. Hey, have you seen my nephew, how about that new tie-dye jumpsuit he's wearing now, what a little stud!! Let's see, where are the Intermediate 4-way picture files ... I'm just going to delete them all and forget we ever thought of it, mmwuuhahahHAHAAAA ...

AND we're off with round 4 of Open, and Airspeed Vertical just posted a clean 21, nice skydive. Now Majik...a quicker start...great video by Graham...looks like a 20, and the T units don't like some of their separation...but it is indeed clean on the second viewing for a score of 20...a little break in the action again...we think we have all the Intermediate team photos fixed now...

...meanwhile, thanks and kudos to Roger for giving us all the help we've asked for, most of those team photos were taken by Mike Wood, and we've had lots of other great help, I'll get all your names in here eventually THANK YOU ALL...

Photo by Chris SchindlerWhat a great contest we have in Advanced too! There are six teams within five points. Too early to call anything in Intermediate right now...FINALLY now we see the GK Gold round 4, and they sparkle on the screen with a clean 21 points. I know a lot of people were expecting this team to be good, and they are not disappointing. A tie for first place between GK Gold and Airspeed Vertical with Majik only two points behind after four rounds. Three more rounds to judge today though, we're going to be doing this for a while...wow, Airspeed Zulu ripped a 22 on round five, that was a sweet skydive...Golden Knights Gold up next...these guys are whipping it...WOW, they spanked that round with a 29! So smooth and clean, I'd have never thought that was going to be a 29...and it's logged spotless, that was one of the best jumps I've ever seen. Vertical is next...a good jump, but three less than GK Gold for a 26...Majik is going to need a majikal jump if they hope to gain any ground...

...if your hitting that refresh key, take a break and fix a cold one, the judges are on a twenty minute respite...

MORE TEAM PHOTO HELP!
We are receiving conflicting information on the status of team photos for these two teams:

https://omniskore.com/comp/2002/nats/teams_pics/214.htm and
https://omniskore.com/comp/2002/nats/teams_pics/211.htm

Team members, please help us out!

And they just put GK Gold round 6 up, a 22, and we still haven't seen Majik's round 5...Gold had enough solid workmanlike skydive...finally, here's Majik's round 5, a good skydive except for one big glitch in the middle, it's a 26 -- is it clean? -- T1 thinks he sees a double-bust, let's see what the judges have to say about it...another look, yep it looks like a 0I, how will this go down...okay, three judges popped the 10th formation, and two the 11th, so that goes down as a single bust, the score is a 24, and Majik is actually lucky there because that was definitely a double whack (the old incomplete formation followed by incomplete separation). The Golden Knights have a 3/7 lead after five rounds! Yes, the GK alumni in me is cheering for them...AZ Vertical matches their 22 on round 6...okay, while I'm revealing my allegiances, I'm think I'm cheering for Nemesis in Advanced, they've been banging on the door for a couple of years...

And speaking of banging on the door [T1 banging on your door here] ... if you haven't yet done so, please take the time (and your wallet) to visit our sponsors. Do not return here, do not go farther, do not pass Go or collect $200, do not read another paragraph beyond this one until you go there and either spend some (or all) of your money, or, at least thank them for their support of OmniSkore. We are not blowing smoke when we say "This web page would not be possible without our sponsors!". You wouldn't be reading this if it weren't for them! AZ HAS SPOKEN

Oooh heheheheee T2 snuck out to recycle again. We've gotten some really nice e-mails today but the best news I heard all day was that my room key was going to be ready at the lodge tonight. Went there last night to check in, after flying in yesterday afternoon and working late, and found the place locked up tight as a drum, no one answered my phone call or high-priority page. (It's part of a golf course resort.) I wound up driving back to the DZ, finding the hangar here locked up too, then hitting local hotel/motel/notels until I found the big bro's hangout, waking him up and crashing on his sofa. Sofas, beds are not. Have guitar, will mellow tonight ...

T2 back in the saddle here...it's going on 2000 hours here and I'm getting really hungry, I think there's some bread crumbs inside this keyboard. You there -- yes, you. You are still reading this page, and you didn't visit our sponsors. When T1 speaks, you'd better listen! Off you go!

I told Nemesis I was cheering for them, only to learn that they booted round seven. Hey guys, still three to go! Anything can happen.

Check out little Ryan in his new tie-dye duds.

Speaking of things happening...new rules...10 rounds for all 4-way events plus no six-round max = 68 teams X 7 jumps = 468 jumps to judge today. No wonder it's 2100 hours and we're still working on round six. Hey T1, do we get overtime for this? Not even free beer? Awe nuts...hey, Majik is finally up for round 6...and they *JUST* missed getting point 23 in time, so all three top teams post a 22 on round six...

...uh oh...T1 & I just did the math, and if the judges continue at the current pace we will be here until well after midnight...

It's 2130 hours, and where are your kids? About fifty of them are watching DZTV in the hanger.

It's 2230 hours, and we're still working on Intermediate, rounds 5, 6 and 7...I can help but feel the judges must be very tired and hungry, and we're no where close to finishing right now...I have to say I think they've done a pretty good job up to this point...

...and at 2300 straight up, they are throwing in the towel for the night, and I think that's a good thing. There's plenty of time to catch up with only three rounds left to jump tomorrow.

See you tomorrow for the final rounds of 4-way, and we'll see who gets to represent the United States at the World Meet next year! Good night!