Thursday, 11 September

0730

Stretch yawn make coffee boot pooters check e-mail ...

Hopefully they'll finish the last two scores of the Freefly speed round this morning. I am most curious to see how Mike & Rook will fare. As I was lamenting last night, a sucky thing about the new speed round score calculation (dividing the result by 10) is that a team does not get proportional benefit from a particularly good performance, nor proportional damage if they have a bad one. For example, if team A is behind in the standings a point or two and (in the speed round) outscores team B, say, 15 points to 6 (in raw score), the two scores are 1.5 and 0.6, which on a scale of 0 to 10 isn't indicating much. In any other round, Team A would be grabbing two or three or four points in the standings and perhaps taking the lead, but in this example they only get 0.9 points. (This is what happens when you mix objective and subjective judging formats...) Solutions, anyone?

Oh ... if you're looking for today's schedule ... I now keep the delay schedule on the leaderboard page, which is updated most frequently.

And from today's inbox:

• Ryan, my nephew, is still in the hospital but doing much better. Whew!

• The solution to my Delphi problem: use Perl. (Yeah, right)

• Synchronicity (USA 4-Way women's team) has lots of friends and admirers at home wishing them well.

• There are loyal & vocal Style & Accuracy fans out there! (See our note here)

• I can earn $1,000,000 a day at home losing weight in my sleep and doing that easier because of great mortgage rates and Viagra prices. Truly, I had no idea ...

• I received this touching tidbit from Eva Brand.

0900

Round 4 of CF Sequential completed. Next up: Rotations, round 5.

I might have mentioned previously, the CF judges have spent a significant amount of down time here scrubbing their competition rules (which have not changed much in the last umpteen years). While I've been hoping (hopelessly) for the Artistics community to stabilize their rules (at least try for two consecutive years!), which has caused me quite a bit of work, I'm all for these suggestions the CF guys are putting forward:

• Elimination of the "30-second" rule for Rotations. Whereas CF Sequential uses an uninterrupted 120 seconds of working time starting from the exit, just like FS, Rotations has a 30-second clock that starts on the exit, and a 90-second working time clock that starts when (1) the team completes their first formation, or (2) the 30 seconds expires, whichever occurs first. This presents at least one problem: what is the proper scoring procedure when two judges (note: CF always uses three and only three) score the first point (and start the 90-second clock) before the 30 seconds has expired, and the third doesn't score the first point until after? I would love to see this "30-second" rule go away -- it (unnecessarily!) complicates the Scoring Processor source code.

• Elimination of the "joker" throw-away round. Make 'em all count, just as in FS, wraps & cutaways be darned (they're part of the jump -- "in play", as they say in baseball).

1030

Wow, Russia finally failed to get a 20 in a Rotations round! Their 13 in round 5 becomes their "joker" round.

Some teams are getting ready for this afternoon's 4-Way FS ...

One e-mail mentions that in the FS 4-Way Open class, there are a number of top teams with female members, including Switzerland, Russia, Italy and Norway, and what are my thoughts on that. To be honest, I don't really have any. Call me open-minded (or worse), but women competing at the same ability level as the top men does not strike me as a novelty, so I don't pay it no mind. I do wish we had a lot more women competing, though!

1150

It is *nice* out there. Unfortunately a lot of turbulence for the CF competitors, but really pleasant on the ground, warm and sunny. Not a whole lot going on right now except lunch.

Another question I've received about women in 4-Way: is there a rule that prevents a female competitor from registering in both 4-Way Open and 4-Way Female? I know of no specific rule, but that doesn't mean there isn't one. We'll check into this query. But it seems to me that if a woman can compete in 4-Way Open and 8-Way, then why not any two FS events? Hmmmm ...

Lunch time, back soon ...

1330

CF 8-Way is going up (which includes Chris, the mondial03.com webmaster, boy has he been busy!).

The last two Freefly scores from round 5 ... haven't jumped.

Yes, there is an explicit rule that prohibits a female competitor from participating in both FS 4-Way Female and FS 4-Way Open. I wonder why??

CF 8-Way and Skysurf are resuming. The Brit CF 8-Way just had two cutaways in round 5 when their base-pin got tangled up.

1415

FS 8-Way round 7 is starting to be judged. In Round 5 of CF 8-Way, the USA did not jump, electing not to ...

1445

Freefly round 5 is complete and the USA retakes the lead! In 8-Way FS, France just got a 16, that's with one bust, here's the USA ... a 19 on the first view ... very nice skydive ... and it's a clean 19. Here comes Russia ... b-b-b-be still my beating heart!!! ... also 19 on the first view ... and it stays too as a clean 19.

Back to the Freefly round 5 ... France (Fardel/Fugen) did 11 points but busted 5 times, while USA (Nelson/Swanson) did 16 and busted twice. Respectively, their scores were 0.1 and 1.2, giving the USA a slim 0.2-point lead with two rounds to go, both free rounds. Rook and Mike have yet to be out-scored in a free round at this meet; will that hold up?

On the question of a female FS competitor participating in both Female and Open, Alex Jordaan of South Africa submitted this rather pertinent point:

About your comment on females competing in both the FS 4-Way Female and both FS 4-Way Open - I don't see how that could ever be considered since the jumper in question would have the advantage of jumping the same draw twice. All of a sudden not only the jump order of teams becomes important but of categories also. I just don't see how that can be considered. We had that happen at SA nationals this year.

If you're really bored you can see what my laptop screen looks like when I'm not hacking source code here.

1545

The FS 4-Way ladies are starting to take off for Round 7. I just spent a few minute at the "fare-thee-well" point where it is very crowded with flag-waiving, horn-tooting fare-thee-wellers. If you're here looking for someone you haven't seen in a goodly long time, down there is a really good place to hang out and try to spot 'em!

Skysurf Women just completed round 5, so all Artistic events are now completed through that round. Did you know?: the USA only has three teams competing in the Artistic events, out of 51 total: one in Freefly and one in each of the Skysurfing categories...

If you're looking at the Freefly results after 5 rounds, please note the results of that round are not official, while the AE chief judge sorts out a scoring problem that involves the 8th and 9th places and therefore the cut that occurs before round 6.

1615

Round 7 of FS 4-Way Female just completed and the Norwegians scorched it with a 19 to retake the lead by one point over the Great Kingdom of United Britain! Now starting round 7 of 4-Way FS Open.

Here is definitely the MFAQ (Most Frequently Asked Question) of the Tidbits this year: "Where are the pictures of the teams?" And the MFA: "What pictures?!" *Sigh* Once again, we were unable to take team pictures this year. First, Team/athlete/delegation photos are officially at www.mondial03.com. Second, our normal routine of taking team photographs, whether sanctioned by the organizer or not, was not possible here because we do not have access to the aircraft boarding area, which is the only place to catch teams (1) in uniform and (2) with more than 15 seconds to spare for something as bothersome as a silly photo.

The standings for Freefly round 5 are sorted out now, this affected the teams in 8th and 9th place where the team that was in 9th is now 8th and making the final cut, but guess what, they thought they were going to be cut and they picked up and left the drop zone, "never to return"!

1710

FS 4-Way Open round 7 is winding down ... there was Yet Another Correction in that Freefly round 5 total ...  an anxious request from the UK to update the FS Women's results, those should have been current but have been refreshed regardless ...

Oh my! Who borrowed the Norgies' jumpsuits and rigs?? They don't bust like that!! A 22 knocked down to 19 (one of them an NJ). Here's the USA ... a rough glitch building the first Marquis but a nice recovery for a 22. France continues their string of impressive rounds with a 24.

Photos by Lucy Torva.

1730

There's a wind hold, after which 8-Way FS will rezoom...

1830

FS 8-Way round 8 going up soon ... judging of Artistic events continues ...

CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE BEER DRINKER

•  "Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drink I feel shamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, "It is better that I drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver." ~ Jack Handy

• "I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day. " ~Frank Sinatra

• "24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not." ~ Stephen Wright

• "When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven. Sooooo, let's all get drunk and go to heaven!" ~ Brian O'Rourke

• "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." ~ Benjamin Franklin

• "Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza." ~ Dave Barry

• Remember "I" before "E", except in Budweiser. ~ Cliff Clavin, Cheers

• "Well ya see, Norm, it's like this... A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers." ~ Cliff Clavin, Cheers

1930

FS 8-Way round 8 starting to judge ... a few minutes and a mail delivery later ... USA is up ... (France did a 16 while I was gone) ... USA squeezes in a 17 on the first view, a slow start but they improved as they went along, yup, a 17, boy they just squeezed that last one in there ... here's Russia, seconds later ... 18, a tad sloppy but only the end result counts. See the leaderboard!

2015

NEWS FLASH!!! FS Female round 8: USA, 14; France, 13; Norway, 12; UK, 15. The Brit ladies take a 3-point lead into round 9!!!

2040

We're done for the day. Please note that Artistic events results on the links to the left, if they exist and show results past round 5, will not be correct below the cut (only 8 teams in each event go past round 5). I'll fix that in the morning. Until then you'll have to tolerate what's there (if anything) and/or settle for what's on the leaderboard. Sorry about the error and we'll see you in the morning!!!

Ted Wagner, Chief Engineer | Tim Wagner, Webmaster