Friday 24 October

...lots of great deals on Viagra and Vicodin in the inbox! Don't need one and already got the other. A few *WONDERFUL* comments and thanks. Thank you right back!

Also several emails similar to this:

"Are there no competitors for style, accuracy or team accuracy registered.  I know they made jumps today, no mention, no coverage! No coverage at all."

Yes, the S&A events started yesterday. And if you look through our pages, you will find pictures of them posted. When it comes to scoring results, however, getting them and posting them is like squeezing blood from a rock. Please be patient...we have to go out and get the results by hand and fat finger most of it...

[T1 comments] *Sigh* after reviewing my own inbox this morning, I feel compelled to once again politely remind all non-FS skydiving communities out there that we are (1) UNofficial coverage of these nationals, and (2) openly and unapologetically biased toward Formation Skydiving. FS is our history and our passion and the reason OmniSkore exists. We do everything we can to include the other events under the OmniUmbrella, but if you feel you are being slighted or ignored, please remember that it is YOUR community's responsibility to promote, support and cover your skydiving disciplines, not ours, and send your flame to someone who cares [more]. We love yours, but we love ours best!!!  /t1

0850
We're still waiting for style judging to begin. Accuracy has completed a round, we hear, and someone will be bringing those results to us shortly. 16-Way Round One is now being judged...Deguello was the only team with a nice exit, but they dropped a subgroup grip and busted a 8 down to a 6, while Majikal Knights got a 7 and Airspeed a 8...check that, Airspeed busted also and 8 down to a 6...no, check that again! The judges changed their 6 back to an 8...nope, check that again, somebody on another team pointed out that pesky rule book that says judges can watch the jump up to and not more than 3 times, so the score goes back to a 6...

1000
Accuracy! We have Accuracy scores posted! Check out that Women's Open category, where the top 4 ladies have perfect scores after three rounds. THAT will be fun to watch! Woops, that observation may not be correct. I think there's a bug in the spreadsheets they gave me, I'll check it out....yep, that was a bug in the spreadsheet, the proper scores have been posted, and Cheryl Stearns has a slim lead over Elisa Feldt...wow did Airspeed Plus smoke round 2, a 14! I guess they figured the exit out (they were the first to launch a 16-way several years ago)...

By request, another photo of T1, and our Texas friends, Deguello.

1230
[T2] I just had the privilege of being one of the judges on round 3 of 16-way, it was fun and refreshing. It also made me think more about video. Every year I watch 16-way and I find myself disappointed in the quality of the video. I'm talking about things like framing, steepness, and so on. 16-way camera flyers tend to be WAY too far away from the formation, and with the busy background and mixed suit colors of 16-way, it makes for some very difficult judging.

Overall the judging has been very good and pretty consistent here this year, with very few complaints from the competitors (although I have a feeling Deguello is about to get pretty steamed about their round 3 score). Time to update the S&A scores...

...16-way round 4, Airspeed Plus had a major meltdown near the end of the jump and wound up with a 5, while the Majikal Knights had a very good jump to take a 3 point lead...Deguello continues to have bad luck in the bust department, they got popped again on round 4, their 3rd bust in 4 jumps...I have more S&A bits coming up from Adam Bradbury...here they are...you should really read his bits, they are very good...

1430
You've been waiting for them, and here they are, some final AE tidbits from Missy Nelson. Thank you Missy!

...16-way round 6, Airspeed Plus picked up a point on Majikal Knights, it's a two-point lead for the latter heading into the final round...has then been a GREAT nationals or what? So many good competitions in practically all the events, such great weather, such nice facilities, who could ask for more? BESIDES more pictures of the Water Girls, I mean...I'm working on pictures from last night's 8-way and AE awards...

The 16-way draw is now posted...they are waiting for all the teams to get down from round 6 to judge them all back-to-back...

...here we go with round 6 now, Deguello just nailed their bronze medal down, now Airspeed Plus is up...they have about a smoking 5-second first point out the door, but a few glitches holds them back to a score of 10, if it's clean...it is, a 10...I am convinced that USPA need to change the rules to allow judges to view 16-way jumps as many times as they want, it's just so hard to score that many grips in three views...here's Majikal Knights now, they need a 8 to tied, a 9 to win...it's a 9 and a win, if it stands! And it does, Majikal Knights win the 16-way gold medal.

Let's take one more email on the topic of Js and 0s:

"Since the camera flyer is part of the team, then a busted point whether it's via missed grip or video is still no point, and I think the scoring for both should be the same--i.e., no point awarded but none taken away. I'd vote for keeping the Js and Os for the judges' sakes (perhaps with the scoring system that any combination of at least three Js and/or Os in a five-judge panel makes the point not count) but matching their penalties to none."

T1 responds: An interesting proposal. It boils down to keeping the J for the sake of information (i.e. who gets the most blame for the bust). But as a judge, I wouldn't go for it, because there are too many times when it could go either way (0 or J). I've seen lots of jumps at these nationals where incomplete separation busts might not have occurred had the videographer been steeper and deeper, or if the team had just flashed a little bigger or with a little better synchronicity. The judges don't have time to divine which problem is greater. When I'm judging, what I'm reacting to on each point is the answer to the question "Did I see it or not?" and in all cases when the answer is "No" I should have but one button to push, without worrying why I didn't see what was required.

1700
Round 1 of 8-Way Speed is done and will be on the web in a minute or two ...

...the 16-way awards and 10-way briefing is at 1800, in just a few minutes.

1900
The 16-way awards will be tomorrow night, not tonight. The beer is flowing, the wine is uncorked, and the tongues are wagging. Time to close this down and go mingle. See you all -- well, those few still sticking around -- tomorrow for some fun 10-way speed. What will be the judging like this year? I guess we'll find out. See ya!

t2

p.s. As I come in to shut down the computer and pour a last glass of wine, I find T1 and (Golden Knight) Mark Jones playing guitar and singing, impromptu music of the variety you cannot find on the radio or describe on the internet. It is beautiful, folksy, melancholy. A nice note to end the day on. Good night! 

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Ted "T1" Wagner, Chief Engineer | Tim "T2" Wagner, Webmaster