Saturday 25 October

...I love 10-way speed. It was two years ago this event that I made my last jump. I've told this story a few times before, but the current 10-way rules were mostly written by myself and Judy Celaya back in 1996. A lot of the specifics have change since then, but the overall concept has not. What also has not changed is the 10-way dive pool. I came up with those formations late at night as a sample to send to USPA along with our (me & Judy) rules proposal. USPA adopted that dive pool exactly as I submitted it and it has not changed. My point in pointing all this out is would someone PLEASE submit a new set of 10-way speed formations to USPA. Some of them, like the hand prop and the Raeford Dragon, I'd like to keep around, but others, like the Perris Pinwheel and Lil's Nova just are a bit redundant and not challenging enough. I'd like to see a 10-way cat, or a bipole with six people doing back-ins on the out-facing pair...

...okay, we got the 10-way scores going up now...

1000
CF Sequential scores now going up as well...

...in the "better late than never" department, one of our loyal readers has asked for more about the battle for the 8-way bronze medal earlier this week between Deguello and Optik USA. It was a good one...Deguello was putting up some really good jumps, and they had a bit of an advantage with some training together. Optik USA was composed of DeLand Majik plus Bob Healy, Scott Keeler, Joel Shugar and Robbie Spencer, and their lone training jump came after Majik had won their dramatic victory in 4-way earlier the same day. Talk about giving one up for the team!

After seven rounds, Deguello had a hefty 6 point lead, but a funneled exit on round 8 combined with Optik USA finally figuring out how to match Scott Keeler's hypersonic fall rate resulted in a 5-point swing, and just like that Deguello's lead was down to one point. Then on round 9, Optik USA had a superb jump, while Deguello suffered a bust with their 13th point just beyond the freeze frame for another 5-point swing. So in two jumps Optik USA gained 10 points -- it was a tough bullet for Deguello to bite and a great finish for Optik USA....

...back to 10-way, Texxians (composed mostly of Deguelloians) just got a maximum score of 40 for some reason we shall find out...apparently it's because of this rule, 5-1.6.3: "After exit, two unlinked jumpers must initiate all formations after completely passing though the door with the remaining jumpers converging on those two jumpers." So one may infer from this that it's VERY important where the videographer is pointing his camera on 10-way!

...somebody on Optik USA has sent me email that I can't reply to, his mail service is refusing my reply, sorry...

A reader from Texas writes:

"What's the drama in Optic USA beating Deguello for the bronze in 8-Way?! I just don't get that. Looking at the team rosters, with half of Optic USA being professional 4-Way competitors, they darn well better have beaten an all-amateur team, or they would have had some red-faced explaining to do. Kudos to Deguello for making them wake up and skydive."

Well, that was the drama. Deguello was skydiving well and almost won the bronze!

Betty just brought in some more wine for us...she has been a most hospitable and gracious host! Thanks Betty!

A mathematician has informally calculated the odds of a tie in 10-way: "I reckon there would be one jump-off every 600 years between closely matched teams, at current performance levels." The obvious observation is, of course, without a jump-off round planned, one would assuredly be needed...

...WOW...with 4 rounds of 10-way in the can, there is less than one second difference between Airspeed and Majikal Knights...make that less than HALF a second...maybe we'll need this tie-breaker round after all...

1400
I just got a very delicious virtual beer in the inbox, thank you very much Janet.

I know there's not many of you left out there on this lovely weekend, but I would really like to have some 10-way formation suggestions today so I can hand them to USPA before I leave. Send them HERE please and thank you.

Southernisms, via the inbox:

• "Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit."
• "He fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down."
• "Have a cup of coffee--it's already been 'saucered and blowed.'"
• "She's so stuck up, she'd drown in a rainstorm."
• "It's so dry, the trees are bribing the dogs."
• "My cow died last night, so I don't need your bull."
• "He's as country as cornflakes."
• "This is gooder'n grits."
• "If things get any better, I may have to hire someone to help me enjoy it."
• "I'm 'bout as": "Nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs." "Busy as a moth in a mitten." "Happy as a clam at high tide."
• "Happy as a dead pig in the sunshine."
• "Confused as a country boy at an ATM."

Yes, things are starting to wind down here. BTW, T1 and T2 are flying home tomorrow (the crowd cheers) and whatever events have not been completed will be posted by OmniDad Roy Wagner. Probably just some CF and Style & Accuracy.

Some people are wondering why Adam Bradbury's S&A tidbits have been removed from the Tidbits index. I can only say that Adam came in here earlier this morning and asked us to remove them. I am rather disappointed because, while his remarks may have been rather informal, I thought they were very funny, in good taste and I really think it's a loss for the S&A community. So whoever is responsible: BOO. Adam, your comments are welcome here any time, as are anything from anyone who wants to contribute to the tidbits pages.

1600
To answer a couple of emails, Accuracy has been on a wind hold all day, and I'm waiting for some style results. I don't know how much they have completed but I'll try to find out. And I've received a couple of email praising Adam's tidbits.

10-Way judging is on hold until a team that rode the plane down on round 5 gets their jump in. Then they will judge all the teams in reverse standing order. There's a tight race between Airspeed and the Knights for the gold, and another between Cocktails @ 10 and DeLand X for the bronze. Most of the competitors are standing around the hangar, drinking beer and waiting for the judges.

Now we're under way with the last 10-way scores...and DeLand X has just come from behind to take the bronze medal, if the Cocktail @ 10 score stands...and now, the final two scores for the FS nationals coming up...Majikal Knights needs to pick up a couple of seconds to win...WOW, they did a super jump, a sub-10! And it's posted, a 9.2! THAT was impressive, the only sub-10 second jump of the meet so far. Airspeed needs basically an 11.0 or less to win...this is the best 10-way finish I can recall...and they're up...holy smokes, this is gonna be close! An 11.81, and the Majikal Knights win 10-way! Unbelievable! All 4 of the top teams changed places in the last round...Majikal Knight's win is by a margin of 0.4 seconds!

Hey Joey, how does three gold medals and a bronze feel for these nationals?

Thank you, Dianna of DeLand X, for the fine bottle of Merlot!!!

1830
T1 and T2 are packing up to go home, but OmniDad will be here tomorrow to update the CF and S&A scores, and if we're lucky, he might even do some tidbits. Thank you all for visiting, it's been a fabulously fun meet and we appreciate you stopping by. And of course, if you have not visited our sponsors, it's never too late to click on over and thank them for supporting our project. Until next time, blue skies and train hard! Off to the awards and banquet...

2200 P.S.
Absolutely wonderful banquet and 16-way/10-way awards ceremony tonight. I will post a tidbits page of photos as soon as I get my PC back in AZ later this week. A most wonderful time was had by all, this was easily one of the most well done and well competed nationals in memory, and BADA-BING under almost constant blue skies. No one could have asked for more. Thank you all out there for the great feedback, it is our pleasure to share the experience, and we hope to see you all back next time. Thanks and good night!

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