Tuesday 5 October

0700

I have several requests for Freefly steaming video, but that will not be possible. I am doing the video capture straight from the DZTV feed and Freefly is long done. Now if someone wants to bring me a tape, I can put it up.

COMPETITORS - today is "submit your own tidbits photo" day. Bring your picture to room H on a flash card or USB memory stick. Or email it to me at timw@omniskore.com.

NEWS FLASH - Airspeed Red is now a guest team. Last night they filed a request to remove their alternate so that he could go train with his 8-way team, leaving them with no alternate. This morning, Johnny Eagle is out with an injured back, so Airspeed Red will be finishing as a guest team with someone else in the slot. More details as I can get them...

0800
Most teams have jumped round 7, judging is about to start. How about Team Fastrax? All of a sudden they are in a strong position to win a coveted Open medal -- no small feat, that. DeLand Majik is up now -- yes, they've switched back to proper case, no one seemed to know why it was deland majik in the registration paperwork -- and they start the day of with a 20, but the judges haven't confirmed the score yet for some reason...now it's official...there is a 20 on the board for Majik's round 1, that's a mistake that is getting fixed...

...STEAMING VIDEOS HAVE BEEN POSTED ON THE MAIN PAGE...

...well, if nobody is going bring me any pictures, I'll have to go take some myself...

...stopped Neal Houston to ask him about Airspeed Red's replacement for Johnny Eagle, and he's a guy from Russia named Sergey. Neal says "We don't know his last name, but it should be 'ass kicker'."

...sorry about the slow tidbits (slowbits?) today...one of the many side things I'm working is to find a cheap, efficient solution to creating pdf files from all of the individual teams' official results files. Any suggestions? Right now I'm looking at www.clicktoconvert.com but I'm looking at other solutions as well.

I've got several emails like this the last couple days:

Omniskore Rocks!

Thank you for covering Nationals again this year. I check the scoring and tidbits about 20 times a day to see what's new. Having this resource is such a great way for we "homeviewers" to stay informed and entertained!

Great job on the videos, too - I have no idea how all the technology works, but I'm glad to benefit from it!

Keep up the good work!

Thank you, and believe me, it's feedback like that that helps keep us going. I have a favor to ask of all you who enjoy this coverage, please take a minute to send a thank you to the good people of Skydive Perris for hiring OmniSkore and giving us the resources to put this show on the internet. Send your message to manifest@skydiveperris.com. Once again they are doing a great job.

1015
The Knights just posted 18 on round 8, a nice jump. This is a *REALLY* slow 4-way draw, overall, it seems. Arizona Blade sure is doing some nice skydiving, they are in 3rd place in the point standings, I'll try to post their round 8 video, where they put up a 17...

...DeLand Majik just put up a clean 19, nice and smooth all the way, sweet jump, and they add to their lead with two jumps left to go...

...for most of this morning there has been a score of 20 on the internet for Majik's round 1, that has been fixed, they have a 21 officially...

...we have finished judging round 8, round 9 is jumping...

...to Andrew in Russia, the two Russian girls from Perris K2 say hello!

DOH - Team 302, Exceed, is not eligible for a medal and is now a guest team. Apparently one of their guys competed for Israel a couple of years ago. UPDATE - It looks like Exceed has been disqualified and will get zeros for the rest of their jumps. More updates as I get them - this information is almost certainly going to need clarification. We'll see what happens.

The axe has fallen on team 222, Carolina ICE, and they are out of the meet. Sorry no details, that's all I've been told, will try to get more info...

...moving on with round 9, Majik just spanked it with a 28, sorry I did not get the video (the judges don't tell me when they're rolling, I gots to pay attention)...Airspeed Red gets a 20...

As I mentioned yesterday, the judges are using DVDs instead of VHS, and I would guestimate that this has reduced the time requirements around 5 to 10 percent, maybe more. The dubs are fire-wired straight to DVD, and after a disk has a dozen or so jumps on it, it's delivered to the judges for judging. Very nice image quality too of course...

...to whoever requested video of Arizona Directe: abracadabra, your wish has been granted...the Golden Knights put up a 24 on round 9, and I have to say that I think that group has got tremendous potential. Nice video work to boot. Speaking of video, I haven't harped on it as much as I usually like to, being the ex-videographer that I am. Let me say this: I think I see too many teams where the camera flier isn't putting the same effort into the performance as the rest of his team. Every jump should have two words overlaid on the fontal lobes: STEEP and TIGHT. I see a lot of camera fliers just following the team around the sky and collecting a paycheck. Having said that, I also see a lot of darn good camera flying here too, just not as much as I'd hoped for.

The judges are going to re-dub and re-judge Golden Knights round 9, apparently to try to work out a glitch in the video tape.

Update on teams Carolina ICE and Exceed. Carolina ICE was disqualified because their camera failed on (or just before) jump run, so they had one of the meet videographers shoot their jump. That's a big no-no, and they got caught. Exceed has been disqualified because they registered as a medal-eligible team, and it turns out that one member competed for Israel at the World Cup several years ago, another no-no. So there you have it. Those pesky rules getting in the way!

1400ish
The plan for round 10 is to judge the top teams in each class, last, with everyone gathered around the "video wall" by the swimming pool/awards banquet area. So the finish may be a bit more drawn out than the pace would indicate. I'll try to keep this as live as possible for you. Please don't break the refresh button and crash the server ;-)

...some emails from people asking about 8-way...the teams and draw are determined tonight, will have them posted by tomorrow morning...

...the Knights' round 9 has been re-judged, they keep a 24 on it...they go in to round 10 trailing Majik by 9 points, so unless Majik flushes their exit and adds a brain-lock or two, they have this one pretty wrapped up...in Advanced, Mass Defiance will go into the final round trailing Elsinore GT by a single point...

...after a quick peak in the inbox, about a half dozen people questioning why Carolina ICE didn't just ride the plane down and take a quick turn-around. It's a good question, and that's what I'd have done. It sounds like a case of simply not knowing the rules...why someone else in the plane didn't point that out, I don't know...

...my math stands corrected, it's an 11 point lead for Majik, not 9...so they will need to funnel the exit, have two brain-locks and a camera malfunction to give anyone else a shot...

...thank you all for the Adobe PDF alternatives, I have a lot to go on now. I've downloaded a couple of them for testing...

1500
Manifest just announced that the final 4-way round 10 jumps will be judged in ten minutes...Kate, you can relax the refresh button until then...

...a quick run of the math, there have been about 3,500 individual jumps in the 4-way competition the last two days, no injuries that I'm aware of (knocking on particle board)...it's 1520 now and I think they were a little optimistic on the start time for the final jumps...

Yes, we plan on covering the CF next week, we just haven't ironed out the little details as of yet. But we plan on a full show.

This is too funny -- team 316, MARAE, just did a freefly jump for round 10. I guess they wanted to nail down that last-place position! Way to go guys (and girls)!

Behind every successful nationals, there is always one poor little sap busting his ass behind the scenes, doing all the little stuff that keeps the whole thing from blowing up in a million pieces. This time it's Craig O'Brian, hat's off to you big little guy! There are many other people here making it work, of course, but it just seems like poor Craig is the man on the spot...

1545
We are about to watch the last of the 4-way jumps...Tye Breakers has just locked up the silver medal in Intermediate...KAIZEN has the gold all locked up...ouch, Exceed has had all their scores changed to zeroes...is that sending a message or what? Mass Defiance just posted a 15, so Elsinore Satori looks to rally -- has rallied -- for a bronze medal in Advanced...there is a huge crowd watching all this on DZTV at the video wall...film at 11...ouch, Mass Defiance had 17 points in working time, but two J's cost them a medal! On to Elsinore GT...looks like 15...do we have a jump-off with Satori? GT's exit looked hard to judge, will it be clean? WOW! It's a 16, not a 15, and two of five judges had a J on that exit...what is in store with Adrenaline...here we go...a flat exit angle...need a 14 to win the gold...and it looks like a 16 right on the freeze frame! What say ye judges...they are watching it a third time...TICK TICK TICK...there it is, a 16 with a J on the second formation for a score of 15, good enough for a gold medal! Wow, how about that. Check out the Advanced final standings: Elsinore Adrenaline, Elsinore GT, and Elsinore Satori. It's an Elsinore sweep! What a finish.

1630
I have been told that they will not be judging the Open finals until 1800, after the 8-way briefing. DOH! Okay then, Mary Beth & moi shall crack this bottle of Nugan Family Australian Shiraz and celebrate...something. Hey, it's 5:00 o'clock somewhere, right?

1810
Still waiting for the tapes to roll...8-way briefing is wrapping up...

...and we're under way...Airspeed Blue posts a 21 clean...UPDATE...Airspeed Red has been disqualified because their guy Sergey that replaced Johnny isn't registered in the meet...does anybody read the rules anymore? Hello? RTFM? Moving on...Perris Skoolboyz, nice jump, a 22, sweet, clean jump...

...Team Fastrax now...nice jump! A 23. Wow...going into the final round, there is a 35-point spread between 1st and 3rd medal positions...that's got to be a nationals record...Arizona Blue posts a 22...here are the Knights now...what a nice looking jump, a 27 clean! So uhm, let's see here, Majik needs a 16 to win...Airspeed Red will not be judged, they are getting a zero for the round...here's Majik...showing why they are the world champions, and smoking a 28! Congratulations DeLand Majik, second straight US National champions! The crowd outside is roaring its approval.

Good night everybody, 8-way tomorrow!

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