Friday 8 October
0630Lots of great feedback in the inbox this morning. Thanks. Sorry about the brain-lock calling bronze instead of silver for Touch-N-Go8 - but you guys knew what I meant. It was a great finish for 8-way Intermediate. Sorry, I cannot post streaming video of it. I only get one shot at capturing video from the DZTV mixer and I can't ask the judges to do it again.
16-way isn't getting a first call until 0900, so this will be a slow start. I'll have the teams and draw posted in about an hour. Off for coffee and breakfast...
...16-way doesn't start until 9:00, but they are sending up loads for the start of the "canopy piloting" competition. Grabbing the camera and heading for the landing area...if you like the shot I took above, here is the hi-res original...the canopy piloting event above is the "speed" event, more info on that coming up...YES I will have a results page for the Canopy Piloting contest, it will be up on the main page later today...
0900
16-way taking off. Team 106: SEALS. "Some Easy Arizona Locals." The
16-Way draw has been posted.
COMPETITORS - when you put your team name on the registration paperwork, that's how it shows up on the results pages. Every year we get a half dozen request to change "team_name" to "home_dz team_name." I'm putting everyone on notice, right here, right now: From now on, no team names will be changed until a bottle of wine is delivered to the DZTV room. ;-)
Airspeed
Plus is up for round 1, and a bad exit (13 seconds to first point) cost them
a certain world record: they scored 18 formations in working time. The world
record is 19, set by Airspeed in 2001. They were blazing on this one once
they got going! Elsinore Armageddon has a good jump too, a 13. Here comes
Majikal Knights...8 seconds to the 1st point...they are CRANKING...possible
world record here...21 points! Waiting for judges to confirm...yes, I got
the video!...it's official, a WORLD RECORD 21 FOR MAJIKAL KNIGHTS! How about
that...and I just set a record myself...that 16-way record jump (of course
it has to be verified by the IPC) is now ON LINE at
the main page. While looking up the
world record on the
IPC page I noticed that three members of Majikal Knights were also on
the team that holds the 8-way world record. Deguello is up now, 10 seconds
to the first point, a beautiful jump for the Texas boys and girls, a 17! Way
to go! Deguello has by far the best video so far. What a leader-board:
Majikal Knights, Airspeed Plus, and Deguello. Time for a break and get some
canopy piloting results...
1100
Round 2...Airspeed Plus posts a 12 on a gift from the judges...and the
MKs follow up with the same, squeezing that last formation on the freeze
frame...I think whoever wins 16-way is going to be the team that has the
fastest overall first point out the door...Deguello has another nice jump
and they *JUST* get number 9 on the freeze frame...round 2 is in the can and
I'm really enjoying the 16-way show!
Hey
cool, I made the "Daily Vibe" news letter. The "Question of the Day" asks
various people, "What was the most inspiring moment for you during this
year's Nationals?" My reply: "My first conversation on the telephone with my
son, ever."
1300
Round 3...Airspeed Plus is a little rough and posts a 9...MK goes a
little faster but gets a 9 as well...Deguello posts an 8, and after 3 rounds
we have a good 16-way race going on...
An email question: "Could you tell us who the video fellow is for Elsinore Armageddon? I noticed a 101st Airborne Division Sticker on his helmet and as the Team Leader of the "Screaming Eagles" Parachute Demonstration Team; it intrigued me as to his affiliation with the 101st."
An email answer: He is Pat Newman, served two tours in Vietnam with the 1st of the 327th Infantry, 1969-1970 and 1971-1972. Instantly one of my heroes.
Canopy
Piloting update: We're expecting to get some results in about an hour. Will
post it as soon as we can.
Round 4: ASP got an 11 but it was busted down to a 9, MJK gets a 10 to add a point to their lead...I am amazed that with all the guest teams we had in 4- and 8-way, there are no guest teams in 16-way...round 4 is done and posted...
Last night at the end of the tidbits page I posted a short rant that I have removed pending a better sampling of what the competitors thought about the delayed judging...there may have been some who read those words as critical of how the DZ is hosting the meet, and that was not my intent, as the DZ is doing an outstanding job. The delayed judging last night may have been a bump in the road, but it was no more than that, and a bump or two doesn't make for a bad meet. After all, nobody's perfect.
1600
Round 5 now being judged...Airspeed Plus had a nice 12 but a dropped
grip on a tumbleweed busts them down to a 10...Majikal Knights up next...a
10, clean. Deguello now puts up another very good jump, they are having one
of the best meets I've seen in years, a 9 on round 5...manifest just
announced wheels-up at 7:30 for 10-way tomorrow...round 5 of 8-way is now
done, and Majikal Knights will take a strong 4-point lead in to the final
round. Deguello is all alone in 3rd like Perris Vengeance was in 8-way Open.
Round
6 about to be judged, starting with ASP and MJK, they have been dirt-diving
round 7 in case of a jump-off...ASP up first...6.6 second build...wow, a
nice jump, 16 is right on the freeze frame...what say ye judges...and it is
a clean 16, Majikal Knights needs a 12 to tie and 13 to win...and it's a 12,
if it's clean! A possible jump-off here...judges still working...it's busted
down to a 10 -- Airspeed Plus wins 16-way on a huge come-back jump! ASP
simply rocked on their jump, and MJK was a bit sloppy. Deguello up
next...another solid jump for those guys, an 11. Hats off to them for a
great meet, they finish with a 10.0 average. Not bad for a bunch of weekend
warriors!
I'm going to update this little graphic as 16-way progresses, I'm curious to compare the time-to-first-points:
16-WAY - TIME TO 1ST POINT
Rd 3 4 5 6
101 10.9 14.3 10.7
102 8.3 8.8 8.8 9.2
103 16.3 23.5 21.1 19.6
104 8.9 9.3 8.6 6.6
105 9.9 9.1 9.1 8.9
106 17.0 24.0 21.1 16.3
Well,
that was fun. Another great day of competition has wrapped up at Perris
Valley Skydiving. We're still waiting for the Canopy Piloting results to
wander in, so I will check up on that next. One last update coming in a
bit...
...check out the magnet/gummy men that Deguello used to dirt dive round 1, complete with alternate and camera flyer...
1900
Sorry, unable to roust up Canopy Piloting scores. They must have hid
them under a rock somewhere. Will try again first thing in the morning.
10-way Speed tomorrow. Should be a blast. See you there!
Ted "T1" Wagner, Chief Engineer | Tim "T2" Wagner, Webmaster