Tuesday 6  September

0615
Good morning everybody, powering up systems and checking the mail bag...Dan gave a 15 minute call for the first loads moments ago, and they are jumping in reverse order of standings today...when I hopped in my truck to drive to the DZ this morning, I flipped on the radio and scanned to a station and heard a voice that sounded vaguely familiar, and when he signed off the story, dang if it wasn't Greg Jarrett, an old skydiving friend from Spaceland...his wife bought my first rig right about 20 years ago...small world...I'm off for breakfast now, back shortly.

I have received a number of requests to please please pretty please post some streaming videos. At this point I don't see it happening for pure lack of time. My DZTV assistant has been reassigned to the dubbing station. IF I have some time to spare later in the week AND enough people bleg I may reconsider...what the Golden Knights did on round 5 yesterday was a work of art...

...an hour later we're waiting for a redub of one team to wrap up round 4 of Open...the problem with finishing judging round 4 was caused by a DVD dubbing machine failure yesterday, the problem has been fixed but there is still one jump yet to be judged...

Loyal readers I love you all so much, but if and when you send me a web-page-booboo-email, please send me the information to correct and the associated team numbers. "Please fix Flail Masters page" isn't very helpful, y'know? ;-)

0830
Round 7 is in full swing...but first, I have to tip my hat to USPA and the Nationals staff here at Perris, I do not see how things could be going any better, aside from a couple of misbehaving DVD dubbing machines...

...the top three teams in Open all posted 17s on round 7, the Knights looked a bit sloppy (they would say "soup sandwich"), but hold on to a 3 point lead...moving on into round 8, at 0900 on day two, that is something amazing...

...DOH...my apologies for the delay getting the Intermediate draw posted, it is now on the home page under the Open draw...

1000
Light bits this morning. Busy running DZTV and trying to resurrect video posting capabilities.

Round 8 Open...DeLand Fire ripped a 21, and the Knights had a melt down near the end of working time...dropped a grip on a box just before the end, and their 20 is dropped to a 19, and it's a one-point ball game...throw Odyssey's 20 into the mix and the leader board has tightened up a bit...

...so does anyone out there want to see streaming videos? I think I'm getting close...

1100
Round 9 is being judged and round 10 has not jumped yet - I think they are still making plans for media coverage or something...first batch of streaming videos has been posted on main page...please do not send requests for specific jumps, I'm capturing from DZTV on the fly, which is why some of the posted videos start after the exit...DeLand Fire just posted a nice 22...GK Black now...slow start...picking up steam...going into overdrive...a 24 if it's clean! No, it's not clean, one bust so it's a 23...Odyssey now, a 22, so after nine full rounds the Knights have a narrow 2 point lead over Fire, and 7 ahead of Odyssey. No one knows yet when round 10 will go up. Hmm...

1200
Mr. Meet Director Scott Smith just touched base with me on round ten. The (update: the top five) teams are going to jump at 3:00 p.m. All teams except the top five positions will be judged immediately; the remaining top five will gather around the DZTV by the pool and watch the chips fall where they may. Jump-off at 4:00? I'm not sure what's going on with Intermediate, time to find out...

...and minutes later we are judging round 7 of Intermediate...looks like a fast draw, Arizona Divewerkz just posted a 18...Hat tips to Craig Fenstermaker and Michael Ashley for the web page booboos, they have been fixed, thank you gentlemen...more steaming videos have been posted on the main page...the internet gallery seems to be maintaining email silence...maybe they're gone and I can take the afternoon off...yeah, that's the ticket...I will try to get some videos of Intermediate and Advanced too...

The Chris Burket Gallery

WOOHOO I just got DeLand Black Magick on video and it will be on the web shortly. Remember, this is a belly flier meet, and these guys are not belly down...

1400
I left THIS at home and I'm getting homesick. Amy, can you email me a hug please?

Round 7 of Intermediate is done and it's still a close one between Equinox and Divewerkz. No sooner do I write that than the latter picks up two points on round 8 to make it a one-point lead for the former.

Mr. Meet Director just informed me that "the finals will be at 4 o'clock."

There's one person on the DZ who deserves the most credit.  She's not only good looking, reliable, but also one of the best judges in the world.  She puts up with lots of BS from Al Gramando, also known as Pond Scum.  As soon as she gets a backrub, she'll stop writing this crap.  The sooner she stops writing, the sooner she'll get a glass of wine.  So... when can I see photos of the baby......toddler.  (ps - the webmaster may or may not have written that. Who knows. Walk away from the keyboard for five minutes...)

1410
Still judging Intermediate and waiting for the finals...Advanced finals have landed, Open finals are in the air...I'm running a live DZTV with team photos so no more updates here unless between events...Advanced is done now, and it's Mass Defiance by two horse lengths...doing Intermediate finals next...they are judging only the top teams now and judging the rest of Intermediate later...still doing Intermediate finals...

...okay Open finals are up...Team Fastrax posts a 17...Odyssey an 18...DeLand Fire is up next...my inbox box is filling up with demands to know what's going on...here we go Fire...nice jump...a 20, sweet...if it stands...it does...Knights up now...not a great jump...18! Jump-off! If it stands...one of their zircons was a soup sandwich...it's an 18, and we have a jump-off! AND THE JUMP-OFF ROUND IS ALL RANDOMS! The Knights were very lucky on that one...

Well how about them apples! Did someone smell a jump-off before in these pages? Will it happen tonight? I'll find out ASAP, and sorry to all your East coast sleepy heads trying to tough this one out!

1730
The jump-off is on about a 45-minute call. This is my tenth year doing this stuff, starting at Gardner, NY in 1996 (alas those pages are gone). We still have everything going back to 1997, which was right here at PV. No wonder I have so much gray hair...

...so, who am I rooting for? Well, the Knights of course. I've been doing this so long that I bet a couple of you out there don't know that John Hoover and I were teammates on the 1995 Golden Knights 8-way squad. And at last half of that team is here this week.

But if DeLand Fire pulls off an upset, they will have done so on the basis of a truly remarkable performance, not because the other teams had an "off" meet. This is a really wonderful team to watch. Very smooth and graceful, with jumps as thoroughly choreographed and executed as anything I've ever seen. Whoever wins this meet is a worthy winner.

I have a half hour or so, and I think I'll go grab a beer. Stay tuned my OmniFriends.

An encore show by Chris Burket!

Great photos, Chris. That about captures the emotion here. We are about 10 minutes from jump-off...

1845
Just ducked outside for a few. The teams are on the ground. Final results in minutes. This is so exciting...it's all a buzz out there...cameras are dubbing here in the judges' room now...Kurt has a bandana around his mouth so he doesn't shout in excitement and disrupt the judges...HERE WE GO... Knights are up first...fast and smooth but a glitch...a 34 if it's clean! They got tied up on a phalanx but recovered after a second...I CAN'T TAKE THIS...breathe 1-2-3...it's a 34! Here comes Fire...smoking...fast...it's at least a 36! Judges reviewing, it looked good to me...might be a 37...it's a 36!...DELAND FIRE HAS WON 4-WAY OPEN!

Fire's jump was smooth as glass and covered with silk, relaxed and now in the books. Wow. I need a beer, stat...VIDEOS ARE POSTED...

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