Thursday 8  September

...round 8 of 8-way was taking off as I arrived this morning, the weather is beautiful, and I wonder if we might be done with it by noon...

...lots of feedback in the mailbox regarding the little kerfuffle last night, on my not writing more about Intermediate and Advanced events, most of them  thanking me for just getting the information out that I do. And several emailers asked something along this line:

Would it be possible to find an assistant that could work with you to cover those events next year and subsequent years? Perhaps you might want to discuss possibilities with Kurt?

I have been asking for contributors here since three weeks before the meet, and in point of fact, Kurt and I have been talking about this stuff for a while. More later.

The judges just started on SPX round 7 from yesterday, I don't know why it wasn't done last night...this will wrap up round 7 of Intermediate...after a great round 7, Massinore 8 has climbed into a tie for second with CK Vision 8 and they trail NW Express by four...an emailer wants to know if "powering up systems and getting coffee" is a bit redundant...

I should have some photos from the banquet last night up later this morning, it was fun...Mom & Dad, I could not keep count of how many people asked about you...starting to judge round 8 now....17 points for the Knights, pretty good for a jump with lego > eye and taj > majal...Airspeed just did an 18 if it's clean...it is, and they add another point to their lead...

...a peek into the registration bucket shows 10 10-way and 5 16-ways registered so far...wow, nice jump Deguello! 10 points...

...I have been informed that one of the events that started today is on a "sand hold." The canopy swoop competition landing spot - your basic hard desert ground - was being brutal on the swoopers, so they are bringing in a load of sand before resuming the competition. So they are on a sand hold...

...so I'm driving to the DZ this morning and my phone rings and it's my Mom. She says "I'm looking at the picture of Deguello and I don't recognize anybody but Jack!" So I say, look at CK Vision 8, I count at least 6 Deguello veterans in there... UDPATE: a reader adds "Plus the 2 on Vengeance, 1 on Thunder, 2 on SPX...Also Equinox 8 and Never Too Late each has Deguello 16 veterans..." UPDATE II: another reader adds, "Tim, there are well over 120 folks that can rightfully claim that they have been on Deguello, raises the chance on having a reunion at Nationals. Never Too Late also has a Deguello member."

So maybe this is a Golden Knights & Deguello reunion, and they're all jumping on different teams. Yeah, that's it.

Come to think of it, the last jump I made was with Deguello 10-way at the 2001 nationals. Hurt my shoulder (actually aggravated a previous injury) and haven't jumped since.

I got curious and check out the web page stats for this week...400,000+ hits on Tuesday...a fly swatter...would someone please email me a fly swatter...

Just snuck out and took the photo above, a view across the runway at the Canopy Piloting event. If you haven't seen them , check out Van Wideman's photos from yesterday.

They were running 4 Otters for 8-way yesterday, and today they are running 2, so the pace is slower. Round 9 is jumping...I'm not sure why, but Perris Vengeance was just reclassified to a guest team, so now it looks like Paraclete has the bronze medal pretty much locked up...

1000
Airspeed round 9 just went by, they did some pretty slick 3D Swiss Bear moves and post a 16...round 9 does not look like an easy jump, with that Norwegian box out the door...I hope you all have been checking out Kurt's NSL web site, he has lots and lots of really good stuff over there...the Knights are up now, and for the 6th straight round they score one point less than Airspeed, which is actually remarkable to me...

...a reader (who is now a regular contributor!) reports this on Vengeance:

Vengeance is now a guest as their video man Carl Carpenter is injured. They tried to put a camera on their alternate (leading to the 4 you saw yesterday). I have not talked to anyone on the team today but I assume they decided to find a new camera flyer and that would reclassify them as a guest team.

That is from Doc Sherry, the girl sitting next to me in the 2001 Deguello 10-way photo.

After nine rounds, Airspeed as a 20.11 average and the Knights a 19.33. Those are very impressive numbers...time to duck out and see what's going on...

1100
Massinore 8 just broke ahead of CK Vision 8 by two points on round 9 and now sits alone in the silver position...I was going to post pictures from last night but I haven't seen Chris this morning...UPDATE - he says photos coming soon from Michael McGowan...

...on another topic, I have to imagine that Skydive Perris is really taking a big hit on these nationals from the price of fuel...maybe future nationals bidders should have a rider on their bid to cover it...their staff is doing an awesome job of keeping this big machine moving right along...

...round 9 of Intermediate is done and NW Express has added to their lead...round 10 just started being judged...Airspeed just now concluded their 8-way here with another solid round, an 18, so now taking bets that the Knights post a 17...speak of the devil, here there are now...14...15...16...17! Congratulations Airspeed on another 8-way gold medal!

I have been asked when the Canopy Piloting results will be posted, I'll get them up as soon as I can get them.

1230
Intermediate round 10...CK Vision 8 just posted a slick 12 on the board, round 10 is all randoms, so this could get interesting...

...well the finish in Intermediate was a bit more exciting as Massinore 8 withstood a late charge from CK Vision 8 to take the silver, while NW Express coasted in to a well-earned gold medal. Congratulations teams!

The PAGE OF CHAMPIONS has been updated.

1500
Competition jumping is of course done for the day with 16-way on tap for tomorrow. ATTENTION AE & CF (CRW FOR YOU OLD FARTS) COMPETITORS - I have edited all your team pages to include team member names and links to scoring summaries. Working on some eye candy from Michael McGowan soon I hope.

1545
Just got back from the Bomb Shelter. Had a beer with SPX8. Great bunch of people. Walking back to DZTV room, crossed paths with McGowan holding a bag of ice on the back of his neck. Hard opening. DOH. No photos tonight. Hope you're neck feels better soon Michael!

1700
Breaking news, Michael has just walked in with a thumb drive full of photos. Hack hack hack hack....

1730
(drum roll and dimming of lights) Ladies and gentleman, skydivers and wuffos; from the lens of the inestimable Michael McGowan and without further ado, click HERE.

That's all for tonight. In one of those 16-way pictures that Michael took, Airspeed turned 25 points. Should be a fun day of 16-way tomorrow. See you there, and good night! -T2

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