OmniSkore! coverage of the 2007 US Nationals.
Omnibits by Tim Wagner
Sunday 8 September
0700
Another beautiful day is dawning at Skydive Chicago and the
Intermediate teams are on call for round 7. The judges are enjoying
breakfast. Scrambled eggs, sausage, pancakes and fruit. Yummy.
Putting this year's FS 4-way Open performance into perspective, let's look back a few years. Since 2002, the winner's average score has been 21.8, 21.3, 21.1, 21.0, and 22.2. There have been few (if any) changes to the dive pool during that period. Right now Airspeed's average for this competition sits at 26.0. Fastrax Red is at 24.7 and Golden Knights Black is 23.9. If anything, this year's draw appears to be on the slow side, not the fast (but I would not be the best judge of that, I'd like to hear about this from some of you competitors).
0900
Round 8 is almost done judging and round 9 is in the air. In
Intermediate the race Cross Keys Air Pollution has jumped into 2nd
place while in Advance the Perris teams Katalyst and Aftermath are
one point apart after 8 rounds.
Jan has managed to cobble up some video tools and we hope to post some streaming videos later today.
Round 9 Open: Airspeed had a 24 but suffered their first bust of the meet and got a 23, while Fastrax Red won their first round with a solid 24.
Whoever cooked
dinner last night at the Tiki Bar, complements to the chef. That was
some good stuff! Chicken and spinach cooked in a pastry with garlic
mashed potatoes and beans.
Check out poor Sue Sweetman on team 225. She took a knee to the forehead on round 5 and has quite a shiner going (she was wearing a helmet too). Her team's name? Cross Keys Controlled Descent. Heh. You go girl.
Wow, the race is really tightening in 4-way Intermediate. SDC's Quattro has just pulled into a tie with US Air Force Ascent while Cross Keys Air Pollution pulled within 3 of them.
1100
Round 9 Open: Airspeed posted a clean 21 and got that point back
from Fastrax who posted a 20. In Advanced, Perris Aftermath got a
rejump for round 6 because the plane was banking during their exit
yesterday. And if that 15 holds up they'll take over first place --
it does, and they take a 2 point lead after 8 rounds.
Tim's random thoughts on the passing scene:
- Golden Knights Black has a 23.0 average after 9 rounds. And they are nineteen points behind first place.
- Ten years ago I considered Johnny Eagle to be the fastest turning skydiver on the planet. These days I think it's Eliana Rodriquez. UPDATE: That's meant to be a compliment to both! I'm not being mean to Johnny! ;-)
- I don't think I've ever seen so much 4-way done so quickly and efficiently. And the judges quite nearly kept pace.
- There are no video busts. They are team busts.
- Skydive Chicago is using the bar upstairs as a judges' and media center. Very classy touch for the host.
- The weather today is as perfect as can be.
1245
4-way Intermediate just finished up with a humdinger: Cross Keys Air
Pollution posted a solid 13, and US Air Force Ascent, needing a 13
to win, posted a 12 to force a jump-off. So I guess they're not
finished. I'm being drafted back into a judge panel so I'll finish
up later...
1400
4-way is all done except for the Intermediate jump-off.
Perris Aftermath had a very strong finish to win Advanced, with
Katalyst taking silver and
Cross
Keys Vision the bronze.
Arizona Airspeed cruised to a gold medal by nine points in front of Fastrax Red, who had some consolation by playing Airspeed to a tie for the day. Golden Knights Black took the bronze in a lonely way: 14 points behind Fastrax Red and 20 points in front of Perris Fury.
Here comes the jump-off...Cross Keys Air Pollution posts a clean 14, the Air Force team posts a 12, and CKAP wins the gold with a terrific final jump.
1700
Streaming video has been posted on the main page.
The 8-way briefing is at 1930 following the 4-way awards ceremony.
That is all for today. See you tomorrow!
Note: All Omnibits commentary are the expressed opinions of the writer, not USPA or Skydive Chicago.