OmniSkore! coverage of the 2008 US Nationals.
Omnibits by Tim Wagner

Thursday Friday, 24 October

0700
A good morning haiku for you:

Sixteen-way today
Some new fun in October?
VFS World Cup!

Lots of catching up to do this morning, check back shortly for more...Jan has posted some streaming videos on the main page...

From the mail box:

Thanks very much for your coverage, as usual... very nice for those who are far away :) Just one comment regarding the great results of the French 8-way team... please do not forget the US/Golden Knights team of 1997... they did a 30 and then a 31 jump and, according to your archives, an average of 22.4 :) (I was there, remembered the 30 and 31 but did not remember the average ;) and checked your archives) blue skies.

Oh yes, the GK team of 1997 was indeed superb. However, I think not only has the French 8-way raised the bar, but they did the 22.2 average here with a slower draw; the IPC dive pool was a bit different in 1997 than today. I'll leave it to a reader to send me the changes since 1997, but I believe Wagga > Wagga was one of the changes...

0930
We have 16-way FS, CF 2-way, VFS, and AE all jumping right now...

...wow, in round one of VFS, Mandrin smoked a 40 point dive, and AZ Arsenal followed with a 35, but it didn't look clean (superb video through) and they have one bust for a 34...what kind of team is Deguello? They had one member land out, and five minutes later the whole rest of them walked out to meet her...I have posted most of the VFS and FS 16-way team photos...

I have been curious to see what the video approach would be for the top VFS teams, and it looks like they've settled on a view from below, and for Mandrin and Arsenal (they only two I've seen so far) it has worked very well. However, there were no vertical changes on the jump, so we'll see how they shoot the rest of the rounds....

...round one of 16-way, Deguello looked solid, Airspeed beat them by one, while Defiant Knight Werkz had two lost souls after the exit and took half the working time to build the first point...

1100
4-Way VFS is a horse of a different color. I think it's a terrific change, adding a much more objective scoring system of competition for Freefly. It looks like a majority of Freefly competitors have moved from Freefly to VFS, so does it make sense to retire Freefly as a competition event? There certainly has been a lot of talk about dropping Skysurf; there is only one person competing in the event, and he's a guest from Russia.

UPDATE: A reader reports:

...there is much more than Talk with respect to dropping skysurf. IPC has dropped it. I believe this is effective at the end of 2008 since there are no planned skysurf events (FIA Class I) in 2009. With it out of the IPC, I see no reason for the USPA not to drop it immediately rather than wait for next year to have less than 4 competitors (I believe the USPA current stance is they will drop Skysurf after two consecutive years with less than 4 competitors). While I love the event for its difficulity and beauty, its time has come.

Sounds about right to me.

There are three OmniSkore panels working right now, for AE, VFS, and CF, so the 16-way FS is going to be judged during gaps in other events. Round 2 has jumped and round 3 is on call.

The CF 2-way is turning into a great competition. Frayed Knot and Age & Treachery are on top of the leaderboard.

Groundhog Day is one of my favorite movies. I bring it up because I wish today's weather would just happen over and over and over and over....it's just a gorgeous day out here...I've been trying to chase down VFS teams 404, 406, 301, 303, and 304, so if any of you guys want your team photo taken please find me in the DZTV room or page me at manifest...

...VFS Open round 2, AZ Arsenal turned the page on Mandrin, and they are tied after two rounds. VFS Intermediate looks like it's going to up for grabs between at least six teams...

...can someone refresh me what the world record for 16-way is? Airspeed just ripped round two and posted a 21 on it...as I recall, a 21 was done a few years ago by Majikal Knights or whatever their name was...Deguello posts a 12 on it...and DKW just hasn't got an exit down, someone fell off the plane and it took half the working time again to build the first point and they get a 8.

An astute reader has asked why Eliana Rodriguez is not in Airspeed's team photo. Apparently she got bit by a spider last night and according to Craig Girard she had to have her arm lanced. Don't know what kind of spider it was, the only kind I know of out here that are that bad are black widows. Get better Eliana!

1230
Speaking of bug-bitten, DKW just can't buy any luck on an exit. Brian Krause got "zapped" on round 3. What that means is Brian had a 13,000 foot reserve ride while his team-mates did a 15-way. Developing...

...meanwhile, Frayed Knot and Age & Treachery are in a cat-fight dawg-fight for the 2-way CF title. They are one point apart as Impaired has a lock on bronze position...it's all over now, Frayed Knot wins the gold by one point...

Here comes 16-way round 3, and Airspeed is up, this is one of those "working" dives and they post a steady-as-she-goes 9...Deguello -- oops, excuse me I haven't been using the right name, Deguello 17 -- just misses their 8th point as time runs out, nice jump...and now here's DKW, and indeed there goes BK UP UP AND AWAY for a two-mile parachute ride, that's too bad, they have to take a goose egg on that jump...

...the DZ now has Style & Accuracy up on the big screen in the hangar, and you can follow the scores over at Skydive Rick's place...I think we'll have them here in PDF format when the meet is over...

1400
The dawg fight is over in CF 2-way, but after 3 rounds of VRW oops VFS, Mandrin and AZ Arsenal are tied at 71, with DeLand Hybrid XP in 3rd. Will someone please email me an eXPlanation of the XP behind all these team names? Some kind of sponsor thing going on? Are they more eXPerienced? Some one please eXPound on this serious issue of the day...

...from a reader:

Is it only skysurf that will get dropped if there are less than 4 competitors for two years? Or if 16-way FS doesn't get 4 teams next year, is it in danger of getting dropped too?

Here's what it says in the USPA SCM:

1-1.1.D An event that has fewer than four teams/individuals for the second consecutive year will be eliminated.

So yes, if there's only 3 16-way teams next year, the event would be eliminated. However, the board can always elect to change that. I think 16-way with only three teams is OK because at least you're filling up an airplane with an entire team, and it's much easier to judge than an AE event.

And now we have an explanation for the XP question:

It means that the team is sponsored by ParacleteXP. Tim d'annuzio's wind tunnel, that kirk verner manages

That settles that question...another from a reader:

Question for you - do you know where I can we see videos of the rounds outside of 4-way? Skyleague cover the 4-way but I can't find anyone posting video of the other events...

Jan will have more videos posted from all the events later today or tomorrow.

After that blazing round 1 of VFS, the scores are starting to resemble traditional FS. The only thing I don't like about shooting the team from below is when the sun gets behind the team, especially when the camera flyer is using a (sigh) wide-angle lens. But hey, we can't compete at night, so I won't complain too much about the sun...

...a big burst of applause just erupted from the hangar as Arsenal posted a clean 20...this VFS thing is definitely popular with the crowd...I just managed to convince KFC of www.skydivergirls.com to write up some VFS bits for us to post tomorrow, so that should be worth looking forward to...

...VFS has some humorous names for blocks, such as shoeshine > foot fetish. 4-way FS should maybe get a block called knee whacker > broken nose...

...I missed 16-way round 4 while I was out chasing team photos, it looks like all 3 teams had a decent jump, but DKW has to make up 13 points in 2 jumps to catch Deguello 17...

1600
I love this email:

Did you know (in the style of skyleague): not having Omniskore at the major international events has severely effected the quality of blogging.... Not to dis the guys reporting on those events, but you guys got it nailed... excellent blog coverage ;-) ....thank you.

You are very welcome. Looking back, it was 1997 when I first started blogging the nationals, and I did it so my friends and family could see what I was doing. Then the whole thing just snowballed from there. I think I get away with a lot just because I've been doing it so long...Jan has just posted some new videos on the main page. Thanks Jan!

16-way round 5, here we go with Airspeed...this doesn't look like a very easy skydive, if it's clean they got an 11 right on that freeze frame...it's an 11, and here's Deguello 17...they put their last formation on the freeze frame too...it's a 7, and DKW finally puts a good jump on the board with a 10, now they trail Deguello 17 by 10 points, while Airspeed's lapped the field...

...in totally unrelated news, a Bonanza pilot landed at the airport here a few hours ago, but he won't be flying it home because he forgot to put the landing gear down. OUCH.

AZ Arsenal is up for round 5, and this team is just amazing, a clean 20 points, beautiful video work, and they have a 7 point lead going into the final round. Wow that's good stuff. They are FAST.

It appears the reason that VFS Intermediate round 4 hasn't finished judging is because a DVD won't finalize and they have to download the jumps again...something like that, I can't keep up with all this new technology...

1730ish
Mandrin just did round six, and it was a rough jump, an 11 busted down to a 9...16-way round 6 has landed...here's Arsenal's final jump...14 points! It's clean and posted and they win the gold medal. DeLand Hybrid XP only needs to score 3 to win the bronze, and they do that handily with a 6...

...here comes the end of my day: 16-way, Airspeed posts an 11...hold the phone for a sec, Elsinore Jedi just posted a hot 17 on round 6 in VFS Intermediate and the crowd went nuts...that might put them into a medal position...and Deguello 17, finishes in style with a 9 for a silver medal and yet another great showing by Deguello. Congratulations Jack and company on your 20th appearance and well-earned medal. DKW finishes up the 16-way competition with a 8, they took a bust on the first point, and finish with the bronze medal.

The Totally Unofficial OmniSkore Excellence in Video Award goes to: Sara Curtis, of Arizona Arsenal. Amazing video work.

Intermediate (Advanced? Not sure which it's supposed to be) VFS 4-way won't finish judging for a while, but the scores will be posted as long as they are judging, and with that my day's a wrap and I'll see you tomorrow for 10-way!

Note: All Omnibits commentary are the expressed opinions of the writer, not USPA or Skydive Arizona.