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Welcome to Omnibits for Saturday, 24 October (Day 3)

0700

Good morning!!! ANOTHER unbelievably beautiful morning is brewing outside. I poked my head out of the RV around 4am and was nearly blinded by the stars. Eloy is in that sweet spot between Phoenix and Tucson where it is spared the light polution. Nice to see that hasn't changed in 25 years.

Yes it will be 25 years next month since Larry & Lil broke ground in Eloy when they relocated the DZ from Coolidge. What an operation that was! Everything got pulled up and moved except the swimming pool and hangar. This place was a dustbowl for 18 months. Now, a generation later, it is Eden in the desert for skydivers.

Oh yeah, VFS will continue today, while belly flying competitors matriculate their way through registration. I'll be poking my head in there frequently looking for old friends.

Back to Skydive Arizona ... about the only thing that's changed here that I'm not overly fond of is the after hours atmosphere. The Bent Prop Salloon used to heat up and be a reliable "entertainment area", and if that was too tame for you, there was always the bon/campfire over by the bunkhouse. I don't see that anymore ... the BPS has 24/7 security cameras watched by Powers that Be from remote locations, and all employees, even packers, have to pass regular drug screenings. All this, I'm told, is trickle-down from the military business conducted here, so while this hopelessly square family man can't complain about any shortage of wild life, it still saddens a small part of me to see it gone.

Now, the food in the BP .... well, it's the best it's ever been. Best salads, cheeseburgers and breakfast burritos in town. The surf & turf for dinner last night was excellent.

0830

We're still waiting for VFS to start, don't know why the delay, it's a honker duckie dinger jamboree weather day out there.

Look for some minor tweaks in the streamed video today. The word "REPLAY" will appear by itself when the DZTV server is simply replaying previous jumps. "LIVE JUDGING" will appear for the live stuff, with "REPLAY" added below it when the judges are giving it a second or third look. This will clean up any confusion about what you're actually seeing.

Also today we're going to keep Channel 2 on replay only, while Channel 1 will prioritize the live stuff and only go to replay during judging breaks.

1000

You should have seen by now that VFS Round 5 is under way :)

REMINDER: USPA elections -- make your vote count!

OmniSkore!HD
recommends these guys, and not just because of their charming personalities and dashing good looks:
Vote for Shawn, Larry and Mike!

I'm experiencing some odd behavior from my DZTV server software during "replay" playbacks. (Not live judging.) The working time is not starting until a few seconds after it should, resulting in the appearance of the video stopping too soon, with a few seconds left before working time experies. If you see this, know it's being worked on ...

Registration
FS competitors start to matriculate through registration.
RI tent
The Rigging Innovations tent ... where'd you go Saundy ... ?
Packing tent
There are enough b0rken rubber bands around this packing area for someone to start a business.
ye olde bunkhouse
Ah, the old bunkhouse and fire pit. If those walls could talk ...
USPA flags
Landing
Loading
Ramping up
Manifest
Maria Woodford checks gear
Judging
Judging VFS Round 5.

1500

Wow, VFS wrapped up right under my nose while I was busy gnarfling the previously mentioned garthok. Looks like tomorrow will be an off day, except for the mad rush at the end of the day that will be the FS briefing and getting ready for Monday morning's tornado!

 
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