Monday 22 October

0600

My my my, what a day for sports yesterday (my favorite sports at least). My Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Atlanta Braves to earn a trip to the World Series. 78 4-way teams made some 400 competition jumps at the world's greatest drop zone. And my beautiful 12-year old niece Laura won yet another gymnastics gold medal, and now she is threatening to out-medal her dad, who won more than a few gold medals as a member of the Golden Knights (1982 - 1991). A great day indeed. But here at Skydive Arizona, we have many gold medals yet to decide. Who will earn the precious medallions of victory?

While we're waiting for some competition this morning, don't forget to order your 2001 Nationals Video. You can do it all online with PayPal or print out the order form and mail it in. Please support OmniSkore with your purchase! Thanks!

Last night as I was wrapping things up I had several competitors ask me what I thought about Airspeed Vertical's over-the-top sidebody donut > sideflake donut move out the door on round five yesterday. Well, besides the obvious "wow what a slick move" reaction, I hadn't yet looked at it from a judge's point of view, that being, did they show a donut doing a 360 relative to the solo piece? Interesting question. I've only seen the jump once, but based on that one view I'd say no, they didn't, it looked like the solo piece went straight over the donut down the hill. Perhaps more on this one later.

0800
And just like that, 4-way Intermediate is complete and Formula 4 has won with a total of 84 points and an average of 14.4. Congratulations Formula 4!

Questions from today's e-mail -

• Q: What is the rule difference between 4-way Open and Advanced? A: No rule difference. The Advanced class serves basically to let weekend teams compete with Open rules without getting beat up by Airspeed, the Golden Knights, and other "full time" teams.
• Q: What is the local time there? A: We are seven hours behind GMT. If someone knows of a nice little Java clock to put on the page to show current local time, please send me a link. We are running competition loads from 0700 to 1745.
• Q: What's the weather like? A: Gorgeous sunny and warm yesterday, high clouds and cooler today, forecast is for sun, sun, fun, and more sun. 

Please be reminded again that the white zone is for uploading and downloading only. Meanwhile we have Canopy Formations getting under way this morning, while 4-Way Intermediate and Open continue with round 6...

...round 6 of 4-way is done, and Airspeed Vertical just really put a spanking the competition on that round, a score of 19 on a very slow, workman like draw. I thought they would do well to match the Knights score of 17, but they thought better of that one, so they have a three point lead with four jumps to go.

Clockwise from above: Airspeed Vertical walks round 7 Camera flyers dub straight to the judges' VCR after landing. Works great, less tapes. Me and my able assistant, Gonzalo "Gonzo" Sañudo, without whose great help I would be just miserable! Ranch Equinox creeps round 8 Mr. Pink listens to coach Kurt Gaebel

1030
I just cannot get over how fast this competition is flying by. 1030 in the morning on day two and we are into round 8. Amazing. The staff here is just unbelievable. Speaking of unbelievable, the Golden Knights Gold saw Airspeed's round 6 and said "Well oh YEAH?" and then went up and pounded out a 23 on round 7. And just like that, they are all tied up going into the final three jumps. I just love it. It doesn't get any better than this.

Back to the Java clock; the version I tried out shows only the time on your own machine, and I'm looking for one that shows you the time on my machine. 

1130
In the Advanced class, Identity Crisis has pulled ahead of Optic Nerve with AZ Fast 4ward well back in third place. This is the first time in its three-year existence that Optic Nerve has not competed as a guest team, having finished first in the points standings in 1999 and second in 2000. They've got their work cut out for them to catch up to Identity Crisis...

...an interesting note on PD Blue; they have five guys with Kyle Collins, and he's been rotating through the slots during the meet. And if it weren't for a double-bust on round 4, they'd still have a shot at a medal...

...looking ahead to next year, the lineup of front line teams should be very interesting, with the winner going to the next world meet...Airspeeds Zulu & Vertical, Golden Knights, Magic, and PD Blue look to be very close, with perhaps Matrix throwing a possible wrench in the works...

1440
A quick check of the mailbox, and I had to duck the avalanche of Java Clock suggestions.  Thanks to each of you, I'll be trying them out shortly. Meanwhile, one reader writes "How about a little info on Identity Crisis. Who are those guys? All we heard all year was how Optic Nerve was gonna hammer the Advanced Class." Hmm, good question, I'll get on it. Meanwhile, round nine is in the bag, and  Airspeed (who got away with a pretty sloppy dive on round 8 IMHO) has pulled one point ahead with a clean 24 that featured some really nice looking Canadian Tee > Canadian Tees (they cogged the move; the Knights sheared it).

...so who is Identity Crisis? Well, it's Michelle from New York and three guys from Rhode Island who apparently made a few training jumps this year, as evidenced by their scores. 

Well, it's getting close to the witching hour for 4-way Open and Advanced, as we're half way through round 10 of the latter. The cheers from the crowd in the hanger have been growing ever louder as the meet has progressed; it'll be standing room only in there in a few minutes...heck, I just took a peek and it's already SRO...whoever is shooting video for Ranch Equinox, that's some real nice work...

...okay, my only complaint about the meet so far: they are jumping the final rounds in the order of the draw, instead of reverse order of standing. I like reverse order of standing because it means the crowd gets to watch the best teams battle at the very end...Identity Crisis did a 13 on round 10, so Optic Nerve will need a 16 to win...this just in from the boss: they will be judging round 10 of Open in reverse order of standing, very cool...well, Optic Nerve needed a 16 really bad, and they did a OUCH 14 busted all the way down to a 8, and Identity Crisis is the new Advanced 4-way champions. Congratulations Identity Crisis! 4-way Open finals coming up shortly...

...I just paid a visit to the viewing area:

I think I got about half the crowd in that shot, and they are a boisterous group! Moving on, PD Blue has been on a roll the last few rounds, they have an outside shot of catching Zulu, and they do a 17. This is a slow, tough draw, hard to catch up to the leaders with, and easy to lose ground with a mental lapse...Airspeed Zulu has a fast jump, but the judges are going to chew on this one a couple of times, and they have to settle for a 14 busted down from an 18. And now, Golden Knights Gold...a solid 20 as the hanger erupts in applause! Airspeed Vertical will need a 19 to tie and a 20 to win...here they go...Stein's video is superb...a 22! The judges are confirming, there was a possible glitch...it's official, Airspeed Vertical has won the gold! Well, they are the world champions, and they just showed why. The official score is a 21, as the final formation was just out of time. What a match!

I have some Style & Accuracy results to post, and have them up shortly. That's all for now, see you tomorrow!

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