Sunday, October 22

0630
[Tim] There are swarms of people on creepers and first call is in 15 minutes. Hack hack...

...and a hectic hour later, we are under way, teams are landing and judges are judging...Airspeed Odyssey has some issues early and late and settle for a 15 on round one...DeLand Groove follows with a sweet 21...yes I'm working on getting the draw posted...

0800
[Tim] Okay, I got the rest of the team pages posted and the 4-way draw is up on the main page (here too). There won't be any team photos posted for a while, Roy is still taking them and I'll be lucky to have them posted by noon. I'm busy running DZTV and the DV recorder as well, and what skydiving I've been able to watch has been pretty awesome. It looks like DeLand Groove is the early standard bearer, but Fastrax is just a point behind...my goodness, it's only 8 o'clock and I feel like I've put in half a day already...

0930
[Tim] All the team photos are posted for 4-way, ahead of schedule and under budget. You may request a hi-res original by sending me an email with the team number (NOT THE NAME). The fee is any amount paid to the US Team Fund the next time you renew your USPA membership...

...round 2 of 4-way Open is in the can and DeLand Groove is two up on Fastrax with GK Black 3 points back of them...I just ducked outside for a breath of fresh Otter fumes and this place is running like a freight train...the eye candy on this page provided by melissa nelson of Skydive Chicago, host of next year's nationals...UPDATE: melissa is no longer with SDC...

...an hour later, into round 3 of 4-way Open and GK Black just drew a nice round of applause from the hangar and posted a 23 to pick up a point on the leaders. But Black Cat (guest) topped them all with a nice 24 on that jump...check that, Team Fastrax just matched that 24 with a nice post of their own...round 3 is in the can and just like that they've tied DeLand Groove for the Open lead...sorry I can't comment on more teams for now, busy finishing the team pages...team 229 has the best team photo so far...

...praise the Lord and pass the mashed potatoes, Momma Waz just pulled into the DZ with a load of her famous fried chicken...the judges are doing a great job of keeping up with the work load, normally they're way behind by this point, but chief judge Judy Celaya has got the program in control...maybe they just want time for a fried chicken break ;-)...

1200
[Tim] Now *THAT* is how fried chicken is done. Totally NOT like what Team Fastrax is doing to the judges on their round 4 exit. The camera left a tad early and getting the start time is problematical...ooh, DeLand Groove is doing some really sweet 3D moves on the Cat > Acc block, and they get a 24 on that jump...nope, they got a 23 busted to a 22...still nice cat > accs though...I can't believe it's ten ticks past noon and we're into round 4...

...in 4-way Advanced, AZ DiveWerkz took the lead in round 1 and has not looked back, now with a 5-point lead over CK Vision...Ranch Pulse likewise has led the Intermediate 4-way from the beginning but holds a slimmer 3-poing er point lead after 4 rounds...Larry says we'll probably finish through round 6 today...I keep hearing people saying something like "I can't believe how well all this is going." Well, it certainly is!

On with round five...Fastrax just posted a beautiful 22 that would have been even nicer but for a glitch near the end...GK Black posts a 20...looking ahead to round 10, it's the fastest round of the meet...I talked to a couple of the DeLand Groove guys and they say it should be a low- to mid-thirties jump, so anything but a big lead will be in jeopardy until the last moment...

...round 5 is in the can for 4-way Open, and what has developed is a good old barroom brawl between DeLand Groove and Team Fastrax, tied at 106 points...

1430
[From now on it's always Tim unless it says otherwise] There is a message posted on the judges' fish bowl that says 4-way teams can expect to jump through round 7 today...there are currently 11 teams in Intermediate with a scoring average above 10, not too shabby...I've just been reminded that I haven't posted the 4-way Intermediate draw, sorry about that it's coming up soon...here we go with round 6 of 4-way Open...round 6 is one of those blue-collar jumps that get you really winded, with its 3 blocks (4 > 20 > 16) and a 12-point page for two slots (I think), I hated those when I was doing 4-way...let's see what Fastrax does with it...16, maybe a 17...it's a 17, nice jump...and now DeLand Groove, that monopod is a bear out the door but they nail it, get on a good pace, and they spank that round with a 19 and grab a two-point lead. Want to see the video? Well okay then. Here it is. And the 4-way Intermediate draw as well.

1630
4-way round 6 is all done and round 7 is going up. In Intermediate, Ranch Pulse has expanded their lead to 7 and are looking like a lock. Ditto for AZ DiveWerkz in Advanced. Here's DeLand Groove's round 7, and it's another good but but for a separation bust on the 2nd point that could be called a J just as well, they get a 20. Fastrax responds with a 20 too, if it's clean, it is, and Groove maintains their groove. That's my little girl right there. Stomps up and down in a water puddle. Falls down and gets her clothes all wet. Makes Mommy very unhappy...Canopy Formations will kick off the day tomorrow, I hear, running concurrently with FS.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the VRW 4-way test competition on Friday. More than 50 skydivers are expected to compete. I'll be sure to post some video.

Manifest just announced that tomorrow it will be CF taking off at 0645 and FS taking off at 0800.

Oh cool: Norman Kent just came in and handed me some pictures on a thumb drive. These aren't very big but still nice. The first two are of Fastrax and the second two are the Groovy Boys:

Allrighty then, round 7 of 4-way FS is in the bag and this day is DONE. Air Force just finished the day off in style. They went in to round 7 in 3rd place, and they just posted a 26 to vault into 2nd place, just 4 points behind Ranch Pulse. What a great day it was. See ya'll tomorrow!

Jan Meyer, Chief Engineer and Webmaster
Tim Wagner, Been BUSY!