Thursday 26 October

...and the CF 8-way team pics are up, and round 1 is about to be judged...check out the standings in Freestyle: only 0.5 points separate the top three teams with one round to go . I bet they're going to be flying their derrieres off on round 7! (HT: Phil)

In 8-way FS team 804 was awarded a re-jump on round 10 but they are just going to keep the score they were awarded. Team 807 Lock It Up needs a score of 13 on their final round to tie Paraclete for 3rd place...

...I'm going to try to get some freefly videos posted, will go see if some of their camera flyers can bring me the goods...

...it's 0815 and the judges are getting all the CF speed and FS 8 onto one DVD before they judge it all in one sitting...

...and finally we have 8-way FS open round 10...here's Lock It Up needing a 13...no, they get a 12 and Paraclete has locked up the bronze medal. Great effort though, those guys had a great meet...and Perris Octagon finishes up the FS 8-way Open with a nice 12 of their own...

0900
The final Freestyle and Skysurf results have been posted, it looks like we're waiting for one more round of Freefly to be judged...

...one hour later, with FS8 all done we have 10-way Speed jumping now, Airspeed just posted a 19.71, and CF 8-way Speed jumping too...I just posted the Freestyle champion's round 7 here...

...lots of buzz going around about tomorrow's VFS/VRW demonstration event. Yes, we will be covering it, it should be interesting. But what I don't for the life of me understand right now is why they are calling it VRW. The Skydive Arizona web site refers to it as VFS (Vertical Formation Skydiving) but most people around here -- including USPA suits -- are referring to it as VRW. Now, I'm not going to take this sitting down. The IPC and USPA long ago forced us RW junkies to change over to FS so the wuffos would better understand what we're all about. Now they want to go back to RW? Crikey! ;-)

Harumph. Trying to get competition Freefly footage around here is like trying to squeeze water out of a rock...

1100
Okay, I got the 10-way speed results going and the Golden Knights have the early lead. But even faster than the Knights, guest team Sky Sharks (a group of Russians) posted a 10.83...

...an hour later, another round of 10-way posted, and the Knights had the judges in stitches with their post-formation shenanigans...will have to try to find that video...they have taken over the overall lead by more than 6 seconds...Airspeed had a lousy first round and have some catching up to do, those guys are usually blistering 10-way...

...I just had a nice little talk with the chief engineer of the VFS event and the chairperson of the USPA competition committee, heretofore referred to as Melissa and Marylou. They want the event known as VRW (me too, for that matter). But I will hold that if USPA calls this event VRW, then I'm going to start referring to all the FS events as RW events. Standards must apply! File names must be consistent! *THWACK* ouch

...round 4 of CF er CRW speed is now posted....

1300
Argh...my pooter crashed...while it was recovering the Knights built an incorrect formation on round 3 and took a 40 on it, ouch...

...okay, who wants to see a cool skysurf video? It's Scott Smith's round 7, and instead of a board, he surfs on a...human. Check it out! What a hoot.

The Knights were busted on their jump because they 1) had a wrong grip on the formation and 2) didn't show separate pieces out the door. Bam. And just like that they drop from 1st to 4th, though they aren't too far behind...all hail the new leaders, Perris 10...I finally got the 10-way draw posted...

...and email from a prominent DZ in Florida and home of some groovy guys:

They say that skydiving is better than sex. Not in DeLand!

I don't know who "they" are, but "they" are clearly idiots ;-)

1500
Nice and slow easy bits today. This photo is for you National League fans pulling for the Birds over the Cats. Any of you Dee Troyt Tigger fans want to send a rejoinder pic?

The Golden Knights had a very interesting round 4. Just after they completed the formation they had a near miss with a small general aviation airplane. I just got the video. The plane looks farther than it really is because the camera flyer has a wide angle lens, but you can clearly see the airplane. Video here. UPDATE: sorry, link is fixed. I helps to upload the file.

And would you like a taste of the VRW coming up tomorrow? Here you go. My initial reaction is, that doesn't look that simple to judge, but we shall shall see, shall we?

The Knights protested their round 3 score and lost. They say that what looks like a leg grip is really an arm going around a leg onto another arm. But the judges don't see it and the 40 sticks...

...hacking on the CF 2-way Sequential team pages and the 16-way pages so I don't have to actually work in the morning...

1700
The (G) Sky Sharks Russians are putting on quite a demonstration on how to do 10-way speed. Isn't 10-way a uniquely American event, or is it popular overseas as well? I've never seen 10-way in a World Meet, but I'd put money on these guys if there were...meanwhile, the Knights and Airspeed are trying to claw back after some rough early going, and Perris 10 is clinging to the lead after 4 rounds. Round 5 is starting to be judged now...and there is goes in the can. Perris 10 has a the lead with Airspeed and the Knights within striking distance. No one else is close. No word on Godfrog award rumors yet...

...Freefly video! I have Freefly video! And it's the best jump from the winning team, Spaceland Anomaly. Enjoy! Wow, that is one amazing routine...just got Melissa's daily Spotlight posted...hey cool, my picture is in this one...

ROUND SIX.  10-way. Almost done. Coming right up...and...it...is...FINISHED. Congrats Perris 10, Arizona Airspeed and Golden Knights. Who wins the Godfrog? I guess we'll find out tomorrow. My guess is it's between the Russians and the Knights.

The final round of CF 8-way speed is done, and it's Crewzin, More Frayed, and Ian's 8, winning 1-2-3. That's another day done, one more to go. Tomorrow, CF 2-way sequential, VFS/VRW demonstration event, and 16-way FS. Go Deguello! Goodnight everybody! <poof>

Jan Meyer, Chief Engineer and Webmaster
Tim Wagner, Bartender