OmniSkore! coverage of the 2007 US Nationals.
Omnibits by Tim Wagner

0700
Day six of the 2007 USPA Nationals is dawning with 16-way and Accuracy on call...out taking team photos...

...and an hour later we have the team photos posted. I can't wait to see what these teams do with round 3. It might maybe possibly could be a record jump. I think the current record is 21...

...the 16-way team numbers are 900s at manifest and 100s in Omniskore...ask me not, I know not why...

0830
Knights Defiance has kicked off 16-way with a score of 8, they busted on an arrowhead...Perris Uber Mox follows with a 2...and my favorite 16-way team of all time, Deguello, looks good with a clean 7...Airspeed follows with an 11 right on the freeze frame, if it's clean...no it's not, they got popped on the first two points so it's a 9...

Attention 10-way speed competitors: I am on a little campaign to get USPA replace the current 10-way pool with some fresh formations, and I'm soliciting suggestions. If you are in agreement that we need a new pool, please send your input to USPA as well. The current pool was hacked together by Judy and me 10 years ago and I think it's time for you competitors to get a new one. Although I would like to keep the Wright Flyer, that one's kind of cool...please send your thoughts to wazt2@yahoo.com.

1000
Round 2 of 16-way...Knights Defiance had a crummy exit but recovered enough for a 7...a bad exit can make you or break you in 16-way!

Airspeed just did what Airspeed likes to do, and that's put a good old spankin' on the competition, they just posted 11 points on round 2, four better than KD and five better than Deguello. It's the Arizona Airspeed show here at Skydive Chicago, and they're putting on quite performance.

1130
Here goes round 3, and what a burner it is. Knights of Defiance has a good exit and burns through 22 points! If the judges think it's clean...no, definitely not, 22 popped down to a 19...and now Perris Uber Mox has a poor exit but recover nicely for a 10...Deguello does much better and posts a 15...nope it's a 14 with a bust...Airspeed up now...looks like they never build a comfortable pace on this jump, and after 20 points and a lot of judging, their score is 16 and their lead drops to two...

1300
Uhg...I'm coming down with a nasty head cold, blech...round 4 now, and Knights Defiance looked sharp posting that clean 11, but Airspeed answered right back with a 12, those were two pretty skydives...

1430
Well, I got a bit too miserable and went upstairs and laid down on the sofa for a while. I feel a little better now. While I was gone I see more of the same happened on round 5. Jan said Airspeed funneled their exit and got a zero on the jump, but since that sounds like the kind of hogwash an Omniskore person would say, I didn't bite...;-)...emanating from my mailbox, a wistful lament for the relative lack of good eye candy in these omnibits pages, so our loyal reader has provided some for us: here, here, and here.

Time to wrap up this 16-way thing. KG has a poor exit, by the time they build the first point, they're down to under 30 seconds left, then scramble for a score of 6...yes, I will have streaming videos of 16-way before I run off to rest my weary head...way to go, Perris Uber Mox, you built that first point faster than Knights Defiance did...our supercalifragilisticexpialidocious 16-way judging panel is nothing if not thorough today, you can't sneak any dropped grip passed them...Deguello has a good exit and they are ending their competition with a very sweet skydive, 8 points on the board...and Airspeed mops up the competition with an 11 for another dominating win, I believe this is the first time they've swept the FS events since 2001...hey, how many of you competitors have bought beer for the judges? I remember years ago it was a pretty grand tradition (bribe, whatever)...working on streaming video now...

1630
Streaming videos have been posted on the main page. I don't think I'll be going to the banquet tonight, I'm too under the weather. I just ate some peanuts and they tasted like soft gravel. Not that I know what soft gravel tastes like!

10-way speed and Canopy Formations tomorrow will make for great fun. Who will capture the C.G. Godfrog award? The oldest trophy in formation skydiving needs a worthy winner.

I'm done for the day. Thanks for stopping by, and hope you visit tomorrow!

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