August 21 & 22, 1999
4-way Results | 4-way
Draw | 8-way Results | 8-way Draw
| Webcam
WE'RE UP!
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Michael McGowan says hey to everyone! |
Okay, almost up anyway, it's late morning here in NJ and we are on *BING*
you guessed it, a weather hold. After four months of draught, it's been raining here for a
couple of days, but the forecast is for clearing skies around noon. GOOD NEWS: Michael mcGowan, bless is sore bones, has loaned me the
use of his computer and phone line, so I've got the webcam up and running this
weekend. I visited Mike this morning, and he is looking good, but staying in bed a lot.
For those of you who haven't heard, Mike experienced a main/reserve mess here a couple of
weeks ago and was saved by an Oak tree and dumb luck, no broken bones. Send Mike some good
mail okay?
The meet is looking to be a good one, we've got Airspeed, Space Center FX,
DeLand Genesis, the Golden Knights, [kaboom!] SONIC FORCE, and others for a total of 18
4-way teams registered. Somebody please throw some chicken wings to the weather gods!
1:00 p.m.
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View from the loft. |
Weather hold extended until 3:00 p.m. It's a solid kind of gray overcast,
very cool, the kind of sky you look at and think it's in no hurry to leave. On the bright
side, I'm catching up with lots of people I haven't seen in a while.
3:15 p.m.
1st load is on a call, the sun is coming out, and 18 4-way teams are stretching,
creeping, and dirt-diving. I've got a cup of coffee and a big carpet crease down the side
of my head from napping on the floor.
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OmniSkore is set up and ready. |
A note from your host (Tim): I am able to receive e-mail from my server
via Mike's AOL account, but I can't send e-mail until I get back to the hotel and connect
with my laptop. So please excuse me if you ask a question and get no response.
5:45 p.m.
Ooh, the teams look rusty from the weather delay. We're almost done with round one, but we
had five teams left and then went on another weather hold. Airspeed looked sharp except
for a bad glitch finishing a bipole. Golden Knights Gold had an awesome round 1 and posted
the best score (so far) or 20 points. I love the DZTV audience in the hanger; they are
applauding every good skydive like a point in a good tennis match. Cool.
6:15 p.m.
The day has been called because of a thick, immobile overcast. We are going to
finish through round 2 of 4-way at 0700 tomorrow, followed by 3 rounds of 8-way, followed
by 3 more rounds of 4-way. That's the plan, anyway.
Sunday
7:40 a.m.
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Airspeed boards for round 2. |
It was still a solid overcast at daybreak, but the clouds parted like the
Red Sea at 7:15 and the first load of the day is in the air. I had a great time at PJ's
last night, having a few drinks with skydiving's International Man of
Mystery, a man with countless stories and one of the great contributors to our sport.
It looks like it's going to be a long, fun day of skydiving, so get that webcam fired up and stay online!
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Raeford Frigid Air walking in. |
A 19th team has registered in 4-way, making this one of the largest
America's Cup meets I've seen, if not the biggest. Hat's off to Focus 4, who flew all the
way from northern California for the meet. Focus 4 was also one of the medal winners in
the recreational class at last year's nationals.
10:00 a.m.
We're cooking right along, through 2 rounds of 4-way, and 8-way is under way.
There's some really good skydiving going on here at Cross Keys and a good battle brewing
in 4-way.
11:00 a.m.
Oh boy, did Airspeed look like a soup sandwich on round 1 of 8-way. They got
busted once, but the judges were pretty nice to them. The Knights did a clean 20 to take
the early lead. Warp Factor is an 8-way team here from Texas, they did a 6 on the round,
which is not an easy jump. The first two rounds of 4-way are in the bag, and Raeford
Express has a slim early lead over Golden Knights Gold (based on the handicap). Going to
be a long busy day, so these reports will be short. Back to work now.
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Oscar, video coordinator
extraordinaire. |
11:30 a.m.
Round 2 of 8-way is already completed, and Airspeed looked more like a Philly
Cheese Steak this time (can you tell it's almost lunch time?). Both Airspeed and the
Knights put up 17s for the round, so the Knights hold their lead. Someone bring me some
chow please...
12:00 noon
Two hot dogs later, I saw the footage from Mike McGowan's near-fatal main/reserve
entanglement. Wow - scary stuff. He had a fully open reserve that gradually repacked
itself (the reserve deployed through the main risers, then the main pulled the reserve
slide back up to the top) until there wasn't much left. He is indeed one very lucky SOB.
This will probably add a lot of fuel to the emergency procedures debate on whether it is
best to cut away a pilot chute in tow.
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The Golden Knights
are showing their colors
at this meet.. |
1:00 p.m.
8-way is a wrap -- only three rounds because of weather -- and Airspeed was soup
again, a 22 busted to a 20. The Knights provided a demonstration on round three: they were
smooth, patient, deliberate, and cruised to a clean 23. Airspeed was fast but sloppy. They
didn't have a good meet, which will probably help get their noses back to the grindstone
with the Nationals and World Meet coming up.
Meanwhile, we're on a weather hold again, those nasty clouds moved back in
and stopped the party. Time to go rap with skydiving's International Man
of Mystery!
2:30 p.m.
We've done the 8-way awards, with gold medals going to the Golden Knights, silver
medals to Warp Factor, and bronze medals to Airspeed. While the 8-way teams were jumping,
some of the 4-way teams continued with their rounds, and we are judging those next during
this weather hold (which is supposed to be ending soon).
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The dubbing station. |
5:30 p.m.
It hasn't cleared, but we've started 4-way again with a reduced working time,
jumping from around 6,000 feet. Beats sitting around, I guess. Bad news is, now us judges
gotta go back and rejudge all those teams that had already done rounds 3 and 4.
7:30 p.m.
IT'S A WRAP. Finished the last two rounds with reduced working time of 20 and 15
seconds for rounds 3 and 4. Check out the results page for the numbers.
John Eddows & Co. did an awesome job with this meet, they are great
hosts, and everyone rocked. The Nationals are next, and oh does OmniSkore! have a
few new tricks up its Internet sleeve! See you there!
-Tim
Bored? Read Tim's trip diary HERE |