Thursday, September 23
7:00
a.m.
My head hit the pillow and the alarm went off. Wasn't I here ten
minutes ago? Starting 8-way shortly, but we're also doing 4- and 10-way
today.
The first two days, I was starting to wonder if anyone was out there.
This morning I got in there were 25+ messages in the inbox, and only two
of them were for corrections. Thanks! It's feedback like that that keeps
us going. I hear planes cranking up outside...
...while
we're waiting for some results, a little discussion about the judging.
Last night in the tiki bar there was a lot of grumbling among the
competitors about how clean their skydiving was and how badly they were
busted anyway. Much of the controversy centers around the fact that if
the judges don't see the point or the inter, they don't give credit for
it. Many teams were busted because the video angle was flat enough to
keep the judges from seeing what they needed to see, and the teams got a
lot of I's. So much of the
discussion then centered on what is a "J"
versus what is an "I" if
the judges can't see an inter. Is it the team's fault or the camera's
fault? Is it a bust, or a rejump? Hopefully it won't matter next year
with a little rewrite of the rules; the only J
that should be allowed is because of clouds/water/etc. It should be
the team's responsibility to show the performance requirements to the
judges via the camera. And if the judges don't see it, it's because the
team/videographer didn't show it to them.
Okay
then, AZ8 scored a 22 on round 6. Their skydiving is looking so nice;
they are getting that little "pause" on each point that I
always liked so much about the Knights' style of jumping. Keeps the
judges happy and the team in sync. Too bad they won't be around for 10-
and 16-way, they gotta go get ready for Australia, where they will of
course represent the USA in both 4- and 8-way Formation Skydiving. And
of course we will be there bringing it to you via this web site!
I've received several e-mails asking why "guest" teams
aren't being listed in the official standings. "Guest" teams
are not eligible to win medals under the rules, and as such they are not
listed with an official placement. But they are still listed on the
results tables. Also the reason some 4-way teams have completed 8 rounds
while others have done only 4 is because of many 4-way teams are also
doing 8-way. Teams like FX stayed with 4-way. And if AZ4 or another team
ties FX's record 37 in round 6, FX gets to keep the record because they
did it first.
10:00 a.m.
Everyone is wondering what is up with the Knights rounds 5 & 6.
Apparently the tape is stuck in the camera and they can't get it out or
play it. We're still waiting for it...
![](images/gk_camera_2.jpg) |
![](images/gk_camera_1.jpg) |
Brian Rogers ponders
the fate of the Golden Knights' camera.
Somewhere in this mess lies their round 5!
The story is the camera just plain died with the tape in it. |
Meanwhile, we've actually wrapped up one event here at this
competition, and the winners of 8-way Intermediate are Converging Gangs
in first, Lebanon Air Fr8 second, and Excruci8 third (missed 2nd by one
point). These results are not yet official though until a Chief Judge or
Meet Director tells me so.
Okay
now...they got that tape out of the mess, and GK8 round 5 is...a...29!
Now THAT was some seriously smooth skydiving. They were so smooth it
looked like slow motion, gliding through the points. VERY impressive.
That's good enough to bring them into a tie with AZ8 on the leaderboard!
Pending round 6 which is...a...looking good...wow! A 24! Whatever the
Knights had for dinner last night, gimme some of that! They now lead
8-way by 2, and minimums for the event have been met. Wow!
12:00 noon
Everyone still out there? Airspeed, Purple, Genesis etc. are up in
the air for round 6 of 4-way. Any of them going to top FX's record 37
point jump?
Holy BANDWIDTH Batman, I just ran a lunchtime check of my e-mail.
Thank you all, thank you very much (taking a bow here). Too many to
respond to right now. But to the two more of you who asked what is a
"guest" team, once again that is a team that has at least one
member who is not a citizen of the United States and is thus ineligible
to win a medal at these championships. Hold it - round 6 is up -
Sebastian XL - yes this is a guest team, the Brits - nice exit...going
fast...going to be a British record at least...35 points! Looked clean
too, yes that is registered. And up next is...GK Black...this is the
"older" team that used to be the one to beat, now the
"younger" Gold squad has been kicking butt...they're out
now...very smooth...and a 34 clean! Purple is up next...can you believe
all these 30s going up on the board?
Purple is...going...to...post...a...oops, industrial haze...a 36! Clean
again. Up next is...DeLand Genesis...looking good, a bit glitchy...it's...a...32.
Uhm, not bad I guess! And GK Gold is...a 33...and now the moment we've
been waiting for, Airspeed is up...it looks really good...it's a...it's
a...wow...smooth...smokin'...it's a 39! AIRSPEED
HAS A NEW WORLD RECORD! Whoa, my hands are shaking too much
to type. That was an awesome skydive! Remember now, the record is not
official until the FAI certifies it.
I have a major change in standings; in the 8-way Intermediate, Warp
Factor 8 was determined to NOT be a guest team and will take home the
gold medal for that event. Gongrats Warp Factor 8!
2:30 p.m.
10-way is under way, and it is slightly sad to note that last year's
CG GodFrog award winner, the Golden Knights, has withdrawn. Airspeed has
also chosen to not participate, so the nine teams that are left should
have a real good shootout. Speaking of -- wow, Roger Nelson's team (903)
just blazed a 14.91 on round 1. That's a nice start! Last year anything
below 15 was considered hot.
I have been told by the meet director that the Knights and Airspeed
are still doing 8-way as much as they can today. I'll find out more
about the remaining schedule and post it here as soon as I know.
At 4:00 we're judging round 7 of 8-way and on a weather hold. It
looks like 10-way speed will be a race between Carl Daugherty's XTZ and
Roger Nelson's Skydive Chicago STL.
The Knights are having NO luck with cameras today...first their
camera is disassembled for tape extraction after round 5...then on round
7 the camera was bumped on climbout and recorded the jump at maximum
exposure, so they are rejumping the round...Charlie's pretty pissed,
apparently they had another good jump, they'll have to do it over again.
And AZ8...very nice round 7, a 22. We're on a weather hold now, ya'll
take a break, I'm gonna pull my ass out of this chair now...
5:00 p.m.
Hey you cyber diver junkies, I'm gonna have a special treat for you
here soon if I can get my toys to work...okay, here it is, Airspeed's
record round 6 jump on the Internet. WARNING - these files are quite
large and will take some time to load! I suggest right-clicking on the
link and choosing "save target as..." or whatever works for
you:
How's that for taking advantage of a weather hold?
7:00 p.m.
I for the life of me can't figure out why there's not as much
participation in 10-way as there is. What's interesting is practically
none of the 8-way Open competitors are doing 10-way. I guess maybe nine
teams isn't too bad, it sure looks like a fun event though. They are
judging XTZ's round 2 right now, and they had another nice jump. Almost
strange watching a Carl Daugherty team free flying 10-way!
Tonight is the awards ceremony for the completed events of 4-way
Intermediate and 8-way Intermediate. See the Page
of Champions for more info. Congratulations to the winners! Now it's
BEER O'CLOCK! See you tomorrow!
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