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It feels like some of the most beautiful days of Summer have saved themselves for the past couple of weeks.
The hangar has been busy with activity as everyone is enjoying it to the fullest. Labor Day started off great with people showing up early Friday and 2 planes turning all day Saturday. Terry Gardner came in to do some RW organizing. Thanks Terry, it is always a pleasure to have you back!
While Terry hustled the belly jumpers Ben Crooch kept the freeflyers in the air and the teams were training hard. Saturday night, with nearly a full moon, an Otter load took to the skies for night jumps.
Sunday, which was forecasted to be gorgeous, turned out to a gloomy start. With Nationals coming up fast Rhythm and Standard didn’t shy away. They took whatever altitude they could get. Once the ceiling lifted a bit more the rest of the jumpers showed up to enjoy what turned out to be a great afternoon.
Labor Day Monday was just as busy as the weekend. Historically it is a slower weekend for students, but the tandem masters were busy all weekend long! Monday alone we did 94 tandems and about 230 over all. Thanks to all of the hard working grounds crew, manifest, and tandem staff who kept things moving through the long weekend.
Many of you may have noticed 30EA being wrenched on over the past week or so. We are excited to be upgrading to -34’s! You may remember that about 2 years ago when we upgraded 10EA to -34’s it want from being the zero to the hero. Well, I can’t wait to see how fast 30EA is with the upgrade!
Thanks to Donovan who has been working hard getting the engines installed. It was nice to see Rook out of the office with some grease on his hands as he got to tinker with his new “toy”. I also want to thank John, Mark, and Don for helping out as well. Both Otters, or should I say rocket ships, should be up and running for this coming weekend.
While 30EA was being worked on we used the Deland Otter for our second aircraft this past weekend. I apologize for not having the Skyvan available, but the repairs have been taking longer than expected.
Rook took off early Saturday morning to attend Eli Thompson’s memorial service in Perris. It has been a devastating and great loss to many and my heart goes out to Sarah, Destiny, Tahani, and their very soon to be born son. A memorial site has been started where you can make donations to help support Sarah and her family through this tragic time: http://web.me.com/sarahfarooqui/web.mac.com_sarahfarooqui/Memorial_Eli.html. Sometimes it seems when it rains it pours. There have been several great losses in only the past couple of weeks. I would like to remind everyone to stay safe. Blue skies and fly high, you will all be missed.
On a lighter note it was another stellar weekend with perfect weather and a lot going on. Frank Shisler’s Jump 4 Hope was an amazing event with incredible results. We don’t have an exact number quite yet, but around $18,000 was raised for the American Cancer Society! Terri Wichmann was the biggest fundraiser, and was responsible for collecting over $2,000 for the cause and also made her first tandem in over 20 years! Terri was one of 16 people to take a plunge in order to support Jump 4 Hope.
Jeff Brown raised more than any other fun jumper at just over $1,000. A total of 6 fun experienced jumpers raised the minimum $600 to put 10 jumps on their account. The fundraiser was inspired by Frank’s late father, Milton Shisler, who made his last skydive Saturday evening.
Thanks to everyone who helped to make the event a success. Jeanie headed up the bake sale, which was…delicious! TJ Hine and Eat Up took charge of the cookout, with proceeds all going to the American Cancer Society. Steve Sebby and Ben Crooch provided entertainment for the evening jamming through the night! Thanks Frank for organizing such a successful event for a wonderful cause. We look forward to doing it again next year.
Coming up this Friday we will be holding water training. This will probably be the last one before it gets cold so contact manifest to sign up!
The Flying Fish will be hosting the New Wave Boogie this weekend. We'll provide RW organizing, Fun Jumps (i.e. Mr. Potato Head Jumps), and there will be Wingsuit Demos provided by Tony Gwinn. Join us for the boogie designed for jumpers with less than 300 jumps! With no registration fee, sign up on Facebook or at www.sdcFlyingFish.com.
Ben Crooch will be on the freefly mat this weekend as well. The next continuing education, to be hosted by the Furies, has been moved to October 3rd.
We just added a new event to the calendar. October 2-4 we will be holding the first ever Fall Festival Boogie. There will be RW organizing by the Flying Fish, freefly organizing by Ben Crooch, and a live DJ Saturday night. Eat Up will also be coordinating some fall inspired food for the event. We are trying to put together a Farmer’s Market for the event as well. If you have food, jewelry, or other goods you would like to setup please email Erin@skydivechicago.com.
Upcoming Events:
Sept. 18: Water Training
Sept. 19-20: New Wave Boogie with SDC Flying Fish
Sept. 19-20: Freefly Organizing with Ben Crooch
Sept. 25-Oct: 4 AFP Class/'A' License in a Week
Sept. 25-27: 3rd Annual Mission Challenge
Sept. 27: Swoop Club Championships
I’m looking forward to seeing you all on the “rocket ships” this weekend! 30EA just took its first flight with the new engines!
Erin
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