First thanks to everyone for making Summerfest 2008 a safe and fun event.

                   Photo by Charles Lane www.charleslanepics.com

We had 581 people register for this year’s event.   Even though this was slightly lower from last year we cranked out 448 loads during the event.  With only two mornings of bad weather this was the best weather we’ve had for Summerfest.  They say pictures speak more then words so we are posting photos capturing Summerfest.

                   Photo by Charles Lane www.charleslanepics.com

Thanks to the Hellfish, Dirty Sanchez, Flex Vision, Aerodyne, EG suits, Tony Suits, Reaperware, Flock U, UC3; and our organizers: Mike Swanson, Alaska Jon, Mike Wittenburg, Dave Brown, Kyle Starck, David Gershfeld, Sporto, Sandy Grillet, Terry Gardner, Tom Falzone, Jeremiah, Max Meijer, T.J. Hine, Keith Nugent, Jeff Neblokof, Justin Shorb, Norman Kent; the manifest staff: Whitney, Sara, Karry, Molly, Erin, Daniel, Pita, Jess; the grounds crew:  Donovan, Kenny, Amber, Joel, Anthony, Raj, Gomei, Matt, Ken, Alison, Jake, Omnia, Melissa, Mary, Erinn, Christa, Paula;

the pilots: Dave (PD1), David Sifft (PD2), Kirk Smith, Mark (pitts), Mark (balloon), Smitty and Mark (Casa); the entertainment: Nice Peter, Chris Ferrell and company, Hellifish toga party, Jeff’s Ice carving, Scott and the fireworks crew, Omar (fire dancer), Dirty Sanchez’s foam party, all the great films, Club D, and Dave Tamkin; and everyone who donated photos from Summerfest: Brad, John, Dana, Charles Lane, Misha, and Russ.

As you can see from the list there is a lot that goes into Summerfest and these people are the ones behind the great show.  Mark your calendars, Summerfest 2009 will be July 25 – August 2. 

Another impressive note is David and his tandem team that were cranking out 120 + tandem days during Summerfest without breaking a sweat. 

Summerfest was a huge hit with AFP student.   Biff topped the charts by doing 60 AFP jumps throughout the event.  Congratulations to Megan Pulver, Pierre Kotze, Paula Urcid, Paul Burton, Brad Duncan, Katie Matyke and Paige Elliot who almost all graduated during Summerfest.    It was cool to see the new jumpers manifesting for the Casa.

Before we knew it the weekend was upon us and anticipating a slower weekend we sent one of the Otters to Skydive Greensburg.  The student arena was again packed but the experienced jumpers were taking a break from the marathon called Summerfest.  SDC hasn’t stopped quite yet; we have some great events still to come. 

We are currently in the research phase for finding a winter location.  We have options out there and are just sorting though them to find the best one.  Vegas anyone?  Florida?  Costa Rica?  Time will tell. 

Coming up:

Aug 15 Water Training (required for a ‘B’ License)
Aug 16-17 Chuck Finley RW Invitational
Aug 16 Night Jumps (must have a ‘B’ License or higher)
Aug 21-24 Team training with Mandrin & Furies

Thanks to everyone that supports SDC.

Rook