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That is it the weatherman is going on payroll!
Last week I had my 3rd annual Birthday River Jam! Starved Rock Adventures, a watercraft rental business, loaned me one of their houseboats for the party. And a party it was! EAT UP showed up with tons of food for everyone and a FULL BAR! The boat was rocking every night with relaxing days. As the party concluded I told everyone that for my 30th I’m taking everyone to the library! Thanks to everyone that came out!
Despite the weather forecast not being so good we hosted the last tryouts for the upcoming Freefly Record. 33 people registered for the 2-day event. Saturday we met in the auditorium for the briefing then split into 3 groups. Mic, Will and I headed up each group. Starting off with low stress dives, the participants were a bit nervous. You could tell everyone was trying to get noticed, but not get noticed. Some of the camps participants already received their invites but just wanted to keep current, which was good to see.
Mid-day Saturday we switched the groups up giving everyone a chance to jump with different organizers. We also changed the dives each jump to allow people to show their skills in each slot. Throughout the day the skill level rose with each jump. Noah and Brian captured the dives and video and took some great stills. You can see all Brian’s shots at www.BrianBuckland.com, just enter the password 'sdctryouts' in the clients section.
Saturday afternoon we challenged the group to a two plane shot at the end of the day. It being many peoples first two plane shot (still waiting for the beer) the energy was high. Herman and John did a great job flying the Otters in formation. The dives built to the mid-twenties with a few people close to docking.
Saturday night many of the camp participants were exhausted from the day. It’s amazing how tired you get when you are being judged all day. I was even tired! EAT UP as always had some great food ready for all of SDC.
Saturday was also local jumper and manifester Molly’s birthday boogie! While many of us where doing tryouts a handful of jumpers did fun dives throughout the day. Happy Birthday Molly!
Todd and Lisa were on hand this past weekend keeping the RW crowd jumping. The following is a post from them:
The weather forecast for Saturday fortunately was wrong; however, it seemed to keep a lot of RW jumpers away. The red mats were empty most of the day! Except those Flying Fish, who were definitely flying and improving their 4-way skills all weekend. Thank goodness the forecast for Sunday was correct, because the sun was out and warm! We were able to organize and jump with a number of small groups.
A few shout-outs to the following people for achieving jump milestones. Congrats to Aga (100th jump), Patryja (50th jump), and Adit (50th jump)!!! We wanted to thank the other jumpers who participated: Mary, Sky, Bob, Mike, Chris, Brooks, and Paul. We also had video on a few jumps, thanks to Johnny Z and Neil. And finally, thanks to Mark for helping us out, especially on nailing that tarantula exit!
Going forward, we will continue to focus on our goal, which is working on basic RW skills while keeping our groups relatively small. Our target audience is AFP grads to intermediate RW jumpers, but any skill level is welcome to join us! If you have any questions, you can contact us through Facebook (Lisa DeSimone); or, SDC Forums; or, email us at zaats@sbcglobal.net. Our next RW organizing weekend will be Saturday, July 18th and Sunday, July 19th. Hope to see you then!
Rhythm was off at Paraclete for the weekend competing in the tunnel meet. They are really tearing it up! They got 4th place, and scored an average of 23.1 over 10 rounds (their teams personal best). Congratulations to everyone on Rhythm, I can’t wait to see what happens at Nationals!
This past weekend the campfire foundation held there annual pancake breakfast. The picnic tables were filled with hungry jumpers and spectators. It’s awesome to walk into the hangar and have the smell of breakfast. Thanks to Ester and all the volunteers who make this event possible.
Congratulations to Chris Hyden, Nick Whitmer, and David Henderson the most recent AFP graduates. Remember to follow the golden rules and know when to say when!
Please remember that the carts are for staff only. We really need to make sure that we are able to get to a jumper in need and not look for a cart at someone’s trailer. If you are not staff, or if you are staff and not doing work, please walk or purchase a bike.
I would also like to reiterate the fact that dogs MUST be on leashes at all times and are never allowed in the pond or at the hangar. There are absolutely no exceptions to this rule at any time.
Coming up this weekend is Mid-West Skydiving League. The 4-way comp with meet coach SDC Rhythm will start Saturday. For more info check out www.skyleague.com.
Ben Crooch will be back in the freefly arena organizing.
Rhythm will be training this Friday and we will offer $16 jumps for all experienced jumpers. Spread the word, we plan on doing 16 loads at the minimum.
The summer is cruising right along; Summerfest is just over a month away. July 25 – Aug 2! The summerfest page is getting updated daily. Keep checking back for the most current version.
Rook
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