August 7, 2009

Skydive Chicago

The greatest work SDC has ever done happened last week.

It’s nearly impossible to cover everything that happened during Summerfest but I would like to touch on a few things, so here we go:

Thursday, the 23rd, the aircraft and organizers started to arrive.  Erin was busy in registration getting the last touches on everyone’s goodie bags.  Her work was cut out for her with 3 different record events plus all the fun jumpers.  Her and her team of Tory, Danielle, and Paula did a great job.

Friday we woke up to great weather and 100-way RW attempts starting.  Roger Ponce, BJ Worth, Max Meijer, and TJ Hine headed up the organization.  During the same time vendor row starting to fill up and the population of Summerfest doubled. 

After several attempts the RW group was unsuccessful.  I think it is cool to see the Skyvan and 4 Otters lined up on the runway for takeoff.  Many people from town stopped out after the first couple attempts to see what all the noise was about.  Friday night registration numbers grew to around 400!  The excitement was in the air and that night The Eric Gomez Trio took to the stage for an opening party.  It wasn’t long before they aborted the mission as a nasty storm rolled through.   I jumped ship and went to the house for a little bit and made a mission back when the rain slowed down.  I couldn’t believe it, Eric had set up his band in the pavilion and across the pond the tiki bar was JAMMING!  What a great way to start summerfest!

Saturday morning all the aircraft fired up and kept turning most of the day.  The staff gelled the best I have ever seen, smiling and going out of their way to settle everyone in.  I was all smiles as the population kept growing and I was seeing old friends.  I sometimes take for granted what my father built but when new people show up and they can’t believe it, it makes it all worthwhile.

Congratulations to the 107 RW flyers who completed a 2-point 107-way!  This is a state record for Illinois.  We flew almost 90 loads on Saturday alone!  One record down two to go! 

Right smack during Summerfest David’s tandem team were cranking out tandems.  164 to be exact.  What an experience for a tandem student to witness all the action and excitement. 

Saturday night we brought a regional Blues Band in, Nick Moss.  You can’t come to Chicago and not hear some blues.  The energy again was present from the great dives that were happening and reunions of old friends.  Thanks to Biff again for the great stage that came in perfect for all the entertainment.

After Sunday, thinking the pace was going to slow down, boy was I wrong?!  Whitney, Karry, Sara, Molly & Molly kept the planes turning.  This, for most of the day, was the most trying.  Let me explain:

First we been having a great tandem year but when you have 800 skydivers present this makes it a challenge for 150 of them to jump and not be in the way of all the fun jumpers.  This means an airboss is present setting up offset jump runs and making sure the wingsuits don’t accidentally buzz by a group of tandems.

Next I got a call from the power company, because of the nasty storm they needed to shut the power down to repair a downed wire.  At the same time they are talking to me I’m looking at a line of tandem students checking in, computers, and tandem editing equipment that are all about to go down. 
   
Finally with five and sometimes six aircraft turning we ran out of fuel around 5pm.  Not only did we run out, but where are we going to find more fuel for the morning?!  It’s not exactly like stopping by your local shell station and filling up.

I have to give credit to my incredible staff for not skipping a beat when the sh#* hit the fan.  Donavan and I ran the aircraft keeping separation between drops that were happening every 2 minutes.  The grounds crew grabbed generators and we powered up the manifest computers, the paging system, and the editing equipment.  Thanks to Andri who lent us use his fuel truck (which is another story) that got us through the next day.  The best response I got was from Herman at the tiki bar when I was telling him about the day, ”The power went out?”  Perfect!

We brought in a steel drum band Sunday night and EAT UP had a pig roast.  The day’s events never seemed to bother any of the jumpers as they shared the stories from the day. 

Monday was a little bit of a breather as the record attempts were over but four planes kept turning.  Even though it was a little slower pace it was certainly going to be an exciting day.  About half way through the day the Skyvan was taxiing out to depart when it veered off the runway.  The pilot tried to back the plane up but wasn’t having much luck.  He asked for all the jumpers to exit in order to lighten the load.  About this same time the engine started smoking and then flames started to come from the exhaust pipe.  The pilot quickly shut the engine down and no one was hurt.  Uncertain what happened they towed the aircraft back to the staging area.  At the same time I’m thinking how important it is to have a tailgate for our upcoming Freefly Record.  Here I thought today was going to be easy.

Toga, Toga, Toga!  Monday night was the famous hellfish toga party.  Thanks to Bubba for bringing hundreds of gallons of margaritas for everyone.  The best part is you get a raffle ticket for every rita you get.  So the more you drink the better chances you have of winning free jumps, now that’s a contest!  Thanks to all the hellfish for making Summerfest the home of the toga party.

Tuesday the wingsuiters were in full swing.  Jeff and Justin were dirt diving and briefing the participants.  A little smaller but just as cool they completed a 20 way and then grabbed a few more to complete the first official 25-way wingsuit formation.  Two records down, one more to go!  Congratulations to all the wingsuiters! Tuesday was also the day we found out that the Skyvan was not going to be fixed in time for the record.  Another hurdle, but hey if it was going to be easy why do it?  The cell phones were on fire as I called everyone I knew that had a tailgate and nothing seemed to be working out.  Then Bob called from Deland and offered his Otter to me to replace the downed van.  I told him to go for it and he was airborne within the hour.  Thanks to Bob for helping us out. With out his help the freefly record may not have happened.

By this time what was going to be the greatest assembly of freeflyers were onsite for their shot of being on the first 100-way formation.  The bar was getting raised throughout the day for freeflying.  I hopped on a few jumps and was taken by surprised when a 4 point 20 way happened, including a 20-way round as the fourth point.  This same time I knew that we were going to reach our goal.  I should have brought more aircraft in! 

Wednesday we broke the freeflyers into 3 44-way groups.  Jon, Mike, and I took the base and practiced launching it from a side door.  Fred and Vince from Babylon organized the second group and David G headed up the third.  Each jump was great but never quite completing.  The auditorium came in perfect for debriefing all the bigways in AC comfort.

Wednesday night is one of my favorite nights of summerfest.  Call me American but I like it when stuff blows up.  I tried something new with the UFO jump and did two groups.  One head down and the other a wingsuit group.  Funny thing is I asked Fred and Vince to join us and I never knew it was there first night jump!  Imagine strapping a flare to you for your first one!  Thanks to Mike, Jon, Eli, Jeff, Justin, Fred and Vince for making the UFO’s happen.  This is how the night started and the grounds were filled for the show to come.  As always I try to one up last years show to keep it fresh.  Lots of people thought I wouldn’t be able to and I think we succeeded. Those of you in attendance know what I’m talking about and I’ll keep it our little secret.  Don’t worry I have another plan for next year that will top this one!  Only 360 more days till you’ll find out!

Scott, Jeff and his crew did another fantastic jump with the show.  The finale was of course everyone’s favorite part.  The crowd was buzzing from the already amazing show and it was only half over.  Omar and Jeff did a fire and Ice show, with a fire dance on stilts while Jeff was carving an incredible ice sculpture.  People were almost overwhelmed with the night’s activities.

Thursday the freeflyers were as serious as they could get, which was still pretty relaxed.  We had the best group possible with current and past world champions, the best tunnel flyers and even the founder of head down Olav!  As I mentioned in my first speech I knew we were going to get our record but first I wanted to put some 80 ways in the air. We were making a huge jump in numbers and wanted to step it up for safety.  The jumps went well but always one or two short of completing.

Thursday night Jim Harris’ favorite band was back in town, Nice Peter.  Peter is a free spirited songwriter that likes to make the crowd laugh with the whacked out songs.  He is no doubt a hit with the crowd and Jim Harris.  The crowd thinned out early as the 100-way task was before us in the morning.

Friday morning the freeflyers met up on the south ramp for final slot assignment.  The energy was in the air, as everyone knew the talent that surrounded him or her.  We took off just after 8:30 and the first record of the day was set, a 101 way!  I landed and couldn’t believe we almost did it on the first try!  All smiles we gathered for the debrief and were all taken by surprise, what if we would have gotten it?  No time to get cocky, as I have been here before.

Jump two, 106, the second record of the day!  The excitement was starting to build.  I have to say that I was nervous with launching the base, an 8-way, out of a side door.  Looks like the talent was there to overcome any hurdle that was given to us. 

Jump three still over 100, but no record.  The ax was sharp as even our bench was top-level freeflyers.  Every person knew they had to skydive perfect, or be watching the next jump from the ground.

Jump four, so close but not quite there. This was the fourth 100-way that we built and people were starting to get frustrated.  Things needed to start happening and we knew it.  The forecast for Saturday wasn’t looking so good and we wanted to make sure everyone left with a record.  There was talk about cutting the number if we didn’t get it on the next jump. 

Jump five, 107-way with one person out, AHHH.  OK, do we cut down the number?  The day was coming to an end and the group’s energy was starting to dwindle.  I asked for them to dig deep and give us one more, “We don’t want to cut the number that’s not what we came to do”.  The reverend even came out for a visit to pump up the crowd.

Jump six we landed not knowing what happened.  Everyone saw one person carving around the formation and it didn’t look good.  As I walked in to the hanger Al a local jumper showed me a picture that he took from the ground.  It looked complete, I went over to the video guys and they didn’t think that it happened.  Brian started going through his photos and zoomed one in to realize everyone was gripped!  Now its up to the judges.

The tension was high as the judges, Scott, Sarah, and Jami looked over the shot.  After about 20 minutes of waiting, and exhausting any chance of going back up, they declared it an official 108-person record!  The party erupted!  Para-Gear donated shot glasses to us, and Chris said that if we get the record he would fill them up, ten bottles of patron and 12 bottles of Champagne got consumed in about 20 minutes!  The party had definitely started.  We shared hugs and high fives till we ended up at the tiki bar, where we had open bar for 30 minutes to start it off.  It has to be one of the most memorable nights (despite all the drinks).  The vibe was amazing as we all had accomplished what was three years ago unheard of.  This was one of my life goals as noted in Parachutist some years ago.  Don’t think I’ve stopped, as this is only a stepping-stone to bigger and better goals.  150 anyone?

During this historic time Russ from Wakeboard Chicago was hosting a rail jam on the pond.  The melting pot of sub cultures was cool.  They dug watching us and we got a kick out of watching them.  Thanks Russ and Wakeboard Chicago.

The weather was outstanding most of the event, however it picked a good day to be cloudy.  Saturday was a wash with weather.  The freeflyers were slow moving, if moving at all. Thanks to Eli, Travis, Andy, Fred, Vince, AZ Arsenal, and Luis for helping gather the crew.

Saturday night the clouds parted for us to host the Film Festival.  16 great films were played.  Some were skydiving, some weren’t, but all were fun.  Third place went to Brad and Danielle for the film about Jim Harris, Second went to, So you’ve decided to hire a camera guy, and first place went to Fabian for the Nordic Meet film that had some amazing video.  Thanks to Hypoxic, Square 1, Liquid Sky, and Cypres for the prizes.

Sunday was another great day of jumping with four Otters turning to wind up the great event.  People saying good byes throughout the day was sad for many, but its never goodbye, its I’ll see you next Summerfest July 24th – Aug 1st.   

EAT UP gets the hardest working department award, not to say anyone was slacking but they were never not busy!  From Thursday night to Sunday the 2nd they never stopped producing food.  Somewhere along the ways they lost count but there sandwich count had to be in the thousands.  They even served bag lunches to the 100-way participants!

Fun Facts:

831 registered people this didn’t include staff. 
688 loads were flown from 5 otters, 1 Skyvan and 1 King Air
180 yards of trash were used
20,000 gallons of Jet-A were consumed
144 rolled of Toilet paper
75 rolls of paper hand towels
1000 55 gal trash bags
25 gal of hand soap

Personal thanks to:

Erin                         Max
Paula                      Melissa
Tory                         Meredith
Danielle                   Matt
Whitney                   Daisy
Sara                        Connie
Karry                       Josh B.
Molly S.                   Jessica E.
Molly M.                  Kati
Donovan                 Kenny S.
Kenny J.                  Doug T.
Johnny Longspot     Herman
Dale                         Matt

Jeremiah                  Jason
Christa                     Joe
Raj                           Mark B
Eric                          Mark L.
Dave S.                    BJ Worth
TJ Hine                    Roger Ponce
Sandy Grillet            SDC Rhythm
Lemonhead              Tom Falzone
Max Meijer               Mike Carpenter
David G.                   Mick
Noah                         Will
Mike Wittenburg       Ben Crooch
TJ Ewing                  Jeff N.
Justin Shorb             Fred
Vince

Vendors
Deepseed                   PD
Para-Gear                   Icarus
Live Action Sports       Flock U
90 Percent                   Firefly Suits
Cypres                         UPT
Liquid Sky                    Skydive Radio
Gatorz                          Natural Bodyworks
Square 1                       EG Suits
Hypoix                          Aerodyne
Para-Concepts             Norman Kent Productions

As you can see a lot goes into an event like this and without these people it wouldn’t be possible.  See you July 24 – Aug 1 for Summerfest 2010.

Don’t think the season is over we are still open 7 days a week and the weekdays are busier then ever. 

Coming up:

Aug. 8 Meet #3 MWSL
Aug 8 Night Jumps
Aug 9 Swoop Club 

Rook