First I want to thank everyone that braved the ice storm and attended the Christmas Party. The party was a great success and a perfect way to wrap up the event packed year. To recap Rich Martin won ‘Most Improved Novice”. Rich, with 50 jumps, joined a 4-way team and competed in MWSL meets. Betty Bennett won ‘Most Improved Skydiver”. Betty went though AFP in 1998 and has been jumping every year since then. She was also on the POPS record and numerous big ways throughout her skydiving career. She recently started wingsuit-flying showing that she is a well-rounded and safe skydiver. 
Dave Elliot won Freak Brother of the year. He was put into the Student Manager position and did a great job. He went above and beyond what was expected of him. He never complained (to me) when a tandem student showed up when it was only 30 degrees outside. He was always there and for this he deserves the FB award. Finally I want to thank Jeanie (mom) for cooking a great meal, and for the great meals thought out year. 
One item I didn’t mention at the party was the SDC teams. Congratulations to SDC Quattro who finished third in 4-way at the US Nationals. I also want to thank On the fly, the Furies, the 16-way team and the 10-way team that competed and supported SDC. SDC would like to congratulate the AFP class of 2007. The following 27 students completed the AFP program this year: Pete Schweier Bronwyn Jurkowski Chad Husar Eddie Dan Burgess Brian Brown Nicola Sherrill Dan Manka Mike Bellavia James Bellavia Louise McNutt Eric Ward Warren Harms Terry Godfrey Tyler Penley Mark Lueken Stefan Milenkovich George Malloy Amber Bartlett Chris Wojnarowski Joseph Hunn Siobhan Daukes Rob Taylor Deana Ebert Omnia Ibrahim Molly Mulcahy Craig Rappin
Congratulations and we welcome you to the Skydive Chicago family. We have another 64 that are in the program and are looking forward to getting their jumps in during the 2008 season.  Speaking of next year the jump package prices are out. www.skydivechicago.com/Forums/tabid/110/forumid/7/postid/480/view/topic/Default.aspx Due to the crazy price of fuel we were forced to raise them slightly. If you purchase a 100 or 200 jump package you will get a 2-for-1 day during the Halloween Boogie. The packages must be purchased by December 23rd. You can mail your check to Skydive Chicago, 3215 E 1969th Rd, Ottawa, IL 61350 to purchase your package. As I mentioned at the Christmas party we are “Bringing the Big Way back to the Midwest”!! We already have four bigway events planned including an 80-way Pops event. If big ways are your thing be sure to mark your calendars. We are updating the webpage with next year’s calendar and it should be up soon. 
If you haven’t yet, please winterize your trailers. Please don’t leave your heat / refrigerators on. If you placed your trailer on ‘storage’ rent your breaker will be turned off until March 15th. Make sure your accounts are current. We have quite a few people in the 'red'. You can check your accounts at www.ottawaairportinc.com. If you sell or move your trailor please tell manifest so we can adjust the accounts.
I’d like to personally thank the staff for working their butts off this season. Donovan, Kenny, Biff, Bryan, David E, David S, Karry, Sara, Whitney, Heather, Tory, Matt C, Pam, Erin, Wade, Ada, Helen, Rachel, Frank, Troy, Tim K, Brad, Steve V, Melissa, Kim, Sparky, Enzo, Billy, Scott, Mike S, Jerry & Deb, MJ. Nicole & Allen, Jeff, Christa, Warren, Jerry, Justin, Tom, Kirk, Betsy, Mike W. It was because of their hard work and dedication we were able to have such a great season. 
SDC is now closed for 2007. We will re-open March 14th for a safety day in the afternoon. We will be open for jumping on the 15th. We are checking messages and e-mails throughout the week so if you have business or questions please contact us. There is nothing that says I love you like throwing a loved one or good friend out of a plane. We are seeing a lot of Gift certificates be purchased this winter. I’m sure it a sign of a busy 2008. You can purchase gift certificates from www.SkydiveChicago.com 
The next big event is the Invasion at Skydive Sebastian in Florida. There has been almost a 1000 hits on the thread for this event. We are headed out with the otter on the morning of the 26th. We will stop in Atlanta and say hello to Dave and then head the rest of the way. The otter will be flying until the 7th and then it’s off to the paint shop. For more info on the invasion or if you have any questions please see www.skydiveseb.com We have four tandem rigs for sale still. If you are interested you can check the numbers in the forums under special announcements / tandem rigs for sale. Asking price is $7500 for the complete system including the student harness. If you are interested please contact rook@skydivechicago.com 
There is still some room in the hanger for winter storage. If you have a plane, boat, car, RV, etc. that you would like to have stored contact rook@skydivechicago.com We can store your item until March 15 when we reopen. Monitor your item via our webcam 24 hours of the day. It’s a sad time of year saying goodbye to friends but as always we will regroup and push forward to another memory filled year. Hope everyone has safe and happy holidays.
Rook |