August 19, 2009

Skydive Chicago

It seems like Summerfest has yet to stop.

I hate to bore people with the tandem numbers that we have been doing but I do want to thank my staff for all the hard work and long days they have been putting in.  We are truly blessed in these tough economic times with lots of work.

I apologize for missing last week’s update but want to thank everyone that came out to compete in the MWSL Meet #3.  It looked like a mini nationals with all the teams, many with well-known coaches.  Congratulations to Rhythm XP who took first in the AAA class, Pareto Optimal took first in the AA class, Butch Please took it in the A class, and the Flying Fish who took first in the Rookie class. 

After the MWSL meet we put up a night load, which is a requirement for a USPA ‘D’ license, an otter load took to the skies.  With a full moon rising it was the perfect backdrop for the jumps.  Congratulations.

This past week the US Army Parachute team, Golden Knights, did there VIP tandem week.  SDC is a favorite for the knights because of the great facilities.  Some of the Knights guests included the co-owner of the Bears, the CEOs of Sears and Kmart, and news anchors from Fox and ABC.  They even got the Ottawa police chief to jump!  I look forward to the event each year and the free publicity doesn’t hurt either.

This past weekend Chuck held his MMI invitational.  The 2nd season for MMI was a slight battle with the weather but they still were able to get some good jumps in.  Thanks to Chuck for choosing SDC to host the event.

Also this past weekend Shannon and Karyn from SDC furies were load organizing.  Keeping to smaller groups kept many of the RW people jumping.

Many of the teams are on the final stretch to nationals.  All of the teams thank the fun jumpers and tandem masters for being patient with us trying to squeeze as much training in as possible before show time.

We are truly seeing a rush of tandems before school starts with numbers in the 100s during the week it seems like a weekend almost everyday of the week!  It’s good news for the fun jumpers who take advantage of the 20+ loads a day that are going up.

Coming up this week Todd and Lisa will be organizing.  The following is a post from them:

Join us for RW organizing on Saturday 8.22 and Sun 8.23! Our goal is to improve and accelerate your RW skills, focusing on small groups. The purpose is learning and working on basic RW skills.  This includes exits, diving toward a formation, working on fall rate, grip techniques, eye contact, referencing, and tracking.  Our target audience is AFP grads to intermediate RW jumpers, but all skill levels are welcome to join us!  There is no registration fee.  You are only responsible for your jump ticket (and packing, if you choose).  There is no sign-up required.  Just look for us over by the red mats at 9am each day. If you have any questions, you can contact us thru Facebook (Lisa DeSimone); or, SDC Forums; or, email us at zaats@sbcglobal.net.

This Friday will be Jump for Aids, a fundraising event benefiting www.tpan.com to help find a cure.  For more information please check out www.jumpforaids.com. 

Aug. 21 we will also be hosting water training.  Anyone needing training should contact manifest and register.

One important point that I would like to bring up is our neighbors.  We try to go out of our way to be nice neighbors and be respectful of other peoples land.  A local jumper had a cut-a-way and their main landed in a farmer’s field to the west of us.  A few friends went over to try and locate the main and were met by an unhappy farmer.  The police were called and it went downhill fast.  This is not the best way to approach a situation like this.  SO if you have a cut-a-way and your equipment lands in a farmer’s field please contact manifest so we can call the owners and let them know what is going on.  Most of them are easy to work with they just like a heads up.  Imagine 2-5 people roaming through your yard.  You might be a little upset too.   Please help us keep our relationships positive with all our neighbors.

Don’t forget to vote for sunset of the month now up in the forums. 

The fight continues: www.foxriveralliance.org

Rook