Another "SAVE SKYSURFING" Post...

[Douva 0]

I know some of you like to read the general skydiving discussions but avoid The Bonfire like the plague, so I'm cross-posting about this important issue.

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Dear Fellow Skydivers,

This weekend the USPA Competition Committee will vote on whether or not to eliminate skysurfing from Nationals. Nationals is the last venue for competitive skysurfing in the United States, and if dropped, skysurfing will all but disappear from the United States.

Although skysurfing has been going through a rebuilding period over the last two or three years, leading to fewer competitors than before, it is still a viable modern skydiving discipline. Skysurfing requires as much skill as any discipline in skydiving. It is visually dynamic and one of the most recognizable disciplines to non-skydivers. Most Americans didn't even know skydiving competitions existed until they saw skysurfing on ESPN. Who in this sport hasn't had a spectator or tandem student ask, “Do you ever jump with one of those boards?" A quick poll of any modern drop zone will find a number of jumpers who became interested in skydiving after seeing skysurfing on TV. Skysurfing has done as much to bring positive exposure to the sport of skydiving as any discipline in skydiving’s history, through numerous commercials, print ads, TV shows, and movies. It also brought the first and only nationally televised skydiving competitions to the American public, in the early days of the X-Games.

Nationals is the U.S. qualifying event for the FAI-IPC World Championships. Is the USPA now prepared to forfeit the skysurfing world championships indefinitely? Skysurfing is an internationally competitive sport, and the United States of America should be represented. The most logical way to select and validate those who will represent us is through head-to-head competition at the National Skydiving Championships. As long as there are USPA members willing to compete in skysurfing, the USPA should be willing to let them. There is virtually no added cost to keep skysurfing in Nationals--The entry fees cover jump tickets, judges, medals, and swag bags. To drop skysurfing from U.S. competition simply because it doesn't draw the dozens of teams each year that the other disciplines do dishonors the memories of the Rob Harris, Vic Pappadato, Jerry Loftis, and all of those who came before. Skysurfing is not dead; it simply needs time to rebuild after the loss of these and other pioneers.

If you are interested in helping save skysurfing from an untimely death, please send an email to uspabod at skydivehard dot com stating your position. Your email will be seen by every USPA director (regional and national). THERE IS NO TIME TO WASTE! These emails MUST BE SENT OUT TODAY (Thursday, July 14), to be certain they reach the directors before the vote.

Thanks and blue skies,

W. Scott "Douva" Lewis
D-22772
AFF-I
L.A.S.T. #1
Last American Skysurfing Team

PS. Please feel free to forward this email to any U.S. skydiver you think might be interested in helping.

NOTE: The USPA BOD email address is written the way it is to prevent spammers from finding it on this website and adding it to bulk email lists. To correct it to its useable form, simply replace the word "at" with an "@" and the word "dot" with a period and remove all the spaces.

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

[bob.dino 1]

Already posted here.

[swoopdog 0]

skysurfing should be treated like those who go head down or belly down or track or blah blah blah.... they jump out of plans, perform an art and land. Don't discriminate, be tolerant just like everything else in this world! go the skygods!

If your going to live in FEAR, why live at all!!!!!