2nd Annual MOAB Boogie... The Aftermath

[TallGuy 0]

I just returned from Moab, Utah after the 2nd Annual "Mother of All Boogies" Sunday afternoon and I want to say I had a fun time. The scenery was amazing and I met some really great people. Some of them new and many I've had the pleasure of meeting before. Certainly as a young boogie at a place that does not appear to regularly host a large number of experienced jumpers they did a nice job.

Saturday was a frustrating day for many as the high turnout and limited aircraft slots resulted wait time for a load exceeded an hour and a half. This apparently was due to extenuating circumstances. We have been assured that there will be more planes next year.

There were a couple things that I would love to see at future boogies at Moab to greatly foster the sense of community that really draws me to skydiving events.

The biggest thing I noticed is how everybody scattered after a day of jumping. I can honestly say that this is something I have never seen at a boogie before and it is something I would be happy to never see again. Certainly people can and should be able to come and go as they please but if you can give people a reason to stay together then you can just stand back and watch the magic happen.

Access to a car was pretty much mandatory. If you were shuttled to the boogie and camped out at the airport, you had to count on other people to tote you around to take care of simple things like getting a shower and getting to the location for that evenings festivities.

It makes sense to keep skydivers sleeping within easy stumbling distance of where they are drinking. Let's face it... It's a hard thing to find a designated driver and a skydiver in the same person. Skydiving is dangerous enough let's not top the night off with a DUI or worse. Asking people to pull up stakes to camp at a remote location for one night is optimistic at best.

If you are charging 40 bucks to register there needs to be FREE beer EVERY night not just one. That said, good work to the responsible parties for addressing the issue on Saturday night. Friday night was definately a step in the right direction.

I realize that it can be expensive but portable or temporary shower facilities would have made a huge difference. The desert is a dusty place and going without a shower isn't necessarily going to make you the most popular guy on a airplane. If people have to take a shower at campground or hotel miles away then they will be much less inclined to camp at the DZ to begin with.

The best thing that can be done to build the sense of community is to keep em coming back. I love seeing familiar faces. Regulars have a way of establishing traditions that give boogies a life of their own. If you've ever been to Lost Prairie or the WFFC than you know what I mean.

My last recommendation would be to slow down jump run. I'll sacrifice a couple hundred feet to keep from having my exit screwed by being ripped off the side of the plane by the relative wind.

Hopefully this doesn't come off as being too critical. I realize that there could be complications that I'm not aware of. I truly enjoyed jumping in Moab and feel the pros certainly outweighed the cons. I look forward to meeting all who attended again.

I had to leave early Sunday morning. Did I miss anything special?

[davedlg 0]

I gotta agree with you on most of the issues there. I had a great time and will be back next year.

I think that a lot of people were driven away by the $10 camping fee. I have never had to pay for camping at a boogie and espically not where there were no facilities. I understand that this money went to the city, but adding an additional fee to camp onsite, espically given the primitive conditions wasn't fair. Camping was free last year, and almost everyone camped on the airport property. It was a good time.

I did not understand the off site party on saturday night. I did not go, as I am sure many didn't. I didn't want to pull up stakes and move camp and I didnt want to risk a DUI...espically in Utah.

There definatly needed to be more lift capacity. A King Air and a skyvan have a lift capacity of about 120 people per hour. This is not even close to the lift capacity needed for a boogie with 250 to 300 participants. I personally was satisfied with the number of jumps I got on saturday, but I did get there in time to manifest on load 1 and I really only had one long wait.

I think that there was a lot of demand for a big sunset cross country at the end of the day that never really panned out. I got on the one sunset cross country load and I gotta tell you it was spectacular. I wish more people could have been up there. One of the best things about jumping in moab is the view, and everyone should have the oppurtunity to pull high and enjoy it.

Oh yeah, one more thing...a windsock in the landing area would have been nice. It was difficult to tell how strong the winds were from the windblades alone...espically on sunday when they were all blowing down in the 20 mph winds. I know a lot of people were landing hard and landing off because the winds were very deceptive. I had a friend land inbetween a road, a barbed wire fence, and powerlines because he underestimated how strong the ground winds were.

With all that said, I'll be back next year.

[tdog 0]

God, my experience was totally opposite. 100% positive!

Not only did I get on 7 organized RW jumps with a world champion, do my first 10 way, my first wing suit, but, I also had great fun with people around the bonfire on Friday night, and Saturday night was fun too even though I did not go off site...

Showers would have been nice, and they needed more restrooms as the line to the restroom in the hangar was three deep at times... Perhaps portapotties outside. I am sure getting all the planes and logistics to a small airport DZ for a one time a year event is costly... Not like a DZO who can just say, "I got a few planes, lets call this weekend a boogie and give away beer."

But other than that - no complaints. The turnout was bigger than they expected, so I am sure next year the planes will come.

The go fast wind blades and windsock near the hangar were perfect to see from above, and when they blew away on Sunday we knew the winds were HOT!

[davedlg 0]

I had about the best skydiving weekend I have ever had!!! No complaints there!! My sky experience was 100% positive, and the experience on the ground was 90% positive. I haven't been able to concentrate on work all day because I am still psyched. Like I said, I will be back!!

[TallGuy 0]

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God, my experience was totally opposite. 100% positive!

Hey now. That would mean mine was 100% negative. Far from it perhaps I should have put more emphasis on some of the great things I got to do any see there. Such as visiting Arches National Park and witnessing a base jump. Certainly my one off DZ landing was the high point of my trip.

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The go fast wind blades and windsock near the hangar were perfect to see from above, and when they blew away on Sunday we knew the winds were HOT!

High winds!!! Damn those are my favorite. Seriously, it's a good thing Q and I got his plane out of there early that morning or I might not have been able to make it home as planned.

[cloudseeker2001 0]

Sunset cross country in Moab......what a spectacular thought!

Showers in Moab! I actually look forward to spending days in Moab without a shower!

Where was the off DZ party?

"Some call it heavenly in it's brilliance,
others mean and rueful of the western dream"

[flyangel2 2]

Maybe if you had taken a shower you would have know where the party was at

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[mattjw916 2]

I'd rate it as an up-and-coming boogie compared to all the ones I have attended previously.

Some people were complaining about the King Air's jump run speed, but after a few jumps out of it, it really didn't seem all that different than the other 3 KAs I have jumped. I think it was worked out rather quickly if there really was an issue.

More free beer would have been a good idea.

Props to Eloy's crack manifest/spotting/etc team... Jen, Jason, Brian, et all made it feel like Eloy but with even more dirt (if that's even possible). Just bring an extra Otter next year. hint hint. =)

All in all it was a mix of locals, Brush, MileHi, and Eloy mostly with some others from DZs far and wide.

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

[weegegirl 2]

Hey Shorty!
I have to say my experience at that boogie was unbelievable! Out of all the boogies I've been to, this one was my favorite, and here's why....

Remote location. Totally gorgeous landscape to jump over! I really felt like I was camping out and roughing it, and that made it super fun. Waking up and boiling water for coffee... running up and down the mesas.... cozy campfires.... i loved it. But the best part of Moab for me, was that there is SOOO much to do other than skydive. So that made the pace perfect for me. Met great people, relaxed on "moab time", checked out some BASE jumping, drove to mineral bottom to check it out, etc. That party off site was COOL!!!! Just another sweet spot to check out. I loved how so many people pulled together and offered their help to Clint and Shelly to make that boogie perfect. And sure... improvements can be made... but if they didn't change a single thing I would be psyched. The only thing I will do differently next year is add a few more days to my trip.

Thanks Clint and Shelly! It was nice meeting everyone! Oh, and I owe some beer for my first 3 stack... that was my highlight.

[TallGuy 0]

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Hey Shorty!

Hey Stretch.

You certainly seemed to be enjoying yourself. It was great to hang out with you. Hopefully I'll see ya around again sometime soon. Feel free to pay your beer debt off then.

[cloudseeker2001 0]

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Maybe if you had taken a shower you would have know where the party was at

"Some call it heavenly in it's brilliance,
others mean and rueful of the western dream"

[CanuckInUSA 0]

I agree that more lift capacity is needed at this boogie and figuring out some way to keep all the jumpers from scattering at night couldn't hurt (the Saturday night party could have should have been held at the airport as the elaborate sound system at the other location didn't make up for the hassle of relocating your campground and/or risking a DUI). But it was still a super fun boogie and I did some really neat jumps (pulling high and walking on the tops skin of two much larger Sabre2s with my Velo, purposely landing off after swooping some cliffs on a cannon load, the tube dive you organized, the many cool freefly, hybrid and tracking dives I was on, the sunset cross-country load when myself on a Velo and another guy on a XAOS played with each other plus the three BASE jumps I made off of the cliffs of Moab). My lack of taking a shower, sleeping in my Jeep and all that other stuff is a small price to pay for getting to skydive and BASE jump in Moab. I hope to be back next year ... but I also hope that more airplanes are also there.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[sundance 1]

I was at Moab this year and thought it was awesome. I missed last year's boogie. Perfect weather Friday and Saturday, a tad windy on Sunday! There was a good turnout of Utah skydivers from my home dropzone, Skydive Utah, as well from the Ogden Skydive Center. We did one load out of the Skyvan where 15 Utah jumpers chased our camera man, Blake Meibos, as he backed out of the tailgate. It was an awesome fun jump and the video looks like a herd of cattle coming out of the plane. Hope it makes in on the 2nd Annual Moab Boogie DVD.

Yes, there was a wait to get on loads Saturday so I didn't get to make as many jumps as I expected that day, but there are promises for additional aircraft next year. This just says that the turnout exceeded expectations... a good thing I guess. Moab is simply an awesome place to hang out, let alone skydive. We did go out and watch the base jumpers early Friday morning, a new and viseral experience. There was a captivating and thundering echo that broke the tranquill stillness of the morning each time a canopy deployed.

A group of us stayed in Downtown Moab at a Hostel, so we were back and forth everyday, but we did take in some of the free beer and bonfire Friday night and had a good time. We were too worn out Saturday to go hunting for the off site party.

Nice job Clint, Shelley and the crew from Eloy... thanks for an awesome extended weekend.

One of the surest signs that intelligent life exists in outer space is that none of it has tried to contact us.