ltdiver

It was the -right- horizontal stabilizer, not the left. So, the thoughts of it happening right on exit are null and void. Went out and touched the wrinkles and saw the missing paint off the blue stabilizer. Makes one stop and pause. I, for one, totally trust and believe this pilot. If he reported 15 seconds in his debrief, then that's enough for me. So glad that everybody's ok. Amazing. ltdiver ____________________________________________ LightDiverCam

So, your video card's installed finally, Curt?! Yahoo!!!! Send me some pics ;*) ltdiver ____________________________________________ LightDiverCam

USPA has already recieved many angry replies to this issue in their mailbox. Unfortunately they are from individuals who haven't heard the complete story. I wrote B.J. an e-mail late last night and I hope he can write an article for us here, or have our Competition Director Larry Bagley compose something. Yes, this needs to get out on a public forum, and I'll let them tell the story. As for The Wagners, their web site is undergoing changes while they move their operation and web host. So, I don't think we'll see anything published on their site in the near future. I was very sorry to hear that when I went there last night. I use their site as a credible reference point as well. Bloos (spelled as intended. To convey a feeling of dismay and not BLOWS which displays an intent of anger before informed). :^) ltdiver ____________________________________________ LightDiverCam

Read the FS Comp Manual. Thanks for the link. Perhaps the wording on 6.3.8.1 needs to be a little more descriptive? Anyway, I've been gone over the Cinco de Mayo holiday weekend racking up the jumps under Perris's $150 weekend! Yeah! Just got back and saw your post. While I was at Perris, I was able to sit down with the President of the IPC, who also happens to be one of our USPA National Directors as well. I asked him point blank about this question and he verified that what was rumored was true. There is a lengthy explanation that goes with the decision the IPC made, and the USPA adopted just recently, of the 1 jump minimum with 4-way FS competitions. The rule applies to Championship titles at this time. And yes, it isn't in our USPA Comp Manual (yet) and B.J. said that was a mistake and will be corrected. Perhaps I can contact him and have him write a brief article for this NG so more skydivers could understand where the IPC and USPA are coming from when they implimented this rule. No, I don't like the rule. Wish it wasn't there. However, it is at this time whether we like it or not. Bloos, ltdiver ____________________________________________ LightDiverCam

ok...take at look at: IPC Comp Manual just released May 1, 2002 (this is in pdf format) Specifically look at 4.2.5 (Competition Rules) and 4.9.1 (Completion of Competition) food for thought, ltdiver ____________________________________________ LightDiverCam

Yes, I realize that the USPA Comp. Manual is what's the authority and that someone -might- have been speaking up too quickly. However, the NSL article seems to be claiming that USPA is following the IPC rules as far as National Champions are chosen, and this is through only 1 round (if neccessary)? I looked all over the FAI web page FAI Web Site and couldn't find the minimum number of rounds needed for this. Not even the number '6'. So, that's where it stands now. USPA or IPC rules as far as Champions are conserned? Perhaps IPC over rules USPA in such instances? ltdiver ____________________________________________ LightDiverCam

Copied here for your convenience, from the NSL web page under 'NSL News', the last article there: ------------------------------------------------------------ Did You Know..... .....that one round is enough at the U.S. Nationals 2002? USPA has changed some of the rules for this year's U.S. Nationals. These changes have not become public knowledge yet since USPA did not indicate the intentions to make these changes to many teams and competitors. The NSL News was so fortunate that Steve Miller, 4-way competitor from the west coast, dropped a note after he found out. The good news is that the USPA board has already decided to make their current Intermediate Class (AA Class) competition a ten-round meet this year. The dive pool for this class in combination with the length of the sequence (4-5 points) now contains enough blocks and random formations for ten rounds. Other news are not so good and may again cause some trouble in the competitive skydiving community of the United States. The rule change affects the way the champions will be determined. Before the recent rule change, the minimum number of rounds to constitute a meet was six. This has now changed to only one round. Steve Miller explained to USPA the trouble that he expects to see with this rule change. I, as well as others, are very concerned by the new Minimums Rule. This rule change appears to be one of several new rules adopted by the Committee and the Board without adequate consideration of its effects on the competitors. The idea of traveling to Chicago for the premier event of the year and having one jump determine the outcome is simply wrong. The old rule functioned well and there exists NO compelling reason to change it. Does the Board fully understand the issues that SDC will confront if the meet is called after one round, especially since this ruling has not been widely publicized and was omitted from the Parachutist article on the rule changes? Did USPA learn nothing from the issues in Sebastian? It is difficult to believe that it is, in any way, in the best interest of the USPA and the United States to run the risk of choosing our representative to the world meet based on a single round of competition. While I understand the rationale behind conforming to IPC rules, we DO NOT have to follow all of them in the United States. The new Minimum Rule is entirely without merit. How can the Board on one hand vote to extend the meet for the Intermediate Class to 10 rounds, and, on the other, vote for one round minimums? This seems counter productive and poorly thought through. I am sure that my feelings are shared by many. I suspect that you will hear from many competitors that this is not what they want. It is also likely (since this decision effects all of us and not just the Intermediate Class) that the response on this issue will overwhelm that received in connection with the disaster surrounding the Intermediate Class dive pool. If the new rule has to be applied due to bad weather, there will be trouble. Even though the teams would know the rules of the game before going to the meet, there would surely be complaints if the U.S. national team was determined by only one round of competition. The one-round rule may not even have such a strong impact in the Open Class since it seems as if there will probably be only two or three teams competing for the championship on the same scoring level (Airspeed Vertical, DeLand Majik, Golden Knights Gold). And only one of these teams can win - no matter if one round or ten rounds. Each of these teams would probably represent the U.S.A. at the World Championship 2002 as good as the others. However, the impact would still be heavy enough, even in the Open Class. There is no doubt that the one-round rule would make it possible for a team to win the championship that may have been clearly on third place after six or ten rounds. The chance to have the most accurate results of the meet is simply much better if all teams have to go as far as possible through the whole dive pool. The difficulty is the fact that the U.S. Nationals is a one-time event per year. An event series, as all the regional NSL leagues, does not face the same problem. If one of the league meets falls short, it still does not change the big picture very much. Most likely, the best team of the league will still win the league championship at the end of the year. And all teams of the league will have completed many rounds by then. To qualify as the U.S. national team for the world championship, a team has to win this one event. This is not much different compared to many other sports. And the same system applies for the NSL Championship. However, the minimum number of rounds still makes a major difference. What are the options? If the weather would not even allow one round, then there would be no U.S. Champions and no national team. USPA would have to re-schedule the competition to determine the national team. Of course, this would be very inconvenient and require a lot of extra work. And it needed to be done early enough, so the new national team has security and time to prepare for the world championship. Thinking more practical, there are other options, as well. The NSL Championship is scheduled for November 16-17, 2002. If the U.S. Nationals were really weathered out after zero rounds (new rule) or after six rounds (former rule), then the NSL Championship could be used as the alternate event to determine the U.S. Champions and the national team. Considering this option, USPA should feel much more relaxed about the weather and keeping the six round minimum. No extra efforts were necessary to re-schedule a new event. And it is hard to imagine that the NSL headquarters would not be glad to offer this option to USPA..... Please e-mail your feedback directly to the USPA Competition Committee or to the NSL headquarters. ____________________________________________ LightDiverCam

You're welcome! Now, what's with the 1 round minimum for Formation Skydiving? Used to be a 6 round minimum, but now USPA has it at one?? See: NSL's Web Site and click on 'NSL News' then scroll to the bottom article. :^( ltdiver ____________________________________________ LightDiverCam

is finally here! Check out: USPA Web Site ltdiver ____________________________________________ LightDiverCam

It's finally here! Check out USPA Web Site ltdiver ____________________________________________ LightDiverCam

Note from Wanda, Barney's sister. Ain't this GREAT!! Thanks for all the continued support! Skydivers...gotta love 'em! ltdiver Hey, My wonderful friends: Barney's recovery is a miracle by God. He has undoubtedly heard all of our prayers. Thank you all so much. I think God may have felt outnumbered. You should have seen Barney yesterday. I told him a lot of friends were coming to see him and you could just see how excited he was. (Some folks talked to him on the phone and I would just watch him raise his eyebrows and listen to his gurgles). It's sooo cool. Of course he can't answer the phone himself, someone has to be there to hold the phone up to his ear. The nurse sat him up in the bed, washed his hair, shaved his little face and trimmed his nose hairs. He was so alert and smiley and watching all of the activity in the hallway. He keeps trying to talk up a storm, but we can't understand him because it's just a bunch of gurgles (for now). But he tries very hard to mouth the words so we can understand. The physical therapy doctor figured out that he was saying "I want to go". So we told him that he is going to be doing exercises to get stronger - then we'll get him out of there. (You know, redirect his energy) You'd chuckle if you witnessed the improvement in his exercising after we tell him THAT. All during the day and night, I'll see him lift his hands and arms and moving his legs and feet (exercising by himself). He even lifts his head and shoulders off the bed a little. But I keep telling him not to do that too much because of the chest tube - it will hurt. Gina can get him to do lots more than the hospital therepist that he doesn't know. And he plays games with the doctors. He won't move for them, but a few minutes after they leave, he's moving all over the place. We've got it all figured out. He stays awake all day and late into the night. At 1230 am I tell him - "look at the clock, it's 1230 in the morning, I need to take a nap and you need to get some rest for tomorrow". So I sit in the chair next to him - but he watches me. He stays really quiet when he sees my eyes are closed. So I play possum (?) hoping he'll get some rest. But sometimes I'll see him kind of give me the queen's wave, just to see if I'm awake; and, of course, when I see that I get up and go over to him. He's such a character. He will usually sleep peacefully anywhere from 1 to 3 am. So on the nights that I don't stay there, I'll leave about then. Which means, of course, I get back to the hospital later than I would like the next day. But I just can't leave until he's sleeping peacefully. Man, he's got me trained, doesn't he. :O) Gina asked the doctor about a chair for Barney to situp in. It's a special chair that (from what I understand) starts out as a board, lifts them out of bed, then is converted to the chair. It will be great to get him sitting up (other than in the bed). So, my friends. I'm off to the hospital. Stay safe, and please keep praying. Love you, Wanda One of his skydiving buddies broke the news to him that he has been so sick that he's been sleeping for three weeks. I didn't see much reaction to that - I think either he doesn't believe it or it will take a little while for all of that to sink in. But we put the TV on and he's watching lots of sports - hockey playoffs, etc. ____________________________________________ LightDiverCam

Paul, Think you missed your calling. Perhaps a job change to KFI to spin the other side of the 'Ditto-Head' commentaries?

Was thinking of the memorial gathering all day from work today. The companionship and support from those encircled by that day. Sometimes I just go out to that park and sit and contemplate life. It really brings a perspective into focus of what's important in this life. To give...to live life to it's utmost...to love without reserve. To Dream To Risk To Reflect Fly On, oh friends, Fly On! ltdiver ____________________________________________ LightDiverCam

My thoughts exactly!

So...they have a piece of plastic that they hang around your neck and say it reduces stress and protects you from harmful electronic outputs? A new toy for rabid dz.commers or does our closing pin pendants do the same thing?

grosfion, I contacted manifest and sent you an e-mail about how they can help you. Let me know what you find out. Look forward to meeting you! ltdiver ____________________________________________ LightDiverCam

0:8:0 Actually put my video camera and wing suit aside and came down and touched some people! Some rockin' 4-way, a bitchin' tracking dive with one of the FlyBoyz, and a 16-way with THE Kate Cooper! All in all a -very- good weekend! Thanks SBS for the video work. You rock! ltdiver ____________________________________________ LightDiverCam

Hey...wondered where you were, Lisa! Wanted to do some 4-way with ya today at Perris....(yeah...me, actually getting -into- the formation and touching people!!) Will you be out tomorrow to play? ltdiver ____________________________________________ LightDiverCam

Wow, grosfion! I -was- gonna suggest you call manifest, but then I saw you were writing from Singapore! I'll see if I can rattle their cages for you tomorrow when I'm there. As for the Right Stuff skydives. Contact Jan Meyer, the organizer of the event, and let her know you're interested. These are 'invitational' skydives but if you contact Jan and give her your stats she just might invite you on! Her e-mail address is listed on http://www.perriscam.com under Events. You also might want to send DZ manager, Jack Gramley an e-mail. He's really good about responding. Manifest can just get backed up with all they have to fit in in a day. His e-mail is also on that web page. ltdiver ____________________________________________ LightDiverCam

I'll check it out, Tom. Derek does a nice job with organizing these things. I was just referencing what Parachutist had listed for Elsinore this weekend and it was freefly big-ways. I'll give the dz a call about their schedule. Thanks for the heads-up! ltdiver ____________________________________________ LightDiverCam

So, how high can a dust devil take that debris? Take a look at this pic attached...(white 'something' in the right hand side of the screen). While training with my team last Sunday, I got a start when something white wipped past my lens! I went back and timed the freefall and this happened at 6,000! Needless to say, most of my team didn't even see it since they were so intent on that block, but it kinda scared -me-. Even if it were a paper cup, I wondered, could it have done damage with us going 125 mph through the air if it hit us? ltdiver ____________________________________________ LightDiverCam

They're freefly big-ways hosted by Elsinore Eclipse, right? ltdiver ____________________________________________ LightDiverCam

All I can say is DAMN!! Glad he made it! ltdiver ____________________________________________ LightDiverCam

Sorry guys! The attachment didn't take the first time around. Here ya go! :^) ____________________________________________ LightDiverCam

see attached! ____________________________________________ LightDiverCam