berchtoldaj

by the scores it looks like you guys had some pretty challenging conditions. Heres what we do in Florida for the meets where we don't have water- Pro's- must eclipse the the first f5 ft. gate to score. and they are awarded points for eclipsing 5 foot gates. they are not required to drag. we do set up a waters edge/deadzone. Amatuers- must eclipse at least 1- 10 foot gate to get a score. It can be any one. They receive points for eclipsing the 10 ft gates. But they are not allowed to cut in or make an unsafe manuver. they're entire approach should be within the inisible lines that extend up above the course. They can use their strategy to decide if which gates they want to eclipse based on how far they are able to go, and the wind conditions of the day. Congrats on the meet we finished up here in the Southeast for the season. now were just watching your scores, and waiting for nationals. When's the next meet in IL??? ************ Watch out for planters.

Would that one be farther and faster than the mens record? that would be cool, then we don't have to compete with Kaz any more, she is in a class of her own. ************ Watch out for planters.

review your scores from the past weekend. Did you score each round? If not, were you consistently within in inches out of scoring? There are many people out there who have flown a Katana in competition and learned quite a bit, many of them beaten Xbraced pilots with their consistency. Brad Harris flew the pants off his Katana a couple years back and kicked some butt. Joe Silva flew his KA in Lake Wales FLCPA meet this year and was very consistent. The popular route is to get the crossbraced early and slam yourself into the water a few times, miss the course consistently, all while risking your life, and serious injury. Some survive, some don't. The high road is learning the consistency before getting the Velocity. Its safer, its not as friggin scary to do, or watch. But requires personal constraint. And I love watching people win on Sabre2's and Katanas. ************ Watch out for planters.

There were quite a few memorable swoops at this meet. Brian got some oohs and aahs for swooping between the trees. I guess the traditional event just wasn't enough excitement, he through in some obstacles. This meet definately brought swooping up a notch for some of us who maybe forgot how much fun competition is. Poor Kolla's phone has been ringing off the hook this morning. Did anyone hear about Hans coming out of retirement?? ************ Watch out for planters.

I'm packing up the truck today and heading up to the Farm tomorrow to set up some courses. There's quite a few folks packing there bags and heading up to Atlanta this weekend to compete. Pro's and amatuers alike. Here's a few hints...one is flying in flying in from Colorado...and another who won the world cup last year. ************ Watch out for planters.

This was the smallest meet of the season, but I would say one of the best and some of the most consistent flying yet. There were very few zero's on the board in comparison to earlier meets. Pia flew a great meet. You all got a taste of what happens when Big Steve gets on the ball winning both speed rounds. We're all in trouble now. Dave is putting up the detail scores from the meet tonight, and I should have a photo gallery up in a day or so. ************ Watch out for planters.

Anyone who wants to ride up, I am leaving Deland in the party bus on Thursday around noonish. I'm driving so you can sit in the back and make cocktails for everyone. We've got 3 Cessna's at our disposal and there are probably going to be some locals who are going to come out and spectate. I bought some new noodles. Hopefully nobody slices these in 1/2?!?! See ya'll there!!!! Albert ************ Watch out for planters.

I'm sure Ian can agree that as speed increase seeing the picture many hundreds of times pays off. I've seen that picture before and hit the ground. Through repition, We can learn to see it coming before we hit the ground. The video shows it low on the downwind leg, I'll bet it shows the pilot low it every 45 degrees of the turn. so do our eyes. I see it as a good example to step up turn radius slowly. The more 45's we do, 90's we do, the more we have memorized the sight picture of what they look like when they're low. I think the Princess of the pond may have moved to Atlanta as well. be carefull. Glad to hear he's alright. ************ Watch out for planters.

The meet in Sebastian is Apri 12th with the 13th as a weather day. the schedule can be found here http://www.cpafl.org/schedules.php\ The coach scheduled for the meet is current member of Team Element and the US National team. Florida local Tommy Delibac!!!! ************ Watch out for planters.

Nicely put Terry, I completely agree. The Sabre was designed in a time where a shorter snivel was a desired characteristic. The Sabre was unarguably one of the best selling and most desirable canopies of its time. The sport has changed, desired openng characteristics have changed, and because of that, acceptable deployment altitudes have adjusted skyward. The demands of the skydiving public have changed, technology has advanced, and hence there are different product available for the skydiving community. There are many different canopies with different opening, flight, and landing characteristics. Decide what you find most important in your equipment and select your gear based on that. Do you want extremly soft openings, easy landings, speed on landings, etc. If you buy one that doesn't fit your desires, its not a good deal, no matter how low the price. ************ Watch out for planters.

Way to go Johnny and Dan. Now if you were one of those people who barked up about wanting meets in another dz other than SDC, you better get off your ass and come swoop! ************ Watch out for planters.

Come on Ian, its not even wednesday and your already making excuses? lets go buddy the UK boys from Team HEAT are in town and their looking for some competition. ************ Watch out for planters.

lol, I haven't done my own taxes yet, let alone anyone elses. ************ Watch out for planters.

ok, most of you who are in the area should have gotten the last newsletter. If not, let me know and I'll add you. I'm planning on coming out thursday to set up courses and make some jumps, the cesna will be running on thursday and friday for those who want to practice. See you guys there!!! ************ Watch out for planters.

you can email me here: albertb@performancedesigns.com or skype: PDAlbert ************ Watch out for planters.

I believe those are the winning ticket #'s ************ Watch out for planters.

I now where your coming from Johnny, I did that in New Jersey when I was up there. It's tough to have the time to travel for the CPC meets on your "time off". Just a suggestion but if anyone would be interested in organizing a couple of the meets on your behalf at other dz's that may help the district move around and gain members. kind of like a co-organizer with yourself. If there is someone out there who isn't willing to commit or doesn't have the time to organize all the meets, maybe you can keep the district growing by splitting the work/responsibility. Good luck, It's hard work, but like Kevin Costner said in that baseball movie "if you build it, they will swoop." ************ Watch out for planters.

I'll share the breakdown of fund at the end of the season like Chris has done in the past. What does "opening it up" mean? Pro's obviously wouldn't be looking at going to the amateur championships in Colorado. But from chatting with many, they seem very interested in participating in the South east meets, and having their scores compiled and competing here in FL and Georgia. This league/district has grown through the efforts and desires of many. It seems that there is a demand for PRO level meets and this league has become what it is today by small changes to meet the needs and desires of its members. So in short, people want to swoop, and florida's where they seem to come to do it...... I want to chat with everyone at the next meet and get some feedback on what you'd like to see in the coming years. I've got some ideas to toss out out as well. That way the league is what everyone wants, not what 1 person "thinks" everyone wants. ************ Watch out for planters.

Thats actually funnier than you think. I am an accountant. Another note. I called around a bit to the pro pilots who attended Lake Wales. Based on those discussions and that this years southeast meets are likely to be some of the largest in the US, this year were going to open up the FLCPA membership to Pro's as well as Amateurs. For those interested, I'll track scores and compile pro standings over the season so we can see who is in the lead overall. We'll keep it the same way as the Amateur was in prior years, best 4 meets will count, If you attend all 5 meets, the lowest score will be dropped. This should be fun........ ************ Watch out for planters.

I agree that getting good, or even great takes time to master. But the fact that you realize that you may need help in fully understanding you wing is a good step. You may not need it to stand up, but you might want to at least look at what some of the canopy coaches out there offer. Flight-1 classes like that are tought in Deland and abroad by Scott Miller, etc. Jonathan Tagle does them in Elsinore are great at ANY level. And your never to green to start. Depending on your location there may be one close to you, or if your planning on a holiday?? Al ************ Watch out for planters.

I guess WOW pretty well sum's it up. That was a great kick off to the 2008 swooping season. We had 27 competitors, 15 Amateur, 12 Pro. We flew 18 practice loads on Friday once the cloud cover raised around Noon. Special thanks to the staff at Lake Wales, our beautiful judges(and you too Mike), Keith for his hard work on the pond, Peter from Alti2 for coming out and supporting us, and all the other very important people who helped make this happen. We finished up them meet around 5:30 and Betty bought us all pizza for the awards ceremony!!! I'll have the detail up on the website "soon" but here's the overall. MEET 1 OVERALL SUMMARY Rank Name Meet Score 1 *Brian McNenney* 563.26 $300 2 *Tom Dellibac* 519.38 $200 3 Pete Schwartz 516.41 $150 4 *Brian Buechler* 515.07 $100 5 Jairo Garcia 513.55 $50 6 *Keith Macbeth* 504.17 25% off neptume 7 Jim Romesburg 490.17 8 *Albert Berchtold* 479.21 9 *Stu Schoenfeld* 469.49 10 Derek Boxwell 462.14 11 Sergei Fedotov 436.52 12 *Craig Saucier* 386.83 13 Don Jaget 370.11 14 *Mike Shatalov* 367.74 15 *Tyler Lawson* 364.45 16 *Jens Thogersen* 340.25 17 Eric Miller 312.66 18 Joe Silva 305.87 19 *Ian Drennan* 300.82 20 Loud Dan McAllister 292.07 21 Ben Lowe 288.48 22 Greg Clidaras 267.56 23 Greg Rau 257.88 24 Big Steve Haseman 245.69 25 Josh Venning 152.53 26 *Andre Melan* 71.80 27 Pia McFarland 39.18 See you guys in Palatka! ************ Watch out for planters.

God to hear Annie's coming down too. I think there will be some amateurs coming"out of the blue" like there have been in years past. I haven't put them on the list because I'm not sure which ones are actually going to show up, but I've talked to a few hopefuls. I've heard from a few Atlanta folks, but I'll let them post themselves. Al Ian Drennen Mike Shatalov Keith McBeth Pia Greg Rau Pete Allum Stu Schoenfeld Tom Dellibac Jens(Sweden) Craig S Brian B Pete Schwartz Jairo G Big Steve Loud Dan Sergei Coach JaMo Judges & Pro Tanners: Kim P Laticia Angela Annie Dee? ************ Watch out for planters.

Wow, I've just about got the truck loaded up. who alls planning on coming down, Ive heard a lot of maybes, so lets see.... Al Ian Drennen Mike Shatalov Keith McBeth Pia Greg Rau Pete Allum Stu Schoenfeld Tom Dellibac Jens(Sweden) Craig S Brian B Pete Schwartz Jairo G Big Steve Loud Dan Coach JaMo Judges & Pro Tanners: Kim P Laticia Dee? Angela? ************ Watch out for planters.