collinb

thank you.....

to make life a little easier for yourself when you check in...remember you need to pay, get a gear check and to re-new your waivers......pre-register and save money, always a good thing, and download the waiver from the american boogie web site and fill it in before you arrive to register.... Sorry don't know how to make this a "clicky" - http://www.americanboogie.com/sswaiver7-02.pdf

hey Tallguy, just because you send me an email saying you would like to be on the attempts doesn't mean you'll get on! We make sure everyone is safe and capable first and then look for success..... and yes, we are organizing all through the Boogie from 4 ways to much bigger as we have either the Pac (14) the Otter (22) or the SkyVan (22) or any combination. See you at the Boogie and looking forward to jumping with you again Collin

OK so we are currently sitting at 51 people committed to the Friday big-way effort, we are looking for 56 plus a few alternates. Ray has us scheduled for a formation load every 90 minutes starting at 9:30 so we will easily get the 5 or 6 jumps in. Jumps will be from 15K and cost of the big-way day is 5 boogie tickets and $35 (we will collect this when you check in at the beginning of the day) 8 am to check in at the creeper pad then 8:30 for briefing and dirt dive. DON'T FORGET you also need to register for the boogie and get a gear check and waiver to jump.

Great news....DOB has signed up to help organize the Big-Way day Friday the 22nd. Look for details of registration and costs in the next couple of days. 4, hopefully 5 or 6 jumps if people are interested, from 15K from a SkyVan/Otter/Pac formation!

Hey folks- Trying to get some 50-60 ways together for Friday of the boogie! If you're interested contact me through here or directly at collinb861@aol.com. Aiming for 5 jumps for the day at minimum, with a consistent group of jumpers willing to dedicate themselves to completing the jump. Roger Ponce will be organizing at the Boogie this year, as well as Kaleidoscope and Groovalicious, possibly a few more great freefly and RW folks(we'll let you know when we do). Sounds like they're planning another fun one this year, so come on out and play! See ya there! Collin

there is also a book you can buy called "freefalling together" or "blocking together". They go from 2 - 64 ways and are great for using absolute or as ideas for organizing. check out skydiving magazine web pages http://www.skydivingmagazine.com which is where I got mine from. they are about $15 each!

a 4 & 8 way team each with a camera is OK, 14 people is standard for us at SkyDance and 15 frequently and very occasionally 16 is also done if needed/wanted. ....and for you NorCal skydivers we are doing formation loads out of our 2 PAC's this weekend, come play.

I would be lying if I said it hasn't happened to us at SkyDance but with a good pilot once he's experienced how the plane behaves with a 14-15 way lineup you usually have no problems. I can't remember the last time it happened. Key, for jumpers, is turn co-pilot seat around and take the right hand (looking forward) bench out for anything over 8. We are regularly taking out a "standard" 8-way launch here, 6 outside, incl camera, and 3 inside. Inside is a little tight but launch/line up almost the same as an Otter.

USPA has schedule here - http://www.uspa.org/competition/images/07NationalsSchedule.pdf

thanks B, where did you get the information as I can't find anything posted anywhere and would like to see dates for other events, 8-, 16-way also? plus, these dates mean we need to be there Friday, if not earlier, so getting "official" schedule would be nice. Collin

Any one know what the schedule for Nationals is yet, which events which days, so we can book flights etc. thanks.

I am 5'10" and (was) 235 and jumped a flight suit and found it to be great! I started with "big" wings and swoop cords. I have jumped it on small loads and big ways with success. I just lost 20-25 lbs and now have a team suit that's fast, general suit of slower material on front and a camera suit. All are real comfortable and very durable if you get knee and butt reinforcements! Had several of the suits for 3-4 years now and with minor repairs and alterations they have been great! My team suit has 500+ jumps and only one repair when a seam started to open up. I love 'um.

we've been using the PAC XL at SkyDance for quite a while now and we started off hating it....especially me as inside center of our 4-way team, I'm on the bigger side! Now we have launched just about everything OK and don't even notice the size of the door! If we screw up an exit these days it is our fault! Tandem guys here seem to be the same, they all sit with feet hanging outside and just roll out and present and seem real happy, I'm sure someone will pipe up. As to front float, or floaters/outside slots in general, we have one outside with their left foot on the wing and hug the plane leaning forward, it is VERY important to turn your hip and shoulders out on start off the count to present to wind (or you can turn your back, wait for everyone to go then dive off wing and chase everyone, that's fun!) Everything else is as close to a “blob” exit from an Otter, just a little tighter…… After the front float we put 3 in the door and can put a rear float or it’s video. The camera step is a little small on the SkyDance plane but it used to be larger when we first got it and we could have a 5th floater, today we just use 4 people out. All the grips are right hand on inside bar, everyone on the lower outer step (important....and you can head jam if you are outside center for 4-way by the way) and grab leg strap with your left hand of person to your left. Everyone is facing forward, which also packs you closer together and makes presenting to relative wind better also, and trails their left leg. On the count rear float/door person gets as low as possible, straightening their right arm to max. Inside we have two people one is taking rear floats left gripper with their left hand and take the middle floats left gripper with his right hand. The next person takes his left hand to insides right leg strap and his right hand takes the left gripper as high as possible of the front float. These people need to be as upright as possible and roll out as outside leaves rather than push out. 7 & 8 are stacked as best as possible behind the first inside pair, it's tight, with me impossible due to my size so 7 is between me and the other first row person and 8 is almost between benches. The blob comes out as a diamond and rear float goes a hair early and drags it down and out and front float really concentrates on presenting and jumping out from the fuselage. The jumpers at Davis are getting pretty good now at launching this blob OK! (we are only just getting to the point where we regularly do 8 or bigger otherwise I believe we’d be hitting it earlier!) if it's a 14 or 15 way the rest of the people are between the benches, watch for the plane bouncing as the blob leaves! It can be a fun "run" to the door. As a 4-way we’re got used to it and love the plane, it is a rocket ship and Ray keeps his prices below all the DZ’s but one in CA! Plus getting to Nationals and the barn door on an Otter is not a handicap. Come out and Skydive with us anytime and we’ll share what we have learned about it. Blue Slies Collin Inside Center, Kaleidoscope