SkymonkeyONE

Tony Suits will absolutely be there. Hopefully, Tony won't get his RV stuck in the mud like he did two years ago.

Oddly, my last glimps of Johnny was of his ASS as he was walking off the back deck to the loading area on his final jump. How in the world could you mourne Johnny? He was an institution, my neighbor, and a total ASSHOLE!! 69 years old, terribly cool, died after the second point of a nice 8-way. His previous jump was in slot on a 21-way... Johnny did not suck. He was a great neighbor. He was a MUFF BROTHER!!. "Important safety briefing!. Rule number one: DON'T FUCKING DIE. Rule number two: DON'T SLAM THE FUCKING DOOR!" It did not suck living next to Johnny. RIP, Chuck, Muff 2857

I really never said any particular names. I just want everyone who thinks they have the best, fastest, farthest flying wingsuit to get on the load, form up on me, then show us what they have. I know Robi is phenomenal because I have jumped with him. I know Jeff is great as well. I just want the nonsense from the underqualified, zoomie-flying, smash-into-you-in-the-sky motherfuckers to cease. I can promise you I am neither the fastest nor farthest-flying. I simply don't have the body type to pretend to boast such things. There ARE, however, plenty of people on here who will be in attendance who believe their product is "best" and "most high performance", etc. I, being an old, short guy with a fucking ton of wingsuit jumps (yet un-superior glide) will gladly oversee such clashes of would-be titans. It will be fun. If you are not going to be here then please piss off and let the would-be participants posture away before the actual event. Chuck

that is accurate. Mine will be here by then.

You got THAT right, Skimmy! From someone who ran a region with next to NO participation, even when there were tons of "cool beer line swoopers" around, I can tell you it's not fun or easy. The time I spent setting up courses, PAYING for those course materials (over $3,500 bucks), and getting winded out four times, I could have been travelling and maintaining my currency on the PST pro tour. It sucked and I was very disheartened. You want a separate CPC region? Step up to the plate and make it happen. Believe me, Jim Slaton will take all the money you will give him (dues, etc). Chuck

Ya'll just fly from east to west always afraid to stop at the third coast. We just sit here queitly waiting for Skyflock '07............ And, BAM!, just like that the word is out. SkyFest is now SkyFLOCK. If I can drive my sorry ass two days from Florida, all you SoCal fruit boys can sure as hell make the trip to the Texas Republic for the first "real" mid-USA wingsuit event. Yes, I am serious. I had actually thought Jason or Ted would have said "the word" before now! Chuck

Simple, because I came up with the plan and I set the criteria I wanted to see judged. Nope, that's not it either. It's the criteria that everyone else seems to be interested in. Balloon jumps are a royal pain in the ass and if there are any at all at the event, they will not be the focus. Out of a plane, you can determine exactly where you get out, and exactly where you want to land (safely). Balloon jumps are a total roll of the dice and you will never get out of one above about 4000 feet.

I totally second the orange t-shirt vote. If the "official" shirts are not orange I will get our own Z-flock shirts done in orange for the event over at Twin Graphix, Mark.

I totally disagree, like Scott, as well. An equal starting state is an equal starting state. Likewise, in the "race" I propose everyone involved will clearly see who ends up in front at pull-time. Likewise, if someone hums it past you from behind when you are under canopy, then you will know they took it low. If you see them pass over your head and you are under canopy, they have smoked you both in distance and time aloft. While the "Lodi tracking contest" format you propose if fine if you have ground judges, that's still "individual". What I want to see is one person clearly outflying another in their supposed "best suit", not matter what suit that is. I don't pretend to know who that might be nor what he might be flying. After such a jump, I think it would then be appropriate for people to swap suits and do it again. That would truly let a person know if such a "victory" were pilot or suit driven. I hope that makes sense. I have done such jumps repeatedly here at Z-hills with Scotty Burns when we were both trying to figure out which of three of our suits (S6, V1, V2) we could get the best results out of. In that case it was the S6 every single time, whether he was flying it or I. I haven't been able to do that with any of the Tony demos, because none of them fit me properly. Flock and Dock 3.0 will provide a venue for plenty of such evaluations. Chuck

Doesn't Jim Slaton technically live in Northern California now?

I like to fly next to Scott Bland and read his Neptune. Me too, Matt! That's a perfect example (though I wish Scott would speed it up a bit).

Chuck, how would you set this up? Have someone set the pace at their slowest fall rate and see who goes fastest horizontally? Or, maybe have a target base jump out first, give him 5-10 seconds and then see who can get to him first? If you go for speed alone, everyone will be on their heads going straight down watching (in the growing distance below) Ryan's wingsuit start to disassemble itself. I propose having someone like myself set base for a bit and have everyone else come alongside. When I nod my head everyone goes full-out for the duraton of their jumps and I video everyone pulling up and away (or down and away). Everyone has video on, so at the end of it, if one person went "far, but fast" and another guy passes him 20 seconds later but 400 feet higher and keeps going, everyone will see that in the video review (in the BirdHouse). Mike, you would be perfect for those jumps, even in your old S3 (which you truly have mastery of). Wait, you will have your Mach1 by then too..... Anyway, if myself (or maybe Scott Bland) sets an easy pace and holds it long enough for everyone to pull alongside in a line, it will be nice and fair. You GPS geeks could feel free to wear your toys too. Sound good to you? Chuck

Long sleeve T-shirt.

Jeff has already flown a V2 though, as have I. it's hanging on the wall right behind me here in our Z-flock team room. As far as "you jump mine, I'll jump yours" stuff, there are five Mach1's on the wall behind me as well. I am sure one will fit you. The point is, everyone has their own opinion about "who's is best". I am way over any marketing games. You guys have nice suits, Jeff designed two stellar suits, and I really like the suit I fly (currently an S6 and a Vampire1). I have jumped with Robi three times and he's way faster than me, but then again he's quite a bit taller than me. Jeff is a few inches taller than me as well (and has speed and range on me), so I simply want to see which really good pilot in his own suit has the advantage against his like-qualified "competitor" if you will. I for one know I fly a V1 far better than a V2. I get way more usable range in the "lesser" suit. There is no person on this dropzone, nor one who has visted since I moved here last July, who really kills it in a V2. I know both you and Robi do have mastery of your suits, so I simply want to see you flying full-out against other people who have mastery of their creations. I hope that makes sense. In that form, it truly is "apples versus apples." Chuck

As compared to which other manufacturer?

Tight to me is flying within one meter. Very tight to me is flying within one foot when flying on the horizontal plane. Being slot perfect is essential on technical flocks, but not so much on the larger "general shape" formations when people simply can't get to their slot and the next guy in line fills the gap. Many, many of us routinely do 3D flocking now, so we must also consider the vertical proximity and correct angles up from the nearest person. That and relativity to the person who is our mirror on the other side of the formation. Flying loose formations is not difficult, but very-tight technical flocks require intense concentration, less you wash into your wingman or fall off into a burble. I love that kind of wingsuiting. Chuck

In all seriousness, James. I want the first jump you do at Flock and Dock 3.0 to be a jump with you in whatever you think your fastest suit it against Jeff in his Mach1. I don't care who goes faster or has more range, I just want the question answered as soon as possible and I want people to know the results. No, Jeff is obviously not flying a 7:1 ratio, but he can outfly anone on this dropzone, myself included. Such head-to-head comparisons made by like-capable pilots are the only thing that will quiet the couch potatoes. I will have a Blade by then to compare against ,too. Again, I don't care who is faster, can fly farther, or most efficiently; I just want to have some of these head-to-head comparisons so that we can all see the pros and cons of the respective suits, propaganda aside. Chuck

Something that has been entirely misrepresented in this discussion is that the club, formerly known as the Green Beret Sport Parachute Activity, is not an MWR entity. That ceased to be quite a few years ago when the bar (still known as the Green Beret Parachute Club) was separated from the actual parachute club. The entity know known as the Fort Bragg Parachute Activity is a NAF entity. That's Non-Appropriated Funds. It's a different office with a different boss. Either way you look at it, it's tragic that the club is going away. It, under the Green Beret Parachute Club name, is an institution. It was always the gold standard of military parachute clubs. By far the most experienced skydivers; by far the most experienced instructors; by FAR the most social. I joined the club in October 1984 after I returned from Germany and started the Special Forces Qualification Course. I was 20 years old and had a USPA SL jumpmaster rating and a C license. I taught at the club, with only a short three year break, from then until I retired. The term "Skymonkey" was coined by myself and brand-spanking-new USPA regional director Kip Lohmiller in October 1998 when a guy named Ken Cupp was still running the club. Kip and I taught many first jump courses together in that club after I returned to instructing after my little break. There is a big carved wood sign over the bar in the club's building that says SKYMONKEY. On the bar are brass plates with the names of all the instructors and current, fully-qualified jumpers who were around when we moved into that building. On the wall behind that bar are signatures from way over 100 people who Kip and I, along with other junior instructors, trained since we moved over there. There are pictures, plaques and trophies all over the walls from jump meets and demos as far back as the 1970's (and before if you know where they are stored). The Green Beret Parachute Club was the last of THREE active clubs we had on Fort Bragg to close. First to go in the early 1980's was the XVIII corps club. The last manager of that club, Bill Verner, just got his 1000th jump award in this month's Parachutists. I had the distinct honor of re-training Bill when he retired and decided to start jumping again after nearly 20 years. I was the manager of the Raeford Parachute Center School then. Next to go, or more to the point get "absorbed", was the 82nd Club. When that happened, very few of those instructors chose to come on-board with our club. We ended up with their best gear and, unfortunately, lost our "Green Beret" moniker in the process. We then became, simply, the Fort Bragg Parachute Club. It was right around that time that the US Army Special Forces stopped providing an active duty soldier to fill the manager job. The job was contracted out and a former 82nd Club guy got the job. The last active duty manager was SFC Richard A. Guthrie (Arlo). Rest in peace Green Beret Parachute Club! It makes me nuts that the bar is still there, with the same name, yet the actual jump club is history. For shame! SFC (ret) Charles W. Blue II D-12501, AFF/SL/TM-I, PRO, BMCI Green Beret Parachute Team, USASOC Parachute Team 20-year member/instructor of the GB parachute Club Skymonkey ONE!

Yuri, I can promise you that both Jeff and I would LOVE to come visit some big cliffs with you guys. It's, seriously, the only part of BASE that appeals to me.

Cool. I am sure it will be a very nice suit.

You should have allowed multiple responses. I have worked at a DZ where I got taxed and was paid monthly and I have worked at a DZ where I was allowed to independently train my own students and get paid directly. I have also worked at another DZ where I was paid cash at the end of the day for the work I did. Chuck Blue D-12501, AFF/SL/TM-I, PRO, BMCI

The span was identical on the two canopies we compared (we pulled both tight). The chord looked identical as well.

Please do! While this event is "proudly sponsored by Phoenix Fly/Morpheus", it is an all-brands/all experience level event. I would HOPE that every suit on the market, by all manufacturers, is present and available for demo.

I agree. The "finalized" Tony vent design works great, front or backflying. It's my understanding that every Tony design uses this venting. Clever, yet simple.

Flock will very-probably be the first time each of the biggest/fastest/newest wingsuits from at least three manufacturers all fly together at the same time. I fly with V1's and V2's, Mach1's and other Tony stuff all the time, but it will be neat to see someone like Robi fly their suit against someone like Jeff in his Mach1. It will be neat to see how the Blade compares to those two as well. I figure there will be at least one of those there as well.