gemini

A lot of us swampfest jumpers would like to know.... Blue skies, Jim

Pilcher, Shannon (USA) Tagle, Jonathan (USA) Park, Douglas (USA) Williams, Silvanus (RSA) Congrats guys! Blue skies, Jim

Reffet, Vincent (FRA) Fardel, Stéphane (FRA) Fugen, Frédéric (FRA) Täsler, Frank (GER) Plünnecke, Michael (GER) Neumann, Hartmut (GER) Boyd, Stephen (USA) Lloyd, Jed (USA) Alkek, Trenton (USA) Cambreleng, Jean-Christophe (FRA) Ricordeau, Jean-Philippe (FRA) Fehr, Guilllaume (FRA) Zipser, Olav (ITA) Martinengo, Stefania (ITA) Basso, Manuel (ITA) Wagner, Christian (AUT) Iragorri, Ursula (AUT) Mock, Roman (AUT) Blue skies, Jim

Smile, be friendly, do the job, don't get discouraged. Have a problem? Talk about it and jump again. Blue skies, Jim

shhhhhh......sometime this year the taxiway and runway will be paved.....don't tell anyone.... Blue skies, Jim

That sucks D. Glad it turned out so well. Blue skies, Jim

Depends on the group. If you are trying to get on the World Team and have less than 3000-4000 jumps you are a low-timer. Personally I view anyone with less than 200 a low-timer and some people with less than 500 because of their skills or frequency of jumping. A guy that has 1000 jumps over 20 years will not fly as well as a jumper with 200 in six months. Blue skies, Jim

Yep, all the time! The low-timer also gets to set the break-off altitude without argument or protest from the high-timers! Blue skies, Jim

AND who was the guy who slept in the mud? He looked like Brandon Fraser in Encino Man when he thawed out!!! Blue skies, Jim

Amy Chemlecki broke her tib/fib in a freefall collision with Tom Jenkins during SkyFest. She is in the hospital in Houston waiting for surgery. I am sure she would appreciate all your vibes... > Blue skies, Jim

Looks like he just got bit by one of those little mosquitos we have... Blue skies, Jim

Ummh, not bad little one. We will have to work that into the advertising next year. Blue skies, Jim

I really enjoying jumping with new people and getting to know them. I think I learn more from them than they learn from me. I even turn down invites to particpate in 4, 6 & 8 ways sometimes to jump a 2 way with a new person I see standing around. Here are some of the things that a new person should take into consideration when they are not invited on a particular jump: 1. I can not jump with you on every jump I make. You need to make friends with other people at the dz and jump with them too. I will introduce you to them, but it is up to you to get to know them. 2. If I am participating in a jump that I feel you are not ready for, I will not invite you to participate. 8-ways, 16-ways and 20-ways are not the place for every new jumper. It is primarily a safety issue, but sometimes is a special dive for another jumper and I want it to be a successful jump for them. You may have performed flawlessly on the last jump, but in my experience not be ready for what we are currently planning. 3. If I invite you on a larger jump and you do not do well, do not expect to get on the very next large jump unless you have shown you have improved or learned from your mistake. Again this can be a safety issue, but is often a "success" issue. If you were the only one that fell out of the formation, you alone ruined the jump for all the other participants. Jumpers want their dives to have a reasonable chance for success. If you always go low on 8-ways and are not working to improve, you will not get invited to participate in other 8-way or larger formations. Know your limitations, but work to improve. 4. If you want to participate, get to the dz early BEFORE the groups have formed. If you show up at 2 PM, 4PM etc. it is harder to get invitations to jumps or break into established groups because the groups are comfortable with each other and perhaps at the max size they want. Successful jumps occur more frequently when multiple jumps have been made with the same people. AND if you have joined a group, stay with the group all day. If you get on one load, then off the next, then on, then off, it makes it more difficult for the organizer to plan the next jump. Making it easier on him will make it easier on you! 5. Look around the dz and see who is standing around. Frequently there will be other jumpers at your level who are wanting to jump, but don't know anyone. Often, a more experienced jumper will volunteer to help you if you put 2 or 3 jumpers together on your own. Most of us started jumping with our peers. It took us longer to figure some of the tricks out, but we survived and had lots of fun learning...don't deprive yourself of that experience. 6. When invited to jump with more experienced jumpers be on-time and dressed accordingly for dirt dives. NEVER be the last one to show up. NEVER talk when the organizer is talking unless the organizer asks you a question. Do not volunteer advice. Listen to and watch everything the more experienced jumpers say and do. Ask questions if you don't understand something on the ground because it's to late when you are in the air. Be a team player! 7. And finally, if you screw up go to the organizer and tell him you know you screwed up and want to know how to correct it. When he says you screwed up, don't argue with him or try to blame someone else. Just practice the fix until you can do it right. AND go tell him you have been doing it correctly after you know you can do it. 8, Be friendly, cheerful and interested in the people around the dz. If you are frequently in a bad mood or angry, people don't want to be around you. We come to the dz to have a good time and be with our friends. If you're constantly bitching about something (even if it is your own jumping), we don't want to hear it. Again watch the people around you...if they wander off after you have joined the group and reform somewhere else, you've got to figure out what you are doing and STOP doing it. Many DZ's get criticized by new people as being unfriendly, full of sky gods, cliques, etc. What non-jumpers and new people don't realize is that most jumpers are very close. We have common problems, common interests and common goals even though our backgrounds are very diverse and our non-jumping lives have nothing in common. We like other jumpers and want to be around other jumpers. You've taken the first step by showing us you would like to skydive....Remember we were all newbies not long ago, and yes, we were very much like you! Blues, Blue skies, Jim

Participant.........................1....2...3,,,,4....5...Total Rank Freeflying FRA Team I.........9.4 7.6 9.2 9.3 7.2... 42.7 1 Freeflying GER (GER)...........8.9 6.8 9.2 9.2 6.8... 40.9 2 Freeflying USA (USA)..........7.9 7.9 8.0 8.4 7.9... 40.1 3 Freeflying FRA Team II........8.3 5.8 7.2 7.7 7.2... 36.2 4 Freeflying ITA (ITA)............7.0 5.8 7.2 6.5 4.4... 30.7 5 Freeflying AUT (AUT)..........6.4 2.4 6.8 6.3 2.4... 24.3 6 Blue skies, Jim

France takes 1st Germany takes 2nd Anomaly takes 3rd .9 out of second. Congrats to Stevie, Jed & Trent! Blue skies, Jim

Today (Sunday) is the best day so far! Hot Air Balloon flew early this morning, and the helicopter, otters & skyvan are flying. POPS group had two more 42-way sequential completions making a total of 4 completions and was very near completing a 3rd point on the final jump. Way to go POPS! Thanks to Carey, Harry & Larry for the great jumps. Blue skies, Jim

We have heard tomorrow is supposed to be the best day since Thursday weatherwise! Today was spectacular even though we had one weather delay of about 90 min. Blue skies, Jim

Hoorah! POPS Texas State Sequential record 42-way. Waiting for word from POPS HQ that it either is a POPS world record or a tie of the POPS world record. Way to go guys! Thanks to Carey, Harry & Larry. Blue skies, Jim

yep, ash dive was great! A multiple point 20+ way led by Jack & Tom. Blue skies Uncle Joe.... Blue skies, Jim

Raining? Say what? Planes are flying: 6-Helicopter loads 13-Skyvan & Otter loads 2-POPS record attempts Powered parachute is also flying! Come on out and play. Party tonight by Amanduh! Blue skies, Jim

Looks like all for today! Go Anomaly! Competition Participant Date Time Jump 1 Jump 2 Jump 3 Jump 4 Jump 5 Jump 6 Total Rank Freeflying FRA Team I (FRA) 16.07.2005 16:45 (siehe 15.07.) 7.6 9.2 -->Fortsetzung 17.07. 26.2 1 Freeflying GER (GER) 16.07.2005 16:45 (siehe 15.07.) 6.8 9.2 -->Fortsetzung 17.07. 24.9 2 Freeflying USA (USA) 16.07.2005 16:45 (siehe 15.07.) 7.9 8.0 -->Fortsetzung 17.07. 23.8 3 Freeflying FRA Team II (FRA) 16.07.2005 16:45 (siehe 15.07.) 5.8 7.2 -->Fortsetzung 17.07. 21.3 4 Freeflying ITA (ITA) 16.07.2005 16:45 (siehe 15.07.) 5.8 7.0 -->Fortsetzung 17.07. 19.8 5 Freeflying AUT (AUT) 16.07.2005 16:45 (siehe 15.07.) 2.4 6.8 -->Fortsetzung 17.07. 15.8 6 Blue skies, Jim

Freeflying FRA Team I (FRA) 15.07.2005 11:33 9,4 7,6 17,0 1 Freeflying USA (USA) 15.07.2005 11:33 7,9 7,9 15,8 2 Freeflying GER (GER) 15.07.2005 11:33 8,9 6,8 15,7 3 Freeflying FRA Team II (FRA) 15.07.2005 11:33 8,3 5,8 14,1 4 Freeflying ITA (ITA) 15.07.2005 11:33 7,0 5,8 12,8 5 Freeflying AUT (AUT) 15.07.2005 11:33 6,4 2,4 8,8 6 Blue skies, Jim

7/15 Results (Delayed due to clouds); Round One: France I 9.4 Germany 8.9 France II 8.3 USA 7.9 Italy 7.0 Austria 6.4 Blue skies, Jim

Although it has rained all morning it has not been as bad as in Houston. Almost got a load up this morning when it closed in again. No standing water in the LZ yet. POPS group has finished dirt dives for sequential big ways and is just waiting for the chance to jump. Alana, Amanda & Justi got in late last night and are up and moving around. Hopefully the weather will clear soon. Blue skies, Jim

First Sunday morning! Slots are available. Yikes, 4AM? What's up with that? I barely made it to the morning balloon lift-off my first year and it wasn't anywhere near 4AM. Blue skies, Jim