Collegiates Day 3 (Thursday)

8 a.m.: Good morning everyone; it's a very... moist... day here at Skydive Spaceland. Some might call it pea soup out there. AeroWeather is calling it a half-mile visibility, but this mess should break up this morning and let us get back in the air!

It's uncertain at this point which event will start off the jumping today; it depends on what weather is above the fog. If we have full altitude, it's likely that 4-way and 2-way formation skydiving will be first up. Otherwise, it's back to accuracy. With all the moisture from yesterday, there should be some good slip-n-slide entertainment for sport accuracy. :-)

Last night was a pretty fun time out here, with the U.S. Military Academy's competitor/family/friends dinner catered in the hangar (thanks for inviting the staff too, we really appreciate it!). Three of the cadets had birthdays celebrated last night, and in good USMA tradition, they got carried out to the pond and dunked by their fellow cadets. Happy Chilly Birthday, guys!

8:40 a.m.: Photos!

U.S. Air Force Academy cadets conserve energy while waiting for the fog to lift.

Airshow Bear shows off with the manifest staff at Skydive Spaceland (Kerri and Robin).
Find him on Facebook to see where he's been!

10:45 am: Still foggy... but it's a bright fog. (Yeah, I know, I'm reaching.) We did have a productive morning in some ways, with the annual Collegiate group discussion on ways to make Collegiates better. There's nothing like 100 smart college brains turning the logistics of competition inside out. :-)

Group discussion with Collegiate competitors.

Here are a few selected nuggets from the discussion:

•  In the past 52 years, collegiate jumper registration numbers have ranged from the 80s to the 250s. The last two years, numbers have been right around 100. Meet director Bill Wenger asked for suggestions on increasing participation and got several suggestions, including the following: 

Finish the competition with a collegiate big-way, and advertise that beforehand. 

Get a shuttle from the airport, as many competitors aren't old enough to rent a car.

Add wingsuit seminars/coaching.

Add meet coaching. (Wenger noted that the academy coaches are always willing to coach anyone on dirt diving or previous video, but that fact hasn't been advertised.)

Balloon jumps.

Demo gear from the manufacturers. 

Lower prices (Wenger noted that this would be tough as there's significant overhead expense for any competition, but suggested that perhaps sponsors could help defray costs.)

Allow students that are enrolled part- or three-quarter time to compete in addition to full-time jumpers, perhaps even as guests.

• One competitor noted that many collegiate skydivers think that this meet is only for experienced jumpers--i.e., as a novice, you can't win so why go? Several people agreed that this is an issue, and suggested a variety of strategies to provide education and fun for collegiate skydivers of all levels. Ideas ranged from adding seminars and coaching/coach jumps to promoting the nature of the competition as a competition and educational event.
• A good bit of time focused on finding funding for collegiate clubs/teams; one competitor noted that it can be very difficult to get funding because most non-skydivers are totally unfamiliar with competitive skydiving and have a hard time understanding why it should qualify for team sport funding. One suggestion was that the United States Parachute Association (USPA) put together an informational packet/highlight video on skydiving and competition that collegiates could hand to potential sponsors to educate them. More discussion focused on non-university funding ideas, such as asking skydiving industry manufacturers to donate money, products, or discount certificates for fundraisers. 
• USPA executive director Ed Scott noted that the organization has made efforts to get large sponsorship(s) for the collegiate and regular National competitions for several years, but it's a "tough market." The CBS sports crew that's been filming here for the past couple of days is a step in that direction.
• The possibility of additional collegiate meets throughout the year, perhaps even virtual ones like those occurring on CollegeSkydiving.com, was also discussed. The concept is to either get together or compete online, where a draw is posted and teams send in video within a certain period of time for central judging and feedback.
• One competitor suggested going back to a single file lineup for 6-way speed. Judging infractions of that rule would be difficult, noted Wenger, but it might still be preferable. As with all other suggestions from this discussion, this one will be discussed at the next competition committee.
• Several competitors suggested ways to have different degrees of difficulty for 4-way advanced and open classes. The idea that seemed the most acceptable was to increase to a 4-5 point draw for open and a 3-4 point draw for advanced (same dive pool for both).
• One well-accepted idea was to brief sport accuracy competitors on how to properly set up a stack to stagger the landings, so everyone gets a good approach. Wenger agreed to allow competitors within a load to organize their own jump order so faster canopies could go first, further alleviating traffic issues. 

We're already working on the seminar issue; Wenger is currently discussing tips on canopy control and demo jumps for a pretty big crowd.

And you guessed it, it's still foggy. Hopefully, not for much longer!

2:20 pm: Still standing by, still foggy. What's your idea for the sacrifice that will get rid of the fog?

2:45 pm: The fog has thinned out... so I guess now we have very low clouds. Still no jumping. In the meantime, we have a few photos from the last couple of days courtesy of Army Major Katie Blue (thanks!):

Army birthday boys, before their dip in the pond. Nick Luis, Chris Gaulin, and Aaron Greer (left to right).

Chris Gaulin after his dunking.

It's a dead center, or very close to it, by a U.S. Air Force Academy competitor.

An Army cadet gets interviewed by the CBS Sports crew.

The U.S. Military Academy at West Point brought 33 competitors and 7 coaches.

3:00 pm: And that's all folks, it looks like we're calling it a day. The weather is supposed to clear up tonight--here's hoping! The schedule is changed a bit for tomorrow; we're going to go a bit earlier with a 7:15 a.m. 15-minute call for a 7:30 a.m. takeoff. The plan is if we have full altitude, 4-way will go first.

Happy New Year's Eve!