 In
this issue:
Through the
wind and the rain, a break in the cumulonimbus reveals a gleaming
and prosperous Spaceland. Throughout the 2009 season, many of you
will see us transform and take the next step to becoming a
superpower in the skydiving industry. From hosting world-class
events to executing huge infrastructure improvements, 2009 is a
metamorphosis of a business plan into reality.
 5TH ANNUAL 4-WAY SCRAMBLES
The weather
was marginal for the scrambles keeping the participants on the
ground Saturday but the returning competitors had a great time on
Sunday. Due to some competitors only having one day for skydiving
that weekend, Sunday produced 5 eager and excited teams. From 33
jumps to 3,000 jumps participants had a great time mixing it up and
jumping, not only with different people but flying in different
attitudes (not purposely…:)Some of the participants told me they
only go to their bellies to deploy so the comedic levels were high
and people had a great time. From
learning how to engineer, exiting different randoms, learning
different slot positions and responsibilities and proper keying and
flashing for judging, much was learned by all. Some said the hardest
part was staying in one place and maintaining fall-rate with the
team. Brian Ball and Tom Jenkins shared some super secret 4-way
information the participants will continue to use throughout their
skydiving careers. Thanks go out to many people.
Winners:
Stacey Curry, Pete Ritzou, Mike Conley,
Tim Morrison, Aki Ohinata, Diana Hu
Tom-
engineering and judging
Brian-
engineering
Leah-
organizing the event
Tuna, Val,
Chris, Aki, Jeremy- videographers who donated their services
The event participants. Thank You!
SAFETY DAY (tomorrow)
Tomorrow there is a free
refresher at noon and we get safety day kicked off around 3:00. The
presenters will have about 20 minutes to cover the important aspects
of their topics.
Equipment
Safety, Airplane Safety, Team/Freefall Safety, Emergencies, Canopy
Safety and First Responder topics.
Spring is
finally upon us and as the skydiving season gets underway at Skydive
Spaceland, we will be kicking things off with Safety Day. This will
be an opportunity for skydivers who may not have jumped much through
the winter months to brush up on their knowledge and skills
concerning safety issues for the upcoming year. Established in 1997
from an idea by Patti Chernis, Safety Day provides a worldwide forum
at local drop zones to prepare jumpers for the year ahead. Safety
Day promotes safety programs and helps inform jumpers of new
developments and review important information and procedures. This
year’s presentations will include review and practice of safety
procedures concerning all facets of our beloved sport as well as a
First Responder/First-Aid review. Very knowledgeable individuals in
their respective areas of expertise – Rabbit Staib, Dennis Anderson,
Mykel Poole, Bart Stonestreet, Alex O Connor and Jack Berke, will
give presentations. Yep that’s right, Jack will be participating and
talking about team safety. We will begin at 3PM, but get here early
and have some fun with gravity or, if you are not current right now,
Skydive Spaceland will be giving a FREE refresher course starting at
12 noon on Safety Day, Saturday March 14th
2009.
 ORGANIZING
Leah will be
out organizing this Sunday. Also for anyone who can make it out
next Friday (20th), Scott Latnis will be here organizing
fun jumps so take a half day at work and come out for some exciting
jumps with Scott next Friday.
TEXAS STATE RECORD
AND BOOGIE April 22-26
As mentioned
before 7 airplanes, dropping 160+ skydivers and one time, link up to
form not only a state record but a world record (2 point 160 way)
WOW! Were not breaking a grip
or two but creating a challenging second point. If you would
like to help out, contact
Stacey.
The
infrastructure is in place for a great time for all other skydivers
that are not participating in the record. We will have plenty of
planes, organizers and one heck of a party. Spaceland in
conjunction with the Anvil Brothers are creating a “boogie”
atmosphere for all skydivers. We will have a couple of specialty
aircraft and plenty of people to jump with. Friday night we will
start off by have a jam session at the pond and Saturday night is
the big kahunna. Great BBQ, lots of beer, plenty of fun and live
music. I believe there will be several surprises up the anvil's
sleeves for Sat. night. Mark your calendars for April. A boogie
website is under final stages so check out
www.tsrboogie.com soon for upcoming updates.
 TEXAS SKYDIVING LEAGUE
The Texas Skydiving League is off to
a great start. Here at Spaceland we have 12 teams….that’s right 12.
I can’t believe it. Thanks to everyone for making a special effort
to team up and represent Spaceland at the USPA National Skydiving
Championships, here October 12-25. If you are not on a team and
would like to be, its not too late. There are many benefits in
training with a team including an increased learning curve and
discounted skydives.
The calendar is finalized for this
year’s TSL meet locations. As you can see we will be moving the TSL
around the state to different host locations. The meets will be
here at Spaceland, SD Dallas, SD Houston, SD San Marcos, and then
back here at Spaceland for the championships. This is great for the
TSL being that participation levels are up at other host DZ’s
meaning a great opportunity to compete against other teams from
different locations in Texas.
It’s now time to
register your teams
for the league at:www.texasskydivingleague.org (.org or .net) The teams that
register early and show up to meet 1 will get a surprise....
The TSL website has lots of
information other than registration. From rules, last
year’s scores, videos (meet 1 and 2) and even team tips from Gary
Beyer. If you have any questions please contact
eric@skydivespaceland.com
SPACELAND
NEW TEAM
Speaking on the competitive side of
skydiving, many have heard about the huge battle at the top of the 4-way Open division. The Open division consists of teams named
Arizona Airspeed, Perris Furry and the Golden Knights. Now
Spaceland has a team that will be battling to dethrone the best.
Spaceland FORCE will be unveiled next weekend at the very
competitive Shamrock Showdown in Florida. Not only will the
previously mentioned teams be at the Showdown, they are expecting
the Russian Black Cats, French Maubeuge and the top teams in the
world. The team line up is Shannon Pilcher, Ian Bobo, Thomas
Hughes, Gary Beyer and Eric Boyd on video. The team is already
gaining publicity and will be here at the dz for their training camp
April 16-19. Spaceland has also teamed up with Paraclete XP and the
8-way team will be here April 20-26. Also the Golden Knight 8 way
team will be here April 17-26. So make sure you take some time off
during April and meet these champions, oh yeah the TSR boogie will
be going on as well! Check out what others are saying about
Spaceland FORCE.
http://www.skyleague.com/pages/news/showArticles.php?story=1327
I want to extend a big THANK YOU to
all the teams that support Skydive Spaceland and everyone that
skydives here in Rosharon.
Havoc, SPX Edge, SPX Lite, SPX-8,
Funnel Approach, Vortex, TBD, Bugs-N-Bones, Deguello 16, BS5 and
FORCE |
