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 In
this issue:
Back to the Future: 100-Way Diamonds a Success!
Skydive Spaceland hosted the Back to the Future 2008 100-way diamonds event April 17-20. The goals were to successfully build a 100-way opposing diamond and a 100-way facing diamond, neither of which have ever been completed. The event attracted 153 jumpers who participated in the 100-way formation event including the Alpha team, which was organized by Scott Latinis, Kirk Campbell and even Lee McMillian.
The planning for this challenge began several years ago with the intent to take big way formation skydiving to next level. The Organizing Team & Captains consisted of BJ Worth, Tom Jenkins, Larry Henderson, Kate Cooper, Roger Ponce de Leon, and Jim Jenkins. Also Jim Alkek can't go without mention, as he was responsible for lots of the organizing and communicating between the team members prior to the event.
Grounded by weather the first day of the event, the 100-way participants performed meticulous dirt dives and safety briefings. They focused on honing their techniques: Fly quickly to your slot, maintaining eye contact with the proper lines of the formation, stopping with no momentum, picking up the appropriate grips, and flying the full formation. As Kate Cooper stated, "you need to fly your booties off" on these dives.
 Thirteen structured jumps were completed with each skydive having a specific objective to conquer the diamond challenges. The 100-way Opposing Diamond was completed on Saturday afternoon on the seventh skydive. The completion of this great challenge was a testament to the excellent talent of the big-way skydivers and the preparation of the Organizing Team. The 100 jumpers worked together by reading the status of the entire formation and adjusting their body positions subtly and correctly throughout the dive. Then it was onward to the next objective, the Facing Diamond.
The record for a completed facing diamond is 64, which was built in France approximately 10 years ago. The degree of difficulty increases tremendously with 50 people backing into their slot. The closest 100-way facing diamond was attempted on Sunday afternoon on the last skydive (we had to stop for weather). This formation was so close to completion. One jumper was low and a few jumpers were just about to finish off the formation, but then it was time to break off.
Just as the captains were top shelf, so were the videographers. Andre Veselov (Russia), Willy Boeykens (Belgium), Dave Ryder (Dallas) and our very own Brett Thomas and Eric Boyd (Spaceland) did an amazing job documenting this event. Special thanks goes to Brett for his extra efforts and for taking care of the captains during special viewing.
The event was an overall great success and addition to big way history. Thank you to all involved and especially the packers for no malfunctions!
Note: A Spaceland visitor posted some photos of the breakoff, etc., on Flickr.
Back to the Future Participant Statistics
- Total number of jumpers: 107 (153 including the Alpha team)
- Total number of jumps reported: 464,972
- Average number of jumps per jumper: 4,346
- Minimum jumps: 703 (Donna Jernigan Palmer)
- Maximum jumps: 14,273 (Mary Bauer)
- Number of countries represented: 13
- Number of US states represented: 28
Texas Skydiving League: TexasSkydivingLeague.org or TexasSkydivingLeague.net
 Teams still need to register! Here's what you need to do.
- Go to www.TexasSkydivingLeague.org or www.TexasSkydivingLeague.net (NOT texasskydivingleague.com!)
- Click on the registration link.
- One person from each team needs to register their team.
- Fill out the form and submit payment.
- Follow up by calling 281-369-3337 and tell them that you just completed the registration process and give them your name and team name.
These registration prices stayed the same as from 2 years ago. You register for the full season or if you are going to make just one meet, there is a price for that as well. Check out www.TexasSkydivingLeague.org for more information regarding rules, handicaps, teams, etc. Full season registration must be done by May 15.
The first meet will be May 31 (4-way). This meet will be held at Skydive Spaceland as well as the 5th meet (Championships). The locations of the other meets depend on how many teams register from that drop zone. As of now we have been communicating with Dallas and San Marcos as other host facilities. Once again, it all depends on how many teams resister from the potential host DZ. If you want a meet held at your DZ, register your team! We promised TSL this year and we are going to have it.
More meet dates:
- June 28-29: 4 and 8 way
- July 26-27: 4 way
- Aug. 23-24: 4 way
- Sept. 20-21: 4 way (10 rounds) Championships
- Sept. 27-28: 8 way (10 rounds) Championships
FREE Skydiving Seminar May 10th: Introduction to Freeflying
Presented by Stephen Boyd Jr.
Whether you are a recent graduate or looking to learn outside your discipline, this seminar is for you! Learning to fly your body on all axes is truly total body flight. Topics will include multiple safety aspects, how to begin freeflying, and specific techniques that have taken this three-time national champion to the top.
Join us after jumping on Saturday, May 10 for this valuable seminar!
2008 Brian Germain Canopy Course
Two courses have been scheduled:
- May 24-25 (Sat.-Sun., 9 am-7 pm)
- May 26-May 27 (Mon.-Tues., 9 am-7 pm)
Both courses will be the general canopy skills course and will be taught from The Parachute and its Pilot, which can be purchased at the Spaceland ProShop. The course is primarily classroom-based with an allowance for two jumps per day weather and time permitting.
There is availability within each course, and the cost of the course is $230 per person plus jumps. Please contact Manifest to register.
For more information on Brian Germain, please visit his website at www.bigairsportz.com.
15th Annual Lew Sanborn Accuracy Event June 6-7 (Friday and Saturday)
 The Lew Sanborn Accuracy Meet has done much for the sport of classic accuracy over the past 14 years and continues to do so today. The event is for all jumpers who aspire to compete against some of the world's best accuracy competitors, and competitors of all skill levels have an opportunity to showcase their accuracy skills in different divisions. Remember, this competition is open to all skydivers. There is a sport category that all canopies/skydivers can participate in.
This event will benefit the Texas Children's Hospital and the American Cancer Society. The day prior to the event, many of the competitors and event staff will pay a visit to Texas Children's Hospital to visit with the young patients, answering questions about skydiving and passing out toys to the kids.
Did I mention that Lew himself will be here? He holds the honor of having earned License D-1. D-1… over 50 years of continuous skydiving… one of the great pioneers of our sport. Come on out and meet Lew and have him sign your logbook.
Parachutists over Phorty (POPS) Sequential Record Camp, May 16-18
They're back… POPS will be here doing 70 + ways and turning points. To make this possible Spaceland is bringing in a CASA to play alongside our 2 Otters. This is a tailgate aircraft and everyone is welcome to come out and jump it. If you would like information about this event or considering becoming a POPS member, go to www.thepops.org or email Jim Alkek at jimalkek@yahoo.com.
As the website states, "You don't quit skydiving because you get old, you get old because you quit skydiving!"
Achievements and Graduates
Congratulations to everyone! Don't forget... you owe BEER!
| Cody Edgeworth |
A license |
| Dee Stonestreet |
A license |
| Andrew Mc Daniel |
A license |
| Pete Ritzou |
B license |
| Mike Hedger |
100 jumps |
| DZ Tom |
USPA Coach rating |
| Dave Stevens |
1000 jumps |
| Erin Warnig |
USPA Coach rating |
GRADUATES |
DATE |
| Cody Edgeworth |
3-1 |
| Dee Stonestreet |
3-20 |
| Amy Elliot |
3-21 |
| Geoff McConnell |
3-21 |
| Jared Wilkinson |
4-6 |
| Andrew McDaniel |
4-6 |
| Bridgette Conley |
4-6 |
| Steven White |
4-19 |
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