damn it, i knew i should've stayed down there longer. stupid soccer game, we lost too which makes it even worse. sorry i didn't have time to jump with ya steve, next time.
I don't think the pond is as scary as Steve makes it sound, but it's not exactly for beginners. You don't have to hit the landing area steve described, but if you miss the 10-12 ft wide area, and you're on water level you do have to pop up over a bank of 2-4 feet. You can avoid the pop-up by flaring high and staying away from the actual water, and land anywhere on the bank which is like 120 feet wide. If you overshoot the bank (10-30ft) you will be in a corn field. If you come up short there is no place to bail by carving off to the side, you get wet. The Power lines are less of an obstacle than the trees that run along the length of the right side of pond at SDO.
It was a nice surprise to get permission from the farmer, all you SDO cats should come check it out.
Sorry, didn't mean to make it sound like the danger zone... just that it isn't the kind of purpose-built pond we usually find in skydiving, and that's it's not the place to perform your first swoops ever. The target is about 10' x 30', but you can land safely anywhere west of the pond (assuming you're starting from the east), so long as you are above the bank (and away from the little tree). From that perspective, you've got a landing area that's at least a hundred feet wide by who-knows-how-far back. The power lines are not an obstacle at all... it's just a little weird to start a turn over them.
I think the only real "danger" with the pond is either getting wet or not clearing the bank (or both). There aren't really any obstacles, and anything that might generate rotors are pretty far off.
(This post was edited by ManBird on May 3, 2004, 4:55 PM)
Yes. You guys missed out. And again, I didn't mean to make it sound too intimidating. Anybody who's pond-side at SDO right now should handle this thing just fine. Hell, if I can do it...
I didn't mention landscaping, so no right now we don't have permission to knock the bank down. He was very quiet and not excited about skydivers landed on his property but he did grant us permission to land there after some convincing that we would stay clear of his crop.
I think if we are respectful of the area, minor smoothing with hand tools should be fine, I know that he's fine with people driving vehicles right up to the edge of the pond to fish. He was actually driving a huge front loader and had to climb down out of the driver's seat to come talk to kim and I. The whole conversation was over the sound of the running engine on the thing, maybee that'll be a question for next season after we can prove that we can land out there without messing up the crop
(This post was edited by diveout on May 3, 2004, 5:59 PM)
I think more landings have been on target than into the corn fields, actually. Well, that's the story that I'm sticking with.
Here's a pic of the pond. As you can see, the target is small, but you aren't really limited in terms of where you can land, and there aren't really any obstacles on the your way (except the bank).
This was my first landing at this pond. It sucks compared to the later ones, but I didn't have the balls to wear a camera again (for obvious reasons). Butt slide omitted from this clip. If I had more skill, my landings would be way better.
I'll edit together the good landings (and one bad one) as soon as I get the chance.
I was looking at lawn seed last night to manicure our landing zone
Nice. If there was, say, a hundred feet or more of (grassy) bank on the west side of the pond, you could swoop north/south or south/north, close to the bank, and have a pretty good out. Then you could focus more on distance than accuracy or a corn collision. Sort of like a "normal" swoop pond on one side (so long as no one is fishing there).
Hey ManBird next time you come out I'd like to test out yer suit. I attached a pic of Stu swoopin the new pond. Also added some more pics to my gallery...including Stu and Renfro's double. Stu has vid and might be puting it on this site for ya'll to watch.
(This post was edited by Kimblair13 on May 11, 2004, 3:21 PM)
Hey ManBird next time you come out I'd like to test out yer suit
Definitely. Looks like you have the numbers and stuff now. You and Sean will have to fight over it once you've done your FFC. I might be down there this Sunday. It's supposed to rain up here, but our weather isn't necessarily your weather. If it sucks up here and is clear down there, then I'll see you on Sunday. Our Otter is back online on down here, so you guys might have a Caravan in the near future. Don't know what this year's arrangement is, though.
Anyone else going to Kamloops May 21 - 24? Ray, Spense, and I are headed up there. US $35 full altitude huey jumps!
yo steve, even though this has nothing to do with canopy flying, guess what i bought. a digital nikon 5700. for freefall and mostly swoop photography. im gonn make you all look f=good if thats possible. your kinda funny lookin. 5.0 megapixels should help. p.s i like having our own little forum. kimblair have i met you yet. are you hot or no? please send pic to be reviewed. thanks jeff
guess what i bought. a digital nikon 5700. for freefall and mostly swoop photography. im gonn make you all look good if thats possible. your kinda funny lookin.
Oh, hell yeah. Very nice. However, I think 5 megapixels will only eccentuate the badness. And I don't mean the good badness. I mean the kind of badness that is in Kim's attachment.
Headed to Davenport for West Plains' boogie on Memorial Day Weekend. Anyone want to cruise along? Also headed to Kamloops next weekend, but... not driving.
i just ordered the cam on line. it will be here next week hope hope. o hey i got an email from max cohn my lens is on backoreder it will be a couple weeks. do you know anything about the red eye .3 lenses? there from australia ( i wont hold that against them) and 30.00 bucks cheaper. jeff
ES_Pond.jpg
At least I'll save some money. Do you know whos flying the caravan down? 
