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John DeRosalia - Peak Performance

John DeRosalia recently helped Sebastian XL place fourth at the 2001 World Air Games in Spain. Peak performance in sport is about achieving personal bests in competition, when it really matters. What you do in training is irrelevant, it is how you perform at the Olympics or World Meet which will put your name in history. Often mental toughness can make the difference at this elite level where technical ability is similar.
A skydiver himself, John is the only licensed psychotherapist in the sport dedicated to working with peak performance.
He also has a successful private practice in New York, where he works with athletes, musicians, writers, and business professionals.
Why is there a need for peak performance training?
For most people, old and faulty belief systems interfere with our ability to achieve peak performance. These systems damage, limit and narrow our belief in ourselves and our abilities. They rob us of the joy we used to feel about making our dreams come true. They tell us, 'Don't bother trying. You'll never get there anyway. It's just a waste of time.'
What's the secret to believing in ourselves?
Think of a child at play. Children don't 'try' to learn or succeed. They just learn and succeed. They're not playing at being firemen. They ARE firemen!
Adults find it more difficult to dream and think positively and joyfully about our goals. We've lost the courage to dream because, over the years many of us find that our enthusiasm for life somehow vanishes. That's when it's time to fearlessly look inward. We all have a passion for something. Sometimes it just takes a while to uncover or rediscover it.
How do we get in touch with that passion?
I begin by helping people reconnect to what they love to do and why. Only then are they able to achieve a level of personal excellence. Once they discover a goal they're passionate about, we design a realistic plan to achieve it. Hypnotherapy is one of the tools I use because it puts people in alpha and theta brainwave states; highly receptive levels of consciousness where suggestibility is at its maximum. Working in these states of consciousness enables me to access dynamic and creative centres in the brain that are generally unavailable during a normal waking state. Powerful, positive suggestions can be programmed into the unconscious that greatly stimulate the ability to learn, improve and even perfect technical skills, as well as increase confidence and self-esteem.
Why is picturing success important and how is it done?
In order to be successful, you need to have a clear picture of what your goal looks like. You also need to be very certain about why you want to accomplish this.
To be able to picture success requires learning and practicing some mental skills such as visualization and imagery which can help you experience and benefit from achieving the goal even before it occurs."
Ultimately, peak performance isn't just about technical excellence. It's about the purpose behind the whole experience-your deepest motivation.
Remember that success comes in many forms. Realising a goal you've set - even if that goal is just to enjoy yourself - is success.
What should a skydiver do when negative thoughts interrupt their mindset?
Positive images are a good place to begin. If you're having negative thoughts in the plane, you can 'change the channel' by replacing the negative thoughts with positive or neutral ones. Think about anything else; a great skydive, the band you saw last night or an exciting movie. A technique I sometimes use is to pretend I'm a great skydiver (I get a clear picture in my mind of my favourite skydiving hero) and then I ask myself, 'What would he be thinking now? How would he be acting now?' Then I act and think as he would. Pretending you're someone else can produce amazing results because you wind up doing things that you couldn't normally do. You temporarily forget your limitations and then they're not limits any more.
Why is mental training important?
Mental training helps to ensure that, at least for the duration of that skydive, negative thoughts won't return. If you've practiced, you can learn to get rid of self-doubt the first time it invades your mind. This isn't to say that those thoughts don't warrant your time and energy at a later point. It's important not to ignore your feelings. But for the time being, you need to concentrate on the task at hand.
The point is to have a number of mental techniques at your disposal. Carpenters don't walk around with just a hammer in their tool box. When negativity invades, and it does for everyone at some point, you need to be well prepared.
What other tools are useful?
Try looking at a situation from a different perspective. I have my own way of looking at things. So do you. Most of us believe that ours is the only one. But you can make a mediocre experience into a great one just by thinking about it in a different way. We move towards what we see - and if you see a mediocre skydive, that's probably what you're going to create. That's why you hear smart people say, 'Don't practice mistakes.' It's not a good idea to watch a video over and over, focusing on the errors. If you make a skydive with ten mistakes and one good point, take a quick look at the mistakes, learn what you can from them, but then delete them from your mind and magnify the good point. Fix it in your head. You're not changing the reality. You're just being selective about the reality you're choosing to hold onto.
What's the most powerful peak performance tool?
My 'miracle tool' is a Personal Vision Statement; a written description of the goal, its time-frame, the steps you'll take to achieve it, and a list of reasons that make it important to you. Writing this out can be time-consuming but it's worth the effort. Most people have thoughts, ideas and dreams of what they'd like to do. But thinking about something is only the first level. Putting your thoughts into words is a second, much more powerful level. A recent study revealed that over 90% of Olympic gold medal winners had their goals down in writing. The third level is taking action in the direction of your goals. The idea is to begin living your dreams and not just thinking about them. Thought, word, and deed are cornerstones in every major philosophy and religion throughout time. The idea in peak performance is to reach for the highest thought.


Mental Training for Skydiving and Life Why is this tool so powerful?
It forces you to answer the question, 'Why am I here?' That's the hardest question for most of us to answer, which is why it's usually the one we're afraid to ask. What keeps each of us moving toward what we want to achieve is our level of passion. If you desire peak performance in any area, you first have to access the passion behind it - the passion that created the goal to begin with - and then you have to constantly draw on that passion as fuel, especially when the going gets tough.
If you want to run a certain time in a marathon or achieve a level of excellence in skydiving - or whatever it is you aspire to - you have to face the fact that there will be days when you don't want to train. But if you hold fast to your highest thought, which ultimately turns out to be your deepest and most compelling motivation, then you can continue through the difficult times. And then anything becomes possible.
John was talking to Margaret Winchell Miller ([email protected])
Contact John DeRosalia at [email protected] for his book, Mental Training for Skydiving and Life, and performance enhancement tapes

By admin, in News,

Film Closer, Get better footage, Be safer

The 'Diamond .3' wide-angle video camera lens is now available. The lenses are handmade in Japan. The Diamond .3 wide-angle lens gives a video camera a 110-degree field of view with very little barrel distortion. The lens is NOT a fish-eye.
The lens has no vignette (black corners in the field of view). The lens is perfect for freeflying, flat flying inside video, relative work and AFF coaching (from the instructor's angle), CRW, canopy swooping, BASE jumping or anything that an inside, wide-angle view is desired. Capture up-close shots with a crystal clear, non-distorted view.
The size of the lens is very low profile. The diameter is 44mm (1 ¾ inch.) and the length is 8mm (5/16inch). The small size has many benefits. It puts less stress and wear on the camera's frame and standard lens. It minimizes vibrations and camera shake since it is more than ¼ the size of other lenses. The chance of a riser strike on your camera's lens is decreased, as well as contact with any other object.
It is available in two different thread sizes, 30mm (pc-1, 3, 5, 9, etc.) and 37mm (pc-7, 10, 100, 110, etc). In most Sony camcorders, no adapter ring is needed.
The retail price of the lens is $200 US. Summer Sale Price of $175 (plus s/h)
For more information, contact Max Cohn at: [email protected], or at 201.538.4652, or visit http://generationfreefly.com/diamond.3/ for more pictures and information.

By wlie, in Gear,

Chasing a World Record

I've always considered myself to be an average recreational skydiver. Although I've been throwing myself out of airplanes for twelve years now for various reasons I've never been able to afford to jump as hard as is needed to be really good at this. A year ago while I was lying around recovering from back surgery I decided that 2002 is my year; this is the year that I'm going to go from being average to being one of the best female big way RW jumpers in the world. I'm going to be a world record holder!
My employers, Kate Cooper and Tony Domenico, are the dive organizers and two of the principals in Jump For The Cause. They were responsible for organizing the current Women's World Record skydive, a 118 way which was achieved in September, 1999 at Perris Valley Skydiving in California. The 1999 event was also a benefit for breast cancer research, raising almost a half million dollars for the Susan B. Komen Foundation. I was involved in fundraising for the '99 event, but my skydiving skills were not up to the level required to be a part of such a big dive.
JFTC is doing it again in 2002 and this time it's going to be bigger and better. Plans are to not just break the old records (both skydiving and fundraising) but to shatter them! The dive will be a 141-way, and the fundraising goal is to raise over one million dollars in donations. The beneficiary this time is the City of Hope, a hospital just outside Los Angeles, California. JFTC's focus is again breast cancer as this form of cancer hits far too many women, including several survivors who were on the '99 dives and will be a part of the '02 dives also. The City of Hope treats patients suffering from all forms of cancer without regard to the patient's ability to pay.
Coming back from 15 months stuck on the ground due to a back injury to being a part of the next women's world record skydive in only ten months is a huge goal. Getting there is going to require not only a lot of jumps, but also a large financial, mental, physical and emotional commitment. Over the next months I'm going to keep you up to date on my progress toward this goal through monthly "dispatches" as I go about chasing that world record.
Getting back in the air slowly so I would not re-injure myself was important to me. Since jumping safely is one of my primary goals I sold my old gear and upsized both my main and reserve. Once I had my new rig complete it was time to start jumping again. I did one solo on January 5th just to see how it felt. That jump went well, and it felt so good to be back home in freefall that I did another the next day.
The following weekend it was time to do an RW jump and see how the back held up. Saturday the 12th I showed up at the Perris DZ and hooked up with RW organizer Mark Brown. He had a 9 way group already on a twenty minute call so I joined them to make it a 10 way. We dirt dived a few points, geared up and got on the Otter. I was diving out of the plane right behind the base, which was a great test for the back. Very happy with my flying on that dive; even though we never built the first point I was in my slot and flying pretty well. My back muscles were a bit sore after that dive so for the second dive of the day I did another freefly solo and worked on my sit.
Kate and Tony were organizing some larger dives for the Jack Off To Perris boogie the next weekend. They were asking for a full day commitment from those who wanted to join them; this meant five RW dives in one day. While I was unsure of my physical ability to make five hard RW jumps I committed to doing it for one day anyway.
Showing up at the dz at 8 am on a chilly Saturday morning was the first challenge! Thanks to a pot of coffee and thermal underwear I managed to get there a few minutes early. A group of 26 jumpers met up in the Bombshelter for the briefing. Looking around I saw jumpers with a wide range of experience, from 200-ish jumps on up to several who were part of the world record skydive done in Thailand in 1999. After a briefing from Kate and Tony emphasizing safety we adjourned to the creeper pad to dirt dive the first load.
Much more time is spent on dirt diving a larger formation load than on any freefly or smaller belly fly jump. First the organizer places the jumpers in their slots, then everyone shifts around for the second point, then back to the first. After running through the dive several times the organizers put it in the plane, with half or less of the jumpers directed to the trail plane and the rest to the lead plane. After a few run-throughs of the entire dive, from exit to breakoff, it's usually just about time to load the plane. Everyone runs off to grab their gear and meet up in the loading area for another dirt dive or two in full gear. This is the time you focus on memorizing your keys - the four to six different things that will let you know you're in the right quadrant, docking on the right person and setting your body up at the correct angles - and being sure that you know what you need to do to make the second point happen.
The sun was starting to do it's job as we loaded the planes for the first load but my feet were still semi-numb despite the two pairs of socks I had on. I'd be floating the trail plane on the first jump so I was one of the last to climb on the Otter. We were a happy little group; manifest had given us the plane to ourselves so we had a comfortable and fast ride to altitude.
The ability to predetermine what the fall rate will be on a larger dive and to "dress for success" accordingly, whether by using different suits or by adding or subtracting lead, is a primary skill for the big way jumper. I'd just purchased a slightly looser RW suit, this one with booties, as a replacement for my aging, skin-tight Pit Special (bootie-less) and was wearing it for the first dive of the day. As I approached my slot I was fighting to stay down with the formation; it took me several tries to get into my slot and make the smooth soft dock that was my personal goal for that dive. Unfortunately for me, I didn't realize what my problem was right away.
We landed from the first one and I dropped my gear off with the packers. Hiring a packer is highly recommended when you're doing a big way camp; often there is barely enough time between landing and the video debrief to get packed up. Using a packer gives you time to hit the bathroom, grab a bite to eat or just to relax for a few minutes instead of rushing to pack and make the debrief. I found it well worth the $5 each pack job cost me.
The second dive was going to be a repeat of the first so the dirt dive went much quicker. I didn't "dress for success"; instead I did the second dive in the same baggier suit because it allowed me to wear a sweatshirt to combat the cold. This was a mistake, as I learned when I was once again fighting to fall fast enough and still make a smooth controlled dock.
For the third jump I debated between adding a weight vest or switching to my other, tighter suit. I decided to go with the other suit since I'd done enough jumps in it to be comfortable flying it; I've done so few jumps with weights that I am not yet confident in my flying skills wearing them. This turned out to be a good decision; although the third jump went to shit around me I was in my slot, falling fast, and had achieved my personal goals for that dive of a clean approach and a smooth and soft dock. The fourth jump was a repeat of the third, both in my flying and the fact that the other side of the formation was having all kinds of problems.
For the last jump of the day Kate and Tony gathered three more really good jumpers to make it a 29 way, and they invited freeflier Brandon Park to play around and under us. For this dive I got to exit as a floater from the SkyVan. Floating the Van meant that I'd be exiting just ahead of the base; my job was to hang off the rope handle mounted on the wall of the inside of the Van and leave on the "G" of "Go." What a fun exit! The visuals of watching the base and then the divers leaving the tail is one of those things a whuffo will just never understand.
The first point was to be much like the first two dives; a six way star with 5 and 6 way loops built off of them. We built that to 28 with one jumper going low and unable to get back up to join the formation. Kate keyed the second point anyway and we broke to a three way donut surrounded by "whackers" - the completed formation would look much like the business end of a weedwhacker. Even thought only one of the three whackers completed it was a fantastic jump for me - my whacker was complete and it was so cool to see Brandon carving around and under us! Even better for me… that was my 799th skydive.
I was surprised to find that even after doing five hard and fast RW dives on Saturday I was not as sore as I'd expected to be that night or the next morning. I was strongly tempted to join the group for five more on Sunday, but I had to reserve Sunday for my son David's first skydive, an AFF Level I; this would be one skydive that I did not want to miss!
My 800th jump was another freefly solo, bombing out the door just prior to David, his instructors and cameraman. I landed in the student landing area and met up with him as soon as he landed. A new skydiver had been born!
The next day at work I again thanked Kate for letting me play on the great skydives we did on Saturday. I was very pleased when she told me that I'd done pretty well; as long as I continue jumping and getting really current I'd likely have a slot on the record dives come October.
Going from where I'm at today to being a world record holder involves a huge financial, emotional, physical and mental commitment for me. The financial area is a big one for me, as I'm a single parent who prefers the mental and emotional satisfaction I get from my job instead of the larger paycheck I might be able to get working elsewhere.
I've started my fundraising efforts. US$2250 is a lot of money to raise and I'm not able to donate the entire amount out of my own pocket. Several of the active posters in the Forums here on Dropzone.com have already started me on my way - a big thanks to all of them for your early belief in me and your support of Jump For The Cause. Along with my co-worker and fellow JFTC participant Linda Hardesty, I'm having small pink ribbon decals made up by a local vendor; these will be used as thank you gifts for those donating and will also be available whereever I am for a small donation.
My federal tax refund arrived! Other than a portion set aside for some very needed car repairs, the majority of this year's refund will be going toward skydives, coaching and the deposit required of all of the dive participants.
The application for my FAI sporting license has been faxed to NAA and my license should be in the mail. This license is required of every participant on an aviation sport world record attempt. A copy of the FAI license and a card showing membership in USPA or an equivalent non-US aero club, both showing expiration dates after the dates of the record dives, must be submitted to JFTC to assure a jumpers participation in the dives.
Why am I doing all of this when my slot on the dives is not yet assured? That's where the mental part of my commitment comes in. Dr. John Rosalia, in his book "Mental Training for Skydiving and Life" says to achieve any goal you must first "begin thinking, living and acting as if you already have what you are striving for." Securing my slot on the dives is one of the smaller goals I've set for myself along the way to reaching my ultimate goal of being a world record holder. Working on this theory, the day the money showed up in my checking account I handed dive organizer Kate Cooper a check for $225 to cover the deposit for the WWR event.
By beginning my fundraising, spending the money and taking care of the neccessary paperwork now, I'm living and acting as if I already have my slot on the record dives; in my mind it's already a done deal. Should some unforeseen circumstance keep me from reaching my goals, all moneys I've collected will be applied to the fundraising goals of other women who have their slots but are having problems raising the needed funds.
Stay tuned for the next steps along the way to becoming a world record holder…
Donate to JFTC though Lisa using PayPal and the email address: [email protected]

Dropzone.com is an official sponsor of Jump for the Cause

Lisa Briggs (skybytch) is a moderator in the Dropzone.com Forums

By admin, in News,

Breast by far

Cup a load of this, girls! Forget the Wonderbra, here comes the no-blunder bra. Gorgeous TV presenter Gabrielle Richens shows off her curves in a futuristic creation which promises to keep a firm grip on ample bosoms at very high speeds.
Designer Louise Cain, a keen skydiver, came up with the idea after seeing what effect the extreme sport had on well-endowed girls' assets.


The G-Force resistant bra uses shock-absorbing springs and hydraulics in its high-tech cups to prevent bounce.
It will also leave breasts the pairfect shape at any angle - even upside down.
Louise - who unveiled her prototype in London recently - said: "Skydiving does the most unflattering things to your chest. When I was pregnant my breasts ballooned to a double F but I still did a lot of sports. It left me wishing for something that would keep them under control.
"I also have a couple of large-breasted friends and one said after a night out clubbing, she was so painful from all the jumping around."
The 36-year-old, of Catford, south London, took inspiration from hit PlayStation 2 game WipEout, an anti-gravity racing simulation, and aimed to create a bra that responded to movement but also looked good.

She added: "Every way you move, the springs and hydraulics work together to readjust and keep the bra's shape. We've had very positive feedback from those who have worn it. They couldn't believe it at first."
Sexy Gabrielle, 26, who presented Channel 5's Desert Forges and modelled for Asda, agreed. She even hailed it as the bust thing to happen for women since push-up bras.
The stunner said: "It feels fantastic and is incredibly comfortable. It gives great cleavage and is the type of bra you can where for sport because it keeps everything well contained.
"Push-up bras are actually quite uncomfortable and this is definitely an improvement."

Louise is now looking for support from lingerie manufacturers to get her sexy number out in front of shoppers. Two versions are planned, one for clubbing and one for sport.
But she hopes it will also prove a winner with female astronauts as it promises a firm round breast in any atmospheric pressure.
And if Gabrielle's planets are anything to go by, it's sure to send sales rocketing.
~ The Sun

By admin, in News,

Woman, 90, skydives to prove age is just a number

WILSON -- Marni Evans literally "dropped in" for her 90th birthday party Saturday afternoon, jumping from an airplane cruising over her farm at 12,000 feet. She said she wanted to show her friends that age is just a state of mind, even when you're nearing the century mark.


More than 100 well-wishers waiting in a pasture at Springhill Plantation craned their heads upward as a dot in the sky slowly became recognizable as the form of Evans and skydiving instructor Tom Tharp dangling from a red-and-white tandem parachute.
Scott Smith of Jackson and Keith Nielson of Lafayette, who followed Evans and Tharp from the plane, landed first, drawing "oohs" and "aahs" from the crowd for their flawless touchdowns.
A few seconds later, applause rippled around the pasture as the guests watched Evans and Tharp float to the ground.
The crowd rushed forward to capture on film and videotape the big smile lighting Evans' face while she wriggled out of her jumpsuit and gear.
"It went flawlessly. It was a super day and a super crew. I'm proud of all of them, especially my mom," said son Kirwin Ross, as he aimed his camera at the group.
"It's going to be like stepping on a pillow," Smith had predicted before the skydivers took off from the landing strip at Jackson. Except for Evans losing her balance when Tharp bumped into her, Smith's prediction was on the money.
Still, more than one person waiting in the audience was apprehensive.
"Some people were hoping it would rain so she wouldn't get hurt," guest Henry Chase said.
But the weather couldn't have been better.
Before climbing into the Cessna 210, Evans wisecracked with pilot Tom Allain of Baton Rouge and the others almost nonstop, but grew serious for a moment to explain the purpose of her adventure.
"The whole objective of this is to let these young people know that you don't have to get old just because you've been here a long time," Evans said.
"Stay active ... stay alive as long as you live," she said.
Evans is the oldest student Tharp has tutored in the sport of skydiving.
"I've jumped with an 84 (-year-old), so this is my record," he said during the flight preparations.
"She doesn't have to worry; this is my second jump," he joked.
As she donned her jumpsuit and harness, Evans told the group the jump would be a first, but not for wearing a parachute. She explained that she had strapped a parachute on all the time while learning to fly in her younger days.
Evans' exploits were a theme among the guests as they watched the plane make lazy circles in the sky to gain altitude.
They spoke of her athletic prowess, her earning many awards in Senior Olympics competitions, her volunteering to lead exercise classes at a nursing home and her arriving at her 80th birthday party in a helicopter.
Arriving for the party, Ann Reiley Jones held a sheet of paper in her hand.
"We were asked not to bring gifts, but I wanted to do something, so I wrote down 90 adjectives to describe Marni," Jones said.
"It wasn't hard. I thought of 10 more on the way over here."

By admin, in News,

Challenging jump for 25 BASE jumpers

ALOR STAR: Braving strong winds and limited landing space, 25 skydivers from six countries jumped off the Alor Star Tower here yesterday. They leapt off the tower’s open deck at 105m and were on the ground within 18 seconds.
It was the first time that some of them had jumped from such a low level, which added to the challenge.
Retired army special forces captain Mohd Norizan Mohd Yunus, 42, said they had to release their parachutes within two seconds.
He said a person needed to complete at least 200 normal parachute jumps before becoming a BASE jumper.
BASE is the acronym for buildings, antennas, spans and earth – the four types of platforms from where skydivers execute their jumps.
“We were in the air for between 13 and 18 seconds only,” said Norizan, who had done 1,233 normal parachute jumps in the last 19 years.
Yesterday was his fifth BASE jump.
Canadian Linda Pouffard, 26, who was the only woman skydiver, said she could feel her heart beat in every jump she made in the last five years.
Policeman Eric Simpson, 40, from the United States, said the low level, strong winds and limited landing space made the jump more challenging.
The event was held in conjunction with the Sultan of Kedah’s birthday celebrations and was Menara Alor Star’s inaugural international jump.
The skydivers from Australia, Canada, England, Sweden the United States and Malaysia will also participate in the Kuala Lumpur Tower International Jump 2002 on Sunday where they will leap from a height of 300m

By admin, in News,

Sylvester Armand St. Cyr

Sylvester Armand St. Cyr passed away in his sleep earlier this month. It was a peaceful transition for a very productive, prolific member of the cast of the human stage and arena. Sylvester St. Cyr joined the Christian Skydivers Association in October 1994, number 215. He was a retired teacher, actor/writer, a member of POPS, SOS and jumped at Perris Valley, California. He had made over 1,000 skydives.
Sylvester was a spokesman and recruiter for the CSA at POPS and SOS meets throughout the country and in Canada and Australia. In May 2001 he organized the First International CSA Freefall Fellowship at Perris Valley.

Sport parachuting was not the only adventure that Sylvester knew. A paratrooper in the US ARMY in the early 1950's, he was also a two-time boxing champion and coach of the championship team while on duty in Korea. Following his stint in the military he became an undercover narcotics officer for the New Orleans Police Department. As a New Orleans patrolman, he was the victim of kidnapping and attempted murder. He escaped by defying the perpetrator's orders to run a police road block with his cruiser and instead aimed it at a tree and jumped just prior to the vehicle's impact.
His adventures in undercover work and the characters he met provided the background material for his book, The Saint and Sinners.
Sylvester was also an authority on New Orleans style jazz musicians. His father, Johnnie St. Cyr played in Louis Armstrong's band and with many other popular musicians. He grew up in the music business and learned it first hand.
His acting career spanned movies, television and most notably the stage. Sylvester appeared in at least fifty stage productions including "Guys and Dolls," "The Philadelphia Story," "A Raisin in the Sun," and "A Soldier's Play." In addition, he also performed stunt work.
In his later years, Sylvester, nicknamed L'Ange Noir or The Black Angel, teamed up with his long time friend Paul H. LaCroix to perform skydiving exhibitions, especially for high schools. LaCroix and St. Cyr, both from New Orleans, had known each other since 1947. LaCroix piloted their airplane, a Cessna 172. Often accompanied by Bob Pruitt, they claimed to be the only Black Skydiving Team in America. Sylvester lost his pilot and old friend this past summer when LaCroix also passed away.
St. Cyr often filled the counselor role in his earlier work as a teacher. He was always concerned with the lack of direction in some of the young men that he met. "They think that the only way to make it is professional sports," he once said. Sylvester wanted to demonstrate that the sky's the limit for opportunities and furthermore, pro sports is open only for a few.
L'Ange Noir has flown into eternity to join his beloved Jesus Christ. We will miss him but pray that his example will remain a strong vision to those that gather at the drop zones and venues around the country where he left his smile, his love and his encouragement.
This is a Eulogy for Sylvester "Saint" St. Cyr by Ron Schott, CSA1 of the Christian Skydivers Association.
Sylvester Armand St. Cyr
West Covina, California
29 May 31 - 3 Jan 02
by Ron Schott, CSA1

By admin, in News,

Submissions for Logbook Entry Book

Laurie Steel and co-author A.T. Clinger are working on a skydiving book and are looking for support from the skydiving community. We are looking to represent the sport in a way that has yet to be explored, and give both other skydivers as well as non-jumpers a view of our world.
What we ask from personnel at your drop zone is that they pick out their two favorite or most memorable logbook entries (whether new or old ones), and have them photocopied and sent to us. We would like to make a collection of these pages, as well as a one-page biographical section for each contributor and a quote to be placed under each person's entry. Intermixed with the bios and logbook entries will of course be the requisite cool skydiving pictures that we all love so much! In short, those of you who would contribute to this project will have the privilege of being immortalized in a book about our sport.
This project isn't expected to make much in the way of revenue, so all we can offer is the chance for recognition for being one of the few that has experienced the ultimate freedom of human flight. Drop zone personnel are asked to forward this letter to all of your skydivers, both famous (as well as infamous) and low-timers to get total representation of our sport from all angles. We all deserve to be famous for something--why not for something we all love?
Interested parties may e-mail the authors at the following addresses for more specific info:
[email protected] or [email protected]
Those who are interested may send photocopies of their logbook entries, as well as any photos they wish to be included to either of the following Addresses:
Book Info

6549 34th terrace north

St. Petersburg Florida 33710


OR
Book Info

902 Northwood Dr. A-8

Murray, Kentucky 42071


**When Logbook entries are received, we will send a biographical info form for contributors to fill out**

**Photos will not be returned, so please make re-prints of your originals**

Logbook entries may also be faxed to the following #:

727-347-4329


Blue Skies!

A.T. Clinger and Laurie Steel

By admin, in News,

Mystery surrounds skydiver's last jump

Almost exactly 20 years ago, Charles Bruce was crouched in the belly of a Hercules C-130 flying low over the south Atlantic, contemplating one of the most treacherous parachute jumps of his life. It was not merely that he was planning to leap into the surging southern ocean; even in perfect conditions the jump, which required pulling the ripcord at a mere 200 metres, was "a real bottle job".
There was no guarantee the chutes would open before he and the rest of his British Special Air Service (SAS) squadron, of which he had been a member for one week, hit the water. The slipstream, he knew, was often so volatile on exit that people could flip over and lose their balance, and the low altitude would give them no time to recover.
Despite being "the new boy", Bruce was by far the most experienced skydiver, having made several thousand jumps compared with the hundred or so of his colleagues, so his opinion was sought on the viability of the jump. "I don't believe in practising something you can only f--- up once," he said to grim nods. They decided to go for it.
Last Tuesday, Bruce, known as Nish to his SAS colleagues and everyone else, made his last jump. He and his girlfriend had been in Spain taking part in a skydiving display, and were returning to Northamptonshire after a brief refuelling stop in France. Judith Haig, Nish's partner and an experienced skydiver, was flying their jointly owned plane. Nish was in the passenger seat.
Exactly what happened next is unclear; even Haig may never be able to account accurately for her passenger's actions. But somewhere over Oxfordshire the plane got into difficulty, and Haig asked for permission to make an emergency landing, due to severe icing on the wings of the plane.
Sixteen kilometres from the base she radioed again. Nish had apparently slid his seat right back and undone his seatbelt. Haig reached over to grab him, a source in the investigation said, but he pushed open the door of the aircraft without warning and tipped himself out headfirst, his weight pulling him beyond her desperate, screaming grasp.
What leads a man like Nish Bruce, handsome, successful, well respected and well loved, to step into a winter sky and drop himself into oblivion?
Bruce's elderly mother told reporters that she did not believe he had been depressed, but friends are not so sure, and if it does indeed prove that Nish took his own life, those who knew him cannot claim to be entirely surprised. Charles "Nish" Bruce was no stranger to demons.
A former soldier in the SAS and member of the Red Devils parachute display team, he had seen sights, he later said, that "most people would not believe". "In the Falklands I saw dead men so deformed that their own mothers wouldn't recognise them - boys of 18 who had tried to slit their own throats because they had been so badly burned." In 1994 he had a complete breakdown, attempting to kill his then girlfriend.
Bruce was born in 1956 into a comfortable, middle-class family. His father and grandfather were both military men, and growing up he was instilled with awe for military endeavour. He joined the Parachute Regiment at 17, and a year later, in Northern Ireland, saw his first dead body. A year after that he married, his son Jason following in 1978.
In 1981 he joined the SAS, but while he made it through the gruelling training course that supposedly proved he could withstand extreme trauma, he found the process dehumanising. Seven years later he was discharged for "not being a team player".
In 1994 the bubbling anxieties finally, violently, surfaced. After the breakdown, he would separate his life into "the time before I went mad" and everything else. In 1998 he wrote Freefall, a startling book about his military service and his breakdown, told with excoriating honesty.
It is clear that his experiences in the special forces were never going to lead to an easy life after discharge. "We shouldn't be surprised by what happens when men experience what these men have experienced," says Bruce's friend and literary agent, Mark Lucas. "They are trained to survive in a landscape in which the dividing line between life and death is extremely thin."
Bruce's 1998 autobiography now looks like vivid evidence of what some had already begun to call the curse of the SAS. In several of the pictures, Bruce is accompanied by a close friend, Frank Collins, another former special forces soldier. Now both men are dead; just as the book was being published Collins had gassed himself in his car, a well-thumbed copy of War and Peace at his feet.
It is easy to conclude that Bruce, who was deeply affected by Collins's death, was a victim of the same post-career anticlimax. Certainly he was a thrill-seeker, climbing Everest after his discharge and becoming a professional skydiver. At the time of his breakdown he was training with the Russian space agency for an attempt to break the world altitude freefall record, leaping from 32 kilometres up on the very edge of space.
Lucas believes the extremes to which he pushed his mind and body during the training may have contributed to his collapse, but says in Bruce's case it is too simplistic to conclude the SAS was inevitably to blame.
Perhaps, the much-loved ancient pull of the sky to Bruce's troubled head became, at his end, just too much to resist.
"Nothing else comes close to those first few seconds after leaving the plane," he wrote in his biography, "because once you take that last step there is no going back. A racing driver or a skier or a climber can pull over and stop, have a rest, but with parachuting, once you cross that threshold, you have to see it through."
- Esther Addley in London for The Guardian

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Mandatory Raven Dash-M Service Bulletin Issued

A Mandatory Service Bulletin, SB-1221, has been issued and posted on the Precision Aerodynamics website. SB-1221 affects original configuration Raven Dash-M reserve canopies and P-124 Emergency parachute canopies that were produced before April 12, 1999.
SB-1221 does not affect any canopies in the original Raven series, Super Raven series, Micro Raven series, or Raven Dash-M canopies produced after April 12, 1999.
SB-1221 requires installation of one additional bartack at each of the 'A line' and 'B line' attachment points, for a total of 16 additional bartacks on the line attachment loops.
The Raven Dash-M and P-124 series of reserve parachutes were tested within a range of 300-360 lbs at 180 knots and developed opening forces in the range of 2168 to 3660 lbs as measured in accordance with Aerospace Standard 8015A, the drop test standard for parachutes certified under FAA TSO C-23d.
Since the introduction of the Dash-M Series in 1996, we have seen hundreds of documented saves throughout a wide variety of emergency situations. Reserve parachutes are generally designed, rigged, and packed to open more quickly than main parachutes, but until recently we had never seen canopy damage when used within the Maximum Operating Limitations of Weight and Speed.
Within the past 30 days, we have witnessed 2 separate occasions wherein the integrity of the line attachment system of 2 different Dash-M canopies has been compromised during normal use by persons who are documented as having been within the Maximum Operating Limitations of Weight and Speed. In both cases, the jumpers reported exceptionally hard opening shocks resulting in canopy damage and hard landings.
Damage to the referenced canopies was consistent with canopies having been tested to destruction when dropped beyond the limits of Maximum Operating Limitations of both Weight and Speed, while at the same time tumbling or otherwise presenting a non-symmetrical loading scenario to the deployment sequence.
Exceptionally hard opening shocks generated by the subject canopies have prompted this Service Bulletin. Forces generated during opening shock resulted in a cataclysmic compromise of the line attachment system, with collateral damage extending upward generating torn canopy fabric and downward generating broken lines. The initial point of failure appeared to be similar in both cases, beginning in the region of the off-center A line attachment point. Subsequently, transient loading migrated outward and rearward affecting the integrity of some of the adjacent line attachment loops.

The failure mode was in the destruction of the .75 x T-III MIL T-5038 line attachment loop tape, manifested by pulling the attachment loop tape away from the canopy but leaving the associated stitching intact (image 2).
Compliance with this Service Bulletin enhances the line attachment structure of the original Dash-M and P-124 configuration and subsequent test data indicate that it increases the line attachment integrity by more than 100%.
For compliance details, please download a copy of SB-1221 from the Precision Aerodynamics website at http://www.aerodynamics.com
Precision Aerodynamics
Download SB-1221 from Dropzone.com

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