SAVE SKYSURFING!!!

[Douva 0]

One of the agendas of the USPA Competition Committee when they meet on July 15-17 will be to eliminate Skysurfing from Nationals. Nationals is the last venue for competitive skysurfing in the United States, and even though the discipline has been going through a rebuilding period over the last two or three years, leading to fewer competitors than usual, it is still a viable modern skydiving discipline. Skysurfing requires as much skill as any discipline in skydiving. It is visually dynamic and one of the most recognizable disciplines to non-skydivers. Who in this sport hasn't had a whuffo or tandem student ask if they ever "jump with one of those boards?" To drop skysurfing from U.S. competition simply because it doesn't draw the dozens of teams each year that the other disciplines do dishonors the memories of the Rob Harris, Vic Pappadato, Jerry Loftis, and all of those who came before.

Please write your regional director (email, fax, or mail) and insist that skysurfing be kept alive. We particularly need the assistance of those of you in the Northeast Region. Northeast Regional Director Marylou Laughlin has spearheaded the movement to drop skysurfing from Nationals for several years now. Even if you don't see how this could possibly affect you, a non-skysurfer, please think of the history and heritage of skysurfing and what it has meant to the sport of skydiving. Skysurfing has brought positive exposure to the sport of skydiving through numerous commercials, print ads, TV shows, and movies. It also brought the first and only nationally televised skydiving events to the American public, in the early days of the X-Games. And please think about the skydivers, past and present, whose hard work and dedication will be lost forever if skysurfing disappears from U.S. competition.

Blue skies,

Douva
L.A.S.T. #1

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

[mailin 0]

email sent [edit] to entire competition committee [/edit]... from the northeast




Jen

Arianna Frances

[BRYANGOESBOOM 0]

What do they have to gain by getting rid of skysurfing???

Not only will you look better, feel better, and fuck better; you'll have significantly increased your life expectancy. --Douva

[lisamariewillbe 1]

Im really new in the sport, do you think it would make a difference for someone that is so new to email a letter asking to keep skysurfing?

Sudsy Fist: i don't think i'd ever say this
Sudsy Fist: but you're looking damn sudsydoable in this

[Douva 0]

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Im really new in the sport, do you think it would make a difference for someone that is so new to email a letter asking to keep skysurfing?

As long as you're a USPA member, it could make a difference. If skysurfing contributed to your exposure to the sport before you became a skydiver (it certainly did with me), be sure to mention that.

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

[idlewild70 0]

I also sent an email.

-Fish


Blue skies, Soft landings

[lisamariewillbe 1]

sent, I hope it helps , even though I am new

Sudsy Fist: i don't think i'd ever say this
Sudsy Fist: but you're looking damn sudsydoable in this

[masterrig 1]

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sent, I hope it helps , even though I am new

____________________________

Be sure and mention Douva! I'm sure, all the 'powers that be' in USPA know him.

Chuck

[HeatherB 0]

Skysurfing teams at the U.S. Nationals:

2004: 4 teams
2003: 7 teams
2002: 4 teams
2001: 6 teams
2000: 8 teams

Is skysurfing more popular in other countries?

I can't blame the USPA for getting rid of a category in which there are so few competitors. (Unless a whole bunch of teams do compete this year).

How will getting rid of the category hurt skydiving's exposure to whuffos? Whuffos don't even know there is such a thing as Nationals. The USPA isn't trying to prevent people from using skysurfing in TV ads and movies.

I understand that it sucks for you, but it's hard to justify having a category in which so few people compete...

[mailin 0]

What does it hurt to keep it included? I don't understand why it needs to be eliminated - does it cost lots of extra money to keep it or something?




Jen

Arianna Frances

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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fewer competitors ...

To drop skysurfing from U.S. competition simply because it doesn't draw the dozens of teams each year that the other disciplines do

Douva I love to watch skysurfing, but this says it all. You don't have enough teams to compete, and you're not drawing a bunch of new teams. Why would you keep it on a venue? 4 teams? How good can you really feel about placing 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in a field of 4? That's not a competition. That's an exhibition.

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in the early days of the X-Games.

X-games dropped them too. Same reasoning, if I recall.



Look, nobody is telling you that you can't skysurf anymore! An exhibition to draw further interest would probably further your sport more. That way you could all still be there and perform, but how can you truly be competing with so few teams?

Take a look at what other sports have done to draw popularity. Being able to say 'I got ANOTHER gold at nationals this year' can't be the highest goal on your mind, so explore better possibilities!

-BTW, if I was at the same point in my life I was ten years ago, I'd want to skysurf too.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[MakeItHappen 15]

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One of the agendas of the USPA Competition Committee when they meet on July 15-17 will be to eliminate Skysurfing from Nationals. Nationals is the last venue for competitive skysurfing in the United States, and even though the discipline has been going through a rebuilding period over the last two or three years, leading to fewer competitors than usual, it is still a viable modern skydiving discipline. Skysurfing requires as much skill as any discipline in skydiving. It is visually dynamic and one of the most recognizable disciplines to non-skydivers. Who in this sport hasn't had a whuffo or tandem student ask if they ever "jump with one of those boards?" To drop skysurfing from U.S. competition simply because it doesn't draw the dozens of teams each year that the other disciplines do dishonors the memories of the Rob Harris, Vic Pappadato, Jerry Loftis, and all of those who came before.

Please write your regional director (email, fax, or mail) and insist that skysurfing be kept alive. We particularly need the assistance of those of you in the Northeast Region. Northeast Regional Director Marylou Laughlin has spearheaded the movement to drop skysurfing from Nationals for several years now. Even if you don't see how this could possibly affect you, a non-skysurfer, please think of the history and heritage of skysurfing and what it has meant to the sport of skydiving. Skysurfing has brought positive exposure to the sport of skydiving through numerous commercials, print ads, TV shows, and movies. It also brought the first and only nationally televised skydiving events to the American public, in the early days of the X-Games. And please think about the skydivers, past and present, whose hard work and dedication will be lost forever if skysurfing disappears from U.S. competition.

It is refreshing to see jumpers become interested in what USPA is doing.

Here are a couple of suggestions:

1. Contact the entire Competition Comm. A motion needs to pass the committee first. If you can get it defeated there, you do not have to worry about the rest of the BOD. If a motion does pass the committee, then you need to find support for your cause among the other BOD members.

2. In your arguments, focus on the sport promotion aspect. With the USPA roster dwindling, any type of sport promotion would benefit USPA. I have seen most spectacular skysurf jumps. Are there videos out there promoting this to the general public? There are lots of commercials with skysurfing. Compile a list of those. Show how Nationals supported these commercials.

3. Take a hard look at the numbers. There are very real economic drivers that go into holding a competition. For example, Nationals hosts sometimes set entry fees on a per discipline basis. The fees have to cover judges' expenses and per-diems as well as a number of other costs besides jumps. If only two teams are expected to compete in Skysurfing, those two teams will have to pick up the tab. That would further inhibit future skysurfers from competing.

4. Find out why skysurfing has lost its following. I have no idea on why the heyday years of the x-games had lots of skysurfers and today there are only a few skysurfers. Perhaps it is because no one is teaching jumpers to become skysurfers? Maybe it is because there are no regional type competitions?

5. The history of skysurfing will not disappear if there is no USPA National skysurfing competition. That's kind of a weak argument.

.

.
Make It Happen
Parachute History
DiveMaker

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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4. Find out why skysurfing has lost its following. I have no idea on why the heyday years of the x-games had lots of skysurfers and today there are only a few skysurfers. Perhaps it is because no one is teaching jumpers to become skysurfers? Maybe it is because there are no regional type competitions?

I like this whole post, it's 'solution oriented'.
But the part I quoted above has me interested too. -Where would one learn how to skysurf in the first place? I haven't heard of any skysurfers in my state at all (doesn't mean that there aren't, but just that you'd think it would be a big deal if we had one.
Honestly, my husband is not licensed, but when he DOES finish his licensing (a ways off, but it will come some day) he REALLY wants to find someone to teach him to skysurf. It has been a dream of his since he was a kid, who knows, maybe prior to skysurfing actually being a sport. He just always imagined himself surfing in freefall. I promised him we would seek out someone to teach him when we reach that point.

-The general skydiving population probably isn't as mobile as we will be with our business, so how could a person learn this discipline and practice it regularly with so few places to learn?

Hey Douva! Why don't you franchise out a skysurf school...have the instructors trained, and then allow them to become competent enough to teach, and let them go forth and teach people at other DZ's! Maybe roaming instructors, much like the canopy control courses? I know people would show up just to learn more about it even if they don't make the next step and try it out. It would be a huge task, but you will open up your sport if you can do that.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[livendive 8]

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Hey Douva! Why don't you franchise out a skysurf school...have the instructors trained, and then allow them to become competent enough to teach, and let them go forth and teach people at other DZ's! Maybe roaming instructors, much like the canopy control courses? I know people would show up just to learn more about it even if they don't make the next step and try it out. It would be a huge task, but you will open up your sport if you can do that.

I believe something similar was tried by a couple different people several years ago, when skysurfing was still getting a little attention.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[PLFXpert 0]

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It is visually dynamic and one of the most recognizable disciplines to non-skydivers.

I can't argue whether or not the sport should be included in the Nationals. However, I can vouch for this statement, as skysurfing is really what first intrigued me about entering the sport. It wasn't until after I graduated AFF that I learned there are so many other disciplines than just jumping out and "hanging out" or riding a board, like I used to think as a whuffo.

I was very into wakeboarding in high school, so natually it was the skysurfing aspect of the sport that got me interested. Now, I just love to freefly and no longer have interest in trying out a board. I would if I were a professional jumper, but as a fun-jumper, it just isn't plausible for me.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[KevinMcGuire 0]

One year at nationals, Scott Smith was the the ONLY competitor in national skysurfing competitions. I suggested that after he completed his compulsory rounds that he then borrow a student rig and go out flat and stable then do practice rip cord pulls all the way to pull time. He still would have won the gold medal. Skysurfing is alive only in the world of wufos but here in the actual skydiving community, its as dead as a door nail.
If someone feels the strong desire to jump out of a plane with a piece of wood strapped to their feet thats cool but there just isn't enough interest anymore to justify holding comp rounds at nationals

[mailin 0]

How can you build interest without a national level competition to aspire to?

I've been interested in skysurfing for a long time, and look forward to trying it in a few years... I hope and pray it doesn't go away from competition, as it will never recover.


Jen

Arianna Frances

[riddler 0]

A better question is why has skysurfing dwindled in popularity? From USPA's website:

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The United States Parachute Association and its 34,000 member skydivers enjoy and promote safe skydiving through parachuting training, rating, and competition programs

Only a few years ago when I started jumping, I saw at least one sky-surfer every weekend. I really haven't seen any for the last year. OTOH, I rarely saw wingsuit jumpers back then, but today, I see them on nearly every plane load. There are only so many skydivers in the world, and our numbers aren't increasing at a rapid rate, but we have a wide variety of disciplines (RW, big-ways, freefly, CReW, wingsuits, et al), so each discipline has to compete for jumpers.

Other than occaisional competitions, I haven't seen a lot of promotion of skysurfing. Go to a large boogie, and you will see reps from wingsuit manufacturers and organizers that promote big-ways, freeflying, etc, but I've never seen skyboard reps at a boogie (no, I haven't looked that HARD for them ).

If skysurfers want their discipline to be promoted by USPA, it seems to me that they need to do more to promote it themselves first.

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[Ron 7]

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One of the agendas of the USPA Competition Committee when they meet on July 15-17 will be to eliminate Skysurfing from Nationals. Nationals is the last venue for competitive skysurfing in the United States, and even though the discipline has been going through a rebuilding period over the last two or three years, leading to fewer competitors than usual, it is still a viable modern skydiving discipline

If it were viable, it would be growing. It is not growing, it is in fact shrinking. The number of competitors is at an all time low.

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Skysurfing requires as much skill as any discipline in skydiving

Some might say more...But it does not change the fact that people are not doing it. And why spend time and money on an event with fewer and fewer teams every year?

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To drop skysurfing from U.S. competition simply because it doesn't draw the dozens of teams each year that the other disciplines do dishonors the memories of the Rob Harris, Vic Pappadato, Jerry Loftis, and all of those who came before.

No it does not.

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Even if you don't see how this could possibly affect you, a non-skysurfer, please think of the history and heritage of skysurfing and what it has meant to the sport of skydiving.

We don't do 10 way like we used to, 20 way went away, scoring rules for RW changed, Freestyle is all but dead, Style and ACC is dying...Its normal for things to change. This is nothing but another change.

The Xgames were dropped because it was not viable...It is still not viable or it would be healthy.

There were only four teams last year....Why keep an event with such a small group? It does not represent skydiving today. Thats only four people who jumped with a board...Compared to 4 way with its 71 teams thats 284 people.

280 more people did 4way at the Nationals...The focus should be on the event that represent the sport, not an obscure section.

Don't use emotion. Can you give me any other reason to keep it?

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[MakeItHappen 15]

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How can you build interest without a national level competition to aspire to?

The best people to ask about that would be
Lew Sanborn and Jacques Istel for S&A discipline,
several people (Skratch Garrison, Pat Works, BJ Worth) for RW discipline,
Tom Courbat for the CRW discipline,
several people (Carl Boenish, Joe Svec (deceased), Nick DiGiovanni, Andy Calistrat) for BASE discipline,
Dale Stuart, Tamara Koyn, Deanna Kent (deceased) and Mike Michigan et al for freestyle,
Olaf, Pat Works & several people (sorry I don't know the names off the top of my head) for vRW,
Jim Slaton, PD Team and Icarus Team for the Canopy Piloting discipline,
Jari Kusmo (sp?) and Loic for wingsuits.

Para-ski was popular in Europe before the US. There were Austrian and German comps that paved the way in the US.

All of these people popularized a discipline before it was a national competition.
We are still waiting on the BASE USPA Nationals and wingsuit USPA Nationals.
Besides National Comps do not drive the majority of jumpers. Most people jump because it is fun, different and challenging.

Unfortunately, a lot of the top dog skysurfers are dead now. The ones still alive are Robin ??, Scott Smith, Tanya Garcia. None of them skysurf anymore on a regular basis.

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I've been interested in skysurfing for a long time, and look forward to trying it in a few years... I hope and pray it doesn't go away from competition, as it will never recover.

There is no way you can definitely say that a discipline cannot recover. CRW was very popular in the 80s, then dwindled. Recently, it has a renewed following because of Chris Gay and Mike Lewis. There may not be that many CRW competitors, but the CRW discipline is in a growth stage now.

.

.
Make It Happen
Parachute History
DiveMaker

[lisamariewillbe 1]

got a response from the regional director for my area. He is speaking on behalf of keeping it in the comp's

Sudsy Fist: i don't think i'd ever say this
Sudsy Fist: but you're looking damn sudsydoable in this

[heltzer 0]

Thank you!!!

Based on what my National and Regional Directors have told me, they do not hear from their constituents nearly enough on almost any topic. So, anyone sending any correwspondence to their represenative will have a significany impact. They want to hear from you! That's that they're there for.

MORE IMPORTANTLY --> Please send a copy to [email protected], ATTN Board of Directors in the Subject. That way EVERY Board member will recieve a copy at this weekend's board meeting.

Blue Skies!!!

Lawrence

[Douva 0]

Thank you to everyone who is standing behind skysurfing--We definitely need your support! Please continue to spread the word to your fellow skydivers to let the USPA know that the skydiving community still cares about skysurfing!

The popularity of skysurfing has definitely dwindled over the last few years, but this is do to many factors unrelated to its viability as a competitive sport.

Here is a brief breakdown of the rise and fall of skysurfing:

When the X-Games came along and made skysurfing the first lucrative skydiving discipline for competitors, everybody and their camera-flying grandmother got a board and started looking for sponsors. When the X-Games dropped skysurfing, a lot of people’s interest disappeared with the cash prizes.

For a short time skysurfing was looked at as the macho alternative to freestyle, but free flying revolutionized “alternative” body flight, and skysurfing lost its macho, anti-belly flying appeal.

The final and I feel most damaging blow to skysurfing was the loss of most of the sport’s pioneers during its early days. Patrick de Gayardon (first skysurfer), Jerry Loftis (first American skysurfer, founder of Surf Flite), Rob Harris (first American to win the world championship, first X-Games gold medalist, arguably the best skysurfer ever), and Vic Pappadato (Troy Hartman’s teammate/camera flyer, gold medalist in the second X-Games) all died between 1995 and 1998 (all within 5 years of the first skysurfing competition). Of these four, only Jerry Loftis died in a skysurfing related accident.

Where would free flying be today if people like Olav Zipser and Omar Alhegelan hadn’t been around to see it brought to fruition? Skysurfing is not an outdated discipline like style and accuracy; it just needs time to rebuild after these unfortunate setbacks. One of the hurdles in rebuilding is the lack of qualified coaches around the country. I’ve talked to a number of skydivers at boogies and online who would like to learn to skysurf but have nobody to teach them. Those of us still performing chest compressions on this discipline are trying to make training available and get more jumpers qualified to coach skysurfing, but it takes time.

The USPA has sunk a lot of money into trying to get media coverage for Nationals over the next two years. I can almost guarantee you the first thing the news networks are going to ask for when it comes times to air clips--They’re going to want to see footage of some maniac with a board strapped to his feet spinning like an out-of-control ceiling fan because that’s the image of competitive skydiving the general public knows. Canopy swooping and free flying and RW are all fun to watch, but skysurfing has an undeniable “wow” factor that the general public loves. I come across non-skydivers all the time who remember watching skysurfing on ESPN. Skysurfing hasn’t been on TV in nearly five years, but most people will swear they’ve seen it within the last year or so because that’s how strong the image of a well executed “henhouse surprise” or “helicopter” or “tidy bowl in the hole” is for a non-skydiver.

If skysurfing is to survive, it needs competitions to drive it. USPA is considering dropping a discipline that has probably done as much for the image and popularity of skydiving as any in the sport’s history--That’s not right!

--Douva

PS. Anybody who’s interested in learning to skysurf, get out to California or Arizona or Texas or Florida or anywhere you can find that offers training, get on a board, and give it a whirl. If you can make it to Skydive San Marcos (south of Austin) this summer, I’ll train you for the cost of my jumps.

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

[heltzer 0]

Ron,

One of the critical missions USPA is now fighting is getting our membership back up. It has dropped 10% in the last year and USPA has hired a professional marketing firm to help stop the hemoraging.

The only way to do that is with more positive exposure of our sport to the public. Eliminating skysurf or freestyle will not help. BTW, having those disciplines in Nationals costs the dz nothing. The entry fees cover the lifts, medals, judges and swag bags.

As for skysurfing as a marketing tool, I and several of my peers have done several commercial shoots (print ads and filmed) that have inspired people to try skydiving. Almost every weekend at my dz I meet someone who said they were inspired by skysurfing they saw on tv or in a magazine and it was one of the reasons they decided to try skydiving.

Now I can't disagree with you on the the number of skysurfing/freestyle/S&A competitors at Nationals. It's pathetic. And I'm trying to do what I can to turn that around. But I ask you, looking at the big picture and how USPA is trying to increase membership, how will eliminating these events from Nationals help our sport?

Lawrence

[skyyhi 0]

I love your passion for what you do. Lawrence too. . .I've watched Lawrence in action a few times and its just an awesome thing to watch.

I hope it doesn't die away from competition and I will do my part to help it stay, but I also hope you can get more people interested in competition. There are more than 4 skysurfers out there. . .try to get more of them out for competition so that this becomes a moot point and the USPA quits trying to kill it.

________________________________________
Take risks not to escape life… but to prevent life from escaping. ~ A bumper sticker at the DZ
FGF #6
Darcy