CSS was INCREDIBLE

[Stacy 0]

What a boogie! Each jump was more incredible than the one before. I managed to get into a Big Way Skills Camp there with Lyle Presse, Derreck Thomas and Mike Tremaine. INCREDIBLE. Got up to a 41 way formation. My 200th was a 28 way from 8 grand that actually built, 3 point 21 way with 2 kiss passes in the base, banana eating jumps, you name it. Did some more CRW down there, including my first (beer) rotations jumps (3.5 rotations) into a downplane. Met some great people, won some things from mirage. Got pied and almost choked to death, please do not use flour in the future as it clogs the airways. Cobalt demo was great, It's a fabulous canopy. And I got my D license. go figure. what more can yuo ask for from 10 months in the sport?
I love skydiving.
Blues~
Stacy
http://astro.temple.edu/~sweeks

[venwood 0]

Congrats!!!!
Sounded like an incredible day!
Safe landings on the next 100!
Venwood

[froggie 0]

stac,
so happy for ya! and im glad that i was there for most of it. Oh yeah, its an official rule now, no flour when ya pie somebody. It doesnt have good outcomes. Friends step in, try to help. next thing they know theyve got vodka and cranburry juice all over themselves. hehe. But anywhoo, it was an awesome boogie, and im really happy that you did so much. Congrats on the CReW. I know that you loved that!
kel

[Slowfaller 0]

I gotta give you a huge congrats!!! D license!!! Awesome jumps!!! 41-way!!!! sounds like heaven
Shut up and rock ass hole!!
chris

[Greg 0]

WOW!!! What an action packed weekend, when does the movie come out. Congrats!!
Greg A-37958

[skreamer 1]

Quote

And I got my D license. go figure. what more can yuo ask for from 10 months in the sport?

Whoa, you have done well! Congratulations Stacy!
/s

[froggie 0]

Quote

when does the movie come out

hehe. if you only knew Greg. we watched a very amusing video of stacy yesterday... sort of like a collection of different skydives of hers. Ask her about how she took out both her JM's during AFF... now that was a riot to watch! oh yeah, she can really sit fly too! lol
kel

[Greg 0]

Quote

Ask her about how she took out both her JM's during AFF...

OK Stacy, it looks like the cat has been released, so spill it!!!

[Stacy 0]

it's not that hard, i just put my feet on my ass, which makes you sink like hell. the JMs collided heads. =c)
Stacy
http://astro.temple.edu/~sweeks

[Greg 0]

WOW, Nobody hurt, I hope!!! Did you get video??

[skreamer 1]

You mean both your AFF JMs FLOATED on YOU??? Well now I feel a whole lot better. Bet it was really embarrassing for them to have it caught on video too!

/s
[drop till you party!]

[slotperfect 7]

Next boogie at CSS I'm coming up to meet you guys in person. I am about 1 1/2 hours South, so I really don't have any excuse. Easter weekend is a big family holiday for us though, so I knew I wouldn't make that one. I was hoping to sneak up there one morning to watch Ted Strong drop his Airborne ATV, but I failed miserably. I just checked the website . . . the next big to-do is Memorial Day. I'll put it on the calendar now.
Respectfully,
SP

[Stacy 0]

I dont think kel or I will be there memorial day. CSS is a Thanksgiving-Easter thing for us, Memorial Weekend is a huge weekend at Cross Keys~ freefly jam and a lot of other stuff happening... =c)
Stacy
http://astro.temple.edu/~sweeks

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

My wife, Kris, and I got there about midnight on Thursday and there were still about 30 people around the fire whooping it up. We had an easy time finding an electrical hookup for our Winnie, "the mystery machine", right next to Alan Davis' and J. Porter's trailers so all was well. We finally crashed about 3am, then got up at 7:15 and started looking for coffee. Hooked up with Mike Tremen right away and did all but one of the big way jumps over the weekend. Smallest was a seven-point 12 way, biggest a 41 way, favorite probably a two-point 28 way. Mike and Cliff, plus Lyle Presse, did a good job of organizing. I made 11 of the "big ways" total over the weekend. It was good running into some old friends.
To "slot perfect", who I believe is John Hawke: The ATV drops were pretty interesting. The one I watched on Friday landed off DZ due to a shit spot, but landed on it's wheels and drove off. Sorry you missed it. It oscillated pretty bad under drogue; would have been neat to see in FF.
My canopy sponsor, Dan Preston of Atair, was there with a bunch of demos. Everyone seemed pleased with the Cobalt. We only had one kid chop one (premature brake release that he did not notice before pulling his handle) and one other have a near miss with a parked C-182 on Sunday (it was windy).
There will be lots of video shots of the boogie on the next Mad Track video magazine. Chris shot tons of footage of jumps, plus of all the gear vendors on site. He also dubbed lots of footage from many of the other vidiots on site.
Speaking of gear vendors: Thanks to Jari and Kim for hooking me and Dan up with BirdMan jumps. If any of you have yet to do this, GET ON IT! I had a complete blast and had a two-minute-plus freefall. "White with Orange wings, please!"
Bottom line: $17 to 14,500 (or better!), great organizing, good vibes, whacky Saturday night happenings. If you were there; great! See you next time.
Chuck Blue
D-12501
Atair Factory Pilot

[Tee 0]

Chuck and Stacy, sounds like you guys had an awesome weekend. *bowing down* hee hee
Chuck, small world to see you here. I bought gear off of you last October (Lori's gear). Good to talk with you again! Tee

[Grogs 0]

Quote

Everyone seemed pleased with the Cobalt. We only had one kid chop one (premature brake release that he did not notice before pulling his handle)

BWAHAHAHA
Sorry, I couldn't help but laugh about that. That was my friend Chip that chopped the Cobalt, and I got the pleasure of following it down (or at least trying to, I hit the field next to it anyway). From what he tells me, it was a, ummm... packing error. The risers on one side were twisted up pretty tight, and after several seconds the canopy began to dive off so he chopped it. As near as we can figure it, he somehow managed to flip the bag through some lines when he packed it. In any case, I just thought it was pretty funny you mentioned it. We stopped by our home DZ on the way home Sunday and everybody was walking around calling him 'Chop, Chop'

[notmmrw1 0]

I am glad you were under that cobalt canopy that got cutaway to make the assessment that is was a premature brake release...I think I can say that it was not. No one saw what the risers looked like but me and i can tell you that it was fucked up. Not just a premature brake release. I know the difference. Better safe than sorry so when it started to turn after trying to get the twisted risers undone several times I decided to let it go. Other wise the canopy was great I really enjoyed it. Flys great and flares great.....Can get a good swoop straight.
Chip

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

Yep, when Dan looked at the retrieved main he kind of cracked up. He asked the guy: "so, it was spinning left?" (maybe it was right, but you get the point). "The right toggle is unstowed, but the left is still stowed." DUH! We laughed about it and besides, it's all good, the main was not lost or damaged. The kid on Sunday was jumping a Cobalt 150 demo and barely missed the tail of the Cessna, then his main got blown over the tail; almost ugly, but again, no damage. Once again, it was windy on Sunday. It was actually pretty windy up top the whole weekend. The Strong ATV thing was blown downwing during drogue-fall, then got ZERO penetration on the way down, thus the off-DZ landing. That thing uses a 1,200 sq ft main!
Chuck

[skreamer 1]

You were the pilot, it was your call. IMHO (as a low-timer who has not chopped yet) you did the right thing and the fact that you are posting now and didn't hurt yourself trying to land a crook main proves it.
My £0.01/$0.02

[notmmrw1 0]

You were the pilot, it was your call. IMHO (as a low-timer who has not chopped yet) you did the right thing and the fact that you are posting now and didn't hurt yourself trying to land a crook main proves it.
Yep..I know I did the right thing.....why take a chance landing something that isnt right and starts to fly to the right....And both toggles were stowed and the risers on the right hand side were not looking real good.
Thanks for the words of encouragement skreamer...much appreciated
Chip

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

"I am glad you were under that cobalt canopy that got cutaway to make the assessment that is was a premature brake release...I think I can say that it was not."
I am not saying that your main was not hooked up improperly, quite possibly assisting in your spin-up, but I can personally attest that the one brake was still firmly stowed upon inspection. Either way, once again, it's all good and you had an uneventful reserve ride and other successful Cobalt rides. Luckily, it wasn't ME that hooked your main up! I have two reserve rides in 20 years in the sport; once because I mis-rigged a riser set installing a small canopy which just would NOT fly straight in that configuration, so I know the feeling brother.
Chuck Blue
D-12501
Atair Factory Pilot

[skreamer 1]

hey guys
Can we please let this go already? I respect the fact that Chuck doesn't want the Cobalt being portrayed in a negative light on a forum as widely followed as dz.com. However it was Chip's ass in that saddle and I really don't think it is fair to second guess him in this public manner. I care more about the fact that Chip wasn't another casualty on an already bad weekend, and one reserve ride on a Cobalt is not going to make me rush off to buy a Crossfire instead (one day when I get tired of my Cruiselite '220 loaded at 0.8 that is!).
/s

[notmmrw1 0]

I agree....I am done......I had a great weekend and learned I could save my own life...Thanks for the input skymonkey one and Skreamer. All is good...Blue skies for everyone.
Chip