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mdrejhon

Lake Wales DWR 2005: Successful Attempt on 7th

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Newsflash! (Wireless hotspot here at Lake Wales by laptop)

16-way all-deaf formation skydive successful earlier today! I wasn't on this load (they had to reduce the number of participants temporarily), but 16 deaf skydivers made history at Lake Wales beating the record for the biggest all-deaf formation skydive. The formation held for an amazing 20 seconds till breakoff altitude!

Not all was lost for me -- I had two firsts (BEER!)

I also did first no-contact CRW. (Almost contact -- 1 feet from bump end cells -- close but not quite. Two hop and pops at 14500 feet in one day. Very tiring since I was holding variable brakes most of the way down!)

And my first night jump. (That expensiive $45 Luxeon LED headlamp I bought before coming here, really helped. About 100 feet range and a nice soft night straight-in turf surf as a result! Had the lightsticks and strobe too.) Not night RW like the others did, but I was on the same load but on a separate jump run pass. After I landed, I gave my lightsticks to some little kids and parents who were watching the night jumpers land! This must be what demo jumping feel like...)

I will now be on the next loads tomorrow, where we will try to beat the record with up to a 20-way. Wish me luck. I'm possibly the least experienced jumper (127 jumps since I started this year), and have to fly to my slot. Wish me luck. I only have a 1 out of 3 success in "flying to my slot" in a biggish-way (Almost 3 out of 3, on the other two, I briefly docked but screwed up and went unstable and flew low (thankfully not wrecking anybody's existing slot). Then I got moved to the base, and my linked CASA exits were all good, but a few others also screwed up, so they reduced the group size temporarily. Now it's the same formation again but with the rest of the jumpers being added to the existing formation. 20 seconds should be plenty of time for me to dock leisurely... (The 16-way held for 20 seconds)

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Good luck.

Who was on the 16 way record.


BTW, get John Woo to do a shot from me. Tell him I said, "I love it when he signs drunk to me".
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

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They'll likely put up some information and pictures on the website at www.deafskydivers.org. I believe that BBC will broadcast a piece of it sometime later on (I'm not sure of exact details, but we had one person from BBC visiting with us)

Being one of the lowest-number jumper in the formation... We tried a few more times but unfortunately, we ran out of attempts to break the record with all thew low jumpers added back into the formation (myself included). We kept building 10-ways and 11-ways, sometimes with me in it and sometimes without me in it. Damn! We were all very tired and sore by the last day. Kind of dissapointed at that, but needless to say, it was exciting to be flying with 20 others.

I learned a lot - I can free belly fly to my quadrant relatively quickly (side sliding around to the other side if necessary), but when close to my slot, catching up with the base was often fiendishly difficult, and I sometimes got unstable as I got close or taking a grip. Burbles and drifts. (Thankfully, I never wrecked the formation). Getting low. Turning 90 degrees, getting away from formation, and trying to cup like hell. (succeeded sometimes). My new jumpsuit and helmet takes some time getting used to. The formation kept getting rearranged. The base fell faster in later attempts. Quite a learning experience.

And man, tracking to save my life can be an exciting moment (and occasionally scary). Two stage breakoff. Glad I praticed those 6 tracking solos and the 3-way scrambles competition before I went. Tracking like hell. A couple of times, somebody flew faster underneath me and I had to make a quick track-turn correction and intentionally go all the way down to 2500 feet twice (lowest pulls for me during this trip). On one time, I had somebody above me too that caused me to turn and track further, wait for clear air (pull 2500-3000). And waving/pulling so immediately after tracking and looking up to clear air, is a very brisk canopy opening (ooooooof!). Although I wasn't the best tracker, I certainly wasn't the worst... Nobody has complained to me about my tracking and had plenty of separation. Sometimes I was the guy to open the farthest away (I think - I was pretty far from a cluster canopies that appeared closer together than I was to them).

The highlight of this trip would definitely be the night jump and the high altitude canopy flights (three flights at 13000 feet and above). The 18/20 way attempts were fun too (especially the low pressure practice jumps), except for a couple of them, more especially when some of us were tired and frustrated. I guess I'll have to wait till 2007 or 2008 for the next Deaf World Record attempt. By then, I hope I'll have done the Canadian National Record formation skydive. Knock on wood!

All year long I was looking forward to being part of the record, but at the very least I was there and learned a lot. Next year, I got to find some RW camps (including 20-ways) that's not too far from home. ;)

Some of the people in the formations were very experienced, including one that was part of the 357-way world record (And I think there are at least one other, at least the 300-way world record or the 246-way).

Lesson learned: Bring more money for tunnel time. 15 minutes wasn't nearly enough!

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Lesson learned: Bring more money for tunnel time. 15 minutes wasn't nearly enough!



Not even close;)
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

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Mark,
you forgot to tell everyone how great the new Optima visual warning alerts from Larson & Brusgaaud were! http://www.l-and-b.dk/
my Alitimeter broke on one jump at 7,000 feet but I still had visual flashing warning alerts at 4,500 feet 3000 feet and 2000 feet NICE too bad these were demo / protype unints from Larson & Brusgaaud for us to test and evaluate. a big thanks to Larson & Brusgaaud!!

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Yeah the L & B optima warning systems(LED and LCD) were GREAT! I loved the LED and hope to get one soon. Excellent for us deafies since we can't hear the pro-track. It has 3 warnings for freefall time and then another 3 warnings for under canopy(great for swooping-thats my opinion). Big thanks to John Woo for working with Mads at L & B on getting these demos for us deafies to try out before they go on the market.
On another note...the DWR event was wonderful! I had a great time. It was so great to meet other deaf skydivers, their families and fans from all over the world. I can't wait until the next DWR or any event where I'll get to see my new friends again. :)A big thanks to Billy, Fred and John for organizing a kick ass DWR event!!! You guys rock!;) Big thanks to the vidiots, John and Tom, for their support,videos and photos. Big thanks to the packers, Lori, Ryan and another guy that helped out some at times. Big thanks to Lake Wales staff for making us feel welcomed there and all of their help and support.
:)B|:D
PMS #113
PMTS #19

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Yes, L&B was excellent to provide 10 demo units for the event. The clear LCD one works okay if you have it in front of one of your eyes (it darkens and brightens your vision, essentially). But if I bought one, I will be getting the LED instead. It fit my Paratec FREEZR helmet very well, even though it wasn't designed to hold an audible very well. The LED cable routed behind the padding very easily.

Please don't forget to send an email to Larson & Brusgaaud at http://www.l-and-b.dk to thank them for the demos, and to ask how much it would cost to buy. They may give you a discount because we were essentially testers for these deaf-friendly 'flashing' audible altimeters.

Remember, these audibles are a last resort (mentioning this, because some of us have never used an audible before) -- don't use them as a substitute for breakoff. Many dropzones requires these audibles if you start to freefly for example. If I get one of these, I plan to configure these in a "you screwed up" configuration (Instead of setting them at breakoff, I'll be setting them something like 250-500 feet below breakoff -- to tell me I messed up a breakoff. Haven't yet, but this is how I want to use an audible, as an 'idiot reminder'...)

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I can't wait until the next DWR or any event where I'll get to see my new friends again.
A big thanks to Billy, Fred and John for organizing a kick ass DWR event!!!

Same here too! A bit dissapointed I wasn't part of the record, but it's nice to know all the planning that goes into a big way event with people from all over the world flying in for one event.

Next goal for me: Canadian National Big-Way record? (I know, I'll have to keep praticing -- I've got to pratice in a lot more 15-ways and 20-ways first. Perhaps at places like Skydive Burnaby, Nouvel Air, and Gananoque Twin Otter weekends next year...).

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If you really want to improve your big way skills, log on the the Perris Valley website and see when the next big way camp is. You will learn more there then any place else.
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

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If you really want to improve your big way skills, log on the the Perris Valley website and see when the next big way camp is. You will learn more there then any place else.

Excellent idea. But, at this stage, I want to travel more locally (within Canada) to smaller 20-way camps until I am experienced enough for a 60-to-100way camp -- then I will be happy to travel all the way to Perris! Too expensive to fly that far for a year or so (~$700)

Or instead, I could be a jack-of-all-trades and start freefly, swooping, wingsuit, etc. Perhaps I will...

But, I might as well try to become a good bellyflyer, and I'd like to eventually become a capable bigway flyer. Man, being a part of the more complicated logistics for a 20-way 'world record event' sure make me appreciate how challenging it is for a LO for that successful 357-way event. Hiro Masuda, showed me helmet cam video of him, from the camera of the bellyflyer behind him (Hiro), and I saw him fly all the way from the airplane to his slot in the 357-way from the C-130 Hercules. Quite awesome and inspiring. At the time of the record, I believe he said he had 990 jumps and 20 hours of tunnel time. (One can dream about being in a 425-way world record in the year 2012...)

(Reminder to myself: ;-) Next time I travel and camp in a tent, I'll remember to bring an air mattress. I was tired and sometimes frustrated by the 4th and 5th day sleeping in a sleeping bag in a tent on hard ground! And I pitched that tent in a hard rain on the first day. No fun.

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(Reminder to myself: ;-) Next time I travel and camp in a tent, I'll remember to bring an air mattress. I was tired and sometimes frustrated by the 4th and 5th day sleeping in a sleeping bag in a tent on hard ground!



If I remember correct, Lake Wales is not in the middle of no where. You couldn't get to the local Wal Mart and buy a pad?

Don't be a victim:ph34r:
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

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If I remember correct, Lake Wales is not in the middle of no where. You couldn't get to the local Wal Mart and buy a pad?

I didn't even rent a car. Yes, I thought about asking someone to drive me. But we were all so busy, that by the time of the 3rd-4th day, and after my fun and successful night jump, I wasn't going to bother... Granted, after my 4th and 5th nights, I was starting to be a little grumpy, having failed to be part of the record. But ah well -- live and learn!

After spending a low 5 figures CDN for skydiving in 2005 (gear costs, travel costs included), budget does get tight for optional luxuries like car and motel/hotel ;)

Next year, I'll likely spend only one third the amount for the same number of jumps, since I'm now all geared up and with all the necessary licenses to continue my field of interest.

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If you really want to improve your big way skills, log on the the Perris Valley website and see when the next big way camp is. You will learn more there then any place else.



Or look for Guy Wright's list of scheduled appearances. He knows a good number of us well. There should be a few events not too far from you. He used to be the DZ manager for The Ranch in New York, if I'm not mistaken. I love his style of organizing, and John and I have used a good amount of his techniques on this Deaf World Record, especially when I took back the base captain duties. :)
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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Thanks Cat!

You are one helluva flyer for your experience!!! I have seen many 1000-jump skydivers (hearing) that you would have out-done had they been on the jumps. The same goes for Colin. Skydive Virginia must be doing something right... :)
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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Good luck.

Who was on the 16 way record.


BTW, get John Woo to do a shot from me. Tell him I said, "I love it when he signs drunk to me".



Since the website host has not fixed the ftp access problem yet, we won't be able to update the website until they do. Until then, here's the list:

Record Holders:
1. Billy Vance - Alabama, USA
2. John Woo - Maryland, USA
3. Fred Goebel - Texas, USA
4. Mike Sweet - Alabama, USA
5. Jane Chapman - Florida, USA
6. Mike Boland - Texas, USA
7. Wesley Brown - Texas, USA
8. Catherine Kennedy - Virginia, USA
9. Colin Wells - Virginia, USA
10. Charl de Villiers - Texas, USA
11. Hiro Masuda - Japan
12. Mads Moriggi - Norway
13. Alan Thompson - England
14. Ian Rayner - England
15. Stuart Wilson - England
16. Pete Davis - England

Other record attempt participants:

17. Andrew Christian - South Carolina, USA
18. Kelly Chrisman - Virginia, USA
19. Akira Ishikawa - Japan
20. Mark Rejhon - Canada

Other fun jumpers in attendance:

21. Tim Powell - England
22. Betsi Turley - England

Retired or past jumpers in attendance:

23. Hubert Becher - California, USA (first ever Deaf Skydiver 1964 - 1980)
24. Marc Rubin - Texas, USA

Two other world records set!

3 point 10 way SCR world record sequential, Friday, October 14, 2005:

1. Billy Vance
2. John Woo
3. Fred Goebel
4. Mike Sweet
5. Jane Chapman
6. Catherine Kennedy
7. Colin Wells
8. Hiro Masuda
9. Mads Moriggi
10. Alan Thompson

Night World Record 3 point 8 way NSCR sequential, Saturday, October 15, 2005:

1. Billy Vance
2. John Woo
3. Fred Goebel
4. Mike Sweet
5. Hiro Masuda
6. Alan Thompson
7. Wesley Brown
8. Mads Moriggi


And Mar: John's good friend Mona finally got to see John giggle like a kid after he'd had ONE beer! ONE BEER!!! :D:D:D
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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I forgot to mention that those of you who were on the world record 3 point 10 way daytime jump and the 3 point 8 way night jump have earned your SCR and NSCR awards. Those who docked 8th and later earned your SCS and NSCS awards, if you haven't already. B|
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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Damn it... I forgot to mention Fred Reichel from Philadelphia, PA!

He came down looking to finish up his AFF training from Cross Keys. Made and passed the final three AFF levels this past Saturday at Lake Wales and is our newest Deaf Skydiver!

Way to go, Fred!!! B|
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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Hey you, where is my shirt?

I wanted to show my deaf students the shirt and website tonight.

Kick John Woo around a bit to get him to update the site.
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

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Hey you, where is my shirt?

I wanted to show my deaf students the shirt and website tonight.

Kick John Woo around a bit to get him to update the site.



I just talked to him this morning. He's been very busy since he got back home yesterday. The FTP access to the web site finally got fixed, and he knows that you're wanting a shirt. So he hasn't forgotten... ;) what size did you want?
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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You know, I could just get off my lazy ass and contact John myself:ph34r: But I like whinning better.

Tell John I need a med. Thanks.

Oh, and if some one can keep me posted as to when the site is update, so I can show my deaf students, I'd so love them.
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

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