It's August...Anyone else missing the WFFC

[jaffo 0]

I left the sport in 2001 and was sad to hear/read that the WFFC was gone when I came back.

I'm not sure why no one has stepped up to organize a large gathering like this since. Has got to be money in it and usually there's 5 people lined up for ideas that make money.

Ryder

Take chances, just do it with all the information to make good decisions!!

Muff Brother# 2706 Dudeist Skydiver# 121.5

[Amazon 7]

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I left the sport in 2001 and was sad to hear/read that the WFFC was gone when I came back.

I'm not sure why no one has stepped up to organize a large gathering like this since. Has got to be money in it and usually there's 5 people lined up for ideas that make money.

Ryder

Nope

[PhreeZone 15]

With turbines at just about every DZ it just does not have near the appeal that it did in the 90's when it was about the only place most people could go and have multiple turbines waiting for them. Last WFFC I was at it was a sad sight to see the Casa's parked for an hour or two at a time since there were not enough jumpers to keep them flying all day.

Having it at a non DZ really increased the costs. The Tents, the facility rental, etc.. it was not cheap to put on and that's why a lot of the current events are held at a DZ - it reduces part of the cost.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[airtwardo 6]

Granted but it WAS fun...I missed the last few because of conflicts regarding paying demo gigs. Backed off on the number of gigs and they quit the convention!

It would be interesting to have one say every 5 years with the idea of offering something worth coming to from everywhere in the world.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[Amazon 7]

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It would be interesting to have one say every 5 years with the idea of offering something worth coming to from everywhere in the world.

Someplace with good weather would be a good start

[jaffo 0]

I can see the expense.

While the turbines were definately a draw for me having come from a cessna DZ, I really loved the festival atmosphere.

All the manufacturers in one spot. The ability to jump with the biggest names in the sport. Thousands of jumps per day.

I haven't seen anything that big at the DZ's.

Take chances, just do it with all the information to make good decisions!!

Muff Brother# 2706 Dudeist Skydiver# 121.5

[sundevil777 93]

It would be nice if it was more like an exotic location/vacation with other activity possibilities such as scuba diving, etc. than camping in the middle of the midwest (plenty of opportunities to do that). The boogie in Bali (about 1990?) comes to mind as an example.

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[dninness 4]

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I haven't seen anything that big at the DZ's.

Richmond Revisited (and other names) was a close 2nd to the Convention. Sadly, I believe 2009 was the last year for that boogie, and even then, it was a mere shell of its former self.

(yes, I know, Richmond was a DZ, too, but you don't see too many regular old DZs bringing in 2 Otters, 2 CASAs, the Mullins King Air, and then a helo, a Gooney Bird or a Twin Beech, etc. Sure, the bigger places like Z-Hills and Skydive AZ could host those kinds of events, and they sort of do with Christmas boogies and such)

I never did get to the WFFC, and I really wish I'd made that extra effort to get to it. I think a lot of us took it for granted that "It'll be there next year, too.."

NIN
D-19617, AFF-I '19

[NWFlyer 2]

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It would be nice if it was more like an exotic location/vacation with other activity possibilities such as scuba diving, etc. than camping in the middle of the midwest (plenty of opportunities to do that). The boogie in Bali (about 1990?) comes to mind as an example.

Well, boogies like that still exist (Boogie in Belize is a great example). But given the significant extra expense of going somewhere like that, those are necessarily going to stay relatively small. Belize was phenomenal, but when you add in airfare, food, and lodging, not to mention the higher boogie costs due to the location/ferry fees, etc., it's not for every budget. A big boogie in the U.S. can attract people who can drive, pitch a tent, and eat PB&J sammiches all day as well as people who can afford the more exotic boogies.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[billvon 2,400]

>Someplace with good weather would be a good start

The nightly storms (and occasional weather days) added to the fun for me at Quincy and Rantoul. Nothing like a good storm and a collapsing tent to make a wet Tshirt competition more interesting.

[grimmie 173]

I have discussed starting a large WFFC type boogie with a few of my pals. There are some drawbacks these days to an event like that.
The start up funding will have to be rather large.
DZ owners don't really want to ferry their planes to the midwest.
Most people are within an hour or two of a turbine to jump.
The economy will keep jumpers from attending.
And does anyone really want to put up with 3,000+ skydivers in one spot??
It takes about six months of planning to run the Boogie in Belize, with about 140 participants. A WFFC type event would take a couple of years of planning to run smoothly.

[skybytch 259]

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The nightly storms (and occasional weather days) added to the fun for me at Quincy and Rantoul.

Me too. Hanging out in the big hangar at Rantoul while the storm raged outside was a lot of fun, as was watching the hop and Cypres fire loads on that low cloud day.

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Nothing like a good storm and a collapsing tent to make a wet Tshirt competition more interesting.

Or a good storm the night of the toga party...

WFFC was awesome, I'm glad I got to see and be a part of it for a few years, even if I did miss the glory years in Quincy.

[ChrisL 2]

My first WFFC was the last one before they ended it.

I'm glad I at least got to go to one before it ended. It might not have been the best one they ever put on, but I had a blast and made a lot of jumps.

Some non-standard jumps I made included the Perris DC-9 and jumping from 23,000 ft from Mike Mullins King Air.

Lots of cool memories

__

My mighty steed

[jaffo 0]

You're right about the work involved. Kerlin had a staff and worked on it all year.

As far as a location, I used to be a biker and I made the pilgrimages to Sturgis. If they can put up with 500,000 bikers, we ought to be able to find a place that can handle 5000 skydivers.....we're not children of the corn afterall.

Even if we had to do it at a large DZ like Florida or Arizona, it could be special to get the entire skydiving world together. I loved the parties at WFFC.

Take chances, just do it with all the information to make good decisions!!

Muff Brother# 2706 Dudeist Skydiver# 121.5

[jumpwally 0]

naw,,,,the Glory years were the Freak Brother Conventions

smile, be nice, enjoy life
FB # - 1083

[jumpwally 0]

naw,,,,the Glory years were the Freak Brother Conventions

smile, be nice, enjoy life
FB # - 1083

[DrewEckhardt 0]

Yup.

As 'the' boogie you'd run into most of your skydiving friends from other places, load organizing for any sort of jump was great, there were enough co-ed naked skydivers to fill entire planes, aerobatic helicopter rides are oodles of fun, there was no waiting when you were not particular about aircraft type, there was any sort of gear you'd want to demo (skysurf, wingsuit, canopies), and the food (you're not going to get alligator gumbo at most DZs) was good.

The partying was good too.

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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>Someplace with good weather would be a good start

The nightly storms (and occasional weather days) added to the fun for me at Quincy and Rantoul. Nothing like a good storm and a collapsing tent to make a wet Tshirt competition more interesting.

I liked the hop-and-pops from Mike Mullins' King Air on one of the days we were clouded over. I think the one minute call may have been before take off.

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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It would be interesting to have one say every 5 years with the idea of offering something worth coming to from everywhere in the world.

Someplace with good weather would be a good start

What, you don't like 95-105 degree days with 65-80% humidity (when not raining)?

[Amazon 7]

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It would be interesting to have one say every 5 years with the idea of offering something worth coming to from everywhere in the world.

Someplace with good weather would be a good start

What, you don't like 95-105 degree days with 65-80% humidity (when not raining)?

Nah.. just not down for that sort of thing


After having grown up in a climatologically abusive family where we spent winters in Wisconsin and summers in Florida I appriciate good weather far more than most people do.

If I am going to take a week of my rather limited vacation time out a hugely busy schedule, I would like to maximize the amount of jumping that I can do rather than watching thunderstorms bordering on being supercells. Hell if I want to do storm chasing.. I have friends in tornado alley that have been bugging me to come visit and go storm chasing.

[billvon 2,400]

> I think the one minute call may have been before take off.

Indeed. The toughest part was getting ready to exit in near zero-G (since exit occurred at the top of the parabola.)

[CSpenceFLY 1]

The days of the 3000 to 5000 jumper boogies are over. The specialty aircraft are hard to find and very expensive to ferry. Not saying some kind of reunion boogie couldn't be put together but it will never be like the WFFC again.

If done right you would not need a ton of money to put something together. What you would need is participation from all of the small groups in the sport on a volunteer basis.

[docjohn 0]

Yup. Used to be WFFC in august, Couch Freaks Labor Day.

WFFC is gone but Couch Freaks is still happening. Be there

Doc
http://www.manifestmaster.com/video

[BikerBabe 0]

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I can see the expense.

While the turbines were definately a draw for me having come from a cessna DZ, I really loved the festival atmosphere.

All the manufacturers in one spot. The ability to jump with the biggest names in the sport. Thousands of jumps per day.

I haven't seen anything that big at the DZ's.

I have.

It happens every year. All the big companies, tons of skydivers all in one place, hundreds and hundreds of jumps being made...

It's called Nationals. Not as much pure partying, but all that other stuff you said, good friends jumping together, doing what they love, etc.

Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

[Snowwhite 0]

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Yup. Used to be WFFC in august, Couch Freaks Labor Day.

WFFC is gone but Couch Freaks is still happening. Be there

Gosh, you guys are making me blush. Thanks for the good memories of the WFFC. Since I was the "staff" for the planning stage each year, I thank you for your kind comments. During the actual event we had 150 employees and 300 volunteers. During the year long planning there were 2 of us who worked part time, on a volunteer basis.
Many of the employees and volunteers were skydivers who spent LOTS of time and effort to make sure that it was a huge success.
Yes, it took LOTS of cash. If we had about 20 decent backers we could do it again. If we had about 50 indecent backers it could be alot of fun!

Couch Freaks is coming up, and as far as I am concerned it is the closest thing to WFFC out there!
I'm going, I hope to see alot of you there!

edited to add: There is a Facebook page that some very nice person (not me) started. It's called World Free Fall Convention friends. Check it out, add your pics and comments.
Who knows, if Don Kirlin sees it and gets all mushy, he may just send me the credit card and we can get busy planning again!

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