mdrejhon 8 #1 May 12, 2006 More people need to apply for the Canadian 80-Way Record (June 22-25) at the www.skydiveburnaby.com website (located in Ontario near Niagara Falls) -- the national formation record. From somebody on the CSPA mailing list:QuoteHope everyone is well and still planning to come to the 80 Ways at Burnaby. I know some of you on this list are not registered, but I am going to pester you anyway..... I have been trying to stay on top of some sort of a database to stay in touch with everyone and keep everyone talking about the Record dives. For those that are already registered - THANKS! For those that are not, please do. Everyone needs to help with making the record a success. Help us by spreading the word - do you know someone who would be good talent? Then suggest they come and check it out. Are you coming? Then try to recruit others for us - we cannot reach everyone (especially from way down here in Florida) We have almost 50 people registered. We only need a 57 way for a new record - but we want to CRUCIFY the old record, not just marginally beat it. That happens by not being complacent about it - that comes by taking it seriously, and making/taking the time to be part of the event. We need talent from all over the country - please help us find it. Forward this to your friendsRegarding myself: I'll try to join too but I am still unsure -- because at only 150 jumps and formerly between jobs for a bit too long that deprived my jumping (I used to jump up to 30 times per month) -- but I'm likely attend a 20way camp at either Gananoque or Burnaby this Victoria day. (May 19-22 long weekend). If my jumping pace picks up once my cashflow improves and I fly well enough... I have heard people under 200 jumps that fly well enough, were part of some past Canadian records, so... There are multiple people (including those who privately tell me), to not listen to those people who say you can't do it -- perhaps you will be cut -- go tryout anyway -- expect to be cut -- and you might be surprised! Guy Wright and all the professional organizers will ensure that it is all within safety norms for a bigway -- after all just treat it like a bigway camp rather than a real bigway attempt, since there's pratice jumping from June 19-21 right before the actual 80-way attempts from 22-25th! The Perris Bigway camp (100-way) is set for people with 250 jumps, and this is looking like this might even only be a 60-way or 65-way -- so the skill threshold is not as stringent as many of you may think! Yes you may have better chance if you know one of the organizers -- that's what everyone says about bigways -- but go to one of the camps anyway! Just fly the May 20-22 camps and the June 19-21 camps... Don't forget that if you can't be part of the 80-way there will still be plenty of bigway jumping with the support team, etc... smaller bigway funjumps, that's four Twin Otters at one Canadian dropzone...! Go anyway just for the fun, and fully expect to be cut... Anyway, if you're a Canadian citizen from anywhere, go sign up! I know some of you dropzone.com Canadians aren't members on the CSPA mailing list, so I'm doing a favour to post a copy of this... Even if I am not a part of it, I want to see the Canadian record obliterated! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dayle 0 #2 May 15, 2006 Lets bump this one to the top!! We really need more people and not just from Ontario. An extra 5 people from each province would give us enough to crush the record. Besides that, look at this view!! The picture is breakoff on a 60 way attempt. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TaylorC 0 #3 May 16, 2006 i'll go if someone wants to pay for my plane ride and jumps Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mdrejhon 8 #4 May 16, 2006 Update: 59 people are now registered. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riggerrob 558 #5 May 16, 2006 Quotei'll go if someone wants to pay for my plane ride and jumps Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kkeenan 13 #6 May 16, 2006 Quote Besides that, look at this view!! The picture is breakoff on a 60 way attempt. Jeez. You must have had Lemonhead in charge of breakoff. It looks pretty low. Kevin_____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mdrejhon 8 #7 May 16, 2006 QuoteJeez. You must have had Lemonhead in charge of breakoff. It looks pretty low. Telephoto lens could do the same effect. For example -- I remember watching a video of Greg Gasson and his antics with the ground scarily close in the background, but it was just telephoto causing the effect. Anyone from the event, who can elaborate on breakoff altitudes? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Remster 24 #8 May 16, 2006 QuoteYou must have had Lemonhead in charge of breakoff Be nice to Liam... His gilfriend sat on him and poped one of his disks....Remster Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steve1 5 #9 May 16, 2006 QuoteQuoteJeez. You must have had Lemonhead in charge of breakoff. reply] We had a Lemonhead for a load organizer at Perris several years back. Is that the same one?....Steve1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites kkeenan 13 #10 May 16, 2006 QuoteWe had a Lemonhead for a load organizer at Perris several years back. Is that the same one?....Steve1 I'm sure it's the same - there's only one. ...And I hear his girlfriend pooped on him, or something like that. They have strange habits up North. Kevin_____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites flyangel2 2 #11 May 16, 2006 I believe it's his "wife".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 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites wildWilly 0 #12 May 16, 2006 Lemon Head wasn't on that record. and he is married, sorry girls. Willygrowing old is inevitable, growing up is optional. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites wildWilly 0 #13 May 16, 2006 Break off altitudes were 5500, 5000, and 4500'growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites mdrejhon 8 #14 May 21, 2006 Posting wirelessly via BlackBerry from Skydive Gananoque. Mother Nature has been very temperamental so far! I was not able to get to Skydive Burnaby but I'm here for the little bigway camp at Gananoque. I did my first complete successful 3-point 10-way jump when we had an unexpected Twin Otter sunset load on Friday evening... But did a big fat zero jumps today, due to rain and low cloud ceiling... So far there is now 63 registered. If I keep jumping good skydives I did Friday, I'll be #64. I'm sitting at the bonfire now. Hope for blue skies tomorrow... You Canadians, we can't be lazy belly floppers, go register now... And tell your friends that we need more jumpers for the 80-way...!!!!!!!! Go carpool with that buddy from your DZ who's going... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites pchapman 262 #15 May 21, 2006 As for Burnaby Ontario this weekend, high winds kept us grounded until late in the day Saturday, after which we got 2 Otter loads. Few people were still around for RW, but Jeff Gemmell still enthusiastically organized dives for those of us left: Two 3-way dives! I don't know how things are turning out today, Sunday, but both actual and forecast conditions were bad so I left the DZ after a few hours. Forecast was for 60 knots and -11 C at 12000 MSL... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites packerboy 3 #16 May 22, 2006 Two 3 ways huh? I guess thats the difference when you have the Otter full time. In Gan there would likely be more than a full Otter load hanging around all weekend no matter what the weather is doing, just waiting for a hole. You have one all the time and people will give up and come back next weekend. -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites dayle 0 #17 May 23, 2006 The pilot chute was thrown at 5500 and that's the general signal for the first wave to break. If that looks low to you, I'm curious when do you break off, 10500?? LOL STILL NEED MORE PEOPLE TO SIGN UP!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites 980 0 #18 May 23, 2006 The two 3-ways were not due to the having an Otter all summer and not appreciating it. They were due to bellyfliers being in the minority at Burnaby in conjunction with the terrible weather we had this weekend. Nothing flew on Sunday. The Otter did not fly yesterday either, but we did do a bunch of Cessna loads, due to not having enough jumpers willing to brave the low cloud ceiling and relatively high winds. Practically everybody that jumped yesterday were Burnaby regulars. There were some jumpers visiting who stayed on the ground. It’s amazing how much a grey cloud ceiling at 4000ft scares most skydivers these days… A lot of Burnaby jumpers did not ‘give up and come back next weekend’. We stuck around with no chance of getting the Otter up again yesterday and were rewarded with some fun jumps from the Cessna. I think you underestimate the commitment to jump of many Burnaby jumpers… Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites popsjumper 2 #19 May 23, 2006 It was probably the "relatively high winds" keeping them on the ground rather than the 4k ceiling.My reality and yours are quite different. I think we're all Bozos on this bus. Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites mdrejhon 8 #20 May 23, 2006 We had a great recovery of a weekend to a bad start Skydive Gananoque. Obviously, I was one of the least experience skydivers in the bigway practice at Gananoque, organized by Gilles. I was going to Skydive Burnaby but I did not find a carpool buddy. I did 12 jumps total. All on a full or nearly-full Otter. I did 1 jump Friday, 0 jumps Saturday, 3 jumps Sunday, and a whopping 8 jumps Monday (one hop-and-pop). I wasn't on every load, but I made it onto most of the otter loads. The Twin Otter was a little more patient than usual in waiting for everyone to finish packing, since there was not enough people for back-to-back loads (which happened last year during great weather on a Canada Day boogie). Weather grounded us for Saturday, Sunday, and the early part of Monday. We cancelled one jump due to a 2500 feet cloud ceiling with too many clouds to altitude, so we turned it into a hop-and-pop so we didn't have to land with the plane. I've pulled at this altitude a few times, so I'm exiting if the whole plane is. An expensive hop-and-pop for sure, but preferable to landing with the plane! I'm not the only one who made mistakes, but respecting etiquette, I will only comment on my own performance. Gilles was the load organizer. Friday was a red herring jump for me. I subsequently did very badly on a few jumps, with my performance improving towards the end... I participated in 11 mini-bigway jumps over the weekend. I certainly screwed up a few exits. I launch pretty reliably from a Cessna, but I am still pretty terrible at launching from a Twin Otter -- however, my performance was gradually getting better. Ranging from 8-way to 14-way for the jumps I was on. Doing a couple of consecutive fumbles put a lot of frustration into me. While I fortunately did not "take out" anyone on any of the jumps (except for a couple of funneled exits with me in the base), I was probably on my last chance of "three strikes, you're out" (It wasn't labelled as that, but at one time it felt like I was on my last chance!)... but then on the final 5 jumps, I successfully completed 4 out of 5, scoring between 1 and 3 points for my own slot during the final dives. I got a chance to fly base, middle, and outer positions, so I learned quite a lot. I went low at times, and my abiltiy to park myself at the periphery of the formation has improved considerably. Flying at too-high speeds almost under the formation (10 feet low I think) was not a safe thing for me to do, because I went low and lost visual of the formation until I was almost right under it! I think that my handling of "low" situations improved considerably over the course of Monday jumping, and I went low less often at the end of Friday than early Friday, and paid much more attention to avoid floating under the formation. EYE CONTACT! Communications proved a troubling issue. I learned a lot about bigway organizers -- don't try to ask questions because they're too busy with too many people, so that puts a deaf guy like me at somewhat of a disadvantages. It was a realistic mini-simulation of logistics issues I may run into at bigways. My best move was to partner up with a few familiar Gananoque guys who were good at writing down important details. I screwed up one of my exits (on jump that Gilles was not on since he had to do one tandem) because we didn't dirtdive the doorframe. The door setup was not what I expected, and I screwed up that exit due to a communication issue. I will get myself more prepared if I have to help launch a base out of a Twin Otter -- I really need to know if I'm on the side or rear float. (Hey, I just had an idea... I'll have to ask my dropzone if there's a resource containing diagrams of Twin Otter 3-way or 4-way exits ... or one of you forum members could point me to a resource). I will insist on a quick 5-second dirt-dive of the doorframe next time... It's a lot easier to visualize the exit that way. Not knowing what position I am supposed to launch in, screwed up one exit. Nobody commented about my tracking, so that's good. All that flat tracking practice is paying off. I did generally track slightly longer than everyone, and sometimes opened at 2800 feet when everyone opened at 3000-3200 feet, since I was repeatedly clearing my airspace to make sure nobody was above me. I can easily recognize what ground at 3000 feet looks like in my area -- no need for alti check at the end of my track - just only briefly glancing my alti during my pull motion to verify (The transition from end-of-track waveoff at 3000 to pull at 2800 burns approximately 200 feet altitude before the hackey and PC goes bye bye at 2800 feet, and in the saddle with full canopy at around 2200 feet like clockwork.) I usually pulled while I still had some forward momentum left from my tracking since I'm not doing my end-of-track body flare, only returning to a arch right after the hackey left its pouch. The openings are not worse as long as I'm in an arch right after I pull. Some canopies opened above my altitude (somewhere else horizontally), but I've seen a few canopies open below my altitude somewhere else at times. I clearly tracked a little lower than many of the true skygods (the good kind) - we have the DZO with the 5 digit jump number participating in our formations! Did I track longer than necessary -- maybe at times -- but better one or two seconds longer than one or two seconds briefer, at this stage, because I knew some people were tracking somewhat higher than I was. In addition, I just need to relax - I always get so pent up when I fail, it amps me up too much on subsequent jumps and then fail again -- then once I get back into the wavelength and do it much better and more consistently. It all ended on a much better note with 1 to 3 points completed for my slot on 4 out of the final 5 jumps. It's amazing how inconsistent I can be -- and how one bad jump leads to a string of further bad jumps. Will I sign up for the 80-way? As of right now, I'm still undecided. Right now, it's a NO (my own word, not anyone's) -- but it doesn't take into account of the practice I may end up getting between now and then. If I signup, it's going to be postmarked the deadline date May 31st, 2006 with the full intention of attending the final bigway camp on the 19th-21st.... Can I improve a lot? Yes, I can. I didn't get to jump as often as I hoped over the last couple months. Consistent bigway jumping will hammer my ability to successfully fly the bigway, and if I attend one more bigway camp, this may cinch it. (That would be the June 19-22 camp, if weather is good, and enough attend) Looking at the good side, I didn't get cut from the camp, and I got to fly base, middle and outer, nobody complained about my tracking. Even if I don't sign up, I want to go to Burnaby anyway to experience the jumps and fun-jump with the smaller-bigways (consisting of cut people and the support team, etc...). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Join the conversation You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. 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kkeenan 13 #10 May 16, 2006 QuoteWe had a Lemonhead for a load organizer at Perris several years back. Is that the same one?....Steve1 I'm sure it's the same - there's only one. ...And I hear his girlfriend pooped on him, or something like that. They have strange habits up North. Kevin_____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flyangel2 2 #11 May 16, 2006 I believe it's his "wife".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 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildWilly 0 #12 May 16, 2006 Lemon Head wasn't on that record. and he is married, sorry girls. Willygrowing old is inevitable, growing up is optional. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildWilly 0 #13 May 16, 2006 Break off altitudes were 5500, 5000, and 4500'growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mdrejhon 8 #14 May 21, 2006 Posting wirelessly via BlackBerry from Skydive Gananoque. Mother Nature has been very temperamental so far! I was not able to get to Skydive Burnaby but I'm here for the little bigway camp at Gananoque. I did my first complete successful 3-point 10-way jump when we had an unexpected Twin Otter sunset load on Friday evening... But did a big fat zero jumps today, due to rain and low cloud ceiling... So far there is now 63 registered. If I keep jumping good skydives I did Friday, I'll be #64. I'm sitting at the bonfire now. Hope for blue skies tomorrow... You Canadians, we can't be lazy belly floppers, go register now... And tell your friends that we need more jumpers for the 80-way...!!!!!!!! Go carpool with that buddy from your DZ who's going... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pchapman 262 #15 May 21, 2006 As for Burnaby Ontario this weekend, high winds kept us grounded until late in the day Saturday, after which we got 2 Otter loads. Few people were still around for RW, but Jeff Gemmell still enthusiastically organized dives for those of us left: Two 3-way dives! I don't know how things are turning out today, Sunday, but both actual and forecast conditions were bad so I left the DZ after a few hours. Forecast was for 60 knots and -11 C at 12000 MSL... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
packerboy 3 #16 May 22, 2006 Two 3 ways huh? I guess thats the difference when you have the Otter full time. In Gan there would likely be more than a full Otter load hanging around all weekend no matter what the weather is doing, just waiting for a hole. You have one all the time and people will give up and come back next weekend. -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dayle 0 #17 May 23, 2006 The pilot chute was thrown at 5500 and that's the general signal for the first wave to break. If that looks low to you, I'm curious when do you break off, 10500?? LOL STILL NEED MORE PEOPLE TO SIGN UP!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
980 0 #18 May 23, 2006 The two 3-ways were not due to the having an Otter all summer and not appreciating it. They were due to bellyfliers being in the minority at Burnaby in conjunction with the terrible weather we had this weekend. Nothing flew on Sunday. The Otter did not fly yesterday either, but we did do a bunch of Cessna loads, due to not having enough jumpers willing to brave the low cloud ceiling and relatively high winds. Practically everybody that jumped yesterday were Burnaby regulars. There were some jumpers visiting who stayed on the ground. It’s amazing how much a grey cloud ceiling at 4000ft scares most skydivers these days… A lot of Burnaby jumpers did not ‘give up and come back next weekend’. We stuck around with no chance of getting the Otter up again yesterday and were rewarded with some fun jumps from the Cessna. I think you underestimate the commitment to jump of many Burnaby jumpers… Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
popsjumper 2 #19 May 23, 2006 It was probably the "relatively high winds" keeping them on the ground rather than the 4k ceiling.My reality and yours are quite different. I think we're all Bozos on this bus. Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mdrejhon 8 #20 May 23, 2006 We had a great recovery of a weekend to a bad start Skydive Gananoque. Obviously, I was one of the least experience skydivers in the bigway practice at Gananoque, organized by Gilles. I was going to Skydive Burnaby but I did not find a carpool buddy. I did 12 jumps total. All on a full or nearly-full Otter. I did 1 jump Friday, 0 jumps Saturday, 3 jumps Sunday, and a whopping 8 jumps Monday (one hop-and-pop). I wasn't on every load, but I made it onto most of the otter loads. The Twin Otter was a little more patient than usual in waiting for everyone to finish packing, since there was not enough people for back-to-back loads (which happened last year during great weather on a Canada Day boogie). Weather grounded us for Saturday, Sunday, and the early part of Monday. We cancelled one jump due to a 2500 feet cloud ceiling with too many clouds to altitude, so we turned it into a hop-and-pop so we didn't have to land with the plane. I've pulled at this altitude a few times, so I'm exiting if the whole plane is. An expensive hop-and-pop for sure, but preferable to landing with the plane! I'm not the only one who made mistakes, but respecting etiquette, I will only comment on my own performance. Gilles was the load organizer. Friday was a red herring jump for me. I subsequently did very badly on a few jumps, with my performance improving towards the end... I participated in 11 mini-bigway jumps over the weekend. I certainly screwed up a few exits. I launch pretty reliably from a Cessna, but I am still pretty terrible at launching from a Twin Otter -- however, my performance was gradually getting better. Ranging from 8-way to 14-way for the jumps I was on. Doing a couple of consecutive fumbles put a lot of frustration into me. While I fortunately did not "take out" anyone on any of the jumps (except for a couple of funneled exits with me in the base), I was probably on my last chance of "three strikes, you're out" (It wasn't labelled as that, but at one time it felt like I was on my last chance!)... but then on the final 5 jumps, I successfully completed 4 out of 5, scoring between 1 and 3 points for my own slot during the final dives. I got a chance to fly base, middle, and outer positions, so I learned quite a lot. I went low at times, and my abiltiy to park myself at the periphery of the formation has improved considerably. Flying at too-high speeds almost under the formation (10 feet low I think) was not a safe thing for me to do, because I went low and lost visual of the formation until I was almost right under it! I think that my handling of "low" situations improved considerably over the course of Monday jumping, and I went low less often at the end of Friday than early Friday, and paid much more attention to avoid floating under the formation. EYE CONTACT! Communications proved a troubling issue. I learned a lot about bigway organizers -- don't try to ask questions because they're too busy with too many people, so that puts a deaf guy like me at somewhat of a disadvantages. It was a realistic mini-simulation of logistics issues I may run into at bigways. My best move was to partner up with a few familiar Gananoque guys who were good at writing down important details. I screwed up one of my exits (on jump that Gilles was not on since he had to do one tandem) because we didn't dirtdive the doorframe. The door setup was not what I expected, and I screwed up that exit due to a communication issue. I will get myself more prepared if I have to help launch a base out of a Twin Otter -- I really need to know if I'm on the side or rear float. (Hey, I just had an idea... I'll have to ask my dropzone if there's a resource containing diagrams of Twin Otter 3-way or 4-way exits ... or one of you forum members could point me to a resource). I will insist on a quick 5-second dirt-dive of the doorframe next time... It's a lot easier to visualize the exit that way. Not knowing what position I am supposed to launch in, screwed up one exit. Nobody commented about my tracking, so that's good. All that flat tracking practice is paying off. I did generally track slightly longer than everyone, and sometimes opened at 2800 feet when everyone opened at 3000-3200 feet, since I was repeatedly clearing my airspace to make sure nobody was above me. I can easily recognize what ground at 3000 feet looks like in my area -- no need for alti check at the end of my track - just only briefly glancing my alti during my pull motion to verify (The transition from end-of-track waveoff at 3000 to pull at 2800 burns approximately 200 feet altitude before the hackey and PC goes bye bye at 2800 feet, and in the saddle with full canopy at around 2200 feet like clockwork.) I usually pulled while I still had some forward momentum left from my tracking since I'm not doing my end-of-track body flare, only returning to a arch right after the hackey left its pouch. The openings are not worse as long as I'm in an arch right after I pull. Some canopies opened above my altitude (somewhere else horizontally), but I've seen a few canopies open below my altitude somewhere else at times. I clearly tracked a little lower than many of the true skygods (the good kind) - we have the DZO with the 5 digit jump number participating in our formations! Did I track longer than necessary -- maybe at times -- but better one or two seconds longer than one or two seconds briefer, at this stage, because I knew some people were tracking somewhat higher than I was. In addition, I just need to relax - I always get so pent up when I fail, it amps me up too much on subsequent jumps and then fail again -- then once I get back into the wavelength and do it much better and more consistently. It all ended on a much better note with 1 to 3 points completed for my slot on 4 out of the final 5 jumps. It's amazing how inconsistent I can be -- and how one bad jump leads to a string of further bad jumps. Will I sign up for the 80-way? As of right now, I'm still undecided. Right now, it's a NO (my own word, not anyone's) -- but it doesn't take into account of the practice I may end up getting between now and then. If I signup, it's going to be postmarked the deadline date May 31st, 2006 with the full intention of attending the final bigway camp on the 19th-21st.... Can I improve a lot? Yes, I can. I didn't get to jump as often as I hoped over the last couple months. Consistent bigway jumping will hammer my ability to successfully fly the bigway, and if I attend one more bigway camp, this may cinch it. (That would be the June 19-22 camp, if weather is good, and enough attend) Looking at the good side, I didn't get cut from the camp, and I got to fly base, middle and outer, nobody complained about my tracking. Even if I don't sign up, I want to go to Burnaby anyway to experience the jumps and fun-jump with the smaller-bigways (consisting of cut people and the support team, etc...). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
