Skydive San Diego Tribute to Andy

[stuartjl 0]

This a is a message to all fun jumpers at Skydive San Diego. As eveyone now knows Andy will be shutting down the current operation in Jamul as from 31st Dec.

As one of a number of tributes to Andy there is a Big-Way planned for Saturday 24th. We will have upto 44 slots available (2 Otters). All those who are interested in filling a slot should PM me ASAP so we can organise the jump.

You must have a minimum of 200 jumps to get on this big-way.

See you all there!

stuart

ps don't even think of coming without beer!

[UntamedDOG 0]

This whole situation is bullshit! I can’t believe that Andy worked so hard to bring that dropzone out of the Tandem Factory gutter only to have it snatched back by the original owner. I heard that there is going to be a boycott of Skydive SanDiego after the 1st of January.

UntamedDOG

[tdog 0]

I will be there in spirit... I had so much fun at San Diego...

[marks 0]

please pm me some info on this. i might have some insight.

[stuartjl 0]

***As one of a number of tributes to Andy there is a Big-Way planned for Saturday 24th. We will have upto 44 slots available (2 Otters). All those who are interested in filling a slot should PM me ASAP so we can organise the jump.

You must have a minimum of 200 jumps to get on this big-way.
__________________________________________________

A number of people have expressed concern about the minimum jump numbers so we have changed it to 500.

The 23rd is an alternative date. Let me know..

[CrazyL 0]

I'd like to jump with Andy atleast once! Over the dropezone that i've enjoyed some great airtime, mostly due to him. Politics here in SoCal has gotten really thick. Seems like there is a new story of 'a good guy got shit on' about every week.

[SudsyFist 0]

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A number of people have expressed concern about the minimum jump numbers so we have changed it to 500.

That's gonna be pretty exclusive, mate. Perhaps we do some skills building/quals throughout the day (or weekend prior) to get a few of the not-so-far-from-500 types into the mix? Come to think of it, that's not a bad idea for all participants.

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The 23rd is an alternative date. Let me know..

Now you're talkin'. I'm in.

[kallend 1,625]

Quote

***As one of a number of tributes to Andy there is a Big-Way planned for Saturday 24th. We will have upto 44 slots available (2 Otters). All those who are interested in filling a slot should PM me ASAP so we can organise the jump.

You must have a minimum of 200 jumps to get on this big-way.
__________________________________________________

A number of people have expressed concern about the minimum jump numbers so we have changed it to 500.

There were people with fewer than 500 jumps on the 300-way world record!

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[billvon 2,400]

>There were people with fewer than 500 jumps on the 300-way world record!

Right; I knew one of them. She had 300 jumps when she was invited on. At that point, 200 of them had been on a fairly serious 20 way team (training every weekend, coaching etc) and she had gotten a lot of 4-way coaching. With that sort of background, and a LOT of native skill, it's safe to do bigways at 300 jumps.

Contrast that to some of the people I jump with at Rantoul who have 200-500 jumps and still cannot dock. They sort of hover outside the formation. Most of their experience was in the base, so they never learned to fly.

Experience is not an ideal indicator of skill. It is, however, decent. If you ask a skydiver "can you safely do a 40-way?" their answer will generally depend on their desire to do a 40-way, rather than an objective self-appraisal of their tracking and awareness skills. If you ask a skydiver "do you have 500 jumps?" you are more likely to get an objective answer.

[tr027 0]

What about having a brave evaluator with video make a jump with a few of the sub-500 candidates (who split his ticket of course) as a test/qualifying jump? Or merely demonstrating the skills on 1 jump isn't sufficient?

"The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it. " -John Galt from Atlas Shrugged, 1957

[billvon 2,400]

>What about having a brave evaluator with video make a jump with a
>few of the sub-500 candidates. . .

Sure; you don't even need video. We've occasionally done this to see who's safe enough to be on big-ways here. How I do it:

Get four people. Have em line up in the door; I float. I say "Ready!" then go. This catches them a bit off guard, and it takes them a second or so to dive out. Since they're all diving down I get a good perspective of their dive, approach and dock. I plan the dive slot perfect so people who get there have to stop, get in the right slot and _then_ pick up grips. Then on breakoff they have to do good tracks, all away from me. If they can do all that they can probably do larger dives.

[stuartjl 0]

We have around 33 jumpers so far that have confirmed. That leaves another 11 slots available.

Please can you get in touch if you want to get on this jump. It looks highly likely that the date will be the 23rd so don't delay if you want get on it.

Thanks

[stuartjl 0]

Hi all,

Due to the Otter going 'tech' over at Browne Field the big way is now cancelled!!

Thanks to all those who signed up.

[CrazyL 0]

Jumping friday?weekend?

[stuartjl 0]

I'm not sure, all i can say is that the big way is cancelled due to unscheduled maintenance on the Otter.

A few of us might be at Perris for some jumps..

[linestretch 0]

well fuck, this sucks! I wish Andy the best, and hope all the staff migrate to wherever he starts up again. I know I would.

my pics & stuff!