RogerRamjet 0 #1 January 24, 2006 A bit of (somewhat ancient) history. This is the story of how I graduated from just another jumper to jumping with the “Sky Gods.” Now, I know the meaning of Sky God is a little skewed these days, so I’ll start by defining the term Sky God as I knew it in the ‘70s. They were the jumpers doing the cool jumps, the big RW formations, etc. They had lots of jumps usually and tended to jump with each other on the big stuff. However, they always had time to help those of us with fewer jumps and experience, sometimes talking to us about technique, sometimes jumping on our jumps. I did not meet many of the type as described recently here that were “above” the rest of us and too arrogant to associate with us peons. The story starts in Z-Hills in 1974. I am a 300 jump wonder trying to get better and jumping on any jump I can get on. I’ve been lucky enough to have been in some 16 man and a couple of 20 man stars. One day I hear that Deland is going to have some RW jumps from 16,500 the next weekend. So, off I go two and a half hours across the state to Deland the next weekend to get on these large star attempts from 16,500. Saturday morning and Jay Boynton is organizing the star attempts. I ask someone I know how to get on the jumps and he tells me to see Jay about it (whom I had never met). I go talk with him and he asks a couple of questions, like how many jumps do I have and what types of stars have I been in. Seemingly satisfied with my answers he says “Tell you what, I’m going 16th, you go 17th and follow me down. When I dock, you dock on my left. Each time you successfully dock on me without taking out the formation, you get to come on the next dive.” Fair enough for me, so I say something like “cool” and off we go. We make three dives from 16,500 that day and it’s glorious to me. We make round stars all in the high 20’s to about 29 I think which are the largest I had been in at that time. Each time, I am amazed when my internal clock is telling me to break off and my altimeter is saying 5000 feet or more! It was a great day and I crash in the van wanting more on Sunday. Now, step back a couple of weeks and we are watching some 16 millimeter film at Z-Hills of the Casa-Grande 16 man diamond attempts. They make several attempts but are unable to complete the formation. Sunday. I had heard that there was to be an attempt to create the world’s first 16-man diamond on Sunday and I certainly wanted to see that! So, Sunday morning I’m hanging around watching Jay organize some of the best jumpers anywhere. Everyone is accounted for except one guy who hasn’t shown. Someone says, let’s take Roger, he did ok yesterday. So Jay asked me if I’d like to go 16th on the attempt (like I had to think about it). I’m excited, but I had seen the films and usually number 16 is just an observer. But, these guys are pretty good, so who knows. In retrospect, I think Jay was thinking the same thing… It’s never been done and based on the films, what are the odds of completing it on the first attempt. Maybe we’ll learn enough to make it on a later attempt and by then the number 16 guy will be here. Or at least that’s what I think I might have been thinking if I were organizing… Up we go in Mr. Douglas, the Deland DC-3 with “Far Side of the Moon” by Pink Floyd playing on the 8 speaker, 8 track system. I’m at the end of a stick of some of the best jumpers I’ve ever been around and I’m certainly pumped up about being on the load. We exit at 13,500 and I am following number 15 down watching the base start to build. Now for those who have not been jumping for 30 years, you might not realize that since there had never been a 16 man diamond before, no one knew anything about how to build one the easiest way, so all the attempts including ours were with all jumpers facing the same way building to a 10 man wedge and then on to the 16 man diamond. Now Z-Hills and Deland had some of the best skydivers in the world and I had seen a couple of 10 man wedges before. But, I had seen dozens of failed 10 man wedge attempts, it was not a given from what I had seen. Well, the wedge built slowly but methodically and soon I saw my third ever 10 man wedge. Then the next three guys dropped in and then two and suddenly, I was the only remaining flyer. It seemed like every one of the 15 jumpers now in the formation was looking over their shoulders at me! Now I was young (21) and cocky, but it dawned on me right then that if I took this out or failed to get in I would not be jumping with these guys anytime soon. So, luckily I had set up my approach nice and steep, so I just had to sink down without drifting over the formation. I docked like I had been doing it for years and you could actually hear people screaming. We held it for quite some time as we had completed it well over 5000 feet. Unfortunately we had no camera man, but a load of people on the ground (including number 16 who arrived just after take off) watched us hold it for several seconds. I went from never being asked on these large formation attempts to always being asked in one weekend! Just two weeks later, some of the same jumpers from this record and some Z-Hills “Sky Gods” including myself completed the world’s first 20 man Papillion. I was already on Jim Hooper’s 10 man team that year (Ten High Bunch) for the Thanksgiving meet and Deland had their 10 man team together anyway, but I was able to get on the Deland 16 and 20 man teams going 16th and 20th respectively. Ten High took 4th of 105 teams, while the Deland 16 took 1st of over 50 teams and the Deland 20 took 1st of over 20 teams. The Deland 10 man team took 1st also. Here is some input on the jump from Carl Daugherty from Deland who is still jumping and was on the jump: =============================== I was on the jump. Jay Boynton was organizing I'm not sure, but I believe these are the guys/gals that were on that 16 man diamond. Jay Boynton, Tony Patterson, Dave Sickler, Mike Cerasoli, Jay Hilden, Mike Truffer, Don Fornier, Al Brown, Bobby Gray, Bill Price, Steve Fugelberg, Rodney Jensen, George Brownlow, Helen Sickler, Carl Daugherty, and Roger Clark Carl =============================== Note: I used the nomenclature “16-man” throughout the story as that is how big-way formations were referred to in those days. No one thought anything about it at the time. In one special weekend through luck and maybe a little skill, the perception of me by other jumpers changed radically. I didn’t feel any different, but now I was being asked “how to” questions and I was always being invited on the “big” jumps. I have never forgotten how all that came to be and I’ve always wanted to tell the story, so here it is. I owe Jay Boynton a lot for that weekend. He is a true “Sky God” in the best sense of the word. All the jumpers on that jump, some still jumping, some retired, some not with us anymore are or were the “Sky Gods” of the time. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
upndownshop 0 #2 January 24, 2006 Awesome read!!! I totally agree with your definition of a Sky God. It is funny how those little moments make a major impact. My guess is you have never stopped giving back either. Or paying it forward. Great stuff Roger thanks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steve1 5 #3 January 24, 2006 Great story Roger! In the early 70's Sky Gods were looked up to. I dreamed of earning a 16 man patch back in those days. The Worlds first 16 way diamond must have been all the better....Steve1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
popsjumper 2 #4 January 24, 2006 Good stuff, Roger. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2039385;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unreadMy 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
markd_nscr986 0 #5 January 24, 2006 Thanks Roger! And your right regarding your definition of Skygods......that's the way I remember them tooMarc SCR 6046 SCS 3004 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CFPasi 0 #6 January 24, 2006 Hi all! Interesting story! What about the first 16-way diamond in CRW? Who remember it, date and place? Maybe names.... And best greetigns from Stockholm, Sweden where are 57th ICP meeting. CFPasi Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CReW 0 #7 February 7, 2006 Nice How about the first 25 man diamond? T Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RogerRamjet 0 #8 February 7, 2006 QuoteNice How about the first 25 man diamond? T I don't know who or where. All I know for sure is I wasn't in it... rats! I'll bet they got film too... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mjosparky 3 #9 February 7, 2006 Roger, Great story. Not many of us were fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. And you had the skills to pull it off. Kudos. SparkyMy idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RogerRamjet 0 #10 February 8, 2006 QuoteRoger, Great story. Not many of us were fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. And you had the skills to pull it off. Kudos. Sparky Thanks for that. Yeah, I got lucky and maybe had a little skill as well. I figure I was lucky a couple of times besides just surviving... After working for Bill Booth building the first Wonderhogs (lucky again!), I went to work for Bill Buchmann building his Eagle rigs and went up to Aurora, IL for a summer. I met a number of great people there including Roger Nelson who I hit if off with and made many hundreds of jumps with. In 2003, I was thinking of a 30 year anniversary jump (first jump July 1, 1973). I had kept in contact with Roger on and off through the years, so emailed him about it. He gave me some advice and I went on my merry way (though I didn't make the jump). When he was killed, I decided to see what was out on the net about Roger and ran across a short he wrote in Pat and Jan Works book "United We Fall." I was shocked to find he had written about me (and never told me)! Check it out online at: http://www.cs.fiu.edu/~esj/uwf/uwf5.htm Just scroll down to the title: Pre-Stars? "Hey Man, You're Late..." I really didn't even know I was in on some of the first pre-stars being done. When you're young, you're typically blind to any history being made you might be a part of... Starting my jumping career at Z-Hills was a huge advantage in my opinion. Anyone starting at a large RW oriented DZ in those days had a step up since it attracted the better jumpers (not just Z-Hills of course). ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mjosparky 3 #11 February 9, 2006 Quoteand to say the least, quite an excellent skydiver. This coming from Roger Nelson tells me a lot about you skills. SparkyMy idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RogerRamjet 0 #12 February 9, 2006 Since I'm on the story kick, here is how I remember the pre-star thing.... I had not met Roger yet when I came to IL. Bill Buchmann and I had flown the Loadstar up for the summer which was a huge hit since they were jumping from 182s and such at Hinkley at the time. On one of the first loads, the organizer put Roger and Roger together near the end of the load (29 jumpers max as I remember in that plane). Roger introduced himself and asked me if I wanted to do a pre-star. I said something like "Ok, what's a pre-star?" He told me and I was up for it. On exit, I turned around and he pinned me with a big grin (on both our faces, I'm sure). When we broke to head for the building formation below, I thought to myself "ok, now I'm going to burn him getting down there" and went into my best dive. After a couple of seconds, I look over and there is Roger right next to me with an incredulous look on his face (on both our faces). We got in the star uneventfully and landed the same. Over he comes while I'm packing and says "I can usually outrun anyone!" I said the same back to him and I think that started our 3 decade friendship. I jumped with him and Carl all that summer and they came down to Z-Hills for the following Turkey meet. I even corresponded with him while he was incarcerated. Roger was one of the most natural free fallers I've ever been in the air with, I thought he could do anything. I will miss him always.... ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RogerRamjet 0 #13 February 9, 2006 Speaking of stories, how is it you are in Florida, but your home DZ is listed as: Perris/Elsinore? Your name seems familier to me, but that may be just from your many posts on the forums here, think we may have ever met? ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mjosparky 3 #14 February 9, 2006 QuoteSpeaking of stories, how is it you are in Florida, but your home DZ is listed as: Perris/Elsinore? Your name seems familier to me, but that may be just from your many posts on the forums here, think we may have ever met? I have been in Florida, Z-hills in 1981 and Deland a few years ago but have lived in CA since before I started jumping. SparkyMy idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RogerRamjet 0 #15 February 14, 2006 QuoteQuoteSpeaking of stories, how is it you are in Florida, but your home DZ is listed as: Perris/Elsinore? Your name seems familier to me, but that may be just from your many posts on the forums here, think we may have ever met? I have been in Florida, Z-hills in 1981 and Deland a few years ago but have lived in CA since before I started jumping. Sparky Ok, but your profile says:Location: North America/United States/Florida. Does that mean you have moved to Florida or what? I'm going to visit both Deland and Z-Hills this summer and I plan to try and meet as many dzcommers that I have "hung out with" here as I can. ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mjosparky 3 #16 February 14, 2006 QuoteOk, but your profile says:Location: North America/United States/Florida. Does that mean you have moved to Florida or what? On my screen it says CA. SparkyMy idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RogerRamjet 0 #17 March 13, 2006 QuoteGood stuff, Roger. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2039385;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread Hey Andy, I just went to the link you posted and I have to say I agree 100%! ----------------------- Roger "Ramjet" Clark FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
