Try again

[Jim_Hooper 3]

Damn these new-fangled contraptions! Try again

[JohnRich 4]

Wow! That's a beautiful piece of penmanship!

Moderators: Please connect this story to Jim's original post called "Fate, RW and Z'hills", where he intended to attach it. I'd hate to see anyone miss it because the attachment got disjointed.

[Erroll 49]

A truly delightful read!

In your original post you wondered who would be interested. I am sure that I can say without fear of contradiction :- anyone who has ever jumped from an aircraft!

[RogerRamjet 0]

Jim, glad you did this! Talk to you soon...

-----------------------
Roger "Ramjet" Clark
FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

[howardwhite 4]

I hope you will find room for my encounter with the Z-Hills police.

You called me to your office to tell me they were on the phone and wanted me down at the station.

I was read my rights and then told that the bunch of drunken Brits who had asked me for a ride back from the Golden Corral the night before had mooned and otherwise offended the sensibilities of a family just in for supper after church.

Thanks for telling ZHPD that I was probably not guilty of participating in the offense.

HW

[Jim_Hooper 3]

Quote

Jim, glad you did this! Talk to you soon...

Rog - glad you enjoyed it.

Howard - you weren't the only Yankee/foreigner I kept out of jail. There was at least one future world champion that got nailed at Publix with a couple of pounds of sirloin steak under his jacket. Selling up and going off to get shot at was a breeze compared to hassling with a PD and a neanderthalic city council.

Here are a couple of photos to give a flavor of the early days.
Hoop

[drjump 0]

Jim, Thanks for the memories. Truly honest writing about what this wonderful sport WAS all about--FUN.

[katecooper 0]

Incredible. Thank you for sharing this. Thank you VERY much for sharing this. Write more. Print it. We'll read it.

I saw you in a bar in Kenya 10 years ago--remember?

blue skies
kate cooper

[Jim_Hooper 3]

Quote

Incredible. Thank you for sharing this. Thank you VERY much for sharing this. Write more. Print it. We'll read it.

I saw you in a bar in Kenya 10 years ago--remember?

blue skies
kate cooper

Kate - I remember very well indeed. I just happened to be in Kenya on my way to cover the war in southern Sudan. Sheer coincidence that there was a delay getting me across the border while the CIP was being held in Nairobi. I pointed out that I was no more than a footnote in the history of skydiving, and you very graciously said, "But such a distinguished footnote." Nicest thing anyone had said to me in a long time.
Jim

[Jim_Hooper 3]

If Dan O'Brian is out there, thanks for giving SKR a heads-up.
Hoop

[RonD1120 58]

Hi Hoop,

Thanks for the heads up notice on your FIRST installment of life in the early days at Z-hills. Looking at the two photos of the the Ten High Bunch brought back some fond memories, weird memories, and a tear to my eye. In the 1972 photo Billy "Crazy Man" Revis, Tony "The Ferret" Patterson, and Don "Fog" Fournier have passed on.

Terry Maznio is probably gone. The last I saw of him was 1975 in Aspen CO. He was dealing with some serious Agent Orange related issues.

Dennis Glaves??? Not sure about him, it seems as though I heard that he suffered a fatal heart attack but not certain.

Phil "Foul" Smith was still jumping the last I heard. Jeff Searles is a retired restauranteur among other things.

Ron Brissey was doing tandems at Titusville FL. I think he is still competing in POPS accuracy meets around FL.

Mary Donnan is/was a RN and living is Salt Lake City UT.

And Mike "Mr. Rumpson" Patterson has retired, then went back to work but not after earning his commercial fishing captain's license.

Ron "Mr. Grimesly" Schott, founder and host of the original Magic Forest. And, just for the record, I am the counselor supervisor of a substance abuse outpatient program contracted to the FL Department of Corrections.

"Can't you see on this and future Sundays
Seven thousand gypsies swirlin' together
An offerin' to the sun in the name of the weather.
We're gonna hijack, hijack the Starship."

From the Jefferson Starship

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[airtwardo 6]

"Mr. Grimesly"

Quote

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

[RogerRamjet 0]

Quote

Ron "Mr. Grimesly" Schott, founder and host of the original Magic Forest.

And what incredible "Magic" happened there too!

-----------------------
Roger "Ramjet" Clark
FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

[dob 0]

glad to be of service....
what an incredible crossroads of intersections created by the magic land that was the Z-Hills of Hooper....

[Meux 0]

Anxiously awaiting the next installment.

Applause, cheers, bravo!!!

Thanks for the great read.

Mo

[vicnapier 0]

What a wonderful trip back to the beginning of RW. I think Hoop should write a whole book. I'd buy it!

[JerryBaumchen 1,048]

Hi Vic,

Been awhile, how you doing?

Jerry

[africapete 0]

I say "ditto" to all the remarks above about Jim's article - truly a delightful read and it means a lot to those who have seen the sport evolve from struggling 2-ways to mega-formations and wonderful equipment today. We should all be greatful to the pioneers who made skydiving what it is today, jumpers and manufacturers alike. Thanks, Jim !

Peter Haley.

[Jim_Hooper 3]

My thanks to all who have posted on the Fate, RW and Z’hills and Try again threads. These and more via the email address on my profile has been humbling in their reminders of special Z’hills moments that have lain dormant (some for – ahem – good reason) entirely too long. Which has raised the possibility of a disgraceful second instalment. Thus, a request for tales of favorite memories from those who came, saw and added to the magic of those days. I cannot promise to use all, as the purpose remains to entertain. Readers will have noted that I enjoy laughing at myself: (“A good thing,” someone observed, “as there’s so much to laugh about.”) In any case, should you wish to share them - with the understanding that I will be the final arbiter and editor – they will be gratefully received.
Jim Hooper

[RonD1120 58]

OOPS!

Misspelled my own nickname. Senior moment.

It is "Mr. Grimsly" or was it "Grimsley?" Damn, can't remember and all my log books are in the safe deposit box. I can't even look it up. At any rate I put that alter ego to rest in 1972. I've had many more since then and am working on a new one now.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[RonD1120 58]

It was the sixties. I can't remember.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[Jim_Hooper 3]

Quote

It was the sixties. I can't remember.

Can any of the old Texas crowd help with the names of the Valley Mills team in the attachment.

Standing left to right
Hank Asciuto
Pat Works
Dana Parker
Hoop
Al Kruger
VALLEY MILLS
VALLEY MILLS
John Sherman
Phil Smith
Scratch Garrison
Tom Ham
Bob Federman

Kneeling or sitting left to right
Matt Farmer
VALLEY MILLS
Jim "Streak" Marr
Lou Jecker
VALLEY MILLS
VALLEY MILLS
Jerry Bird
Dick Giarrusso
Ken Gillespie - VALLEY MILLS
Jim Baron
Bill "TBow" Smith

[skr 1]

> Can any of the old Texas crowd help with the names

Wow, that's quite a picture! I had forgotten about that.

The guy to the right of Al Krueger looks like Ron Cox.

All the other faces are familiar, but no names are
coming to mind.


I had forgotten about Matt Farmer's long hair phase.

I always considered Matt to be one of the great thinkers
in skydiving. While a lot of people were concerned with
performance, Matt thought more about performance of
what? And why?

That was the question that attracted me too, and we
talked a lot about it. He influenced me way more than
he probably realized.


I remember Ron Cox because of the strength of our
interaction.

I happened to be in Texas one day in 1995 when
this guy walked up and said "I want to remind you
that you cost us the 72 Nationals!".

This was 23 years later, mind you, and he was still
carrying all this heat. I must have been too because
I knew before he was two words into that sentence
who he was and what he was talking about :-) :-)


The short version, for anybody who didn't happen
to be there that day, is that we were doing 10-way
speed stars and some clouds had started to form.

This was back in the day of wooden parachutes
and video hadn't been invented yet, so teams
were being judged through telemeters, which
are giant, German binoculars mounted on a tripod.

In hindsight I should have called it until we had
enough clear sky, but the clouds were just forming
and on one team I sent the DC3 around several
times trying to find a jumprun that would keep
the team in sight from exit all the way down.

They made the jump, came down, and filed a
protest - hypoxia.

I was stunned. Whatever happened to the
mystique that we relative workers could stay
up all night, drink everybody under the table,
and still outjump them the next day?

But there it was - a protest.

There was one rule that said once a jump has
been made, it is final. That was to cover some
cases that had happened in previous meets.

But when I wrote those rules, I knew that no
set of rules, even hundreds of pages of rules,
could cover every possibility, so I had written
a meta-rule which said that nothing in the rules
would get in the way of fairness to the teams.


They had made the jump, to not count it was
unfair to the other teams, but after some intense
agonizing it seemed even more unfair that through
no fault of their own, they had done multiple speed
star line-ups and then go-arounds at 12,500.

So after some intense agonizing between a bad
choice and a worse choice I granted the rejump,
and of course they did better, and all the standings
changed.


A little while later I was surrounded by 40 odd
enraged skydivers giving me their opinion on
that decision, and Ron was right in front of me,
striding back and forth and telling me with great
force how wrong that decision was.

I can still see him and it's been 35 years ..

I hope he's not still mad at me. I thought
at the time that he was right, but I thought
that the other viewpoint was even more right,
and actually, aside from being afraid that I was
about to die right then and there, I was most
disturbed by what competition had turned
relative work into.


I had the same feeling more recently when
I first saw the words "compulsory maneuvers"
being used in the same sentence as the word
"freeflying".

Humanity doesn't seem to learn much from
the past. Aside from standing on their heads,
they're doing word for word and move for move
exactly what the relative workers did in the
previous cycle.


So, I'm not really from Texas, but my father
was, which is close enough for History & Trivia.

Skr (<-- S"k"ratch with a "k")

[dparker 0]

Jim,
Rather than continuing to tax my memory I went to my collection of old magazines. Although “Parachutist” printed nothing on the Turkey boogies, Lyle Cameron’s “Sky Diver” magazine gave them good coverage.

No they are not the same 17-ways. Although some of the characters are the same (you, Scratch, Bob Federman, and me) the two jumps occurred under different circumstances.

In 1970 Garth Taggart and Scratch Garrison put together a group with the specific purpose of setting a record. They put together a group using, for the most part, the wining 10-way team, Ten High, as the base. The first attempt built to about a 9 way and then ended in a funnel. The second attempt resulted in the 17-way (which was later changed officially to a 16 way because the film showed the formation brake on the opposite side as Scratch broke in).

In 1971, after competition was over and most people were heading home, someone came up with the idea to make a 20 something star out of whoever was left on the drop zone. The result was a 17-way.

I did try to match people’s faces between the picture you posted (also printed in the February issue of Sky Diver) and the team pictures, but besides Ron Cox (already identified by Scratch) I can not put any additional names to the list.

Dana

[htrammel 0]

Phil Smith standing next to Skratch...is that the same Phil Smith I remember from the Umatilla, FL DZ in the 80s? Holy crap did we have some times. Many of which I cannot remember.
Henry "Worst" Trammel