More World Meet 81

[billabx 1]

Here's a sequence of pictures I took on Mirror Image's last round of 8-way.

[JSBIRD 1]

Regarding Pic 4...You don't see many 5 cell canopies anymore.

But, I still have my Strato Star from1976.

BASE369

"Now I've settled down,
in a quiet little town,
and forgot about everything"

[Zing 2]

Hey, I think I spoted me in photo #3, lower right corner, no shirt, gray shorts, long blond hair. It was the third time in my life I had a great time at ZHills.

Zing Lurks

[billabx 1]

I reposted the photos in a little larger version. I'm still trying to figure out the best combination of resolution and jpeg compression to get the best and largest images and not bust the 300k limit on file size.

Bill

[jonstark 8]

That was the "Blue Skies Black Feet" meet.

The Austrian team stayed with me in Savannah prior to the meet and their Masseuse made my neck loose as a noodle for the first time in years. Ahhh.

Their team captain, Fuzzi Pedvilla, went wind surfing in Hilton Head. He stepped off the board onto an oyster rake with no shoes on. 400 stitches and lots of pain killers later he took off for the meet in my box van with a living room's worth of furniture in the back. They carried him to the loads and he crawled to the door. He later told me that Hooper tried to admonish him for camping in an inappropriate area to which he answered in his thick Austrian accent... "Hooper Jim, You don't make trouble for me I won't make trouble for you."

Blue Skies Black Feet!

[billabx 1]

I knew it wouldn't take long for "Blue Skies, Black Feet!" to come up. For those who weren't there, the 1981 World Meet was the inauguration of the "new" Z-Hills" dropzone on the back side of the airport. New buildings,etc. The only problem was after clearing and burning the palmetto bushes that had previously occupied the area, then laying down sod for the landing area, the ash from the burning mixed with the sand and EVERYTHING was coated with black ash! I remember walking through the vendors tent where someone was selling commemorative mirrors and some wag had cut the ash that coated them into neat black lines.

[Jim_Hooper 3]

Jon has it exactly right, albeit without the preamble. I'd cleared 40 acres seven months before the World Meet and, yes, made the mistake of burning the piles of palmetto roots (which are notoriously difficult to eradicate), then seeded the newly-bared ground and waited confidently for it to go from brown-black to a verdant green. Sort of like one of those documentaries where the desert is transformed overnight. I mean, hell, I had to mow the old DZ every week during the summer becaue of the climate and rain. So what happens? - we had the driest summer in years. Every day I stalked the new dropzone, looking for signs of life. Nuthin'. A week prior to the Meet I accepted the inevitable and forked out $10K for an acre of sod.

Then the head of the Chinese delegation demanded to see me in my new office, where he began remonstrating with me about the presence of the South African team. This came as something of surprise, inasmuch as he had specifically asked me about the Springboks at the two previous CIP meetings in Paris and Bisham Abbey in England, and received the same answer: any member nation of the FAI could field a team and, therefore, a refusal to let them compete was illegal. There was national media attention being focused on the Chinese and a fair amount of sponsorship riding on their participation.

Anyway, here I am, black, sweaty and grumpy from laying sod and in NO mood to be lectured by some short, fat Chinese general whose country had nothing to brag about when it came to human rights. Bastard probably came across the Yalu in 1950 during the Korean War. So when he said they were withdrawing unless I banned the Springboks, I sort of lost my cool and his official interpretor had some difficulty translating, "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out." And as he waddled out, so did any chance of the Meet turning a profit. Ended up about $20K in the red if I remember correctly.

These threads certainly do bring back some choice moments.
Hoop

[johan420 0]

Quote

Regarding Pic 4...You don't see many 5 cell canopies anymore.

But, I still have my Strato Star from1976.

BASE369

hehe..i never seen 5-cell canopies before, how was it to land this canopies with so low cell-pressure?

[piper17 1]

....in the red?!? After all the money Pioneer paid for on-site advertising??? ;>) Sorry, Hoop - Couldn't resist.

I also remember BJ telling all the exhibitors long before the meet (at a USPA or PIA meeting perhaps) that he wasn't sure where we would be locating our booths but it WOULDN'T be a tent with a dirt floor. Of course, that was exactly where we ended up albiet pine bows covered the dirt/sand floor. I remember blowing my nose for weeks and getting black soot....gross but there it is.

"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

[JSBIRD 1]

Quote

hehe..i never seen 5-cell canopies before, how was it to land this canopies with so low cell-pressure?

In 1975 when I weighed 140lbs, and jumped at sea level, it was no problem at all. Unless there was really bad turbulence, I could always expect to stand it up.

BASE359

"Now I've settled down,
in a quiet little town,
and forgot about everything"

[jonstark 8]

I used to jump a five cell Kestral which I could get to collapse to three center cells only. If I pulled front risers immediately after a deep/full stall it would go all the way down to only the center cell inflated. I would ride this at a tremendous sink rate, nylon flapping wildly, to flare at which time the flapping end cells would re-inflate and the landing was perfectly normal.

jon

[johan420 0]

Quote

Quote

hehe..i never seen 5-cell canopies before, how was it to land this canopies with so low cell-pressure?

In 1975 when I weighed 140lbs, and jumped at sea level, it was no problem at all. Unless there was really bad turbulence, you could always expect to stand it up.

BASE359

allrighty..cool..
a little off-topic here, but do you know if one of the "REAL" BASE canopies came as 5 cells?? FOX?

[billabx 1]

Here's one more shot of MI during the competition. Freefall cameramen were severely restricted during the meet due to concerns about interference with the ground based judging video. I was permitted to go on many of the jumps because I was working with a small video production company sanctioned by USPA. I stayed further than normal from the teams and my pictures suffered for it, but it was better than causing a bust for one of the home teams!

Bill

[Jim_Hooper 3]

Quote

I also remember BJ telling all the exhibitors long before the meet (at a USPA or PIA meeting perhaps) that he wasn't sure where we would be locating our booths but it WOULDN'T be a tent with a dirt floor. Of course, that was exactly where we ended up albiet pine bows covered the dirt/sand floor. I remember blowing my nose for weeks and getting black soot....gross but there it is.

Next time ask the guy in charge. Of course, if you had, I'd probably have told you to ask BJ. Keep 'em guessing, that's my motto.
Hoop

[tbrown 26]

Quote

Regarding Pic 4...You don't see many 5 cell canopies anymore.

If I remember, the US Team was jumping a complete Swift System from Para Flite. The Main, reserve, and harness/containers were all built by PF. Never jumped a Swift, but think it was something like a 188 ft 5 cell, with a notoriously poor flare. The Swift reserve was more successful for quite some time, eventually evolving into the 7 cell Swift Plus before PF finally got out of the sport market. the Swift system didn't stick around for long.

Para Flite also had a 230 ft 5 cell called the Cirrus, which also had a TSO'ed reserve version.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[jonstark 8]

Quote

Quote

Regarding Pic 4...You don't see many 5 cell canopies anymore.

Para Flite also had a 230 ft 5 cell called the Cirrus, which also had a TSO'ed reserve version.

I recall a guy from Canada that would open his Cirrus, NOT release the brakes, steer it with risers and land it with his arms dangling to show what a pussy-cat the canopy was. More of a big fat dog or pig but docile however you looked at it.

jon

[piper17 1]

When you say "the US Team", you are, of course, talking about Mirror Image - the eight-way team. The Army Parachute Team, the Golden Knights, were the US 4-way team and jumping Pioneer Merlins for mains. They may have had K-XX reserves but I can't remember for sure. Just had to get a plug in for my old employer, Pioneer Parachute Company. ;>)

"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

[Niki1 1]

If I remember correctly, the US Team was jumping a complete Swift System from Para Flite.

__________________________________________________


I think Mirror Image used the orignal Vectors. Bill Booth used this meet to debut the next generation of gear.
Maybe it did look a lot like another rig but that other rig never got nearly as popular, did it?

The Army Team used Racers, I think.

Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done.
Louis D Brandeis

Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

[billabx 1]

MI did jump Vectors. I have some shots of the sponser dive they did with Bill Booth and Elek Puskas that I'll post when I get a chance to scan them.

Bill