Tunnel Trip to SkyVenture AZ and FlyAway Las Vegas

[Paige 0]

Ari and I caught a flight out to Phoenix to spend some time at the monster of a tunnel SVAZ. When we arrive we are greeted by our friends and instructors Mick and Pun. I remember when they were both learning to fly the tunnel in Orlando for their training. All I can say is WOW, they are both flying & coaching like super stars!

A special thanks to Amy and Jason for their hospitality. Ari and I had a blast watching them coach during their weekly AZTC tunnel sessions. If you get a chance, fly w. these kids they know they stuff and have a fantastic view/coaching style for improving your bodyflight.

I was lucky enough to fly w. Mick and Tim the only 2 instructors working in the am the days we were there. Despite being short staffed, Tim and Mick were always willing to hop in for some 4 way fun.

Our second day of flying Laura (blue suit) and Jim (black suit) joined us for some freeflying! Laura was rocking out hd and Jim was really improving his sit and back flying skills. He's turning into quite the tunnel rat, of course it would be hard to not have Larua's love of the tunnel rub off on you
Here are most of our AZ photos, check back this weekend for the last session of our tunnel time w. Tim and Mick. The lighting in that tunnel made for great photos. It doesn't look 6ft underground like SVO so I was super pumped as I was pulling the photos from the video.

AWESOME AZ PICTURES

After spending 3 days in Arizona we drove to Las Vegas. On a side note, never drive 6 hours after having flown 2 hours in 2 days at a new tunnel in a hot environment. It was simply no fun but worth all the hassle as soon as I walked in the front door of Flyaway Las Vegas. I was greeted by Carly and I must have surprised Keith w. our visit because he was super excited to see Ari and I. Keith, in case you didn’t know is an amazing person, flyer, tunnel owner, and boss.

To our surprise (we forgot they fly every Sunday) Juliana, one of our youngest TPM sisters was tearing it up w. her brother. By the end of the sessions she was back flying! This little girl is a phenomenal flyer, she touches the top net (I'm too chicken to do that ), does T’s, takes docks, does 4 ways, and is a rocking little tunnel bunny. I had so much fun flying w. her!

Ari and I were lucky enough to fly w. Corey, Carol, Chris, Iggy, Cam, Nicole, Juliana, and Pete. Another amazing time w. top notch people. If you go to Vegas and don’t enjoy yourself, you’ve missed the vibe and the part of the tunnel that makes it great, the people!

FANTASTIC FLYAWAY VEGAS PHOTOS

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[skycurlycat 0]

Thanks for posting pics. Great pictures and the tunnel looks HUGE! Sounds like you all had a BLAST. I can't wait until we get out there in 3 weeks and fly in the SVAZ and jump with the AZTC coachs

PMS #113
PMTS #19

[Paige 0]

Ooops, something happened to my Flyaway pics link. That's what I get for posting when I'm super tired. Still getting back on the right time zone I guess.

[URL "http://www.flickr.com/photos/paigetpm/sets/72057594138086023/"]FANTASTIC FLYAWAY PICS[/URL]

Edited to add DOH! Don't ever type links for a post into a word document then copy and paste, I think that's why the link sends you to microsoft.

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[freeflydrew 0]

PAige, you and Ari are such...



SUPERSTARS!!!!!!

I would love to get a hold of that footage!

[NeedToJump 0]

I had such a great time on our tunnel trip
It was very cool to see the SkyVenture AZ tunnel in the middle of miles of open desert as we drove up. When we got to the tunnel, it was great to see how big it is and to see our friends Mick and Pun. As Paige mentioned, we saw them both in Orlando when they were training and man have they come a looong way! You guys are looking great in there!

It was a lot of fun flying in such a big and fast tunnel, but it was definitely intimidating at first. I’m used to flying at around 136mph in Orlando and here we were getting 170! It took some getting used to but it felt great. It was also fun having so much space in the tunnel, everything looked so far away. Big thanks to Mick, Tim and Paige for pulling of my first (beer, yeah yeah) 4 way HD in a tunnel!

Our second day there we met up with Laura and Jim and got to have another day of great tunnel flying. There was plenty of room for all of us to play around. Thank you to Jim, Laura, the SVAZ staff and all our friends at AZ for a great time out there
It was really nice to get back to Flyaway Las Vegas. I had such a great time when Paige and I went last year and if it’s possible, this time was even better. I felt so welcome there. Paige and I were treated like we were part of their family.

After our first session flying there, my first comment to Keith was “what did you guys do to Paige in February? She looks amazing in there; she’s flying circles around me!” It was great seeing her fly so well in there and so much fun to fly with her. Her HD carving with her body straight looked pretty badass. Paige, you rock!

For our two days of tunnel flying in Vegas, we were definitely tunnel rats. We hung around the tunnel most of both days and flew most of the time we were there. It was such a blast flying and hanging out with everyone there. Sunday was great when one of Paige’s youngest Tunnel Pink Mafia sisters, Juliana, showed up with her family. We did some 4-way flying with Paige, Juliana, her brother and I. Juliana is now the youngest person I have ever flown with, and man could she fly. That’s got to be one of my favorite parts of tunnel flying, seeing young kids tearing it up
Huuuge thanks to everyone in Vegas. You guys rock and have the greatest vibe. Everyone should get out there and experience it. Keith – you and everyone else are just too nice and too much fun.

Overall it was a great trip. One new big and fast tunnel, one incredibly fun tunnel, a ton of great tunnel flying and a whole lot of new friends.
Big thanks to Paige as well for such a fun trip and some really great times. Thanks for all the pictures and for being so much fun to fly with! You’re a rockin tunnel rat!

Check out Paige’s SVAZ and [url "http://www.flickr.com/photos/paigetpm/sets/72057594138086023/"Flyaway LV[/url] pics from the trip.

Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

[Paige 0]

I'll see if I can find time to try and put together a nice little video of some of our footage. I'm sorta swamped and keep putting off using the super nice MAC software I have for video editing. I guess it's time to bite the bullet and post it to skydivingmovies.com. I'll be sure to drop ya a line when I get to it.

Ari's the superstar, I didn't need 170mph of air for hd but I know part of that has to do w. me being a scardy cat He was amazing in there, didn't skip a beat just hopped in and flew like a bird.

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[Bluefox 1]

Hey Paige and Ari!

It was awesome to hook up with you guys in AZ for some tunnel flying fun. Everyone flew awesome but you both were especially rocking it out in there! The tunnel in AZ is amazing! Its super huge, super fast and the staff were super friendly! Of course all the upper protrusions made flying up high a bit freaky but I got more used to it as the session progressed. I started out having them throttle it down and wore my zp tunnel suit. Then I tried flying my sky suit which worked out very well and made it possible for them to crank it up a bit.

Of course my favorite part was hopping in there wearing shorts and a tee. It blew my mind that there was enough speed that we could fly in there with out a suit! The dvd video is hilarious and maked me roll on the floor laughing the first time I watched it. Near the end of the 2 min session I started to lose the strategically placed back side rubber bands and my shorts started filling up with air when I flew around on my head. Not to mention the last few seconds I almost lost my shirt entirely. Equally funny was Paige in a tank top and long shorts carving around on her head trying to hold her kittens in the basket. Ari’s Tee shirt of course had so much up and down play it was 12 inches longer when he got out. It makes me laugh just thinking about it. I can’t wait to go back and try it again. What a blast! Thanks for all the tunnel fun and I look forward to flying with you guys again soon.
La

CANOPY COURSE Video Training with Brian Germain at AdventureWisdom.com

[Paige 0]

Quote

Ari’s Tee shirt of course had so much up and down play it was 12 inches longer when he got out. It makes me laugh just thinking about it.

I think the speed Ari's shirt 'transitions' from sit, hd, sit, hd, sit, hd is what makes it hilarious. I just showed our dvd to a couple SVO instructors and they both busted out laughing. i look over and Ari's shirt is doing it's dance up and down his torso.

Thanks for the great memories La. U were rocking in there. Your flying is looking good, lots of cool new tricks, and we did pull off some rad 4 way hd carving. Wheel of death! Wheel of death! Whoooooo

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