TallGuy

Thanks for addressing the rumor about the bar Adam. I know it's not the response that will please most people, but with all the uncertainty surrounding the boogie this year at least now we have one thing we know not to expect. Not having the bar is a very serious blow. Certainly given the choice to have it open or not, we'd want it running in all it's glory. But there is a silver lining. Some of the non-jumpers that used to cause trouble at the boogie won't have a nearby base of operations. This year the grand majority of the trouble makers will be wearing wrist-bands! Let's not forget folks, this boogie is not about buildings and businesses. It's about us. So long as we have the company of good friends we have the potential to have a fantastic time. If you don't, you only need to go as far as a mirror to find the person to blame for it.

It's hard to believe this hasn't already been posted. An independent film has been produced which tells the story of Joan Carson, one of Lost Prairie's founders. The first screenings of it will be at this year's jumpmeet. Here in excerpt from the movie's blog page: "Hope everybody is getting ready for summer and planning on being at Lost Prairie for this year's boogie. Not only will it be the 44th annual boogie at Lost Prairie, but it will also mark the 30th anniversary of Joan Carson's passing. "Beagle Boogie Babe" is nearing completion and will be screened at Lost Prairie twice as a tribute to Joan. The first screening will be an invitation only event for cast and crew, and family and friends. It will be held on July 29, 2011. The second screening will be for everybody attending the boogie and will be held on July 30, 2011. Details of these two events are still being worked out, so please check back soon for further information."

This just in from MC Mad John: "Arizona Arsenal will be organizing freefly at the Lost Prairie Boogie this year."

I'd say wake up Dorothy you are dreaming. But I believe we have several home brewers in our community. If you find someone with the equipment and talent a PM might get you the rest of the way there. Did you miss my post?!? Talked to Jessie May this weekend. Her grandfather has started to brew Lang again on the side!!! Damn you list manipulators! I skipped past all your crap and missed the single most amazing piece of news in this years forum! God have mercy on your souls!

I can totally get behind this. Personally I'm mostly looking forward to seeing so many close friends again. That and we really have nothing that compares to Lake McGregor where I live, so I'm eager very eager to go playing out there again. These are the things I know I can count on to make my trip worth the cost and effort. What might be even more fun would be to recount everyone's first LP Jumpmeet. Especially from you folks who've been coming for 20+ years! I'd say wake up Dorothy you are dreaming. But I believe we have several home brewers in our community. If you find someone with the equipment and talent a PM might get you the rest of the way there. Thanks for putting me back on bottom. Good job getting Olympia to come out ladydyver and K-Dubs. It gives me an idea for the powers that be this year. Every year I see questions on the registration form inquiring if it is your first year at the boogie and who referred you. But I've never seen any evidence of anything being done with that data (not that I neccesarily would). Why not try giving people some incentive to bring new people. For every first time skydiver you get to register at the boogie you should get a jump ticket and an entry into a lottery. By Friday at noon there should be a drawing and the winner gets a block (5+) tickets. Seems like the increased turnout and potential for exponential growth would be more than enough offset the cost of the tickets.

I'm assuming you are talking about unplanned ones? If so, you'd probably have to ask one of the non-skydiving locals. The rest of us have been thoroughly trained on our life saving procedures.

I'm sure Pete Hill will be glad to hear this. He must have been getting lonely out there.

I remember that! If I recall correctly you had distributed your head about 1 foot from a rock that was jutting out from the bank. Still you missed it, and I was very impressed that you stood up in the 2 feet of water (being generous) you had landed in no worse for the wear! You are one tough lady!

YES PLEASE! DB.. You must still have some of that money stashed away. Can't you just buy us a secluded road accessible parcel of land on the lake and have one built for us before we get there? I miss that thing almost as much as the brewery. Even though I did cripple myself on it my first year there (Personally I blame the red head)

My flight is booked. As always I'll be there for the duration. Envy me. This goes 180 degrees against everything I've preached in the past but I just can't perpetuate the lie anymore. I'm only a short timer, as this will only be my 8th consecutive year at this event. I strongly suspect I'll be flogged by my elders for this breach in protocol. But the truth must be known! Jumpmeet at Skydive Lost Prairie is..... AMAZING!!! First let me dispel the myths relating to the statements so often repeated by the regular attendees of this boogie. 1) The weather is terrible. Weather is weather.. Sometimes it's good, and sometimes... not so much. But I can't think of a year when it wasn't jumpable for AT LEAST 3/4 of the time. Big open blue skies are the norm. Yeah it gets hot sometimes. It's the end of July! The good news is that there is one of the most amazing lakes nearby, where you can almost always find at least skydiver or two playing and relaxing. Uh oh I think I feel a bead of sweat on my forehead. Time to go to the lake. 2) The beer is warm. If you experience this, it's because you took too long to drink it! It is cheap though. 3) The skydives suck. What is this thing you call a sucky skydive? Jumpmeet is an event that draws a lot of people from all over the world. Many are from small northern dropzones that don't have adjacent wind tunnels, or get to jump year round out of turbine aircraft that go up 20 times a day. So yeah, if you are the sky god of your DZ and you fall in with such a group, you might not feel they meet up with your high standard. In which case, you should bring a group of your sky god friends with you so you can show the rest of us how it is done. That said, there are several small groups of very competent skydivers at Lost Prairie. There are organizers (both official and unofficial) for different levels and different disciplines. It shouldn't be too difficult to get in plenty of jumps that don't suck. If you come with the right attitude you may get in some of the best skydiving you've ever had. 4) Too many f*cking Canadians Trust me. They are much more fun than the celibate ones. These statements are a shameless ploy that regular attendees use to talk the masses out a coming so they can have more of the sun, beer, slots, and lusty Canadians all to themselves. Don't stand for it. You have as much of a right to enjoy the above perks as they do. Now here is the real secret that the miserable bastards that have been trying to keep you away from Lost Prairie don't want you to know. It's not about the skydiving. Sure, if you are eager to jump your ass off, and have set a goal to get in more jumps at Lost Prairie than Mad John, you should have plenty of opportunity to do so. But the things that keeps most people coming back are on the peripheral. First there is the beauty. There is little in this world that is more beautiful than when you arrive through the pass into the vast green valley and see the log cabin style buildings and runway surrounded by mountains in every direction. Sunsets are spectacular, and the stars in the night sky are brighter than they have any right to be. Then there is the aspect I like to call, summer camp for skydivers. I've already mentioned playing at the lake. But there are other activities such day hikes in Glacier National Park, a convoy trip up to the fire tower, and a night where all the skydiving men get together to sing wonderfully raunchy songs to the women afterwhich the women return the favor on the following night. Finally, let's not forget arts and crafts! OK that might not be something you should count on (unless you are visiting our group at Camp Byranada). The most common response when asked what is so great about Lost Prairie is, "The People". But what is it that makes people at Lost Prairie better that the people at other boogies? The answer is, nothing. Chances are, if you are a skydiver you are going to love skydivers. It's not a far stretch when you consider that it takes a special kind of person to engage in such an activity. It's only reasonable to assume that such people would relate well. The difference in Lost Prairie is the relaxed atmosphere in which we meet. If you've been to other huge boogies before you probably engaged in lots of interactions with tons of really cool people. But in Lost Prairie I've found a different level of intimacy that I haven't experienced at other skydiving events. Much of this is due to time. Jumpmeet is a long event. There is no need to bounce between people to get in face time with everyone. You can relax and take time to really get to know someone and develop a real connection. Beyond that it's a place of acceptance. People want to know you, unless of course, you are a total douchebag. Actually forget what I said earlier. The people at Jumpmeet are better than people at other boogies. Now I'm not saying Lost Prairie is for you but you really owe it to yourself to find out. Don't let the good times hoarders talk you out of it. Come get yours! I prefer to be on the bottom. (I'm just lazy like that) Amazon Bob Moore Dr. Dive Grannyinthesky Kdub Ladydyver Lucky Markus (Little Spoon) monkycndo NWFlyer Sheepfucker Shell666 Skootz Tall Guy

except for one MAJOR absence ... Edit : Okay, two major absences. Lang Beer and Kurt Zimmerman OK so no Lang Beer (hmmm) but I believe if I read Fred's announcement correctly there will be free beer! If I'm not mistaken is the first time (BEER!!! Oh wait...) Lost Prairie has ever had this at their boogie. So forget this glass half empty shit. Our glasses aren't even half full. They're completely full with head spilling over the edge! Woohooo LOST PRAIRIE!!!!!!!!!

Either I cut or pasted an earlier copy of the list than I should have, or someone is expecting me to do something they should be doing themselves. I'm not sure which but I'm sure I'll figure it out soon.

Just because I don't think this announcement got half the press it deserved. (Not even a fraction of the amount of when we were bitching about losing it.) Please climb to the roof of your respective DZs and shout at the top of your lungs! THANK YOU WAYNEDO! LOST PRAIRIE HAS IT'S LANDING AREA BACK!!!!!!!! and the list... Amazon Aussie Matt BarryD9545 Bigsky Bob Moore Bolas ccq DBCOOPER and DEB Dr. Dive Erika Dufort freeflir29 grannyinthesky Grimmie Happychick, Sky High Pendants hcsvader iluvtofly k-dubjumps Ladydyver Lastchance Lucky123 madjohn monkycndo NDfallrate NWFlyer Outlaws Pattersd rnicks Rob Pooley Shell666 Skootz Tall Guy The Newlyweds (Larry and Laura) Zymurdoo & Mrs. Zymurdoo Now if we can get a new rope swing set up it'll be almost like old times!

I'm there now with Mike D waiting for Shell to show up. You guys are all late. Don't you know the boogie dates are only a suggestion?

I wanna go.

Well that's one way to sell it. For those of you who don't already know. Greg Gasson is an amazing freefly organizer and coach. He's also a terrific authority on camera flying. We are going to be incredibly fortunate to have him at LP this year. If I haven't impressed you yet, Greg also is credited with jumping without a rig, deploying a canopy from a rig he wasn't wearing and THEN putting it on. Have you jumped with a raft? He's jumped with a cars!, Finally he's exited aircraft and entered others while in freefall (See all this in Joe Jenning's Good Stuff DVD). If you were hedging on whether or not to come this year, this alone should help you make the only wise decision. You want this man's autograph in your log book. He’s an honest to god skydiving legend and one of the nicest skydivers you will ever meet.

I think the loss of the rope swing last year and the loss of the brewery is just more than I want to deal with. I think we need to either: A. Find another rope swing B. Build a new one. Also any word on if we have permission to land by the brewery again for old times sake?

A tracking contest is basically a race for distance. Typically the plane will set up jump run offset and parallel of the landing area. Skydivers then exit single file with about a 1-2 second gap between each one. Each skydiver then tracks perpendicular to jump run towards and if possible past the landing area. The jumper will stop, check their airspace for other skydivers and when safe, wave off and pull at a predetermined altitude. The skydiver covering the most distance in their track wins. If a skydiver is believed to have pulled below the established safe altitude they are disqualified, reprimanded, and must buy beer. The purpose of the competition after all is to help us become safer skydivers. Judging is done by people on the ground, typically along the edge of the landing area who record color of canopies and relative position. Participants are also expected to provide HONEST details of where others opening relative to them. It's great fun. I'd strongly encourage all dropzones to hold their own contest. As Mad John says, it's one of the few freefall skills that can actually save your life and more importantly the lives of the people you are jumping with.

Four days left although, somehow I suspect we won't be hearing back from Michelle until she returns.

I'm thinking early Thursday afternoon. But if there are any late arrivals we may hold off.

That's the spirit.

We are putting together a memorial page for Ken in Parachutist Magazine. Currently we're looking for both financial donations and for high resolution digital copies of photos of Ken to aid in the design and publishing. A web page has been created with links and details. You can see it here: http://partyken.home.comcast.net/ Blue Skies Ken. It won't be the same without you, but life is better for having known you.

I’ll once again be organizing a lingerie jump at the boogie. In case you have never had the pleasure of observing or participating in one, a lingerie jump is pretty much what it sounds like. A jump where the participants are all wearing, you guessed it… lingerie. What you might not have guessed is that the participants are traditionally MEN. The horrors!!! Now being the inclusive group we are we’re inviting the ladies to join us as well. So man up. Bring something daring, provocative, racy, and downright scandalous with you to Montana and then lets see how well it holds up to freefall. For those of you who want to play but might be feeling a bit modest feel free to cover yourself as much as you need to but please stick with the general theme and spirit of the jump. We’ll be dedicating this jump to our departed friend Party Ken who participated the last time we did this. I know he was hoping to join us again this year.

Woohooo. Getting out the door before then sun is even up to make it to the DZ on time for the 60 ways. Damn belly flyers and their damn work ethic and ambition. You guys make me sick! See you jokers there And don't forget to bring your swim suits for the jello wrestling!

As if you needed another reason to attend: By popular demand I'll be hosting Jello Wrestling again at the American Boogie Date: Saturday, June 27, 2009 Time: 10:00pm - 11:55pm I ordered enough mix to make 100 gallons of Wrestling Jello which doesn't liquefy, get sticky, or stain that I'm still accepting financial donations for. We even have a professional (in the proper sense of the word) wrestling ref for the event. So we won't be making the rules up as we go like we did last time. Now it's all on you. Get the word out. Invite your friends (show us all what a pimp you are). And bring proper attire even if you don't PLAN to wrestle. We still need people to volunteer to wrestle. It's like a school dance. Once someone hits the floor everybody wants to join in. While most of us enjoy watching scantly clad ladies working out their aggressions in the dessert-like goodness. Anyone is welcome to participate. Don't worry about getting clean. We'll set up right next to the showers. If someone wants to make jello shots that's always appreciated If you didn't catch it the first time round. You really missed out. You owe it to yourself to make it happen again. ---Important Request--- In 2007 when we did this I had several people tell me that they would have wrestled but didn't because they didn't want pictures taken and more importantly posted. Things have changed a lot the past couple decades. Seems like everyone has a camera of some form on them at all times. Also, it seems like skydivers are doing a much better job of staying covered up at social gatherings. I realize it's not practical to ban cameras (I know because I tried and failed miserably) but I'd love to think that my friends would be respectful of their friends wishes and privacy. Before each round I'm going to ask the participants if they mind if people take pictures. If either says they mind please not only refrain from doing so but self police the group. Let's make this philosophy par for our events and get back to a time when skydivers felt free to cut loose for a little harmless fun without fear of the wrong people seeing parts of their lives they don't need to be seeing. ---One more thing--- The brilliant suggestion was made to have music playing during the event. I'd love to put together a soundtrack of inspirational 80's rock. Think Rocky, Footloose, Karate Kid, Flashdance, Top Gun, and Bloodsport. If anyone has a suggestions for tracks I'd love to hear em. And if anyone has some sort of portable stereo they can bring that'd be great too.