rdesilets

Hi All, I have 2 slots left on Thursday July 2 for the Diamonds and Jewels Invitational being held as part of the CASA boogie up at Jumptown. Friday (July 3) is full but I am putting people on the waiting list in the event that we have slots open up due to last minute changes or we end up flying the Super Otter in formation with the CASA. You do not need to commit to both days, come Thursday, Friday, or both. The dives for the event are posted here: http://blog.formationskydivers.com -Rob

As of right now the weather is looking sweet: http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=77583

For those interested: http://tsr.formationskydivers.com I will update nightly with the dives .. -Rob

That would be a hoot! Jim -- please keep us posted. It sucks about your shoulder :(

I see your profile says you are from Houston so I am assuming that is where you are from and just going to school in New England. Ironically I moved to Austin (specifically to get away from the cold and the dark) 12 years ago and it was one of the best things I have ever done in my life... I was a new person (atleast in the winter months).. The first thing I noticed about down here was the difference in weather systems.. Not only (obviously) that it was warmer, but cloudy days down here (when we have them) last for about 1 day whereas up in New England they can persist for 6 days.. When we do get a few cloudy days in a row the first thing it does is remind me about New England .. Coming from someone who lived up there (Massachusetts) for 23 years (until I moved away when I was 23) I feel your pain and know exactly what you are going through. I had those same feelings from Nov -> March each year I lived up there. In my experience, to go outside and find something outside to do as that did not really help at all. The fact is that its dark, cold, and most of the time cloudy to boot. The only thing you can do, honestly, is just deal with it or move away and go to school someplace south. It will get better as the days get longer .. but the fact is that it will be well into April up there until you start to get temperatures that feel "Warm" to you if you are from Texas. On another more happy note, there is nothing like July 4th weekend up there when the sun is shining at 5am and you are getting ready to head to the DZ for first load...

Yes -- that show rocks. The same thing happened to me.. I was in CA last year for work and my boss asked me if I watched BSG. I had not heard of the new series.. I got back and watched the first show.. from that point on I ended up watching 4 hours per night until I was caught up.. my wife was like WTF .. then about 2 months later I convinced my wife to give it a try .. so I had to watch them ALL again with her. P.S. Some of the jumptown folks came down to Spaceland last weekend for the Texas Team Elite dives with Guy .. it was a hoot.. -Rob

TSR for me as well. I would love to do the CA event but we have a Guy Wright 36 (or more) way event in Spaceland the weekend of Jan 10/11 -- so I can't schwing that and CA since they are soo close. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the Spaceland 60-ways this weekend .. woohoo.. -Rob

Greetings, Last weekend I helped to organize a 30-way event we had here in Texas (from the CASA). As part of the event, I wanted to have all of the dives stamped so that once we slotted each it was quick and easy to create a handout for all participants -- showing their slots in the aircraft and each point in the skydive(s). After doing much research it appeared that people used Autocad and older dive maker software to accomplish this but it was not as quick as I wanted nor did it have the merge capabilities I was looking for. I used Excel and Word (merge) to accomplish this and the 3 dives are attached. After the event I had many people asking me what software I used to create the dives in. Instead of answering each of them, I decided to put together a 15 minute "quick and dirty" tutorial that illustrates (at a high level) how I accomplished this. Let me know if you have any issues viewing it, or questions... http://www.icalc.com/tutorial/stamping_dives.html -Rob

The first round of invites went out Sunday night and we have 24 confirmed as of this morning. We have folks from the World Team, TSR, Texas 44s, Back to the Future, License to Thrill, Arizona Challenge, and the list goes on. A really great group. If you are interested in participating in this event please fill out the form in the link above (previous post). edited to add: 6 slots left thanks! -Rob

Check out the Parachute shop in pepperell. ([url]).

Skydive San Marcos is hosting a 1 day big way event during the annual Halloween CASA boogie. This event is invitation only and will be organized by Harry Hopkins, world record holder and sector captain for the 2007 Texas State Record 150-way. The event will consist of 3 very challenging multi-point 30-way skydives. Each dive will be repeated once for a total of 6 jumps. Participants will have a different exit position for each skydive and many slots will be outfacing. All jumps will be video debriefed (we will have 2 videographers). Video and stills will be available for purchase. For all of the event details and to register, please visit the following web page: http://www.icalc.com/ssm_bigway/information.php Blue Skies... -Rob

Greetings, We are having a boogie in Sept. and are interested in getting some custom pull up cords. I was wondering if anyone knows a place that does this as I have no clue where to start.

When I first started diving from an otter I had a similar problem -- I was always going ass over tea kettle each time. It turned out that I was diving out with my right foot slightly forward, which was causing me to present my back to the relative wind -- and that's all she wrote. One person told me to make a concious effort to have my left foot forward (slightly) as I dove out with my arms straight out in front of me looking for the tip of the wing -- this will (for the most part) get your chest into the relative wind instead of your back. Once you "Feel it" a few times you are all set. Nowadays, I don't even think about it and I can go out with my head in any direction (e.g. looking for the base as one other posted talks about), etc.

I know there are a lot of articles and posts on big way formation skydiving available but I wanted to add one more to the list. Attached is a document that Hollie Reno and I put together for a Big Way Camp at CPI a few years ago. Pepperell is putting on a 1 day camp August 2, 2008 and we are going to go through this document with attendees (so I found it buried on my hard drive and made a few changes). I thought it might be useful for others interested in learning/reviewing the concepts of big way skydiving. Here it is: http://www.icalc.com/download.php?fileID=bigwaycamp.pdf -Rob

Greetings, Skydive Pepperell (http://www.skyjump.com) will be hosting a 1 day big way camp on Saturday, August 2, 2008. Start time 8am. 6 Jumps total, with video debriefs. Rob Desilets, Jeanine Bodvin, and Sally Burgess will be organizing. All jumps will be one point skydives with a focus on big way concepts (varying exits, slot flying, team tracking, etc, etc.). A document that we will be reviewing and practicing in the air can be found here: http://www.icalc.com/download.php?fileID=bigwaycamp.pdf Slots are limited so please email Jeanine to register. Her email is: [email protected] Thanks. -Rob