tuck

Me and Rob training at Sky Venture New Hampshire. Surfs up.

A couple months ago I was working at an ad agency in the 601 building (a landmark NYC building on the west side of the Chelsea area of Manhattan). The agency happened to be right down the hall from the Xanadu main offices, which were vacant and unattended 90% of the time. The one time I saw a receptionist looking person behind their front desk I asked her about the state of the complex and if there was going to be a wind tunnel there. She totally stone walled me. I have a feeling things are not going well for them.

When there is a tie in total points, who ever had the highest single round score wins out. Luck of the draw baby!

Thanks for an awesome meet Amy! 2 out of 3 Team Scarecrow members on the podium... not to shabby. East Coast baby! :::Team Scarecrow::: East Coast bad boys of body flight

those dudes deserve that gold. my team (Scarecrow Bodyflight) took silver in intermediate, and i speak for myself and the rest of the artistic teams when i say that so much hard work and dedication goes into competing at that level. the so cal bros are a perfect example of why this event is called 3 way. not only do the 2 performers fly there asses off, but the camera guy does an AMAZING job on this team. the way he interacts with the routine is so key to why these guys are so amazing. another huge part of this even is the speed rounds, which IMHO are overlooked by a lot of teams. those 2 speed rounds (out of 7 total jumps) can easy be the deciding factor between being on the podium. not to mention that these guys are super cool on the ground as well. congrats again so cal converge, you guys killed it. we look forward to flying against you next year. :::Team Scarecrow::: East Coast bad boys of body flight

i got total faith in the hooch (aka vertifly) that i will remain in your ec freefly avatar AND that we will be doing some all gath stealth pull down visor jumps as soon as we get together again. long live the gangsta that is the hooch. live to carve, carve to live. :::Team Scarecrow::: East Coast bad boys of body flight

dude.... totally wish i was down there to shred the ball. dammit. :::Team Scarecrow::: East Coast bad boys of body flight

Hey Ian, quick question from the farm owners extended familiy (wink*wink) Im flying a Katana 107 loaded at 1.85 (under the supervision of some really good CPC pilots, I.E. Shatalov) and am going to the rears with consistence. As time goes on the idea of a removable slider seems like the next step in what i want to be doing. Currently flying a Wings Ext Rig the ball stow method requires me to sow a tab onto the yoke for this system to work. This makes me a little nervous in the event that i would need to cut away the canopy after i stowed the slider, for obvious reasons. We all like to think that the drag of the cut away main would be strong enough to break the rubber band that holds the slider in a stowed position.... but its some what of a debate. That being said what would be your recommendation for looking for a removable slider for this canopy. Any companies out there that offer top notch removable sliders that dont make the already hairy katana openings even crazier? Tuck :::Team Scarecrow::: East Coast bad boys of body flight

possibly adam from the ozone junkies... he decides we are worthy of his presence :::Team Scarecrow::: East Coast bad boys of body flight

rob and i are going to enter intermediate :::Team Scarecrow::: East Coast bad boys of body flight

if your going to go with a Miller product... It should be Miller High Life - The Champaign of Beers IMO it is the beer of summer.... and summer means skydiving. So by default, it is my official beer of skydiving. Cheers!!!! -Rev Tuck :::Team Scarecrow::: East Coast bad boys of body flight

hey dude a GREAT freefly tunnel coach for orlando is Martin Skrzypczak. You can contact him through this website: http://www.tunnelcoach.com super cool guy and for sure one of the best around good luck -Rev Tuck :::Team Scarecrow::: East Coast bad boys of body flight

good luck to all the aforementioned ranch hands! go big and make the ranch proud! -Rev Tuck

dude.... PROPS. thanks for keeping 2 way freefly alive, and pushing it farther. you guys are a big reason that we are taking a 2 way team to nationals. (intermediate category... im not flying against that!) keep it up -tuck :::Team Scarecrow::: East Coast bad boys of body flight

good luck ladies!!!!!! go big! good vibes -tuck :::Team Scarecrow::: East Coast bad boys of body flight

to put in my 2 cents: -my first suit was a kurupee. cheap as hell and it showed. bad customer service and a suit that fell apart. definitely wouldn't recommend. -currently i have a tony suit. the customer service was great but the cut and fit of the suit was waaaaaaaay off from what i ordered. had to send it back to be altered. they got it back to me fast and followed to the T the instructions i gave them on the design of the suits and handled the custom instructions great. ive had the arm pit blow out twice on me so far. although i must say the suit breaths very well (even being all black in the middle of the humid ranch summer). good suit over all but will go with different company next time. good luck and blue skys! tuck :::Team Scarecrow::: East Coast bad boys of body flight

Find other camera flyers to jump with and exchange footage at the end of the day. Not only is it awesome to have your self on film, but you get to check out how other peoples cameras film. Made me realize how shitty my cam look compared to the new hot ones!

im sure they will keep it in the WPC, as europe seems to produce alot of 2 way teams. but if they take it from the nationals here in the US, how are new teams supposed to get anywhere or learn anything about competing? it will be the death of the art of 2 way. for me, theres nothing better than jumping with my best friend/team mate and pushing each other, learning the way each other fly, and coming up with awesome tricks. it pushed freeflying to where we are at now. ive spoke to people that were at last years nationals and they said that the VRW was all the new rage. it was only a trial event to see how it would go over. there where more teams that showed up for VRW then for the 2way freefly. dont quote me but i think there were only 4 teams in each class for 2 way freefly. and most of them were from texas. other than myself and my team mate, i havent met anyone in the past 2 years that was interested in 2 way. it happened to skysurfing (regardless of how anyone feels about it) was one of the best things to happen to our sport. it was on tv all the time! because its jawdropping to watch. how many times do you meet a whuffo and they ask "do you do the board thing?!?" and the common answer is "no. nobody does that anymore." and grant it, the 2 best skysurfers in the world died tragically, which im sure had a huge impact. i feel like 2 way is going the way of skysurfing. i hope that i am wrong. i hope they keep it in nationals, but americans seem to be more into the VRW lately. and as i said before, its an awesome progression for the sport. it will no doubt raise the skill level and push people to do amazing things that were not even considered 5 years ago. new jumpers are getting interested in it before there off student status. they see team mandrin on the cover of parachutist and want to do that as soon as possible. its great for the sport and its growing like crazy. BUT its over shadowing the creative side of freeflying. i wasent around when freeflying was first starting, but i was captivated seeing it on tv. talking to jumpers that were a part of that revoltion is awesome. i love hearing the stories about wearing crazy sit suits, super baggy wild freefly suits, and the 90's partying that is legend (at least at the ranch). it was about being free and not doing boring (although challening) rw jumps. and im sure one day if im jumping in 10 years, i'll tell the newbies about the invention and perfection VRW. prob referring to "the good old days, when skydiving was dangerous and fun. low hooks and hundreds of jumps to learn head down. and we walked to altitude... in the winter no less, with no shoes on". the stories stay the same, but the faces change. i get it. i guess im just venting because i was really looking forward to competing in the intermediate 2 way freefly. i wanted to do it even before i started aff. *sigh* ok i got myself a tissue... im done bitching for now. but i still want to know for sure if its going to remain in nationals this year. maybe if there is enough interest and emails sent to uspa they will keep it. let me know what everyone thinks :::Team Scarecrow::: East Coast bad boys of body flight

muzzler has some good advice for sure. eps about the relaxed arms. i prob dont need to say this at this point, but speaking from very close calls and personal experience, be super careful about using too much pitch angle when learning HD movement. esp when flying with newer freeflyers who will not be able to dodge a VERY fast forward drive or cork. head down is a power position that can achieve incredible forward speeds with very little effort, as im sure you have seen. when i was learning head down i was lucky enough to have great coaches that stressed that this is another level of flying and "slow is fast". small movements must be drilled into you first. some told me to lead with my head and let it direct me to where i want to go. this resulted in fast forward drive by presenting more of my lower back to the wind (which is what muzzler was saying). it was too fast for me to control at the time and i would shoot past my slot (not to mention scaring the crap out of who ever is on the jump with you when you go screaming at them at warp speed with a terrified look on your face). others told me to push my legs against the relative wind and feel the air on my shins or calves. this, for me, produced slower and controlled movement. it also taught me how to put on the breaks and stop where i wanted. after that i was drilled in chasing my coach at varied speeds, which let me feel the aggressive power when pitching my body and putting more wind on my back. through this awesome combo of great coaches and a scary close call, i gained a huge respect for the power and grace of head down flying. i understand not every drop zone has pro freefly coaches, and i consider myself lucky to have them, but the most important thing i was taught from them was "slow is fast". in EVERY aspect of our awesome sport. you sound like your staying safe about it, and if you heard this all before... it was a nice reminder for myself too :) i hope that trying to put all those coached dirt dives, jumps, and debriefs will help you in the quest to fly head down as it did for me. blue skys tuck :::"never stop learning"::: :::Team Scarecrow::: East Coast bad boys of body flight

so after hearing many rumors, i emailed the USPA asking if 2-way artistic freefly was remaining in nationals this year, and this is the strange response i got: "Two-way artistic freefly is now called VRW at the Collegiates and it won't be at the US Nationals in Ottawa. That's the word from Competition Director Larry Bagley." since 2-way and VRW are two totally different events, this is confusing.... i also admit that i sent the email through myspace, so maybe it played out like a game of telephone in the USPA office, and things got abit scrambled. what ever the case may be, has anyone else heard anything from anyone at USPA about this? i know that last year the number of teams that entered this event was at an all time low. it would be a shame to hear that this event had been laid to rest. growing up watching guys like the fly boyz put so much style and creative flow into there flying was what drew me to this sport. is this really the end of creative style events for freeflying? i love VRW and it is no doubt the wave of the future for freeflying, but i feel (just my humble 2 cents) it takes a bit of the human element out of freeflying. less free and more robotic. but i digress.... anyone else know for sure if it has been removed? :::rev tuck::: :::Team Scarecrow::: East Coast bad boys of body flight

thanks for sharing all the knowledge. def makes me wanna try a crossfire2. :::Team Scarecrow::: East Coast bad boys of body flight

let me preface this by saying that i advanced quickly under the supervison of pro swoopers and great canopy coaches (its great to be able to say your cousin is none other than hans paulson - word hansie, hopefully being a world class swooper runs in the fam). and that the point of this post is to share my experiences for the purpose of not scaring every other skydiver at your DZ with your corner-lishous, stabing manic swoops. that by the way get you no fucking distance, speaking from experience of course. i learned (and am always learning on every swoop) on a saber2 150 loaded at 1.2. i put 300+ jumps on it and its quicker recovery arc definitly saved my ass more than acouple times. IMO i think that when learing to swoop, the sabre2 (or a canopy that has a similar recovery arc) is the right way to go. if your gonna be swooping, sooner or later your gonna see the corner... and it comes real fast. IMO everyone thats chooses to get into swooping shoud have the same lecture that i had, from highly respected pilots - swooping is dangerous, and just because we are teaching you how to do it, doesnt mean that your gonna do it right every time. lets all be honest here, i can almost bet the farm the every HP pilot on here has been in the corner more times earlier on that we care to remember. i think its part of learning. you have to know what the corner looks and feels like to be able to get out of it. eps on a shorter recovery arc wing. before you can even think 'oh shit, im low', it can be too late and your on your way skyjunky.com to buy the 'got titanum?' shirt (your welcome for the plug dave). because at a light wing loading these canopies have to be hooked lower, better it be on a canpoy that will dig out quick. even on these canopies at this light loading, ive seen femuring and other leg breaking speeds and fairly longish dives. BUT... in true dropzone.com spirit, allow me to contradict myself now.... when i started flying longer recovery arc tarps (samurai,katana), the first 100 swoops on them were abit scary to watch from the ground. i was swooping it the way i had swooped the sabre2 150.... just at a higher altitude. snaping the turn from the first 90 all the way through and diving it to low. not letting the canopy do what it was designed to do... stay in the dive longer. alot longer. i scared myself into some more canopy coaching. i was am learning to start higher, slow the turn down and use the harness more in the last 90 of the turn. so basically, learning a whole new way to fly the canopy. you have more time to asses the turn, while your in the turn. higher start alt = more time in the turn to fine tune (or bail more importantly) so to get the what this post was about.... i think that the progression (for me) into swooping with the sabre2 was good... BUT if i could make all those jumps again i would have down-sized to a longer arc canopy earlier. not saying that i recomend a downsize, but... yes i think that when you first start learning to swoop that a shorter recovery arc canopy is where its at, but for me there was a point were i started to develop some bad habits from it. just my 2 cents on what i am going thru in my quest to surf the turf. :::Team Scarecrow::: East Coast bad boys of body flight

i have a pair of gatorz and i love em. if you find the right model they will fit super snug, and you can even bend em to fit better.

very nice job guys

i jump at skydive sussex in NJ (about 45 mins north of nyc) and i have to pass mountain creek ski resort to get there(formally veron valley or action park... used to have an old school wind tunnel). i used to ride downhill mountain bikes there and there is a fully functioning lift that runs all summer. i havent had the balls to ask anyone there if i could ground launch, but it might me worth a try... check them out and give a call.... you never know. let me know if anything come thru :::Team Scarecrow::: East Coast bad boys of body flight