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Holy Crap, Stevie's??? I was sure it was one of the young bucks. Emmett saw he and Molly recently. I'm sure you know they've got religion so those days are blotted out of his memory banks no doubt. But not out of Rick's, we can be sure those images are etched into his fragile egg-shell mind. Hmmmmm, is there a "what happened to Rozzo?" thread. There needs to be; that one would go on forever........ Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

Yeah Jeffy, I remember those movies and the chill up my spine everytime I hear Boston's stuff; like "More than a Feeling." Of course the next thing I remember (also with a chill up my spine) is watching those movies on the wall at OZMO next to some porn during somebody's batchelor party. (Damn, who's was that.............it'll come to me as soon as I hit send). (Thank God, I've effectively blotted out the image of Rick True on the pool table with the stripper. Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

I was only there for a weekend (New Year's I think) right before they closed. Emmett and I got on some 8 or 10 ways with the Unity guys. My log book entry was something like "the best damn dives we'd ever been on". Well designed with highly experienced people; it was magic. Bill Dause just sat in his little shack collecting money. I think the "Sunset over Pope" final days happened a few weeks later. Disclaimer: I wouldn't remember this if I hadn't shown Cheryl Creson aka Cheryl-bob (my current boss and former Pope Valley jumper) those logbook pages just a year or 2 ago. P.S. Cheryl-bob and her old man Jimmy-jack are doing well, scuba diving a lot and probably haven't changed much since then. Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

Rick, you got the list right and so did Parachutist that John Rich quoted. Seems like yesterday. I had stopped by in the morning to shoot the $hit with TC about our Gear Drive 8 way team and its potential future for the 84 Nationals. I woulda been on that load too if I didn't have a 4 way team practice that afternoon. That always pissed Leverenz off. Flying over the scene after we got the word, we couldn't believe we were looking at the point of impact; it was just a little smoldering black spot in a crater by the side of the road. Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

hard to believe. There, but for the grace of God................. Vint, you helping Dan T. put together the memorial celebration? I'll try to make it. If I don't, tell anyone who wants to know that "Looks like my plans fell through.....Oh ! Lord, Stuck in Lodi again." (occassionally). Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

Yeah, Dav3 Ruckert did several all Cessna boogies at Snohomish. We did build some nice 55 way wedges. The most memorable part was that the pilots did a fantanstic job of flying a tight formation. Everyone was nervous the first couple loads about the formations, but it got to be old hat; never any close calls that I remember. And the other thing was that everyone had an easy short flat swoop to the base. It just took patience to let the thing build, nothing really tough about it. I bought a 'Fuck big airplanes' tank top for my 34DDD girlfriend. Unfortunately, the jumpers and general public never got to see it. Ruckert's one of those guys you don't forget. Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

Pete said he'd try to come by and "tell the cow story." But truth be told, I'd rather hear a Squirrel story. Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

The Gulch. Rumors were hard to separate from the truth. Kilos of dope cut open on the packing tables and freely available to anyone. True? Highly plausible to us who weren't there. I remember those pictures in the Enquirer. It helped us "normal/legal" jumpers to hear rumors that he was a Gulch low puller and that that was probably a factor in this tragedy. As for Tom Phillips, he was a skygod to me at Elsinore in '69-70. I was pretty bummed to hear he bounced. The rumor I heard was he had gotten into downers and that was a factor. Also, the rumor was that he bounced or or near the highway and the Highway Patrol filed a report, so technically he was a highway fatality. Any of this true? Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

I'm sure there are some classics in there that would be even better if the background information was told. Case in point; the Boise boys at the Nationals; right to left: Pat Arther (the squirrel), Funny Miller, Little John McEnroe and Randy Yost. These guys set the background, created the culture (however you want to describe it) that gave us Pete Hill at his finest. I mean, Pete, being a redhead and all, never needed any help with crazy ideas, but I don't think his life and reputation in Spokane could hold a candle to his Boise shenannigans, thanks to guys like these. And I say that with more than a touch of awe and envy. For example: Pete blew up a dead cow at the DZ one new year's eve. But what led up to that? I'm sure it wasn't meticulously preplanned........it just happened with some help. I think I'll send Pete an EM and ask him to set that record straight. Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

Jeffy's history for all the world to see: http://www.cofc.edu/~wraggj/skydive_hist.html#special . Yeah, Eloy right? that was only 10-12 years ago. You still there? Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

While I don't believe that was the question, Jeffy can weigh in on the details of some real groundbreaking questions about exits that he asked in the 4 way team briefing (4 way was out of Cessna 182's). One quetion was "could they ask the pilot for a certain flap configuration". They (Tesseract) had some pretty good exits figured out which involved using the leading edge of the flap (which needed to be 10 deg down). The chief pilot had never heard about that, so he naturally resisted (afraid there would be some hidden danger). There was also some controversy (or at least ambiguity) about how long they had to launch after the exit command. The judges were using telemeters and they did not want the exit to be straight up. Judging back then was unavoidably pretty loosey goosey. A side note; it was so loosey goosey that one judge wanted to add her own criteria of how "pretty" the formations and transitions were; not just whether or not the formation was correct and grips were there. While that idea has some legs today with the exquisite in-air video, it was considered a "hash dream" back then. Well, that's all I can remember right now; my team wasn't good enough to worry about any of that, so I didn't pay a whole lot of attention. Jeffy and Tesseract did win the 78 Nationals in 4 way though. Jeff's website has a picture of them cracking the champagne after the last jump which was pretty dramatic IIRC. Jeffy, time to add your detail. Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

The others are Lyle McIssac at the far left standing next to Herbie Gibson in green. Sully in red/black rig is talking to Emmett. I think that's Randy Houk on the other side of Rozzo (red/black reserve flaps visible). Joel Anderson is on the other side of Emmett. OK, next picture: at the 78 Nationals in Richmond. Who's going to name and tell a story about these 4 famous Boise boys who proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was something mighty peculiar in the water. Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

ROFL. Good one Rob. Yep, you got those right. There's 3 more that should be easily identifiable to Boise boys. And a couple of others more hidden but still identifiable to Jeff and No. Idaho guys. Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

OK, here's an easy one. Name these guys in Kalispell '77. Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

OK, here it is; 501's finest hour. Joe Taylor buzzing Star at the 2nd upside down meet July 78. And my finest hour, doing a double moon with Zak's wife Cheryl. I have no idea how I got picked for that load, but it sure was fun. Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

OMG Jeffy, I can't believe I'm going to compare logbooks with you but I think Rozzo had at least 3 Beeches thru the years and always 2 at OZMO thru the mid to late 70's. My log book shows lots of AT-11 loads at Henley and OZMO and a couple of references to '501' as an AT-11. That was the green/white one that Les Williams landed with the right main stuck in the up position and Mo riding it down with him instead of jumping. Remember that one? SN-1B showed up later as I have a few of those logged starting in 77 and remember video of it from the mid 80s. I always assumed it was Rozzo's or maybe Taylor's, but it was treated as an OZMO plane. The AT-11 had a square door and I think it replaced a knot-hole D-18 which was what we jumped when I first got to Henley in late 74-early 75. I've also got some local (not Mayfielld's Orange Crate or White Whale) D-18 loads sprinkled in through the 70's. So I think we used the AT-11 as primary and the D-18 as back-up and formation loads. But who was paying close attention when we could use the DC-3 for a load of 8? Guess the next step is looking at old photos (buzz jobs obviously) That's my story and I'm sticking to it.............for now anyway. More later.......maybe. Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

Tail #s, you want tail #s? Well, it would take some digging to find but Jeff probably has all that shit logged along with total time on the airframe, annual date, # of trips to Mexico etc. All I know is the green/white plane was 501. I think that was an AT-11 but I'm not sure. I also have a D-18 and an SN1-B that we called "snib" logged. Maybe the long term memory will kick in soon............. Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

OK, I'll come clean. This was at the Oct 77 Upside down meet at Star. Photo by Craig Huch Base has Emmett Tim Florea (Red) 8:00 position Pete Hill (Blue rig) 6:00 Jeff Wragg (white jumpsuit) 3:00 Hank Barber & Cody Outside: Mike Jensen (brown) 6:00 Phil Reeves (blue/red racer) 7:00 Stevie Morrow (black/red racer) 7:30 Eddy Pancoast out 9:00 ?? (Yellow rig) 9:30 me (Blue Jumpsuit) 11:00 Ray Phuillips (white jumpsuit) 12:00 Shawna (Red helmet) 2:00 Funny Miller (blue/yellow/red rig) 3:00 Randy Yost (blue) 3:00 Tom (Sully) Sullivan (red/black/blue jumpsuit) 4:00 Al Gilbert (green rig) 5:30 Low: Tom (Rozzo) Canarozzo Roy Baldwin Greg Self The real interesting part of that weekend was getting down to Boise from Athol in the '501' Beech. Thru clouds and weather with no instruments. Les Williams was the pilot and used his nothing but dead reckoning and a magnetic compass. We missed Boise, came out of the clouds at Mountain Home and had to stop for fuel in Boise before we got to Star. Good thing we were all young stupid and bulletproof. Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

I think it's a fascinating question; will tunnels help or hurt skydiving? Looking back on my 39 years of participation in skydiving evolution, I should have a strong opinion of where this tunnel phenomenon will take the sport. But I don't. It’s so wild, it could go anywhere. It will probably morph the sport into ways I can’t imagine without cramping my brain. A few random thoughts drift thru my fragile egg shell mind: • Obviously, it will raise the skills bar to incredible heights in a very short time. • That in turn, should elevate skydiving’s image amongst the new extreme sports. • But raising the bar so high may discourage some jumpers who would normally plod along slowly learning the basics and being happy to just jump. • At the same time it will attract tunnelheads who say, “let’s add a plane ride, a parachute ride and the adrenaline rush of the fear of death to the mix.” • And for old bellyflyers like myself, they will realize a whole new challenge that would have never been attempted without the benefit of tunnel training. • The general public’s idea of a tunnel experience may quickly be divorced from skydiving. • It could be a passing fad and someday be the new “bowling”. It would return to being simply a training tool at dropzones, since skydivers are already the minority of the tunnel market. Perceptions change: ten years ago, I would never have predicted a decline in skysurfing. Good/bad for the skydiving? It’s both. Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

Well I just saw this thread this morning, ran down there and did 10 minutes this afternoon (my first tunnel). I'm impressed and will use it as a tool to learn free flying.....no small task for this old dog. But my eyes were opened to the future when I realized how quickly these things are popping up around the country and how much of the market is the general public. I was in a group with a 5 year old and 8 year old. So, I guess these tunnels will be profitable like indoor kart racing: supported by the general public as a novelty. Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

Yeah, I think it's older than '68. I started there then and that doesn't look familiar. And since my long term memory is kicking in as the short term memory has long since departed, I remember a lot about Leo, the Flying Farkles, Ray Cottingham, Tom Phillips, Larry and his beloved Howards, on and on, but not that sticker or patch. I'da had one if Larry had them out in the case. Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

For those of you have never seen ropes and rings in action, count yourself lucky. And for those of us who have, don't forget the bloody reefing rings on the steering lines. See p. 31 post # 770 of this thread http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=270299;page=31;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;mh=25; for why those things weren't too great either. For those not bothering to look at the post, here's the key sentence in that post: "On the SS, steel rings joined the single steering line to the 3 cascaded lines sewn to the tail. If I had time to look carefully, I would have noticed that the steel rings had knotted up the line twists and nothing was gonna unwind. But I didn’t, all I knew was nothing was changing from this scary picture." I'm pretty sure my 1975 SS mally hastened the the slider to the mass market. Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

And here's last month's version, done by a guy with 100 jumps. [/url]http://expn.go.com/expn/story?id=3055619[url] Of course he just might break his neck doing a triple back flip on his dirt bike next month, but oh well, he's probably getting laid as much as he can stand now. Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

Well, if I wasn't so drunk on Dave Singer's 2nd story boathouse after the Kingdome jump, I would've thought getting thrown off the balcony would've been the scariest 'jump' I made. I landed in the water OK, but barely missed the corner of the water level deck. Were we effing nuts or what? Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.

"I had almost 750 tandems logged when I did a checkout ride for a buddy, on the front. " Aren't all TM required to be a student during their certification process? We did when I got my rating in 87. If not, when did that stop? Ted D6691 SCR 3975 SCS 2242 NSCR 698 On the road to wrack and ruin………… but making damn good time.