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Brian - Please make it clear why Johnson/Miller declined. Following a landing accident at the 2003 World Championships, which we attended, Kathee had neck surgery that forced her retirement from the sport. If anybody wants the facts behind that accident email me, suffice it to say, it was the result of trying to be a good competitor in a high profile meet. The extent of this injury became apparent at the 2003 Natinoals in round one where she became temporarily paralyzed from the chest down on her first trick out the door. If we could have gone, we would have gone, and trust me, we wanted to go more than anything. The hardest thing either of us has done in this sport was decline the invitation to brazil. Post retirement, we have continued to support the event as best as possible, as have craig and tanya. Also, lets not use stats to shade the issues. At the 2003 world championships, there was 1 freefly team, 2 skysurf teams, and ZERO freestyle from the US, yet, I don't hear any crys to eliminate those for lack of support. I know, its not apples and apples, but these remain important facts. Brian - I understand your viewpoint and we all recognize how hard you worked as team manager in Brazil - it was much appreciated as was Kevin's work in 2003, but please put all of the facts on the table. Steve.

Ron - happy to hear you think that is a good reason. It may be the only good reason as you mention, but it alone has enough strength to keep it at Nationals until IPC drops it. Same discussion as Women's 4-way. US generally opposes the classification, but we sanction a team because IPC has it as an event. Its the only argument we need. If there is ever another Mondial as in Gap, 2003, the US might well need the skysurf points to bring home the overall award. The economic issue is a bunch of nonsense. Medals are covered by entry fees and at no cost to USPA assuming there at least 3 teams. Bump of the fees for skysurf if this is an issue. FYI - there is already a rule in place which says that number of medals awarded is one less than number of teams. So, its not just show up and medal. If there are 3 teams, only gold and silver awarded. This happen to us (Boardwalk) in Lake Wales when we had to withdraw/take zeros due to injury in round 1. Also, Judges are already at Nationals for other AE events. To require a separate meet to choose the Skysurf World Meet rep would be silly and at much greater cost than using nationals as the venue - not to mention the issues surrounding how USPA sanctions the winner of this new meet. Given USPA's big brother tendencies, Nationals is clearly the way to go. Also, Ron - go easy on the skysurf vidiots, I'm one of them. Number aside, you should count video for both events. A team is a team whether it be 5,9,10, 17 or 2. Said my peace. I'm done now. Steve.

Dave - all good questions. The defend your title rule, while an interesting concept, is brutal to monitor and even harder to draft. I've taken a shot at it and there are too many variables. Yes - it would impact the 25% rule. The renaming of the "Open" class would only come into play if a new 4th class was added to account for teams that are between pro teams going for US team births and the advanced class teams. This would partially help with the hotly debated PC issue which has been beaten to death over the years. Steve.

For the benefit of others (email sent to Jan) - Ron addresses some interesting points, but doesn't address the issue of whether we should field a team if its an IPC event. If IPC has skysurf, U.S. should keep skysurf. plain and simple. U.S. should field a team that is as large as possible every time. To attend an IPC meet, our reps must be sanctioned by the USPA. To do that, there has to be a meet someplace to choose the rep and USPA has to recognize that meet. The Nationals is the best way to choose the skysurf rep and offers the least amount of red tape. Judges are already there, planes are there, USPA is there and the cost of medals, if that is an issue, can be borne by entry fees (which it already is so the argument there is hogwash). This is also roughly the same argument used to keep women's 4-way sanctioned by the USPA. It worked there why not here? At last nationals, which had more open class teams, skysurf or women's 4-way? So, Tanya retires, the US quits winning World Championships and USPA wants to kill the event???? Come on guys. AE's need as much participation as possible and they should all be encouraged to attend the IPC meets. It was a shame to watch France walk away with the overall medal at the 2003 Mondial in Gap largely because of the lack of US particpation in the AE's. Each event gets 3 teams. In GAP, there were 2 skysurf, one freefly, zero freestyle. Hmmmmmm, funny, skysurf had the largest turnout for the US team. In all honesty, neither skysurf team medaled, but at least they were there. Granted, this shifted some in 2004, but skysurf has a strong past in US team participation. It has strongly supported USPA over the years. USPA should return the favor. Just my 2 cents. Steve.

Perris Valley has a skysurf school with Craig and tanya. Scott Smith at Perris is also available and has a video out. Kathee and Larry at Skydive Elsinore. I believe there are also some coaches in Eloy. On the east coast Sean McKormack is outstanding. He was the original free flier on a board. Freefliers such as Alaska Jon are also fairly good skysurf coaches on a very advanced level. I'm sure there are others from the international scene that still train here. Hopefully other will chime in here with suggestions. Ask around at the larger DZ's. Steve.

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Hey Freefliers and other AE competitors, USPA is once again attempting to eliminate skysurf. Please see the post in Bonfire and offer your thoughts to USPA. Please help keep skysurf. S.

This has been a never ending theme for the last several years. To answer some questions, Yes, skysurf is more popular in Europe, but not by much judging from the number of competitors that attended the European Championships recently held in Russia. Of course, cash for travel is an issue here. There was a fair turnout in for the World Championships in 2004 and for the men in 2003 in France. The women are still having issues with numbers at the international level. This is worsened by the retirement of Tanya O'brien and Kathee Johnson in the US. We "see" very few women (and men for that matter) coming up in Skysurf in the US and that is frustrating to USPA. If there are any, they need to make themselves known. Why don't more people skysurf - its HARD!!! But - IMO, it is the most beautiful discipline to watch (my apologies to the freefliers and canopy pilots who are also pretty amazing). Having tried it once and failed horribly (but having watched many jumps from the cameraman's perspective), I can truly appreciate the difficulty involved. Sadly, as seen by the X-games removal, the general audience, while appreciating the grace, cannot relate to the sport. This however - is not grounds for elimination from Nationals. I certainly don't see any other discipline getting TV time. In fact, skysurf probably gets more than others. Of course, this alone is not grounds for keeping the discipline either. Now - as to the question, droping an event for lack of participation creates a bad precedent. If this happens, does it mean that Women's 4-way teams from the US will be next? There will likely only be 3 or 4 of them at Nationals in open. USPA has been fighting for their elimination as well. Granted, this is not apples and apples, but lets not allow the camel's nose under the tent. So long as IPC has skysurf as an event, the US should field a team. Of course, those who qualify should attend these international meets. THis failure serves only to give USPA another hammer to nail the skysurf coffin shut. How do we keep USPA off our skysurfers' backs - increase participation. BUT - skysurf is bit like freefly in terms of the percentage of people who particpate in that discipline who actually attend Nationals with a team. Same in skysurf. Those who do it need to go to nationals. Freestyle as well. Particpation in the AE's need to pick up plain and simple. Where is the drive among AE compeitors that has fired up the 4-way world. Folks - GO COMPETE. Get your friends to compete. This is how to keep any discipline alive. The US still has some of the best skysurfers in the world. They are just retired or freeflying. Freeflyers - strap a board on and see what you can do (get some coaching first!!!!). We have some outstanding coaches available for skysurf if you seek them out. People who were pioneers in the sport. GO BIG. Steve Elsinore Boardwalk Team USA 2003-04 Elsinore GT

Has anybody seen the agenda - here it is!!! Here we go again!!! http://uspa.org/news/notices/CompAgenda07.05.pdf Thoughts??? Ron - I know you have to be chompin at the bit on some of these!!! Steve

I'm not sure who said "as a Team" Fire has no international experience. While this might be true, Ian, Shannon and Eric do already own a bronze medal from a world cup and Gary is a world champion with tons of international experience. Whlie they and natasha have not competed at that level together, its seems a bit off to think this group would crack under the international pressure. As somebody mentioned, the scores speak for themselves. Frankly, I think Nationals will have even more pressure. THe only thing at stake at this meet was pride and cash. Nationals has a world meet (adn to some extent, world cup) birth at stake. It should be great to watch. Add GKN and Majik to the mix and there is one heck of a shoot out gonna happen. Steve GT

Nice video - where's the video of Thomas lockin up all over the place. Thats the one I want to see!!!

8 points with 2 rounds left, under the new rules, this is a lock barring disaster. Downside to the new rules, it makes a comeback much more difficult thereby, less exciting for the viewing public. Hmmmmm, wasn't part of this plan to make the sport more viewer friendly???? Jumping off soapbox. Nice job by fire and all the US teams. Fastrax lookin good. Arlo - just saw the calendar. All I can say is "Wow".

I have not tried, but when I was a student, there was a female skydiver who was told to do that to avoid wearing weight. She seemed to think it worked. As Ron mentions, if Tony thinks it works, it probably does. Now, not sure what it does to your range as in theory, it will severly mess with your ability to d-arch. Seems to me, the nerf is just a built in arch/beer belly. Wearing weight is a different concept from a physics perspective. I assume Tony uses it for video where he has his wings to help with the slow fall/range. FYI - you cut it long wise and wear it with the flat side against your belly, ends of the football pointing to your toes and head respectively. Steve Gt

You let your team get beat by Pillasch and bonitz??? Those silly rocket scientists!!!! Why haven't they invented a packing machine by now.

I must admit - the draw from this last weekend was pretty fast. Through 10 rounds, all randoms were drawn and 3 blocks left out. Through 6 rounds - it was pretty darn fast. Steve.

Has anybody seen the Fastrax video now on NSL website where they did the 35. It appears that the OC is holding on to the flap on exit. Last I checked, you were not allowed to use a control surface of the AC for a hand hold on exit. I know that the control arm is often used by OC and, like here, the flap for N exits, its just not in frame. Whats the penalty for doing this??? Anybody have a cross reference to the rule? Update - I just checked SCM and didn't see this rule. Perhaps it no longer exists and its up to the chief pilot (that part is in the rules). Steve GT

Notice that this old injured body doesn't go near the tunnel league. S.

Thanks dom. I think all of the local teams had great days. It certainly didn't hurt us to have Thomas with us!!!

Scores should be out soon. Fury looked pretty darn good. Steve Gt

(a) Letting others win for a change and (b) pulling up MY skirt with my one good arm.

Handicap - you sniveling little baby. Jaqz and kingz has been beating them with a zero handicap for years AND taking the poker pot. Geeez, pull your skirt up and move on.

yet - they still beat you. How did you let that happen???

So I've heard. I think taunting while another team is in the door should be encouraged. Baseball style - Heyyyyyyyyyyyyy, center, center, center, saaaaawinggggggggg center Can't exit, can't exit, can't exit, Hmmmmmmm. Sounds like new rules for the Poker meet.

Nice is for sissies. Its time that this sport started with some good trash talkin. Sure would make the ride to altitude more interresting. AND - I was nice. I said "might".

I can confirm that Directe will attend. Hmmmmmm. Directe has former GT, Fury has former GT. Hmmmmmmmmm. GT has been working hard on taking out Storm video flyers. Hmmmmmmm. Gravity's video does Gt's rigging (and would like to keep our business), Element has the wife of our rigger who would like to keep our business. I know where Topher lives. Hmmmmmmmm The fix might be in. Don King.