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What would you like to see as a boogie fee at your next big event? Blue skies, Jim

Congratulations eh! Blue skies, Jim

Invitational is two days, Saturday and Sunday. 14 jumps from 18k. Hey this is Houston, you are very, very cruel! November is one of our drier months if there is such a thing as a dry month on the Gulf Coast. Blue skies, Jim

November 1-2, 2007 big way camp will be 14 jumps from 13k with 2 jumps from 15k with oxygen. 40-way formation loads. Cost is $364. Captains Tom Jenkins, Kate Cooper, Larry Henderson, Scott Elmer and Jim Alkek, C license required. November 2-4, 2007 Sequential Invitational will be 40-way (up to 60-way) formations from 18k feet. Cost is $406. Challenging formations with Captains Tom Jenkins, Kate Cooper, Larry Henderson, Scott Elmer and Jim Alkek. This is an invitation only event. Limited slots will be available for new big way jumpers who attend the preceeding big way camp and receive a captain's recommendation. Registration will open within the next week at http://www.bigways.com with on-line payment. Everyone registered with bigways.com will receive notice of registration. Blue skies, Jim

This just in.... November 1-2, 2007 big way camp will be 14 jumps from 13k with 2 jumps from 15k with oxygen. 40-way formation loads. Cost is $364. Captains Tom Jenkins, Kate Cooper, Larry Henderson, Scott Elmer and Jim Alkek, November 2-4, 2007 Sequential Invitational will be 40-way (up to 60-way) formations from 18k feet. Cost is $406. Challenging formations with Captains Tom Jenkins, Kate Cooper, Larry Henderson, Scott Elmer and Jim Alkek. This is an invitation only event. Registration will open within the next week at http://www.bigways.com with on-line payment. Everyone registered with bigways.com will receive notice of registration.

Sorry, but I can't afford to work for free and then pay for my jumps too! Blue skies, Jim

First I want to wish Skyfest well in their independent boogie next year. As Nathan said there are a lot of costs that skydivers who don't organize boogies never even think of until the bills come due. Spence knows and tried to tell you that. In order to break even, Skyfest had to have around 350 registrations which it did not have. The registration fee had to cover the fixed costs in the event of a rainout. These fixed costs included tent rentals, porta potties, the Skyvan ferry fees (which are substantial), and a portion of the Skyfest contribution. In addition there were the other direct boogie costs that inculded the guaranteed Skyfest contributions that were to be paid, organizer slots that had to be covered, aircraft slots to be paid to the plane owners, fuel costs, beer kegs, advertising in Parachutist, extra supplies for waivers, hotel and car costs for the out-of-town pilots, etc. On top of all this are the indirect costs such as extra staffing hours, extra electric for water pumps and lights, credit card fees, bad checks returned after the event, the wear and tear on the facility itself, and all the clean-up after the event was over. And then there are the headaches during the boogie of jumpers landing off and not being found, security issues at night, drunks harrassing the police, missing gear, etc. Most of the bitching before and during Skyfest was done by one of the organizers who doesn't have a clue as to the actual costs. I hope everyone pitches in and volunteers to help him next year because he will need it to pull off a successful event. Remember a successful event does not necessarily mean a profitable event. We were proud of our budgeting when we could breakeven on Skyfest the last 3 years. At least our jumpers had a good time and the foundation raised money. By the way, the Skyvan flew directly to Spaceland and returned directly to Eloy. We would have been glad to share the roundtrip ferry cost with another dz. Blue skies, Jim

We have also jumped from 14,999 without oxy. However, one of the important topics in any big way camp is the proper use of oxygen, oxygen equipment, and the signs of hypoxia. These will be familirization jumps for the "new" big way jumpers who have never used oxy. During Skyfest we went to 21k twice. On one of the loads, the guy sitting across from me was holding his oxygen hose about six inches from his nose and he had been at the oxygen briefing earlier that morning. He also stood up to adjust equipment and was talking a lot. Just the kind of person you don't want on a big way from 21/23k. Blue skies, Jim

Yes. Please note that there have been waivers to the participation requirements if recommended by one of the camp captains who has personal knowledge of the jumper's abilities. Blue skies, Jim

Conway's been gone a year already. He was sometimes hard to live with, but the dz isn't the same without him. Blues skies my friend, Blue skies, Jim

Tom forgot to also mention that Spaceland will be hosting a November 1-2, 2007 Big Way Camp for beginning big way jumpers and experienced jumpers who want to brush up on their big way skills. Captains will be Tom Jenkins, Kate Cooper, Larry Henderson, Scott Elemer and Jim Alkek. 14 jumps from 13k and 2 jumps with oxygen from 15k. Slots are limited to Spacelands lift capacity with jumps 20-way/40-way multi-plane formations. If you ever wanted to try big ways or need to brush up those skills, this is the camp for you. Spaceland will also host a November 3-4, 2007 Big Way Sequential Invitational for experienced jumpers. Captains will be Tom Jenkins, Kate Cooper, Larry Henderson, Scott Elmer and Jim Alkek. 14 jumps with oxygen from 18k. New big way jumpers who do well during the camp may be invited to particpate in the Invitational, but a slot is not guaranteed to all camp participants. Formations will be challenging and will include may out-facing slots. Registration will open shortly on http://www.bigways.com . Blue skies, Jim

Hey Billy, everytime I have had the screws put to me the guy doing the taking was smiling! And he was usually pretty damn convincing at the time. ;) Keep you hand on your wallet Bud. Blue skies, Jim

Thanks for the reply, but that's a whole lot of lawyerspeak for "you can't waive gross negligence in a contract." If it is not the legislature's intent, the legislature can be more specific next time. I agree that the courts should not legislate from the bench though. Blue skies, Jim

Is this really new? In Texas gross negligence was always the way out for a plantiff who had signed a waiver. It just took longer and was more expensive. In the CA case, the waiver included a gross negligence provision that was an attempt to include gross negligence in said waiver. I thought that was what the court was addressing. Not a lawyer so flame away.... Blue skies, Jim

Actually there are 3 prisons near Spaceland. That's why the road signs say "Don't pick up hitchhikers". Blue skies, Jim

John, thanks again for pulling this together. It was a great POPS event. Organizers were excellent, food was good, and night jumps and fireworks were the best I've seen in a long time. Kudo's to Skydive Chicago and Chicagoland for supporting POPS and skydiving. Blue skies, Jim

J usually has a SCR sign-up sheet at one of the tables. It will be easy to find. See you there. Blue skies, Jim

L&B sends us a bag of spare covers, springs, and screws whenever we order batteries. As Lisa said, most dealers should have them. Check with your dz gear store. Blues, Blue skies, Jim

Trent from Anomaly bought me a tandem. Blue skies, Jim

LCPL Billy Bolton, USMC, Vietnam 1968 CPT John A Sadler, USA, Vietnam 1969 And all the others from OCS Class 05-68: Thomas C Carroll 11-12-92 2Lt Thomas J Lynn, 12-12-92 William T Chaffin III, Vietnam 1969 James P Chitwood, Videtnam 1969 Curtis Douglas, 1-9-89 Kenneth E Finley, 9-73 Mark L Goldstein, 8-27-91 Thomas W Hastings, Vietnam 1969 Richard L Jacobs, 10-5-99 John M Janson, 3-3-93 Dennis G Kinnier, 2-78 Russel A Heard, 2003 Michael K Lee, 4-29-93 James D Lowman, 4-7-95 Richard Melgar, Jr, 6-17-95 Leon A Mickens, 4-93 Richard L Nichols, 5-79 Roger A Parrish, Vietnam 1969 John Powell, 2001 William H Robinson, Unknown William H Shackleford, 1968 Ft Wolters, TX Ronald Sinclair, 7-23-91 Lonnie E Willer, 2-21-98 James A Wright, 7-19-97 Ronald J Matel, Vietnam 1969 Not forgotten.... Blue skies, Jim

In addition to password protecting the cells, you can tie all the formulas to a protected "date stamp" formula that expires if the SS ages beyond a particular date. For example if you create the SS on May 1st, 2007: Cell AA1: =if(today()>date(2007,05,01)+30,"Expire","Run") Then a forumula at a critical point or alll your formulas could reference AA1 to see if they should run or expire: =if(AA1="Run",A1+b1,"N/A") =if(AA1="Run",sum(A:A),"N/A") =if(AA1="Run",if(A1>B2,A1*b2,A1),"N/A") Otherwise you can write a VB script/macro to kill the formulas at a critical point. Blue skies, Jim

I don't have an unofficial record listed either: http://www.texasstaterecord.com/Unofficial_Records.htm Blue skies, Jim

US big way records are generally open to the best jumpers since they are not considered "National" records like most other countries. It is more "the largest [insert formation category here] formation record over {insert state here]". I inquired once about the Mexican record and was told it is a national record and has to be all Mexican. Ditto for the Canadian and German records. Blue skies, Jim

Unofficial records updated through 4/28/07. Please let me know if you have any new updates. FYI: The new USPA State Record Rule 12-3 requires a notice of the record attempt within 72 hours of the attempt and a record application filed not later than one week after the attempt. Information required is a roster of the jumpers on the successful attempt that includes names, Parachute Association No. (USPA, CSPA, BPA, etc.), Association Membership No., Membership Expiration Date, and Gender. Also required are type of jump/category, size, location of jump, and signatures of S&TA and Judge or USPA board member. Blue skies, Jim

I'll second that! What a great group of volunteers.. Martha and Frances Broome Channing Burton Armando Cespedes Eliane Doering Mike Hooper Noelle Ingram Matt Jones Abby Lambert Marty "Ladybug" Mahoney DJ Marvin Libbi Mathews Lori Mitchell Larry Owings James Parem Robert Real Susan Real Belinda Rose Paul Rose Val Ruda Danny Sherer Marian Sparks Cary Stone Darla Tollefson Scott Tollefson Kim Valera and everyone else You guys rock! Blue skies, Jim