acerik

Been a while since I've posted here. Our good brotha Al Jones has moved on. A friend of his stated that Al no longer needs a parachute....he has his wings now. I knew Al from the old Palatka Para-Center. We started jumping together shortly after I'd gotten off student status in '84. I was the last graduate of the original (gutter gear) student progression at PPC and had known Al a few months at that point. (PPC went all AFF for a while, then brought progression back a year or so later, but with AFF student gear.) Always with an open mind, Al was willing to teach nearly anyone who was genuinely willing to absorb and learn....and to my genuine surprise, he took me in and taught me a lot during that A-license purgatory. And we hit it off too! He not only became a great friend to me, but also to my dear ol' dad Dick Emerson and to my sister Alicia Emerson. Not to mention my dear ol' dad's second wife Saundra Thomasson Emerson. A quick story.....we were doing this quasi-demo in Port Orange, FL in the late 80s. Was it really a demo? Not really. In actuality we just filed some paperwork so we could jump into a party at my father's house that he was throwing. On the skydive was the ol' man, Mike "Mad Dog" Maguire, Al Jones, and myself. Al and I used to to a fair amount of CRW back then, and thought it'd be cool to downplane into the party. So once we'd opened we quickly hooked up into a biplane. But....... The winds aloft were a little stiffer than we'd planned or expected. We'd opened a little downwind of the target, and....well....we went a little further downwind hooking up for that biplane. No penetration....time to change plans. Dang! Fortunately I knew the area really well. It was Al's first time there, so he trusted me when I suggested we go a little further downwind from the ol' man's house to get to a nearby neighborhood. I knew a trail we could cut through once we were on the ground. So anyhow, we were approaching time to break off and I suggested a few spots to land in...offered Al his choice. He chose a fairly open front yard. Great! I took the center of a street that was free of tree limbs and power lines. Just before we touched down, about a dozen kids on bicycles appeared outta nowhere....clearly fascinated by what was <ahem> going down. Managed to dodge 'em, gathered our gear, and convened at the nearest street corner. I remember one of the kids asking "Where'd you guys come from?!?" Ever the wise ass I replied, "The sky!" Al was of course cracking up...and then we made our way to the nearby trail I knew. And we're both in near hysterics walking along this trail in the woods in Port Orange imagining what these kids are telling their parents! Oh. One small detail for folks who never knew Al Jones......Al was a black man. Kind of a rare breed among skydivers at that time. So the kids are telling their parents -- "Mom! Dad! You're not gonna believe what we saw when we were out riding our bikes! This white guy and this black guy came in under parachutes and landed right over there by Mrs. Johnson's front yard! And then they scooped up their parachutes and ran off into the woods!!" Al was a career Navy man. He moved from Jacksonville, FL to Honolulu, HI at some point in the early / mid 90s and remained there. His passing was related to some medical challenges he had around a decade ago..... Blue Skies my brotha........

Richard "Dick" Emerson passed away April 22, 2013 after a yearlong battle with cancer. My dear ol' dad made his first jumps during airborne training while a cadet at the US Naval Academy in about 1963. Took up sport jumping in 1983 at the old Palatka Para-Center. Throughout the rest of the 80s and into the early 90s he was active mainly in Palatka, Deland, and Z-hills. In 1989, he led Flyaway 10 to a silver medal in 10-way Speed Star at the US Nationals in Muskogee, OK. Fell out of the sport in the early 90s to pursue other interests. A fighter to the very end....no longer living a life of pain. Blue Skies.... Erik C Emerson D-10301

Patience, Guru! Respectfully to Pyramid Media...forget the VHS!! I haven't heard a specific release date for the DVD set, other than "soon". And knowing what's left to be done, I think "soon" is probably pretty accurate. We used an old print of WINGS to recruit at University of Florida into the late 80s. A fair chunk of the print was missing by the time we got hold of it. We'd tread up the projector and fire it up. And within a couple seconds, that familiar red WINGS title would come up. I definitely know what you mean there SCR. A lot of my contemporaries are all over Norman Kent's stuff from the 80s & 90s....pretty easy to spot 'em! And while I sold most of my gear in '92 (still got the 16mm cameras), and made what's probably my final jump in 2002...I'm still drawn to it.

I'm not at all surprised with that kind of turnaround. Carl Boenish clearly lived his dream and I'd venture to guess, loved to share in it. I remember back in the late 80s or early 90s, one of the regulars then at Skydive Deland found a mag-striped 16mm print in a closet or something, and had a cheap VHS transfer made from it. Said it was Carl's. Kinda like what you you described. A bunch of skydives over CA, probably from '78, spliced together with popular music....I seem to recall a Fleetwood Mac tune in there. Not the kind of thing that would be released as a "proper" film, with the bootlegged music and all. But I can see it being shown at a bar! I never met Carl. But he was nonetheless a huge influence. Not the least of which was to jump 16mm cameras and eventually find my way into the film business as a career. And being such an early influence, standing in his studio / workshop - where it all came together - was just mind-blowing. And I'm not one to get star struck. Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to the completion of these projects!

Well, what I can say is that the rumors are true. A 2 DVD Carl Boenish set is coming. The original films have been re-transferred and cleaned up a bit. Menus are being finalized right now. As I understand it, this came about as a sort of bonus project. A young filmmaker is doing a documentary about BASE jumping, and is using a considerable amount of unreleased film shot by Carl. She was generously allowed access to Carl's archives by Jean. And as a mildly jaded guy who's been in the film business for 17 or so years, I gotta say this archive is impressive. Carl Boenish shot A LOT of film!! I approached Jean about a decade ago to explore the possibility of cleaning up and re-releasing Carl's films, but it was only discussed....no action was taken. And I'm glad. I think the right folks with the right intentions are behind these projects. The filmmaker, Marah, has set up a Facebook page for her documentary. Called "Gravity The Film". Have a look. A few really cool previously unreleased frame grabs from the archives. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gravity-The-Film/163034613758388

Been checking the boards here off and on for a number of years, but now it's time to post....... Right now I'm working on a movie in Canada, and my sister called me with the news...... I'm not going to claim to have been the best of friends or anything of the sort....in fact the last time I was in touch with Don was probably ten years ago. Not to misconstrue...we were always on the best of terms. In fact he was one of the biggest influences I had during my 10 years as a skydiver. Funny story how we met...and I thought I'd relate that as a tribute. Those of you who truly knew Don Yahrling will surely recognize him in what follows...... It was the fall of 1982, and I was an enthsiastic (and broke) 16-year-old looking to make my second static-line jump. While Deland was physically closer to where I lived, they had by that time an AFF-only training program. The closest place that did static-line was the Palatka Para-Center at the beautiful Kay Larkin Airport. So off I go with crumpled logbook in hand...driven there by my mother, of all people. At the time, PPC pretty much consisted of the old bunker, and a couple of trailers...just up the road from the loft where Don made "Ozone" jumpsuits. (anyone remember those??). Anyhow I walk into the "office" trailer, and Don happened to be the guy at the desk. He was making entries into a logbook or something. Looks up and there I am...a nerdy greasy-haired 16-year-old with a mouthful of braces. Unimpressed, he says "How can I help you?"...then goes back to his entries. I say "I called earlier, I'm looking to do my second static-line jump," And I place my pathetic excuse for a logbook onto the desk in front of him. Taking no notice of the logbook, and without even looking up he says, "Okay what do you do for a Mae West?" I spit out the drill I had been taught earlier....which, as I recall, was something to the effect of pulling the reserve ripcord with one hand while holding the reserve container closed with the other...then inching the pilot chute out by hand without allowing it to spring out...then with two hands, pulling the folded reserve out, and throwing it down and outward into the direction of the spin. Don drops his pen and stares at me for a moment, jaw slightly agape. "Where the hell did you learn THAT??" he asks..... "Skydive East in Pittstown New Jersey" I say.... Shaking his head in apparent disbelief he says sharply, "Well we don't DO it like that here....let me get one of our instructors and show you how you're SUPPOSED to do it." .........and that was my introduction to Donald Kent Yahrling. We laughed about that for years. In fact, I'd venture to say I'm probably one of the few people on this planet who's seen Don laugh so hysterically that he was crying. That was a bizarre scene around the bonfire one night in Palatka when Sam Conte was belting/screaming out the song "Locomotion" in falsetto while slinging a hula-hoop around his neck.....all I can say about that is that ya just had to be there. And Don was simply beside himself. From that point on, all anyone ever had to do to get a good chuckle out of Don would be to hum the "Locomotion" melody... Tons more stories....though I'm not gonna bore you folks with those. But I will add that I got a "kick" out of Henry Trammel's recollection. I actually remember that.... And so, without sounding overly sappy, I'll close by saying to Don..... Ev'rybody's do-in' a brand new dance now.......and it is truly an honor to have shared the sky with you. Erik C. Emerson D-10301

All kinds of ways to shoot 16 or 35mm really....all depends on how much you want to spend....and if you want to own or rent the cameras and lenses. Also depends on how heavy a camera you want to carry. Back in my day we used N-6 and N-9 type gun cameras for 16mm. N-6s can be had cheaply on eBay. They use the old Kodak 50ft preloaded cartridges. You're not always guaranteed perfect focus with the N-6, and they do have a tendancy to jam. Also need to adapt the front plate to accept c-mount lenses. Both the N-6 and the N-9 should be stripped of overrun controls and some of the internal relay switching to make them practical. The N-9 types were of much better quality and versatility....a little more expensive too. I've got several myself. They accept 100', 125', and 200' daylight-loading film magazines as well as 100' and 50' darkroom loads. The variable shutter is also a nice feature if you're into that look. The downside is that you're limited on frame rates (16, 32, 64 fps) and without major (expensive) re-engineering, you'll be hard-pressed to convert them to Super-16. The Photo-Sonics 1VN is another excellent mag-loading 16mm camera. Frame rates up to 200 fps. Also takes c-mount lenses. There is a Super-16 conversion for the 1VN...pricey. Lowers max frame rate to something like 120 fps as well. Brent Finley may have a couple of these available. There's a new Super-16 camera by Ikonoskop called the A-Cam SP-16. Looks promising if you don't need to go more than 36fps. Takes c-mount lenses as well, but they are developing a PL adapter for larger PL-mount cine lenses. Looks like a great camera for the money. The Aaton A-Minima is another lightweight Super-16 camera. They can be bought cheaply enough sompared to most other Super-16 cameras....but a lot of rental houses carry 'em as well. Why buy when you can rent?? PL mount lenses....so the glass is gonna be a little heavier. Arguably sharper and contrastier than the older c-mount glass. Takes special 200' daylight spools by Kodak. Tricky to load. Don't know how durable the mirror shutter is. Not so many choices in the 35mm realm. The 3 main 35mm guys fly 3 different systems. As best as I can tell, Joe Jennings uses an old Bell & Howell Eyemo. Takes 100' daylight spools. A stock Eyemo can be upgraded with a crystal controlled motor and PL or PV mounts. With a PV lens mount you'll only have the option of renting your lenses....Panavision doesn't sell 'em. On the other hand, while they're heavy, the Panavision Primo series are in my opinion the best spherical primes made. Anamorphics are also an option...but they can be a little touchy and the camera MUST be totally dialed in. I don't know if Eyemos can me converted to Super-35. Norman Kent Shoots with a Russian package called Konvas. I don' know much about those, other than that Konvas is a complete system....lenses, camera body, mags. Be careful that the claw and reg pins are BH pitch. Many Russian 35mm cine cameras are KS pitch....meaning the claw and pins won't fit Kodak's or Fuji's perforations. Does the system work well?? Have a look at "Willing To Fly"....you be the judge. Tom Sanders uses an SL-Cine 2-C with low-profile SL-Cine mags. SL-Cine's cameras and mags are magnesium, so they're extremely lightweight, but still rugged and reliable. They're made in 12V and 24V versions, and also available with a Super-35 PL mount and gate. Standard PL and PV mounts are also supplied. The system is based on the tried and proven Arriflex 2-C. Tom's also got a custom-built 35mm body I think he got from the late Rande DeLuca ages ago. Hope that's helpful. Drop a line if you have questions. E2