epsilon07

Scuba, The Remster mentioned the Mentor Program which our team runs for jumpers looking to improve their RW skills at Skydive Arizona. One team member takes a group of three participants and organizes a day of productive 4-way RW jumps to improve skills. We cater the jump difficulty to an appropriate level given the participants and goals of any particular group. We'd love for your to join us for one of these weekends, I am sure you would find it a great experience. SDAZ has committed to making Eloy a friendly, comfortable place for jumpers of all levels to learn and excel, we're happy to help the DZ in this respect. For additional details, check out: http://www.divewerkz.org/mentorcamp.html The next mentor weekend is 10-11 Feb 2007 as we are conducting the program this weekend as well. Check SDAZ's website and look for future dates in SDAZ's advertisments in Parachutist. Blue Skies, Blane Arizona Divewerkz

Did you organize the team? Yes, myself and my (now) teammate co-founded/organized Arizona Divewerkz. How did you find teammates? The founders met during a weekend jumping at Skydive Arizona on an organized 6 way. We found one teammate during a boogie and one teammate during an Airspeed Skills Camp. Were you asked to join the team? No, but I had a part in asking the other two during the first season. How many jumps did you have when you joined your first team? 150 How many seasons did you compete together? This will be our fourth season together. We set firm goals for each year. Top 10 finish at Nationals in AA in year one, 12.5 + point average at Nationals in AA in year two, 14.0+ average in AAA in year three (we ended up winning the AAA class at the US Nationals which was a great bonus!). This year we have again increased our point average and jump # goals to new levels. Was there much turnover? We had the same roster for the first two years. In year three we lost our videographer and our Tail moved on to a player coach team. This year we are keeping the same 4-way but we have again picked up a new videographer. I hope this helps. The best thing to do is get out and jump, let your desire to compete be known. Go to competitions with "pick-up" teams even if you don't have a formal set team. Blue Skies, Blane You can find more information about the team at: http://www.divewerkz.org

My ears are ringing...=) Divewerkz will of course be competing this year at Nationals. We are excited to compete after an otherwise reclusive year of keeping our heads down and training our asses off. We have just completed our training program, putting up over 200 team jumps this year and ample time in the SVAZ tunnel. We have been averaging in the 14+ range in recent training. We will be competing in the Advanced class this year to put any rumors to bed. I'm excited to meet fellow competitors at the end of the week. We will be jumping Friday, a very light day on Saturday and then getting into the thick of things. See you all this weekend, Blane Boynton Arizona Divewerkz

Mish, Same story for Divewerkz, not on the schedule. Have fun, kick ass... -Blane

So the season is over and its about time that someone from Divewerkz came out of silence. I've read the thread and my 2 cents are as follows: I am a founding member of AZ Divewerkz (point) and I have watched the team mature throughout the last two years. We started with a 3.2 avg or something like that in the 2004 Valentine's meet. During the course of the next 18 months we made less than 300 total team jumps and probably spent 10-15 total hours in the tunnel, this took us from 3.2 to a 12.6 finish at nationals. I agree with Mish that I feel DW would have peaked at a higher point average if this years nats was pushed back to end of october... Ultimatley, each time needs to invest the time into a season that is necessary to meet their goals. In our case we met our point avg goal during a 6-8 month season, mileage will certainly vary. The problem with a clear cut criteria for classing of jumpers is that you can't plan for every scenario. In the case of our team we did make a AA choice for 2005 due to where we started the year around 8.7 avg. Having said that, I will tell you that we heavily considered AAA for the 2005 season and we did train the AAA dive pool to keep us on our feet at some training camps. The responsibility for choosing your class is a decision that should be made by individual teams. I know that all the members of Divewerkz felt strongly about a common set of criteria which we felt were acceptable for a AA year. We considered the facts that we were a one weekend a month team, we had no player coach, and would be able to put up a relativley modest # of jumps during training. It's an un-spoken code of honor in my mind and as a community it is up to the individual jumpers to keep eachother honest and hold eachother accountable. A gold medal in one hand and a banana in the other is an embarrassing situation to find yourself in with a national audience. -Blane

Lisa, I transitioned to booties at about the 100 jump level, and it made a big difference in the way I fly. One thing that really helped me in the beginning was when I was told to push my legs down into the wind with booties on. I am the skinniest flyer out there being a 5'11" male at 140 lbs. I have always had to wear weight doing 4-way RW, and I noticed no real difference with the booties in fall rate, except for the fact that during the first few jumps I was "potato chipping" thats what I call rocking back and forth. I have read all the responses and everyone is right on with the pushing your pelvis down thing, it will help alot. Hope this helps, Blane