Freeze Fest @ Cross Keys

[PalmettoTiger 1]

Roger that Justin. I had a great time just hanging out and BSing with you and the other S&M guys ("Skydivers & Mentors" ) who I only knew from the e-mail list. I was kinda worried when the ground crew started digging around the Otter, I thought they were going to put it out of its misery and bury it.
And as for beer.... I am proud to announce that as a member of team "Rocking the Man in the Little Boat" I am the CHAMPION of the Freeze Fest Beer Olympics™!! I haven't been that sloshed in about two years, and I don't think it will happen again. The Freeze Fest Beer Olympics™ involved shots, beer, chugging, dizzy bat races, and drunken sprint relays. I have a nasty bruise on my shoulder from the pillar that holds up the loft - once I tried to stop myself before I got there and didn't do a very good job. But it was all worth it! We won free jumps!!!
I took a lot of pictures and some of them even turned out. Take a look:
Lots of people showed up (Yay! ).
Someone taking off at the sunset... and someone landing at sunset.
Since I was competing, I couldn't take any pictures of the Freeze Fest Beer Olympics™ but I got someone else to snap a few. The pictures are a bit unsteady; I don't think he was sober and he definitely wasn't used to my camera. Your mission, should you choose to accept it.
Oh hell yes I accept!
The men. The myths. The legends. The CHAMPIONS!! Team "Rocking the Man in the Little Boat":
Tom Kennedy
Mike Schmidt
Skip Smith
Dan Korn (Skip and I chose to wear some of the beer rather than chug it.)
All in all it was a great time. I got to meet a lot of people I only vaguely knew. Hopefully I'll get to jump with them soon!
PTiger
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way

[Kelly 0]

excuse me, but my team did pretty well too A :)
i didnt get to meet any dz.com folks I was packing at 11:00am. maybe I did though afterall....
I had on a longsleeved black 'jersey all star' shirt, black pants. Was on "team cameltoe" for the beer olympics.
kel
My little corner of the web.

[Jimbo 0]

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'jersey all star'

Always true to her heritage, that's our Kelly.
Unfortunately I didn't make it out I got stuck at work until 11:30 AM on Saturday then went straight home for some much needed sleep. There's always next time.
-
Jim

[Stacy 0]

hey- even though i sucked at the chugging part (gimme liquor any day...)- i won the wet tshirt contest. and my team was the only one with a real cheer. ha!
pics are being uploaded right now @ http://astro.temple.edu/~sweeks/ffest02
Stacy
http://users.snip.net/~stacy

[johnny1488 1]

I was extremely pissed at the dz's decision to ground people based on licenses held. as A uspa member they agree to abide by the uspa's bsr's and those regulations say that a skydiver holding an a license or greater can jump in any wind conditions they choose to. what position are they in to tell people whom they have never seen jump that they can or cannot jump. I hold an a license but have 170 jumps. I saw people with b licenses with 60 jumps going up. I load my canopy at well over 1:1 and I saw the same jumpers who held b licenses jumping canopies loaded well under 1:1. Are they saying that because they were able to get thrown in some water that they are more fit to jump in winds they deem unsafe(yet ive seen students jump in the same conditons. At most times it was gusting to 14 at the max. I might not have jumped at alll times yesterday but being told I could not was ridiculous. I have the b license form filled out and stuck in my logbook minus the water training. I told the dz this and I was told "then you need water training". Exactly how would water training have saved my ass in slightly windy conditions. I wouldnt even take an instructor at my own dz telling me that. They could talk to me about the conditions if they felt the need to and I would love that cause it means they are looking out for fellow jumpers. But being told that i could'nt was a load of crap. I've sat out windy days before. No one had to tell me to. I was extremely pissed off at that.

[Jimbo 0]

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what position are they in to tell people whom they have never seen jump that they can or cannot jump.

Are you a regular at CK? Do you realize that the trees and buildings surrounding the landing area make CK fairly dangerous as DZs go? Most people don't, but things can get hectic up there quickly, more so than at other DZs.
As to who they are, they're the people who own the DZ, they're the people who jump there every day and know the winds well. They're the people looking after your safety.

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I hold an a license but have 170 jumps. I saw people with b licenses with 60 jumps going up.

Well then, you should have tried harder to go up. It's not difficult, usually just go and manifest, when/if they ask about the license you hold, lie.

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I load my canopy at well over 1:1 and I saw the same jumpers who held b licenses jumping canopies loaded well under 1:1.

Wing loading is no measure of canopy skills. This statement means nothing except that you load your canopy at greater than 1 to 1, so what.

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Are they saying that because they were able to get thrown in some water that they are more fit to jump in winds they deem unsafe(yet ive seen students jump in the same conditons. At most times it was gusting to 14 at the max. I might not have jumped at alll times yesterday but being told I could not was ridiculous.

No, I think that they're saying you need a B license or a C license to jump when they put on a weather hold. It's the rules, the rules may not be perfect, but they're the rules anyhow. As to water training saving your ass, maybe it could have, there's a pool on the DZ and a pond at the golf course.

[Kelly 0]

This is an issue that you should email the S&TA, Rick Wynne about. Explain your frustrations, explain your experience. See what he has to say.
but what it all comes down to is this:
~xkeys has had the license restriction in place (versus the jump numbers) all the past season, it was institiuted in April of 2001. This was done for several reasons . Rick can give them all to you. (I will personally tell the owner that we need to put that information on the website if its not up there already.)
~ sometimes you go to a dz and dont get to jump. I lost 6 days in arizona due to weather. those 6 days were in the last couple of weeks i was out there. I lost 3/4 of my florida trip due to weather, wind included. You need to realize as a skydiver that sometimes you dont get to jump, no matter how far you traveled.
finally, this is an issue you need to stop and think about. If you've still got a problem with it, contact the dz personally. and not just the manifest staff. find somebody with some real decision making abilities. If you had a problem with the dz flying incompetent planes, or being unsafe, then post the hell away about it on a public forum. If youve got a problem with policy (That was instituted for safety reasons) take it up with them in private.
enough said.

My little corner of the web.

[pilotdave 0]

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I took a lot of pictures and some of them even turned out. Take a look:
Lots of people showed up (Yay! ). Not all of them got to jump (Boo! ).

I'll scan my pictures whenever i get em developed. Luckily I got one jump in today so the weekend was a success. I've never seen my hands as purple before as after my jump. That was coooold. Anyway, I had a great time and it was nice to meet a few of you.
Dave
http://www.skydivingmovies.com

[wingnut 0]

so............ did ya guys break the record????? well, i'm gona go to sleep so i'll have to wait until tommorow to find out... hope ya guys did well, and had a blast doing it.......

"up my noooossseee"- wingnut, at first euro dz.com boogie
opps... i hate it when there is a second page of stuff and i do't see it................. disregard first part of message.....

[AndyMan 7]

I've been there, and it sucks.
The reality though, is that there are some dropzones that have very few 'outs'. These are drozpones have small landing areas, lots of trees and obsticles. Frequently at these DZ's, if you land out you're hosed. These dropzones tend to have very high standards for their jumpers, standards that exceed the BSR's.
I've also been at the flipside, DZ's that get waivers for the BSR's because the landing area is HUGE, there are no obsticles, etc.
Choose your dropzone wisely.
_Am

[rogue108 0]

Wahhh....Wahhh....Cry me a friggin river.
Its true the rules aren't perfect, but they are the rules. The rules are there to protect you and the DZ. It sucks you couldn't jump, but it happens. Deal

[johnny1488 1]

I have jumped plenty of times at cross keys before. If the weather was too bad to jump I would not jump. I have no problem traveling and getting weathered out. Im not stupid, it happens. As far as wing loading Im talking about jumpers with 60 jumps coming straight down. I've dealt with funny winds all season this year at the ranch. If talking to some people could have gotten me in the air than what is the rule there for anyway? I dont appreciate being made to feel that I dont know how to make educated decisions about skydiving. As far as the dz looking out for safety I dont think that was happening if they were letting up some of the jumpers they were. If wing loading doesnt represent canopy skill than neither does license. And if there is a pool and a pond on the golf course then maybe I needed floatation gear too. Its seems a cop out in the name of safety. If they want to be safe they would talk to and watch each jumper under canopy who was subject to the weather hold. Sound like student status? Thats cause it is. I will email rick not to vent but to talk to him about the dz policy.

[Kelly 0]

email him at the xkeys website. put "Attn: rick wynne, S&TA" in the heading (or something similiar to that).
My little corner of the web.

[Danhole 0]

Hey Johnny,
Why didn’t you just take the B-license test? You could have taken the test and been on the next load. If there is a reason you have 170+ jumps and you still only have an A-license well then that says something.
Also, before you spout off ask yourself why Cross Keys (one of the busiest DZs in the country) has an unbelievable safety record. (knock on wood). Its because everyone there has safety on the brain-- from the owners, to Rick the ST&A, to the instructors to the weekend jumpers. Would you prefere anyone be allowed to jump in any condition?
Cross Keys is a great DZ and Freeze Fest was just another great boogie at the Cross.
Danhole

[Jimbo 0]

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Why didn’t you just take the B-license test? You could have taken the test and been on the next load. If there is a reason you have 170 jumps and you still only have an A-license well then that says something.

Oh bullshit. 170 jumps and an A license just means that someone hasn't made it around to taking the tests yet. I know quite a few people with greater than 200 jumps and nothing higher than an A license, it doesn't mean anything. It doesn't make them worse skydivers, that's for sure. The belief that license numbers are an automatic indication of skill is a crock. Don't believe the hype!
I'm amused that this thread is still around.

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[PhreeZone 20]

Well.... in some part of the country things like Water training and night jumps are few and far between. Just because you live near a DZ that offers these things on a frequent basis, dont even start to assume other have the same opprotunities that you do. OSC in OK seems to never have water training. A grass strip DZ can't offer Night jumps. Cross Keys is close enough to a population that can support its growth, not many DZ's are near as nice or as fortunate as CK's facilities.
It took me till 120 jumps to even get around to getting my USPA membership or a licence. I'm at 255 and only have a C licence.... Dose that say something about my jumping ability? Nope... It just means everytime Night jumps are offered I can't make it there or something comes up (Flu, Sick grandparents, work, etc) I've got one night jump but need 2 for the D.
Should I be held in wind restitctions? Nope... but if its bad enough that C licences are needed, I'm probally in the Rigging loft doing something else or have the camera out watching landings. I like jumping in winds, but there reaches a point where it's more work then it is fun.
Phree
C-31712
I want to touch the sky, I want to fly so high ~ Sonique