Blue CASA load 3 is now white CASE load 2...

[PhillyKev 0]

WOW!!! What a freakin' weekend. The announcement in my topic is an example of what we were hearing all weekend at XKeys. Three, count them, three CASAs and an Otter. Thanks to the 108 way sequential record attempt being there. Ok, guess I'll start at the beginning and let you know everything that went on.
Woke up Friday, saw the beautiful weather and blew off work. Went down to the dz and got on the demo program at Square3. Yea...no more student gear. As soon as I walked past the hanger I saw over 100 people packing....holy cow it was crowded. Got me gear and went to manifest. Was planning on doing my low solo this weekend, so wanted to do a couple prcp's after a stable exit from the otter, but they weren't running the Otter right then, so I got on a CASA load. JUMPING OUT THE POOP SHOOT ROCKS!!!! I took a few running steps (RUNNING IN THE PLANE ROCKS!!!) And did a nice easy swan dive out the back from 14,500'. Came out nice and stable in the dead air, then fell out of the burble and WHAM flip flip flip WHEWHEW!!! What a rush. Everyone, stop what you're doing, close your browser and go find a CASA to jump out of!!
Got on the ground, with a nice soft stand up landing (NON STUDENT GEAR ROCKS!!!!..noticing a theme here :)) Then sat down to watch the big way go up. They were still waiting for a couple people to show up so only sent 106 up in the air. They got 104 linked up for the NJ State record for largest formation. Couldn't see them until they started to track and it looked like a swarm of gnats appeared in the sky. Then all those canopies opening at once...colors popping out of the sky and swirling around. It was like looking through a kaleidoscope. Amazing...I don't know how they all avoided running into each other. They were landing everywhere...both sides of the runway, all over the place.
Did another CASA jump that day, hung out for a couple beers afterward, then headed home for the night. Got up Saturday morning and headed back down. More of the same, jumping from the CASA, doing all kinds of whacky flipping exits, and watching the big way attempts. They got really close on each of their attempts Saturday but didn't quite make all the grips on all three points. Just a couple of people off on the third point each time. The day was winding down and was looking forward to my booze cruise. Joe the bartender got this old ass boat dubbed the "Bombed Voyage" and the idea was you paid $5 and bought a beer to get towed around the field behind a truck. But before that, at around 6 o'clock, the fire department shows up for an impromptu swoop demo. Kelly a/k/a Froggie organized a great event with the volunteering fire dept. coming out with some water cannons. They shot them from the trucks in a nice arc and the mad swoopers came in under the arc of water and slid across the wet grass. Very fun thing to watch. There were tons of spectators there I imagine drawn by the site of over 100 canopies in the sky at once every couple of hours, plus the sounds of the fire truck sirens which they blasted as the swoopers came in toward the water arc.
Sunset load went up and I grabbed a beer. Should have stuck with that. Ended up doing 3 shots of tequila, then going on the booze cruise and drinking champagne. As we got to the far side of the field a jeep comes out of the night with a wind blade sticking out of the top of it and doing donuts around the boat. The guys in the jeep are yelling "Shark attack" as they circle us with the wind blade sticking up like a fin. Frickin' hilarious. Partied on throughout the night until about 3AM then crashed in the back of someone subaru. Woke up 7 am today, got some breakfast and went to do a wake up jump. CASA jump again, very fun as usual and nice stand up landing. Stood up all but 1 this weekend. STANDING UP ROCKS!!! Unfortunately the wake up jump didn't wake me up. Drank a Red Bull and that didn't help either. Took a nap watched another big way attempt and was going to go up again. The winds were up around 15 so decided to wait a little bit and kept getting more and more tired. I just couldn't wake up and didn't feel too clear headed so called it an early day with only one jump. But overall, a great weekend....what a blast, man I love this stuff. SKYDIVING ROCKS!!!
Last I know about the big way was they turned all 3 points but there were a couple grips missing on the 2nd point, so they didn't get the world record sequential before I left. But hopefully they got it, anyone know????
cielos azules y cerveza fría
-Kevin

[froggie 0]

kevin,
i might be wrong, cause god knows i was stuck in the friggin box briefing about 2,000 tandems all day but im pretty sure that they broke the record at 106 way 3 point dive then went on and broke it again with a 106 way 4pt dive.

[Stacy 0]

The world record sequential was broken twice this weekend. Initially it was broken with a 3 point 106 way. The next dive they got 4 points.
That, my friends, is frigging awesome.
The Golden Knights dropped in tonight (sunday) for a brief demo and then they organized a sunset CASA load.
Stacy
http://astro.temple.edu/~sweeks

[Jimbo 0]

Quote

The Golden Knights dropped in tonight (sunday) for a brief demo and then they organized a sunset CASA load.

Heh. Someone hosed the Golden Knights 8 way. At least that's what I hear. :)

[Grogs 0]

4 point 106 way is freaking amazing! Wow. I would have loved to see that.

[axe96bam 0]

wow, that is amazing!

[PhreeZone 20]

Which were the three CASA's? The Blue one with the banners on the outside and which other ones?
Whoa... That was cool!

[PhillyKev 0]

Actually it was a white one with a wide blue stripe on the side, a white one with a narrow green stripe, and an all grey one.
cielos azules y cerveza fría
-Kevin

[wildblue 7]

I would have loved to see the water cannon swoopers! If anyone's got a video clip of that, let me know!
Sounds like an awesome time! (now gimme my Casa back!! j/k - mi casa es su casa)

[PhreeZone 20]

Your the group that took the CASA! J/K I love the CASA's! Fayard Enterprises has the best group of aircraft that I've ever had the privlage of jumping out of. Did you get to do any cool jumps like Rafts or a rolling tube off the gate? The feeling of a 25 foot long running exit is a hard one to beat.
Whoa... That was cool!

[axe96bam 0]

CASAs are a lot of fun to jump out of. We had a CASA 2 weeks ago and we were doing some larger formation. I was exiting last out of the CASA, so I had the long run from the cockpit to the tailgate. It was a blast!

[Manolo 0]

Lo de la cerveza fria me parece muy bien.
Saludos
Manolo

[froggie 0]

blue,
hey. there were cameras everywhere. still and digital. im sure that theres a lot of clips floating around out there. maybe the monkey claw site will have some.. or fruce.com.. stacy might have some pics too. It was an awesome site to see. The sun was getting ready to set, all the planes were running, the tankers were parked out in the field, the jumpers were swooping. people everywhere. it was so awesome. I went up about 70 feet onto one of the ladder engines and the view from up there was absolutely breath taking.. Looking out i saw the sunset over the trees, looking down i saw swarms of people milling around on the deck, i could see the parking lot, the airport.. everything. Too bad i was scared out of my mind and holding on for dear life. The whole 70 foot climb up there i was thinking "i want a base rig. i want a base rig. i want a base rig.." it was actually quite amusing.
kel