New "Gay Way" World Record with me as Load Organizer (Rainbow Boogie 2009)

[mdrejhon 8]

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1. Congratulations.

2. I am surprised that your group was so small. I would bet that most large DZs could put together a bigger group from just their regular jumpers.

3. Good luck next year!

Trust me, even Perris doesn't have 12 "out" and simultaneously active gay skydivers (who specifically live in the Los Angeles-San Diego basin) that consider it their home DZ, but I know some. I have collected the largest database of the world's gay skydivers from the 2006 web registrations. Many are in the military, or don't want to come out, and are afraid to show up.

Don't forget our friends and our spouses, we had most of the 37 registered attendees show, plus many supporting straights not in the registration list who joined in!

Rainbow Boogie is international, gays from FIVE countries showed up in 2006. (UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and USA)

We had more domestic attendance for 2009 but it was even better. Granted, I'd be able to recruit the local population better at Perris, but I lose some of the European and heavy gay density in the Northeast (my database of registrations from 2006, and the Facebook RainbowSkydivers group, show a clear concentration between Northeast USA/Southeast Canada, all the way south to Florida). Cross Keys was cheap to drive to, and we only advertised on Facebook (no paid magazine ads, and very basic website this year). For economic reasons, 2009 was started on low budget but ended up becoming far better organized and better sponsored than 2006, despite similiar gay experienceds attendance (and I had paid magazine ads in Skydiving Magazine and Parachutist in 2006, I didn't bother this time).

Now that we preannounced August 2010, we have massive time to recruit - and easily bring seven or eight countries together, beating the five countries from 2006. Local population is a bonus, and we will tie in with the Philly Pride for the gay tandems, and try to incubate a bigger population of new licensed gay skydivers that way. We had placards for the gay tandems to encourage them to take up the hobby, and add themselves to the RainbowSkydivers Facebook group.

There are probably at least 100 more gay skydivers who don't even know about me or us - but the first-ever Rainbow Boogie articles in Parachutist and Blue Skies will blanket North America's awareness, and probably surge our RainbowSkydiver membership I hope -

We aim to more than double the gay experienced attendance and more than double/triple the straight experienced attendance next year. We are even going to plan rainy backup plans: Tour bus for the Atlantic City or Philly for the spouses (if the spouses are bored) and as skydiver raindate plan if weather is terrible. Keep tuned. :-)

[mdrejhon 8]

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Well done, Mark. What you've done, I could have used a lesson or two on organizing the last deaf world record I was a part of. I hated having to cut those guys off.

You've come a long way in a very short time.

Minority record organizing that might require some lowtimers in the formation:

1. Always launch 4way base, NOT 5way or 6way. Too many lowtimers in the base just don't work at all. In extenuating circumstances, a 6-way make sure each lowtimer is surrounded on both sides by a strong jumper. That means max 3 lowtimers in a 6-way base.
2. Always doublegripped linked star (arms holding each other's grip). It's strength is magical compared to most other bases.
3. For a 4-way base, maximum 2 lowtimers in the base, opposite each other.
4. For a 4-way base, 2 strongtimers to flip them back up. We funneled 50% of the time but we had 100% successful recovery with NO broken grips for 4-way doublegripped linked stars containing sub-100 jump people. We did an AFF-strength flip of the lowtimers whenever they were upsidedown, by swinging them jump-rope style by the two strong jumpers (myself included).
5. Skyvan strongly preferred, since it's easier to launch a doublegripped star from
6. Ultra-crystal-clear exit count.
7. Floater the rest of the more experienced low timers and tutor them on having them jump just after "set" but before "go"
8. Middle diver the rest.
9. Deep diver the good deep divers and world team members.
10. Use formations that have little red zone problems. Our 12-way had clear radials for all the 8 outers.
11. Before welcoming lowtimers into the record, split the groups at first. Do test jumps with the lowtimers only, and test their limits. Test jump the planned base.
12. Use bigway camp document knowledge to tutor them on tracking and canopy. 12 canopies in the sky is a bit intense for some 50 jump lowtimers, encourage them to land a bit further out.
13. Organizer should watch their tracking skills so they do the proper things - midair collisions are dangerous
14. Tell them if formation breaks up, fall faster DOWN to the lowest guy (or me - who will speed up the fallrate anyway to match the lowest reachable base guy), but wait out of the way 90 degrees, don't try to fly back if you think you're too far and unrecoverably low yourself and breakoff at your breakoff altitude. (And don't look up or you fall faster and get even lower, look to the side instead, so that's why you turn 90 degrees). Lowtimers can zoom past formations dangerously trying to get back, so better to tell them to just do their best to become a stationary spectator on the outside until breakoff, if they're unrecoverably low, and breakoff normally.
15. Once your formation can't fit into one plane, zoo-like loads are too dangerous, and experience levels must be far more stringent. I recommend the Perris P3 Big Way Camp for training in multiple-plane big ways, or similiar, prior to letting lowtimers in.
16. Lowtimers have a neat boast that allows them to get more easily invited into 4-ways and 8-ways back at home, to keep improving their skills more rapidly, and get into big ways more easily in the future.

THE WELL DESIGNED DOUBLE-GRIPPED STAR LAUNCH -- A NICHE BIGWAY BEST FRIEND
Doublegrip as in all arms grabbing each other's arm grips. If there are so many lowtimers that are under 100 jumps, and you are fortunate enough to have a Skyvan or CASA, and at least 3 extremely strong AFF-instructor-league jumpers who also have plenty of RW and 4-way experience, put the 3 lowtimers and 3 good jumpers in alternating fashion in the 6-way double-gripped star (double gripped is very important for the strength of the star), with each of the 3 lowtimers surrounded between. The whole star can be chunked out, 2 lowtimers facing inwards, and 1 diving-capable lowtimer facing out - completely surrounded in between by highly experienced bigway skydivers who also have good student recovery capabilities. 6-way doublegripped stars designed carefully this way MAY work successfully without funnel, depending on which lowtimers are assigned into the base. Do not use stars with two low-timers holding each other grips; my experience is showing that those never work well at any niche event (I've been to Deaf World Record 2005, and I've organized two Rainbow Boogies, with myself becoming one of the Load Organizer of the 2009 version). Lowtimer bases might succeed now and then, but outer jumpers can get annoyed when the stars keep funnelling (As almost all 6-way stars did during Deaf World Record 2005). Niche records often are assigned only 1 or 2 days to get completed, so you want nearly funnel-proof stars. We designed one. We were nearly funnel proof despite two A license jumpers in the base (50-jump/75-jump). Our niche of a record attempt used only 4-way doublegripped stars for precisely this reason that 4-way doublegripped stars only need a reasonably good and highly current jumpers with good funnel-recovery abilities. When we did 4-way doublegripped star launches, we recovered every single funnel (including 180 degree up-side-down members of the star) without releasing any grips, simply by the two adjacent strong jumpers forcefully flipping the jumper back right-side up as quickly as possible, so that the star can be ready as quickly as possible. It's actually usually better to put the 3rd lowtimer (the best-performing lowtimer of the 3) as a floater to dock on a 4-way star, THAN to even dare try a 6-way doublegripped star for a less-than-20-way attempt. He/she may be slow at docking, but it's still faster than a funneled 6-way star that needs to rebuild from scratch. I stress, not one single grip lost in a 4-way doublegripped star funnel -- these stars flipped right back up or levelled back very quickly -- these special strong stars are your best friend when your bigway needs to include 2 lowtimers just to merely be able to break a record. No matter how tangled the lowtimers were, we were able to flip them right back up (often me and one other high-jumper)

This is how you organize a specialty minority skydive where to break a record, sometimes it's necessary to include lowtimers in order to break a record, and you need to creatively slot the jumpers so you can turn a normally-zoo load into a successful quick record attempt. For example, a small state's POPS 15-way state record is 1 person short, and the only 2 people available are A-license jumpers. Uh oh. Now you need this HOWTO bad.

[MakeItHappen 15]

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(Skip to bottom, if you just want the boogie photos!)

I am happy to announce that we achieved a new Gay Way World Record, a 12-way 2-point formation at Skydive Cross Keys, on August 8th, 2009! This beats the record set on July 30th, 2006 during Rainbow Boogie 2006 a NouvelAir!

Congrats Mark to you and your friends.
Hope you can go bigger next year.

.

.
Make It Happen
Parachute History
DiveMaker

[skymama 37]

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Hell, maybe I should organize a 12 way of people predisposed to colon cancer. Maybe albinos? People with diabetes? "The sugar free way"

You're being critical with only 8 jumps under your belt?

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[Inspired 0]

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Hell, maybe I should organize a 12 way of people predisposed to colon cancer. Maybe albinos? People with diabetes? "The sugar free way"

You're being critical with only 8 jumps under your belt?

I don't see what jump numbers have to do with having an opinion here. I have several gay friends who don't celebrate everytime they accomplish something that has already been accomplished by the general population. Unless, of course, being gay is somehow a disadvantage, which in this case, and most cases in fact, I don't believe it is.

[apt3studiodiver 0]

Hey rock on guys, not gay myself but do your thing.. as for the 'sugar free way' if your gonna be around ohio this weekend

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3645964;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

seriously though accomplishments for any group or individual are still accomplishments, next time they have the 'web way' for DZ webmasters I'll be soo down

www.apt3studios.com
www.musicpromotiononline.com
www.internetcafegaming.com
D.S. # 4321

[labrys 0]

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Unless, of course, being gay is somehow a disadvantage, which in this case, and most cases in fact, I don't believe it is.

Sounds like you can't distinguish between fact and opinion.

Owned by Remi #?

[mdrejhon 8]

Then again, I have to admit the straights at Cross Keys did roll out the red carpet for that weekend and welcome the gay crowd like kings. Literally. It wasn't a disadvantage in this case.

Personally I haven't felt being gay as being a disadvantage, as I'm one of the first of the the 'newer generation' (mid 30's and younger) who hasn't been exposed to much homophobia, or just ignore and confidently wade through the small islands of homophobia that exists for them. I even danced with my first boyfriend at a high school party back in the early 90's, and it wasn't a disadvantage in my case. Then again, I did see locker grafitti (the six-letter fag word) of one of the others, but it was already traiiling off by the time I came out. It didn't scare me at the time, and if anyone has a problem with it, I'm one to just fall back to respect. (That one weekend at Cross Keys was ours, but I still made sure to remove all the pride flags when we left!)

I often show up at bigway events, and I don't announce that I'm gay, except for possibly a sticker on my helmet

Anyway, for me, being deaf is definitely the bigger disadvantage.

[Inspired 0]

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Unless, of course, being gay is somehow a disadvantage, which in this case, and most cases in fact, I don't believe it is.

Sounds like you can't distinguish between fact and opinion.

I don't really understand your point. Can you elaborate?

[Inspired 0]

I admire you for living your life in such an honest way. The twelve way two point bigway though.... yeah, it was ok.

[thedude325 0]

Oh boy. I didnt want this to go into the whole discrimination thing. Just to clear the air here, I am not bisexual, but I would rate myself about a 1 or 2 on the Kinsey scale. So obviously, I'm not a gay basher.

I just wanted to point out how silly it can become when we add seemingly superficial things to these records. Aren't the numbers what count? That being said, I'm glad ya'll had fun. If I was in the area, I would have stopped by. Looked like a nice party.


BTW, SquareOne is planning a 500 way! http://www.square1.com/manufacturers/square1/p1219.asp

[mdrejhon 8]

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BTW, SquareOne is planning a 500 way! http://www.square1.com/manufacturers/square1/p1219.asp

I understand that it's the World Team 500way in 2011. Same people - I have gone to several recent Perris P3 bigways where jen@square1 help organize them. I've applied for it already - see http://www.theworldteam.com ... The 500 way is also up on www.bigways.com

[virgin-burner 1]

billy, if you finally came out of your closet, you could of been on there too!

has a deaf ballroom-dancing record ever been done!?

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[billvon 2,991]

> I have several gay friends who don't celebrate everytime they accomplish
> something that has already been accomplished by the general
> population.

I have female friends who celebrated quite a bit when they got the women's world record. I have a bunch of friends who celebrated getting the POPS record. I even know a guy who celebrated getting the SOS record!

We're skydivers; we don't need to justify why we do this, whether we're old, female, gay, canadian or just named Bob.

[piisfish 140]

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We're skydivers; we don't need to justify why we do this, whether we're old, female, gay, canadian or just named Bob.

but Mark is Canadian, redhead, deaf and gay... and in 5yrs he'll be POP's too (and the R in his name might be Robert, which would also make him a Bob)

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[Inspired 0]

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We're skydivers; we don't need to justify why we do this, whether we're old, female, gay, canadian or just named Bob.

Ok, a bigway of old Canadian girls named Bob would seriously impress me. But it would still have to be at least a 20 way, unless there were at least two lesbians on the load. I guess it would be acceptable if they're just flying camera.

Seriously though, I get your point. It's all just fun. It's part of the reason I'm drawn to this sport. I'm usually critical of people who take race, or gender, or sexual preference, or religion too seriously. But, in this case, maybe I missed the fun part of the world record achievment because I was too sensitive about the distiction between gay and straight abilities.

Hell, I'll be proud when I finally do at least a four way. And I'm not even a girl, or gay, or Canadian, or named Bob. I am old though, so... wooohoooo!!!

[virgin-burner 1]

whoever said about you being critical at 8 jumps - was probably right!

maybe you should do an AWESOMENESS world record on every solo you do..

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[Inspired 0]

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whoever said about you being critical at 8 jumps - was probably right!

That wasn't actually said about me.

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maybe you should do an AWESOMENESS world record on every solo you do..

But maybe you're right anyway.

[virgin-burner 1]

true dat!

maybe you and thedude should make an "awesomeness 8 jumps under their belt" world record!

oh, sorry, you guys must still do solos or coached jumps!

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[skymama 37]

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I don't see what jump numbers have to do with having an opinion here.

Being a low-timer, I think maybe he doesn't understand all the time and effort that goes into organizing a boogie and being a load organizer for a group of visiting jumpers with varying skills, some even with few skills. The fact that they did two points makes it even more impressive. Until someone has the skills to do all of that himself, he should probably just STFU, let Mark have his moment of glory after all of his hard work and maybe even tell him "good job, Dude."

Just my opinion. By the way...good job, Mark!

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[Heatmiser 0]

Hence, I refer you to Skymama's sig line

What you say is reflective of your knowledge...HOW ya say it is reflective of your experience. Airtwardo

Someone's going to be spanked! Hopefully, it will be me. Skymama

[BillyVance 34]

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Hence, I refer you to Skymama's sig line

I'm on it...

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[Remster 30]

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would seriously impress me.

What makes you think that any organizer put a group together to impress you?

Remster

[billvon 2,991]

>Trust me, even Perris doesn't have 12 "out" and simultaneously active gay skydivers . . .

I think you might be surprised - I can think of one 8 way team that has 3! But Perris is an odd place; some of the 'regulars' who jump most weekends come from places like Las Vegas and Eloy.

[mdrejhon 8]

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>Trust me, even Perris doesn't have 12 "out" and simultaneously active gay skydivers . . .

I think you might be surprised - I can think of one 8 way team that has 3! But Perris is an odd place; some of the 'regulars' who jump most weekends come from places like Las Vegas and Eloy.

Recruit them for me please then - it'd be cool to spread the word!

Or just toss the September issue of Blue Skies around, or the October issue of Parachutist - we submitted to both, plus a few others, including some mainstream gay magazines. This time around, we're doing the magazine article blitz.

One person in the closet were glad to have showed up, and I have used a nickname out of his request.

Rainbow Boogie 2010 ... August 2010 ... Cross Keys again!