Summerfest 07 report

[LouDiamond 1]

So far, the last 2 days have been rather hectic but we have managed to put up some very nice flocks. Day 1 got off to a slow start as the beautiful day was plagued with a solid low level cloud base. In the mean time, the Airwolf helicopter had showed up and people began taking $20 joy rides on it as it buzzed all over the DZ.Once the clouds parted the loads took off and we managed to get some jumps in. We managed 3 flocks that day,2 of them were very nice 10-13 ways and we landed 9 wingsuits and all the pilots survived.Unfortunately, that load was right over a solid base of clouds and the DZ nor ground could not be seen, so we landed with the aircraft.

Day two was a lot better with wide open skies and it wasn't too hot or humid and there were LOTS of people. With 2 otters, a CASA, a king air and the Airwolf helicopter running, things were moving along nicely. About mid morning however, the radio system on one of the Otters wasn't functioning properly so they had to shut it down while a replacement was sought out. This backed things up a bit as the 40 way bigways were also going on, but we managed to get 5-6 flocks on, to include a 7 way pseudo night flock. The clouds rolled in about mid day but were scattered so it made for some good visuals. We flew one flock around a nice tall white puffy,just skirting it before passing through a thin layer of industrial haze. After that we began working on vertical formations and built a 10 way vertical wedge that came together nicely. All in all, it has been pretty good and lots of fun the last two days.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[LouDiamond 1]

Day three was another beautiful day, not too hot or humid and just enough wind. The FF bigway warm ups also started today so lots of FF's were here doing some pretty amazing jumps from the video I've seen so far. The big groups kept the planes turing which was good for the wingsuits as we could always find a load to get on with a decent call. We started the morning off with a multipoint, multi level flock that went pretty good. We then put together another with Tony from Tony suits as the base that was pretty interesting. Betty, a SDC local, pulled her suit out and along with Craig F., we threw together a nice 3 way chase dive. Betty doesn't have a lot of jumps but she has been jumping with Kallend so she flys her suit like she stole it.Needless to say, it was a very fun and fast jump. Phil and Craig also had a nice little three way worth mentioning where we did more multipoint/level rotational formation flying. The jet also arrived today and is manifesting jumpers. Only 50 more and they can send the load .

More people are showing up daily, lots of familiar faces from all over every time you turn around and the vibe is really good. Tonight is the Hellfish toga party so things should really get lively tonight.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[LouDiamond 1]

Day four got off to a good start with another beautiful day and also a bit hotter. The jet made its maiden drop and is trying to get a second lift filled. We kicked the day off with a series of smaller 5-6 ways focusing on building skills. Norman kent joined in at the last minute to just fly with us and left the cameras on the ground. Throughout the day the dives made people work on skills they thought they needed to improve on or that they wern't 100% comfortable flying. We continued this for most of the day as people were forced to fly faster and in slots they wern't familiar with. it proved to be a fun and challenging day for everyone.

Congrats to TK(t-corn) from Japan for making his first Birdman jump today. The dude flew the suit like he stole it and went on to make 3 more flights and is now hooked. On his second jump I placed him as the base after seeing how fast he had flown on his first flight. On his second flight he clocked in at 64mph in a Classic II and made the rest of the group work to stay with him. We also launched a sunset flock with Bad Andy( as seen in july parachutist as instructor of the month) as base. It was Andy's 100th Birdman jump and he laid a nice steady base as everyone else filled in around him on a first come first served dive.

Also of note, Cary knocked out her FFC and will be going up to take a hit of nylon crack in the morning. All in all, not a bad day.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[LouDiamond 1]

Day five: Repeat of yesterday weather and jump wise. Did sunset chase dive with TK as the rabbit and everyone chasing him, Norman Kent came on that one and brought his hand camera so he should have some interesting shots. It's kind of funny watching him take a shot and bring his hand in to look at the LCD screen while in flight. I may have got some shots of him doing that but I have yet to look at my camera.

Two more birds joined the flock today. Congrats to Warren and Rich, both jump together at their home DZ and decided to give it a go. Warren is a pretty big dude at 6'4 but I got him suited up and we went for it. To my pleasant surprise warren didn't fall fast like most big guys do. Instead he nailed it and we went on a nice 113 second flight with an average of 59mph for his first flight. His buddy Rich had made 1 previous wingsuit jump with someone else and it didn't leave him with a good feeling. However, after watching Warren go through the FFC and listening to him after the jump, Rich asked me to run him through the FFC and take him up. Rich did rather well with a flight of 90 secs and felt a whole lot more confident about flying a suit and wants one of his own now.

Right now, it sounds like a war zone here as they are shooting off some extremely big fireworks that would rivial most 4th of July events. Here is a picture of one of them that was put out for people to sign earlier today.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[PhoenixRising 0]

Scott,

It was a real pleasure and honor to finally fly with you this weekend. Thanks for the great dives and i hope to fly with you again soon. (maybe our boogie> enjoy the reast of summerfest. see you soon

Justin Shorb
Flock U

Wingsuit organizing, first flight courses and coaching
Flock University
Tonysuits

[unclecharlie95 3]

Robert Jones and I arrived at Summerfest, we flew in to Chicago late last night so took it easy making couple of warm up jumps today.

Not so many WS around at the moment, Scott had a few guys and Jeff & Nick were also jumping with a small group.

More people due for the weekend though, will post some photos as I take 'em
J

BASEstore.it

[brokebackBASE 0]

How the hell did you guys get so lucky to get Robert Jones out from behind the sewing machine to come fly with you? James really brought a true super star to summerfest.

[LouDiamond 1]

Justin it was good meeting and jumping with you. I'm sure we will get to jump again sometime soon. I'll get back to you on my schedule and your boogie

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[LouDiamond 1]

Day six: hot and humid as hell. Clear sky most of the day with some nice white puffy clouds in the late afternoon. Put up 6-7 flocks all in the 6-8 person range today. Lots of new birds working on their skills and feeding thier addiction so some flocks wern't as tight as they could have been but we all had a lot of fun the whole day long.

Congrats goes out to Liz from the U.K., she did the FFC today. Liz had a nice 98 second flight that she said was "absolutely fantastic", so I am guessing she enjoyed herself.
Foam party tonight, time to get clean

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[kallend 2,027]

Quote

Robert Jones and I arrived at Summerfest, we flew in to Chicago late last night so took it easy making couple of warm up jumps today.

Not so many WS around at the moment, Scott had a few guys and Jeff & Nick were also jumping with a small group.

More people due for the weekend though, will post some photos as I take 'em
J

You missed the fireworks!

Maybe I'll see you Saturday, taking a day off today (Fri.)

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[cpoxon 0]

Sorry guys, in an effort to remove some pictures that may not be intended for publication yet, I managed to hatchet many posts including pics from James, Jeff and Scott. Please repost the ones you have permission for. Thanks.

Skydiving Fatalities - Cease not to learn 'til thou cease to live

[unclecharlie95 3]

what was that all about Mr. Mod!?

BASEstore.it

[LouDiamond 1]

Here are a few of the FF world record shots that got lost in the mix up(yes,permission was given to post them). I'll post some more wingsuit shots when I get a moment to reduce the files sizes on them.

Day seven: Not as hot or humid as the prior days. Sent several groups in flocks up today and stayed busy pretty much all day even with the FF world record going on. Once they got the FF record(69 people), loads picked up a bit and we managed to get 7-8 flocks in to include a high speed Casa pass. The sunset flock was the Skydive Radio flock with both Cory and Stump on the jump and with Dave flying the plane.

Also managed to train a few people today. Congrats to Gonzalo, Tim and Kevin for all making their first flight today. Welcome to the flock guys.

And from the "don't try this at home" files. Nick B. put on a Classic II for the high speed Casa pass with his 79 sq ft ,full sail material, competition line set, RDS equipt canopy. The dude survived and apparently the opening wasn't that bad although he had to fly the opening just a little bit to keep it from getting away from him.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[LouDiamond 1]

A few more photos, enjoy

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[dresherr 0]

Scott,

Thanks for the training!!! I had so much fun. I'm def. hooked and hope to order a wingsuit soon. The 10-way flock was the funnest I've had even though it didn't really work out as planned. As soon as I came back to MI my first jump was a four way tracking dive. Fun but not as fun without a wingsuit!

Richy

[LouDiamond 1]

Rich, I am glad you had a good time, welcome to the world of nylon crack It only gets better now. You need to convince Warren to keep doing it as that dude, for as big as he is, can fly his ass off. I hope to see the both of you again next year for some more flock action. Stay safe.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[LouDiamond 1]

Day eight: Well there is always one day that you have to figure in for weather, I guess today was one of those days. While not a complete loss, the day was less than ideal. We managed to get several flocks of varying size up throughout the day but it turned out to be a short lived day. A front moved through and we caught just the edge of it but it was enough to make skydiving unplesant. There is nothing more uncomfortable than trying to flock while your face is being pelted by a mix of sleet and rain for the entire dive. While it was overcast on the ground, it was raining at altitude most of the day. We did manage to get some productive flocks in between the less than ideal weather but it proved to be a slow day.

Brian Germain gave a canopy control seminar and we just finished with the film festival. There were some really good films this year and an awesome slide show of the FF world record and wingsuiting by Norman Kent. Most of the mfgrs gave away gifts to those who jumped today to those in the crowd. Thanks goes out to PD, Alti-2, Jump Shack,Bonehead,Vigil, and Birdman for donating items to be given away. Gonzalo B. was the recipient of a 50% off a Birdman suit gift certificate. Gonzalo traveled all the way from Argentina to this boogie specifically to learn how to fly a wingsuit, which he did, so it couldn't have gone to a better person than him. A big thanks goes out to Rook and the rest of the Nelson family for putting this event on again, it has definately taken the place of the WFFC. Last but not least, Red Bull has donated a truck load of it's product so the RBV's are flowing like water at the tiki bar right now, which is where I am headed as son as I hit "post reply"


Day nine: Day began with a torential down pouring of rain that paused for a few moments and has been starting and stopping sporadically. Most people have packed it in and are leaving or preping to leave. A couple of birds went up for a small way but the boogie is pretty much over and people are just taking it easy. The entire event was really great again this year and Rook put on a class act with all the activities after the jumping day was over. I had a lot of fun flying with everyone and meeting new people. Thanks for the flocks and see you again next year.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[kallend 2,027]

Quote

A few more photos, enjoy

Thanks, Scott. I guess this one counts as my mandatory new suit photo:

www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=88264;

(I'm in black).

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.