JankyBob

The second stop of the NorCal CPC will be held this Saturday at Skydance. Competitors should show up by 7:30am and first load will go up at 8am. The cost is $100 for six rounds of competition. The remaining dates are as follows: 5/7 - Skydance 6/18 - Byron 7/2 - Skydance 8/20 - Byron (NorCal Classic) Bob Team Jank

I said earlier I prefer the pullout system. Just don't try to make me feel like an idiot because I held the pud too long one time. It is the unique angle of having the arm behind the back when it got pulled upward that caused the tear. That is why I mentioned it here. Now, go back in your hole JP. Hey Karen! Hope to see you at the American Boogie. I won't be able to jump but I can still drink left-handed. I am making a video for Sharky for his "retirement" day next weekend and I was going through a bunch of old video and just last night I came across some of the jumps we did when you were first starting out. You've come a long way girl! Bob

I'll ask my Dr. about the steroids option. I hear there may be some of that floating around the Bay Area. I live within 5 miles of where Balco is/was. Just as long as the USPA doesn't come out with a new drug testing policy. Who am I kidding, I'd be in trouble without the steroids. As far as the grommet goes, I always make sure a small portion is exposed beneath the bottom of the right flap so if someone is packing for me I can tell its been routed properly. Say hi to the other rats for me! Bob

With pullout you are directly pulling your pin while with a throwout the pilot chute actually pulls the pin. Best thing about the pullout is that it eliminates the horseshoe malfunction. The problem I had was that I was pulling my pullout out too far horizontally so that the pilot chute had time to inflate before I let it go. Of the two options, I prefer the pullout despite my injury. Bob

My description of palms up is in relation to the ground while yours was in relation to your body, but I think we're on the same page. Bob

Thanks for the tip on palms up/down. I actually do fly both ways depending on what type of flying I'm doing. When I'm playing or docking I try to fly very relaxed (palms up) but when we are training I tend to fly palms down to slow me down a bit (camera flying). There is actually little pain or discomfort unless my arm is behind my back or at certain angles. That's what makes it frustrating. Peace! Bob

Thanks for the info! Sounds like I'm in for loads of fun. The longest I've gone without jumping is 4 weeks in the past eight years. I'll do a search as well. Bob

Last week an MRI showed a class II SLAP lesion of the labrum of my right shoulder. The only thing I can think of that caused this damage was switching to a pullout from a hackey about a year ago. I love the pullout, but I think I was extending my arm too far horizontally when I pull, thus giving my pilot chute time to catch air and pull my arm upward behind my back. Has anyone had this type of injury before? I don't want to switch back to the throwout, but it looks like I am out for the rest of the year because of my impending surgery. Thanks for any info you might have. Bob Ash Team Jank

How sad Shannon. I hope this makes you all better once and for all. I'm sure you've got plenty more years of craziness in that bod of yours, but we'll miss you this year! It sounds like a lot of people are coming out for your last day of jumping and the weather looks beautiful! Bob Team Jank

Usually it comes out in March or April and you can find it at the USPA website. I would have thought they'd get it out earlier this year since Nationals is a month earlier, but I haven't seen it yet. Its usually the same as (or close to it) the international one (for open), so you may be able to find that somewhere. If I find something I will post it. Bob Team Jank

And its only an hour outside of Perris at the same time the freefly world record will be going on! Sounds like a good time for a SoCal road trip.

Minutemen - "Double Nickels on the Dime" A great, great album from one of the most underrated bands of all time. I turned a few people onto it in the past couple of months and its hard to believe its 15 years old.

Jon dislocated his elbow in the tunnel and they had to skip the event.

I've brought Absinthe back from Europe the past couple of years so we can have it on the "Wheel of Carnage" at the NorCal Freefly Festival. It makes for a quite a fun party when you got a bunch of people running around all high on Absinthe. We took a straight shot last year after Natonals and it took us about 15 minutes to figure out if we were going to puke! Good stuff!

We are really stoked to be a part of Lost Prarie this year. We will be organizing freeflyers during the day and setting up a big screen projector at night to show some phat freeflying footage. We will start each evening off with a couple of freefly movies that we have shown at the NorCal Freefly Festival and then we will crank up the tunes and allow anyone who wants to to plug in thier camera and show thier Lost Prarie footage. Each night there will be a signup sheet and each person will be limited to a maximum of ten minutes. On Thursday night we will be showing the 2003 Swedish Friflaj Festival boogie video, which has some fantastic footage. During the day you will find us at the PD or Mirage tents and at night just listen for the music. We look forward to seeing old friends, meeting some new ones and enjoying one of the world's best boogies! Look for the schedule posted around the dz for dates/times. Just ONE WEEK to go! Hell Yeah!!!!

Try going up and working on your forward and backward movements. Backsliding is hard when you are trying to do it. This will help you find the nuetral position. It helps if you have someone up there with you so you can see your relative movement. Your most likely backsliding because your chest is getting air. Sit up straight and push the soles of your feet toward the ground. It helps a ton to have someone video you. Its usually pretty obvious what's going on once you see the video. Good Luck! Bob

We will post more info in the next couple of days, but I thought I'd start spreading the word that Team Jank will be organizing Freeflyers on Sun, Mon, Wed & Thur of the boogie. After sunset on each of those four days we will be setting up a big screen projector and stereo and we will be showing a couple of freefly movies followed by "open projector", where jumpers can show thier jumps from Lost Prarie. We are really stoked about this arrangement and we look forward to spreading some NorCal Love. Look for us at either the PD or Mirage tents. We'll post more info tomorrow. Peace! Bob Team Jank

Thanks Tim. Actually, we aren't done yet. We will probably be adding a couple of more coaches/organizers to the school in the next few weeks. Its hard sometimes when we try to balance organizing and coaching in with our team training, but with the school we can now ensure that there will be an accomplished coach and organizer available every weekend.

Skydance Skydiving in Northern California is home to the all new Bomber Freefly School. We will be having a Grand Opening party on Saturday May 15th that will include FREE, FREE, FREE one-on one coach jumps from 9am-5pm with staff coaches Ryan Brownlow (Gold Medalist 2003 US Nationals, Freefly World Record holder), Bob Ash (Gold Medalist, Team Jank), Sharky (Gold Medalist, Team Jank) and Kurt Issel (6000 jumps and an accomplished freeflyer and coach). Coach jumps will be available for all levels of skydivers, whether you have 1000 jumps and want to work on docking skills or you are just now learning how to sit fly. Camera flying, ball jumps, back-tracking, whatever you want to work on, we have a coach that can help you meet your needs. There will also be load organizing all day and some big fun jumps from 5pm til sunset. After the sun goes down we will break out the big screen projector to show the day's videos. Its going to be a great day, so come out and join us if you can. If you'd like more info or you would like to reserve a coaching slot, send an email to Bob Ash at bob@aquaprix. Hope to see you there!

What about Ryan Brownlow of Team Jank? He was on both the 39 and 42 ways. Gotta represent the NorCal crew!

They got 39 on the FIRST day! Congrats to all of the new world record holders. They've still got two more days of jumps, so you gotta expect this record to be extremely short-lived. What an awesome achievement!

Team Jank will be hosting the first annual NorCal Classic Swoop Competition on March 13th & 20th (14th & 21st weather days). The event will be held at Bay Area Skydiving in Byron on March 13th and at Skydance Skydiving in Davis on March 20th. Both stops will be treated as its own event, with medals being awarded for the winners, but the prize money and Grand Champion trophy will be awarded to the person who has the highest combined score of the two events. Its looking like the winner will collect a minimum of $500 and it could be substatially larger depending on the number of entrants. Each stop will consist of 6 rounds; 2 distance, 2 speed and 2 accuracy. The entry fee for each stop will be $100, which includes 6 hop'n'pops. Visit the Team Jank website for more information (www.teamjank.net).

Team Jank will be hosting the first annual NorCal Classic Swoop Competition on March 13th & 20th (14th & 21st weather days). The event will be held at Bay Area Skydiving in Byron on March 13th and at Skydance Skydiving in Davis on March 20th. Both stops will be treated as its own event, with medals being awarded for the winners, but the prize money and Grand Champion trophy will be awarded to the person who has the highest combined score of the two events. Its looking like the winner will collect a minimum of $500 and it could be substatially larger depending on the number of entrants. Each stop will consist of 6 rounds; 2 distance, 2 speed and 2 accuracy. The entry fee for each stop will be $100, which includes 6 hop'n'pops. Visit the Team Jank website for more information (www.teamjank.net).

Last year we knew that by doing a rejump we were going to take a medal away from someone. At the time, it just didn't feel right. I think you have every right to ask for a rejump, that's why they have the camera committee. Last year they suggested that I talk to the other competitors to get their thoughts on allowing a rejump. Everyone was cool about it, but we just decided that we would chalk it up as a learning experience. Plus, being a vegetarian, I didn't have the "ammunition" you guys had to sway thier decision. It was a very painful medal ceremony! You guys definitely deserved your medal and even with a zero on the round I think the final results would have been the same, right? Hope to see you all in Perris next year, if not before. The Rob Harris Memorial Boogie/Competition will be in Eloy in April and we will definitely be there. They are having both open and intermediate freeflying competitions and the trophies are PHAT! Bob Team Jank

Thanks Colin! After what happened last year (camera mal on final jump so we got a zero) it was very gratifying to take the gold. Top-to-bottom I thought the competition level was vastly superior this year, although last year's int. champs (Anamoly) stole the show this year. I'm glad it didn't have any effect on the outcome, but what was the deal with Methane's rejump on the camera mal? Bob Team Jank