TinMan

Sorry to have missed the fun. Did the boogie coincide with the Wild Chicken Festival once again?

What's kept me on the ground is being the sole breadwinner after the missus lost her job in a merger. She's recently employed one again, but her new employer is now in a merger. Once that has shaken out, and we've regained our financial footing, I'll update my equipment and head out to the DZ. Fair skies and favorable winds, fellow freefaller.

Some who regularly haunt this site may remember me. Some may even remember how I got the nickname, Tin Man, and the jumper who gave it to me (Thanks, Bruce. It's kept me humble). Some may remember me for the number of non-skydiving injuries that have grounded me over the years. Some may simply recall my bright orange high-top Chucks. For those of you who do remember me, I thank you. Know that I am not done. I am not yet resigned to be earthbound. I will return to the air and do plan to join SOS one day. Fair skies and favorable winds...

QuoteIt was very nice of Tara to submit the pic of the original record jump. The first completion of a record worthy formation at Fitzgerald leaped to mind when I spied one particular item in the July Update from USPA entitled, 'Are You Ready for Boogie Season?' It's pointedly about currency and reminds members of the expedited service offered for a mere $20 more...

Do we coincide with the Wild Chicken Festival again this year?

Great Boogie! Good to get in the air again with old friends and some new ones. Weather cooperated Friday and Saturday (thank goodness). The balloon rocked! The otters were busy. After sundown, the beverages were cold, the food was hot, and folks were friendly. On Saturday afternoon, I was privileged to witness a marriage proposal and acceptance, which, the newly engaged couple celebrated with a sunset jump. My wife, Chris (no, not that one) accompanied me and had her own adventures riding her bicycle 20+ miles each day, chasing balloons, checking out the Wild Chicken Festival, and making photos of the action. Even though she didn't get into the air, she claims to have had as good a time as anyone (Don't argue with her; she's from Detroit.) My thanks go to Chris Spence and everyone else who made it all happen. You know who you are, and I appreciate you. A special shout out to Dan Cripps. Rakkasan, you inspire me to jump into my eighties. I hope to share the sky with you again, soon. Tp everyone who attended, may fair skies and favorable winds greet each and every day you seek to get into the air, Tin Man

SI.com used to have a feature dedicated to campus life - Sports Illustrated On Campus, or SIOC. After last year's college football season, it was shrunk to insignificance, assimilated into Extra Mustard (another SI.com feature), and handed over to Jimmy Traina (Jimmy's regular gig is Hot Clicks). SIOC's one enduring feature is Cheerleader of The Week (COTW) - a featurette with Q&A and a photo gallery for college cheerleaders nominated throughout the year. If you peruse the archive, you'll note that an astonishing percentage of COTWs want to skydive. Over the years, I've tried many ways to get skydiving coverage on SI.com. When SIOC was edited by Mallory Rueben and a larger feature, I tried the college skydiving club angle (After all, they had some guy going around to campuses checking out tailgating - largely an alumni activity). After the downsizing and tucking under Extra Mustard, I've been writing to Jimmy T with suggestions on getting COTWs to drop zones w. SI.com stringers for features with pics and even imbedded videos. I've mentioned how affordable it would be and how visually stimulating skydiving footage is, especially if the principle subjects are hard-bodied college cheerleaders (Jimmy's stock in trade is cherry cheesecake pics). If you are inclined to help me in the quest to get skydiving on SI.com, please write to Jimmy Traina about the COTW idea or links to pics of beautiful skydivers. An input is available at the bottom of Hot Clicks column. If you know of any other editors at SI.com, please, write to them as well. If so inclined, you may post word of your efforts to this thread.

Twice now, I've jumped at Monroe/Skydive Now. Both times, the weather was iffy. Monroe is 40-something miles from my house. Risk-return makes it the smart destination when the weather is questionable. Yeah, I've experienced a mixture of feelings jumping there again. Bill's Bill (I've no other comment on the subject.). The pilot's brand spanking new. Spotting is not perfunctory, rather it's an avid activity - lots of heads out the door & discussion. The views from altitude, flying my canopy over the airfield again, the rotors off the tree line, friendly chatter with the glider pilots (yes, friendly) - it's all both familiar and new. The hanger's brand spanking new and smells it. The green pilot is working with the jumpers. The handful of jumpers are relaxed and inclusive. No cliques. No as-the-lines-twist gossip and melodrama. It is just like opening a brand new DZ, but the haunts and faces are familiar. I'll jump at Monroe again. I'll be seeing you at the Farm, and I'm overdue for a trip to Thomaston. I anticipate jumping at DZs in neighboring states. "RoamingDZ" is my home, now. I not only respect and like Chris Spense, I embrace his idea. Fair skies and favorable winds.

Despite the soggy weather, several fun jumpers and a handful of other characters gathered for the opening of Bill Scott's new operation in Monroe on Saturday, 5/23/2009. Around 4:00 PM EDT, a big hole opened up, seven jumpers and two pilots loaded into the King Air, got up, and popped the cherry on this new DZ. It may have been just one jump, but we got the "skunk" out of the hanger. After everyone had landed safely, heavy rain ensued. The beer lamp was lit. Many photos were taken, and many stories told. Richard P. and I brought a case of Bass ale, which was eagerly consumed by those in attendance. At the new Monroe, our beer debts are paid forward forever and ever, amen. So it is written. Richard is a generous soul, and I too can be magnanimous. In future, we will donate libations for the consumption of all present (and legal age). However, be forewarned! Those calling us out for beer will have to make the purchase themselves.

Jeff, I may not be much for "hot chicks" articles in men's magazines, but I'm happy to support a fellow freefaller. Given that I'm too late to vote for Roberta, I sent her MF gallery URLs to SI.com Extra Mustard Hot Clicks and SIOC's Campus Clicks. Both have featured links to "hotest chicks" lists in the past few weeks. It's a stretch, but they tied much of it into March Madness brackets... SI needs more skydive coverage. SI.com needs more skydive photos and videos. I've been pestering senior sportswriter, Stewart Mandel to make a jump. Anyone visiting SI.com should politely invite him to skydive, to a boogie, to a competition, etc. Usually, his articles include a sidebar box to send him a message. Fair skies and favorable winds...

"Going home" to the coast brings a flood of memories to me that are generations deep, echoing back to the days before air conditioning, when conversation and story telling were well practiced and appreciated. Genteel folk indulged in less strenuous past times during the long hot summers. Speaking casually was as artful as oratory. Attempting to capture this in written words and convey it to you, my fellow travelers, is a challenge with long odds. In these times of texting shorthand, blunt phrases, and casual profanity, my cause is likely lost like yelps of glee in freefall. Trust me in this - I do not lapse into loquaciousness during dirt dives. I can speak plainly and to the point with a modicum of words. We shall have fun jumping together. [An aside: You may note how seldom I post to these forums.]

Oh, my dear! If you want a swamp, why the Okefenokee is just up the road a piece. The coastal marshes are a unique and invaluable ecosystem (to borrow a newfangled word). They are nothing like a swamp. Don't fret, hon. You'll learn in time. All folks from above the drop off are innocent of these things. To step out of character for a minute... Try camping the first night. If it doesn't suit you, retreat to nearby lodgings.

Ah, yes, Spring on the Georgia coast... Some folks mark the season by flowers' blooms. Others by the movements of birds. Still others by the spawning runs of fishes - sea trout, red drum, striped bass. But those of us who have lived here, left, and returned, we tend to mark the season by the appearance of biting insects. First come the noseeums. Marsh midges. Little specs of pain without warning. Second come the skeeters. Bloodsuckers that fly slow as cane syrup pours, but somehow, most will escape the swatting of the afflicted. Third come the smaller horseflies. Fast, furious, and thirsty. While you are smacking at the one biting your forehead, it's moved on to bite your ear. Next come the yellow deer flies. They're just like the small horseflies, only yellow and more plentiful. Some years, the two types swap places in order of appearance. Finally come the large horseflies. Scary big. As a youth, I swear that I could see the red pools of blood swelling in the divots they left in my flesh. Still, I wouldn't trade the salt marshes, winding creeks, crooked rivers, and 'dirty surf' of the Georgia coast for a Hawaiian paradise. It gets into your blood even more than the noxious insects - the salt air, the hoary oaks, the spanish moss and woodbine, the briny oysters, boiled blue crabs, sweet shrimp, and fresh fish, the mild winters, and hot, humid summers when a patch of shade, a gentle breeze, and a cold drink make all the difference. Yes, my beloved kin, I will meet you for martinis at 5:00 Thursday evening. After that night, if the skies are fair and the winds are favorable, I will be at the airfield, jumping out of airplanes with like-minded folks.

Can we get a marsh midge report from the locals? How's the population of noseeums?* *AKA biting gnats, sand gnats, bloodsuckingspecoinsects, and a number of imaginative names unprintable here...

I've got to put in a plea for RoamingDZ.com and its progenator, Chis Spence. RoamingDZ organizes boogies at locations perfect for skydiving, but where no drop zone exists. These are all-access, no-politics skydive parties. fun! Fun! FUN! Surely, you are familiar with the annual St. Patrick's Day boogies in Dublin, Georgia - 300+ attendees the past two years. This is an organization and a skydiver deserving of a tent perk at the WFFC. Grant RoamingDZ the tent, and we will come! Likely, we'll have to draw beers... um, straws for the lucky one's using the RoamingDZ 20x30. The rest of us will show up anyway.

Wow... Spineless? Little troll? Y'all sure are friendly folks. I didn't quite get your "anonymous" dig. You must be referring to my incomplete profile. I visit dropzone.com for news and have never posted to the forums until I read your comment crackin' on one of my buds. That deserved the answer you got from me. Yes, between my visits to the site, you made nice with popsjumper, but you also pressed me for a response, so I gave you one. I am a skydiver. I've been jumping since 1998. One of these days, I'll get around to completing my profile, but I don't owe you anything. You may have cleared up a misunderstanding with popsjumper, but you show no inclination towards doing the same with me. I don't hold grudges. If I ever encounter you or flyangel2 again, you'll see that, provided your open-minded at the time. Fair skies and favorable winds, TinMan

jumperconway, You dogged my buddies' accomplishment in establishing the first POPS record for Georgia. When you're called on this in the forum, your reply is defensive - strike one. Your every post contains tags about your records, your canopy, your wing loading... You're bragging while your belittling other jumpers' accomplishments - strike two. I did not call you an "ASSHAT". I called you on your callow posts to the forum. Questioning my credibility as a skydiver because I took exception to your posts isn't showing your better qualities, is it? popsjumper is a gray-haired low-timer with a very good attitude, a lot of energy, and all the qualities that make others happy to get in the sky with him. The Georgia POPS 12 way was his baby. It was a great skydive for #71. The next time the Georgia POPS or some low-timers post their accomplishments, show your better qualities. Be nice. Be generous. Be encouraging. At least one jumper at your home DZ says you're a stand-up guy. Don't leave it all at the DZ. Bring that into the forum.

Skydiving teaches us humility, cooperation, and looking out for each other. Part of this community is sharing the joy of others' accomplishments. How great or small makes no difference. Failure to learn humility, cooperation, and looking out for one another makes a jumper a danger to all others sharing the sky. Belittling fellow jumpers' accomplishments is petty and selfish. By the tags in your post, jumperconway, you're a braggart. That's two strikes against you. Until you clearly show some better qualities, I wouldn't want to be in the sky with you.

Kip & Theresa run a fabulous, fun, and safety-concious DZ. Yeah, yeah... this DZ's dominated by freaky fliers, and RW practitioners can & will be teased, but all in good fun. Local jumpers will organize RW & hybrid dives with visitors - no one gets left out of the fun here. The view at altitude is like no other! Wow! Spoiled rotten by jumping out of twin turboprops? Rediscover just how many ways you can launch from a wingstrut with truly exceptional Cessna pilots and an imaginative group of experienced skydivers. Gain experience in formation loads with groups of ten instead of forty-plus. Canopy skills can be tested by tight primary landing areas, but there are lots of good outs. Don't wait til you are passing through. With its natural beauty, story-book seasons, and variety of diversions, this area's a worthy destination. Jump all day with the denizens of Skydive Smoky Mountains, then after dark, practice your freefly skills at the vertical wind tunnel nearby, or take in the nightlife in the neighboring communities. Go! After checking in with Kip or Theresa, ask for Donna, Nash, or Gary. Tell them that the Tin Man sent you.