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Skydive Spaceland News, Events & Photos
Back to the Future: 100-Way Diamonds a Success! Skydive Spaceland hosted the Back to the Future 2008 100-way diamonds event April 17-20. The goals were to successfully build a 100-way opposing diamond and a 100-way facing diamond, neither of which have ever been completed. The event attracted 153 jumpers who participated in the 100-way formation event including the Alpha team, which was organized by Scott Latinis, Kirk Campbell and even Lee McMillian. The planning for this challenge began several years ago with the intent to take big way formation skydiving to next level. The Organizing Team & Captains consisted of BJ Worth, Tom Jenkins, Larry Henderson, Kate Cooper, Roger Ponce de Leon, and Jim Jenkins. Also Jim Alkek can't go without mention, as he was responsible for lots of the organizing and communicating between the team members prior to the event. Grounded by weather the first day of the event, the 100-way participants performed meticulous dirt dives and safety briefings. They focused on honing their techniques: Fly quickly to your slot, maintaining eye contact with the proper lines of the formation, stopping with no momentum, picking up the appropriate grips, and flying the full formation. As Kate Cooper stated, "you need to fly your booties off" on these dives.
The record for a completed facing diamond is 64, which was built in France approximately 10 years ago. The degree of difficulty increases tremendously with 50 people backing into their slot. The closest 100-way facing diamond was attempted on Sunday afternoon on the last skydive (we had to stop for weather). This formation was so close to completion. One jumper was low and a few jumpers were just about to finish off the formation, but then it was time to break off. Just as the captains were top shelf, so were the videographers. Andre Veselov (Russia), Willy Boeykens (Belgium), Dave Ryder (Dallas) and our very own Brett Thomas and Eric Boyd (Spaceland) did an amazing job documenting this event. Special thanks goes to Brett for his extra efforts and for taking care of the captains during special viewing. The event was an overall great success and addition to big way history. Thank you to all involved and especially the packers for no malfunctions! Note: A Spaceland visitor posted some photos of the breakoff, etc., on Flickr. Back to the Future Participant Statistics
This weekend is TSL Meet #2 at Spaceland; it will be a 4 and 8 way meet. Saturday at 8 am we will have the 4 way briefing and Sunday at 8 am will be the 8 way briefing. Remember to check www.texasskydivingleague.org for updates and meet results. If you haven't seen it already check out http://www.texasskydivingleague.org/results.html; information from Meet 1 is posted along with team photos, scores and even videos of the top teams in each class! And remember, it's not too late to form a team and join in the fun of competition! To register for future meets:
These registration prices stayed the same as from 2 years ago. You can register for the full season or just one meet, whatever you need to do. Check out www.texasskydivingleague.org for more information regarding rules, handicaps, teams, etc. Meet locations depend on how many teams register from each drop zone. As of now we have been communicating with Dallas and San Marcos as other host facilities. Once again, it all depends on how many teams register from the potential host DZ. They might all be held at Spaceland. We promised TSL this year and we are going to have it. Texas Skydiving League: Meet 1 Results! The Texas Skydiving League is off to a great start this season! Nine teams were registered on Saturday morning and wheels were up before 9 am. "There's no better practice for competition than competition itself," as one team member stated. Everyone was focused on the task and good vibes were spread at the same time. There was even free coaching by Spaceland Directe as they walked around and helped any team that needed a little advice. Through the day, dives were judged and rounds were posted by Judge Henry Butler (thanks Henry). Thanks to all the teams who competed, and CONGRATULATIONS to class winners SPL Directe, Flash Point, and BS 5! Make sure to check out the results, winners' videos, and draw at www.skydivespaceland.com/tsl/results.html. If you have some friends and want to come play, come out to Spaceland for TSL Meet 2 on June 28-29. This is also an 8 way meet on Sunday, so put your four way teams together for some good ol' 8 way fun. Scores from Meet #1: Spaceland, May 31, 2008 (Draw and videos)
More meet dates:
People are really excited that TSL is taking place this season! Tell your friends and get your team registered. On June 14th, Havoc and Skydive Spaceland staged a FS Speed competition. Jumpers of all experience levels from 200 jumps to 10,000+ jumps - showed up for the meet. Houston jumpers, Austin jumpers, and others, combined to form two eleven-way teams, as they squared off for 4 rounds of fun and challenging dives. Teams were formed after all jumpers had registered, with the goal of ensuring that both teams had a good mix of experience (the old farts) and not-so-much-experience (the kids). The two lowest experienced jumpers from each team were moved to the other team after round 1, with the idea being to let them benefit from the wit and wisdom of experienced jumpers on both teams. The plan was to move them back to their original team for round 4, but scheduling didn't quite match up with planning (Hey, just like real life!). The rules for each round were different, keeping things interesting. Round 1 (otherwise known as the "so you think you wanna be a super floater" round) had 3 floaters leaving the plane 2 seconds before the rest of the team. Round 2 used the US Nationals 10-way exit rules. Round 3 involved a no-show, no-grips exit. Round 4 had the teams designate a "base" person who the other members of the team had to touch before they could enter the formation. Brett Thomas and John "Demo" McDonnell donated their video skills and services, while Joe Harris, Scott Elmer, and Scott Latinis alternated as team captains. Stevie Boyd was masterful with the manifest duties, juggling the Speed jumpers, Spaceland SPX 8-way team, Flash Point 4-way, 9 Feet Over Texas 4-way, tandem jumpers, and fun jumpers. The competition was close with Joe Harris' team finally coming out on top, earning them the right to wear the medals proudly proclaiming "We One". Joining Joe were Wendy Wilkinson, Rich Parrish, Harry Hopkins, John Pety, Weldon Herchek, Susan Caracio, James Parham, John Lunning, David Heinrich, Matt Strohmayer and Brett Thomas on video.
--Scott Latinis Live Water Training and BYOM Grillout July 4th It all starts Friday, the Fourth of July at 6 p.m. Remember to bring a change of clothes, shoes, and a towel since you will be getting wet during this training. We do have showers to clean up in after the dunking. For the BYOM (Bring Your Own Meat) Grillout, Bart Stonestreet will be manning the grill during the evening. Bring your own whatever you want Bart to grill. Skydive Spaceland now has an awesome deli onsite! We're just upstairs above the packing floor- don't let a few stairs keep you from great food. Come check it out! We've redecorated, added a dartboard, a TV, a lounge area, and Guitar Hero! Our menu includes pizza, sandwiches, tortilla wraps, grilled paninis, salad, smoothies, snacks, beverages, and ice cream. There's variety for both vegetarians and meat lovers! Also, during the weekends only, we offer breakfast sandwiches (until they're gone), juice, and coffee. Hours:
We're still working on being able to accept credit cards, so be sure to bring some cash. We are currently hiring for Friday nights and weekends, so if you're interested stop by for an application! We're also looking for cool pics of your experienced level skydives from this year, so if you'd like to donate an 8x10 for our "2008 Wall of Fame," let Miranda know in the deli! We have picture frames ready and waiting. The Attic is a great spot to cool off, grab a bite to eat, and watch skydiving videos! Hang out with us after sunset, too--on Friday and Saturday nights we're open later if the crowd sticks around! AFF Certification Course Dates
Are you interested in becoming an AFF instructor? Visit www.certificationunlimited.com for more information or to sign up for the course. Load Organizing Every Second Weekend of the Month Spaceland has load organizing every second weekend of the month, all year long! If you would like to receive email updates regarding LOAD ORGANIZING @ SPACELAND, email leahblache@gmail.com. Skydiving Seminars Geared to the New Jumper The second Saturday of every month, we will be holding seminars at the end of jumping. These seminars will focus on newer jumpers, but everyone is welcome! If you have any requests or ideas for seminars, please contact instructor DJ Marvin: djmarvin@skydivespaceland.com. Congratulations to Brian Menard! Brian along with all our other 2008 first quarter graduates were entered into a drawing for 35% off a Mirage Container and Brian's name came up! Congratulations to all our first quarter graduates for all your hard work. Keep an eye out for our next newsletter to see what incentives we have for our next group of graduates. Want to jump this Tuesday? Get online and let people know you will be out. Some of you have seen our online forum, but many of you have not. This is a great way to get to know your fellow jumpers, catch up on event announcements, buy and sell gear, and see who's doing what. Many people look to come out to jump and aren't sure who will be there to jump with. Find out who will be out this weekend and plan some great skydives. And you can get $10 to full altitude -- to find out how, look on the forum. We will also be hiding a free jump there; be the first to find it and get a jump for free! Here are a couple of awards/records that you made possible here at Spaceland. I've probably mentioned these awards in the past but would like to share them with you again and say thanks to all who make Spaceland "Texas' Premier Skydiving Resort!"
Speed Star competition winners: ??Names?? When you accomplish something great, please email me and let me know. We don't want to leave anyone out! eric@skydivespaceland.com You might have noticed in the past that we've gotten lots of spam activity on the forums. We've put some measures in place to control automated spambot activity, and so far they seem to be working out. Please feel free to visit the forums with much less concern for X-rated posting. :-) Need to save a few bucks? Manifest before 8 a.m. and get your jump for $10--our early bird special! (Experienced jumps only, not applicable to student training) FRIDAYS: DISCOUNTED FREEFLY COACH JUMPS WITH GOLD MEDALISTS SPACELAND ANOMALY Spaceland's own 3-time national champion freefly team, Spaceland Anomaly, is already working hard training for the 2008 Nationals. Want to get some training with these gold medal and world record holders? Each Friday, Anomaly will offer coach jumps for $35. You pay your slot, you pay us, and we go. No other fees! Don't miss out on a chance like this!!! Contact trent@spacelandanomaly.com for more information. Although we have upgraded our infrastructure, aircraft and facilities, Spaceland hasn't had an increase in jump ticket prices since 2002. Oil prices have gone up to over $100 per barrel and this affects our operations. Effective immediately, due to this increased cost of doing business including energy and fuel costs, we are raising all jump ticket prices. New jump tickets will be $22 to altitude and $12 for Hop and Pops. Team prices will also be affected. 4way is $79 per jump, 8way is $120 per jump and 16way is $270 per jump. All 4way exit camps will be $69 and 8way exit camps $101. An exit camp is considered anything 10,500 ft and below. When talking about rates, there is still one way to keep your jump prices a little lower. There will be a limited number of 100-jump packages available for $2,000. There are only 20 block packages available, so first come, first served. LOOKING FOR A FRIEND TO FLY WITH? Leah Blache' is in the process of compiling a database of new jumpers who are looking for weekend organizing and organized "mini-events" at Spaceland this season. Organizer Leah Blache is asking for those new jumpers who are interested in #1) organized weekend fun jumping or those interested in #2) connecting with others interested in forming rookie teams to contact her. She is also asking for the veteran jumpers to forward any names and contact info of new jumpers to her. Our goal is to make sure there is something exciting available at Spaceland for the new graduates, and those who may have recently moved to the area who are looking for a home DZ with new friends to jump with. Sound interesting? Contact Leah at: leahblache@gmail.com.
ARCHIVED NEWS, EVENTS, AND PHOTOS
At Skydive Spaceland,
we're continually improving our facilities to keep you
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Thirteen structured jumps were completed with each skydive having a specific objective to conquer the diamond challenges. The 100-way Opposing Diamond was completed on Saturday afternoon on the seventh skydive. The completion of this great challenge was a testament to the excellent talent of the big-way skydivers and the preparation of the Organizing Team. The 100 jumpers worked together by reading the status of the entire formation and adjusting their body positions subtly and correctly throughout the dive. Then it was onward to the next objective, the Facing Diamond.
Texas Skydiving League THIS WEEKEND!
Havoc and Skydive Spaceland would like to thank all of the jumpers who came out to play. For anyone who didn't make it out this time, it's not too early to start working on your speed skills for the next competition. 
