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Skydive Spaceland News, Events, and Photos
- Swoop Meet August 7-8
- USPA National Canopy Piloting Championships Sept. 1-4
- PD Factory Team Swoop Training
- 2009-10 National Collegiate Parachuting Championships Report
- Spaceland Force's 4-way World Record: It's Finally Official!
- Merry Ways (20-ways) Report
- 2009 USPA Nationals results/info
- Most Recent Accomplishments
- Amputees Skydive for Prosthetic Legislation at Skydive Spaceland
- Spaceland Anomaly freefly coaching available
- Archived news, events, and photos
Canopy Piloting Swoop Meet August 8th
www.texasswoopers.com Got a craving to swoop the world's biggest swoop pond? Want to learn how? Come on out August 7th -8th for a day of official practice and free coaching by Aggie Dave (Saturday) followed by a day of competition (Sunday) The courses will be set up for us to play on so come get wet! On Sunday there will be 3 disciplines Speed, Distance and Accuracy. All swoopers are encouraged to come out and participate in a competive environment. As always, everyone is welcome to watch the show. We are expecting a good field of competitors to participate at this meet warming up for the 2010 USPA National Canopy Piloting Championships on September 1-4.
USPA National Canopy Piloting Championships
Skydive Spaceland is excited to be hosting the 2010 National Canopy Piloting Championships September 1-4, 2010 Labor Day weekend. The top canopy pilots in the nation will be competing for the gold at the Spaceland Swoop Park. All information about this event (registration, schedule, rules) can be found here.
PD Factory Team Training June 21-27
The PD Factory Team will be here training in 2 weeks. They will be making 10-12 jumps per day, training at the Spaceland Swoop Park. If you want to make abunch of skydives in a short period of time, or if you want to train beside the best swoopers in the world, take a few days off and come out to Spaceland. The swoop courses will be set up at the swoop park. The PD Factory Team has agreed to stay extra days after their training camp to do some canopy coaching. So far we have 5 people signed up to take advantage of coaching with the best. So far the coaching dates are July 1 + 2. The team will stay longer (weekend of 3rd and 4th) if that is better for your schedule. If interested contact eric@skydivespaceland.com. We will need to know soon for logistical purposes. PDFT offers a wide range of coaching from entry level to advanced (Essential Skills to High Performance techniques for competitions.) Remember June 21-27, the DZ will be flying 10-12 loads each day so come out and JUMP.
2009-10 National Collegiate Parachuting Championships Report
We hope the competitors had as much fun here at Collegiates as we did, and that everyone else had fun following along online! The weather certainly didn't help us out much, but as they say: Adapt and overcome! We certainly did, getting in all rounds of freefall skydiving events, three of four rounds of classic accuracy, and two of four rounds of sport accuracy despite 2.5 days of weather hold.
The competition held plenty of excitement, with some close races and very impressive dives! For a full report on the meet, please see our blog wrap-up, medalists, scores page, and videos!
Spaceland Force's 4-way World Record: It's Finally Official!
45 points in 35 seconds set at last year's USPA National Skydiving Championships right here at Skydive Spaceland, Oct. 14, 2009! Congratulations again!
Spaceland Force: Ian Bobo, Thomas Hughes, Brian Johnson (alternate), Shannon Pilcher, Gary Beyer, Eric Boyd (video)
If you have been in skydiving for any period of time, you have likely participated in 4-way scrambles and speed star competitions for fun at your home drop zone. Skydivers in Texas participate in those events, as well an old event newly reborn in the Lone Star State. With the 2009 competition season complete, skydivers at Skydive Spaceland came together on November 7-8 to participate in a semiannual 20-way skydiving tradition at Spaceland known as the Merry Ways.
The TeXXas 20 ways were an annual competition in Texas going back to TBD that attracted skydivers from across the state. The event stopped for a period of years, but was reborn two years ago because of the effort of Spaceland skydivers Tom Jenkins and Mary Lee, thus the name Mary Ways (a name originally coined by Tom), or, as the event has grown, Merry Ways, because of the enjoyable, laidback atmosphere surrounding it. The Merry Ways were designed as a way of getting skydivers who are focused on their competitive teams during the competition season together on off weekends in a fun environment. The event is now less competitive and more focused on completing some very challenging 20-way sequential skydives. Also, the student program at Spaceland has recently produced many talented skydivers and teams over the last few years and the organizers see this event as a way to introduce those skydivers to the basic skills required in big ways.
The event drew 40 skydivers from across Texas and also different states to participate in the event, and the organizers Tom Jenkins and Rich Delgado led two groups to complete a total of 12 skydives on Saturday. The highlight of Saturday was a formation load from the Spaceland Otters against the backdrop of a beautiful Texas sunset. The skydivers on this jump completed a challenging 36-way opposed diamond that was skillfully organized by Tom Jenkins. Unfortunately, weather did not cooperate for a second day of fun; however, the participants are already talking about the next Merry Ways to be held next year. This was the second 20-way weekend held at Spaceland in 2009.
2009 USPA National Skydiving Championships
The 2009 USPA National Skydiving Championships was a BLAST!!! Thanks to all the competitors and visitors for coming, congratulations to all the medalists, and a big THANK YOU to all the staff, volunteers, and sponsors who helped make this event a success!
Things were pretty exciting around Skydive Spaceland over the last couple of weeks, with Nationals, Swoop Week, and multiple new national and world records set during competition. Read all about it in the Nationals Blog! And look for a wrap-up post there shortly.
More Nationals info:
- Competition Results/Team Rosters
- Commentary and photos in the Nationals Blog
- 4-way World Record Claimed by Spaceland Force (video on Facebook)
- 10-way Judges' Choice Award: The Golden Knights (video on Facebook)
STP 2010 Grads |
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| 1-2: Michael O Dell | 3-29: Wally Hockenbury |
| 1-13: Melisa Wade | 4-3: Natanie Cogburn |
| 1-17: Robert Binns | 4-3: John Kestelik |
| 1-18: Evan Cettie | 4-3: Brian Prejean |
| 2-6: Eric Bakken | 4-9: Colin Mantooth |
| 2-14: Misty Goeddertz | 4-21: Guillermo Ortiz |
| 2-17: Shannon Prochnow | 4-26: Jennifer Galloway |
| 2-27: Hamid Parvizian | 5-4: Troy Locklear |
| 2-27: Kendall Friedman | 5-18: Sam Perlik |
| 3-4: Michael Romero | 5-20: Andrew Hutchinson |
| 3-6: Janus Bettilyon | 5-29: Craig Palmer |
| 3-17: Pete Bowes | 5-31: Alia Abbasi |
| 3-18: Ed Panico | |
Amputees Skydive for Prosthetic Legislation at Skydive Spaceland 2009
Josh Wells lands with a big smile at Skydive Spaceland.
Wounded Warriors and other amputees jumped to provide hope for amputees worldwide
Many people make their first skydive to challenge themselves or seek thrills, but not so many jump to provide hope for others or raise awareness of life-changing legislation. Mar. 28-29th, at Skydive Spaceland near Houston, Texas, the second annual Amputee Skydive (organized by Limbs of Love) did just that, bringing in nearly 50 amputees including 15 Wounded Warriors and several firemen to show everyone that there's still life, excitement, and fun after amputation.
They also jumped to raise awareness of the proposed Prosthetic Parity Act of 2008, which would require health insurance companies to provide coverage for prosthetics on par with that provided by Medicare. Many prosthetics cost $8,000-$80,000 according to Limbs of Love founder Joe Sansone, but health insurance plans may only cover a bare fraction of the cost, maxing out at $1,000.
The event kicked off with the arrival of the Wounded Warriors via bus and a police lights-and-sirens/Marine Corps Reserve Color Guard escort, followed by a motivational speech and flag jump by Golden Knight Dana Bowman, who lost both legs in a midair collision during a diamond track in 1994. A drawing for a flat-screen TV (conducted by two Houston Rockets Power Dancers) raised nearly $22,000 for Amputees in Action, a Houston, Texas-based support and social group.
The amputees' tandem skydives had to wait due to winds, but the weather cooperated beautifully on Sunday and everyone who stuck around was able to jump. They were joined in many cases by spouses who also made their first skydives, and many are hoping to come back for more.
"We'll be back after Jessica delivers our baby," said Josh Wells, an Army veteran who lost both legs above the knee to a roadside bomb in Baghdad two years ago. Jessica was there to support Josh, but opted not to skydive due to her pregnancy. "She's so jealous of me right now," he added with a smile after his skydive.
"This was so beyond what I could have ever imagined," said Heather Gardner, a therapist with Center for the Intrepid, which provides physical rehabilitation services for veterans who have suffered amputations or serious burns. "We were so prepared, we had great contact with The Amputee and Prosthetic Center who sent us videos of landings from the first time they worked with wounded warriors skydiving, so we knew what to expect. It was amazing from before we even got here, the convoy was amazing, and it was all so worth it. We couldn't have asked for a better staff.
"And I'm bringing my fiancé to jump here at Skydive Spaceland next week," she said with a grin.
More information:
- Photos (by Christy West and Eric Boyd)
- "Skydiving wounded veterans take leap for a cause": Houston Chronicle
- "Out On A Limb Over Rosharon, For A Good Cause": Houston Press
By Christy West
Spaceland Anomaly Freefly Coaching Available
Spaceland's own 3-time national champion freefly team, Spaceland Anomaly, is offering top-quality freefly training. Want to get some coaching with these gold medal and world record holders? Get a few coach jumps for $45 plus your slot. You pay your slot, you pay us, and we go. Contact trent@spacelandanomaly.com for more information or to schedule your jumps.
Archived News, Events, and Photos
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Questions or comments? Email eric@skydivespaceland.com.
