What kind of people skydive??   The short answer seems to be all kinds – young/old, short/tall, outgoing/sky, well off/flat broke – and everything in-between.
But one thing skydivers have in common is that they certainly are not dull personalities.  Well, I guess it’s possible to find one or two, but for the most part this sport contains a lot of quirky characters.

Those of you that are subscribers have probably noticed that one of our monthly features introduces you to a random stranger – and each time we get to learn a little bit about that person, how they came to make that first jump and what keeps them ticking and coming back to the sky.

We want to feature some cool cats in the upcoming magazines, so we hereby advertise for random strangers.  If you know a skydiver who you think has something interesting or fun to share, and wouldn’t mind getting his/hers mug in Blue Skies Magazine, by all means drop Kolla a line (kolla at blueskiesmag.com) with the persons name & contact information (e-mail preferred) so that we can get in touch and do a quick interview.  And please don’t nominate yourself, because that’s just tacky.

For the fine print, we reseve the right to use all, some or none of the suggestions sent in, in a totally random fashion. We also reserve the right to run all suggestions by SkyGod too, so enter at your own risk.  Or rather, enter  your friends at no risk to yourself

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We can’t get enough of quirky, funny pictures.  This one was taken by Niklas Daniel at the most awesome dropzone Skydive Elsinore.  The body position, the facial expression – just priceless.

With a bit more experience, we predict that this student will become a popular person in the base for hybrids!

Photo by Niklas Daniel

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Happy Friday to everyone! It’s late August and summer is slowly drawing to a close (well, in this hemisphere at least). Not a day too soon as far as those of us stuck in muggy Florida are concerned, but others may feel a twinge of sadness as the first crisp wisps of fall are detected in cooling summer nights.
But not yet! There are still more boogies to go to (the Rainbow Boogie and the 30th anniversary of the Blue Skies Ranch taking place this weekend), more jumps to me made, and hopefully a couple more trips or so to the beach before fall really sets in.

And speaking of the beach, there is the lovely Angela from ICARUS USA, taking a little break on a beach in Hawaii – and there with her trusty Blue Skies Magazine to keep her company.

Have a good weekend everyone!

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Niklas Daniel captured this image of Spaceland Blue exiting out of a LET-410, during the 2010 World Meet in Menzilinsk, Russia

Much is happening in little Russia as many of the worlds best skydivers have arrived at a dropzone in Menzelinsk, ready to represent the respective nations.  This dropzone will be hosting events in Formation Skydiving, Canopy Formation and Artistic events over the next 7 days.
Competition begins on Sunday and it will be exciting to see all the new champions.  Blue Skies Magazine predicts the battle in 4-way will be fiercer than in years past!   If you desire to follow the action step by step, you can keep up to speed on the OmniSkore website and their Facebook page, where Jan Meyer will be posting updates and photos.

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Submitted by Albert Berchtold

Over the past 5-10 year several different swoop leagues have come and gone here in the US, ranging from pro leagues holding meets on public beaches, down to grassroots leagues operating across the nation.  The one that seems to be holding on strong and showing steady growth is based in the Southeast.

The Florida Canopy Pilots Association (FLCPA) was started up back in 2004 by Justin Thornton and Chris Hayes, with input from PD Factory team pilot Ian Bobo.  After a while, Hayes took the league over and ran it for some years on his own.  The meets grew and the league developed the first versions of what would eventually become the open and advanced classes USPA uses today.

As the rules changed, the league continued to be a great place for many pro level competitors to test out their techniques as new courses, scoring rules, and weight limits changed.  After the 2007 season, Hayes decided he was ready to hand his baby off.  He passed the reigns to Albert Berchtold who was an eager amateur competing in the league at the time.

The Florida league has always focused on creating an environment conducive to learning.  For each meet, the league provides a professional coach to work with the competitors and at the end of the season, 20% of the league amateur members “graduate” up to pro class.

As the knowledge has grown, so has the attendance.  In the early days, each meet saw 6-10 competitors, but now they routinely see 30-40 competitors attending from all over the country (and sometimes from abroad).

The 2010 season just wrapped up with the last meet held at  Skydive the Farm, GA.
Plans are on for the 2011 season,  and the word is that the league may expand to include invitational pro events as well as the smaller regional meets.  Keep an eye on the FLCPA website for more information and dates of future competitions.

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You guys might remember Kevin Burkart from two years ago, when he put on an event called a 100 Perfect Jumps.  He did this in order to raise awareness and funds for Parkinson’s disease, which his father Gary Burkart suffers from.

This year, Kevin is upping it a bit, and going for 200 jumps in a 24 hr period.  This is taking place at Skydive Twin Cities, in Baldwin, Wi as we speak.  Kevin’s goal is to raise $60,000 – and if you would like to help, you can make donations or buy some swag through their website.

Right now morning fog is keeping them grounded, so everyone please send some fog-lifting-thoughts Kevin’s way, so he can get started.

Best of luck Kevin – we’ll be watching for updates through the day via Twitter (@PerfectJumps)!

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This is the US Women’s 4-way team Spaceland Blue – training hard for the upcoming World Meet in Russia. Check out tail Becky Brocato (6 o’clock in the photo) – and tell use the comment section to tell us what she might be thinking to herself….

Spaceland Blue, spacing out

Photo comes from the team’s cameraman Nik Daniel.  Way to throw a teammate under the bus, Nik – but you know we appreciate it!

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