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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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.

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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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!

We hope to see a lot of old friends and meet some new ones – so those of you that are coming, please do stop by the tent and say hi!  Rumor has it that SkyGod himself might attend, so make sure to secure your women!

At a meeting last night, the City Commission voted unanimously to postpone the project.  The reason cited was worries that the tower project would dip too far into funds currently allocated for airport improvements and maintenance.   We think the real reason might have had something to do with Bill Booth’s most magical beard, but that theory remains unproven.
The city plans to revisit the topic in two to four years from now.

This comes as a huge relief to the many skydiving gear manufacturers that call DeLand home, as they are heavily dependent on Skydive DeLand’s operations for their training, testing and development of skydiving equipment.

The scene of the murder

A young subscriber, who shall remain nameless, sent us this photo below and was quite proud of himself for having used it to kill a giant mosquito.
Never letting an opportunity to educate go unused, we swiftly informed the-dude-that-shall-remain-nameless that this was actually not a man eating mosquito, but rather a harmless little thing affectionately known as a gollywhopper.  Or a crane fly. Or a mosquito hawk.

But we are glad to know that our readers keep the magazine so close  by that it becomes a handy self-defense when needed.  If anyone else has thought of a new or unique use for the magazine, please do share (and send photos).

Blue Skies Magazine reps Lara & Kolla will be on site for the meet, so you can expect fun updates and photos from the weekend.

Director Marah Strauch of Scissor Kick Films is working on putting together a non-fiction feature film, aiming to capture what it feels like to jump off a building, cliff or a bridge, and walk away alive.  She wants to capture the essence of life, of freedom, of what it feels like to defy gravity for a moment and fly.
This is a huge project and Marah and her team are currently working to raise funds to be able to complete the work – specifically they are launching a fundraiser focused on the restoration and transfer to HD of the Carl Boenish film archive.

Please visit their Kickstarter fundraising page, where you can also get more information about the project.  In Marah’s words, this film is meant to be more than a simple history of BASE, it is to be a film that will inspire BASE jumpers and non-BASE jumpers alike to follow their dreams.  And here is her brand new blog.

Best of luck to the Gravity film team, we look forward to see the final product!