It shouldn’t be many more days until we’re ready to unveil everything, so just hold tight and check back with us. Right now, our goal is Monday, July 26 and we’re pretty well on track. If you’ve ever done website work though, you know the devil is in the details, so hopefully he stays away!

In the meantime, think of what you want to say and get ready to be heard

We're a big kid now. | photo by Justin Carmody

IF you are smart/lucky/with it enough to be a Blue Skies Mag subscriber.

Local jumpers Jen and Lauren posed for the talented Mr. Carmody one very hot Florida day (you should have seen the sweat). Yes, they’re real, live, current jumpers. Yes, that’s all their own gear. Yes, we will have more photos online, plus a lovely centerfold in the June/July issue of Blue Skies Mag.

Want any more reasons to SUBSCRIBE NOW?

Okay, how about some quality time with SkyGod, a new freeflyer’s progression using the new Skydive U DVDs, a word from The Fuckin’ Pilot, another insightful Melanie Curtis column, an overview of all the crazy association/brotherhoods out there (Who are the Rodriguez Brothers?), the Top Ten Most Expensive Orthopedic Injuries with plenty of x-ray broken goodness, Project XRW and a Jumpin’ Mama?

If that doesn’t make you want to send a measly couple of bucks our way to get this printed amazingness, well then…

.

Pinup Girl

Your best x-rays, of course. Dr. Mark Duber (Dr. Doobie to us) is writing a special Top Ten list for us next month: The Top Ten Most Expensive Orthopedic Injuries. We need your high-res x-rays to illustrate what we’re talking about. And just to look at and get freaked out by.

E-mail to lara@blueskiesmag.com or comment and let us know where we can download yours.

So, we have some very cool things planned for our birthday June/July issue, one of them being some very special pictures by the talented Justin Carmody. Some behind-the-scenes teaser pics below

It’s no surprise that we’ve struggled to get each month’s issue out on a predictable schedule and for that, we apologize and thank you for sticking with us and being patient. Without going into whiny-baby territory, it’s been a challenging year professionally and personally for all of us. We’re still working towards quitting our various other jobs and putting 100% of our energy in Blue Skies Mag.

Towards our goal of getting back onto a reliable, mid-month delivery schedule, we’re combining the June and July issues into one mega celebratory issue, with some good little surprises sprinkled in. Because you’ve paid for 11 issues per year, we’re automatically extending everyone’s subscription one month.

The June/July issue is set to hit mailboxes July 15, August on August 15 and so on. Most of you get at least one other skydiving magazine around the first of each month, so we’re spreading the magazine love to the sad, forgotten middle of the month.

In addition to our super mega one-year birthday issue, look for a Blue Skies Mag boogie schedule, revamped website and shwag from Blue Skies Mag soon!

Kolla, Lara & Pierre
Blue Skies Magazine

PS – Take a few minutes to cast your votes in our first (annual?) Best of/Worst of Drop Zone poll!

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!

For starters, there’s our article on what happened at the Dubai swoop meet in January. Holy shit. I’ll probably have more to say about this in the future, but this thing has already made me lose sleep, caused my teeth to hurt from grinding and put about 8 pounds on me from stress eating. Maybe no one will care besides those named in the article, but clearly it’s made me think. The biggest issue for me, personally, was how to report a situation based entirely on what other people said happened, with some parties more than willing to tell their stories and others telling me that I’m a pretty terrible person and only doing this to bring shame and sensationalist drama to the sport and the event.

I’ve gone over it and over it, and I still think the story is worth telling, if only to tell the truth about a skydiving event for once. In general, I can’t stand event articles, because they’re all the same and never say much about what really happened. Something definitely happened in Dubai, and people are still upset about it. That alone is worth telling. And, not to burst anyone’s bubble, but the world of skydiving is not the roses and sunshine version you read about in association mags.

For the record, as I’ve said many times, the harsh light of reality is not appropriate for association mags. It’s their job to present the sport in the best light possible, and anything other than that would be an irresponsible use of member dollars.

We’re not an association publication. We don’t have to represent the sport in any light but the true one. In fact, you probably gave us your money because you wanted to read about what things are really like, so if anything, we have a duty to you to print the real stories, as ugly or uncomfortable as they may be.

In any case, this article in particular was difficult because it involved my friends. I don’t want them to be mad at me, but I also don’t want to disregard another person’s opinion or version of a story just because I don’t know them well or at all. I’m a silly person and don’t take much seriously, but ethics, fairness and morality is the exception. I can honestly say I did my very best to not take sides in this article and present the stories so you, the reader, could make up your own mind. I hope you’ll read it and send a letter to the editor (uh, that’s me, lara@blueskiesmag.com) with your reactions.

I also hope you don’t mind the text-heavy nature of this issue. There was a lot to say! Taya Weiss has a good article about the wingsuit drama and Melanie Curtis is starting an awesome new column about life coaching. Kolla and I both got chills reading it (even though we wouldn’t admit it to each other). Simon “Bones” Palacio teaches you how to brew your own beer! And Karen Woolem tells an epic couch-surfing/BASE jumping/Dudeism story that is 100% Californian.

Important notice: we are running out of booby pictures – both female and male – to print. Please send more!

See? We’d never go 100% serious on you

On a brighter note, you all should be getting your January/February issues right about now! Let us know what you think, and get ready for some super duper coolness in the March issue. And, it was a gorgeous weekend, so there should be plenty of No Shit! stories, beer fines and pictures to share with us

Like

Unlike

Kickstarter can give you...a kickstart. Duh.

We just found out about Kickstarter, a funding site for artists, do-gooders, filmmakers, musicians, writers—anyone who creates stuff that generally requires money. Thinking about a higher-level, long-format skydiving video? Are you a photographer who wants to start exhibiting your aerial shots? A group from the DZ planning to go volunteer in Haiti but need cash to buy supplies? Got a story to write about BASE jumping? Or, do you want to do something completely unrelated to aerial sports? We guess that’s allowed, too.

If you have a project you’ve been itching to make, give it a shot and let us know! We think skydiving, BASE jumping, paragliding, speed riding and anything else that happens in the sky is just ripe for an artistic takeover of the world.

PS – The January/February issue of Blue Skies Mag has a kickass article on making the greatest skydiving video in the history of the universe, by the one and only Melsinore. Combine that with Kickstarter and you could be the next James Cameron.

PPS – Our N3A contest deadline has been extended to February 15 by popular demand, so get going on those pull alarms!