Kudos to all the drop zones that have donated their planes, time and efforts to Haiti relief work, and to USPA for initiating the effort.

From PR Newswire:

Skydiving centers across the country have found an unusual way to contribute to the Haiti relief effort – by using skydiving aircraft to transport food and medical supplies to the island.

“Jump aircraft are especially well-suited for these missions,” said Ed Scott, executive director of the U.S. Parachute Association (USPA). “Most have large cargo doors and are easily converted to carry cargo. Most can also take off and land on short and sometimes rough landing strips.”

Shortly after the earthquake, USPA e-mailed its affiliated skydiving centers that relief organizations and the U.S. government needed aircraft to bring supplies and personnel from around the U.S. to Florida for staging, as well as directly to Haiti.

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Jump4Heroes Jump from Bloukrans Bridge. Photo by Dawie du Plessis.

It would be a shame to go all the way out to South Africa and not experience the place. So, with the World Cup nonsense out of the way, Jump4Heroes teamed up with some of the PD Factory Team to venture around the country and jump from anything survivable that was in sight.

Starting out at Cape Town, the weather was against us, so we put our foot down and headed for a jump in the rain at the 200′ Gouritz Bridge. Touring the Garden Route we spent the next few days having a boogie at Bloukrans Bridge, home of the highest commercial bungie jump operation. For anyone planning to go BASE jumping in South Africa, be warned—the landing areas can be pretty tight; landing at Bloukrans was either in the water or on a small patch of rocks, the trek out either involved swimming or rock climbing with no equipment- definitely scarier than the actual BASE jump!

Moving on, and having taken a 14-hour drive, we all jumped from the pool deck of a prominent hotel in Durban. The crack of the slider-down canopy openings may have slightly disturbed the guest out for an early morning swim and those breakfasting in their rooms admiring the view of the the sun rising over the sea.

The PD Team members called it a day at this point. They kept citing work as the reason they had to leave the trip but the rest of us firmly believed that they were just too scared; maybe they’d just had too much fun for 2009 though. It was then time to head north to the Drakensburg mountains, the largest mountains in South Africa, for a few jumps. The weather then turned and the remaining jumps didn’t happen.

In all it was a great trip. The Jump4Heroes crew got to raise some great awareness for The Royal British Legion, a charity that supports our troops- members of the Armed Forces, past and present. There’s a short clip of video, including BASE jumping from the roof of a moving car at Bloukrans Bridge, here:

Thanks to all those that made it possible, particularly our guide and photographer Dawie du Plessis.

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Yesterday was the Winter Solstice, the official start of the countdown to summer. So what better time to report on the Endless Summer Boogie, held at Skydive San Diego November 21-22. It’s not possibly because this story has been sitting in my inbox for that long. No, that wouldn’t make any sense at all.

Endless Summer Boogie

by Chad

Nearly 44 years have passed since Director Bruce Brown and his ragtag crew tailed budding young pros Mike Hynson and Robert August across the globe with the ambitions of “following summer around the world”. The Endless Summer has since given birth to a way of life, a vibe, a longing to find what makes you happy and to simply go for it. Southern California’s crystal blue skies and wave-battered beaches no doubt evoke the very spirit that spawned the influential documentary. It’s this very same search for freedom, fun and family that lures skydivers all across the Golden State and beyond to Skydive San Diego’s Endless Summer Boogie. With world class load organizing, food, raffles, music, schwag, bungee-runs and beautiful weather, the Endless Summer Boogie has once again delivered and lived up to its lofty title.

Flyers at the Endless Summer Boogie are much like the diverse crowds of long and short boarders you’ll find scattered along the San Diego shoreline: a hodgepodge of young and old, new and well-weathered. Those that made their way to sunny Skydive San Diego were treated to load organizing from a broad array of talent and disciplines. Boogie-fevered freeflyers of all skill sets were rounded up by organizers Moo, David Gershfeld, Matt Lewis and Chad Ross. From three-way horny-gorillas to the Taft crew throwing down eight-way sequentials, anybody and everybody had an opportunity to get a little vertical. Not to be outdone, Gary McDonald, Julie Richter, and Padu Merloti led the horizontal front. Newbies and groms had a unique opportunity to partake in quality three-ways while the more seasoned boogie-goers were treated to multipoint big-way relative work. The end result: two full, safe and dynamic days of nonstop prop-turning fun.

Photos by Matt Lewis & Nick Boyd

And what would a boogie be without nightlife? As a heavy marine layer sleepily rolled in over head, the mood shifted from dirt diving and packing to rehashing the day’s shenanigans. During dinner, boogie organizer Matt Lewis raffled off Performance Design and Apex swag along with apparel from Gravity Gear, not to mention the handful of lucky ticket holders scoring killer deals from Cookie Composites, Velocity Sports Equipment, Precision Aerodynamics, UPT and Liquid Sky. As an added bonus, a bungee-run competition was held for anyone up for the challenge. Winners from both a men’s and women’s heat collected a handful of free jump tickets. A margarita slushy machine not only illuminated the course but aided in “rehydrating” the whiplashed racers.

Under a crisp San Diego night sky, DJ Moo set the vibe for the remainder of the evening with an imaginative compilation of music spanning generational genres. If one was lucky enough to catch it, even Terry (the drop zone’s veteran pilot) was doing a little twist and shout. In retrospect, the boogie-goers were doing what they do best: boogieing. Aided by an early southwest sunset, the party waltzed its way through the night in truly Endless Summer fashion.

The same year Brown was in the midst of filming his now epic documentary, a kite builder by the name of Domina Jalbert was in the process of designing what would later become the first of the ram-air canopies. The wonder and excitement of those days has fueled a growth in both sports. Brown’s was the sea, and ours is the sky. One thing will never change, however. And that is the spirit and passion to find and capture what makes you happy. Skydive San Diego’s Endless Summer Boogie is just that; a tide pool of people looking to find what makes them happy and, in turn, happily finding what makes this particular boogie so unique.

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If you have our November issue, you know there are many compelling reasons to visit sunny Florida for all your jumping needs this winter (Cali, you’re next on our “Traveler’s Guide” list.) If you do not have our November issue, you can subscribe right here, super easy!

Back to the topic at hand, Chris from right here in DeLand, brings us news of some low-key big-way action:

There is an informal group meeting Saturdays at Skydive Deland for introductory big-ways. Martin Sutton is organizing group skydives for people who want to learn and get experience on larger formation skydives. He has the blessing of the DZ and folks like Carl Daughtery who participates occasionally. Here is a link to my YouTube site to see my 399th and 400th skydives on the big-ways. It’s been a lot of fun and everyone is learning a lot. Anyone is welcome to attend no matter your skill level. Everyone is considered in the dive plan so there is the best chance of everyone being in and gaining confidence.

YouTube Link: MrSkyslut's #399 & #400

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I think this is the reason my Catholic elementary school wouldn’t let us celebrate Halloween.

All photos were taken by: Joe Neal, Marcelo Garcia and “Super Dave” Johnson at past Skydive San Marcos’ Halloween Carnival. Don’t miss this year’s Carnival, October 30-November 1.

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West Virginian/jumper Marcus Ellison and Bridge Day BASE jumping coordinator Jason Bell gave us the locals’ scoop on just what there is to do in Fayetteville, WV—besides jumping off a huge-ass bridge. This, along with our Bridge Day ‘09 guide in the October issue of Blue Skies Mag, should keep you set for legal activities during your Bridge Day experience. As for the other kinds of activities…we actively discourage them. (But get pictures!)

View What to Do for Bridge Day in a larger map, including Google Street View of the bridge

Based on the great help we got from all the local businesses Marcus recommended in his piece, we have to believe Fayetteville is one of the coolest towns ever. We’d have liked to print more of the great pictures they sent, but there were just too many cool establishments to have room for them all!

P.S. The Mystery Hole is not the quietly-whispered-about strip club. They’re here.

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Lincoln Sport Parachute Club (LSPC) turned 50-years-old this year! To celebrate, the volunteer organization threw Nebraska’s best boogie, the annual Redemption Boogie, July 16-19. Over 200 people were registered to jump from Skydive Arizona’s Otter, fill up on specialty beers and chow down on the best smoked pork, courtesy of club member Duane Hansen, named #1 at Syracuse Ribfest 2009.

LSPC annually donates a portion of the boogie proceeds to the American Cancer Society. This year would be no different until a week prior to the boogie, a friend of the club had a hard landing, putting himself in the hospital all busted up. Immediately, plans were in motion to include benefits from the boogie for the club’s fallen friend. The cashier had a bucket for jump tickets and cash as well as sold plates for $2. Saturday at sunset the plates were placed in the landing area for the Big Money Elmo Drop (Elmo just happens to be LSPC’s mascot). The full-size mannequin has his own gear and was static-lined from one of the club’s Cessna-182s. He landed on the opposite side of the runway so some measuring had to be done to determine the winner. The lucky plate belonged to Lee Baney; he did not keep the winnings, rather donated it all to the cause.

Cool stuff happened in the air—state records, Skyhook demos and the introduction of the Bradicole. What happens when you let the reps from Sky Venture Colorado talk you into a hybrid where two of the hangers are on their head? You get The Bradicole (Brad Cole + radical). SkyVenture Colorado sent three reps to skydive in every discipline. If there was a dive someone had always wanted to do, they got it done. SkyVenture also donated an hour of coached tunnel time to be awarded to the highest bidder, with all proceeds given to LSPC. SkyVenture also with raffled off 30-min and 15-min blocks for folks on the early risers load. Aerodyne, Liquid Sky, FireFly, PD, UPT-Vector and Vertical Suits were on site; check out redemptionboogie.com for a complete list of vendors that contributed.

After alleviating some stress, the ladies set a Nebraska Women 8-way State record. When a couple 10-ways don’t work out, focus on getting everyone in their freefly suits for a sit-round. It helps when seven of the eight women are wearing Fire Fly Suits and the owner of Fire Fly, Sherry Jasnos, is also on the dive. All they did was look hot and voila, record! Happily sharing the spotlight, the women stepped aside to applaud organizer Jerry Eddens for getting people riled up to set a POPS State Record. With the help of Mark Farrell, POPS completed a 12-way on their first try!!!!

This boogie continues to grow while keeping its home-town feel. Turbine aircraft, camping, showers, food, beer, a strongly supported boogiemeister, committee and a whole lot of volunteer hours keep people coming back and LSPC couldn’t be happier!

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