Skydiving Book Service, the fabo folks who brought you Skydiving magazine, are having a great sale on books and videos. Some great steals in there, so break out your plastic and do a little shopping: www.skydivingmagazine.com/clearance.htm

A few of our choices:

Bedtime Stories for Skydivers

by Larry Schatz. A collection of humorous short stories, including “The Man Who Loved Cat Chasing” and “Downplane to Hell.” Professionally illustrated. As one critic put it: “Outrageous and disgusting drivel lacking in any redeeming social value whatsoever” and “Not for the squeamish or prudish.” You’ll love it. Comb bound, 142 pages, 8.5 x 5.5 inches. Regularly $14.95, on sale for $4.95.

 

Hookin’ It!

DVD by Sonic and Donna Bayrasli. Since 1996 the Ranch Parachute Club’s annual swoop meet has served as the Super Bowl of swooping competitions. This compilation includes the most dramatic and entertaining footage taken over five of the annual meets. 99 minutes. Regularly $34.95, on sale for $4.95.

 

Skydiving Magazine Back-Issue
Collection — All of Them

This collection consists of every issue of Skydiving magazine that are still available in our files. It runs from Issue #6 (published in 1979) through #330 (published in 2009) — about 220 copies in all. Hundreds of hours of informative and entertaining reading covering 30 years of our sport. Only $199 postpaid to US addresses.

Skydivers as a bunch, tend to have strong opinions – especially when it comes to gear. No wonder really, as gear is a pretty important component to the whole skydiving experience. Most jumpers are also pretty happy to share their feelings and opinion when asked – and sometimes even when not asked.
Because it’s barely summer yet, we know of a lot of skydivers suffering from PUOPS (Pent Up Opinion Syndrome).

Symptoms may include (but not limited to):
✈ telling your whuffo friends all about why you will never jump neon colored canopies
✈ telling your whuffo friends exactly why you should jump neon colored canopies
✈ calling your jumping friends to discuss the best digital altimeter
✈ finding yourself logging on to dropzone.com asking “should I buy a Pilot or a Spectre?”

And this is just to name a few. ChutingStar gear specialists are offering an experimental treatment meant to treat PUOP through their website. Simply click your way over there, log in (or create an account if you haven’t already), select the desired product, summon your gear knowledge and proceed leave a helpful review for the masses. Please keep in mind that this treatment IS experimental. Side effects may include dizzying happiness, strong urge to go jump or desire to buy new gear. Enter at your own risk, and then make sure to share the link to your review so that all jumpers may enjoy. Happy reviewing!

And worsties, of course. Here it is, the first Blue Skies Mag “Best Of” poll! It’s an all-write-in poll, so everyone has an equal chance of winning.

Vote here!

Call us elitist, but we do ask that you vote only if you’ve made more than one jump at one drop zone. We know, the place you did that one jump was the best of the best of the best, but …

Remember those dark days when, to watch cinematic classics like the one you’re about to watch, you had to drive to the movie rental store, rent a VCR that came in a grey plastic bag-type thing (you might have to be older than 30 to remember this part), pray like hell they had the VHS you wanted, lug all the shit back home, figure out how to hook it up and then spend all night watching the little gem of gloriousness, eating Little Caesar’s pizza (pizza pizza!), drinking Shasta orange and finally fall asleep at 3 a.m.?

Now all you have to do is click “Play,” right from the Blue Skies Mag website. We might as well be riding around in hovercars.

…go, could you wake me up?

This is the brilliant winner of the BPA‘s Video Festival, and another shining, albeit British, example of what results when you follow Melanie Curtis’ simple steps in “How To Be a Film Festival Winner” from our January/February issue. Well done, chaps. Cheerios and all that.

I’m not sure how we managed to miss this one, but it’s from last summer, is excellent and you should watch it now.

Incidentally, this video follows the rules of Melanie Curtis’ brilliant article “How To Be a Film Festival Winner” in our January/February issue to a tee.

The PD Factory Team celebrated the end of their recent training camp – and team member Ian Bobo’s birthday! – with some swoops into the Deep Woods Ranch. Photographer Justin Carmody set up to capture the magic and we set up to capture the magic-capturing. Enjoy!

[Warning: extremely cute but annoying dog barks throughout this video. Loudly. Incessantly. Gratingly. You've been warned.]

For more of Justin’s photography, check out his website and the pages of Blue Skies Mag.

Here’s the latest on our first-ever Get-Alex-VB-Relay (GAVBR): we are looking for someone to bring the three cases of Victoria Bitter (VB) from San Francisco to Lodi by October 11. If that can happen, Alex has lined up someone who can bring those babies home from Lodi to Spaceland (and his tummy). (8 October)Brian has picked up the VB from Cellar360 and is handing off to the next relay person at Lodi this weekend! (15 October)The VB is on its way from Lodi to Skydive Spaceland—and Alex’s Aussie belly…

The one place in America to find VB, "The Best Cold Beer"

• Rob was willing to fit some in his airplane luggage, but we’re not sure three cases will fit.
• A truck driver from Spaceland was going to be driving from Salinas back to Houston, and K-Dub was going to be driving from San Francisco to Salinas! Alas, they missed each other by one day.
• Jen was at Chicks Rock in Elsinore and able to get it as far as Eloy, but no one could get it down to Elsinore.
• Cellar360 is down with the plan! They are holding Alex’s VB in a secure location, waiting for pickup as we speak. Type. Whatever.
• VB themselves, straight from Australia, are down with the plan, too! They tweeted out a call for help, so thanks to everyone who made it here from there. And they said you couldn’t get there from here.

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You may have heard the sad news that PACK’D, the team we were following to Nationals, is unable to go now. So, Blue Skies Mag is holding the first Get Alex VB Relay (GAVBR); instead of following a team, we’ll now follow a case of beer.

Alex is an Australian jumper now working and living at Skydive Spaceland in Houston. His birthday is coming up. He is thirsty. Alas, the one place in the entire U.S. of A. where he can find his favorite Aussie beer is a wine shop called Cellar360. In California. 1,953 miles away.

We are sending out this plea to our fellow jumpers. We know there are angels out there willing, ready and able to answer the call and quench Alex’s Aussie thirst.

The first leg of the GAVBR will need to acquire the beer from Cellar360 at Ghirardelli Square in the Woolen Mill Building and get it started on its trek southeast. Maybe you are a San Franciscan (San Franciscite? San Frannie?) headed to Elsinore for the weekend. Maybe you are driving through on your way to Eloy. Wherever you are from and wherever you are going, we will look for another volunteer at your destination to take it further east – and on, until it reaches Rosharon, Texas by October 12.

Of course, if one person can bring the VB all the way from San Francisco to Nationals, that would be ideal.

Think of it as good beer karma. If you can participate in the GAVBR, please contact us at admin@blueskiesmag.com. And let the relay begin!

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Yuengling is delicious. Cold and brown, it quenches thirst as no other malt beverage can. Yuengling, yum.