Danish skydiver Kenneth Gajda has graciously shared with us the view through his lens, as he explores the 3rd Dubai International Parachuting Championships (DIPC).
Visit the Skydive Dubai website for scores, standings and general updates from the event.

By: Brian Buckland

If a friend asked you if you wanted to travel to rural South Carolina for a long weekend in the near 100 degree heat, put on a black jumpsuit and run around in the sun, you might think they weren’t the best friends in the world.  But when that friend tells you that’s CarolinaFest 2011, you grab that jumpsuit and run out the door!  Which is exactly what I did.  I just got back a few days ago and it was a fun time for sure, oh yeah, and there were some great jumps in there too!  Let me tell you a little bit about it.  If you’d like to SEE MY FULL POST CLICK HERE.

The best story times are the ones with pictures.  For starters, I found out early on that Simon had his tube tied.  I didn’t know he could do that, but it’s better safe than sorry!  That guys naked half the time as it is so why not play safe!  And then there was Mel.  She must have been pissed off at something cause she was throwing out the “C” if you know what I mean.  Maybe I missed a shot or something, I guess I’ll just have to try harder next time.  Or maybe she was just trying to give Simon a “C” for the top of his tube?  Not sure…

Then there was the time that my helmet flew off on opening.  Yikes….talk about all sorts of badness.  Can you imagine what my face would look like if I lost all of that expensive camera gear?  Well, lucky for my quick reactions, because when my helmet DID fly off my head, I managed to grab it at just about full arms reach away from me.  So as soon as I realized I had it securely in my hands, I did what any good photographer would do, I spun it around to catch the astonishment on my face!  When I told Angela about it later, she had the same reaction!

I told Amy about a SkyHook I just saw in action and she was like, ‘What’s the big deal?’ and getting up an in my face and stuff.  Back off Chmelecki!  It’s just a SkyHook!  But man, to see it up close and personal, it was like an instant reserve canopy!  Giddyup!

Well, that’s about it for my wrap up on CarolinaFest 2011.  If you’d like to SEE THE ENTIRE GALLERY CLICK HERE.  I hope you enjoyed my story.  To leave you I will ask you a question.  What do you get when you throw a party, tell everyone to wear a pink costume, provide 3 Margarita machines full of booze, and tell the winners that they get either a free golden Cypres or 20 jumps with 20 pack jobs?  Not sure?  Well, let me show you what you get.   The 20th Anniversary Cypres Pink Party.   Hope you enjoy!

If you can stand to lose a few hours of sleep tonight, turn your peepers skyward and watch a total lunar eclipse unfold. Although you can probably watch this from your own backyard, we think that a dropzone would provide a fantastic lunar eclipse viewing point, and if you are at the DZ anyway, why not get a rig on and make a night jump.
Scientists say that although the moon will be entirely in Earth’s shadow, it probably won’t disappear from sight, but rather turn a coppery red color. Exactly how dark it will get remains to be seen, as it is possible that there still may be a cloud of ash lingering about, compliments of the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption last summer.

And just to give you a reference as to what lunar eclipse does not look like, we have included this photo from Nik Daniel – an unknown (to us) jumper setting up for a landing at Skydive Arizona, Eloy, AZ.

Becoming a licensed skydiver is a pretty big deal – it signifies a milestone on a journey that started when you got that crazy idea in your head that jumping from airplanes was not just a good idea, but something super fun.
Once the student training is over, getting that much coveted A license (from USPA at least) signifies that you may jump without supervision, you have been cleared to pack your own main parachute and are allowed to take part in simple group jumps and have at least 25 jumps under your belt.
Before you put in your application, you have to check off all the requirements listed on the A-License proficiency card and received the signature AND official stamp on your proficiency card.
And this is where some dropzones get a little stamp-happy. Those of you that follow your favorite dropzones on Facebook have no doubt seen quite a few foreheads sporting that A-license stamp, but Skydive Palatka, FL recently got a little bit more creative…

Thanks to Andrew Eden (butt on the far left) from Australia, who started his AFF on August 21 and got stamped on September 5th for submitting this photo.
Congrats to Andrew, Beth and Clifford – and by all means do let us know when you send in for the B-license…. we expect another photo!!

Caption Me! (Photo by Jeana Noorzaie)

Post your best caption in the comments.

Oh yeah… hanging with the big dogs now

Some Hollywood Big-Shot's helmet

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!

by Andrew Karnowski and Tom Lundergan
Photo Credit: Gary Ventura/Running Roots Production

Now people have another reason to visit Playboy, besides the articles. The company that started the first and classiest men’s magazine is now showing a BASE video on their Web site.

Andrew Karnowski and Tom Lundergan were offered an amazing opportunity to participate in a building jump in the city of Miami for Playboy magazine’s Web site. The video can be seen here: www.playboy.com/articles/dossier-miami-base-jumping/index.html.

The planning phase of this jump began long before Andrew or Tom knew about it. A filmmaker in Miami who owns and runs Running Roots Productions was moving out of his condo. Towards the end of the moving process his friend—a skydiver—mentioned that the height of his condo was sufficient for a BASE jump. The idea was born and grew into a project. It was then pitched to Playboy and they gave Running Roots Productions the green light.

Running Roots then posted an advertisement on BASEjumper.com looking for potential participants for their documentary. After some e-mail communication and submission of applications, Andrew and Tom were selected.

Varying experience levels were represented by the two chosen. Andrew at that time had approximately 300 BASE jumps, 240 skydives, and 5 building jumps. Tom at that time had 50 BASE jumps and 2600+ skydives but no building jumps.

Date picked, flights booked, and the excitement increased as the weekend approached. Andrew’s flight was a red eye with two layovers, Tom’s first flight was canceled and his second flight delayed, however none of that put a damper their mood.

Once both jumpers were in Miami, Running Roots Productions went to work picking them up, getting shots of them at the airport, taking them to their hotel to drop off gear and then to the business at hand.

The crew followed them as they surveyed exit points, considered logistics and evaluated potential landing areas, followed by interviews in a park and a delicious dinner at a local restaurant.

The Saturday morning wake-up call came early. The crew picked up the jumpers in a white, unmarked van and delivered them to the object. They immediately went to the exit point picked out the previous night.

Running Roots was there to film a jump, Tom was there for his first building and Andrew for the experience. The slight crosswind posed a complication and the safety of the jump was discussed. Neither of the jumpers in the past had ever been in a situation where there was a timeline or pressure to jump and this added a mental complexity.

Tom jumped first and despite a slightly awkward freefall had a good jump with quick reaction time to an off-heading opening and a spot-on landing. Now it was Andrew’s turn; all the cameras disappeared from his awareness as it was go time! Again, another off-heading opening, but corrected and managed to land inches from Tom!

Next was to quickly stuff their gear into stash bags and sprint to the running van waiting to make their getaway. The rendezvous point was an undisclosed location where all met up to watch the many different videos while enjoying coffee and donuts. With their work complete, the jumpers spent Saturday enjoying Miami: two skydives, an art walk and plenty of partying at various bars and clubs.

To answer the most common questions: no, they did not get paid, no, they did not get laid, no, there were no bunnies, no, they did not get invited to the mansion, and no they did not meet Hugh Hefner.

Both jumpers thoroughly enjoyed working with Running Roots Productions and jumping from a building. The final product was polished and professional beyond their expectations and they got to share an experience they will never forget!

Text and photos by videographer Brian Buckland

Record participants on the ground

Ready for a record attempt

I have to be honest…..I was impressed this morning.  8:40 am and 5 Twin Otters took off from Skydive Chicago with 108 freeflyers and 5 cameramen in search of a new World Record.  I never imagined that our wake up skydive for the day would result in 101 connecting.  It was looking good.

Jump #2 and it only got better.  Having been dealt the hand that the Skyvan was down for repairs, we were launching the base out of the lead Otter and it was turning out just fine.  We worked out timing and put a super floater out of the lead plane to get more fliers in the air under the base.  It was a good idea and we built up to 106 out of 108.  This was the way to start a record!

Exit exit!

Formation building

Jump #3 rolled around and we took a step back.  Three pods were having issues and the bench erupts (inside voices) with cheers   One person was in the wrong slot and that threw off two pods but all in all the skydives were very smooth;  not a lot of big movements or waves.  With only a few minor collisions, more just bumps the record attempts kept pretty safe.

Jump #4 came and it was more of the same from jump #3.  More new faces are rotated in and the bench is starting to bustle with activity.  Going for a record of 108 people and having at least another 40 that are sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for their chance.  Things were getting a little tense but spirits remained high!

Break off

Building it biggier!

Jump #5 …..107 out of 108.  Soooooooooo close!  As they say….the worst part about being on a 108 way is watching a 107 way. The team had the energy and the vibe was right, but you could see that the day was wearing on the group yet the organizers decided to go for one more jump before calling it a day.

Jump #6.   There I was, sitting underneath 108 freefliers watching a pod with 3 or 4 out and I see super Pat from the far side of the formation start carving around 107 of his closest friends searching for his slot.  He reached the un-built pod and as he picked up his slot, the true professionals that were waiting for him, jumped into position and grabbed their grips out of the sky.  It didn’t build for long…..but we did it!!!!!

Where's my slot??

Amazing!

A new 108 way World Freefly Record set!  The party is starting so I need to get off this computer and go enjoy the celebration!  Pictures will be posted soon and we’re also putting together a very nicely edited DVD of the event from dirt dives to warm ups to the record shot by our friends over at GetHypoxic.  Please contact me through my website if you are interested.  I’ll post a link to that later.  In the mean time, congrats everyone!!!!

Way to smash a record in 6 jumps!

This is it: 108-Way Freefall Formation

Blue Skies Magazine congratulates all participants, pilots, judges, Skydive Chicago staff, packers and everyone that helped make this record happen – awesome job everyone!