The Latest News at Skydive Delmarva

Delmarva Jumpers Invade Sebastian & Chrissy Drell Makes Her 200th Jump

By Braden Hestermann

2.8.09, The Skydive Delmarva "Zoo Crew" invaded Skydive Sebastian for Becca's Bootie Boogie from 6-8 February. The crew left Maryland in the wake of the worst ice storm of the winter to enjoy the "coldest week of the year" in Florida with daily temps in the low 70s. Several of the crew made their first night jumps on Friday including Matt Juliano and Pat Filipowski. A steady cloud deck left jumpers grounded most of Saturday but didn't keep die hards including Dave Bradford, Alexis Kajencki, Chrissy Drell and Brian Butterhoff from attempting 2-point 4-ways from 4,000ft. Delmarvans dominated the boogie's competitions winning two of three events held over the weekend. Braden Hestermann won the accuracy obstacle course with a blistering time of 45 seconds while Brian Butterhoff left the competition in the dust in Saturday evening's male bootie shaking competition. The clouds cleared and Sunday was filled with great jumps including Dave Bradford's first winguit flight and topped off with Chrissy's 200th jump. She made a 9-way jump organized by World Champion Thomas Hughes of Team Knight Trax. The trip was a great respite from the brutal cold and Delmarva was well represented by the crew throughout the boogie.

The Delmarva Zoo Crew at Skydive Sebastian.
Braden on His Way to Winning the Accuracy Obstacle Course.		Brian Dominating the Bootie Shaking Competition.

Epic Conceptions Takes Over Puerto Rico

By Braden Hestermann

2.18.09, Skydive Delmarva was represented by over a dozen members of Epic Conceptions at the Extreme Divers Freefall Festival in Arecibo, PR from 11-15 February. Jumpers made extreme sacrifices to leave behind work and bitter wind chills to don flip flops and board shorts for daily beach jumps along the Caribbean shores. In addition to the gorgeous jumps, the group helped to maintain the party on a daily basis and formed a new league of jumpers from across the Mid-Atlantic region. Following the Freefall Festival, the group took over the small tropical island of Vieques just southeast of Puerto Rico. Highlights of the trip included SCUBA diving, kayaking, mountain biking, swimming and relaxing on some of the most pristine beaches the US has to offer. The group also participated in an exclusive tour of the world's brightest bio-luminescent bay. Skydive Delmarva was well represented and plans are already in the works for Epic Conceptions II, the re-incarnation, in 2010.

	Delmarva Jumpers over Arecibo, PR. Photo by Gregor Weeks.		Braden Sit Flying over Arecibo, PR. Photo by Gregor Weeks.
	Larry Landing on the Beach. Photo by Elizabeth Storke.		The Epic Conceptions Crew in Viequez. Photo by Colin Parker.

Nick Shmel Makes 100th Jump

By Braden Hestermann

2.28.09, Skydive Delmarva Jumper Nick Shmel braved bone-chilling temps to make his 100th skydive over the weekend at Crosskeys, NJ. To celebrate the occasion, Nick made a 6-way hybrid jump that included Lisa Eckman, Luis Merino and Braden Hestermann. Nick was swiftly pied for his accomplishment and was able to bask in the deliciousness for several hours as the showers at the DZ had been fully winterized for the offseason. Congrats Nick!

Nick after Breakoff on His 100th Jump. Photo by Lisa Eckman.

Nick Gets Pied for His 100th Jump.

Joe Manlove Paticipates in Florida State Record POPS Jump

By Gregor Weeks

3.21.09, Skydive Delmarva Instructor Joe Manlove participated in the state record skydiving formation attempts. POPS stands for Parachutists over Phorty Society. Joe was on the record setting 84 person formation. Congratulations, Joe!

Florida State Record POPS Jump

Florida State Record POPS Jump

Great Turn Out for Safety Day 2009

By Gregor Weeks

3.28.09, Despite a rainy weather forecast 85 people came to Skydive Delmarva's Safety Day 2009. Mike Davidson got the day started with an enlightening discussion about the human factors that can lead to unsafe decisions in the skydiving environment.

The fifth annual Chesley H. Judy Safety Award was presented to Larry Robinson. The award is given to the skydiver who, through example, deed, training, or innovation, had promoted safe skydiving in a substantive way. Since he started jumping, Larry has had three total malfunctions and has gotten himself safely down from all of them. He has also set a sterling example of safe skydiving decision making for newer jumpers to follow.

Mike Davidson Presents Larry Robinson the Chesley H. Judy Safety Award. Photo by Gregor Weeks.

Michelle Gets Strapped to the Backboard. Photo by Gregor Weeks.

Next USPA Eastern Regional Director Randy Schroeder gave a presentation detailing the fatal skydiving incidents that happened in 2007 and 2008 and how they could have been prevented.

Representatives of the Laurel Fire Department came for a question and answer session on what will happen at the scene of a skydiving injury. They also got Michelle to volunteer as a victim so they could demonstrate how to put someone on a backboard properly.

After that Lance Lippencott showed a video highlighting a few potentially unsafe situations that happened at Skydive Delmarva in 2008. The video clips sparked several informative discussions and many jumpers remarked about how much they liked the new video segment of Safety Day.

Jumpers were then encouraged to participate in several optional activities including emergency procedure practice, a video presented by Skydivers & Mentors' Jim Shorter, and a preview of the instructional ratings courses given by Randy Shroeder.

Fabian, Rob, and Jim Practice Their Emergency Procedures. Photo by Gregor Weeks.

Lance Lippencott Shows His Safety Day Video. Photo by Gregor Weeks

Thank you to all the jumpers who came out for Safety Day 2009 and congratulations to Larry!

Safety Day 2009 Group Shot. Photo by Gregor Weeks.

Skydive Delmarva Announces Four EPIC SkillzWork Saturdays Led by Michelle Carlstrom

SKILLzWORK?!?

Developing our flying skills is the key to making epic & safe(!) skydives. It's hard to improve without guidance, so SkillzWork is a series of Saturdays dedicated to fun and social learning.

Depending on the skills each person already has, we'll group up accordingly and make skydives geared toward the things you need/want to learn-whether it's basic beginning stuff, or more advanced skills geared toward 4-way or larger formations.

Attend one or attend all; we'll start with relative work and go from there. For these dates, we'll focus on body position, movement, fall rate control, side slides, center point turns'tied in with exits, freefall communication (eye contact), skydive prep & debriefs. As we hone our foundation skills, we'll get more EPIC!

SkillzWork is open to A-licensed or above skydivers - everyone and anyone who wants to improve. If you're just off AFF or if you're already good at some skills and want to continue progressing, or just want to help out - by all means, come out! If you're a freeflyer who kind of skipped the belly stuff and want to learn some flat skills now, that's cool too.

COST: The coaching is free! All you have to do is show up with 6 jump tickets and commit to the entire day (consistency = epic learning!). There is an opportunity for a reduced cost video slot, so RSVP & we'll work it out.

As always, we'll be keeping it EPIC at Delmarva, so who's in?!

-Michelle

Andrew Wilson, Nick Firestone and Matt Juliano Make Their 100th Jumps

By Gregor Weeks

4.26.09 Congratulations to Andrew Wilson, Nick Firestone and Matt Juliano who made their 100th jumps over the weekend! Andrew convinced Braden, Michelle, Christine, Chrissy, Lisa, Elliott, and Angel to jump in their Speedos. Nick celebrated by making a sunset tracking dive with Ben, Gregor, Javier, Steph, Elliott, and Ahmed. Matt marked the occasion with an 8 way hybrid jump with Brian, Nick, Ben, Gregor, Ahmed, Braden and Lisa. Andrew and Matt were thoroughly pied for their accomplishment. Nick made his escape from the dropzone without being pied but will surely be watching his back the next time he's there.

Andrew's 100th Jump. Photo by Gregor Weeks.

Andrew Gets Pied. Photo by Gregor Weeks.

Nick's 100th Jump. Photo by Gregor Weeks.

Nick's 100th Jump. Photo by Gregor Weeks

Matt's 100th Jump. Photo by Lance Lippencott.

Matt Gets Pied. Photo by Gregor Weeks

Scott Doyle Injured in BASE Jumping Accident

By Gregor Weeks

5.20.09 Skydive Delmarva Instructor Scott Doyle was badly injured in a BASE jumping accident in Twin Falls Idaho on May 10th. His wife Steph, also an instructor at Skydive Delmarva, jumped right before him. He has been in a coma in a hospital in Boise since then and his wife has been with him the whole time. When Scott is not teaching skydiving he is a Montgomery County Firefighter. His friends and family are trying to raise the $20,000 necessary to charter a medical flight to bring him home. Anyone wishing to donate to this cause can go to http://www.mcffpipesanddrums.org/. There is a Donate link at the bottom of the left column. All donations will go to Scott and his family. The Skydive Delmarva family sends its support out to Scott and Steph.

Six Delmarva Jumpers Earn AFF Instuctor Rating

By Gregor Weeks

5.22.09 David Bradford, Michelle Carlstrom, Glenn Dalgliesh, Ed Short, Grant Spurrell, and Gregor Weeks earned their AFF Instructor ratings after attending a course given by Randy Schroeder. The candidates had to perform two ground preparations and three evaluation jumps. The evaluation jumps involved experienced AFF instructors emulating the hardest students to deal with. The candidates stopped their evaluators from spinning, flipped them back off their back, chased them all over the sky, matched their wildly varying fall rates, and practiced pulling for them when they missed their pull altitude. The general consensus among the candidates was that the course was well-run, challenging and fun. Congratulations to the new instructors!

JoAnn Dzenis Makes Her 500th Jump

By Braden Hestermann

5.30.09 JoAnn Dzenis made her 500th jump over the weekend at West Point, VA. She was competing with her team, "Turning Points," in the first Virginia Parachute Council Meet of the year. The jump fell in the sixth and final round of the competition. Her team, consisting of Skydive The Point regulars Dean and Tess Schlemmer, Jason Whitt, and Corey Wilt on video, took 1st place in the Intermediate 4-way Formation Skydiving category. They were true to their name, turning 26 points in five rounds and besting the 2nd place team by seven points! Congratulations JoAnn!

Gregor Weeks Makes His 1000th Jump

By Lisa Eckman

6.7.09 Gregor Weeks completed his 1000th skydive on Sunday, despite postponing the occasion several times due to weather. Fearing the weather might postpone his skydive a third time, Gregor waited until the plane was about to load to organize the dive. After a brief mock-up, Gregor celebrated the milestone with 15 of his friends. The jump was quite successful, with the formation building to 12. Gregor was pied multiple times for his accomplishment, including receiving two pies to the face from his wife, Christine, who was "pieing for two." Congratulations, Gregor!

Pat Filipowsky Makes His 100th Jump

By Nick Shmel

Skydive Delmarva Jumper Pat Filipowsky completed his 100th jump this weekend at SkyFest in Reaford, NC.

To celebrate the occasion, Pat gave the count on his 9 way "Molecule" out of a PAC 750, The object of the dive was to grab onto anything and anybody (minus any handles of course) and hang on for dear life! The blob of skydivers then broke apart and built a round formation including members of the Golden Knights! Pat Was just "gettin it" too much and avoided the hard earned pieing that he surely still has coming to him! Congratulations Pat!

Nick Shmel Makes His 200th Jump

By Gregor Weeks

Skydive Delmarva Jumper Nick Shmel completed his 200th jump this weekend. To celebrate the occasion, Nick made an 8 way jump with Gregor, Michelle, Lisa, Pat, Matt, Tyler, and Jeremi. Todd provided an excellent video. Congratulations Nick!

Brian Butterhoff Makes His 100th Jump

By Gregor Weeks

8.8.09 Skydive Delmarva Jumper Brian Butterhoff completed his 100th jump this weekend. To celebrate the occasion, Brian made a 7 way jump with Gregor, Michelle, Pat, Matt, Tyler, and Jeremi. Congratulations Brian!

Brian's 100th Jump. Photo by Gregor Weeks.

Brian Gets Pied. Photo by Gregor Weeks

4th Annual Mike Schultz Skydiving Skills Meet Results

Skydive Delmarva hosted the Fourth Annual Mike Schultz Skydiving Skills Meet September 26. Five teams of four jumpers with varied experience levels competed in events that encompassed several facets of skydiving. The Meet was named for Mike Schultz who has been a shining example of comradery and good sportsmanship in skydiving for over 40 years.

The first event was Formation Exits. "Skid Row" with Harry Kerill, Bill Morrissey, Jerry Burdsall, and Joe Manlove and "Ass Monkey" with Javier Hernandez, Ken Wilhide, John Timmons, and Steve Smith each earned 8 points for launching a Zircon.

The next event combined two skills: Speed Formation and Formation Skydiving. Two jumpers launched a linked exit and points were awarded based on how fast the other two jumpers could dock to complete a Sidebody. Teams also earned a point for each formation built on the jump. "Already Got It" with Gregor Weeks, Andrew Wilson, Thalia May, and Scott Regina had the best jump with 16 points.

The final event, called "Stack Out," began with teams directing the pilot to a pre-declared spot then exiting individually. The goal then was to fly a disciplined pattern, maintaining the same order from exit to landing, and to land as accurately as possible. "Skid Row" had the best score with 30 out of 30 possible points.

Although the Meet was scheduled for six events over two days, the teams decided to shorten the Meet to four events due to Sunday's inclement forecast. All 5 teams completed at least 3 events. Only 2 teams completed the fourth event and because those 2 teams were in the lead for accuracy it was decided just to add their accuacy scores for the fourth event to the accuracy totals.

Jumpers were also scored on landing accuracy on every jump. Concentric 10-meter rings were valued at 10 points in the center, with subsequent rings worth 8, 6, 4, and 2. Jumpers were awarded one bonus point for touching down on a 12 inch disc in the center, and two bonus points for a standup landing with both feet on the disc. Bill Morrissey and Thalia May had the best landings of the event both earning 12 points for tiptoe landings on the disc.

"Bruce's Dream Team" with Bruce Roberts, Inna Geraldo, Anne Cooney, and Angel Regina and "Alread Got It" tied for the highest point total but "Bruce's Dream Team" won the Overall Team Award because they scored points in all three events. "Already Got It" won the Team Accuracy Award. Bill Morrissey and Gregor Weeks tied for the highest scores in individual accuracy. Bill got the gold medal for his perfect 12. Gregor Weeks and Scott Regina earned silver and bronze respectively. Meet Director Mike Davidson, Judge Gary Coffey, Manifestors Suzanne Harrington and Carly McQuown, and Pilot Keith May deserve high praise for a fun, well-run event.

Bruce's Dream Team.	Team Get'n It.
Team Already Got It.	Team Skid Row.
Team Ass Monkey.	Bruce's Dream Team and Team Already Got It with Mike Davidson, Mike Schultz, and Gary Coffey.

Landing Accuracy Scores

DNC = Did Not Compete

Event Scores

Tyler Naiman 100th Jump

9.10.09, Skydive Delmarva Jumper Tyler Naiman made his 100th skydive over the weekend at the MAX Boogie. To celebrate the occasion, Tyler made a free fly jump that included Nick Shmel, Matt Fry, Pat Filipowski and Sam Crane. Tyler was amply pied for his accomplishment. Congrats Tyler!

Tyler Gets Pied for His 100th Jump.

Tyler Gets Pied for His 100th Jump.

Many Milestones Achieved This Weekend

11.8.09, Several milestones were achieved this weekend by Skydive Delmarva jumpers:

• Micah Penley made his 100th jump - a 3 way hybrid with fellow Naval Academy students Sallie and Brandon, and Braden on video.
• Rob Yeadt made his 100th jump - a 5 way with Harry, Al, Larry and Chris, and Braden on video.
• Jason Krumholtz made his 100th jump - an 8 way with Larry, Harry, Chris, Jim, Pete, Rob, and Bruce, and Braden on video.
• Bruce Roberts made his 1000th jump - a 10 way with Gregor, Christine, Scott, Angel, Grant, Michelle, Braden, Jason, and David, and Lance on video.
• Pat Filipowski made his 200th jump - a free fly with Braden and got his first two free flying hand docks.
• Jerry Burdsall made his first jump as a tandem instructor.

Congratulations to all those who achieved milestones this weekend!

	Rob Yeadt's 100th Jump. Photo by Braden Hestermann.		Micah Penley's 100th Jump. Photo by Braden Hestermann.
	Jason Krumholtz's 100th Jump. Photo by Braden Hestermann.		Jerry Burdsall's 1st Jump as a Tandem Instructor. Photo by Lance Lippencott.

Bruce Roberts' 1000th Jump. Photo by Lance Lippencott.

Pat Filipowski's 200th Jump. Photo by Braden Hestermann.