Stunt camera flyer Joe Jennings outdid himself again. On Friday April 20th, 2001 at Skydive Arizona in Eloy, Joe organized skydivers Omar Alhegelan, Greg Gasson, and Steve Curtis to leave one airplane and fly into another in the record time of 40 seconds). The first skydiver ever who accomplished such a stunt was French skydiver Patrick de Gayardon [http://home.nordnet.fr/~paramag/archives/deug/], who died in April 1998 in a skydiving accident in Hawaii. American skydiver Troy Hartman later performed the same stunt for the MTV show "Sensless Acts of Video".
 
Joe Jennings' stunt was for a show called "That's Incredible" a re-make of the 70's show that inspired many of our current skydivers and stunt people today. This stunt is set to air in late Spring. When asked what can we expect next, Joe calmly replied "Hey, who knows?, I'm sure we'll come up with something else".

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PAC [AFF] Course with Worldchampions in France

Those who want to master front and back loops, turns and tracks, sit exit etc. after 7 to 10 jumps should take a course at the Aerodrome in Gap-Tallard in France, place of World Cup 1990 and 1992, World Meet 1995 and 2003. The Aerodrome has a dropzone with great facilities and a breathtaking view in freefall on the French Alps.

All of their instructors are members of the National FS teams, among them Manu Ars (current World Medalist) and Martial Ferré (current World Champ), and they are offerering a high level course called PAC (French equivalent for the AFF) for 1142 Euros. It includes a one year insurance, jumps, training, rig rental, freefall video and packers services.   For more information contact Manu Ars or check out their website. The website is in the French language, you can use Altavista's Babelfish for a translation.

Gap-Tallard / Photo © 2001 skyXtreme

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News from The Ranch
by Guy Wright - blskyranch@aol.com

The Ranch Parachute Club, (Blue Sky Ranch) in Gardiner, NY. is now open seven days a week. We have the Freefall Express Super Otter Fleet ready to jet you to 13,500 feet in 16 minutes. Jump prices are still $15 for club members (anyone can join) and $17 for non club members.
 
Our very busy schedule of events for 2001 is posted on our web page at www.ranchskydive.com along with new dz news, photos and more. April 28 is the annual Hank Bungay Sport Accuracy Money Meet.
 
Recently we held our yearly safety days. The three day event was a great success thanks to Linda Waz, Hank, Kim Emerson and all the guest speakers at our nightly seminars. Friday night over 48 people attended seminars about dz safety, camera safety, pilot issues, the FAA showed up for a cool talk with new video all about skydiving and FAA interaction.
 
Saturday night, 65 people attended more seminars from canopy control survival skills to first aid and first response procedures to freefly safety. My thanks to all for making this safety week a total success.
 
The weather was perfect and 33 people attended the free recurrency training class provided by Linda Waz. Sunday everyone got to jump and practice new canopy control tech. and landings. My manifestors hid 100 Easter eggs all over the dz Saturdau night and 3 lucky egg finders won free jumps. Very cool.
 
Let the sun shine and the games begin for another season at the Blue Sky Ranch! Come out and play!

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WFFC in Quincy Continues

Don Kirlin, organizer of the World Freefall Convention, announced that his organization has agreed with the City of Quincy, Illinois, to continue to host the World Freefall Convention for the next five years. The announcement came after several months of negotiations stemming from some problems at last year's convention. Reports of nudity and under-age drinking led to concerns that the city would kick the convention off its airport.
 
Last August, Quincy hosted more than 5,700 skydivers from 55 countries, as well as all 50 states. WFFC reported that skydivers made more than 63,000 jumps during the ten-day event. The World Freefall Convention has grown from a starting point of 902 skydivers in 1990 to 2000's record of 5,732 skydivers.

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Australian and Swede join "Space Race"

Australian skydiver Rodd Millner, a former army reservist and night club bouncer, plans to attempt a world record parachute jump from the edge of space, from around 130,000 feet above the Earth's surface. He will be using a high altitude helium balloon, then insulated in a pressurized space suit, jump off, breaking the sound barrier as he descends. Millner expects to fall at speeds up to 1,118 mph to become the first man to break the sound barrier by merely falling through the air.
 
Millner is planning to launch his space jump from Alice Springs in the Australian outback in March 2002, but he may get beaten to the drop as American skydiver Cheryl Stearns [www.stratoquest.com] and French skydiver Michel Fournier [www.legrandsaut.com] hope to attempt similar jumps this year. Read the whole story of Rodd Millner's plans at abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews
 
Another skydiver, Johan Persson from Sweden, also plans a jump from space. He wants to leap out of a balloon 45,000 meters (about 148,500 feet) over Texas in August 2001. His project "Space Jump 2001" is sponsored by a famous pop star whos name is not realeased yet. Johan will be wearing a Russian space suit.

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Blade Running 2001 got cancelled

Blade Running 2001 is officially cancelled due to insurance issues between Bear Mountain and Red Bull. The organizers tried to resolve this issue but to no avail so the decision to cancel was made. Red Bull apologized for any inconvenience and will be supporting Blade Running for 2002. Red Bull has seen the potential behind the support for Blade Running and Pro Blade competitions and will be working with Chiracco Productions in creating opportunities for 2001 event calendar to make up for the cancellation. For more information check out www.airblades.com.

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Paramag's Website is evolving Paramag's website is evolving. The site is updated every month, featuring now more than 400 pages. That is 200 Mo of skydiving related material.

This month, as always, you can find on-line the cover page, the summary, the ads and one full-length article (either in French or in English). Also this month, an amazing "Direct-live" full-length story: a two canopies out tandem ride with the video available for downloading!   Moreover, you can answer a small survey and win a custom Paramag wall-paper for your PC. You'll also be able to learn about the making-off and download the trailer of Patrick Passe's latest movie "Crosswind". As before, you can surf our archives, special issues, the on-line shop,...Just have a click! >>> www.para-mag.com ==== Ça bouge sur le site Internet de ParaMag! Ce site est mis à jour tous les mois, il comporte actuellement plus de 400 pages, soit 200 méga-octets de parachutisme. En ce début Avril, vous pouvez retrouver "on line" la couverture, le sommaire, les petites annonces et un article, avec ce mois-ci notre surprenante rubrique "Direct-live" en intégralité : une double ouverture en tandem avec la vidéo complète à télécharger ! En plus, vous pouvez participer à un mini-sondage qui vous permettra de gagner le fond d’écran ParaMag. Ou découvrir les coulisses et la bande annonce de Crosswind, le dernier film de Patrick Passe. Et toujours : naviguer dans nos archives, nos dossiers, la boutique, etc. Venez "cliquer" chez nous: www.para-mag.com

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News from Monkey Claw

This season Monkey Claw Freefly School at Cross Keys will be open 7 days a week! They have recently hired Heath Richardson (formerly of Elsinore Psycho Circus),and they now have five instructors. They have also expanded to a bigger, better training room/office. Their coaching prices are still the same $60/jump. This includes both slots, pre-jump instruction, video, and debriefing. Discount packages start at as little as 10 jumps! Cross Keys is a big, fun Drop Zone. Regular jumps there cost $16.50. They have 2 Super Twin Otters, a Stearman, and hot air balloon throughout the spring, summer, and fall and a CASA for special events. For you RW jumpers - Boxman will be at Cross Keys this summer! Also, Cross Keys is home to Skydive University. Monkey Claw organizes freefly every weekend. If you want to meet cool people, make tons of jumps, and have loads of fun, go out to Cross Keys and jump!
 
For more information go to www.monkeyclaw.com or www.freefalladventures.com.

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