Austrian BASE jumper Felix Baumgartner plans to fly 22 miles unaided across the English Channel. Baumgartner, who shot to international attention last year by leaping on a wing and a prayer from the statue of Jesus overlooking Rio de Janeiro, will start his odyssey from a balloon five miles above the French coast. He then aims to glide the 22 miles to England before parachuting into Kent.
 
It may seem like madness, but - wearing a specially adapted suit with a wing-like carbon fiber fin attached to his back - Baumgartner is confident his Icarus 2000 project will see him soar into the record books again.
 
"This new project is called Icarus 2000 after the man of legend who made false wings but fell to Earth when he flew too near the sun," he said. "Unlike Icarus, though, I will not be trying to fly as high as I can - and I want to fall to Earth."
 
The 31-year-old from Salzburg is currently practicing with fins made for him by engineers at Munich's Technical University and has already completed 25 practice jump-and-glides. He said: "I have to use my body like the body of a glider. When I drop from the balloon I plunge straight down to Earth until I have picked up a speed of about 120 mph, then I angle my body - and thanks to the excellent aerodynamics of the fin I can glide across the sky.
 
Baumgartner recognises the dangers he faces in trying to glide across the Channel. "Every tiny mistake that I make with these wings can create huge problems," he said. "It is like driving a Formula One car, the equipment is extremely sensitive and quite delicate, which means that any problem is a big one."
 
There is one benefit to this new venture. This time Baumgartner will not have to prepare intricate plans in order to get himself to his starting base.

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Archway POPS Meet Results
by Jeff Steinkamp jsteinka@ksni.net

As Chief Judge of the 2000 Archway POPS Meet, held July 8-9, at Archway Skydiving in Vandalia, IL, I am pleased to present the results of this competition.
 
Accuracy Results: (3 Rounds)
 
First Place: Bill Hayes, Warrenton, MO (0.06 m)
Second Place: Jerry Marklin, Milford, MI (0.11 m)
Third Place: Paul Gholson, Paducah, KY (0.26 m)
Fourth Place: Cheryl Whitford, Raeford, NC (0.28 m)
Fifth Place: Lew Sanborn, Imperial, MO (0.55 m)
 
Hit'n Rock Results: (1 Round)
 
First Place: Dean Bickel, Keokuk, IA (6.02 sec)
Second Place: Jerry Marklin, Milford, MI (7.09 sec)
Third Place: Lew Sandborn, Imperial, MO (7.25 sec)
Fourth Place: Paul Gholson, Paducah, KY (8.38 sec)
Fifth Place: Joe Mayberry, Vandlia, IL (9.33 sec)
 
Sportsmanship Award: Cheryl Whitford, Raeford, NC
Number of Competitors: 18
 
A special thanks to Anita and Jason and all of the staff and pilots at Archway Skydiving for their hospitality and hard work to make this event successful.

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Birthday Party and First Jump Day at Skydive USA

Packer, loader, tandem catcher, and all-around good guy Justin Price would like to extend an invitation to all Houston and Texas area jumpers to attend his 16th birthday party and first jump day at Skydive USA, August 8, 2000.
 
This is a special invite to everyone that has been part of Justin's very "skydiver" upbringing at the numerous Houston area DZs he's been involved with and Texas DZs he's been a part of for the last 13 years. AFF rating holders are encouraged to attend, as Justin has decided to go for all 7 AFF levels in a day (packing each time, of course), and he wants to jump with as many folks as possible.
 
They'll be rockin' the King Air all day, so go and help Justin celebrate! For those who can't make it, please feel free to jam his inbox with salutations and general skydiver harassment at JpUMP2000@aol.com.
 
The dropzone is located 45 minutes southwest of downtown Houston on Highway 59 south in Wharton, Texas, at the Wharton Regional Airport. Camping and hot showers are available, and hotels and eateries are five minutes from the dropzone. For more information call 281-561-5867 or check out Skydive USA's web site at www.skydiveusa.com.

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News from DiveMaker.com

Jan Meyer from Aerosoftware has added a new feature to DiveMaker. It allows you to select from the current FAI pools (4, 8, 10 or 16-way FS) and generate any number of rounds. This is a manual DiveMaker, not randomly drawn from the pool.
 
Several teams that are training have asked Jan for the feature which would allow them to be able to pick & choose the randoms or blocks in a specific order. Well, now you can...see it at www.divemaker.com/cdm/cdm/dm.html.
 
And DiveMaker now has something for freefly too! Plan your dive sequence to practice for the compulsory moves or for your own creative dive sequences. Visit www.DiveMaker.com and use 'My DiveMaker' and select the freefly event.
 
Now is the time to tell Jan what features you want or not! Tell her all about other randoms & blocks not written up in the USPA comp manual. For information and feedback, e-mail Jan Meyer at Aerosoftware@MakeItHappen.com.

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News from Omniskore

After sparing you for a couple of months, Tim Wagner has resumed his monthly "Tidbits" column, appearing this month at www.omniskore.com/tidbits_tim_2000_8.htm.
 
Interested in what's under the hood of the OmniSkore system? Take a peek at the new OmniSkore User's Guide at www.omniskore.com/oug_menu.htm, but be warned, it's BIG. The only thing Ted left out was the source code.
 
The OmniSkore mailing list has reached a milestone of sorts: more people are subscribed to it than there were total competitors at last year's FS nationals.

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New Videos

No new videos this months...wait until the WFFC in Quincy is over! ;-)

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News from the Shop Zone

Action Man Sky Diver   This one-foot-tall articulated "Action Man Sky Diver" which comes equipped with a REAL working orange parachute that's ready to be packed and deployed repeatedly for playtime adventures. The chute delivers "Action Man" safely to the ground from a four-story drop! It also works when tossed into the air at a 45-degree angle. "Action Man" (bearing more than a passing resemblance to G.I. Joe) is definitely living up to his name. Always up for high-flying adventure, the skydiving "Action Man" swoops into hot spots, and is outfitted with nylon coveralls, mission boots, high-altitude goggles, oxygen mask and harness backpack.   Get yours today at skyXtreme's SHOPZone!

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