Unbelievable, fantastic, wild, crazy, rockin. Those are a few of the comments made by Ranch hands at the end of only the first weekend of May. Man, I thought it was a boogie weekend already. This one tired puppy is happy to report the Ranch is Rockin already with allot of new faces and even some old ones comin back for the good vibes.

With 2 of our scheduled three super otters on line flying non stop all weekend, jumpers cranked out a ton of jumps without a single body bruise. How great is that? It's obvious we will need to bring up our 3rd super otter as soon as it's out of the paint shop.

Many thanks to Louee T. for getting the 60 way team tryouts off and running with a very cool 6 point big way at the end of sunday. Several wanna bee big way jumpers walked away feeling pretty good about their performance. Lou says if this is any showing of the people that will be on the team, we will do very well during the 60 way speed sequential competition scheduled for Labor Day weekend.

New load organizers, Karen Turner and Larry H. did a great job keeping the belly flyers moving and shakin and will be available every weekend for anyone needin help gettin on a structured load.

Generation Freefly had a very busy weekend with all the vRW folks and it's good thing Max Cohn has John Skinner and Ace Burr on line to help.

As usual, the Ranch provided free keg beer and mucho free pizza pies Saturday night, (look out, food freenzie) for the dz club members and guest.

Can't say enough about our Manifestors and pilots who without them, we would be playing golf instead of jumpin. Ccheck out all the latest pics, schedule of events and dz news on one of the most frequented web pages on the net at http://www.ranchskydive.com

Blue Skies, Good Vibes
Guy Wright, manager "Blue Sky Ranch"

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BASE Jumping illegal in Australia

The now illegal sport of BASE Jumping in Australia may soon have its website declared illegal! A coverage on Australian TV showed some BASE jumping video clips and reported that the State of New South Wales wants the Australian BASE website banned, because basejumping is illegal now, and as they believe, it encourages illegal activity. Recently a BASE Jumper was killed jumping from a too low cliff in the White Mountains in NSW when his canopy snibbled.

Skydivers who tried to get some information from the Australian Parachute Federation hit a brick wall with their questions. The subject seems to be taboo and the APF won't comment about BASE jumping in any manner.

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US Parachute Team Web has a new Web Site

The US Parachute Team now has it's website up and running. You can visit it at http://www.usparachuteteam.com.

This site has some information about the team and their efforts towards the 8th World Championship of Canopy Formation, to be held in Imatra, Finland June 30 - July 7. Check out the "Auction" page. It has many items of interest to skydivers including parachutes, AAD's, containers, free days of skydiving, etc. that have been generously donated by various manufactures, companies and dropzones. The team is primarily self supporting, and this is a major part of their fund raising.

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Warning US-Credit-Card Fraud

Following persons use stolen US-Credit-Card Identities to order items via email, prepaid by those stolen identities:

1) Grigore Ionut, Romania, Bucarest, E-mail address: iongrig@umpire.com
2) alexandru ghidrigan, Romania, Bucarest, E-mail address: alexghidrigan@usa.net

Please forward those information to all dealers, manufacturers, DZ-Gear Shops.

The criminals received merchandise in a value of over US$6,800.00 from Sky Depot, Inc. but AMEX charged us back and told us that those identities are stolen. We have already informed the local police in Titusville, Florida and the FBI. Thank you for your cooperation.

Gunter E. Worlein (Sky Depot, Inc.)skydepot@worldnet.att.net

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2000 European Championships to be held at Eloy, Arizona

The 2000 European Championships will be conducted for the first time in the United States at Eloy, Arizona in conjunction with the World Cup dated November 3-12, 2000. Details concerning the European Championships will be in Bulletin 2 due out in May. For further information please contact Al Gramando at alg@skydiveaz.com.

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Return of the Jedei

Michelle and Brian Germain will be setting up a shop in Zephyrhills, where the Airlock got its start. For more information about their canopies check out Big Air Sportz beginnings of a web site. You'll find a few pictures with thumbnails, and descriptions of some of the products. There's much more to come at http://www.bigairsportz.com. Germain and Michelle can be reached by email brian@bigairsportz.com or by the cell phone at 303 517-4027.

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News Bytes 

NEW ! >>> From May on, Napoleon Skydiving Center in Jackson, Michigan will be having an air-conditioned Grand Caravan every weekend. The plane will be ready to fly skydivers starting at 10:00 a.m. Saturday thru 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

***
TonySuits is trying to get old photos of jumpers in their Tony Suits from the last 25 years. They will pick one photo from each year and the person who submitted it will receive a discount coupon code to use on www.tonysuits.com new online showroom. Please email photos to marcus@cyberjester.com. Please include your name, address, email and the approximate year the photo was shot.

***
Jim Crouch has become the owner of West Point Skydiving Adventures, which will be doing the student training and gear sales at Skydive The Point in West Point, Virginia. This new corporation replaces Westpoint Skydiving Center.

***
Sky's the Limit Skydiving Center moved last month from Orange County Airport in Montgomery, NY, to Newton Airport in Newton, NJ. Newton is about 50 miles west of Manhattan. The 130-acre airport has one paved and one grass runway--and a pond that's perfect for swooping. The DZ owns a Cessna Caravan and is bringing in a CASA for its Memorial Day Boogie.    [Source: Skydiving Magazine]

***
Flyboyz.com is now hosting an online community with message forums and chat rooms. Visit the site to sign up. They will also be hosting live online chats with the "Boyz" in the future, so while you are there sign up for our mailing list and they'll keep you posted.

***
On April 18, 588 parachutists jumped from five C-130 Hercules, at 12.000 feet AGL, without incidents or accidents. This "Mass Jump World Record" took place at Santa Cruz Air Base in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as part of Brazil's 500-year celebrations. The initial number of 625 parachutists was not reached.

***
Camera Flyer Mike Skeffington has taken a new position as the DZ manager at Skydive Cross Keys, New Jersey.

***
Glenn Bangs is resigning as director of safety and training of the US Parachute Association after nearly five years. USPA's executive director, Chris Needels, said Bangs is moving to Florida for personal reasons. "I'm heartbroken," said Needels, "I'm sorry to see him go." Bangs will continue to assist the association until Needels finds a replacement, and Bangs told a reporter, he'll most likely run for a seat on the organization's board.
[Source: Skydiving Magazine]

***
Brad Chatellier has taken a position as operations manager for the Flyboyz Fly School at Perris, CA. Chatellier says the school recently lowered the price of its freefly training jumps to $65 per jump. Telephone is (909)943-0509.    [Source: Skydiving Magazine]

***
As of April 4, 2000, the following landing rules are in effect at Skydive Arizona in Eloy, Arizona.

- No overflight of the main DZ area below five hundred feet.
- Landings are to be only east or west in the main landing area. Direction determined by the
  first jumper to land on any given load.

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