amattsso

I jumped at Green County between 1999-2007. Just watched the year end video from 1999 which I was in. Fun to watch and it brought back memories. Thanks for sharing.

It happened one of the WFFC in the late 1990s (97-99). I was on the load, I saw it. Here is the story: We had jumped Mike's King air before and we all know that he wanted to spot. He made that very clear. Besides, his spots were excellent so there was absolutely no need to give corrections. Two foreign freeflyers, pretty sure they were French but could have been Belgian etc, gets on last. They did have this "hot skydiver looking cool" style. This was in the days when the discussion about exit order hadn't even started. So nobody cared about them going out first. Actually, some people claimed free flyers should exit first. Besides, they were the "coolest dudes" on board. The ride to altitude was uneventful - could have been a "seatbelt check," I don't remember. After a short ride we are on jump run; red light comes on. The freeflyers opens the door and looks out. So far nothing special, but suddenly they shout out "five right". Or maybe it was "five left etc". Anyway, we look at each other a bit surprised that they are giving corrections. But before the surprise has worn off, the green light comes on and we hear Mike shouting: "Go Go Go" in a VERY convincing manner. The freeflyers look strangely at each other, Mike continues shouting: "Go, Go, Go" or maybe it was "Jump, Jump, Jump". The freeflyers do follow the order from the PIC (Pilot in Command) and jump out. Immediately the red light comes one, Mike turns around and says: " Don't jump, that was one mile away, wait until I turn on the green light again." We all smiled at each other and found it pretty funny. Packing and then getting on another load about 30 min later, I see the two freeflyers walking down the runway back to the packing area.

ChrisG wrote: ” How about you local DZOs out there getting together, resolving your differences, and joining forces to to make The Boogie great again. The location is unbeatable.” That’s a worthy cause; I wish you the best of luck, I don’t want to see The Richmond Boogie go away. What I fail to see is how you figure that posting stuff like: “It probably didn't help that our new corporate mega-buck DZ 30 miles away, with a below the belt sucker punch, offered discounted jumps, free dinner, free band, free SUPER-SKYGOD organizers and other goodies with NO registration fee. On top of that, the person running said DZ happens to be our conference director. Way to go guys, your stab at the Richmond boogie, the longest running tradition in skydiving, is contrary to the words you are speaking.” will serve the purpose of getting the DZOs together. Care to elaborate? Along the same line of thought, this posting : “Remind me to vote next election, we dont need that kind of conference director. One who didnt even take the time to visit the largest event in his conference, only 40 minutes away. Too busy I guess.”, just might not give the regional director a warm fuzzy feeling about going to Richmond. And probably will not help in getting the local DZOs to work together. Maybe you know something about team building that I don’t know? The “decreased nudity” at Richmond is, I suppose, due to the Christian Rockband at Start Skydive. What devious methods with Start Skydive come up with next to lure away people? I also find it amusing that you complain about the jumps being – of all things – to cheap at Start Skydive “..offered discounted jumps..”. Funny given your opinion about AFF being too expensive. Seriously, seems to me that instead of being for The Richmond Boogie, you end up -in a sad way- being against all the other DZs as well as the regional director. Anders Mattsson