ELOY - Episode I

The Crack Heard 'Round the World

The team arrived at 4:30am Friday for 2.5 days of jumping. At 8:30, we were under the official Carpe Grips tree gearing up. Dave showed us his new shoes, his others had been worn down and were only good for sliding. Jump #1 goes without a hitch. A clean exit, lots of points, and a gentle glide back to Earth.

Prior to the jump, Chris asked Jack to catch his tandem landing on tape. At about 500ft, Dave jockeyed for position under canopy, and led Chris towards the camera. Dave landed into a slide, hit a little bump, and broke his ankle in two places. He will undergo surgery, and will be ground-borne for at least 10 weeks.

Post a comment here with your best wishes!

Then There Were Three

Carpe Grips Rule #1: The only thing better than a donut in the morning is multiple donuts in the morning.

As Dave was icing his ankle, Cate, Chris and Jack hit the skies for some serious points that included oodles of left and right handed donuts. Carpe Grips, recently Lake Elsinore's top 3-way team, were all business. Fall rates in synch, crowding instead of separation, zero tension in grips, constant eye contact - a work of art.

Family & Friends

Cate was thrilled to see her Sister, Brigette. Brigette was visiting Phoenix from her home in Alaska with husband Brian and handsome sons Conner and Garrett. By the end of the weekend, Brian enjoyed an observer ride in the Twin Otter, and all had enjoyed 4 full minutes of freefall in the tunnel. Wow! Rumor has it that Brian will be in an AFF program soon...

Chris' high-school buddy, Geoff, also came by the DZ and was amazed at how busy the drop zone was. He enjoyed watching the hot-shots land at mach 1, and hung out with the team during their coaching (creepers, video debriefs, dirt dives, etc.).

Multi-Culturalism at its Best

Being the busiest drop zone in the world, Eloy offers a mosaic of diverse nationalities all attracted by the endless 20-minute calls.

Chris resisted the urge to challenge the French and German 4-way teams to a rematch, envisioning an 8-way tracking dive with the French deploying white chutes moments before impact.

Cate caught a brief glimpse of what may have been the Pakistani team. She discussed this halucination, and other global issues, with the Indian military 4-way team on the ride to altitude.

Jack kept his mouth shut and stayed out of trouble.

Of course, the US Team (Team America?) was there representing the imperial power with class and dignity.

Coach Day with Todd

Arizona Airspeed's Todd joined the group at the tunnel on Saturday at 6am. An hour of stretching and review followed by a full 30 minutes of tunnel time and 7 jumps.

With no time for rest, lunch, or cigars, the team creeped, debriefed, dirt-dived, and jumped until 5:30pm. Local jumper, Scott, joined mid-day when Cate left to spend more time with her visiting family.

Todd showed CG the standard, and kept each of us focused on the 2-3 areas for improvement. We jumped new formations with every two jumps, all with challenging exits and fast-paced action.

Cate finished the day with a 6-hour punk-rock concert with her nephews, and Chris and Jack treated themselves to steak and green beer in Tucson.

Coming Home

All good things must come to an end. Chris and Jack made two quick jumps Sunday - one to practice block turns, and another to do some burble work. They traded rigs and Chris enjoyed the two least-violent landings in years with Jack's Sabre 2 170. It looks like Chris has a purchase coming up!

Geoff returned and brought his wife, Shaun. Both are now enthusiastic supporters of the sport and fans of CG, and are expected to be in the tunnel soon. Maybe the start of an Arizona contigent of Carpe Grips?

We all missed our teammate, Shermanator, and hope he can join us on our next visit to Eloy (with a pair of slippery shoes).

Stay Tuned:

Video highlights from Eloy
Updates on Dave's Recovery
The next CG trip to Eloy!