2005 Skydive Delmarva News Archives

9.25.05, Fabian Lehmann graduated the AFF program today after a successful level 7 dive with Instructor Joe Manlove. Fabian completed levels 4, 5, 6 and 7 on Sunday. Way to go, Fabian!

9.17.05, Sparks & Quinn, DJ's from 93.5 the Beach made their first Skydives today, and Dee Lite (Christina Lowe) from O.C. 104 made her first solo jump!

9.11.05, Christina Lowe graduated the AFF program today after a successful level 7 dive with Instructor Joe Manlove. YEAH!

9.11.05, Howie Schmidt graduated the AFF program today after a successful level 7 dive with Instructor Joe Manlove. Congratulations, Howie!

8.15.05, Todd Supple graduated the AFF program today after a successful level 7 dive with Instructor Joe Manlove. Congratulations, Todd!

8.6.05, Caroline Cheshire earned her 'A' license today after a successful check out dive with Coach Coffey. On her checkout dive, Caroline did a front loop, a 360, a back loop, and another 360. Then at 8000 feet she tracked, and at 4000 feet she pulled. Congratulations, Caroline!

7.10.05, Patrick Murray graduated the AFF program today after a successful level 7 dive with Instructor Dave Matchett. Patrick completed levels 5, 6, and 7 today and did a hell of a job of it. Congratulations, Patrick!

7.11.05, The Skydive Delmarva jumpers enjoyed 9 loads of tailgate exits from the Casa on Saturday. Bobby Gill organized a swoop and chug competition on the last load of the day. In a swoop and chug cups of beer are set up in the landing area. The timer starts when a jumper's feet touch the ground and stops when the jumper finishes a beer. This unique competition combines both landing accuracy and chugging ability. Bobby represented the Univesty of Maryland Skydiving Club well by cutting away his canopy after landing, sprinting to the beer, and winning the competition with a time of 11 seconds. After the sunset load we finished the day with a cookout and bonfire.

On Sunday, Grant Spurrell made his 1000th logged jump on a nine way. He was rewarded with about 20 whipped cream pies. Congratulations, Grant!

7.10.05, Daniel Mork graduated the AFF program today after a successful level 7 dive with Instructor Tom Timmons. Daniel completed all seven levels of AFF in just one week. Congratulations, Daniel!

7.5.05, On Saturday Chris Osborne earned his SCS and Dana Smith earned her SCR on an eight way star organized by RW Concepts. Way to go Chris and Dana! When the jumping was done we capped the night off with a bonfire.

The fun continued on Sunday with some more great skydives including Dave Obloy's 300th jump! After the sunset load, the beach party started with frozen drinks, shish kabobs and beach music. When the food was gone the party migrated to the second bonfire of the weekend. Check out the pics from the beach party!

Monday saw some more great jumps including a demo skydive by 13 jumpers into the Dagsboro Church of God's Fourth of July Celebration. The jumpers amazed the crowd with two star formations and the highlight was when Mike Davidson flew in the American Flag and landed dead center on the target. We then returned to the dropzone and had a cookout, watched some fireworks and lit yet another bonfire.

7.2.05, Eric Bramble graduated the AFF program today after a successful level 7 dive with Instructor Tom Timmons. Congratulations, Eric!

6.28.05, This weekend RW Concepts organized skydives designed to help jumpers earn their SCR and SCS awards. In all 11 awards were earned.

The Star Crest Recipient (SCR) formation must freefly the exit (no grips) and must participate in a freefall formation involving eight (8) or more skydivers held together for a minimum of 5 seconds.

The Star Crest Soloist (SCS) must freefly the exit (no grips) and must participate in a freefall formation involving eight (8) or more skydivers. The SCS candidate must dock eighth (8th) or later. After docking, the formation must be held together for a minimum of 5 seconds.

Congratulations to all the award recipients!!!

6.28.05, Mike Smith made his 1500th skydive this weekend. He jumped with his son, Benjamin. It was Ben's 11th jump and his first Relative Work jump. Congratulations, Mike!!!

Check out page 19 of July's Parachutist Magazine to see a picture of Mike Smith receiving the Chesley H. Judy from Mike Davidson!

6.22.05, Caroline Cheshire graduated the AFF program today after a successful level 7 dive with Instructor Dave Matchett. Congratulations, Caroline!

6.22.05, Ben Smith graduated the AFF program today after a successful level 7 dive with Instructor Dave Matchett. Ben is pictured here with his father, Mike Smith, who has been jumping for over 24 years. Way to go, Ben!

6.6.05, On Saturday the clouds rolled in and Jimmy Tranter could only teach the classroom portion of the canopy skills course to the five skydivers who enrolled. However, the sun came back out on Sunday and three more jumpers joined the course. In all, eight skydivers benefitted from Jimmy's classroom instruction, canopy drills, video taped landings, and debriefings. The feedback from the skydivers who took part in the course was very positive.

Congratulations Gary! Gary Coffey earned his USPA Coach rating after a successful check out dive with Mike Davidson who did his best impression of a bungling student.

A fifteen passenger Caravan arrived on Sunday and flew thirteen loads including a 7 way sunset tracking dive organized by Kenny Everett. The Caravan will stay here until our Otter returns.

After the sunset load everyone gathered around the grill for burgers, hotdogs and cake to celebrate Doug Kunkowski's Birthday. Happy Birthday Doug!

5.24.05, On Saturday we got back to our roots and 11 loads went up on a Cessna 182. The Cessna stuck around for Sunday but the beautiful weather brought out more people than it could handle. After flying two loads, the reenforcements were called in. The Skyvan showed up and jumpers were treated to seven loads of tailgate exits.

4.18.05, Major conratulations to Scott, Dana, and John. Scott and Dana completed their 300th and 200th jumps respectively, and John earned his "A" license.

Although Saturday was winded out, the Skyvan made 13 loads on Sunday including several dives organized by RW Concepts.

4.11.05, This past weekend was quite eventful. First of all, big conratulations go out to TJ and Collin. TJ completed his 100th jump on Sunday. He was rewarded for his accomplishment with no less than 20 whipped cream pies, mostly in the face! Collin finished all the requirements to earn his "A" license.

Saturday started well with two loads going up in the morning. After a long wind hold, several more loads went up before the sun set. When the jumping was over, everyone chipped in for beer and pizza. Then when everyone's belly was full, the bonfire was lit and the party started.

The weather was perfect on Sunday and loads went up all day. RW Concepts organized several skydives.

What will happen next weekend? Get down to the DZ and find out!

3.12.05, The Chesley H. Judy Award is bestowed on an individual who, through example, deed, training, or innovation, has promoted safety at that DZ within the past year.

Mike Smith has demonstrated his commitment to safety by working closely with newer skydivers, organizing RW dives tailored to the experience level of the participants. He has also led by example, excercising the practices that make him stand out as a safe skydiver. Way to go Mike!

This year Mike and Grant Spurrell have teamed up to form RW Concepts. Together they will provide free load organizing, dive planning, and skydiving instruction to jumpers of all abilities and experience levels, with their ultimate goal being to assist jumpers in developing and improving their RW skydiving skills and abilities and increasing the quality of skydives as a whole on the DZ.

3.12.05, Over 50 skydivers showed up to Safety Day at Skydive Delmarva despite the cool, cloudy, windy weather for a fun and informative safety day. They were rewarded for their participation with a free jump ticket.

Safety & Training Advisor Mike Davidson began the day by reviewing the causes of incidents that happened last year and how they could have been avoided. Damon Steele gave informative presentations on canopy control and camera flying. Mike Smith, Kenny Everett, and Troy Drogemeyer discussed the specific safety issues involved in relative work, tracking and freefly dives. Brian Kunkowski finished up the seminars by hammering home the important points of aircraft safety.

Instructors were available to inspect gear, and review emergency procedures using hanging harnesses.

After the days' events, all participants enjoyed free beer and pizza while they discussed the upcoming skydiving season and what they did over the winter.