Once a year there's a competition at Skydive Arizone, Eloy, called a Money Meet competition. This doesn't mean the competitors have to do crazy things like die to win, it's more like gymnastics - there are different types of competitions that fall under the 'gymnastics' umbrella (rings, floor, bars, etc) and there are varying degrees of difficulty for each move that gets scored based on how well the move was done and how difficult the actual move is.
Basically it's a two-way freefly scrambles competition, which means the teams of two change with every single jump, so your partner can be a world champion on one jump and complete novice on the next. Each jump is part a random draw, which means the routine and drills to be performed are handed out to the competitors, but the scores are individual per person. So on that jump with a world champion the score might be high, and the jump with a novice might be lower score, and the luck of the draw can have a complete novice skydive with world champions and win the big prize.
They take the number of people that signed up and assign letters per name. Then there is a draw of random pairs - A jumps with B for round 1, A jumps with C for round 2, and so on. No one letter is assigned with the same pair more than once, so A will not jump with B more than once, and A may never jump with K if the draw doesn't call for it. When all is said and done, there is a draw that links names to letters. And then we find out who jumps with who on what rounds. There are 5 rounds total, and this year we had 14 competitors in the open class, which is what I competed in.
My buddy Noam came to me a few months ago and asked if we are going to the Money Meet. Then I had other friends ask if I am going to be in Eloy anytime soon, and it all sort of made sense to go. Of course Noam changed his mind in the last minute, but that didn't stop me from going.....what's a six hour drive through the desert for a bunch of skydives with good friends.
Wed night I got in the car and drove to AZ. 400 miles, a little over 6 hours (figure out the average speed and see I wasn't speeding at all) and a stop a little after Phoenix at a motel to spend the night. I did that so I won't be driving until too late, and because the extra hour from the motel to the dropzone (airport where we jump) in the morning was going to be easier in day light, and the motel was cheap.
I got to the dz (dropzone) on Thursday morning, saw some friends and started hanging out. At some point I even decided to go jump, and got about 3 jumps in all day long. Not because I couldn't jump more, but mostly because it was hard spending the money. I've been jumping for free for so long that spending the money on jumping seemed a little hard for a few minutes.
That evening I was in the wind tunnel and got to play with friends from around the world for a little.
The next day I did 8 jumps. Not because I couldn't do more, but because I ran out of tickets, ran out of daylight because I had to be in the tunnel again at 4 in the afternoon.
A few drinks later I found myself crashing on the couch at Erica's place. It helps to have friends everywhere...
The next day was the competition. 14 people, 5 jumps. My draw included some good people, and some average people. Nothing really amazing, not really what I wanted. I was hoping to jump with members of Arizona Arsenal that are the current world champions and are amazing flyers. I got to jump with Sara Curtis who is a great flyer, but that's it out of the entire team. My other 4 in the draw where sort of down hill from there, and Sara was actually my round 5.
The other side of the competition requires some video skills. The video is done by a camera guy that is assigned to us and random, so in theory we don't get the same video guy more than once. Since the video guys don't get paid for the work they do, the quality of the video people is in most cases not as good as the actual competitors. That means some video busts, where the move is done well by the performers, but the video didn't really get the right angle or the right distance, so the judges can't tell and therefor can't give us the points for it. Judging is not done at real time, the video is presented to the judges after landing, and they evaluate the performance of the competitors on that jump, with some rudimentary rules to when a jump can be done again due to a video malfunction.
That being said, it's all a friendly competition anyways, so the guy that "screwed me over" in round one will do that to someone else in round two. There's the way to keep a positive atitude :)
Overall I wasn't really expecting to win. It was fairly obvious going into it that Arsenal members will take places 1-4. Considering it was my first money meet, and with the draw I had, I was happy with the results. Luck of the draw has a lot to do in that competition, and I am not always lucky in that respect.
Some more tunnel time, some more drinking, some shopping, and a few coaching jumps with some friends.
Sunday was a quiet short day, and I got on the road home around noon. It's still a 6+ hour drive home.
I haven't been to Eloy in about a year, and forgot how much fun it is. It's funny how just going to a different dropzone is like going on a short little vacation. This isn't home, so I don't have to work, I don't have to do anything, I just get to play. Sometimes I miss those days where it's really all about playing, even skydiving every day feels like work sometimes.
