Jumping Journal: February 28, 2006

Day 45.  Finally, a real day of jumping and then some.  I guess it must means that all the work toward JOs is pretty much finished and now its just getting the kids here.

 

I arrived at the hill around 9:30AM and helped out with hanging up the loud system speakers.  Afterwords I headed down to the bottom of the landing hill while Cannonball was up top raking the landing hill so we could take some noontime jumps.  The eastern judges and assistant TD had arrived and we chatted for a while before heading on up to the jump inn to get ready to jump.

 

I put on the jump suit and walked on up the tressel for the first jump.  I was surprised by the lack of distance that I had not only on the first jump but pretty much each of the first six jumps I took on the 50.  I was hardly getting past 30 meters on each of the first six jumps.  Jump 6 did end up down around 33 meters.  Jump 7 ended up being the best jump of the day and the worst at the same time.  It was the furthest jump of the day but I managed to pull off something I don't remember ever doing before, the A style.  No, not the V style technique but the A style technique.  I ended up crossing the tips somehow mid air.  I couldn't believe that I did it when I saw it in mid flight.  It was a different picture than anything that I have ever seen while jumping.

 

I headed on over and Cannonball had finished buffing up the inrun on the 25 so we could set a track on it so it would be ready for opening ceremonies come tomorrow.  I ended up taking 5 jumps on the 25 and crashed the second to last jump after my mind decided to play some real crazy tricks with me right after the takeoff.

 

After changing clothes and grabbing lunch I quickly raked out the landing hill on the 25 and then made a run to see how everything was going at registration.  All the teams had arrived and checked in by the time I got there.  I headed back to the hill about 30 minutes later and made an attempt to setup my mini-camera on the takeoff.  I found out that I had forgotten to grab two things before I left home so I wasn't able to setup the camera to tape the kids coming down the inrun like I had planned to.  I'll remember to grab everything tomorrow and take it with me so I can do some different, looking straight up the inrun, videotaping come tomorrow.

 

The kids headed on up the hill and I watched and taped them from several different parts of the hill and also ended talking with one of the central division parents for quite a while.  After open training was over I headed on for the team captains meeting.  That 15 minute meeting took more like an hour and a half.

 

A great day all in all.  Now for opening ceremonies in the morning and then onto the competition.  It's tme for Junior Olympics.

 

Crash

The Passing Of A Well Known Jumping Judge

When I first moved to New Hampshire within one week I had found myself, for some reason in early November, checking out the eastern division website.  I had seen the name Bob Rollins listed and his address was given as Newport, NH.  I contacted him the same day and within one or two days we had met up and went out to the Newport jump.  It was thanks to Bob that I did end up getting into ski jumping so quickly after moving up here.

 

Bob has always been a real nice guy.  He jumped during his high school years and for the past 30 years he has been a national level judge and has spent countless hours helping out at the Newport jump to keep it in jumpable shape.  He never became an FIS judge due to his age.  He has judged at jump meets all across the United States and was a marker at both the 1980 and 2002 Winter Olympics.

 

In the first couple of years that I jumped it was pretty much known that if there was a jump meet, divisional or high school, that more than likely Bob was going to be one of the judges.  He finally decided to step down and retire two years ago.  He spent the final season on a grand finale tour throughout the eastern division

 

It came to my surprise late last night when I went onto the eastern division website to see that Bob had died at the age of 75.

 

Keep the ski tips up Bob, you will be missed by all of us.

 

Crash

Jumping Journal: February 27, 2006

Day 44.  Very fast and a little bumpy.  What a better way to describe an interesting late morning round of jumping.

 

I arrived at the hill and gave everyone the bad news about the passing of Bob Rollins, long time judge here in the east.  We got ready and headed on up the hill to take several jumps to test out the freshly iced out inrun before continuing on with hill work.

 

I didn't realize what was about to hit me as I set on the bar ready for the first jump.  The wind was blowing nicely and after it calmed down a bit I got the flag to go.  I started down the inrun and immediately lost it.  The combination of the increased speed and the bumpy track made it difficult for me to hold my inrun position.  By the time I got into the transition my hands were already in front of me trying to regain some symbolance of control.  It was a futile attempt.  I ended up on the tails of my skis by the time I got to the takeoff.  I got into the air okay but I didn't make it very far.  I landed and things still seemed shaky but I thought I was going to pull it off.  I ended up falling as usual right in the transition.  This crash I don't chalk up to the jump suit, which I did have on, rather I chalk it up to the inrun.

 

The second jump was ever so slightly better.  At least on the second jump I did manage to keep my arms at my sides but I still ended up on my tails at the takeoff.  I noticed the takeoff position much easier on the second jump.  I went down once again, this time further up the hill that before.

 

As I was walking up the steps I tapped on the speed of the track effect.  I thought that that was what I was noticing.  In reality it was the bumpiness of the track that was throwing me off.  I get the flag and start down the inrun.  This time I'm much more comfortable on the inrun.  The jump all the way around goes much better.  It did seem like I was trying to go down again right before the bridge but I manage to hang on.

 

I debate on whether I want to take a fourth jump or not.  Dan Brown decides to go for his third jump and I said the heck with and headed on up for my fourth jump of the morning.  This one is the most solid of the jumps and I notice on this jump that it had been the bumpy track all along that had been causing me my trouble with the first two jumps.

 

After changing clothes I head on up and help out as they had already decided to run the tracksetter back through the inrun to chop up the bumps and smooth the track back out.  Afterwords we start working on getting the bows laid out on the landing hill to finish it up.  While Jon and Esky are laying out the bows I head over and rake out the landing hill on the 25.  There was one kid that was hoping to jump it later in the evening and we need it prepped before opening ceremonies on Wednesday morning.

 

After a bit of a break we go on up and start tossing snow onto the inrun of the 25 and finally manage to get it looking decent for the first time this winter.  It's been jumped quite a bit this winter but it hasn't looked the prettiest to say the least.

 

We double check our list of assignments for JOs and then head back over to the 50.  The kids are already jumping when I get over there.  I had planned on taking some more jumps in the evening but I was dragging all the way as I walked over to the jump inn.  I decided to take the rest of the evening off and watch the kids jump instead.

 

Crash