Jumping Journal: January 13, 2007

8 days.  That's a new record.  7 days has been the longest stretch that I have went without ski jumping during the winter months until this winter.  How do you spell EL NINO?????  Drop dead...that's how I spell it, LOL!!!

 

The weather has been down right awful for keeping snow on the hill for the past week plus.  It ended up hitting into the upper 60's last Saturday and rained on Friday night into early Saturday morning, then again on Sunday.  It did get cold enough to make snow during the mid week but the focus with the snow guns was on the main ski slopes versus on the jumps.  The slopes are where the money is at so they take precidence, especially when the ski area hasn't even opened up yet for the season...normally it opens the day after Christmas.  The talk is of making snow on the jumps next week as winter is suppose to arrive with gusto, temps only in the single digits to teens for daytime highs with overnight lows below zero.  It sounds pretty much like most of Monday night through Thursday will be cold enough, and then some, for snow making.  The possibilty of a snow storm starting Sunday evening is even possible.  The track of the storm will decide how much snow the area actually sees.  It is looking questionable for the immediate area right now.  Hopefully by late next week I'll be back to jumping on the 50 again.

 

For today, it was time for the first 'fun' meet of the season.  This was an unplanned meet.  The original meet for today was suppose to be on the 10, 25, and 50 meter jumps at Storrs Hill.  Cannonball decided to postpone them and put the Upper Valley weekend back on the schedule for a couple of weeks from now.  Instead Tim Norris, the fearless leader from the Andover Outing Club, decided to put on a candy bar meet.  His yearly meet that was scheduled for last Sunday was cancelled due to the weather last weekend.  The candy bar meet is mostly a fun jumping meet where only distance is marked, with no style judging.  Everyone that participates gets a Hershey Chocolate bar afterwards.

 

The strange thing so far this year has been that I have been to Andover three times now.  Normally I only see Andover three times in an entire winter, once for the opening meet of the season that I normal just watch the competition from the sidelines, and then for the last two high school meets of the season.  Both of them are on the K38.  With the unseasonable temperatures two of the four high school meets(two each week) have been cancelled and one of the other meets had to be moved.  Both of the meets that have been held have been on the K18 at Andover.  I have been there to watch both of the meets.  I did manage to wait until today to jump the K38 for the first time this year.  Admittedly, nothing else in New England is, safely, jumpable right now so why not jump it, going ten or more days in a row without jumping would be insane.

 

It has been a while since I have jumped a hill without a track on the inrun, especially a hill that has snow on the inrun.  Very rarely do I ever get the chance to jump without a track anymore.  Today was one of those chances.  This time there was even a bit of a kicker at the takeoff, especially on the right side of the inrun.

 

First jump...definitely caught me off guard.  I wasn't expecting to be launched so high into the air.  Doesn't this sound like the first jump off the 50 this winter.  Hmm...hopefully this isn't a pattern setting itself up for the winter.  I really hope not.  It did seem like I was even higher in the air than I was on the first couple of jumps off the 50 at the beginning of the season.  The one thing I am use to at Andover is a sharp transition on the landing hill.  It has always seemed to be quite a sharp transition, there is just no distance between the downhill part of the landing hill and the time you are starting to go back up hill to slow down.  Either you are prepared for it or it quickly reminds you that it is there.  Today, thanks to less snow than normal, I'm guessing???, the sharp transition wasn't there.  That also surprised me on the first jump.  At least it was a pleasant surprise.  I like Andover the way it was today much better than the way it is normally.

 

The second jump was just about like the first jump.  I was still caught off guard by the height that I was carrying through the air.

 

The third jump was a little better but I was still being defensive in the air.  So far this winter I have been fairly calm in the air.  The first four jumps today were anything but calm.

 

Jump number four, the final practice jump before the competition started.  I got down to the takeoff and hit the kicker just right, unfortunately.  I went into the air and skis went every which way but loose.  I haven't had that scary of a jump in a long time.  I landed and the ski tips almost came together, like an inverted V, shortly after I landed.  I managed to pull off the landing without crashing, somehow.  Everybody thought for sure that I was going down.  I guess from talking with Dan that my skis and my body were turned quite sideways through the air but I managed to pull them back to the front before I landed.  They all thought I was going to crash...so did I.

 

After the break for the K10 and K18 comp, the comps started on the K30 and K38.  It was one of the biggest candy bar meets that I have seen.  The size of the field on the 30 was BIG.  Normally you would only find two or three jumpers but quite a few high school kids ended up coming to the meet so they could get some more practice in for their weekly jump meets.  Today there was 8-10 jumpers on the K30, including one master.  The K30 and K38 comps run side by side with the K30 jumpers going first and then the K38 jumpers.  The second round on the K30 follows after the first round on the K38 is completed.  Both jumps share the same landing hill..

 

The first jump in the comp started with melting snow and temps right around 40.  I decided to start higher, but I didn't go straight from the house.  Instead I started on the first bar down from the top.  I had been going from the bottom bar on all the practice jumps.  The first jump went quite well and it surprised me how quiet I was through the air, especially after the last practice jump.  I was quite pleased with the first round.  I landed it somewhere down around 24.5-25 meters, not very far but the longest jump of the day was around 31 meters.

 

I had the best inrun position of the day on the second comp jump.  I started from the house and once again managed to stay very quiet in the air.  I landed down around 25 meters.

 

The third and final jump of the comp wasn't quite as smooth on the inrun and the takeoff was anything but good.  As I got the takeoff I thought I was too far to the right and was going to hit the kicker and send me off flying in all kinds of directions just like it did on the last practice jump earlier in the day.  The last of the kids to jump before the master class group jumped went for the ride of his life after he hit the kicker.  He was lucky to pull off the jump and not crash it, all of us masters thought he would crash.  I ended up playing it safe and didn't jump quite like I should have.  I did manage to maintain a quiet upper body and landed down around 26.5 meters on the final jump.  I only wonder what I could have did if I wouldn't have let the takeoff get to me.  Oh well, it was only for fun. 

 

I did end up coming in 4th out of 5 master class jumpers on the K38.  In total there was 6 masters jumping in the competition and another master jumper that took his first few jumps of the season once the comp was over.  I did hear that it sounds like Andover may get its first master class jumper starting next week.  One of the parents of an eight year old jumper is wanting to give it a try.  He sounds like he is really looking forward to it.  I just hopefully the culture shock of being the only adult out jumping at Andover doesn't scare him off.  I remember that feeling from my first year of jumping.

 

With the possible snow storm coming in Sunday night into Monday and then the deep freeze coming through at least Thursday, hopefully by the end of this coming week I should be back out jumping full time once again.  60 days this winter isn't looking very feasible, but then again I was only jumping about every other day last year in February so I could always make up time next month.  I definitely won't have 30 days in before the end of January this year.

 

Crash