"Jumping is an unusual sport. No other packs such excitement, noise, daring, friend, and occasional glory into so few seconds. The rewards are in those few seconds; they last a lifetime. But it is not a mass sport nor a cash sport. It is for the hardy individualist, true amateurs. A small sport. There are those who love it." Bill Cantlin, FIS judge and nordic combined competitor from the 1930's and 1940's
That pretty much gives the kind of idea what kind of weekend of ski jumping I had this weekend. Seeing a bunch of old time ski jumpers, many now in the 60s or 70s. This meet is the big meet for the eastern division each year and all the old time ski jumpers from the Salisbury, CT area show up to cheer on the present crop of ski jumpers.
For me the weekend was about hopefully breaking the Salisbury Hoax that has been over my head for a decade now. Back in 1997 I thruhiked the 2,180 mile long Appalachian Trail. One of the towns that the trail happens to pass very close to(0.4 miles) is Salisbury. The day before I got into Salisbury was a warm, but not hot late July day in 1997. To make a long story short, I ended up getting myself badly dehydrated to the point of coming to realize that I had muscles in my body where I didn't realize that their was any muscles. The next day I walked the short distance to the road and hitched into town and spent the next eight hours drinking down water to rehydrate myself. I didn't realize until 2001 that at the time I was in town that I was only a matter of 1/2 mile from the ski jump. If I had it would have ended up being my first ski jump that I would have ever seen.
After moving to New Hampshire in the fall of 2000 and starting to ski jump in January 2001 I dropped on down for the annual jump meet in Salisbury that first year. I didn't make it down in time for Friday afternoon practice and I ended up being late to get any practice jumps in before the meet started on Saturday morning. During the meet on the K15 I ended up crashing each of the three jumps I took. More bad luck in Salisbury.
Two years later I headed back down to Salisbury to jump the K30 hill. My luck on this hill, well...about as you could guess, not worth a crap. I crashed three of the four jumps I took that day. I hadn't been back to Salisbury since.
Combine the previous bad luck with the crazy first jumps of the evening that I have had each of the two previous evenings and it could make anyone a little cautious when it comes to taking your first rides off something bigger than a K50.
The wild thing about the K65 at Salisbury is the fact that it has one moster long table before the takeoff. I've heard other jumpers talk about the big thing being trying to stay awake while going across the table. It does seem like it takes forever to get to the takeoff.
After dishing out a warm start to the new year Mother Nature had treated the northwest corner of Connecticut with exceptional weather over the past couple of weeks so they could get snow made on the jumps in time for the meet. There was a little bit of natural snow on the ground but only just enough to cover the ground.
I arrived Friday afternoon in Salisbury and found out that the host family I would be spending the weekend with lived right across from where the Appalachian Trail cross the road that leads into Salisbury. Talk about strange omens.
This was going to be the first time that they was going to have a jump meet under lights at Salisbury. Typically they only have had a Saturday and Sunday afternoon competition on the K65 and on occasion, when they have been able to get snowed made, they have had the K15 and K30 competitions on Saturday morning. The Friday evening competition was going to be a target competition where they paint out a big circle on the landing hill that everyone is to try to get to. Those that go over the target are eliminated and those that hit the target or come the closest move onto the next round. Half the field would be eliminated after the first round with the closest jumper in the second round being the winner. The target was moved in between rounds. Quite naturally the competition is setup to favor the best jumpers, simply for their safety.
Practice got underway around 4:30PM as the sun was setting. I knew I was going to take it easy on my first jump. I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to try to sit down on the inrun again or that I wasn't going to continue my bad luck streak of crashing all the time while jumping in Salisbury.
After riding the landing hill I walked up the tressel. I stopped to look down at the table. I had been up the tressel during the summer months a few years back while I was in the area. I didn't remember the tressel having that long of a table. I walked on up top and looked down toward the takeoff and noticed that it also had one monster long knoll. I was obvious by looking that unless you ran into problems that you should have no trouble clearing the knoll but it still stood out like a sore thumb.
After putting on the skis and getting out on the bar I started down the inrun. I set up a little higher in the inrun than I normally would, mostly because of the fact of trying to play it safe. I had no problems on any part of the first jump. Talk about a nice sigh of relief. I probably only went around 30 meters, if that far on the first jump.
As I was walking back up tressel I noticed that one of my cords had come out of the heel plate. I fought with it for a while to get it to go back in. I seemed to have some sort of equipment problem each day.
I started to get more spunky on the second jump. The second jump put me down around the 35 meter mark, give or take. The third jump was also in the same area.
The format for the competition was going to be two trial rounds with two competition rounds to follow. I pretty much knew I would only be around for one of the two competition rounds. Each of the three jumps I did get though were nice solid jumps. I don't really remember how far any of them went right now but it seems like they were in the 35 meter range.
Following the competition there was nice fireworks display shot off over top the inrun. The reflection of the fireworks on the snow added to the backdrop of the fireworks display.
SATURDAY, February 10, 2007
The morning started off sunny and cool. It did seem to be a bit warmer than it was on Friday evening. I did take off the sweat pants and just kept on the shirt under the jump suit. Practice started up around 11AM and I ended up taking five jumps during practice. It was what happened right before the fifth jump that woud set the precedent for the competition in the afternoon. Two jumpers before I went ended up coming out of the traffic and almost lost it on the inrun down on the table. He pulled out the jump and the competition director and other officials came up and took a look at the track and declared it was jumper error. He was the only one that had had any problems, so far, with the track on the inrun. Notice I did say SO FAR. The next jumpers goes down and has no problems, and I go down and have no problems.
About 30 minutes before the start of the competition I look out the window and notice that light snow if starting to fall. One thing that is different about this particular jump meet is that masters jump first. All jumps meets that I have been too have had the master jump last. As could be expected I also was the first of the masters to jump. By the time the jumper introductions was over and the competition started I knew that I would more than likely find a sticky spot or two coming down the inrun since I would be the first one to jump.
The original plan was to have two trial rounds and two competition rounds. They wanted to stretch things out for the spectators and with only 20 jumpers in the field they decided to have the extra trial round.
One problem on Saturday that wasn't really noticable on Friday evening was the waves in the inrun. Their was a was two or three definite curves as you went down. I didn't have any problems with the curves during practice and neither did anyone else. The meet was about to begin though.
I headed down the inrun for my first jump and as expected I hit a sticky spot about 20-30 feet from the takeoff. I was a little surprised that I didn't hit something up higher than that but I didn't find anything. I ended up with a 32 meter jump, mostly due to the expected/unexpected sticky spot. I landed the jump and as I got into the transition the skis were further apart than I liked, by a long shot. I tried to get them back together as I went to stop, beyond the fall line, but it didn't work and I ended up falling down and flipping over before coming to a stop. As a result of the flipping around I pull the screw holding the cord to the heel plate out once again. I quickly walk back to my car and grab a pair of vice grips and manage to once again get the cord reattached to the ski. Talk about crazy luck, bad luck.
I walked back up the landing hill and by the time I got to the takeoff they had put the trial round on hold. It turns out the jumpers were having trouble in the inrun, they kept coming out of the track. They put the trial round on hold and did some work on the inrun and sent everyone back up.
By the time the second trial round was suppose to start they decided to call off the second trial round and go straight into the two competitive rounds to get them off before any more deterioration could occur to the track.
I put on my skis and hop on the bar. I get the signal and head down the inrun, once again having no trouble staying in the track. I ended up with a 35 meters jump for the first round. Several jumper throughout the second round were having trouble staying in the track, I guess they wasn't on the whole foot and were getting bounced around quite a bit coming down the inrun. On several occasions the hill crew were out doing bits and pieces of work on the track in between jumpers.
On the second competition jump I did come slightly out of the track, I could feel it and see it as well. It wasn't bad and I tend to think it was mostly a psychological issue more than a problem with the track. Having eeryone complain about coming out of the track and seeing the hill crew work on the track just made me subconsciously think that their was a problem and as a result my mind decided to turn it into a problem. If such a big fuss wouldn't have been made about the track by the kids I doubt I would have had any problems with the final competition jump of the day. The jump still went down to 36 meters even with the problems on the track.
After the competition and doing some chatting at the jump site Don West and I loaded up and headed on off for the host families house. He was also going to be spending the night at the same house. He didn't jump on today but was planning to jump on Sunday. After spending an hour or so talking about ski jumping at the house we came back into town and stopped by to see the ice sculptures that had been made earlier in the day. Their was a real nice one of a ski jumper at the jump site and another one of a ski jumper flying over a target at the site where all the rest of the sculptures were on display. We continued on and made our way to the banquet where we talked with several old time ski jumpers from back in the 1940s and 1950s. Their was only one or two names that I slightly recognized. The awards for the competition earlier in the day were handed out and I ended up taking third out of four jumpers in the master class. Cannonball took second and Mark Breen, a 1980s jumper that has returned to the jumping scene, took first place. It was pretty obvious that he was going to end up winning the competition on Sunday as well.
SUNDAY, February 11, 2007
Deja vu. The morning started off nice and sunny just like yesterday. Once again the wind was not an issue to even be thought about. After warming up and doing a little bit of stretching I got suited up and ready for another day of jumping this magnificent hill. I must say I have truly come to love the jump over the past three days. Thanks to the long table and nice sized crowd, compared to anything I see anywhere else here in the east, Salisbury has a character all of its own. It makes for a jump meet I will return to time and again without thinking about it. Normally I would always have spent today at the Newport Winter Carnival jump meet...not anymore.
Their had been a new track cut on the inrun earlier in the morning so the problems that existed yesterday were going this morning. The track was straightened out very nicely. Their were no bumps or curves all the way down the inrun. Friday evening there had been a couple of bumps but nothing that you should have any problems with if you are riding on the whole foot.
I get up top the tressel and go to put on my skis. I've only used the old telemark style binding and haven't used the newer Silveretta style bindings as of yet. As I went to put on my skis one of the front throw screws come out of the ski. I take the ski back off and walk down, and fortunately, am able to grab a screwdriver from Matt Cook whose on the coaches stand. I go back up and see that my expectation are met, the screw is stripped out. There are three screws that hold the front throw down so I make sure that the other two, the middle one and the back one are securely in place.
I decided to play it cautiously and go ahead and take a jump. I play it very cautiously for the first jump. I probably never made it over 30 meters. I knew I just wanted to make sure that it would hold.
I go up for another jump and give it some more power and end up going down into 35-40 meter range. Was one of the longer jumps that I had had so far.
I headed back over and decided to try to remount the front throw so it would hold like it should. I manage to get it done and grab a quick bite to eat before the competition began at noontime.
Since Don West didn't jump yesterday he ended up stealing my glory from the past two days, he would be the first jumper of the day instead of me. My turn comes around and I end up taking a very crappy jump as my trial round jump. I still say I never made it much past 30 meters, but they marked me at 35 meters. Cannonball came down and landed at 47.5 meters. He always like to try to jump his age at the Salisbury meet. This year that made him trying to jump...err...umm...49 meters.
The first competitive round begins. I have been wanting to try to make the move that I have been doing recently on the 50 in Lebanon of jumping for the tips. So far I haven't been thinking about it enough to be able to really give it a try. On the first comp round jump I nail it big time. I go straight for the tips and end up surprising myself a little. I land with a 44 meter jump, nice pick up. Cannonball comes down with a 43 meter jump and I start thinking...upset.
The second comp round jump I manage to make the same move and it pays off with a 45 meter jump. Cannonball ends up with a 46 meter jump. It was pretty obvious that it was going to come down to style points as to who was going to get second place today, naturally with all the judges having known Cannonball for eons they was going to give him better style points than me. Then again, I did see him trying to hand judges money, LOL!!!
The organizers decided to have another target jump after the main competition today so after a quick bathroom break I start walking back up the landing hill. As I'm walking up the stairs Tara takes here second comp round jump. I notice something that she does, something I have been questioning about for ages. I see not only what she does but also what the results are. I quickly decide to give it a try on this jump.
All the kids were trying to get as much speed as possible so they could get to the bottom of the hill where the target was painted. I wanted to test out this idea that I had just seen so I decided to start from the same bar start that I had been using all weekend long. I knew that would be the only way to truly check and see what the results would be. Granted I also knew that I would have to have the same jump that I had taken on both of the two previous jumps.
The trick with what I had seen was knowing how far I could carry the idea before I would potentially run into trouble and find myself trying to do cartwheels in the air versus just moving out over the skis. I pretty much take the same jump and try out the concept but I do realize that I have also overdid it slightly and start to pullback slightly. I still ended up with a 45 meter jump once again. Tied with the previous jump as my longest jump I've ever seen thus far. I do plan to experiment with the concept quite a bit more over the next several days and see what happens. I believe speed/timing is the issue. I'll just have to learn to control both when I apply move and how much of it I apply.
After loading up the car for the trip back to New Hampshire I head over to the church for the chili supper and the awards ceremony for today. I already knew that Cannonball had beat me but it turns out he had only beat me by 5 points. Mark Breen once again outdistanced and outscored the both of us by a wide margin while Cannonball and I did the same to Don West. Got to give it to Don to still be out here jumping on K65s and even K90s at 69 years old.
Crash
