Jumping Journal: September 03, 2008

Month 93...it appears things have changed for the better.

 

Well, other than a very brief rain shower around 9PM last night it hasn't rained since August 19th.  WOW!!!  So has the drought of 2009 started???  Time shall tell.  I'm glad the wet summer of 2008 is over, admittedly it looks like we might be in for a real nice shot of rain this weekend.  Forecast is calling 1.5 inches of rain between Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening.  Gee, this could be the first time I have seen it rain for Dion Cup in the eight years I've been jumping.

 

I arrived at Storrs Hill this evening after watching the clouds on the way up.  They looked like we was going to end up getting a rain shower move through and the possibilty of some rather serious wind to go with the rain.  Turned out nothing became of it.  Either it dissipated or moved away from Lebanon.  It had cooled down nicely from earlier in the day.  It definitely seemed more like a July or early August afternoon during the early afternoon hours.  Highs were in the lower 80s and with the ample sunshine it really gave a feel of mid summer instead of the feel of late summer/early fall.

 

After some stretching all seven of us jumpers 'suited' up and made our way up the hill.  Turned out it would be the masters night out on the jump.  Five masters and two juniors took to the K25.

 

I ended up being the first one down and like the last time I decided to not bother soaping up before the first jump.  Jump one ended up being a nice solid stable 15-15.5 meters with the hands at my sides instead of behind my back.

 

By the time I took my second Bill had already soaped his skis and taken his first ride of the night so the track was already soaping up, err down.  I had a nice 17.5-18 meter ride on the my second jump.

 

My third jump found me off balance for some reason in the air.  I haven't jumped that one-footed, or whatever I did wrong, in quite a while.

 

My fourth and fifth jumps were a bit better than number three but it seemed like they should be better.  I changed my mind and decided to take a sixth jump.  I was only going to take five since darkness is coming sooner and sooner each evening.  A storm knocked down the powerlines that feed the lights and water pump for the K25 earlier this summer so we can't jump after dark like we had been doing the last year or so.  I knew it would still be okay to jump so I walked back on up and ended up with a nice jump to finish the night out on.  It was once again down in the 18 meter range.  The only hiccup was I ended up sitting a little too much on one leg after getting off the sawdust and ended up sliding to a stop on the sides of my legs.

 

All in all another nice evening of ski jumping.  Now it's time to pray it doesn't rain all day Sunday for Dion Cup.  It sounds like this may end up being the biggest turnout for Dion Cup we have seen in the eight years I've been around.  I'm not sure what kind of a factor the weather will bring.  Hopefully it won't end up being a masters only competition like it was last year.

 

Keep the ski tips up,

Crash