FallingIllini.org

Hey all you skydivers, looking to get up to 14,000ft this weekend!? And then jump and scream your head off for almost a minute at terminal velocity?  Well if that sounds like fun to you, then email me your name, what day you want to go, the jump type you want to do, your phone number, and if you a have a car. It’s that easy! No experience, knowledge, or training necessary!

Check out fallingillini.org for more information! Blue skies!

This weekend was a fantastic start to a great year of skydiving! Congratulations to Rachel Keeney, Chris Reed, David Shim, Igor Lukin, Artem Chakirov, Fei Wang, Xander Wilde, and Richard Kasper for completing the Static Line Jump course and making their first skydives! Congratulations  to Michael Murphy for completing the class as well while making his second jump. And a big congratulations to Manan Patel for making a tandem skydive for his first jump! I know we will see you all up there again.
     
Congratulations to Laura Thompson and Justin Tobin for being named as the Social Chairs! Make some fun events for us! Thanks for another great weekend everyone!
    
    
    
     Artem Chakirov, Chris Reed, and Igor Lukin
    
    
    
     Justin Tobin celebrating an accuracy
     
    
    
     Kevin Patrick 
     
    
         
     David Shim
     
    
     
Manan Patel with Jason Papke
     
    
    
     Fei Wang
     
    
    
     Xander Wilde
    
    
    
     Rachel Keeney
    
    
    
     Igor Lukin
    
    
    
     Saturday’s Jump Class: David Shim, Richard Kasper, Michael Murphy, Igor Lukin, Artem Chakirov, and Chris Reed
    
    
    
     Chris Reed
    
    
    
     Artem Chakirov
     
    
    
     Sunday’s Jump Class: Xander Wilde, Fei Wang, and Rachel Keeney

On Sunday I graduated from the U of I, and so I’m retiring as President of the Falling Illini. The past year has been great, all you guys are awesome, and thanks for all the jumps. I’m leaving the club in good hands, though, as Daniel Bedford is going to be fearlessly leading many trips into the sky next year. I will be around for most of the summer, before I move to Colorado (strangely, Brad Schlesinger, the FI President before me, also moved to Colorado after he graduated), and we’ll be jumping as much as possible. We won’t be sending out weekly emails until the fall, but if you’d like to come and jump with us during the summer, send an email to Daniel (bedford2@uiuc.edu), and he’ll get you off the ground.

As my final act as President, I’d like to congratulate some new jumpers that came out and jumped on Mother’s Day this past Sunday. Tomoaki Hayamizu, Tomoki Yamaguchi, and So Nagaoka made tandem jumps, and Ho-Sung Chung went through the static-line first jump course. Way to go, guys!

Nick Escobar wrote a terrific article about the Falling Illini in last Wednesday’s DI. If you missed it, you can check out the online version.

We had several first time jumpers out last week, so I’d like to congratulate Leah Goldberg, Michael Jacobson, Kristen Rocha, Kyle Branyik, David Pirszel, Lance Stafford, and Heather Barrow for coming out and jumping with us. They all had a blast.

We also had a special treat last Sunday. Jeffrey Steinkamp ‘73, who was the VP of the Falling Illini from 1971 to 1973 came out to the dropzone to hang out with some of the current jumpers. The equipment has changed a lot in the past 34 years, but he was glad to see we were still out there in the sky having fun.

David Pirszel, Kristen Rocha, and Kyle Branyik

Lance Stafford and Heather Barrow

Aaron VanDevender, Jeffrey Steinkamp, Justin Tobin, and Laura Thompson

The bar crawl was a huge success. Thanks to everyone that came out. I’d also like to congratulate the winners of the various challenges. They are:

We have teamed up with WPGU 107.1 to give away some free first jumps. If you’ve been wanting to go skydiving, but just couldn’t come up with the cash for the first jump course, this is for you. Listen to 107.1 over the next week to find out how to win. No experience necessary, we will teach you everything you need to know to make your first skydive.

I want to let everyone know, that just because classes are over, it doesn’t mean that skydiving is finished. We are still going to be making trips to the dropzone just about every weekend all summer long. I’m not going to be sending out emails every week like we do during the term, but the plan is still the same. If you want to jump, send me an email and we’ll get you set up to skydive.

Also, I’d like to say “thanks” to Brad for being President of the club for the past couple of years. I’m looking forward to running the show this next year.

And check out this video of a jump I did last week while skydiving in Hawaii. Jumping out of a plane over the Pacific Ocean and flying back to land on the beach was incredible!

If some one that went down this weekend left a cell phone in Phil’s car please let me know and we will try to get it back to you.

-Brad

I am putting together a skydiving trip for this weekend. It’s going to be cold and possibly snowing on Saturday, but that just makes for softer landings on Sunday, which looks like it is going to be clear. If you would like to go, shoot me an email.

In other skydiving news, a new world record was just set for the largest skydiving formation in Thailand yesterday with 400 skydivers. Unfortunately, none of the Falling Illini were able to attend. Maybe next time.

www.theworldteam.com

For anyone going down with us tomorrow, or for anyone who will ever go jumping with us, here are some things to know about jump day.

First off, if you are going to be getting a ride from someone, please bring at least $5 dollars to pay the driver for gas. With gas prices the way they are these days it can really cut into jumping money of the people that are driving.

We meet in front of the Union at 7:45am and depart no later than 8am

Also, bring money for lunch and dinner. Most days we are down there the whole day and don’t get back to late. Which brings up my next point. Expect it to be an all day event. There might be someone coming home early, but most of us like to stay down and party a bit after the jump day.

What to wear you ask. Tennis shoes are pretty much the only thing that should be on your feet. They are comfortable and the best fit for what you will be doing. Other than that, just where comfortable clothes that are suitable for the temperature.

Anything else, you know how to get a hold of me.

-Brad