In late October, just before the end of the board election, then-Pacific Regional Director Ron Bell accepted a position at USPA, which made him ineligible to serve on the board. In a special meeting in November, USPA’s board of directors convened to decide how to treat the Pacific Regional Director election since Bell, who received the most votes, was ineligible to be elected. Because Brett Martin was on the ballot and received the second-most number of votes, the board declared him to be the Pacific Regional Director when the 2019-2021 board begins its term on February 1.

When chess grandmaster Timur Gareyev won the 119th edition of the venerable U.S. Chess Open over almost 400 other players, Chess Life magazine knew that it had to do something special with the adventurous player for its November 2018 cover. As an ultramarathoner, yoga enthusiast and blindfold-chess Guinness World Record holder, the Kansas-based player who was born in Uzbekistan could inspire a potentially exciting photo. But it was when his manager Jennifer Vallens told the magazine’s editors that Gareyev is also a skydiver with close to 150 solo jumps that U.S. Chess—the 501(c)3 non-profit that publishes Chess Life—knew a cover was born.

The weather was perfect for the 10th Annual Halloween Carnivale hosted by Skydive Arizona in Eloy October 26-28. Skydivers enjoyed three beautiful days of jumps from the drop zone’s fleet of aircraft, including the DC-3. Vertical formation skydiving team Arizona Anthem organized Crazy Eights, an 8-way VFS event, while Thiago Gomez and Niklas Hemlin of formation skydiving team Arizona Airspeed organized the belly groups. Saturday’s costume contest was spook-tacular, and Danielle Lakota Barlow took home the grand prize, a Rigging Innovations Curv container, for her fortune teller costume. The boogie was a great start to the winter season in Arizona.

Joe Kelly, Tyler Moran and Cathy Leone, all members of the U.S. Air Force, make a patriotic hybrid jump at Skydive Arizona in Eloy.

Jim Tafralian, USPA #1298, started his jump career in 1971 at the age of 20 at Midwest Sport Parachute Club near Monroe, Michigan. Early in his jump career, Tafralian became interested in formation skydiving and competed in 10-way speed on the Beechnuts team. In 1974, he was part of the groups who built a 28-way round and a 20-way night round at Zephyrhills Parachute Center (now Skydive City Zephyrhills) in Florida. He also became a Federal Aviation Administration Master Rigger and Commercial Pilot.

In “The 2018 USPA National Skydiving Championships” by Steve Hubbard in the November issue:

• The winner of the 2017 10-way speed event was Arizona Airspeed.

• The advanced wingsuit performance flying guest competitor from Moldova was Iurii Cartev.

• In 4-way intermediate formation skydiving, SDC Rhevolution XP was a guest team. TSC Cadence, SDMW X and Hands Free took gold, silver and bronze, respectively.

All USPA Foreign Affiliate memberships of non-U.S. drop zones that did not submit their annual renewals expired December 31. USPA is in the process of removing any non-renewing Foreign Affiliate’s listing from Parachutist and the USPA website. If a DZ renews after membership has lapsed, it may take several months for the listing to reappear in the magazine due to publication deadlines and print cycles. Foreign Affiliate DZs that wish to renew should contact the Group Membership department at groupmembers@uspa.org as soon as possible.

Members of Fly Team Evil exit a balloon during the suicide-prevention event.

As part of a new privacy initiative beginning January 1, new USPA members must specifically designate that USPA can share their accomplishments (licenses, ratings and awards) and contributions (donations to one of the four USPA funds) in print in Parachutist. New members must now also opt in for USPA to share their accomplishments and display their membership cards digitally through Sig.ma. Previously, members did not need to opt in before USPA listed their credentials but had the ability to opt out.

After deciding to retire from the sport, Andy Tuman (blue jumpsuit, purple grippers) makes his farewell skydive with friends at Skydive the Ranch in Gardiner, New York.

Photo by Laszlo Andacs | D-22468

Watercolor and ink on canvas

Dana Alenzi

Travis Mills, D-27249, is a world-class canopy pilot who flies competitively for the PD Factory Team and is a canopy coach for Flight-1. He is also talented in freefall and has been on numerous world-record-setting big-way jumps and medaled in freestyle and vertical formation skydiving at the world championships. The most recent of his many accomplishments are winning the first meet and taking silver overall at the two-meet 2018 Swoop Freestyle World Championships and taking bronze overall at the 2018 USPA Canopy Piloting Nationals.

When I was a child, I thought that I could fly. In my dreams, I hovered in the living room and floated out the door into the street. I hovered like a dragonfly in slow motion as I examined the trees and architecture of my neighborhood up close. I didn’t realize that it was a dream; it was so intense, I believed it really happened. I blame this weird dream for my delusions of flying.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen very experienced skydivers walking around munching on snacks between jumps with all their gear on but their leg straps hanging straight down instead of being around their legs. It’s the cool look, I guess. But forgetting that last step at the last moment would certainly be fatal, in my humble opinion.

It was the best worst idea (or, perhaps, the worst best idea).  It came, as all the best worst ideas do, over coffee.

It bubbled up one wintry Slovak afternoon as my partner, Joel Strickland, and I were taking a mid-tunnel-camp break. As I snuggled down into a beanbag chair with my thermos, I checked my phone. A dear friend—the inimitable Melissa Dawn Burns—popped up to invite us to visit her in Alaska, where she and her husband have been flying planes over the wilderness at the world’s end. I’d never been to Alaska. I’d always wanted to go.

Suddenly, a thought occurred out of the ether. I turned to Joel.

“Hey, do you want to jump in all 50 states?”

“No,” he said, without missing a beat.

A few moments went by. I kept scrolling.

“Wait. Yes.”

And suddenly, it was real.

Some say that aging gracefully is hard. But on Saturday, November 10, Skydive Elsinore in California showed that time is on its side and age is just a number as it celebrated 60 years of top-notch skydiving at the drop zone’s home, Skylark Airfield. Current, former and aspiring jumpers flocked to the event. Among them was Larry Perkins, the son of the drop zone’s founder, Cy Perkins, who on March 1, 1958, took a skydiver (whose name is lost to time) up in his Cessna 172 and let him fall out. 

Lew Sanborn, D-1, was holding court outside the Bird House bar, relaxing with old timers whose jump totals were in the thousands. Just a few yards away at the other end of the facility, a couple of tandem students were gearing up for the experience of a lifetime. Nobody knew whether they would become skydivers or were merely weekend seekers of a thrill ride. In between, skydivers of every age, from everywhere and from every discipline, champions and casual weekend jumpers, gathered. It was the kind of atmosphere that epitomizes our sport. It was the International Skydiving Museum’s Hall of Fame weekend at one of the iconic locations of sport parachuting: Skydive City Zephyrhills in Florida

When some of the best skydivers in the world learned that Kids for Peace was launching the Do It for Peace campaign to inspire people worldwide to take action, they just had to be part of it! On September 27, 34 world-class skydivers with a combined total of 195,000 jumps united and accomplished a peace-sign formation at Skydive Elsinore in California.