Jackson Hoffman presented CSS with a collage of 2007 Canopy Formation World Record photos as a special thank you for the support given by CSS. It was displayed at the Chili Cookoff Saturday night. After the wall painting is finished, it will be permanently displayed.

It is well known fact that it takes a village to run a drop zone. Recently, the villagers have been active. Just to name a few, Whitney Garner and John Lyman have created monthly newsletters (Whitney’s Freefly and John’s Skilz). Keith & Melissa Majeroni and John Lyman have been organizing a monthly Skills Camp and Organized Chaos for the relative workers. Dave Jennings and Whitney Garner have been organizing a monthly Freefly Camp. Harry Parrish is reviving the Jive Jam freefly events for this summer season. This is in no way a complete list of active villagers – just the ones that came to mind at this newsletter writing.

The Annual Cabin Fever Boogie and Chili Cookoff was, as always, a mid-winter treat. The weather cooperated giving us Saturday as a jump day. Saturday night, there were 10 different (totally different) flavors of chili from which to choose along with all the toppings, chips & dips, crackers, bread, and cookies. Greg Erwin took home the first prize. In addition to the obvious thank yous to the chili cooks, special thanks go to Anna Scott for the festive decorations and Christina Forster for the ribbon prizes.

Following the Chili competition, the first annual video contest was held in the lobby area. We were entertained by the five video entries. Thanks to Aaron Winkelstein, Todd Whitt, Peter Biro, Whitney Garner and BJ McPeak for the time and energy the put into this competition. Next year we divide the entries into different classes. Everyone needs to say a special thank you to Pete Luter for suggesting that we include this event in our Cabin Fever Boogie this year.

Again, villagers, Whitney Garner and Dave Jennings shared their expertise in solving the mysteries of our newsletter list issues. We now are working from a newly revised list. If you hear of someone who would like to be on the list and are not presently receiving the newsletter, please have them contact us.

USPA Safety Day is March 8th at dark:30. Plan to attend. The program is relative to all levels of experience – you are never too experienced to review safety.

We may have had some brave souls for the Polar Bear jumps but no one - not even the pilots were brave enough to start a wild wind ride with last Sunday's breezy conditions. At times, the wind gusts were at or at least close to 50 mph. Everything was tied down and survived the winds.

The secondary problem to the wind was the grass fires in Franklin County - one of which endangered the homes of John & Dawn and Rick March. Other than the inconvenience of evacuating their homes, they survived relatively unharmed. It was a very scary experience that could happen to any of us.

This year is really the Cabin Fever condition - with wind, rain, low clouds and cold --many skydivers have not jumped since before Christmas. As of now, the forecast is favorable for a two-day jump weekend.

Saturday is the Chili Cook-off followed by the Video competition. Maybe this will break the weather cycle. Everyone is welcome whether you are or are not a chili cook or videographer - tasters and watchers are needed!

Organized Chaos, relative work skydivers meets on Saturday, February 16th.

Freefly-For-All Skills Camp on Saturday February 23. Starts at 9 AM and goes until sunset with Dave Jennings organizing and coaching for all levels. For more information contact cssfreefly@gmail.com

At the Carolina Skydiving League annual meeting, the following competition calendar was adopted:

No, it was not ZORO writing his Z in the skies over Carolina Sky Sports last Sunday. It was eight skydivers forming a Z as an advertising tool for ZSpotlight.com website. Zspotlight.com is a guide that promotes entertainment and events in the triangle area. Thanks to Michelle Biro, LJ Wobker, John Renfro, Greg Upper, Randy Hamberlin, Keith Majeroni, Greg Erwin, Melissa Majeroni for completing the formation and to Don Carrington and Peter Biro for capturing it on film and video. The video should be up and running on their website in about a week. Be sure to check out their website to see the video and tell your friends about Zspotlight.com to promote their site and skydiving at the same time.

FEBRUARY CALENDAR
February 3, 2008 Skills Camp
February 16 & 17, 2008 CABIN FEVER BOOGIE/Chili Cook-off/Video Contest Twin Otter, local load organizers
February 16, 2008 Organized Chaos

Water Training Plans are being made for the “B” License water training requirement. Contact Kristan at CSS or check out the website for more information.

$$$$$$ Advance Credit $$$$$$
As a skydiver, no one has to tell you that the weather for the month of January kept you and the aircraft on the ground. The result being that financially CSS is feeling the crunch. So we are offering a win/win situation. You can purchase advance lift tickets in increments of $100 for cash or check and gain 10% on your purchase with the stipulation that you do not use the tickets until April 1st. (example $100 gets you $110 to spend or $500 gets you $550, etc.) This allows CSS to use the money until the season kicks back in. This is a limited time offer that could help you budget your jumps for next season.

The Flying Majeroni Skills Camp, in an act of faith, met Sunday morning for what was to be a seminar on packing, canopy control, wind board, etc. The forecasted weather called for high winds and cold temperatures. The winds were not an issue and desire to jump overcame the chill of the temperatures as nine skills camp attendees boarded lifts in the Cessna 206 for clear and pull jumps. A new event named the “Polar Bear Express” was created. The temperature at 4,000 ft was zero and at 14,000 ft it was –17.

Membership in this elite club belongs to Keith Majeroni, BJ McPeak, Anna Scott, Jill Stephenson, Kim O’Donnell, Kevin Lubinski, Chris Ehlinger, John Renfro, Andrew Forster and Rich Altans. The club mascot is, of course, the Polar Bear and the club color is ICE BLUE. Club meeting dates fluctuate with the temperature (must be below zero).

It seems that all our hard work was for naught as the Chamber of Commerce cancelled their event scheduled for January 31st. We will continue to paint all the walls and hang new pictures – but the time frame has changed.

Bring your picture donations as soon as possible – remember we have a lot of wall space to cover to include classrooms, bathrooms and hallways.

The Organized Chaos group has rescheduled for Saturday this weekend, January 26th jump ship will be a Twin Otter.

Work has begun on giving the CSS Web site an update and adding some new photos and items to the menu, you may be asked for ideas or to contribute photos or articles.

Last weekend’s weather was less than perfect. However, we did pull off jumps Saturday afternoon. Sunday was a wash out with low clouds and misty rain thus canceling another Organized Chaos event.

If you have not made a visit to CSS since the holidays, you will be surprised to find all the photos taken down from the walls for repainting of the entire building. CSS hosts the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce local business event, Tabletop Expo, Thursday, January 31, 2008. We will need your cooperation in removing all your personal gear from the packing room for that event.

When the painting is completed, we are seeking new photos for the walls. You are invited to submit your photos in black frames or poster type frames. If you want the photos displayed in the front hallway leading to the packing room from the Downwind Store or in the packing room itself – they must have plexiglass instead of glass in the frames. We have had several frames in those areas fall off the wall and have had to clean up broken glass. A brief description of the photo, i.e. who, what, where, when and if necessary how should be submitted with the photo.

We are still working thru the problems with the newsletter list. If you are receiving two copies of the newsletter, please let us know. We find that we may have a “parallel universe” duplicating the newsletter.

Another winter project is the upgrading of the web site. Stay tuned, as we ask for interaction from you on this project.

We try to keep rules to a minimum but there are certain areas of operation that require responsibility. There are several that come to mind – common sense wise – keeping the building locked, keeping food and drink out of the packing room, keeping animals on leashes for their protection, keeping spectators off the hill and off the tarmac, to name a few.

A new rule is now in place regarding the fire pit. Fires will only be permitted with a signed permission slip signed by Paul, Nancy or their designated person. Once the fire is started, it is to be maintained and extinguished by the person requesting permission for the fire. This is to place responsibility for the fire with those wanting a bonfire.

The weather for the first weekend of the year was a pleasant surprise. Warm temperatures and calm winds in January are always a gift. Just add the CASA as a jump ship and you had the perfect combination!

For the months of January and February, CSS will open at 9:00 am on Saturday and Sunday.

The new year’s calendar is starting to fill up with skill camps and other activities.
    January 13th will be the Organized Chaos (downwindnc@gmail.com)
    January 20th will be the Skills Camp (mmajeroni@nc.rr.com)
    February 16th Cabin Fever/Chili Cook-off

A new twist to the Cabin Fever Boogie will be a 5 minute video contest. Video must portray fun, safe skydiving activities. The video will be judged by the audience.
* 1st prize will be 5 lift tickets *

There is interest in reviving Jive Jam (a gathering of Intermediate and advanced groups of freeflyers that meet several times a season to work on challenging Freefly, VRW or Big Way skills). For more information contact Harry Parrish at hparrish2@nc.rr.com.

Carolina Skydiving League is gearing up for another season of competition for all levels. The organizational meeting is scheduled for 7:00 pm, February 9th at Paraclete SkyVeture, Raeford, NC. For more information contact casldirector@earthlink.net

35th Anniversary
CSS first began operations August, 1973, and that makes this our 35th year of operation. We are looking for input for the festivities – 35 ways (RW, Canopy and Freefly formations) as well as party ideas for sometime in August or early September, 2008. There will be planning sessions scheduled soon, volunteers needed!