dparker

Lou Aug is alive and well, living in Traverse City, MI. He hasn't jump since the mid 70's but he is still an active pilot. I'm trying to get him out for a Tandem but he hasn't agreed to it yet. Attached is a picture taken in September 2008 of a reunion of some of the founders of the Hinckley DZ. Wally Mumper Bob Federman Roger (Pirate) Brink Ted Ewert (newer jumper) Brian Voss (newer jumper) Dana Parker Lou Aug Ted Bonifas Of the six originals in this picture Roger Brink and myself are still jumping.

Sorry Skratch - I missed the spelling correction in your reply. Correction noted for future posts.

Jim, Rather than continuing to tax my memory I went to my collection of old magazines. Although “Parachutist” printed nothing on the Turkey boogies, Lyle Cameron’s “Sky Diver” magazine gave them good coverage. No they are not the same 17-ways. Although some of the characters are the same (you, Scratch, Bob Federman, and me) the two jumps occurred under different circumstances. In 1970 Garth Taggart and Scratch Garrison put together a group with the specific purpose of setting a record. They put together a group using, for the most part, the wining 10-way team, Ten High, as the base. The first attempt built to about a 9 way and then ended in a funnel. The second attempt resulted in the 17-way (which was later changed officially to a 16 way because the film showed the formation brake on the opposite side as Scratch broke in). In 1971, after competition was over and most people were heading home, someone came up with the idea to make a 20 something star out of whoever was left on the drop zone. The result was a 17-way. I did try to match people’s faces between the picture you posted (also printed in the February issue of Sky Diver) and the team pictures, but besides Ron Cox (already identified by Scratch) I can not put any additional names to the list. Dana

Jim, I don’t want to hijack this traditions thread to discuss Z-hills history so I have posted my response under “Try Again”.

Sorry - forgot the attachment.

Hoop – long time no talk to or see. Good to see you’re still around and apparently doing well. When you corrected Ron on the year Tony went in it got me thinking. After 41 years in this sport, visiting many drop zones, jumping with a myriad of individuals, and telling the same (albeit somewhat altered) jump stories 100’s of times, events and dates do become somewhat blurred, however neither year looked correct to me. I was there that night so I dug out my log books to see if they would help. Based on my findings I am going to propose that it happened at the 1970 Turkey meet. I know we had a large California contingent that year as that was the same year we completed a 17 way star using jumpers from Florida, Illinois, California, Michigan, and Ontario (which, I believe, was the first formation of that size outside of California). I have attached a page from my log book with signatures from all the participants. I am sure some of these names will bring back memories. So, I vote for 1970 as the correct year but, like I said earlier, my memory has developed some soft spots over the years. On the original subject, I don’t know of any cast being made of the crater but I was at the memorial service in the morning when one individual planted “grass” seeds in the moist sand. Dana Parker SCR365