Another Wednesday arrives and with it goes the Tour onward and upward to another boogie. The next stop is Skydive Pepperell in Massachusetts!
With 150 miles and four hours of driving we arrive in the evening and set up camp. Thursday brings dark clouds and a few raindrops, perhaps to get all the bad weather out of the way before the boogie?
The sunshine on Friday shows the many vendors and party tents that are up and preparing for the weekend.
For this event, Skydive Pepperell has brought in a Casa and a helicopter to fly alongside of their home plane, a twin ottor.
Sister Hazel, (yes, THE Sister Hazel) is playing for charity Saturday night to support the fight against breast cancer.
Check in later to keep posted on this weekends events!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Skydive DelMarVa
After leaving Skydive Chicago, the Tony Suit Tour continues onwards toward the east coast. After a 850 mile drive that slowly took a couple days, landed us in DelMarVa, a small Otter dropzone in Delaware.
This weekend held a special treat when a group of wingsuiters came over to jump and who now hold the unscheduled record for the largest flock at Skydive DelMarVa.
A very large thanks to all who made the trip out to visit us!
This weekend held a special treat when a group of wingsuiters came over to jump and who now hold the unscheduled record for the largest flock at Skydive DelMarVa.
A very large thanks to all who made the trip out to visit us!
SummerFest Summary
To all our avid readers, no, we did not crash into the ocean or get abducted by aliens.
The wonderfully exhausting events of SummerFest left us scattered with little energy left to pack up the Tour. By late Monday afternoon we were loaded up and hitting the road, with a few scheduled maintenance stops.
But before we continue with our travel adventures, let us summarize the last few days events in Skydive Chicago...
The Discovery Channel came out to interview Tony for a new Adventure series! This one in particular focuses on the future of flight and will be airing sometime later this year.
Footage for the episode includes an awesome wingsuit dive.
The host, Baratundae (phonetically spelled, sorry) was very excited to have traveled out from L.A. and wanted to make a skydive himself. Unfortunately the Discovery channel wouldn't allow it on their time. Fortunately he did it on his own time. Check him out styling a sweet Tony Suit!
This is all the gear from the camera crew.
Check out our sweet teapot! (correction: kettle)
Not mentioned here is the $30,000+ camera behind it.
Here are some other people styling their awesome Tony Suits.
Rachael and Dave Collucci
The Portable Windtunnel was up and flying:
For the record, here is the accomplished 25 Way Wingsuit World Record.
And, to end the boogie, here is another beautiful photo by Blake Johnson:
The wonderfully exhausting events of SummerFest left us scattered with little energy left to pack up the Tour. By late Monday afternoon we were loaded up and hitting the road, with a few scheduled maintenance stops.
But before we continue with our travel adventures, let us summarize the last few days events in Skydive Chicago...
The Discovery Channel came out to interview Tony for a new Adventure series! This one in particular focuses on the future of flight and will be airing sometime later this year.
Footage for the episode includes an awesome wingsuit dive.
The host, Baratundae (phonetically spelled, sorry) was very excited to have traveled out from L.A. and wanted to make a skydive himself. Unfortunately the Discovery channel wouldn't allow it on their time. Fortunately he did it on his own time. Check him out styling a sweet Tony Suit!
This is all the gear from the camera crew.
Check out our sweet teapot! (correction: kettle)
Not mentioned here is the $30,000+ camera behind it.
Here are some other people styling their awesome Tony Suits.
Rachael and Dave Collucci
The Portable Windtunnel was up and flying:
For the record, here is the accomplished 25 Way Wingsuit World Record.
And, to end the boogie, here is another beautiful photo by Blake Johnson:
Friday, July 31, 2009
SummerFest-ivities continue!
Congratulations to the 108-way Freefly World Record!
Here's some great shots from some great photographers:
Evening Events
As the sun begins to set, the energy of the boogie builds in anticipation for the nights festivities. So Tony Suits closes up shop, rolls the racks of jumpsuits into the trailer, and heads over to grab a spot to watch the UFO jumps and fireworks show.
Once settled, we see Justin Shorb and Jeff Neblekopf walk out of the hanger in full wingsuit gear, this time with extra bling attached to their normal list of gear. Both jumpers had huge flares attached to each foot with remote control triggers mounted to their chest straps. They exit at full altitude, 14k feet, and once they reach 10k feet they activate the first flare, followed by the 2nd flare at 8k feet.
The flares light up brighter than any of the stars with long comet trails streaming behind them. The wingsuiters were lead by a group of freeflyers who swirled and carved around each other. This would be a very strange sight if you did not know what you were looking at, thus appropriately dubbed the UFO jump.
Under canopy it looked as if they were on fire, but it was quickly realized they were covered head to foot with horizontal glow sticks. Thankfully everyone landed safely as can be seen by the below pictures. Good job everyone!
After the jumpers cleared the landing area, the drone of the Otter (the jump plane) could be heard coming directly toward us, and it was not slowing. The building sound grew with our anticipation, we knew the plane was going to buzz us with a fly-by. As the Otter came screaming past, the night erupted with the most epic display of pyrotechnics.
Photo: Mike Esposito
It was as if the Otter dropped a dozen bombs on its way past! After the fires subdued and the crowd regained their senses, the night began to explode once again with one of the most beautiful fireworks display that lasted for well over 15 minutes. It was a performance that could have paled a big city on the 4th of July.
Photo: Mike Esposito
After the fireworks cleared, the crowd worked its way over to the Tiki bar for drinks and to await the Fire-dancer. The drumming began, moving people closer to the stage as the Fire-dancer began to prepare his performance. Reaching 10 feet tall, with the help of his stilts, the rhythm of the drums matched his dancing as he spun fire around his fabulously oversized mask. Mixing with the sparks was ice that was flying from the ice block that Jeff was carving into a giant hawk.
The days events were a success and was celebrated by everyone long into the evening. There is no doubt in everyone's mind that this is the biggest boogie of the season. Go SummerFest 2009!
Here's some great shots from some great photographers:
Evening Events
As the sun begins to set, the energy of the boogie builds in anticipation for the nights festivities. So Tony Suits closes up shop, rolls the racks of jumpsuits into the trailer, and heads over to grab a spot to watch the UFO jumps and fireworks show.
Once settled, we see Justin Shorb and Jeff Neblekopf walk out of the hanger in full wingsuit gear, this time with extra bling attached to their normal list of gear. Both jumpers had huge flares attached to each foot with remote control triggers mounted to their chest straps. They exit at full altitude, 14k feet, and once they reach 10k feet they activate the first flare, followed by the 2nd flare at 8k feet.
The flares light up brighter than any of the stars with long comet trails streaming behind them. The wingsuiters were lead by a group of freeflyers who swirled and carved around each other. This would be a very strange sight if you did not know what you were looking at, thus appropriately dubbed the UFO jump.
Under canopy it looked as if they were on fire, but it was quickly realized they were covered head to foot with horizontal glow sticks. Thankfully everyone landed safely as can be seen by the below pictures. Good job everyone!
After the jumpers cleared the landing area, the drone of the Otter (the jump plane) could be heard coming directly toward us, and it was not slowing. The building sound grew with our anticipation, we knew the plane was going to buzz us with a fly-by. As the Otter came screaming past, the night erupted with the most epic display of pyrotechnics.
Photo: Mike Esposito
It was as if the Otter dropped a dozen bombs on its way past! After the fires subdued and the crowd regained their senses, the night began to explode once again with one of the most beautiful fireworks display that lasted for well over 15 minutes. It was a performance that could have paled a big city on the 4th of July.
Photo: Mike Esposito
The days events were a success and was celebrated by everyone long into the evening. There is no doubt in everyone's mind that this is the biggest boogie of the season. Go SummerFest 2009!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Wednesday, Mid-SummerFest
Congratulations to all the Wingsuiters in the accomplished 25-Way Record! Pictures coming soon...
Good luck to all the Freeflyers who are working and organizing a 100-way record attempt! It is said they have to build a formation of 45 people in 15 seconds or they won’t have a chance to build it all in time.
This is Rudy, Melanie, and Brandon. Melanie is a flyer in the big-way attempt
Larry Maulsby, from Team 4-D, stopped by the tent to order a suit today. He and his team are headed to the Canadian Nationals and will be ambitiously competing for the 4-way Gold title. Good luck to you and your team, 4-D!
Aerial photo of the day
Aja making a freefly jump
Here is Susan stylishly showing off her new V-Cut RW suit.
Lost Chihuahua at the Icarus Tent! Lauren Demme and Mike Esposito are keeping a watchful eye over her until she finds her home again.
Tonight will a light show of events! There will be UFO jumps, lots and lots of industiral-sized fireworks (not at the same time of course),Omar the fire dancer from South America will be performing, and Jeff Nebelkopf will be sculpting ice for a booze luge. Check in with us tomorrow for photo’s of the event!
Good luck to all the Freeflyers who are working and organizing a 100-way record attempt! It is said they have to build a formation of 45 people in 15 seconds or they won’t have a chance to build it all in time.
This is Rudy, Melanie, and Brandon. Melanie is a flyer in the big-way attempt
Larry Maulsby, from Team 4-D, stopped by the tent to order a suit today. He and his team are headed to the Canadian Nationals and will be ambitiously competing for the 4-way Gold title. Good luck to you and your team, 4-D!Aerial photo of the day
Aja making a freefly jump
Here is Susan stylishly showing off her new V-Cut RW suit.
Lunch break
Lost Chihuahua at the Icarus Tent! Lauren Demme and Mike Esposito are keeping a watchful eye over her until she finds her home again.
Tonight will a light show of events! There will be UFO jumps, lots and lots of industiral-sized fireworks (not at the same time of course),Omar the fire dancer from South America will be performing, and Jeff Nebelkopf will be sculpting ice for a booze luge. Check in with us tomorrow for photo’s of the event!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Day Three of SummerFest!
Check out today's panoram!
(If you cannot see the pano, Click here to download Adobe Flash Player. Please allow a few moments for the panorama to fully download for viewing)
The Tony Suit Windblade can be seen up and flying in the sunshine.
Today is Lauren Demme's birthday, which was celebrated by a very fun freefly jump! Thanks for the photo Blake!
Seen in this pic is the beautiful Fox River. Check out AmerenIP's corrupt plans for the river and the surrounding environment (including Skydive Chicago), and who's fighting back! Go to www.foxriveralliance.org
Here is Joe, a very happy customer in his new space suit!
Andre and Greg Difortuna stopped by for their didgeridoo lesson from Blake
Mike Esposito from Cross Keys found his way to our wingsuit collection and is excitedly waiting for 27 more skydives until he can fly one.
The Freefly big ways started preparing for their 107-way today. The attempts begin on Thursday, so check back in later for the results!
John Klueg stopped by to modify his Stretch suit (our fastest and tightest freefly suit). He's on the Freefly Big-ways and he needed "more speed!" (When a formation builds, it picks up a-lot of speed; a light person needs the least amount of drag to stay with the formation)
Cookie, a native Australian, and owner of Cookie Composites, is leading the market with some of the most innovative designs of skydiving helmets. Click below to read the PDF of his newly released helmet designs and skydiving accessories. Cookie came over and entertained us with a few of his top-secret prototypes and other musical talents on our guitar and didgeridoo.
Media Release1.pdf
Media Release2.pdf
A very fun day is concluded with a beautiful sunset!
(If you cannot see the pano, Click here to download Adobe Flash Player. Please allow a few moments for the panorama to fully download for viewing)
The Tony Suit Windblade can be seen up and flying in the sunshine.
Today is Lauren Demme's birthday, which was celebrated by a very fun freefly jump! Thanks for the photo Blake!
Seen in this pic is the beautiful Fox River. Check out AmerenIP's corrupt plans for the river and the surrounding environment (including Skydive Chicago), and who's fighting back! Go to www.foxriveralliance.orgHere is Joe, a very happy customer in his new space suit!
Andre and Greg Difortuna stopped by for their didgeridoo lesson from Blake
Mike Esposito from Cross Keys found his way to our wingsuit collection and is excitedly waiting for 27 more skydives until he can fly one.
The Freefly big ways started preparing for their 107-way today. The attempts begin on Thursday, so check back in later for the results!John Klueg stopped by to modify his Stretch suit (our fastest and tightest freefly suit). He's on the Freefly Big-ways and he needed "more speed!" (When a formation builds, it picks up a-lot of speed; a light person needs the least amount of drag to stay with the formation)
Cookie, a native Australian, and owner of Cookie Composites, is leading the market with some of the most innovative designs of skydiving helmets. Click below to read the PDF of his newly released helmet designs and skydiving accessories. Cookie came over and entertained us with a few of his top-secret prototypes and other musical talents on our guitar and didgeridoo.
Media Release1.pdfMedia Release2.pdf
A very fun day is concluded with a beautiful sunset!
Day Two of SummerFest
Day Two of Summerfest
Everyone survived the storm safely and was up and jumping before the grass could dry. Being the first Saturday of the boogie, many people were still showing up. The morning brought all sorts of surprises in the campgrounds. Two beautiful aircrafts landed and setup camp behind the Tony Suit tent. It isn't everyday two vintage aircrafts land and setup camp right behind you, so we took the opportunity to talk with the owners who were more then happy to allow us to photograph their beautiful aircrafts.
Mike & Charmain Larson arrived to Summerfest in their Cessna 195 that was created in 1949. The below pictures are of the Cessna and the Beechcraft airplanes that make up the center focal point of their campground. If you look closely, you can see clothes drying on the Beechcraft.
Below is a pano of the camping area that held the two aircraft.
Fatty Stewart from Category 5 (www.cat5pro.com) enigmatically arrived and was explaining about his Portable: wind tunnel, ziplyne, hover craft races, and segway supercross races. Later this week he's bringing out the tunnel and the hovercrafts!!!
Here is a picture of the accomplished RW big-way! They are very happy with their completed 2-point 107-way.
The Tony Suits tent had many other fun visitors. Among them were:
an Aussie invasion,
Lauren Demme from Icarus Canopies, http://www.icaruscanopies.aero/
some very happy customers
Some of the wingsuiters in preparation for their big way attempts. Such as,
Scott from The Brothers Grey Wingsuiters, http://www.thebrothersgray.com/
Scotty Burns, wingsuit photographer, http://www.sky2productions.com/
Everyone survived the storm safely and was up and jumping before the grass could dry. Being the first Saturday of the boogie, many people were still showing up. The morning brought all sorts of surprises in the campgrounds. Two beautiful aircrafts landed and setup camp behind the Tony Suit tent. It isn't everyday two vintage aircrafts land and setup camp right behind you, so we took the opportunity to talk with the owners who were more then happy to allow us to photograph their beautiful aircrafts.
Mike & Charmain Larson arrived to Summerfest in their Cessna 195 that was created in 1949. The below pictures are of the Cessna and the Beechcraft airplanes that make up the center focal point of their campground. If you look closely, you can see clothes drying on the Beechcraft.
Below is a pano of the camping area that held the two aircraft.
Fatty Stewart from Category 5 (www.cat5pro.com) enigmatically arrived and was explaining about his Portable: wind tunnel, ziplyne, hover craft races, and segway supercross races. Later this week he's bringing out the tunnel and the hovercrafts!!!
Here is a picture of the accomplished RW big-way! They are very happy with their completed 2-point 107-way.
The Tony Suits tent had many other fun visitors. Among them were:an Aussie invasion,
Lauren Demme from Icarus Canopies, http://www.icaruscanopies.aero/
some very happy customers
Some of the wingsuiters in preparation for their big way attempts. Such as,Scott from The Brothers Grey Wingsuiters, http://www.thebrothersgray.com/
Scotty Burns, wingsuit photographer, http://www.sky2productions.com/
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Day One of SummerFest!
The below image is panoramic, so scroll left and right for a full 360 degree view of day one at the Tony Suit Tent!
(the above image is a Flash file. If you cannot view it click here and download the free viewer from Adobe. It is a safe, virus free download)
It was a great day from start to finish. With a little help from Greg Difortuna, an independent packer for Icarus Canopies, the operation was up and running quickly! Business began immediately and continued throughout the day, with never a dull moment. Downtime in the Tony Suit area was constantly vibing with guitars, didgeridoos, bocce ball, and lot's of friends.
Justin Shorb and Jeff Neblekopf ran the Tony Wingsuit operation with Flock University.
The RW 100-way attempt was a success with the completion of 107 people turning two points. (A point is achieved when the entire formation takes grips on one another.)
The bigway preparing for the jump
Bigway on Exit
Bigway building during freefall
Our many visitors included:
Mike Wittenburg, Freefly organizer for SD Chicago, congratulating Tony on his Wingsuit win in Marl.
Erica Tadokob, Team Method from Australia, stopping by to show us her love for the new Stretch Suit.
Greg Difortuna, an independent packer for Icarus Canopies.
Daniel Lee, our best Singapore Dealer, came to order a specialty jacket.
and Asia Niemann, owner of Skydive Tahoe, stopped by to say hello.
The evening festivities could not be dampened, no matter how severe the weather. Laughter was heard even during the 40 mph winds and sideways rain that packed everyone tightly into the Tiki Bar for the evenings dinner.
Check in with us tomorrow for the next review of events!
Remember to sign up to the blog so you don't miss any happenings on the Tony Suits Tour!
(the above image is a Flash file. If you cannot view it click here and download the free viewer from Adobe. It is a safe, virus free download)
It was a great day from start to finish. With a little help from Greg Difortuna, an independent packer for Icarus Canopies, the operation was up and running quickly! Business began immediately and continued throughout the day, with never a dull moment. Downtime in the Tony Suit area was constantly vibing with guitars, didgeridoos, bocce ball, and lot's of friends.
Justin Shorb and Jeff Neblekopf ran the Tony Wingsuit operation with Flock University.
The RW 100-way attempt was a success with the completion of 107 people turning two points. (A point is achieved when the entire formation takes grips on one another.)
The bigway preparing for the jump
Bigway on Exit
Bigway building during freefall
Our many visitors included:
Mike Wittenburg, Freefly organizer for SD Chicago, congratulating Tony on his Wingsuit win in Marl.
Erica Tadokob, Team Method from Australia, stopping by to show us her love for the new Stretch Suit.
Greg Difortuna, an independent packer for Icarus Canopies.
Daniel Lee, our best Singapore Dealer, came to order a specialty jacket.
and Asia Niemann, owner of Skydive Tahoe, stopped by to say hello.
The evening festivities could not be dampened, no matter how severe the weather. Laughter was heard even during the 40 mph winds and sideways rain that packed everyone tightly into the Tiki Bar for the evenings dinner.
Check in with us tomorrow for the next review of events!
Remember to sign up to the blog so you don't miss any happenings on the Tony Suits Tour!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
So it Begins!
After a few days of driving, the Tony Suits trailer has arrived at its first Tour destination; Skydive Chicago. Skydive Chicago is one of the countries premier dropzones. This place is filled with anything and everything you could possibly want to keep a smile on your face. Not to mention an amazing place to skydive! They have everything from a wakeboarding pond, to kayaking, horseback riding, and mountain biking, just to name a few. They even have a movie theater to view the days jumps!This weeks schedule is packed for their annual SummerFest, one of the largest events in the country. With 100-way RW sequentials, followed by wingsuit 40-ways, then to top it off, a 100-way headown world record attempt. To support this amount of jumpers there are 4 Twin Otters and a Skyvan with $21 lift tickets the entire event.
Tony Suits will be here for the entirety of the event, so keep checking as we will continue updating with loads of pictures and info as the event progresses.
Here is the full schedule of events:
| Fri. July 24 | Sat. July 25 | Sun. July 26 | Mon. July 27 | Tues. July 28 |
| RW 100-way Sequentials Norman Kent WS ****** Evening: Eric Gomez Trio (band) | RW 100-way Sequentials Norman Kent WS ****** Evening: Nick Moss (blues band) | RW 100-way Sequentials Norman Kent WS ****** Evening: Kent Arnsbarger (Steel Drums) | Wingsuit Flocks 40+ ****** Evening: Hellfish Toga Party | Wingsuit Flocks 40+ Late Afternoon: Obstacle Course Hit-n-Chug ****** Evening: Krank Daddies (rock band) |
| Wed. July 29 | Thurs. July 30 | Fri. July 31 | Sat. Aug 1 | Sun. Aug 2 |
| Wingsuit Flocks 40+ Freefly Record Warmups ****** Evening: Fire & Ice - Fireworks, UFO jump, Fire Dancer, Ice Carving | Freefly 100-way Record Attempts | Freefly 100-way Record Attempts | Freefly 100-way Record Attempts RW 40-ways ****** Evening: Film Festival & Fire Dancer | Freefly 100-way Record Attempts |
Saturday, July 18, 2009
July 17th 2009Tony Suits puts the ‘WIN’ in Wingsuits!
Starting off the tour with a bang, Tony visits Marl, Germany and competes in the Wings Over Marl event.
Saturday, July 18th, Tony Wingsuits Wins and ranks 1st place in the World for Time and Distance, for the second year running.
Tobi Scherrinsky, wearing his Tony XS, ranks 1st place for Time with an average score of 68 seconds for 1,000 meters, [3,000 feet]. Tony Uragallo wins first place in Distance, wearing his latest innovation, the X-Bird. Many were surprised that Tony competed due to extensive shoulder surgery earlier this year. Tony also entered the competition many jumps behind the other competitors. Never the less, Tony achieves a 3.58 glide ratio taking him 3,588 meters [11,770 feet].
Congratulations to all the competitors!
The results are posted here
Get your WINgsuit today, order online at TonySuits.com
Don't forget to subscribe to this blog and avoid missing the latest happenings from the Tony Suit Tour!
Welcome to the Tour!
Tony Suits Tour Schedule
View Tony Suits Tour 2009 in a larger map
Don't forget to subscribe to this blog and avoid missing the latest happenings from the Tony Suit Tour
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