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| IAN BOBO |
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Age: 33
Born: March 17,1971
Skydiving Birth Date: September 4, 1989
Height: 6'-1"
Weight: 180
Birthplace: Lima, Pennsylvania; USA
Occupation: Factory Team Canopy Pilot, Canopy Instructor and RW Coach
Current Team Name: Performance Designs Factory Team
Sponsors: Performance Designs Inc., Sun Path Products, Tony Suits, Sky Systems, Alti-2
Container: SunPath Javelin RS-1
Main Canopy: PD Velocity 90,96, and 103
Reserve Canopy: PD 113
AAD?: Airtec Cypres
Home Drop Zone: SKYDIVE DELAND
Year of First Jump: 1989
Licenses/Ratings: D-13893
Canopy Competition Awards:
1994 Diamond Quest - World Record Largest Canopy Formation (47-way)
1st Place - Blade Running ( Ground Launch ) ( Big Sky, MT) 1999
2nd Place - Blade Running ( Overall ) ( Big Sky, MT) 1999
1st Place - Para Performance Pro Blade - Speed Event , Perris, CA 2001
2nd Place - Para Performance Pro Blade - Distance Event , Perris, CA 2002
2nd Place - Para Performance Pro Blade - Team Event , Perris, CA 2002
3rd Place - PST Scandinavian Challenge - Norway 2003
3rd Place - IPC World Cup of Canopy Piloting - Speed Event - Perris, CA 2003
3rd Place - IPC World Cup of Canopy Piloting - Distance Event - Perris, CA 2003
3rd Place - IPC World Cup of Canopy Piloting - Overall - Perris, CA 2003
1st Place - Red Bull Wings Qualifier - New England 2003
1st Team Speed - PST Perris, CA, October 2004
3rd Place - US Nationals of Canopy Piloting - Speed Event - Perris, CA 2004
3rd Place - US Nationals of Canopy Piloting - Accuracy Event - Perris, CA 2004
2nd Place - US Nationals of Canopy Piloting - Overall - Perris, CA 2004
RW Competition Awards:
3 time National Collegiate 4way RW Champion ( Laminar Flow )
2 time America's Cup Champion - '97,'98 ( Deland Genesis )
3 time Florida Skydiving League Champion ( Genesis, PD Blue )
Bronze Medal - US Nationals 4 way FS - '98, '00 ( Deland PD Blue )
Bronze Medal - World Cup 4 way FS - '00 ( Deland PD Blue )
Gold Medal - US Nationals 16 way FS - '00, '01, '02 ( Airspeed Blue )
2001 World Record Formation Skydiving - 19 pts (16way) (Airspeed Blue)
Bronze Medal - US Nationals 8 way FS - '02 ( Deland Majik )
Total Number of Jumps: approx. 9000 (best guess)
Free-Fly: 200
RW: 5000
CRW: 1500
Camera: 250
Swooping, Hop' n Pops: 1500
Accuracy: under 50
WingSuit: 50
Demos: 50+/-
BASE Jumps: 5 (2 Cliff, 3 antenna)
Other: 100
Total Number of Cutaways: Probably 6 CRW wrap induced cutaways... and 6 cutaways from malfunctions / test jumping
Education: The longer I live... the less I realize I know. Formal education ended with a Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech in 1995. Every new day brings me a deeper education.
Pet Peeves: Trying to spread hard butter on soft bread, cleaning the bathroom, and people who don't "really" listen during a conversation, but are just waiting for their next opportunity to speak.
Hobbies: I enjoy most all sports... particularly basketball, golf, and soccer. I love building and flying radio-controlled airplanes, but wish I made more time for that... I also love going to the movies with my wife.
Favorite Food: Definitely SUSHI!
Rock, Rap, or Country? I like all types of music... Rock, Jazz, Reggae... but forget about Country.
Life Philosophy: Follow my dreams, be myself... and love unconditionally.
Hard opening or line twists? If I had to choose one or the other... I'd say line twists, but I generally don't experience either with my Velo.
Neat packer or a trash packer? Neat Packer... probably overly neat. I enjoy the details.
Did you start out as a AFF, static line, or tandem student? My first jump was an AFF Level 1 because I wanted freefall and I wanted to do it on my own. After jump #1 I was totally hooked, but couldn't afford to stay AFF... the Georgia Tech college club, and it's cheaper college rates allowed me to finish my progression under the Static Line program.
Would you rather swoop or land on an accuracy tuffet? Come on... no question. Swooping shows such incredible control to me... I love demonstrating that... especially to classic accuracy buffs, stick a tuffet out there... let's go!!!
Jump Philosophy: To constantly improve my skills, whatever the discipline... on every jump... and to always remember how fortunate I am to have the sanctuary of the sky.
Going back to student status - what was your canopy progression?
Started off on a Manta 288 like most other students... migrated to mostly other Glide Path 7 cells, first 100 jumps on a Fury 220... then got involved in my first competition CRW team, my next 800 jumps were mainly on an Express 175, an all ZP Crew canopy... it was difficult to land, requiring lots of airspeed. Exposure to high performance 9cells started with the Ariel then shifted to the Nova, I started on a 170 for about 25 jumps, did about 25-50 jumps on each size downward ...ending up on a Nova 120, which I stayed with for the next 1000 or so. After the recall, I jumped a FCI Pro Series 120 for awhile... then moved to a Stiletto 120 when I moved to Deland and started working for PD in 1997. I've jumped a Velocity 96 for the last 4000 jumps I'd say...but I also love my Velocity 90 for the right occasions.
Most people don't know this about me: I can lay down some beats on a drum set... played the drums for like 10 years, just not much since I started jumping in '89.
Out of All of your skydives is there one particular jump that stands out the most? I'd have to say it was at the World Cup in 2000, my 4 way team... Deland PD Blue...was tied with the Norwegian team after a total of 10 rounds... we went up for a final tie breaking jump with just us and the Norgies, in a battle for the Bronze Medal. The focus, the world forum, the competition atmosphere... it was all so intense. We nailed the jump, simply electric... an incredible jump. When we landed... the landing area in Eloy was like a ghost town, the entire DZ was inside the main hangar still watching the Norgies being judged live on Omniskore... after we saw the Norgies open... the hangar doors flew open and everybody poured out onto the field to congratulate us on our victory... we'd beaten them by a point, for the Bronze medal. It was definitely the high point of my competitive skydiving career to date.... unforgettable.
In terms of top canopy flight jumps... I'd have to say the few jumps we ran the fjord gorges in Norway were the some of the most memorable visuals I've ever experienced. The conditions were primo, and the venue was straight out of the Lord of the Rings. Pure unadulterated human flight with the earth... massive boulders, raging streams and huge waterfalls... all at our disposal. I'll never forget it. Diving it into that massive crack in the earth, trusting the energy of the group, willing ourselves to push thru the unknown. Awesome, simply epic.
How long do you plan on skydiving? I don't see myself stopping, ever... I think it keeps us young.
What do you like most about the sport? The fact that we can fly, plain and simple... with our bodies and our canopies. It's like our dreams as a kid... only better. Also, the people in the sport... and they're incredible uniqueness.
What do you like least about the sport? The people in the sport that let commercialism and their business pursuits skew they're love of skydiving... It also scares me to know that my passion for skydiving, and the inherent risks I put myself thru... could also take me away from those who love me. It's a dangerous sport we love.
Who, if anybody, has been your skydiving mentor? Chris Gay; first teammate and canopy guru...he was the catalyst that allowed me to mesh my love for the sky, with my competitive athletic background. All my teammates over the years... my Genesis brothers... so much respect, so much love.
I skydive because... I can... because I am drawn to the skies ... because it is me.
What's the most bad-ass thing you can do in the air? Fly my canopy... with high speed precision, near the ground.
Were you a hard child to raise? Not really.
Most embarrassing moment while in freefall or at a drop zone: I was once chased out of a bunkhouse by a humongous desert frog that my teammate had tossed into my bunk. It freaked me out... not sure why...
The toughest thing to do in the sport of skydiving is: To not let your ego get the best of you... there are a lot of strong personalities in this sport, it takes a bigger person to stay humble I believe.
What kind of skydiving student were you? One word... focused.
The typical flailer or a complete natural from jump number one? Outside of jump #1... which is totally foreign to everyone... I felt fairly natural in the air. Not a prodigy... but definitely not a flailer.
Out of all your thousands of skydives, is there one jump you would like to do over again? Those ridge runs we did over the fjords of Norway were the most visually stimulating jumps I've ever done... 4500' of flying thru these huge gorges, past waterfalls, etc... it was like a scene outta the Lord of the Rings... simply breath-taking.
While in freefall, what has been your strangest thought? I once struck my head on the door on a 4way exit with my team... I was bleeding pretty bad... my face shield was filled with blood... but I couldn't seem to figure out why all my teammates were just staring at me. I wanted to keep doing the dive. Eventually they got me to pull. A lot of weird thoughts went thru my head on that jump.
What is the future of swoop competitions? They will continue along the path they are leading down this year.... More corporate involvement, more high profile events in populated areas... beaches, city waterways, golf courses, other sporting events. It's very much a sport that the general public can understand... the performance of the swooper is obvious, clear, and exciting. I believe that two-way and even four-way events will become the mainstay, forcing all competitors to form teams, that they will need to train with... and develop a trust in each other, much like our team has done. I also hope that we see more Blade Running events, on the mountains... with the skiers and the boarders. It's so visual, and the best feeling... a 30 second swoop. It's so great to be involved in a discipline in it's infancy... that showcases human flight in such a unique way. I look forward to this future... it looks bright
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