Chowing (pond-swooping with a parachute)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/23/nyregion/23swoop.html?ex=1093233600&
en=c56a4af1a72039b2&ei=5059&partner=AOL

New Thrill for the Bored-With-Just-Parachuting Set

By COREY KILGANNON

Published: August 23, 2004

GARDINER, N.Y., Aug. 20 - From 5,000 feet up, a parachutist glides gently to
earth, destined for a feathery landing in the grassy airfield at the Blue Sky
Ranch, at the base of the Shawangunk Mountains.

(...)

The tournament, in its sixth year, attracts the world's best pond swoopers,
competing for about $7,000 in prizes.

On Friday morning, they began their runs, swooping down to the water every
minute or so - first Sonic, then The Punisher, then Fruitcake - flying over the
water in a narrow buoy lane, first curved, then straight.

Just as many competitors in the event skimmed along on belly or buttocks, or
lost speed and control and splashed unceremoniously into the muddy water, to
hoots and jeers from spectators. This is called chowing, and it is as integral
to pond-swooping fun as the perfect surface glide.

Splashers get flagged down by the chow judge, Bruce Chapman, which means a
big deduction of points from the judges sitting lakeside in lawn chairs. They
assess a swooper's approach, skim length and swoop control. In other events,
swoopers try to land on a raft, and show their freestyle skills in an event
called canopy expressions.

(GOOGLE)
[PDF] Ranch Parachute Club 2004 US National Pond Swooping Championships
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1 Ranch Parachute Club 2004 US National Pond Swooping Championships 1 ...
water at some
point during their pond swoop. Chowing will result in a zero for swoop points
...
www.ranchskydive.com/events/ 2004/pondswoop/psn2004rules.pdf - Similar pages

 skyXtreme - Competitions
... Join the Ranch Parachute Club in Gardiner, New York for ... at the Ranch
thought up to
make the Pond Swooping Nationals ... Chowing will be scored a zero for that
swoop ...
www.skyxtreme.com/archive/ sept_dec2001/competitions.html - 17k - Cached -
Similar pages


(GOOGLE GROUPS)
Ranch Pond Swoop Pics
Hi, I'm looking for anyone who might have some pictures of the Golden Knights
swooping the pond. Anyone have some of Hoover chowing??? Thanks, Eric
rec.skydiving - Sep 11, 2001 by Heinsx44 - View Thread (1 article)


("Chowing" is not a food term that I want to do first-hand research for--ed.)