The Pink Mafia has invaded Atlanta Skydiving Center thanks to staff member Tami Carbone who has been chosen as a Regional Pink Mafia Sister. Female skydivers will now be able to earn a PMS number at ASC by making a Pink Mafia initiation jump with Tami. And that's exactly what Cheryl, Autumn and Kelly did on Saturday, becoming the first three Pink Mafia sisters initiated at ASC! Tami reported that the Barbie doll was passed around during a 4-way skydive and the doll made it safely back to the ground.

Your PMS numbers are on the way. Woohoo! A wall will be dedicated to members in the main Atlanta Skydiving Center building and will be plastered with photos of local and visiting members of the Pink Mafia. Sorry guys, the Pink Mafia is a woman-only skydiving organization.

A big congratulations is due to ASC's own Nate Gilbert who was part of the head down formation record jumps in Perris, CA, last week. Nate said the freefliers set the record of 39 on Thursday only to break the record on Friday with a 42-way. Nice job! Other familiar freefliers from ASC and the Atlanta area on the record jumps included TJ Landgren, Steve-O Utter and Jon Pinyon. ASC is hosting a Georgia State Record attempt for head down skydiving on May 21-23. Interested freefliers should contact Nate directly at nategilbert@ascskydive.com or 678-747-1004.

On Saturday at sunset, a Twin Otter load of experienced jumpers participated in a Hit and Chug contest with a twist...instead of some kind of light, no taste beer...the jumpers had to drink warm Guinness! (A rigger favorite!). Mike Gruwell placed first with 15 seconds from touch down to empty bottle while Mark Kalupa and Turner Drake tied for second with 17 seconds. Tami Carbone and Stewart Cavanaugh were a close third with 19 seconds. But truth be told, both Mark and Turner had better times (12 seconds), although a 5-second penalty was applied by Scotty Carbone since Mark dribbled beer down his shirt and Turner still had beer left in his bottle when he claimed to be done. Actually, Turner had the best accuracy of everybody as his swoop stopped at the case of Guinness and he was opening his beer with the canopy still inflated. (Even Mark and Mike with their "cheating" accuracy canopies weren't as close to the X as Turner...hahahahaha.) The night ended with a free dinner and open bar courtesy of the Carbone Zone and ASC! Yeah, baby...good times.

Four jumpers participated in a USPA coach course on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at ASC with three jumpers finishing the course completely. Congratulations to the newest coach rating holders Becky Murray, Adam Chamely and Bruno Asmann! Course participant Derek Griffin has just a couple additional items to completed and then he will be a USPA coach as well. Many thanks to Mark Kalupa for teaching the course and to ASC for providing the facility and resources.

On Friday, Kenny Pugh racked up another save as Bernd Zatchkowitsch cutaway from a malfunctioning main canopy and deployed a brand new PD 143 reserve. The rig was just assembled a week earlier by Kenny of Chuting Star Rigging Loft. That was Bernd's first reserve ride; we are awaiting more beer for next week's hit and chug from Bernd!

Hope to see you all Wednesday for $15 Super Otter jumps as well as Thursday morning for the Breakfast Club of Canopy Piloting (8 a.m. takeoff).

Also, we're offering a Mother's Day Special at ASC so bring out your wife, mother or grandmother on Sunday for a $125 tandem skydive and get a free experienced jumper lift ticket.

That's it for now! See you soon.

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