My First 49 Way
I've been attending a big way camp in Perris California for the past few days. It culminated with 3 49 way attempts, each from 16,000 feet with oxygen, today. I was lucky in having one of the best coaches in the world (he's wonmany many world championships and records in formation skydiving) and the people in the group were good. We dirt dived and got into the planes for the 1st jump, which no one expected to complete because the visual pictures were all new.
I was in the lead plane and dived down to the formation. There was a little traffic problem with the guy beside me but I docked okay, but the people on one side were not quite in at breakoff time. Break off is an interesting experience. We leave in layers, from the outside to the inside. Since I was near the middle I left at 5000 feet, and had to make sure I flew far enough to be well away from whoever was behind me, but not fast enough to catch the person in front. All was cool though, and we went up to try again.
Second jump, I was almost the sacrificial goat. Came in and had more trouble with the guy beside me, went under him and the formation slightly, popped up and got into my slot. Whew! It turns out that was the only major problem on the dive, and we all got in! Was a nice feeling to watch the video, even though I got shit for my mistake.
The third jump was the same formation, but we wanted to do it better. I wore some weight to increase my fall rate, and stayed well out of the other guy's way until he'd settled into his slot. This worked, as my dock was the best of the day. We came within a foot of completing this one as well, but break off is ALWAYS more important.
It's been a great camp, and I'll be sorry to leave. OTOH, I have enough bruises that I'll need at least a week to recover.
Sorry for yet another skydiving post. I'm pretty happy about the completion, and hungry for more!
I was in the lead plane and dived down to the formation. There was a little traffic problem with the guy beside me but I docked okay, but the people on one side were not quite in at breakoff time. Break off is an interesting experience. We leave in layers, from the outside to the inside. Since I was near the middle I left at 5000 feet, and had to make sure I flew far enough to be well away from whoever was behind me, but not fast enough to catch the person in front. All was cool though, and we went up to try again.
Second jump, I was almost the sacrificial goat. Came in and had more trouble with the guy beside me, went under him and the formation slightly, popped up and got into my slot. Whew! It turns out that was the only major problem on the dive, and we all got in! Was a nice feeling to watch the video, even though I got shit for my mistake.
The third jump was the same formation, but we wanted to do it better. I wore some weight to increase my fall rate, and stayed well out of the other guy's way until he'd settled into his slot. This worked, as my dock was the best of the day. We came within a foot of completing this one as well, but break off is ALWAYS more important.
It's been a great camp, and I'll be sorry to leave. OTOH, I have enough bruises that I'll need at least a week to recover.
Sorry for yet another skydiving post. I'm pretty happy about the completion, and hungry for more!