The Road to a Record

In May 2019 the Aussie Bigway Team will assemble at Perris Valley, California to attempt a new Australian Largest Freefall Formation Record. Will you be there?

I won’t lie to you – The road to this record has not always been smooth sailing. There have been bumps and bruises, some blood, much sweat and a few tears along the way, emotions can run high… good and bad. Many skydiving gurus will tell you records don’t come easy yet the Aussie Bigways team continue to make and break records. This is not normal, we are unique!

The individual and team successes along this record journey to Perris 2019 have been aplenty. We will highlight here our National Record achievements.

Aussie Sequential Records

Whilst we don’t have the lift capacity to build our largest freefall formations in Australia, we have been busy making and breaking multiple point formation records here on home soil under the FAI sequential record rules.

Long standing FAI rules state if more than one team make/break a record in one day, all team players get the record. Such moments of more than one team achieving a record on the same day in competition was accidental. For a largest formation record attempt in any discipline this idea was never considered. In fact, it would have been laughed out of the coaching room. It just wasn’t done!

It was Jules McConnell and her record breaking CRW team in 2015 that pioneered intentionally building the same record twice in one day by swapping participants so more achieve the record. Aussie Bigways embraced and expanded on this idea when attempting National Sequential records in Australia. Here are the results:

2016 Skydive Nagambie – 2 point 32way Formations
This included 74 participants in four successful record jumps in the same day.
Visiting P3 Coach Dan BC

2017 Skydive Oz, Moruya – 3 point 32way Formations
This included 52 participants in three successful record jumps in the same day.
Visiting P3 Coach Doug Forth

2018 Skydive Ramblers, Toogoolawah – 2 point 45way Formations
This included 80 participants in three successful record jumps in the same day.
Visiting P3 Coach Larry Henderson

This had never been done in the world of Bigway Records. The Aussie Bigways team with Dan BC pioneered this new Bigway format that has since been duplicated on the bigway world record stage!!!

Whilst we could have selected the best few players to turn and burn through multiple points for these sequential records it was never the goal. The bigger picture prize awaits us in Perris 2019! This was always the bigger picture goal and we were out to build a team to include as many as possible on our records here in Australia. This format of the same record multiple times in one day for as many jumpers as possible suited our means to that end goal of building a strong Aussie Bigway Team for Perris 2019.

As an observer one could surmise records come easy when the results came through. But let’s consider that duck on the lake, gliding as smooth as silk across that silvery surface, yet underneath is paddling like crazy to counteract that opposing tide.

Hard Yakka

What does the Road to a Record really look like? What has been happening under that water line? A lot of hard work, dedication, and commitment by team players.

Many of our team have been working hard on their personal flying skills. The investment has been huge! Tunnel coaching including the Supercharge Program; jumping in 4way and 8way teams, competing at State Championships, IFLY Scrambles and Competitions, and Nationals; jumping at numerous Bigway Events organised by State Mentors, and hosted by highly supportive Drop Zones around Australia.

Planes were fitted with oxygen systems, gear was upgraded, players traveled around Australia to get on the hot loads with the best coaches available. The APF and State Parachute Councils have and continue to fund our events. Industry sponsors have supported our fundraising ventures that assisted in funding our Sequential Record Events.

The Aussie Bigways team continue to work on their personal flying skills, continue to stay current, and continue to mentor and support their team mates.

Rewards

One may ask, why? Why invest? Why embark on such a record journey?

Well, many of us love a challenge; love how our individual performance is improving and how this impacts on the overall success of completing bigway formations; love the lifelong friendships we make with other skydivers around Australia and the world; we love jumping with and smiling across formations at our team mates; we love sharing a drink and stories with our buddies at the end of a busy jumping day. We also love making and breaking National records!

It is not too late to join the team!!

Visit our website: aussiebigways.com
Find out about our upcoming events in Australia as posted in the events calendar.
Click ‘Perris 2019’ for information about attending the bigway camps and record attempts in May 2019.

Life is forever changing; the international stage is never assured; this opportunity may never present itself again. If it does, it will be a different journey and some years ahead. This journey is unique. So much has been invested. The team is ready now! We hope you join us in making history in building our LARGEST AUSTRALIAN SKYDIVING FREEFALL FORMATION in PERRIS, MAY 2019!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!

Tracey Basman – National Mentor