AUSSIE BIGWAYS 130-WAY LARGE FORMATION RECORD FOR AUSTRALIA
Article written for 90Percent Italian Skydiving Magazine by Kelly Brennan
Australian skydivers are celebrating a successful trip to Perris in California, where they achieved a 130-way formation, smashing the previous record by 11 people.
It was a high cost trip for the team, but not high risk, because the recipe for success was prepared well before they left Australian shores. Its core ingredient was the strong leadership team in ‘Aussie Bigways’, which held annual sequential records around Australia over the past four years. There were also mentors in each of the states, constantly generating enthusiasm at smaller DZ events. Plus a superb tunnel training program (Supercharge) by one of the coaches.
The biggest planes at Australian DZs are Cessna Caravans, which are based long distances apart and needed for tandem businesses. So the largest formation we’d managed at home was a 2-point 45-way from three aircraft. Just like the previous national records in 2010 (112-way) and 2015 (119-way), it made sense to head back to Perris which has all the bigway infrastructure in place. That’s where our final ingredients were blended together: 110 excited Aussies, 30 ‘Friends of Aussies’, a well equipped DZ, seven amazing planes, and the famous P3 coaching team. Cloud and fog reduced the ‘cooking’ time by about a third on each of the three camps.
This meant massive work on the good days, including one 12-hour day when we did seven formation loads. On the 5th attempt, a 131-way, the base 72-way built quickly, the wackers docked on smoothly and the formation flew perfectly, with just one person out. The team could already taste the result. Then, on the 6th serious attempt, the last jump of the second-last day, a 130-way was successful. Of course, no matter what the skydivers believed as they opened their first beers that evening, it was all up to the judges back in Australia. It seemed like an eternity before their verdict arrived. Yes, it was a RECORD!!!
In a surprising show of restraint, the Aussies did not party too hard that night. They kept themselves relatively tidy for the next day, in the hope of going larger again. Unfortunately, attempts at 134 and 133 weren’t successful on that final day, so they had to be content with that wonderful 130-way. And then came the wrap-up party, to savour everything the team had created together.