WA Mentor Update Sept 2017

by Shirley Cowcher

September 20, 2017

in News & Updates, WA Mentor Updates

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4 WAy all the WAy

August was not a good month for weather and runways and jumping. Lucky we have an Ifly tunnel in Perth. Thanks to support from the WA Parachute Council, Kate Vaughan come over to WA at the beginning of August with the intent of putting three 4 way teams through their paces in stepping them up from A to AA class. As it turned out one of the teams were so new to 4 way that they could qualify for Blast but were up for the challenge of learning some blocks. The plan of action was to have some time in the tunnel Friday night and then off to Skydive York to spend a weekend doing some hot 4 way and learning lots. The weather gods were not kind and the ground gods were even worse – the runway was so wet that the plane was unable to take off – so we were grounded for the weekend. As I said, lucky we have an Ifly tunnel in Perth and some very accommodating tunnel personnel. We were able to change the whole thing and made it into a tunnel camp. Thanks to Joe and Dicey Begic who really helped us out sorting out time and staff to let us have access to the tunnel and the Frequent Flyer Lounge for the whole weekend. Kate mixed it up with some personal body flight skills as well as 4 way drills and a whole lot of learning. Everyone of the participants worked really hard. It was great to see the improvement from Dale Willey, Duncan Lilley, David Collins and Luke Green. The learning curve was massive and you guys just kept climbing! It was also great to see all the participants discover their legs and feet.

The beginning of September saw the 4 way Inside Out format take shape again. Even though there were quite a few player coaches away at Rel Week, Ash Rumbo still managed to get a fair few 4 way teams in the tunnel for a scrambles and then took three 4 way teams out into the sky on the following weekend.

Here’s Rummy’s take on the 4 way Scrambles weekend held at Skydive York.

The anticipation for the 4-way scrambles event at York was building, jumpers were eager to get knees in the breeze and the forecast looked promising. It was hard not to get excited on the way out to the drop zone when you haven’t jumped for ages!

Organised by Ash Rumbo, hosted by Skydive York and supported by the WAPC the day started out with a briefing from Ash covering the basics of 4-way and safety on the ground and in the air (eyes open under canopy). Three teams were formed and assigned coaches Ash, Rummy and Darragh. The teams were split up to provide the right amount of experience to help our younger jumpers toward some successful jumps!

The jumps were geared towards having fun, launching successful exits and smooth, precise flying. As a group, we achieved our goals and had a few laughs as we learned the importance of solid flying, presentation and timing when launching an exit.

Each team completed at least 4 rounds (some 5) and we kept jumping until sunset with a random burner to finish. The energy and enthusiasm was high all day with some great progression of our younger jumpers.

Big shout out to Mark, Dan and Brooksy for flying camera – with highlight of the day going to Brooksy for trying to make a 4-way into a 5-way off the door (there were smiles all round).

Shirley Cowcher & Joe Rummy Clarke – WA State Mentors