“TRIPLE TREAT – New Sequential Record for Aussie Bigways at Moruya”
Words by Christian Peric; with contributions from Kelly Brennan and Tracey Basman.
Aussie Bigways Premier Event: Doug Forth Sequential Record Camp, Moruya-NSW, 18th to 25th November 2017.
Once again, the Aussie Bigways team rewrote the Australian skydiving record books in Moruya-NSW, as well as rewriting an old adage: It turns out that all GOOD things come in three’s:
- Three point 32-ways achieved,
- three groups successfully setting the record in one day, and …
- third time lucky with a fantastic proposal by Al Gray to Sandy!
Registration day, Saturday November 18th:
It was a hive of activity at check-in, when 90 bigway belly fliers descended upon the beautiful Skydive Oz DZ at Moruya. The whole process was brilliantly handled by Deb and Holly at reception, and thorough gear checks from Craig and Tony, which made us all officially registered and ready to go.
After a welcome dinner and brief catch up with old friends, the introductory speeches were held, with lots of attentive, familiar faces in the crowd from the Perris 2015 record, the Dan BC record camp in 2016, and the various recent bigway training and skills events held throughout the country.
Tracey Basman did a great job outlining the bios of all the coaches, while Greg Jack gave his usual, fired up captain’s speech to get the crowd pumped up. Doug Forth, as the final speaker, outlined the format for the week: three days training camp to learn and brush up on bigway skills, a rest day in the middle and then three days to build a new 3-point 32-way sequential record.
The ultimate goal however was clearly stated at the beginning by the coaching team: build up the bigway community’s flying skills for the planned 150-way record in Perris-California, in 2019. So this sequential record camp was the perfect training and proving ground, with the aim to get us skilled up in bigway flying and hopefully get as many of us as possible on a sequential record group late in the week.
Day 1:
The team met at 8am sharp. Six groups of 14-ways were posted on the wall, with a plan to do 4 jumps over the day for each group. The 6 coaches were: Andrew Barker, Melissa Harvie, Greg Jack, Stretch, Alan ‘Mossy’ Moss and David Loncasty. Head coach Doug Forth was ground coaching for the day, although he jumped onto Greg’s group for the last load of the day, so he can buy beer that night, …nice one mate!
Weather was brilliant all day, warm, mostly sunny and light easterlies, making it an absolute joy to be with such a talented group of people in such a visually stunning place, both on the ground and in the air. Floating from two aircraft was the order of the day, starting people off in their comfort zone, doing 14-ways from two aircraft, seven skydivers per plane. Basic skills were honed and improved upon with every jump, such as good exits, identifying the base, getting there quickly on the radial, stopping in slot and only docking when permission was given with a key from the base, in fact, the grip being the last priority. Variety was king, as everyone had the opportunity to switch slots, from base to outside, and between trail and lead plane. Also right from the beginning, we got to practice tracking groups, a vital survival skill in bigways. It gave all players a chance to see and gather the pictures, assemble vital visual and physical information, to help dial in the bigway flying mentality.
Day 2:
Briefing was at 7:30am, and we were ready early for another day. The theme for the day was “diving”, from a single aircraft this time. Everyone was expected to get a turn at short and long dives. Groups ranged from 12 to 14, with the teams and coaches completely rearranged. None more so than poor Stretch, who came down with a bad case of tummy bug and could not jump. Tracey Basman stepped in as load organiser for his team, while Stretch ground coached the group as best he could.
The clouds got in the way early in the day, so we were on hold for a couple of hours. Perfect opportunity for Doug Forth to give a very useful and timely seminar on ‘exits’. All manner of exit slots were covered from different types of aircraft and exit positions, such as floating and diving, and from side door aircraft and tailgate. It was very informative, given the plan of diving exits for the day, with good questions asked by the gathered crowd. With a little more waiting time for clouds to burn off, we finally got moving by late morning. Five jumps needed to be caught up on for the six groups. As it turned out, it was a fantastic day, with everyone getting their five jumps done by 6pm. Lots of beer line infringements due to stronger growing easterly winds from the coast, ensured the beer fridge was more than chocker block full, much appreciated by the thirsty crowd after a long, hot day. We closed out with the good news that Tuesday would see us do 28-ways from two aircraft, with a huge cheer from the crowd.
Day 3:
The whole team was a-buzz with the prospect of doing 28-ways out of two aircraft from 15,000ft. A number of participants had not done anything bigger than sub 20-ways before, so this was a fantastic way to expand their experience level while giving all others a taste of record fever to come. One of Melissa’s mantras for the day was “event focus”. While it was still a learning camp, we were asked to treat it like a record event, with focus on all the little things that give it the best chance of being a success, like focusing on the plan, minimising distractions, quiet reflection in the aircraft on the way to height, and so on. With Stretch recovered and back on board, and Doug jumping between groups to coach, skydive and observe proceedings, it was a fun and challenging day, putting all the learnings from the previous two days into practice, like good clean exits, approaches, stopping in slot, looking through the centre to match fall rate, and flying your slot quietly, with the grip being the last priority (all starts to sound quite familiar, right?). All teams had one, if not multiple, completions over the course of their five jumps. The coaching team had nothing but praise, and it was clear this team is ready to go to the next step.
The day closed out with various speeches and logistics for the next half of the camp. A raffle was drawn, with many thanks to our generous sponsors. Special mention to Momo, taking out not only 15 minutes of iFLY tunnel time, but also the main prize for the evening, a P3 slot bigway camp at Perris.
The highlight of the evening, without a shadow of a doubt, goes to Al Gray and Sandy…, who in front of the cheering crowd, got engaged, with Al in traditional fashion getting down on one knee, giving a lovely speech and presenting the bride-to-be with her shiny diamond engagement ring. There was a lot of love in the hanger that evening. Congratulations and well done you two, with all our love and best wishes from your Aussie Bigways family!
The following day was confirmed as the designated day off, a well deserved rest for all participants.
Day 4, rest day off.
The morning saw Doug hold a “coach the coach” seminar. This was an invitational seminar for bigway coaches, star crest and formation load organisers. It was an informative and interactive sessions of Q&A about all things bigway. It covered all aspects of skills around coaching bigways. One of Doug’s main points to take away for all of us was this: “The biggest recommendation I have is to travel. For the coaches and the people here, I advise you to travel and be a sponge. Soak up all the knowledge you can from others who are doing this.”
Day 5:
The first record day. Loads were planned from 18,000ft with oxygen. Participants were split into three loads. Load 1 & 2 were 32-way groups, with load 3 being the back-up bench team of 20 flyers. The briefing in the morning from Doug made it clear, in that we should not treat it like a record, but just a normal day of fun skydiving, so as not to put undue pressure on ourselves. Load 1, Greg Jack’s group, went up twice to do a 3-point 32-way, only to be denied a record in each case due to a wrong grip being taken on the second point.
Load 2 team and the bench load kept going and keeping up pace, getting in practice and improving as they went along. However, poor weather stopped us in our tracks quite early, a storm rolling over the DZ at lunchtime which did not subside. The day had to be called after only two jumps for all the groups were completed, with a view to start fresh even earlier on Friday morning.
Day 6:
The second record day. The DZ was a-buzz early, as we had some jumping to catch up on. As on the previous morning, coaches briefed the groups and reminded everyone that there is no new information, that its just a skydive, and not let any thoughts of records get the better of us. The message from Doug Forth was simple, go out and enjoy your skydives, just do your job, no more, no less.
Load 1, Greg Jack’s team, was up for their first attempt of the day. This time, the jump went flawlessly, with almost 10 seconds remaining after the third point was built before break off… wow, a fourth point would have been in easy reach. The formation flew so quietly and smoothly, it was a fantastic experience and a privilege to be in amongst it. The only thing now was to see what the judges had to say. It was not long before the interim result of a record, locally judged, was confirmed by our off site judges. A huge cheer erupted as the record was confirmed. A new 3-point 32-way Australian sequential record had just been set. But the day was not over yet. As soon a the record was clear, the hunt was on to get as many of the load 2 team and the bench group through the record day, and achieve multiple records on the same day, reminiscent of our 2016 bigway camp at Nagambie with Dan BC.
Eleven people were re-sloted from load 2 team into the load 1 team, and went up for their attempt. It too was a success, with the third point built with some 5 seconds to spare. It did not take long for the second record to be confirmed. Back to back records and the day was still young! As soon as that was in the bag, another 6 re-slots occurred, with participants from the bench team joining the throng. The jump went well but produced only 2 points in time. So a repeat jump was on the cards.
In the mean-time, load 2 team and the bench team, with some members of load 1 team (confused yet?) went on to do their jumps in order to try and build records and in case of the bench team, do more training jumps.
Alas, the weather once again did not play ball and we were forced into a hold for half a day, waiting for a storm to pass. We were kept busy and focused with a couple of seminars, one on canopy flying and safety by Paul Barker, and one by Kelly Brennan on APF funding for training and events, which were well received and appreciated by the participants.
Late in the day, the storm finally cleared and a reconfigured load 2 team went up for a jump. Unfortunately luck was not on their side, but it proved to be their best jump yet over the last couple of days.
Last but not least, it was Greg’s core group once again, by now renamed Load 9, to go up for the last load of the day with a mix of people from all three teams. We desperately wanted to get another record. Despite clouds hanging around from the passing storm, we managed to go to height. The base came out great and the floaters and early divers were right onto it. The first point built nicely, and soon we rattled through the second and third. It was tight at the bottom of the skydive, with only a couple of seconds to spare before break off. But everyone was sure, it felt like another record, that is how smooth and quiet the last point flew. You can imagine the cheers and jubilations at the final video debrief and close out, as the record was confirmed and a fantastic day’s jumping drew to a close.
Phew, …pressure off!
Not to be outdone that evening by all the record cheers, Jules McConnel was there, singing a “happy 10th anniversary” song to Paul Smith and his team for their drop zone ‘birthday’. Based on the classic…” I still call Australia, or in this case, ‘Moruya’, …home!” It was hilarious, with the crowd joining in where it counted.
Over dinner, lots of beer and stories were shared, we closed out the day knowing we achieved once again what we set out to do, and while not all out of our team were lucky enough to get the record, more than half did, a great achievement to be proud of.
Day 7:
Now that the record setting was done, it was a day of pure fun jumps, with the groups completely mixed up so everyone got a chance to do jumps with team members of a variety of skill and experience levels. The order of the day was formation loads of 28-ways from 15,000ft. It was a consolidation of all the week’s training, once again an opportunity to hone skills and discover new opportunities for improvement. After 4 loads per group, it was time to call it an official close to the camp, although Dave Loncasty managed to combine one more formation load from the remaining jumpers still keen for one more leap. It capped off a great day and indeed a great week of bigway jumping.
It was time the call it a week and close the event. Many speeches were held and a final raffle was drawn, with Momo once again taking out massive prizes like tunnel time and a half price Icarus canopy. Man, … did he have the luck of the draw this week or what!? After a scrumptious roast dinner, it was time to say good-bye to the event and hello to party night,…. tight and bright 2. And as they say,..”what happens at tight and bright, stays at tight and bright!”
The Aussie Bigways premier event for 2017 drew to a successful close, with three groups achieving a new Australian sequential record of a 3-point 32-way. All this with a perfect safety record, after a total of about 2400 jumps, not a single chop nor injury, awesome tracking and safe canopy flying, … to all a ‘well done’!
Onwards and upwards we go toward 2018, with the next premier event announced at Skydive Ramblers in Toogoolawah-Qld, from Sept. 29th to Oct. 5th 2018, lead by Larry Henderson. Stay tuned for more info on this and other events via the Aussie Bigways calendar and our website, and speak to your local state mentors and coaches for any bigway training events coming to a DZ near you.
Finally, a special thank you to all our sponsors and volunteer helpers.
There was major financial assistance from the APF Fi-Fund and the State Councils: NSWPC, VTPC, WASPC, SAPC, NQPC & SQPC, as outlined during the welcoming address and event close out speeches. Without your generous support, this event would not have been a reality and we thank you so much for supporting the Aussie Bigways Team.
Thank you to Paul Smith and the Skydive Oz Staff for hosting our event and sponsoring our Coaching Team slots.
Thank you to our Skydiving Supplier sponsors, who gave generously to our raffle. In turn, thank you to all participants and DZ visitors who purchased raffle tickets, so we could raise the funds necessary for other event costs not covered by the APF and Councils, such as plane ferry costs, oxygen, etc:
- iFLY Downunder – your continual support in tunnel giveaways is amazing!
- Cookie Helmets – thank you for supporting our State Mentors and Voluntary workers along with the raffle helmet giveaways!
- NZ Aerosports – thank you for the 50% off a new canopy!
- Sunpath – thank you for our Team Head Socks and goodies!
- Cypres – thank you for the 50% off a new Cypres and Maintenance giveaway and goodies!
- P3 Skydiving – thank you for the free P3 Bigway Camp slot!
- Mee Loft – thank you for the solo Audible and semi stowless d-bag!
- Spirit Skysports & Newcastle Sport Parachute Club – thank you for the jumpsuit!
- Manufactory – thank you for the Coaches Yellow T-shirts
- SkydiveOz – thank you for providing 2x 5 jump tickets to the raffle
- Terminal Sports – thank you for the goodies!
- Square One – thank you for the Kiss Helmet!
- Performance Design – thank you for the gift vouchers & goodies!
- Para Gear – thank you for the gift vouchers and goodies!
Thank you Doug Forth, for coming down under, coaching and jumping with us, much appreciated!
Many thanks to our volunteers, who gave their time selflessly to ensure the success of this event:
Greg Jack – Aussie Bigways Team Captain, Event Coach, Event Safety Officer, Raffle master, and so much more…
Local Coaches who invested time & money to be at the event to work with Doug Forth and coach the team:
- Andrew Barker
- David Loncasty
- Greg Jack
- Alan Mossy Moss
- Melissa Harvie
- Stretch
Pete & Sam – Pilots flying our formation loads
Kiwi – DZ Ground Staff & Oxygen Management
Paul Smith – CI & Oxygen Management
Josh Leussink – Ground Logistics Manager and Social Media
Holly Atteridge – Event Check in, Seminar Co-ordinator and Judging assistant & admin
Deb Hobbs – Check in & Judge Assistance
Craig McNee & Tony Kaine – Gear Checks
Neil ‘Fergs’ Ferige & Offsite Judges – Judges for Sequential Record
Guy ‘Bob’ Taylor – Selling of Raffle Tickets
Kelly Brennan – WIAS and Funding Seminar
Kelly Brennan & Jason Lane – WIAS Movie production
Camera Crew:
- Spot Tonson – Lead cameraman
- Steve Fitch
- Paul Barker
- Anna Van Der Vlugt
- Calder Chernoff
Packers – Eileen, Kim, Ida and Andy. We had the best packers in Australia, as mentioned, with no chops throughout the entire event!
Caterers – Rob Denny, Noel, Vera, Shelly and Wayne. Thank you for fuelling the Aussie Bigway Team throughout the 7 days!
Café – Thank you Sarah for the coffees and food throughout the event!
Last but not least, Tracey Basman: our Aussie Bigways Nationals Co-ordinator, for working tirelessly and being the glue holding this whole big team together, …thank you!
Apologies to those who I may have missed.
Thank you all, Go Big and Blue Skies,
Christian.
Participant Success:
“One of the record-breakers was Tom Woodley, who had achieved his Star Crest at Barwon Heads just 2 weeks before arriving in Moruya. Tom, who lives in China, did his Star Crest on Saturday November 4th, followed by three days of 14-16 ways with Stretch. Next step was Moruya, where the learning stepped up a few notches and he plugged away at it until he got that 3-point 32-way record! A fantastic achievement.”
Dawn Tratt: “This is the biggest formation I have ever been part of, the 3-point 32-way skydive. I loved it. The thing I loved about it the most was the tremendous joy, seeing my mates faces across the formation. I loved diving to the formation, I loved tracking away from it and most importantly I loved landing safely. What it has given me is confidence in my skills and knowledge, and I know those two things will keep me safe, and I am definitely ready for Perris 2019.”
Helen Perry: “Awesome fun, wonderful learning experience. You think you have done bigways so many times, but then you do something like this, and while there is a little bit of pressure, mostly you are learning all the time and have fun doing it. And its great to catch up with all those friends you haven’t seen in a while, some friends I haven’t seen in over 20 years, so its been great.”
Carlos DGH: “I’ve been practicing a lot, learning a lot, improving, that makes me happy. I’m really proud of what I have achieved this week. These kinds of events are getting better and better organised every time. A lot of new people are coming into the scene, and I think that is really important. It’s a great team, and that’s how it feels right now!”
John Kent: ” I started jumping in 1978, and stopped jumping for about 25 years, came back to it about a year ago. All the jumping was very different back then, like break off at 3500ft and save yourselves. Today it is very different, very structured. Its got, I suppose, a much better science to it. And even though its basically the same, we now have got names for everything like radials and stadium. Its been a really good week, and even though I wasn’t on the record in the end, I’m trying to get myself current again, having done 200 jumps in the past year. I’m just here to learn to fly in a different way and have fun.”
Martin Barkley: “ Been a skydiver for approximately 10 years, absolutely loving it. Decided to do this bigway camp as I’m starting to look towards the Perris record in 2019. I’ve actually been uncurrent, had a year off skydiving, but I’m thinking I have walked back into it and I can only say that my previous training has paid off. I was able to walk into this camp and pull off some amazing jumps, through my personal flying that I learnt from the coaches and people I associate with through bigways. The camaraderie, the team work, all the people here, its been excellent! Doug Forth has come from America to support us, in developing our skill base to lift us all higher, so we can confidently go to Perris in 2019. The support from the APF and all the other sponsors has been great and very worthwhile. The facilities here at Moruya, …10 out of 10! The outs here were so good, there wasn’t one chop, one incident. Its been, I think, one of the best bigway camps Australia has ever put on!”
