VIC – Barwon Heads Mentor Update January 2018

by Kelly Brennan

January 13, 2018

in News & Updates, VIC Mentor Updates

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In the face of a sweltering forecast and a rapidly increasing wind, a dozen jumpers recently proved to me what this bigway game is all about. They drove to the DZ bright and early, went through a dirt dive and got on a plane. They knew it was shaping up to be a dodgy weather day and they might not get to jump. But they did all this anyway. And the reward was one really nice skydive! Yep, we only got one jump in before the day was canned. It wasn’t perfect, but it was enough to put huge smiles on our faces. And it was enough to keep me enthusiastic about organising the next one.

The day reminded me of a comment that was made by one of my own mentors in life and skydiving, Andy Keech, just after the 2010 bigway records. “The thing most non-participants do not grasp is that the outlay is the same whether we win or lose,” said Andy.

“That is the quality I find most valuable in jumpers. They are not purchasing success, they are buying a ticket to participate, only. No promises of return at all.”

And that’s what it’s all about. We drive long distances, we spend a fortune on training, and we set the alarm ridiculously early on weekends. We do this because there are other crazy bigway players out there doing the same. We don’t want to let them down. We don’t want to miss out on the chance that, for a few brief seconds, we might just build something cool in the sky and we’ll glimpse those massive grins that only skydivers know so well. (While focusing on the base, looking through grips, and seeing a lot of underarms and bum cracks as well, of course!)

Then, once-in-a-while, we ramp up all of the vital factors – especially the distance and financial outlay – to aim for a record. It’s so much hard work to get there and so much emotion when we do it. But it’s an experience that can’t be beaten. Whether you succeed in a record, or if there is disappointment at the end, the cliché is true. It’s the journey itself that really is the most rewarding part. It’s the shared hope and expectation as everybody works together to do the best they can.

We’re in a sport which throws danger, expense and fickle weather in our path. Yet we often pull off remarkable achievements, whether they’re records or ‘just’ a local 10-way where the points roll through exactly as planned.

For me, the records are only icing on the cake. (Albeit very sweet icing.) I do all this organising, planning and begging for funding because I am selfish. I want more people to play with at regular bigway events, boogies, and ordinary DZ weekends!

So, I gave the old email a thrashing in the first week of January, making sure 2018 is another busy year in my bigway adventures. Nigel and I are pulling together another Star Crest series at Barwon Heads next summer. Plus we’ll do another Barwon Bigways event in November over Melbourne Cup weekend. And, before all of that, (drum roll…) how about a mid-winter break in the glorious Whitsundays? Yep, check out the event on the Aussie Bigways calendar.

Whitsundays Bigway Event

All us southerners can leave our winter hibernation for a week-long holiday in the sunshine in mid-July with a bigway fix above one of Australia’s most scenic drop zones?!! Not to mention nationals, Pops meet, APF conference, WPC, and a tempting boogie in WA. My calendar is pretty full already. Hope yours is too.

Now, if only I can get some work to fill in those dates between events….