Aussie Bigway Record: Training Camp 2
May 24, 2015: Camp 2 Day 1
The formation for today is posted, we will be doing 31-ways out of two planes. The groups and slots are posted. It is time to start the visualization process. When a jump is posted like this, the expectation is that each jumper will know their slot in the formation, who they are docking on and who will be their points of reference in the formation to form the right picture. So to break it down: I am docking on the base as a zipper, left grip on Tom’s right leg and I am presenting my left wrist for Marty to take up a dock. Marty is docking on Martin in the base. Greg is docking on my left leg and Marty’s right leg as a Stinger. Line of flight will go up between the grips in the base held between Larry and Martin and on the opposite side Scott and Grant. My last point of reference in the base is Peta – which is awesome because she has a bright pink jumpsuit. All of this is going through my head before we even get to the dirt dive, I am building my own picture of success.
The cloud cover across the dropzone is continuing to kick us right where it hurts, we need to hold out hope that the weather forecaster is right. The locals tell us it will burn off, there is an element of trust like it was Jeff Newman back on channel 7 – because let’s face it, his forecasts were never wrong.
Weather hold until 0900, update that – weather hold until 1100. We do a bit of an impromptu seminar looking at the Women’s 117-way sequential world record set last year and learn some great information about their experience (to our advantage we have some of the women who were on the world record jumping with us for the Aussie record too). We were then treated with a look at one of jumps from the P3 Powerplay Invitationals where they created a jewel shaped formation. Think of a well cut diamond, it was the most intricate piece of artwork in the sky and required an amazing amount of skill and discipline from all the flyers. According Dan BC it was truly one of the most difficult pieces they’ve put together. We then had a bit of an open forum to ask questions about anything and everything to Kate and Dan and some great information was shared.
Finally we are given a call for jumpsuits on at 1130 to break into groups and dirt dive. Today I’m in Larry’s group. I met Larry back at Picton in December 2014 when I traveled there for the big way camp and I am keen to show him how much my flying skills have improved over the last few months. We take up grips and build the formation and discover we are missing 3 people. Turns out we were missing a few more from other groups as well…tastes like beer to me. We spend quite a while dirt diving the jump and then as we have become accustomed to over the last few days – back on hold waiting for the weather to clear. I cannot tell you how wrong Crowded House were saying “everywhere you go always take weather with you” how bout no, fuck off, it can stay in Melbourne.
The grass is making us itchy again so Doug calls us in to practice approaching the formation in each of our individual sectors within the formation. We get the creepers out to simulate this on the ground, to approach on our radial making sure our sector of the formation is tight!
The mood at the moment is one of frustration, despair and lacking hope, the weather is making everyone pretty gloomy. Not to worry, our fearless leader Greg is up and about to give the Aussie team a bit of inspiration through a team talk. I take this opportunity now to remind everyone of his message: remove the sand from the parts of your body that sand has no right to be… it is a definite mood changer, well we all laughed!
I remember someone asking Dan a few days ago how to best prepare for and deal with the ups and downs of the record camp. You know we go up and do what we think is a record jump and then find out that there were wrong grips – well haven’t experienced that yet, but the emotion of the last three days is really starting to get to me. We all have to find our happy place. I found mine this morning by listening to songs about the weather just looking and hoping for something that would change our situation. My choices ranged from CCR – Who’ll Stop the Rain, Travis – Why Does it Always Rain On Me to The Beatles – Here Comes the Sun and Katrina and the Waves – Walking on Sunshine. To be perfectly honest it really made me wish the clouds would go away sooner!
Like a good beef fillet that’s been left in a pressure cooker for too long, the clouds just started to disintegrate and blue skies could be seen again. I’m rather sensitive to the sun being a ginger and all, but when the sun came out it was glorious! Doug’s group gear up and out to the tarmac to dirt dive! Pretty much the best PA announcement of the last four days. It was 1740 and we had just under 2 hours of natural light left. The other groups not geared up were gathered along the fence line to watch, learn and cheer on our mates as they prepared for their jump. It was about this time that a load of local fun jumpers took to the sky just to remind us that this place we are at really is a dropzone and they do skydive here!
Finally our turn to be called, we gear up. There is so much excitement and anticipation because of the lack of jumping over the last few days that half of us are running out to the dirt dive (that’s also because we don’t want to be the last person to a dirt dive).
There are a lot of things that happen during a jump especially as the numbers get larger, a memorable moment for me during this jump was approaching the base on my radial and looking to the left to see the zippers, stinger and whacker lines from another sector all approaching the base flying so tightly and close together – I really hoped my sector was flying the same behind me. There were plenty of good things that happened on the jump and definitely some things we have an opportunity to improve, the best thing of all: we actually got to jump before the end of the day!!
I will leave it there for tonight, tomorrow is going to be a fast paced and intense day. The skies are clear now and are forecast to stay clear for the rest of the time we are here, it’s time to go hard and build our skills for this record.
By the way, number 481, your steak is still waiting for you in the Bombshelter, it was ready like 3 hours ago. If you don’t collect it by the morning, I’m going to eat it for breakfast.
May 25, 2015: Camp 2 Day 2
Everyone was so stoked with the one jump yesterday and with the late finish (wrap up was at 2000) we forgot to check in for beer fines and achievements! As well all know, Kate loves rrrrrround numbers so massive congratulations goes out to Dixie for his 4000th jump!
The beer fines are racking up and the latest in: being late for a dirt dive (not just being late, but not even on the dropzone) x 8 people, plus a whole bunch of first jumps out of the skyvan (these are going to continue throughout the week). The office of skydiving beer fines enforcement agency representative Craig reminds us that we operate in the beer economy on the dz, so be on the look out for those who don’t have helmets on their heads on takeoff (safety is important so remind them after wheels up and enjoy their beer later) and also look out for those who release the seatbelt before 1500 feet (in Australia we do this at 1000 feet). Breaking either of these rules certainly attracts Craig’s attention and he is keen to be made aware of any offenders.
So now we actually get to the start of today. After our Tony Robbins style motivational speech from Mr Jack yesterday, every person is present and accounted for on the creeper pad early and ready for the morning brief. Other than the above, not much to say, our groups for the day were posted early along with the formations and slots, we’re doing 30-ways, so it’s off to the dirt dive. We walk out the jump, everyone is in their slot and we run through the normal exercises: build the formation; back up in the stadium on our radials; walk out the exit frame; and jam it up in the mock up of the aircraft. We have a really good feeling in our group today, so it’s hands in for some early loving: 1.. 2.. 3.. “The mob” is yelled by all and loudly (supposedly we looked like a mob of roos on the exit from the planes yesterday arvo).
The weather is certainly getting better, the clouds starting breaking apart about 1300 and the first gear up call is made. Then gear down, sorry but the clouds haven’t quite parted enough! Half an hour later the first group is in the air and the day is on!
The jumps today got progressively better and it is fair to say our last jump of the day was certainly the best. We didn’t quite get a completed formation, but again we had another day of jumps with massive skill advancement and overall progression of the group. For me personally I moved from a somewhat comfortable slot docking on the base all the way to the outside of the formation – talk about being challenged! Making changes to my jumpsuit and flying a good stadium approach helped me get the dock. We managed to get in 4 jumps (a couple of groups got 5). Plenty of good stories from the day including one from a man who’s laugh is recognized around America and Australia for that matter: Mr Bill Harris – there’s nothing like getting lost on a 30-way and having an adventurous track off, but we own it and we drink it. Thanks for the beer Bill.
Achievements for the day:
Mark – 300 jumps (take the fucking grip)
Netty – 800 jumps
Scott – 900 jumps
Peta – 1100 jumps
The beer fines: People boarded the wrong plane again and had to jump out of the plane after the stairs had been taken away – unlucky, but we’ll drink your beer and perhaps find a buddy so you don’t get lost again!
Dan BC and Mark Brown fined themselves: they have genuinely flown more base pieces out of the Skyvan together than I have total jumps (and some) and they pride themselves on the fact that they believe they can genuinely muscle the piece flat and where it needs to be. Turns out they were wrong and a 6-way base that had an average of 10000 jumps on it funneled off the door, I suppose this just proves that we’re all human and make mistakes, but we will also happily drink your beer.
It was good to finish the day on a high as I mentioned we saved our best jump til last and there are more good things to come tomorrow.
May 26, 2015: Camp 2 Day 3
It’s another early morning in the iHop and the alarms are slowly going off in our room. It is certainly no where near as bad as yesterday when Oz decided he would sleep through his alarm that, for the second day in a row, was left unattended to. If you own an iPhone or an iPad, go into your alarm clock and set the ringtone called “opening”. Now play this for at least 6 or 7 minutes straight and you get the drift. Oz no longer sets an alarm for fear of being sprayed in the eyes with deodorant. We promise to wake you up.
There is a buzz around the dz this morning, there is still a bit of cloud about, but we have new formations to learn and new slots. Today we are jumping 40-ways. Holy shit! This is starting to get big. I thought my slot on the outside of the formation on the 30-way was challenging, well guess what? I am being challenged a little more now with being on the outside of the 40-way formation. Coaches today: Larry and Josh.
The temperature is heating up in Southern California and our first call for gear is at 1000 today. You beauty, Larry’s group is up first. We are doing formation loads with a Skyvan as the lead plane and Twin Otter in a right trail position.
There were some definite ups and downs throughout the day, especially for me personally. I am still working on getting the right picture of the stadium so that I don’t come in too flat on the formation and go low. There was some decision making on break off that I recognized wasn’t overly great either, but I already had a plan in my head for how I was going to make a better decision if in the same situation again. First rule: don’t go low. Second rule: if you are flat or low on the formation, never give up on getting back up. I had the opportunity as a third row diver from the Otter (yeah the planes are bigger at Perris) I also had great fun being a diver out of the Skyvan later in the afternoon. The Skyvan is so great, there is enough room for everyone to be standing in it and the line up has the Super Floater, camera-flyer and 6-way base piece on the edge of the tail, then into the plane we start our line up of divers back two metres from the door (there are 7 rows of 2 people lined up). We get the “set” and literally start to sprint toward the back of the plane and dive out under the tail! It’s a really different experience, but so much fun!
Good things from today:
- Everyone on every group jumped safely, displayed good discipline in the formations and under canopy (the skies are getting busy and they are only going to get busier).
- I docked comfortably on the outside of a 40-way formation (and learnt a shitload about fall rate, stadium and jumpsuits along the way)
- I got the opportunity to lead two great tracking groups away from the 40-way on the last two jumps today (last one was our best, tight as and had Kathryn flapping her hand on my hand)
- Hearing Marty coming in for landing screaming out “I love skydiving” as he’s about to flare, great enthusiasm mate!
- We got 6 jumps in!
I talk a lot of the jumps that I am personally involved with, but there was a jump from another group today that is worthy of an honourable mention and this goes out to the pilots. These guys are the best skydiving pilots in the world, they fly planes in formation consistently close and really really awesome. The spot has been fantastic and there have not really been any off landings… that is until today. Our group were waiting for planes to land for our next load to go up and we are keeping an eye out for the formation that was in the air…none of us could spot it and then we started to see canopies open to the north about 1 mile off the dropzone (for those who know Perris you know it’s pretty big, well at least 30 of the 40 people on the jump were not even on the dz). People were landing all over the place! Best news of the day was that everyone was all good. Just shows you how much we rely on technology in the form of GPS.
Achievements for the day: Carlos – 300 jumps
Tony – 2200 jumps
We have a bit of a sleep in tomorrow given that it is supposed to be the day off between camps, however given the shit weather of last week and the good weather expected this week, we are on call for 1000. 60-ways tomorrow! Looking forward to more fun and learning!
May 27, 2015: Second Day Off…just kidding
Seriously who wants a day off when we are going to be jumping 60-ways, well actually 63-ways! Given the weather days we had it only makes logical sense to be jumping as much as we can in the lead up to the record. A wise man once said “when life throws you lemons, throw yourself out of a plane”…actually I once said that, but it doesn’t make it any less true. Well we got our fair share of lemons early last week and we are making up for that by jumping now.
We had a late start at 1000 today, probably the first day the coaches accurately predicted when the morning mist would burn off. Perfect opportunity for a trip to the shops to help the communal beer fridge stay stocked I probably owe a bit (first this first that) you know how it goes.
Everyone is eager to see the formations for today and the slot they have been selected for. I am A4 and I’m talkng skydiving formations not paper size so don’t get confused. In simple terms, my slot is towards the outside of the formation on a ‘whacker line’ and I am in Alpha plane which is the left trail plane in the 3-plane formation (lead plane and one trail plane on the left and one on the right). In the stack up for exit I am a rear floater, so I’m standing outside the door of the plane holding on and looking directly across at the right trail plane and up towards the lead plane.
Exits are from 16500 feet above ground today so we are on oxygen from 12500 to prevent hypoxia setting in. The safety aspects of our jump are discussed and Kate gives us a briefing on the use of the oxygen. We’re all given a cannula (one of those tubey things that sticks in your nose to deliver oxygen) and this connects to the system in the plane. The important thing is that we are all getting the good gas.
Coaches for the groups I am in today are Dan, Tom and Josh and we go through a comprehensive dirt dive out in the landing area (the formations are getting big so we need that room). We cover all the usuals: grips, radial, stadium, track off, exit frame, stack up and now with so many canopies in the sky we are also assigned landing areas. It makes logical sense that 63+ canopies don’t land in one small area right?
As we stack up the first load ready for exit at 16500(AGL) I am greeted by the most amazing sight when I look across and see the right trail plane and then up at the lead plane. I am focused on my breathing to stay relaxed while we wait for the key to launch. I see the Super Floater launch from the lead plane just before the base 6-way piece launches out and we are off! I drop off the door and present my body and look up, then across to my right and I see streams of bodies falling from the planes. It seems so out of control, but this is when the magic happens. Our first jump most people got docks (even if they weren’t all correct) and it was a little noisy with movement and waves – overall a good skydive., but plenty to work on.
The second jump again was good, didn’t quite get the completion with a couple of people low, but there are some good improvements from the changes to equipment that some people made (more weight in the belt for some, baggy jump suits or jumpers for others). I am wearing a massive jumper inside out and over the top of my jump suit to give me enough drag so that I can fly in my slot properly.
On each day that we have jumped so far, the last jump of the day has been the best and this still holds true today! Although a couple of people still went low and the formation wasn’t entirely complete every person who made a good stadium approach on their radial and docked was flying exceptionally quietly with little movement and great discipline. This is the exact type of flying that we need to continue achieving if we are going to be successful at making a new record.
One key lesson that a lot of flyers learned today including myself: look through centre of the formation (not at your slot or your grip). It turns out that everything the coaches are telling us actually works. It also demonstrates that while we think we may be doing everything we are supposed to, it is very easy to get distracted and not do those things. When you look away from the base BAD THINGS HAPPEN!
Achievements for the day:
- Skye – 500 jumps
Beer fines:
- Going to the wrong plane on the first load (we were keeping your seat warm Cullen)
- Going to the wrong dirt dive (good on ya Matt)
- Picking up wrong grips (Nigel and Oz)
I’d say that’s a wrap for today but before I go can number 481 please go and get your steak from the other night! It might be rock hard now but I’m sure it’s still tasty, The Bomb Shelter crew are holding onto it specially for you.
Rummy
