Aussie Bigway Record: getting acquainted with the dropzone and reacquainted with friends
May 19, 2015:
The day before the first camp starts had a cruisey start to the day, no need to get up too early. Around the main packing area there are numerous Australian flags being hung, including the green and gold Aussie flags with the boxing kangaroo. It is becoming clear that the Aussies have arrived and we are taking over the dropzone.
I am continuing to meet many new people all of whom are pretty cool characters. Started the day off with a 9-way jump and landed in the back field south west of the main landing area. Nice big dirt field inevitably made our jump suits rather dusty, just ask Amber! There are a couple of local load organizers around today one is Mark Brown, he has around 12000 jumps so it’s fair to say he’s got some good experience behind him. When I get back to the packing area after our first jump I see another big way group dirt diving and the load organizer is Dan BC. This dude is a legend! A skygod! Dan is load organizing and I intend on getting on my next jump with him!
Skip forward a couple of hours and I am on a jump with Dan organizing and we’re doing a 21-way. I am in a 5-way base with Dan BC on my left and Adrian on my right. We are jumping out of a Skyvan. The Skyvan is different from other aircraft because we jump out the back under the tail. There is so much room in this plane that we can all stand up without our heads hitting the ceiling, talk about business class for the skydiver! So the red light comes on and the door is opened and locked into position, I can feel Adrian take my arm gripper and I take a firm hold on Dan’s leg strap. As a group we inch our way right to the back of the plane until we are standing on the edge of the fuselage. Everyone in the base is looking to the centre for the count which will come from Dan. READY! Grips are firm and breathing is normal. SET! Crouch down ready to launch. GO! We launch out of the plane and the 6-way piece flies smoothly down the hill. Dan sets the pace of the base and it is quick, though manageable. The other 16 jumpers all approach the formation in the stadium on their radial and dock – 21-way formation is complete! The feeling of success is extremely satisfying and this is only one jump before the camps have even started. I am really looking forward to the learning and skill building the next 12 days is going to bring and I am going to enjoy every minute of the experience and hopefully we will set a new Aussie Big Way Record at the end of it!
We finished the day with a big way seminar from Mark Brown who was interesting and informative sharing his experiences of why P3 (Perris Performance Plus) use their methodology, mostly learned out of the mistakes from jumps in the past, none the less still valuable lessons. We talked about getting back into the aircraft so no one falls off if a go-around call is made while on jump run (turns out a 99-way just isn’t the same as a 100-way); making sure we are on time to dirt dives (cos no one wants to be that guy); understanding the structure of the formation through the use of the exit frame; and learning how to prepare for the jumps wearing the right jump suit, baggy jumper or extra weight given our slot in the formation (don’t go low!).
The fun starts tomorrow…
