Australasians at the P3 Bigway in Perris

Written by Amanda Lavis

A lot of comment has been made about the Australian take-over of Hollywood: There is our Heath (well, there was), our Nicole, our Russell and so on. Less well known is the antipodean invasion of another suburb of LA…the outer outer borough of Perris, global centre of formation skydiving. That’s right, we practically own it.

People from over 20 countries converged here in May for the 4 day Bigway formation skydiving camp, attracted by the world class coaching, the infrastructure (so many planes you are spoilt for choice. Just ask Milly!), and a finely honed teaching structure that builds your skills and confidence and has you doing things in 4 days that you wouldn’t have thought possible. Following that was the 4 day 100 way training camp.

If you have a strong desire to do Bigways, born from last years camp at Nagambie, or your local intermediate Bigway days, or you can’t get enough of Star Crest, or Tracey Basman had you kidnapped and strapped to a chair with your eyelids pinned open in front of video after video of beautiful formations closing to a hypnotic sound-track of ‘Australia 2019, Australia 2019’, then STRONGLY CONSIDER doing a P3 camp. Talk to your coaches/mentors/state contacts about how best to prepare. You will have the time of your life, make friends from all around the world, and improve out of sight.

So jump right in and go like the Klappers (but put your visor down first. Ask Amanda about this…)

The roll call this year is as follows: drill these people for further information if you like, they would all love to gasbag about their experiences and help you along.

Ben Nordkamp: Sth QLD mentor, 11200 jumps

Martin Klapper: 800 jumps, 205 cm

Milly Spinoza: lots of jumps ;),

Doug Pryor:  2700+ jumps

Jon Kent: Inst B Toogs, F 200 – 2230 jumps

Cullen Habel: South Australia, 1600 jumps

Amanda Lavis: 300 (exactly. BEER!)

John Leach: 1700 jumps, 24 years in the sport

Tony Kaine: Jumps numbers privileged due to undercover status. Don’t ask, don’t tell

Matt Chambers: one billion jumps

(some of this was made up at the bar because the people concerned were unavailable for comment)