Day 2 Done!!! by Kate Cooper
Greetings
day two done.
Good day, no--let me rephrase--GREAT day. We started record dives today. 158 ways. 8 aircraft. blue skies.
We made three jumps--each better than the last. Nice incremental improvements. We already have some whackers docking after 3 record attempts--that is fantastic.
Had a problem with the Monterey Otter on Dive 3 (while starting).. Scrubbed the jump--got out--Dan Cook (manifestor Dan) was on the phone and we had a second Otter from Elsinore landing at Perris 10 minutes later. It's nice living here. The visiting jumpers were suitably impressed. So was I.
We can't rotate later than 4:30 pm. We need to use East to West jumpruns because of the amount of time it takes to line up 8 aircraft and that is the only direction we can get airspace long enough. Late in the afternoon the pilots are flying directly into the setting sun. Our floaters are also seeing the same picture. As a result our first jump tomorrow will be at 7:30 am. We meet with full gear at 7:00 am, jump, then go and have breakfast.
At the rate we're going I think we could easily have the record tomorrow or Thursday. Of course anything can happen, but I know that Roger Ponce and Mallory have some side bets going on which jump number we'll finish on and both are low numbers.
The energy is high, the talent level is higher, and the support we are getting from every person on the dropzone--from manifest to food to the volunteers who are making sure we get water during dirtdives is highest. This is good.
too tired to write more.
oxoxox
kate
day two done.
Good day, no--let me rephrase--GREAT day. We started record dives today. 158 ways. 8 aircraft. blue skies.
We made three jumps--each better than the last. Nice incremental improvements. We already have some whackers docking after 3 record attempts--that is fantastic.
Had a problem with the Monterey Otter on Dive 3 (while starting).. Scrubbed the jump--got out--Dan Cook (manifestor Dan) was on the phone and we had a second Otter from Elsinore landing at Perris 10 minutes later. It's nice living here. The visiting jumpers were suitably impressed. So was I.
We can't rotate later than 4:30 pm. We need to use East to West jumpruns because of the amount of time it takes to line up 8 aircraft and that is the only direction we can get airspace long enough. Late in the afternoon the pilots are flying directly into the setting sun. Our floaters are also seeing the same picture. As a result our first jump tomorrow will be at 7:30 am. We meet with full gear at 7:00 am, jump, then go and have breakfast.
At the rate we're going I think we could easily have the record tomorrow or Thursday. Of course anything can happen, but I know that Roger Ponce and Mallory have some side bets going on which jump number we'll finish on and both are low numbers.
The energy is high, the talent level is higher, and the support we are getting from every person on the dropzone--from manifest to food to the volunteers who are making sure we get water during dirtdives is highest. This is good.
too tired to write more.
oxoxox
kate
posted by Dawn Suiter @ 11:59 PM
1 Comments:
At 5:06 AM,
starbender said…
God, that sounds like alot of fun. I've always wanted to sky-dive....., but I'm a little to chicken to try!
Love the picture below,2.
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