Day 3 Done!! by Kate Cooper
Wow, what a day.
I've never been surrounded by a group of big way skydivers this talented, motivated and FUN. We're having a blast here.
We started, as promised, at 7:30 am. The pilots had a bet going that 157 women wouldn't be ready on time.
they lost. We were not only ready--we were early! Thank goodness Starbucks in Perris is open early!
We had a good jump, but chilly conditions and extra clothing affected fall rate, and it wasn't complete. Down and breakfast. Yummm. Jumping before breakfast is great.
Jump 2 was great. Almost all of the 70+ way base complete, and for the first time--4 of the 9 whackers docked. Wow. This is a great progression. Santa Ana winds were picking up so we did a pack and pull--virtually no debrief--just get back in the air as soon as possible.
Jump 3 was better. The base DID build and 5 of the 9 whackers docked. Unfortunately one of the camera men fell off a plane on climb out, effectively emptying two of the back trail otters. The 4 whackers that did not build where these two otters--all out 6-7 seconds before the base exited. EVERYONE who was in the air at the right time docked though--incredible.
Jump 4 was post lunch and post wind hold. Winds gusting to 18 so we backed off. it's great having two strong safety minded people like Tony and Roger on the ground while we are in the air. We make a pact that if the winds get dangerous they will call all 8 planes down--no questions asked. If we get the green light to jump--we are safe. That is valuable.
I made the speech to the gals that following a great jump with a better jump is the most difficult thing to do in skydiving. Unfortunately Jump #4 proved that right. It wasn't horrible--better than #1 even, but no where near the par that had been set by later jumps. We needed to FO-CUS.
We had time to get jump #5 off before our 16:00 cut off. Climbing up energy was high in our plane. Our base exit was the base yet--I could even freefly from my legstrap grips up to the wrist grips, rather than the "first one then the other" that we had been doing. Leslie Gale is opposite me in the base and we are having a wonderful time communicating with each other in freefall.
Well, remember that I had said that following a great jump with a better one is hard? Well, the opposite holds true--we had a very good 5th jump. 70+ way base complete again, and 3-4 whackers docked. One whacker self imploded while looking around. At one time during this jump--about 30 seconds into it--I thought it would build--but level differences between the whackers and the base put a slight turn into the formation which kept it from building successfully.
All in all an excellent day. I truly believe we are within 6 jumps of goal right now--and it could be any jump. Tomorrow morning we have the same early start time and I have a promise from all the 70+ way base that no matter how cold it is we will not bulk up with heavy warmer clothing that might affect fall rate. Nothing thicker than light spandex. I'm by the door too. I forsee shivers in my future--but it will be worth it to get a new world Record.
I had a wonderful dinner with the Norwegian team and am ready to attempt to get some sleep tonight, although I hear that it is highly overrated on these World Record events :-)
We are now 8 jumps into the event, with one jump effectively a zero by the camera man starting an early exit--and I can smell victory. I've packed the good tequila to take to the DZ tomorrow, and champagne is on ice. If it doesn't happen tomorrow---it isn't far away.
Wish us luck
We are having fun.
blues
kate
I've never been surrounded by a group of big way skydivers this talented, motivated and FUN. We're having a blast here.
We started, as promised, at 7:30 am. The pilots had a bet going that 157 women wouldn't be ready on time.
they lost. We were not only ready--we were early! Thank goodness Starbucks in Perris is open early!
We had a good jump, but chilly conditions and extra clothing affected fall rate, and it wasn't complete. Down and breakfast. Yummm. Jumping before breakfast is great.
Jump 2 was great. Almost all of the 70+ way base complete, and for the first time--4 of the 9 whackers docked. Wow. This is a great progression. Santa Ana winds were picking up so we did a pack and pull--virtually no debrief--just get back in the air as soon as possible.
Jump 3 was better. The base DID build and 5 of the 9 whackers docked. Unfortunately one of the camera men fell off a plane on climb out, effectively emptying two of the back trail otters. The 4 whackers that did not build where these two otters--all out 6-7 seconds before the base exited. EVERYONE who was in the air at the right time docked though--incredible.
Jump 4 was post lunch and post wind hold. Winds gusting to 18 so we backed off. it's great having two strong safety minded people like Tony and Roger on the ground while we are in the air. We make a pact that if the winds get dangerous they will call all 8 planes down--no questions asked. If we get the green light to jump--we are safe. That is valuable.
I made the speech to the gals that following a great jump with a better jump is the most difficult thing to do in skydiving. Unfortunately Jump #4 proved that right. It wasn't horrible--better than #1 even, but no where near the par that had been set by later jumps. We needed to FO-CUS.
We had time to get jump #5 off before our 16:00 cut off. Climbing up energy was high in our plane. Our base exit was the base yet--I could even freefly from my legstrap grips up to the wrist grips, rather than the "first one then the other" that we had been doing. Leslie Gale is opposite me in the base and we are having a wonderful time communicating with each other in freefall.
Well, remember that I had said that following a great jump with a better one is hard? Well, the opposite holds true--we had a very good 5th jump. 70+ way base complete again, and 3-4 whackers docked. One whacker self imploded while looking around. At one time during this jump--about 30 seconds into it--I thought it would build--but level differences between the whackers and the base put a slight turn into the formation which kept it from building successfully.
All in all an excellent day. I truly believe we are within 6 jumps of goal right now--and it could be any jump. Tomorrow morning we have the same early start time and I have a promise from all the 70+ way base that no matter how cold it is we will not bulk up with heavy warmer clothing that might affect fall rate. Nothing thicker than light spandex. I'm by the door too. I forsee shivers in my future--but it will be worth it to get a new world Record.
I had a wonderful dinner with the Norwegian team and am ready to attempt to get some sleep tonight, although I hear that it is highly overrated on these World Record events :-)
We are now 8 jumps into the event, with one jump effectively a zero by the camera man starting an early exit--and I can smell victory. I've packed the good tequila to take to the DZ tomorrow, and champagne is on ice. If it doesn't happen tomorrow---it isn't far away.
Wish us luck
We are having fun.
blues
kate
posted by Dawn Suiter @ 10:17 PM
1 Comments:
At 2:20 PM,
dolf said…
Hallo Kate and the hole group I look every dag the JFTC site to see what's happen. The pictures and video's looks very good and I hope you all break the record.
see you later alligator
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