{"id":25700,"date":"2020-05-29T08:24:13","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T08:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/?p=25700"},"modified":"2020-06-04T18:49:35","modified_gmt":"2020-06-04T18:49:35","slug":"catching-up-with-jenna-gygi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/catching-up-with-jenna-gygi\/","title":{"rendered":"Catching up with Jenna Gygi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a relatively short time and with only 2,700 jumps Jenna Gygi is a very strong promoter for Acrobatic Wingsuit Flying, winning with her team FlyLikeBrick<\/a> the last FAI World Cup, setting an EU and World Record and winning every WS Tunnel competition they entered with a big margin. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Jenna standing in front of the Swiss Parliament, after working with a Swiss Newspaper
Photo by Adrian Moser<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This lovely gentle Swiss woman describes herself as being in love with wingsuit flying and an active world traveller that can be found anywhere on the globe. She avoids social media, is a bit on the shy side at first and incredibly lovely once you get to know her better. Surprisingly (or not…) the most common words her friends use to describe her are ‘driven’ and ‘stubborn’ \ud83d\ude42 <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Hi, Jenna. Just to start – how did this ‘skydiving love affair’ begin? Did you know it was going to be wingsuiting from the start? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I did a tandem skydive and was hooked right from the start. 2 weekends later I was back on the dropzone for my AFF Course. Living in Switzerland I was of course already aware of wingsuits, and that quickly became my sole focus and aim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you do for a living now?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I coach in the Indoor Wingsuit Tunnel<\/a>, through our Wingsuit Team FlyLikeBrick (I am incredibly happy to have Jarno Cordia as a teammate). We do a one week camp there every month. The rest of my free time is spent doing personal training and a mix of outdoor coaching and (commercial\/movie) projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Team Training in Texel, Netherlands – preparing for the Wingsuit World Cup of 2019
Photo by Susan Watts

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Why did you choose Acrobatics and not Performance Flying?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Though I appreciate the skill and training people put into performance flying, spending my time doing solo skydives flying in a straight line and having a little box on my helmet to tell me if my jump was good or bad, is just not my idea of fun. I\u2019m also not bad at performance flying, but I just much more enjoy the teamwork and skills involved in wingsuit acrobatics. It\u2019s a very dynamic discipline, which constantly pushes me to refine, improve and further evolve in skills. It also constantly helps me improve my knowledge and skills as a wingsuit coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jenna is at a level of precision, style and dedication in flying that is hard to match. Not caring about social media popularity, she is the most skills-driven person I know in the sport, and one of the world’s best wingsuit pilots. “<\/p>

<\/p>Jarno Cordia <\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What achievements gave you the most satisfaction?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
  • Winning the 2018 USPA Nationals, participating as a guest team<\/li>
  • Winning the 2019 IPC\/FAI World Cup of Wingsuit Flying and also setting an EU and World Record with our results<\/li>
  • Being on the wingsuit stunt team for \u201cOperation Red Sea\u201d, one of the biggest Chinese action films ever produced. <\/li>
  • An incredible night XRW Jumps with pyrotechnics over Skydive Sebastian (video at the end of the article)<\/li>
  • Winning every Wingsuit Tunnel competition we took part in<\/li>
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    FlyLikeBrick – 2019 World Cup Wingsuit Flying<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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