{"id":28095,"date":"2020-09-21T12:46:07","date_gmt":"2020-09-21T12:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/?p=28095"},"modified":"2021-10-22T11:25:55","modified_gmt":"2021-10-22T11:25:55","slug":"cypres-save-marine-descols-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/cypres-save-marine-descols-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Cypres Save: Marine Descols’ story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Waking up in a tree from a mountain flight!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Realising that Cypres saved your life\u2026<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Marine Descols, photo by Fabien Lrn<\/span><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One thing\u2019s for sure: Marine Descols<\/a> wins everyone over immediately. This huge-hearted, doll-faced airsports athlete (and wife to Vincent \u201cLe Blond\u201d Descols<\/a>) started skydiving when she was a 17-year-old legacy kid on Reunion Island and, these days, looms larger-than-life on the European wingsuit scene. <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

You may know her from that sweet video of Marine taking her tiny little wingsuit to some pretty cool places<\/a> \u2013 but it\u2019s even more likely that you know her from her instructing work. She travels to dropzones around her native France and Europe, where she\u2019s looked up to as wingsuit coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February 2019, Marine and Vincent organized a wingsuit camp at a very small dropzone in the French Alps. It was a week-long, intensive camp\u2013high-touch and high-progression (exactly what everyone involved was going for), with the dramatic mountain backdrop behind every jump. By February 16th, the camp was off to a great start and going exceedingly well. Marine suited up in her Squirrel<\/a> ATC (a big wingsuit, if you\u2019re unfamiliar) to do another one. She briefed the group and got ready to lead the jump on her back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image by Marine Descols<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This particular jump did not go so well<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the other wingsuit pilots had a bad exit and a slow start to the flight. Much later on, he had recovered and tried to flare from underneath the formation to join the group just as they were about to separate. Flying on her back, Marine couldn\u2019t see the other pilot\u2019s swift ascent directly towards her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two hit hard at about 1,800 meters. The other jumper struck Marine from behind. She impacted the hard surface of his undeployed parachute hard enough to lose consciousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He didn\u2019t realize he had joined us so quickly, so he had no idea we were there because he wasn\u2019t watching us when he was flying up.\u201d <\/p>Marine<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Mountain flying often requires thoughtful adjustment of the CYPRES settings, and Marine had not neglected to do so. Her CYPRES fired at 450 meters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We changed the settings because we wanted there to be a little more margin,\u201d<\/em> she explains. \u201cBecause of the mountains, we wanted it to be higher.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m fortunate I didn\u2019t wake up during the jump,\u201d she continues. \u201cI would have probably tried to fly my big wingsuit and my parachute may never have opened.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Marine was still unconscious when she landed in a tree. That\u2019s where she woke up\u2013hanging like a Christmas ornament, with no idea what she was going there. She had lost her memory for the previous three days. It took her an hour to recover enough of her memory to piece together a story. In the meantime, the traumatized student had watched her descent and landing, landed his parachute as close to her as he could and was frantically searching for her in the forest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I wasn\u2019t hurt at all,\u201d <\/em>she says. \u201cI had no pain anywhere, I felt completely fine physically. It was exactly as if I were waking up in my own bed. It was so crazy. At that moment, I called Vincent, my husband. I always have my phone in my wingsuit.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vincent had been leading another group at the camp. At the moment of Marine\u2019s call, he had just learned that Marine was the one who had been struck. She called him right at the moment he was calling the rescue operation. Vincent told her that the student that had struck her was in the forest searching and directed her to call out to him, which she did. The student appeared, elementally relieved to see Marine responsive and apparently uninjured. Without missing a beat, the student located Marine with GPS coordinates and gave the position to the others. From there, the rescue operation was marvelously quick.<\/p>\n\n\n


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