120 fabulous ladies from all over the globe met at Perris Valley Skydiving on Sunday 12 October, with the aim of building a new Women’s World Record… possibly even an Open World Record.
The previous world record for the largest all-female formation was 181, set at Skydive Perris in 2009; prior records include 151 and 121 by the same P3 organizing team. These have been single point records; but now the goal is to make a sequential record, ie two (or more) formations in the same jump.
#P3 Organizers
I am on the team of coaches, led by Kate Cooper-Jensen, with back-up from Dan BC and Tony Domenico, of the P3 organizers. Plane captains include Sarah Smith, Katya Kharitonova, Nadja Lönnroth, Christy Frikken, Lenka Mazaeva, Lara Eisenberg, Melissa Harvie, Lise Nansen, Wendy ‘Kiwi’ Smith, and me (Lesley Gale).
#Training Jumps
The planned formation consists of 6 branches/sectors around a 30-way base. The first day, we spilt into 3 groups; a 60-way and two 30-ways. The larger group is two opposite sectors around the base, making a propeller shape, to practice the build. The 30-way groups were two sectors around a base of (male) organizers and superstars, including Doug Forth, Tom Jenkins & Larry Henderson.
On Monday the groups swapped to give another sector a chance to practice around the real base. The other two groups did 30ways, and then joined to make a 60-way. Both groups had great jumps, with complete 60-ways at the end of the day. They had been able to practice flying in the stadium, building segments of the formation, the sequential move, and – most importantly – work on their tracking teams, with a tracking leader steering the group away in a tight unit, and fanning out 2,000 feet later. The signal to break off was initiated by Lynn pulling out (opening her canopy) at 7,000 feet, followed by Ziara at 6,000 feet and Alison at 5,000 feet. This gives a clean and simultaneous separation.
#Safety
Safety has been excellent, with the ladies following the planned landing pattern, according to an arrow on the ground, and using the large landing area available to them at Perris. Unfortunately there have been two injuries; Carla hit her ankle on exit, and Alice strained her knee on landing, so these ladies are out of the game… but will recover and return another time. Marloes is on the ground due to sinus infection but we hope she will rejoin the load later in the week. We also have a few other talented women arriving in the next couple of days. The group is now at 117. We were delighted to have DZ owner Melanie Conaster joining the group, making her first jump in 2 years on a 60-way. Melanie had some time out due to injury and perhaps needed something special like this event to coax her back into freefall.
#Go Large!
Tuesday saw the first loads of 120 (ish), out of two Skyvans and four Twin Otters. The aim was not to build a 120-way from the off, but to collect as a team, with the sectors making a pre-formation at ‘the collection zone’, then flying in as a group to their position in the sky relative to the base. The analogy Kate used was, ‘like a mother duck leading her ducklings!’. When in place around the 30-way base, only some of the ‘ducklings’ took grips, the others worked at staying in place. De-focussing on the grips like this puts the emphasis on the more important element, of flying relative to the base, and at the same fall rate.
After an excellent day, with two fabulous jumps and two working skydives, the group is ready to make the first attempt at building the formation, with everyone allowed to take grips, if their slot is inviting them in. wish us luck and stay tuned!
Check out photos and videos at Skydiving Photography
More photos on the Vigil Facebook page
