In exactly one month Skydive Perris will be invaded by a few hundred very determined elite skydivers from all over the world… From the moment the FAI approved the sequentials for the Large Freefall Formations category a 200-plus-way sequential record has become the new Holy Grail in this game.
There have been three official attempts so far to set this particular record:
- two Fly It Forward events organized by BJ Worth’s World Team in April 2013 and April 2014, both with 222 skydivers
and - the P3 World Sequential Series organized by P3 Skydiving in December 2013 with 200 skydivers
The participants to these events have more or less experienced it all: joy, laughter, pride, boredom, extreme concentration, honor to meet and work with legends of the sport, shock, tears, sadness, loss, incredible team spirit, friendship, frustration, happiness… and the list could go on and on and on.
One thing eluded us though… the sweet feeling of success…
I am expecting the S-202 with trepidation! The amazing organizational “Troika” – Patrick Passe, Dieter Kirsch and Milko Hodgkinson – has put together what everybody that I talked to agrees is the best team ever to try a 200+ sequential record!
They also put together a great line-up of captains: Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld, Lise Nansen, Doug Forth, Alia Veselova, Andrey Barabash, Solly Williams, Herman Landsman and Marco Arrigo.
The organizers are optimistic about the event:
Patrick, organizer: “We have a good feeling about S-202. We are very, very happy to work with Skydive Perris. Dan BC has been incredibly helpful. They know how to do this, how to organize this kind of event. We also have a great selection of people. We’ll have no problem getting this record this time!”
Milko, organizer: “I believe we’ll have a new World Record! Don’t get me wrong. It’s not going to be easy, it’s going to be hard work. But the standard is very high and, no question about it, we are on a golden streak. Every goal that we set in the last years we managed to ‘kick its ass’!!
Dieter, organizer: “We are working with great captains and Skydive Perris has been very supportive. But it’s always the selection of the team that defines the chances of success… Bigways are always a challenge and this is not going to be easy, but I am positive we’ll do it!”
Dan BC, Manager of Skydive Perris, and Plane Captain “All of us at Skydive Perris are very excited to have the S202 here. Patrick and I have been friends for many years and it has been a pleasure to work with him on this project. The team that he, Milko and Dieter have assembled looks like the strongest group that has ever taken on this challenge and I’m confident we’re going to have the best chance we ever had of finally capturing this record.”
So, we have an incredibly strong team, amazing captains that are going to guide us, Skydive Perris is going to be great as always and a brilliant Alpha Team will be there to make the participants sweat ☺. Do you want to start sweating now??!! Just some of the names in the Alpha team: Victor Kravtsov, Tom Jenkins, Lesley Gale, Larry Henderson, Pal Bergen, Polo, Sian Stokes, Maria Russell, Andy Pook – plus and other superstars like Perris Prim8 …
Yes, I know, I used the F-word, too!!
I can only say nobody will want a bad day, or a bad jump for that matter, at this event. Every participant will have to give it 1000% on every jump – this is what records are made of !!
See you in September!
