Team Evolution completes first Training Camp

By Brett Willard

Team Evolution, Icarus Canopies Factory Pilots Wyat Drewes, Brett Willard, Jason Peters and Dusty Smith completed their first training camp at Skydive San Diego (SSD) earlier this March. The Icarus Factory Team shares to home DZ's for training, SSD which is home to Willard and Drewes and Skydive Arizona (SA) Peters and Smith. The team came together in the middle of March to train in San Diego for this years long calendar of swoop events.

SSD played an awesome host for this training camp providing hop & pops at 13,500 feet in which team members could view the Pacific Ocean, Mexico, Otay Mtn range and the downtown skyline of San Diego. The DZ is nestled between the beautiful Otay mountains and at the base of the Otay lake which makes the perfect swoop pond for Team Evolution.

The Team worked on several things during the camp including CRW, water swoops, 2-way and 4-way landings and were also able to throw out a few freefly jumps for photos. Working on high performance CRW has to be the most challenging, say's Team Evolution. "Bringing together formations and high speed landings takes precision and concentration", said Peters. Dusty Smith the newest member of the team was a solid choice. It also works out geographically since Peters and Smith are both out of Arizona.

The Team started Thursday night with a strategy meeting setting goals and objectives for not only the weekend but for 2004. Drewes, the team Captain had a pretty big schedule to fit into 4 days. "Not only were we training for upcoming events, we were training to work and fly together as a team", said Drewes. For the high altitude CRW we had several camera flyers working with us. James Flaherty A.K.A. The Punisher from the Ranch New York and Dave Tirello A.K.A. Barefoot Dave out of Elsinore. Our ground film crew and Chief Video Editor from TK Films is Tim Koranda. Tim has been shooting and editing for the team for almost a year now. You'll get to see his work later this year. Tim is a major asset for Team Evolution since he is by far the most creative and consistent filming we have seen. On Saturday we found a perfect little spit or corner down on the lake. There were trees and reeds that Tim was able to get in the camera angle making for some of the most dynamic swoop video. "There's nothing like swooping natural areas", said Peters. They were event able to swoop the occasional fishing boat that passed by. After the water swoops the team worked on two-way landings in front of the DZ. SSD has a nice landing area where Team Evolution also put a distance and accuracy course in.

Team Evolution has a booked calendar this 2004 which includes the PST Swooping events, Red Bull Event Blade Raid, Nationals, guest events, Skydive Oregon Freedom Jam, large demonstrations including the NHRA series and several other sanctioned events. The next training camp will be in Perris Valley where Team Evolution will be meeting prior to the Freestyle event. It's time to get back on the water and throw down some sick moves. This year should be even more challenging as the competition introduced a new freestyle round. This includes moves like you would see in a freestyle motor-cross event.

Icarus Canopies Team Evolution also operates canopy and freefly schools at both DZ's. SSD under new management with Andy Witcomb as the new DZO brought Team Evolution to the DZ to help grow the experienced side of the DZ. "SSD is changing and changing fast", say's Willard. They are in the process of building a huge bunkhouse with additional team rooms for visitors as well as showers and restroom facilities that arrived last week . A new huge covered packing area is also in the works. Not only do we have the fastest Otters in California but the views are by far the greatest. We are not only home to Team Evolution but also the Navy Parachute Team, Tactical Air Operations Inc, and visiting organizations such as the R.A.F. Parachute Team.

This year Skydive San Diego and Team Evolution will be hosting several events including a grand opening boogie. The calendar of events will soon be up on the new web site www.skydivesandiego.com. We look forward to flying with you soon.

Icarus Canopies Team Evolution.

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