Thursday, November 06, 2008 Frost marked the morning as I loaded the truck to begin my journey to the airport. Sitting here in the terminal, I had to laugh as I watched three air-warriors with rigs on their backs. You can always tell a skydiver, either by the Tshirt, closing pin jewelry, or the obvious; a rig. And dayum! Some of those rigs are UGLY. We cloistered in the corner of the terminal like a secret society, chuckling at the surreptitious glances tossed our way. It’s always fun to make up storylines to go with the conversations being observed; “What are those long-haired guys wearing on their backs? Are they gonna hi-jack the plane? Are they mountain climbers? Cool looking backpacks, where do I get one? What is that handle for?” Yup…it’s always a good time to put words in the mouths of others. C’mon….you know you enjoy it! The others went their way, on a different airline to the same place. Alex (Packing guru from Pepperell, MA) found his way to the same flight I was on. We boarded the flight from SLC to Ontario, excited at the prospect of getting to Elsinore in time for at least a couple jumps today. Wouldn’t you know…everytime you’re in a hurry, no one else seems to be. The flight was delayed by nearly 30 mins, but we did get airborne. We joked on the ride to altitude that it felt weird to be landing with the plane for a change, and maybe we should ask the pilot to allow us an early spot. No one around us seemed terribly amused at our stories of engine failures, stuck flaps, or pilot errors. Maybe understanding the exaggerated excitement of these events is limited to skydivers.
So, we’ve arrived at Ontario, Jason Carter was there with the micro-compact car. I can only guess what the “economy car” might have looked like. Cramped with three of us, rigs, my camera box, one large suitcase, and two monster kit bags, we’re driving south to Elsinore. The back end of the car is ass-heavy, so we sway across three lanes of the freeway at least twice on our drive south. We’re among the first to arrive, which is good, because one of us have rigs that have never before been jumped (I won’t say whose, as we’re already spending enough on the weekend without having to buy beer again). Jokes of Purple Mike abound, and the anticipation of sweet winds, warm air, and soft landings dance through our heads like the proverbial sugar plums (what the hell is a sugar plum, anyway?).
I think we’re all a little buzzed; Jeff Nebelkopf and Justin Shorb insisted on painting Flock University logos throughout the landing area, to standardized the dirtdiving locations. After 30 cans of red and white spray paint, shoes, pants, and fingers sport what looks like the remnants of a bad Halloween costume. But the field looks terrific! Les (Aerodyne) and I make a mad dash to Temecula to get out a FedEx and miss the sunset load.
WE’RE HERE! But my cameras haven’t arrived. Now I’m bummed. Well…a coupla fun jumps down, it’s time to go to dinner. Don Juan’s, here we come!
Gotta laugh at the wingsuit magnets on the side of Scotty Burn’s rental car. Tomorrow, at least one of those magnets will be Sharpied to match my wingsuit. Catch up with you tomorrow.
Re: [mccordia] Lake Elsinore Wingsuit Record Attempt
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For those interested, my blog on skydivernetwork.org has a bunch of photos, etc. There is a nice blog feature there.
Friday, November 07, 2008 What a day! Not a lot of jumps, but lots of logistics to deal with. Magnet board laid in, video room set up complete with interview confessional, and for me personally, I got my initial experience with a new container. WOW, it felt great to jump it. Thanks again to Rigging Innovations. The team captains started to work even harder than before, at times looking like a basketball team huddled up sharing the top-secret, insider information that assuredly will allow this event to successfully build. We’ve already started learning more about our slots, which are much more distant than we’ve practiced all summer. Makes for a much prettier sight picture, but no where near as easy to fly. Seriously. Flying in slot farther from someone is significantly harder than flying in slot very close to someone. Tighter is easier, in my opinion. But it also leaves more room for error when you’re tight, and the more distant slot is much prettier in photos, and covers more airspace. I think it’s more safe, too. A few video interviews were done, but the big event will attract ESPN, EXPN, and Comcast Sports Network (CSN). Jeff and Scotty both sport new haircuts, so they’re all prepped up for their on-camera appearances. We dirt-dived hard. Both in suits and out, and there were a few moments of confusion in this first day of group landings. A pattern was established to separate the wingsuit landing direction from any others that might be landing. The red/yellow card warning system has been established and kicks into full effect tomorrow morning at 6.00 a.m. Tonight is our last free night as normal humans. Tomorrow, we become robots, slaves to the clock and cube. 3 meters square, no more, no less for our slotted positions. Three square meters is a larger area than one might expect. Birdman, Phoenix-Fly, S-Fly, and TonySuits are all represented here; suits of every hue and shade in the rainbow are seen milling about. If you asked me, some of the color combinations should be considered illegal distractions in the air. Are some skydivers colorblind? The team briefings are fun as well. Cramming 30 people into a 10 x 12 room isn’t. Watching the jumps on a 15” computer screen isn’t. Thank heaven that Hammo helped us set up a monitor system that allowed us to control briefings from the media computer systems while keeping all the wingsuiters out of the video rooms. Jim, our pilot is a dream come true. He turned on the green light on the second jump of the day, and then realized we were out just a bit too far. So…everyone climbed back in. Except for Scotty Burns. Scotty hung on the side of the plane for dear life (in the camera slot, wearing a wingsuit) while Jim banked the plane around for a 180, putting us more on track for our 2.5 mile flight. Scotty looked like he was having the time of his life. Jim didn’t know he was out there. Oh what fun we have as skydivers!
Re: [DSE] Lake Elsinore Wingsuit Record Attempt
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Scotty hung on the side of the plane for dear life (in the camera slot, wearing a wingsuit) while Jim banked the plane around for a 180...... Jim didn’t know he was out there.
My things to do list just grew. What plane and what direction was the turn? Otter turning left? Have fun over there guys. BANG!
Re: [mccordia] Lake Elsinore Wingsuit Record Attempt
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With so many f**ckers f**cking on the West Coast, the skies on the East Coast look delightfully clear. From above, I can see for miles and miles without seeing two or more men holding their hands and winking at each other. Even L/D seems to be better - with air undisturbed by horrendous burbles behind bodies in expensive mattre$$es plummeting to Earth at higher vertical speeds than horizontal, the airflow seems to be fully laminar, almost attached to every dimple on my body!
Re: [DSE] Lake Elsinore Wingsuit Record Attempt
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Spot, you're doing an excellent job documenting the event. Thanks for putting the time and effort into it... it's really cool for those of us who aren't in Elsinore right now... Keep up the good work, dude.
Re: [yeyo] Lake Elsinore Wingsuit Record Attempt
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Yeyo, it's at *least* 10% less fun without you here. See you soon, my friend. Glad some folks appreciate the reports. They're being fed to the news media as newsfeeds, slightly more colorful, but I know skydivers like to dig at the colorful stuff so it's slightly edited for you. More pix coming up.
K', Andreea, just because you are a super girl, I've posted a bunch more pix.
Re: [DSE] Lake Elsinore Wingsuit Record Attempt
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3 meters square, no more, no less for our slotted positions. Three square meters is a larger area than one might expect. If you asked me, some of the color combinations should be considered illegal distractions in the air. Are some skydivers colorblind?
is it a 3m sided square (which would be a 9sqm surface) or a 3square meter surface ?
colours ?? True.. blue and yellow is OK if you're swedish. Other than that is a no-go
Re: [MB38] Lake Elsinore Wingsuit Record Attempt
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Hey Spot, are the attempts today or tomorrow? I might get out there with a camera and a few long lenses.
The parts are being assembled as separate groups on Fri, Sat, Sunday. All four groups will begin jumping together as one unit (four aircraft) on Monday afternoon.
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and yes, be careful (especially those who deply a bit to close to each pther, imho)
if you're implying that there are unsafe wingsuit pilots on this attempt; A-you're showing ignorance... B-Safety is the UTMOST concern, and anyone displaying unsafe activity is yellow-carded. Two yellow cards equal instant ejection from the team. If it's really unsafe (such as two canopies deploying too closely together), then it's an instant red card/ejection from the team. You suggest these guys are unsafe in their deployments?
(This post was edited by DSE on Nov 8, 2008, 5:38 PM)
Re: [MB38] Lake Elsinore Wingsuit Record Attempt
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Sucks in sitting in the hospital on a 30 hour call instead of being out there flying. Out of curiosity, what are the breakoff and deployment altitudes? Im sure theres plenty of people there making norcal proud
Re: [DSE] Lake Elsinore Wingsuit Record Attempt
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I don't suggest a thing, I just wish you all fulfil your brave plan without a harm
ps. undoundoubtedly, it would be interesting to hear more about organization of the attempts and preparations around it - like the safety rules you desribed above and how they work in reality. go on reporting from the flash point!
Lake Elsinore Wingsuit Record Attempt
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Saturday, November 08, 2008 There is only one 6:00 in my day, and “a.m.” isn’t part of it. Until this morning. The organizers had the groups arrive at 6:00 a.m. (coffee and really good muffins provided) to get started with safety briefings from Hammo and Co (Skydive Elsinore staff). PD Team member Jonathan Tagle had some words of wisdom about landings, given the fickle winds of Elsinore’s landing areas. Lying down in the dewy grass during sunrise of the landing area at Elsinore sounds very romantic in the written form. Physically, it was wet and cold. But it allowed us to see the perfect formation spacing as we laid down and across the 71 Flock University logos painted on the grass of the landing area (remember those, from Day One of the blog?) Each component of the formation launched today in separate aircraft loads, and it didn’t take much to get each piece working very well on its own. On Monday, the pieces will be put together like puzzle sections in order to form a perfect formation of 71 flyers. Winds were definitely fickle, blowing from all directions of the compass at times. There were a couple of unfortunate landings, one of which involved a ground-based canopy collision with one jumper being seriously injured and the other merely receiving a very dirty and dusty landing. The wingsuit groups are briefed prior to each jump, and landing direction determined prior to boarding the aircraft. In the event of a changing wind, the team captain or first person down sets the landing direction. Thus far, all wingsuit group landings have been uneventful and safe, save it be for one hotdog that swooped another wingsuiter, caught his foot in an already-down canopy, pulling the landed wingsuiter onto his back. Oops…bad juju. That won’t happen again. The final load of the day was reserved for wingsuit team “D”, which is the last aircraft group in the formation. We’ll have the furthest to fly, but tonight, we were treated to a gorgeous Elsinore sunset, gold and deep red. No matter how ugly one might be…an Elsinore sunset brings out the beauty. For me, the highlight of the day is watching Brian Drake. He’s a hero in this event. Brian broke his leg in a BASE jump a couple months ago, and still sports a cast. He has a unique pegleg that lets him stay fairly mobile, but it has to come off during the jump. Brian gets to the plane by grabbing my rig and doing the hopalong thing. But the real fun comes when in the formation, I get to look across towards Brian. He lets me know we’re in sync in the slot by sticking his tongue out at me. It’s a sight to see him slide in his landings with his cast on. Talk about dedication to the sport and to the event. Brian, you’re my hero of the day. Justin brought us home every jump, perfectly over the landing area. No one landed out, no one landed in dangerous traffic, and everyone had a smile on their face when they walked up to the packing area. Speaking of packers…Alex trekked all the way out to Elsinore from Massachusetts to jump and pack. He is another hero of the event, making sure that multiple people made 30 minute turnarounds on the wingsuit loads. Awesome job, Alex. Tony Uragallo has been taking out the Alternates group, and the team will likely need a few of these alternates to make the formation fill out as it becomes more apparent where some wingsuit pilots might not be quite cut out for flocking. While there are some incredible wingsuit flyers here, known as the best in their regions or countries, not all are experienced in large-formation flocking, and find themselves slow, low, floaty, tumbling, or unable to hold position. It happens. Large-formation/bigway flocking isn’t anywhere near as easy as it looks, and maintaining the distances that must be maintained isn’t simple. It’s much harder flying 8 feet away from someone and staying locked in than it is to fly head to foot. Try it some time. It’s not a cakewalk at all. Tony held court at the end of the day; while Tonysuits don’t represent a huge portion of the wingsuits seen in the formation, he’s obviously an icon and legend in the wingsuit and skydiving world. It’s terrific to see him here, leading flocks. Well…Avery Badenhop wants everyone to join him at KokoRo’s for sushi tonight, so it’s time to move on. Tomorrow is another day, and after spending the day capturing, debriefing, archiving video from Craig O’brien, Tero, Scotty Burns, Mark Harris, Jeff Donahue, and other videographers involved in the event…I’m bushed. Food sounds good right now. even sushi See you tomorrow.
Photos are on the Skydivernetwork.org page, see my blog there.
(This post was edited by DSE on Nov 8, 2008, 9:05 PM)
Re: [DSE] Lake Elsinore Wingsuit Record Attempt
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Spot..thanks for the great updates and photos!!. It is wonderful to be able read the daily reports, for all of us that could not make it out there . Wish I was there with you all. Best of luck to you everyone and Play Safe Ralph
Re: [Guana] Lake Elsinore Wingsuit Record Attempt
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Sunday, November 09, 2008 The Axe-man Cometh! This early morning stuff is for the birds. Early morning breath leaves small puffies in the air for a moment, as hands desperately wrap around steaming hot Styrofoam cups of coffee. Cold muffins went down a little less easily today than yesterday, but they *are* good muffins, regardless of the cold. It was obvious from the moment of sunrise that the winds and weather would not be terribly cooperative today, and as advertised, they became challenging. We got the first loads in the air by 7:40 and kept pushing at the schedule to get each group up to practice their formation. Team D kicked ass this morning with perfection at the first jump. Not so perfect was the breakoff, where Scott Gray had an unfortunate collision with a UFO. With Scott now out of the air, however temporarily, we set up for the next load, dirt-dived again and again, even lying down in the wet grass while wearing our wingsuits. Second load went very well, and was uneventful. Until landing. The wind had kicked up so badly that virtually no one made it back to the landing area, most landed well to the east, north, or both. More than one person was dragged backwards, and one non-wingsuiter suffered minor injuries while being dragged by their canopy. Thankfully some packers were able to run over and catch the wayward canopy before it became a full-on incident. Myself…I ended landing in a pile of construction debris. Landing backwards is never a fun prospect. With that…the day was closed. Norman Kent, Craig O’brian, Scotty Burns, and myself sat around the video room for a couple of hours telling photo stories and playing with the computers before adjourning for the day. 6:00 p.m brought about the dinner, safety briefing, and social time for the group. A great dinner of barbequed pork, chicken, and spiced sausage with beans and rolls was a comfort food this ole’ boy needed. After dinner, we received yet another safety briefing and watched a six minute video featuring footage shot by Norman Kent, Scotty Burns, Craig O’Brian, Douglas Spotted Eagle, and Tero Paukku. The vid showed all the various segments of the formation as they’ll fit together as one large, 250’ wide super-sized wedge. The captains have built a grid that will fit over a photo of the formation. Anyone not in their slot runs a very high risk of being cut. The Alternates Team is salivating, hoping to move up into the slots of axeman’s victims. Ed Pawlowski was presented to the group as the guy that will be chopping folks from slots, and if you know Ed…mercy nor quarter shall be given. This formation will build, maybe as soon as tomorrow afternoon. 6:00 a.m. is looking even more ugly tomorrow. No tardiness, lest one desire a yellow card.
(there are 25 new photos on the Skydivernetwork.org page, if you wanna see more. Just look for my personal page there, read the blog or look at the photos). A short video of cuts has been added.
(This post was edited by DSE on Nov 9, 2008, 9:43 PM)
FormationBoard-WorldRecord.jpg
What plane and what direction was the turn? Otter turning left? 
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