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billvon

Thailand update #7 (and a new Guiness record!)

By billvon, in General Skydiving Discussions

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billvon    2,400

billvon
Monday

Based on the forecast for Monday, BJ decided not to start until 8am Monday morning. So of course it was severe clear at 7am; it took us until about 8:45 to get to the airport and start our dirt dive. It was relatively cool for a change. We did a few exit frames, got our gear, and loaded the planes.

I was a little worried about the first full 372 way jump. The superfloater was leaving a second earlier than the previous dive, and that meant the base would be higher from the point of view of the trail aircraft. There was a good likelihood that I'd have to float up to the base before I made my death-defying dash through oncoming traffic to get to the line-of-flight side of the base. And with seven pounds more weight than I'm used to, floating up might be an issue.

Plus which, of course, this would be our first shot at the biggest RW attempt ever, just to add a bit of pressure.

We climbed to altitude and exited, and I tried to exit, present and turn upwind to dive-floater position at the same time. Didn't work. I ended up doing a backloop before being able to start the dive float. The base hadn't moved very far on me; it was almost on level and up line of flight a bit. I tried to follow Hod in through the narrow gap between the base and the approaching sector 2 wacker, but the three of us (Hod, Rogerio and myself) bumped off each other a few times before we sorted ourselves out.

Scott docked and we docked on him. The lines behind us began to dock, and looking across the formation I saw very little drama beyond a few people low. The base flew very well until breakoff began. Then Bob got driven up and onto my back, and I turned and started my track a bit early rather than stick around for a possible funnel. Breakoff worked well, and all 368 people got clear air for opening. (We're down a little from 372 due to injuries and sickness.)

The video showed an very clean build, with only minor level and spacing problems. Most of the wackers built. Of 368, we had 318 in - a new Guiness record! The previous record, set in Eloy after the 300 way, was 316. It didn't count towards FAI since a few people were out. FAI records have to be complete as planned.

We rushed to get the next dive off before clouds came in. The temperature had once again climbed into the high 90's, and we sweated rivers until they started two engines and had bleed air to run the A/C.

When they opened the door at altitude, the view was amazing. Cumulus clouds were rolling in from the horizon, and the reflection bathed the inside of the plane in the same kind of brilliant white light you get from new-fallen snow. Against that backdrop, the far right trail Herc swung majestically back and forth as it lined up for the formation exit. Otters in close formation can sometimes seem a little twitchy as they line up; there is nothing at all twitchy about a C130. It made the heat and humidity and sore throats from the O2 and the long dirt dives seem just a little more worthwhile.

We got the off-oxygen call and lined up for exit. The exit went much better this time, and I followed Hod through our lane to the base. We set up our part of the outer ring, but there was no sign of Scott, who Hod was supposed to dock on. We looked at each other, and I took a look behind me, but no luck. After a moment Hod moved forward and took Scott's slot, and the sector-2 wacker began to build behind him. Due to the unique design of this dive, there was a chance Scott could get back to his position even after the wackers began to build, so I flew no-contact the rest of the dive, leaving a lane for him to fly in and nudge Hod out of the way if he managed to get back in.

Unbeknownst to me, Scott had had a collision on exit and gone low, and with the 12 pounds of weight he needed for his slot he wasn't able to get back up. We flew the base that way until breakoff. It was actually a lot of fun - I got a chance to fly my slot with no one pulling, stretching, lifting or pushing me.

When we landed, clouds had covered the sun and it wasn't looking good. We got a short call for a dirt dive, then a standby to standby. While we were waiting we heard another bit of good news - another Guiness record! 337 out of 366 had docked. It's not really what we're here for, but it indicated that we were well on our way to our real goal, a new FAI record. And a Guiness record is a nice perk.

Around 3:30 BJ decided to launch anyway; the pilots thought there was a chance it would clear before sunset. We took off, went on oxygen, and opened the tailgate at six minutes out. We got the two minute and one minute calls. At one minute we line up on the tailgate as tightly as the oxygen hoses will allow, then at the oxygen-off call (at 8 seconds) we tighten up the rest of the way. We were about 20 seconds from jumping when we got the call - we were going to go around. We sat down, still on O2, while they closed the tailgate. After a few more minutes of circling at 22,000 feet we got the disappointing message that we weren't going to jump. We landed under an overcast sky and called it a day.

Right now I'm sitting in an Irish pub eating Pad Thai, drinking a Guiness, and listening to country and western while skydivers flirt with the waitresses. Just another evening on the '04 World Team. Tomorrow the forecast isn't great, but we plan to get there early in case it's wrong again.

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ltdiver    3

ltdiver
Bill,

Say a HUGE hello to my friends Andrey Veselov and his wife Alia Veselova for me!! Give them a HUGE hug, too. :)
I recognize Andrey's music style on the video posted here. Is he the one putting the WorldTeam2004 video together?

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

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dragon2    0

dragon2
Quote

Bill,

Say a HUGE hello to my friends Andrey Veselov and his wife Alia Veselova for me!! Give them a HUGE hug, too. :)
I recognize Andrey's music style on the video posted here. Is he the one putting the WorldTeam2004 video together?

ltdiver



No, there's 3 of us (Edward, Henny, me) that will be putting the final video together. Right now Edward Blaauw is doing the end-of-the-day videos.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

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ltdiver    3

ltdiver
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No, there's 3 of us (Edward, Henny, me) that will be putting the final video together. Right now Edward Blaauw is doing the end-of-the-day videos.



Thanks! Nice video clips and music. Bet the flying is an awesome spectacle for the camera crew. B|

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

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Newbie    0

Newbie
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We climbed to altitude and exited, and I tried to exit, present and turn upwind to dive-floater position at the same time. Didn't work. I ended up doing a backloop before being able to start the dive float



amateur ;)

Just kidding Bill, congratulations and thanks for keeping us all updated with the great daily accounts!

"Skydiving is a door"
Happythoughts

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