Weekend Report 17-18

4w4e1 & FF4e1

Source: PHANTM

It was time for the Annual Rel-workers event 4w4e1 at Nagambie last weekend; with the growing support act - FF4e1 gaining more interest at competition level.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the event, 4-ways 4-everyone, is a very social entry level competition, held by Relworkers United - http://jump.relworkers.org/Home. Also with the growing interest in Freefly competition, Freefly 4 everyone gives jumpers interested in pursing Freeflying - the same opportunity as the Belly flyers.

In short, there are 4 skydivers to a team, which is chosen, based on experience level. Each team is required to have an instructor/tutor, an experienced jumper, an intermediate and a beginner jumper to level off the playing field. The dive pool is brought out and all teams complete 3 rounds, tallying the points to find out the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd places for the event. FF4e1 requires a tutor and single jumper to complete 3 rounds of 2-way FF jumps, with the same placing outcome.

With 9 teams competing this year in 4w4e1, and 4 teams in FF4e1, Manifest was underway with Loading up the PAC XL, and getting on with Round 1 of the comp. Conditions were terrific, with light cloud, 10-knot Southerly winds, a warm sun, and plenty of jumping going on.

There was Aussie champs on each team, helping winners in the making become familiar with the ways of competition jumping. The experience was extremely valuable for beginner & Intermediate jumpers, being able to mingle with faces regularly seen in the ASM, and even become team mates, for a day.

At the end of a great jump day, 1^st & 2^nd Place were separated by a mere 2 points, with 3^rd & 4^th separated by only 1 point. Congratulations to Shelly Williamson; not only finishing her B-rel 9 on load #1 of the day, but also entered her 1^st competition, completed her B-10’s and won her 1st Gold medal in the same day! Plenty of jumpers also competed for the first time, so if your after a beer – Nagambie will be sure to have the slabs flowing for the next few weeks. Congratulations also to Linsey’s Fitzpatrick who took out the Gold in the Freefly competition.

If you get a chance to be apart this competition in the future, it is very worth while – a terrific day, a huge success and big thanks in order to Skydive Nagambie, Relworkers, the APF, the packers, Coaches and Camera flyers! See you for League!

Weekend Report 10-11

Pond…errrring about swooping?

Source: PHANTM

We made the trip up to Picton at 5am, flying the much beloved Tiger Airways on Thursday morning last week; & after quite a pleasant (and unexpected check in) - we were soon on the plane and circling around Sydney, waiting for the turbulent winds to settle down to be able to land.

It didn’t look to flash on the ground, and a quick phone call, made it clear there was no jumping on Thursday, With that in mind, I took the reins, and navigated ‘the stig’ (griggsy) down the highway to Picton via, Wollongong. Over an hour later of moaning and groaning, 2 against 1 - I was starting to regret being the navigator, and luckily we arrived in time to go kart with the rest of the swoop troop.

Robbie Mac, held a very comprehensive course for the swoopers over Thursday and Friday, with everything from the basics to advanced maneuvers, competition tricks and overall skydiving techniques for dirt diving and planning of jumps. Robbie’s expertise makes him a brilliant coach, and if you ever have the chance to train with him – you should take the opportunity up ASAP.

 Saturday, with the XL running the guys to 5 grand, and smiles all round, the 10 knot down winders were giving the guys some excitement across the pond, but all too quickly the wind started shifting to the East, and increasing – mother nature was pretty unsettled now, and reading the reports of blue skies and warm weather in Nagambie was salt in the wound. This did not stop the Sky van ticking the loads over, and gave the guys plenty of time to practice their ‘preparation’ for the jumps and inner-peace.

Sunday started super-early with plenty of loads to be made up… one day to go and only 1 jump each per person. There was a head wind straight down the pond, but it was consistent, playing on the border line of the wind limit for most of the day – which made it difficult for guys setting up to late, resulting in lots of water landings! The moment finally happened late afternoon, with the cloud breaking up, sun shining, wind calming and swoopers, getting through the distance and accuracy rounds in good conditions.

The Top 3 places overall for open went to:

1)    Michael Vaughan

2)    Rob McMillan

3)    Shane Price

The Top 3 places overall for Intermediate went to:

1)    Conor King

2)    Keven Walters

3)    Clayton Werner

A Big Thanks to all he Judges, organizers, Robbie, Michael and Phil – Congrats to all the competitors – See you at Nationals!

http://www.sydneyskydivers.com.au

Weekend Report 12-13