Ranch Pond Swoop Nationals

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

OK, here it is. I just got home at 5:30 this morning after having competed this weekend in the Pond Swoop Nationals. This event was the largest gathering ever of professional swoopers in any event, sanctioned or otherwise. I believe we had 72 total entrants! The competition consisted of eight jumps which were broken down as follows:
-two rounds of swoop accuracy in which you swoop the pond and kick foam rubber buoys.
-two rounds of inline distance in which you are judged on your longest uninterupted contact with the water.
-two rounds of carving in-lane swooping with the same judging criteria as above.
-one round of freestyle canopy expression/water displacement.
-one round of raft accuracy in which you swooped the pond, then attempted to land right on top of a mattress.
All but one event was run out of a Twin Otter with competitors being broken down into groups of four. Five groups were put on a load, with each group given an individual pass. Exit altitude was generally 4,000 feet. Teams were forced to sort out their spacing on their own. Normally, the person with the highest wingload went first and hummed it down a bit. Lightest wingload dumped right out the door and then the entire stack got down as fast as they could in an orderly manner so as to make way for the next pass. Traffic problems were rare, but a few re-jumps were allowed for various reasons, generally resulting from having to weave in and out of tandems and fun jumpers.
After my mediocre performance at the Perris PPPB meet, I knew I needed to get to the DZ and practice on the actual pond. I drove up from North Carolina after my teammate Tony Canant arrived from Charleston, SC. We got to The Ranch late Wednesday evening and settled in. I made five practice jumps Thursday in perfect wind-free conditions before the rain came that afternoon. Friday was windy in the morning and early afternoon, but calmed down enough for me to get five more practices in.
We had the competitors briefing at around 8:30 pm on Friday. I couldn't believe how many people were there to compete! The meet organizers did not think this big of a group would show up and had to have additional competitor shirts printed that day. The briefing was short and to the point, then everyone continued socializing with friends old and new.
Saturday morning, competitors, judges, and staff all met at the pond for the event brief. Once rules were clarified, the 20 minute call was given and it was game on. Both rounds of swoop accuracy were completed, then the course was changed to the inline course. The buoy lines were set at 4 and a half feet apart and ran the length of the pond. After two rounds of that, the course was curved and the carve event started. It was getting late in the day, so the event staff decided to do round two of the carve first thing Sunday morning.
Everyone was stoked that the event was going so well. The only gripe that some people had, myself included, was the subjectivity of the scoring. All events were broken down into two catagories: swoop points and style points. Swoop points were given for executing the required task to a specific standard for each event (number of buoys kicked, total distance of foot drag, etc.), but a score of zero was given if you "chowed", which is to say you didn't make it out of the pond to standard. You were scored from one to ten in this catagory. Style points were awarded by each judge and were also from one to ten. These scores varied wildly from judge to judge and from competitor to competitor. What one swoop might score for one guy (or girl) , might not get you nearly the same. Just to back-track a tiny bit: a swoop that might draw the dreaded chow flag for one competitor might get judged "clean" for the very next competitor. Several jumpers contested their scores and rulings; some successful, some not. This inconsistency worked both for and against competitors. For example: I hit four buoys on one accuracy run, but only got a score of 48 out of 80 possible. I saw several people score higher than that after only hitting three buoys. Odd, and I really couldn't see how they quantified some of the scores. In the distance events, some people that chowed recieved higher scores than those that completed the swoop to standard. The consensus was that the minimum score for a clean run ought to be higher than the maximum score for a chow, thus allowing competitors with a consistent style a better chance. To many, it seemed like higher scores were given to those that went big and failed, than to those who were in the groove, but just couldn't swoop shore-to-shore. Don't think I am bitching and unhappy, because I am absolutly not. I did the best I could and after a chow in one round wasn't going to finish in the money anyway. I really did have a blast.
Anyway, on to Sunday. We all got up and met back out at the pond for the day's briefing. The aircraft was fired up and off we went. The second round of carving was done first, then the bouys were pulled out of the water. The fire truck was cranked up and they tried to get the water arc shooting, but the wind was making it disperse into more of a mist than the judges cared for, so we did the freestyle expression/water displacement event without it. This event was run out of Billy Richards' very-nice helicopter. It holds four jumpers, so the round took a while to complete. The good thing was that most of the competitors were on the ground for this one and as such, all got to see the other guys runs. Very nice! The odd winds really put a damper on some of the runs on Sunday. J.C. Colclasure, a world-class swooper, had to bail on one run and barely got any water at all. Some OUTSTANDING swoops were thrown down by most competitors, though, and the crowd was incredulous. Several people took their swoops from shore to shore, straight downwind. Lots of people did double-footed layouts, some all the way to their faces. Some swooped, then popped up really high and did cool splashes. Very entertaining, but the best (and worst) were left to come.
The last event was raft accuracy. The intent was to swoop the pond, then somehow land on top of this twin-bed sized raft. Out of the 70 competitors still competing, only TWO successfully landed on the raft: Shaylan Allmen and Josh Hulse. People were throwing down some MAD swoops in this event. It was absolutely the craziest and most fun thing to watch. Competing was even more fun!
So, there I was on the Otter with my Atair teammates and the rest of the four-man groups. We had been having a blast in the competition and all chatted happily in the plane about how fantastic it was that nobody had been really injured in the contest. The worse thing up to that point was a twisted ankle and a bruised tail-bone. We were stoked! We came around for pass number three, my team's turn, and off I went with a jaunty salute to my swoopy brothers and sisters. I threw my 270 well out over the land and stuck a double footer deep down to my chest, then skipped up to the raft. I missed the grip with my right hand and barely fell off the other side for a chow. Oh well, it was great fun and I got lots of applause. My other two teammates came in and we all walked over to the packing area together. While we were laying out our gear, the fourth pass was coming in. This pass consisted of J.C. Colclasure and three girls: Maryanne, Brigitte Liss, and Lisa Gallagher. All three of the girls had just performed very well in the last round and were eagerly anticipating their turn at the raft. First up was J.C., followed by Maryanne. Next, catastrophe struck. Everyone watched in horror as Lisa made her turn, then had the rotors off the trees collapse her main, mid-dive. She went straight into the land on the near side, bounced up and flipped into the pond. Valiant efforts were made to revive her by medical personnel, but in the end she passed away. I did not know Lisa that well, but had seen her at two previous swoop competitions this year. She was nice, mature girl that impressed me with the way she carried herself. She and Andy Anderson were dating and looked to be supremely happy with each other. My condolences to Andy, her family, and everyone who was close to her. Rest in peace my swoopy sister!
In the aftermath of the tragedy, the last pass left in the plane landed and the last load did not go up. The meet ended and the last round was not counted. The crowd broke up into little enclaves and dealt with it in very-different ways. Guy Wright and the staff kept the competitors updated as he got the news. Unfortunately, I had to leave on that sad occasion. I was very much in the mood to sit and drink heavily with my friends. In all, this was the most fun I have ever had at a parachute meet in my 20 years in the sport. Unfortunately, it is the second event I had been to in three weeks that had a fatality. This accident was not the fault of a botched turn. Mother nature reared her ugly head and took one of our own this time. It was very unfortunate, but most of us with any salt have seen it before. Reflect on this and drive on. Learn from it. Be cognizant of turbulence and avoid it.
Canopy swooping events are getting a lot of attention nowadays. This meet had a very large cash purse and paid down to 7th or 10th place (I missed the awards ceremony). The people who compete in these events are not loose canons who go out and yank 180 degree toggle turns at 75 feet; they are people that fully understand the capabilities and limitations of what is over their head and what to do to wring the most performance out of it. People commiting unsafe acts are grounded and schooled on what they did wrong and how to do it right the next time. We professional competitors welcome you to join us. There is a lot to learn just by watching the really great pilots and their finesse under canopy. I am alway learning and improving at these meets. I take that knowledge and experience back home to my home DZ and try and school others on what I have seen and done. Safe canopy piloting instruction leads to safer practices in the air which leads to safer, more accomplished swooping. Ask questions, learn, have fun.
Many thanks to Sonic, Guy, and the rest of the staff at The Ranch for doing a fine job with this event.
Chuck Blue
Team Atair

[johnny1488 1]

Hey chunk Im a ranch hand and was there yesterday at the time of the unfortunate accident. I am glad you made the comment about the skill of all the canopy pilots and the special attention paid to all safety matters. No one appeared to be a hot dog or loose cannan. Unfortunatly this is not the first time rotors on that end of the field had caused problems for canopies. I felt especially bad that this poor girl was doing nothing wrong and there is really nothing that can be said to the contrary. I felt we handled it the best we could. This was my first witness to an incedent and im sure it wont be the last but even the expierenced jumpers said it always hits you just as hard. I am very proud of dawn, guy and the rest of the staff that worked thier hardest to help lisa. Before this happened the weekend seemed to be the best in a while. Nothing more can be said its just a tragedy.
My condolences to all family and friends of Lisa.
Johnny

[weid14 0]

The Ranch is a great place, and the Pond swoop nationals is the best event of that type around... I was really bummed I was missing it this year until I heard the news. Now I'm bummed for the community -- not only jumpers, but others who were there to watch truely excellent canopy flyers strut their stuff. Dawn is a first rate trauma nurse who I would want to have around when the stuff really hits the fan. I feel for the family of Lisa.. what a bummer

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

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I am glad you made the comment about the skill of all the canopy pilots and the special attention paid to all safety matters.

Absolutely. This was a great event and it drew the absolute best pilots in the country. There was no way anyone there was going to get away with doing stupid shit; that was evident by the detail of the safety briefing and rules explanation. There is absolutely no one to blame for this unfortunate accident, inluding Lisa. Also, yes, she was taken care of to the best ability of the very-capable people on the scene. I, unfortunately, have seen impacts to that same degree on at least five occasions. After seeing one of those people fully recover to skydive again, I had hoped that Lisa might be that lucky. The skydiving community lost a fine person, and by no fault of her own that I could see.
Chuck

[Zennie 0]

I'm so sorry to hear about this. My condolences to all you swoopers who were there and Lisa's family & friends.
Blue skies forever Lisa!
--------
Zennie
"I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..."
--Tool

[PhreeZone 20]

Since Lisa graduated AFF, did her first few hundred jumps and just jumped last at our DZ on Wednesday, I'm sure that they'll be doing something for her in the near future. I'll pass along details to all those who are interested.
Do I HAVE to do another raft dive???

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[ramon 0]

very very sad, dude.
sorry for Andy and her family.
BSBD
ramon

[Michele 1]

My condolences to Lisa, her family, Andy, and the skydiving family as a whole. I am so sorry.
Blue skies forever.....
Michele
"What of the dreams that never die? Turn to your left at the end of the sky".
~e e cummings~

[PalmettoTiger 1]

Chuck, thanks for the detailed account. You did a great job with every aspect of the event, even the unfortunate one. We lost a fellow skydiver to a BASE accident thirty-six days ago, and I wish the newspaper accounts had been as well-written as yours.
Blue skies forever Lisa.
Blues, squares,
PTiger