Remster 30 #1 November 20, 2006 I just wanted to give a run down on the event that SDA hosted this weekend, put together By Tony Domenico and Doug Forth. It was the 1st advanced skills camp that Tony ran. As some of you know, Perris hosts camps twice a year organized by Tony, Kate et al., aimed at giving no fault, experienced building opportunities to jumpers wanting improve their big way skills. This event was aimed at people who had already attended some of these camps and / or big ways with them, and was focused on some key skills: Tracking, Radials Set-Ups, and Sheep-Dogging. 31 people registered, giving us 2 groups of 16/17, which combined to 32 ways at the end of the camp after a re-injured shoulder kept one of the campers on the ground after a few jumps. We did 20 jumps over the 4 days, 16 of which were the smaller 16ish groups, and 4 high altitude formation loads at the end. The 1st day was really all about team tracking. After a try at starting the jump with a track, Tony changed things to a setup in a loose, no contact 16 way, and then to a 16 way tracking dive. And no, these weren’t your momma’s tracking dive. I’ve done a few fun-jump type tracking dives, and the tightness usually isn’t there. The main goal was to practice, and perfect team tracking, which is becoming more and more critical in large formations: groups need to leave together, in a very tight formation and track in close proximity, for several thousand feet sometimes, before fanning out before opening. By the end of the camp, we were pulling off very tight groups. The by the end of the 1st day, we were adding long radial setups to no contact 16 ways. Day 2 was really all about radials, but still with high break-offs to tracking. People moved around from base to diver and floater sides, as usual for these camps. On day 3, we did a few jumps to focus on sheep-dogging. This is the technique that involves getting in as tight as possible to the person you are following to the formation. And by tight, I mean tight: grip taking tight. It does require lots of trust in the person you are following to set up a proper radial and stadium. We didn’t do too many jumps like these, as a 16 ways don’t really give you a lot of people to wait for, and then approach from your dive, making the sheep-dogging not as close as can be. We finished up with 4 formation loads from 15,500 ft. They were very quiet overall, especially the last one: even the transition to the second point was hard to notice on video. Oh yeah, and we drank a few beers too.Remster Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vallerina 2 #2 November 20, 2006 Nice recap, Remi! I thoroughly enjoyed the no-contact formations, and I can't believe how much my awareness while tracking grew (that was my personal biggest improvement from the camp.) I also enjoyed how they switched up slots. I liked experiencing the same skydive from various slots. The camp definitely challenged me, and you bet I'll be at next year's!!!!There's a thin line between Saturday night and Sunday morning Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jsaxton 0 #3 November 21, 2006 Very cool camp. Lots of challenge for everyone. And Kimbo's 15way after the camp ended was, interesting ;) Enjoyed jumping with everyone and hope to see you all again soon :) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
