JFTC from a guy's perspective

[billvon 3,112]

Jump for the Cause is now underway! I had the opportunity to help out a little on the first day of jumping, so I thought I'd post an update on the event:


DAY -1 (Saturday)

Saturday Amy went off to pick up Yukari at the airport; she had no way to get to the DZ, so she asked Amy for a ride. One thing led to another, and before long she was flying in to San Diego, staying with us, and getting her reserve repacked while she was here.

Then it was time to set up for a barbeque. Amy had invited some of the Australians, Canadians and Brits over for a barbeque, so a lot of beer had to be bought and put on ice. The Brits were exhausted by the time they got in, so they never showed. Cindy showed up, had a hamburger and immediately fell asleep on the couch. The rest of the women straggled in over the course of about four hours, with colorful stories about airport traffic, jet lag and incompetent hotel managers. People stayed until about 10pm. As we cleaned up, we realized that they had actually put a dent in all the beer that's been accumulating in our house over the past few months.

DAY 0 (Sunday)

Sunday morning Amy packed Yukari's reserve, and then we headed up to the airport. Amy was driving the van so she wouldn't have to stay in a hotel while she was up there. Once we were there, we took Ginger on a wingsuit jump, did a few fun jumps, and spent the rest of the time catching up with people we hadn't seen in years. Val, Brenda, Portia, Taz, Mary, Barb, Julie, Linda . . . there were far more people to say hello to than we had time.

While we were there we watched the POPS get a completion on their second to last jump. After the video review Carey took a vote, and they decided to donate the last jump ($4000!) to JFTC. I think some of the women on the POPS were happy to not have to jump again; they wanted a break before the next bigway.

DAY 1 (Monday)

The day dawned clear despite forecasts for thunderstorms. The day started out with the inevitable Lambchop performance at breakfast, along with a song by Richard and a preliminary briefing by Kate and Tony. After the briefing we split into three practice groups. I was doing base practice with Roger; our base would be the target for four wackers out of the main dive. Tony had another practice base for wackers, and Kate had the 'real' base, which would be going higher (16,500.)

After about two hours of organization, dirt diving and runouts, the first group went up. The base launched first, and had a decent first dive (a handful of people out) out of four aircraft. Tony was next, and we brought up the rear. Our load consisted of the lead Skyvan and two trail aircraft. We only went to 13,500 to help with oxygen issues. The base launched well, and we built the practice formation without much trouble.

Afterwards we debriefed in the new video room, and it was pretty clear that outside a few minor problems everyone was flying really well. There were a few women I had jumped with before who had improved tremendously. Roger was so encouraged that he planned some extra points after some deliberation. "Let's plan a second point. Hmm, I can't do that, Tony will kill me, we're not supposed to do more than the first point. OK, the wackers are going to detach, fly free, then redock. He can't get mad about that; that's good practice. And then we get to turn points."

So we planned the second dive with the extra points. We went back up, jumped, and got three points, although there was some argument about whether a prebuilt line had docked before Roger keyed the second point. But we took credit anyway, since we were doing better than Tony's practice group. It had taken only one jump for the inevitable skydiver competitiveness showed itself.

On the practice jumps I had a great view of Linda, Taz and Val on the wacker across from me, and Yukari and Yong were in yellow off to my right. Since I had nothing much to do in the base I made faces at them. I almost messed Val up on the second dive - she smiled and waved back, then realized she wasn't over far enough.

There were a few minor incidents during the practice jumps that I think were due to people getting used to the traffic, the formation, the breakoff, the new area etc. We had a few reserve rides and one cypres fire, as well as a pretty badly sprained ankle that looked like a break at first. But after the first few jumps most people looked like they had gotten familiar with the plane formations, the landing area and the pattern.

After a mechanical problem with one of the planes was dealt with, the base launched for the third practice jump at about 3pm into some developing clouds. The first problem hit when someone on Shark Air got sick (she did make it to the door in time.) The second problem came during the first jump run. They were over clouds and decided not to exit, but climbout had already started. In one plane, a floater fell off. On another, a cameraman fell off when the otter started to buffet.

The second pass was no better, and after the third pass (all on oxygen, missing two people) they decided to not tempt fate. The four aircraft landed with all but two people aboard. One woman got out of Shark and kissed the ground.

We went on a weather hold for a few hours. It finally cleared, and the base went back up and did a nearly perfect formation with just a few minor problems, including one very high altitude deployment (16,500!) Kate looked happy as she walked back in from the field. They decided to scrap the last practice jumps in favor of a longer dirt dive for tomorrow's 165 way attempts. Which meant that my role in JFTC was over; they wouldn't need any practice bases for tomorrow.

That night they had a live band (a blues singer) in the Bomb Shelter, and we sat around drinking beer and talking about Portia logistics (how to get her pain meds?) and jumpsuit issues (several pink suits had never shown, and were supposed to be coming directly to the DZ.) Then I headed back home.

JFTC 2005 is off to a good start. It was great seeing some of my friends in the air in their pink and yellow suits, and I was happy to have been able to help in a small way (as a target.) From what I saw on the videos, they're not going to have much trouble getting the record. I'm guessing they will get it Thursday. Good luck ladies and be safe!

(BTW I will post pictures once I decimate them to fit.)

[billvon 3,112]

Here are some shots from the belly mount camera, facing both forward and backwards:

[billvon 3,112]

More pictures:

Richard giving a speech at breakfast

The Skyvan landing with a load after circling for an hour

Parachutes landing

[billvon 3,112]

A few more women from JFTC, including the indomitable Kate Cooper:

[Spatula 0]

Hey Bill! Great update....any pics of Carol Clay out there? She's one of our reps out there....

[goose491 0]

Nice writeup Bill. Good on you to lend a helping body. I'll bet it was great fun... and a bit of great chaos too. lol.

Those "canopy" pictures are WOW! When I think "bigways", I always think "Canopy Traffic" but pictures like that never cease to amaze me.

Hey, can you tell us what happened leading to that CYPRES fire?

Nick

My Karma ran over my Dogma!!!

[Remster 30]

What Cypres fire?

Remster

[billvon 3,112]

>Hey, can you tell us what happened leading to that CYPRES fire?

I'm not sure; there was a bit of a language barrier. I think it was a hard pull that took 5-6 seconds, followed by a reserve pull. After she let go of the PC the main apparently deployed, which made it look like the classic two-out from a cypres firing. The cutter fired but since it was a Javelin it wasn't clear whether it was before or after she pulled the reserve. It was likely after based on the timing.

>Those "canopy" pictures are WOW!

And that's less than half the dive. And even when they are at the full 165, that's less than half the last world record. Then there was that 672-way we did into a park in Bangkok. Now _that_ was a lot of canopies. I was glad I knew a little CRW when I was landing there.

[billvon 3,112]

Update - through my top secret DZ connections (Dave at Square 1) the first two jumps today went OK. Some aircraft formation problems, and another otter broke after that attempt, so they were a bit delayed going up for the third one.

[Deuce 1]

Great narrative, Bill!

And great pictures too! It looks like great visibility for Perris, with very low smog. How cool.

Lots of calendar girls in your pics. Best of luck and blue skies to all the participants.

[mailin 0]

Last one today was so close. Just wait, they'll shattered the record in the next day or two



Jen

Arianna Frances

[flyangel2 2]

Quote

The Skyvan landing with a load after circling for an hour

You should have been on that load when we circled for an hour. We did try two climb out

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[billvon 3,112]

>You should have been on that load when we circled for an hour.

Well, better the skyvan than the Shark with the sick woman. (Although in the Shark, no one would be trying to tape your mouth shut.)

[nael 0]

Quote

Those "canopy" pictures are WOW! When I think "bigways", I always think "Canopy Traffic" but pictures like that never cease to amaze me.

I agree! My first thought was, gee am I glad I wasnt in the sky at that point in time!

www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

[Zenister 0]

Quote

>Hey, can you tell us what happened leading to that CYPRES fire?

I'm not sure; there was a bit of a language barrier. I think it was a hard pull that took 5-6 seconds, followed by a reserve pull. After she let go of the PC the main apparently deployed, which made it look like the classic two-out from a cypres firing. The cutter fired but since it was a Javelin it wasn't clear whether it was before or after she pulled the reserve. It was likely after based on the timing.

so.... since this is at Perris...

is she grounded?

____________________________________
Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[billvon 3,112]

>is she grounded?

As far as I know, if your cypres fires after you perform emergency procedures, you are not grounded. But again, there was a language barrier there, so I'm not sure exactly what happened.

[billvon 3,112]

General news from today, per a secondhand report from the Square 1 store on the DZ -

Edited since better info is now out at http://www.jumpforthecause.com/blog.html

[mjosparky 4]

Quote

so.... since this is at Perris...

is she grounded?

On one of the POP's attempts, there was a cypres fire and yes the guy was grounded.

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[HydroGuy 0]

I was jumping @ Perris Tuesday and Wednesday...it has been completely taken over by pink!!!

Those girls are fired up and kick ass!

Tuesday they were having trouble getting the planes on one side of the formation tight enough. Also Tuesday afternoon the Monterey Otter lost its O2 system...this was discovered when all the planes had fired up and loaded. Roaring to the rescue about half an hour later was the second Elsinore Otter...the first already being there...nice teamwork between the DZ's.

Wednesday the plane formations were tighter. I don't know anything about formation skydiving, so bear with me. I was sitting on the deck at the team rooms when they had a huge meeting. It was being said that they got all of the "wackers" in, and everyone was cheering. I assume this was a big thing...but I don't know what a wacker is.

Also, injuries appear to be taking their toll...on Monday and Tuesday they were losing like a girl a jump...LOTS of women on crutches @ Perris right now. Surprisingly, no one seemed to get injured on Wednesday in the horrible gusty winds...they called our Skyvan down from altitude when ground gusts were over 32...it was the first time I've ever seen a load grounded at 12.8k. I for one did not complain.

Also someone went to the hospital from heat exhaustion or dehydration yesterday. It was hot, but there was a LOT of cold water constantly available to the JFTC participants (including on the vehicles picking them up in the landing areas) and a cold swimming pool. I know I jump into that pool once a day when its hot.

Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

[dgskydive 0]

Tony just stopped by the office here to pick up a new dive sheet. Seems some anchors are having trouble and they are changing the engineering of the dive a bit. Nothing big, but hopefully this will get them the compeletion!

Good luck girls!

Dom

[billvon 3,112]

Update from Marisol at Sq1:

Still pretty close. Three jumps so far, closest they've come is 3-4 out. A few landing injuries and one collision right after deployment, but the collision did not result in cutaways. Some changes in aircraft formation to deal with a timid pilot.

[HydroGuy 0]

Marisol.....

Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

[billvon 3,112]

Last update for today - last jump happened late (6pm) no luck.

[mjosparky 4]

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[eeneR 3]

Quote

Sparky

How could anyone miss that orange suit?

She is not a "Dumb Blonde" - She is a "Light-Haired Detour Off The Information Superhighway."
eeneR
TF#72, FB#4130, Incauto