26th September – The names! The Videos

The 106 who made the 4 new World and European Records:

Maxim	Abaev
Igor	Afanasjev
Rosalind	Ayling
Ilya	Balashov
Andrey	Barabash
Pal	Bergan
Tone	Bergan
Alessandra	Bertozzi
Antoine	Bich
Fiona	Birnie
Ane	Brentford Baverle
Jose	Brouwers
Heinrich	Bücheler
François	Burgaud
Neil	Butcher
Christine	Bert-Butori
Patricia	Cacheux
Jean Marie	Chamouard
Tom	Claeys
Davide	Coin
Arnold	Collenteur
Pierre	Collet
François	Colombi
Martin	Cressey
Allison Jean	Cronnelly
Julien	Darré
Ludo	Declercq
Eric	De Leenheer
Pedro Alvaro Fernaud	Esper
Esben	Evensen
Martial	Ferré
Franck	Frauciel
Lesley	Gale
Arnaud	Gerardin
Vitaliy	Giniyatov
Delphine	Girodon
German	Gorn
Paul	Grisoni
Thi Bich Van	Ha
Philip	Hartree
Olivier	Herlan
Gordon	Hodgkinson
Ian	Hodkinson
Ronny	Holen
Sergey	Italyantsev
Jacek	Jedrych
Philil	Jenks
Yury	Khar’kov
Marc	Kelchtermans
Anne	Knabe
Blaise	Knabe
Nail	Kiyamov
Victor	Kravtsov
Valeiry	Kryshevich
Kostiantyn	Kurashov
Herman	Landsman
Siv	Lindgren
Jean Paul	Lintelo
Heather	Little
Jorma	Löfgren
Nadja	Lonnroth
Rénald	Louchart
Timothy	Mace
Thierry	Maeder
Luc	Maisin
Stephane	Mattoni
Slena	Mazaeva
Michelle	Meakins
Des	Meyer
Benoit	Minjauw
Rich	Molloy
Paul	Myers
Emmanuelle	Nicols
Keiron	O’Rourke
Patrick	Passe
Willian	Payn
Tatiana	Polianskaya
Sergey	Polyansky
Klaus	Rheinwald
Michel	Robin
Even	Rokne
Mark	Rondel
Franck	Rouyer
Jean-Jacques	Roy
Maria	Russell
Oleksii	Samoilov
Isabelle	Schoonbroodt
Claudio	Serafini
Paul	Seymour
Vyacheslav	Shalygin
Jean	Simon
Monica	Smines
Sian	Stokes
Rodney	Stone
Lev	Tremasov
Didier	Valin
Johan	Van Eeckhoot
Alain	Véjux
Luc	Vereecken
Alia	Veselova
Andrey	Volkov
Elisabeth	Wagner-Gantzer
Davide	West
Ronan	Whelan
Tom	Winkler
Dmitriy	Zhdanov

Congratulations – enjoy the videos

and the 96 Freeflyers also and their European Record:

Arne Helge	Andersen
Dennis	Barstad
Brian	Bero
William	Blackie
Evgeny	Borovik
Cathy	Bouette
Virginie	Bouette
Steve	Braff
Mike	Carpenter
Alexey	Chechetkin
Paul	Cooper
Vincent	Cotte
Rafael	Coudray
Gary	Crisp
Gregory	Crozier
Pavel	Danilchenko
Jacob	Diliberto
Artem	Dmitriev
Leonardo	Elia
Heini	Elo
Philipp	Exner
Stephane	Fardel
Paul	Ferriman
Dariusz	Filipowski “Dafi”
Arno	Fletcher
Magali	Folkner
Richard	Frame
Fred	Fugen
Mary	Garnier
Joeseph	Graely
Keith	Graely
Daniel	Guest
Julien	Guiho
James	Harris
Kristin	Hansen
Matt	Hill
Michael	Hiller
Nicolas	Huet
Ari	Inki
Aleksandr	Iushkevish
Kurmet	Jaadla
Karine	Joly
Petter	Jönsson
Domitille	Kiger
Martin	Kristensen
Louise	Kristensen
Anzhey	Kuprin
Sergey	Kuznetcov
Dominic	Leser
Stefanie	Liller
Luis Adolfo	Lopez Mendez
Konstantin	Makarenko
Sergey	Makeev
Alistair	Milne
Thomas	Muller
Fred	Nenet
Peter	Nilsson
David	Nimmo
Matthew	O’Riordan
Bent	Onshus
Evgeniy	Ostatniygrosh (Grosh)
Glenn	Phillips
Michael	Poehlandt
Yannick	Poletti
Nils	Predstrup
Alexandr	Ragulin
Fabian	Ramseyer
Federico	Rawa
David	Reader
Vincent	Reffet
Thomas	Robert
Rafael	Schwaiger
Markus	Schwartz
Martin	Schwidefsky
Alexey	Senyuk
Ahmed	Sferi
Andres	Sierra
Osku	Siivonen
Marie	Sjödin
Marius	Sotberg
Jason	Southall
Elisabeth	Stoodley
Denis	Sushko
Rossano	Targhetta
Jean philippe	Teffaud
René	Terstegen
Frank	Thoms
Markku	Tolvi
Mauri	Vaisto
Gregor	van den Eynden
Jasper	van der Meer
Alexander	Vasilevskiy
Nikolay	Vylegzhanin
Thomas	Wahlroos
Reto	Welti
Adrian	Wild

Congratulations:  Your picture:

96way European Record

Day 5, 22nd September, 2013

106 skydivers + 5 camera-flyers

Sunday 22nd September – time to tie up all the ends and put together the files for presentation to the FAI in order to have the 4 World and European Records in Formation Skydiving Large Formation Sequential classification and the European Record in Largest Formation in Head-down Vertical Formation Skydiving.

After the second failed attempt – so close! – to the 108 way and one formation – Patrick Passe called a halt to any further attempts.  He called a meeting of all participants on the grass in front of the hanger, and the judges, pilots, videographers were thanked for their contribution to the records – as were the team captains and Patrick himself.  Not forgetting the organisation and Skydive Dubai, all the office staff, the manifesters, ground control and finally but without whom it would not have been possible – all the skydivers.

The atmosphere has been wonderful a really great team of people all working well towards a comon goal and it was achieved.  The individual records may be broken in the future, but to create 4 World Records one after the other over a two day period – that will be harder to beat.

1 Pilot

Thanks to our video cameramen who gave us such good images to juged:
Formation Skydiving:
Alexander Khabibulin
Andrey Veselov
Bruno Brokken
Gustavo Cabana
Henny Wiggers
and for the Freeflyers:
Rolf Kuratle
Tom Naef
Will Penny

and a huge thank you to all the pilots who flew the aircraft in such beautiful formation time after time:

Eduard Simo
Gareth Thomas
Hilari Juan
James Hallam
Jan Wildgruber
Jordi Haro
Paul Hollow
Peter Wright
Raimon gispert
Stephane Brunner
Stephane Carozza

To the 106 skydivers – their names will be on the FAI site with the full record claims – coming soon.

Cessna Caravan

Dornier

Regan – a relaxed MC

On the way to another World and European Record

The Black Beech

Twin Otter 2

Twin Otter – Skydive Empuriabtava

and my fellow judges

The Judges – Theirry, Christian, Susan, Bernard

and more pictures from yeswterday and the last record

Point no. 5

Checking the evidence

Patrick & Bruno – camerman

Team captain – Pal Bergan

Tim Mace – holder of the FAI Medal

Judging the 5th point

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 4 21st September 2013

19.45  What a day it has been and it has not finished yet!

2 New World Records to start the day – late afternoon and a new Head Down Large Formation European Record of 96! and now the formation skydivers have just jumped and – from the ground – it looks as though they have built the 108 way – separated totally to a second formation – we shall see soon when they bring the evidence (video and photos) to us to judge.

96 way European Record

Whatever I think we will have a party to end all parties tonight!

16.45   After the success of the Formation Skydivers the Freeflyers went up for their 9th atempt to build a European Record.  The smiles on landing, the “high fives” led everyone to believe they had done it – but when they looked at the evidence – one person had a grip missing on the formation.  But they were almost there, so at 4.30 they took off for one more go – with the best wishes of all on the drop zone with them.  May the force be with them as well.

Meanwile the Formation Skydivers were planning another jump.  A 108 this time and all grips dropped and then the transition to a second formation.  They will go after the Freeflyers.

Some of my pictures from the happy FS jumpers over the past couple of days and World Record after World Record!

After 2nd record – we did it!

Tone – from Norway

Bich from France

lesley, UK – and Marciel, Frane

More of the 106

11.00 and ANOTHER WORLD RECORD was confirmed.  106 with 4 points – and the 4th was held for 15 seconds!  It was awesome to see from the ground and even more so on the video and photos.  I will load the videos once I get to a good solid internet connection!  At the moment they are just too much for what we have here.

1st point

2nd point

3rd point

4th point

Talking to a lot of very happy jumpers as they landed there were comments like : “the best group ever” “the best 100ways I have ever been on” “great to have this record to go for” – thanks to B.J. Worth and his retirement gift to skydiving at the IPC meeting earlier this year.

I understand the Americans are planning an attack on these records in November – it will be interesting to see what can be achieved.

Meanwhile the Freeflyers and continuing their efforts to build a new European Record with a 96 way –  more to follow.

Last big load yesterday evening was another attempt by the freeflyers at the European Record.  This time they modified their plans from a 108 to 96 formation – keeping much the same but leaving off 12 stingers.  But it was not to be.  No let up – this morning they took off at 8.30 for a fresh attempt.  From the ground it looked close, but no not all there.  No one said it was going to be easy – but it must be very frustrating when the formation guys are being so successful.

At 8.30 this morning the 106 way dirt dived the four points, and they will be in the air as soon as all the aircraft are down from the freeflyers attempt.

The programme for today is relentless:

Todays challenge

You can also follow Skydive Empuriabrava’s reports:

Day 3 20th September 2013 – 2 World Records

106 way – 1sr formation

YES YES YES – We have a new Woeld Record  106 way transitioning to a second point!  CONGRATULATIONS to all the participants – organisers – everyone.  – Amazingly at 15.00 the team jumped again and guess what – we have another World Record – 106 way and 2 further points making 3 in all.  The plan now is to go for 4 tomorrow!

106 2nd formatin

Last night 14 4-way teams took part in the scrambles competition in the windtunnel here at Skydive Empuriabrave – Windoor – organised by Anne Maxwell and Pete Allum with Thierry Courtain assisting with the judging.  4 rounds, very different moves from the usual 4-way sequential pool.  Rounds 1 and 2 were the same star 360 rotation star : each opposing pair in the star crossed to the other side alternately and then again –  back to a star – into two pairs – crossing twice and back to the start.  It was great to watch and I am sure fly as by the end of the second round teams had adapted to these “new” formations and speeded up.  Round 3 was a traditional random round with high scores all round.  Round 4 was a relay race!.  With the requirement to touch the tunnel side at designated points with first right hand, left hand, left foot, right foot – then out the door, tag the next team member – continuing for the 1.40 – this led to some spectacular flying – great viewing for the spectators and Regan’s commentary.

Take a look at Windoor’s Facebook page for great photo’s and the results.

This morning we had an 8.30 start for the 106 Sequential Formation team to dirt-dive the formation with the plan to go for a 2 point sequential as follows:

Formation 1

Inter 1 – 2

2nd formation

Inter 2 – 3

3rd formation

The base 106 did not complete – with two jumpers “lost” in the wrong part of the sky – a real pity, but to quote Regan “if it were easy it would have been done before – that is why it is the “European Challenge”!  The weather is perfect today, with really low changeable winds, sun and blue skies – amazing after the high winds yesterday.  It is easy to understand why Empuriabrava claims to be the largest drop zone in Europe.  It is certainly the most popular.

One hour later the 108 Freefly attempt was airborne – again it did not complete, but was closer than the previous attempts.  After a debrief they will have a second attempt.

It is now mid-day and the call went out for 30 minutes call for the 106 way.

Day 2, 19th September 2013

9.00 am. start this morning, but on standby until mid-day due to high winds – still got sun and blue skies.  Took the time to visit their windtunnel – it is supurb and quiet!

The five aircraft we are using are two Twin Otter’s, two Beech’s a Dornier a Caravan and a Pilatus.  The aircraft formation and loading for the 106 way:

Aircraft formation

At mid-day the winds were still high, although moderating so the stand-by was extended to 15.00 hrs.  It is now just before 15.00 hrs and everyone is waiting to see if it is a go – but no – stand-by to 17.00.  But at 17.00 with the winds still above the limits for a large formation the announcement of free beer at the bar was made and jumping finished for the day.

There is a scrambles competition in the wind tunnel tonight – so that should be fun.

Patrick Passe – Formation Skydiving Organiser and Susan Dixon

It was interesting last night and today talking to jumpers on the 104 way yesterday.  They all praised Patrick and his large load organising skills and his general manner – his calm and pleasant approach – I listened to his briefing at 15.00 hrs when those that arrived late were reminded that they have a responsability to the others – if the brief is to meet for a dirt dive at 15.00 then that is when they should be ready to go through the formation on the ground.  But it was done with humour but firmness.  One jumper commented – it is really nice not to have Americans here – this is a European thing.

Stephen Fradel is having more problems with his freefly formation where they are planning to improve on the 2011 record of 80 with a 108 way.  He says that the formation is not presenting problems, but the break-off is as many of the wind-tunnel trained flyers – great at flying head down – but have not got enough freefall flying experience for the requirements at break-off.  He reshuffled the team and brought in some new fliers and will be ready for their 4th try tomorrow morning.

We have an 8.30 start for the 106 way.

The stand-down did not slow the film crew down – and one of the pilots took a break.

Film crew for the production company

Stand down time for the pilot

 

Day 1 – 18th September 2013

It is all happening here in the sunshine.  (other than a good WiFi connection – as usual!)

10.30 this morning the 7 aircraft took off for the first attempt at the 108 European Head Down Record.  At 11.00 we had 108 (+ video) canopies in the sky, but no record – but it was a chance for the aircraft to have their first attempt at flying in formation.  Not easy with the differing types of aircraft, speeds, climb rates etc.  The exit altitude was 19,000 feet, and the base built quickly but was turning and changes would be made for the second attempt later today.  It was amazing to watch from the ground – first the aircraft in formation – then the 108 formation starting to build before breakoff.  The discipline on breakoff was good.

Regan – The Skydiving “Master of Ceremonies” with a super chat line.

Regan keep the crowd of onlookers fully informed and added to the overall excitement.

At around 12.30 the first attempt for the “belly fliers” happened – with a base formation 106 jump.  This was to see how this would build, time, slots and if the formation itself was sound, providing the information needed to proceed to the actual record attempts.

Again Regan kept the crowd informed and the aircraft formation was tighter than the first one.  From the ground it looked as if they had built it, but a look at the video showed it was not quite there, but an excellent first attempt.  As Regan keeps reminding us we have until the 22nd – another 4 days.

A second attempt on the Head down record happened – again not achieved but a great learning experience.

Meanwhile the Judges continued their work cross checking the FAI Sporting Licences for Names, currency, NAC and Nationality.  So far we have identified 26 different nationalities taking part.

At 17. 00 hrs the belly fliers built the largest formation ever built at EmpuriaBrava – 104 way.  Bodes well for the sequential jumps planned for tomorrow.

104 way – as planned
Largest formation ever built in EmpuriaBrava and Spain

At just before 18.00 the freeflyers had a really good jump and improved over the two previous ones today.

Exciting things ahead for tomorrow and the rest of this week.

Arrival Day 17th September 2013

Details

There are a lot of skydivers here!  Registration was very smooth and the organisation so far very impressive.  Yesterday evening there was a briefing for the freeflyers – ready to go with a 7.30 start this  morning.   The plan is for a 108 head down record large formation.  With 7 aircraft it has been very  carefully planned – the briefing was full of detailed information, good sense and humour.  There are 150 freeflyers here all hoping to be included.  At the end of the briefing the names of the first 108 to attempt the record were read out.   As Judges, Bernard Garsault and Christian Carsault, Thierry Courtain and myself, we have the job first thing to check all the FAI licences which we collected last night.  At 9.30 we have the briefing for the Formation Skydivers.  They will be aiming for a 106 way and 3 points.

Detailed aircraft loading and exit

Briefing for the 108 Head down world record