Another incredible day in the Moab sky, and the 10th Anniversary of Operation Freefall!

The Raise the Sky team did four XRW jumps today: two at Skydive Moab on the dropzone, one into beautiful Mineral Bottom, and one into the gorgeous Sorrel River Ranch Hotel. Nebelkopf and Tagle continued to work on surfing maneuvers, dialing it in until they felt completely confident in the canopy-surfs-wingsuit configuration. At one point it was going so well that Phil Peggs, flying video and taking pictures all day, was able to join in and take a dock on Nebelkopf!

Miss Nevada (Christina Keegan) did her tandem jump today and rocked it completely. She even figured out how to rig her crown to stay on in freefall – very impressive. Her jump was part of Operation Freefall, an initiative that sees more than 100 survivors of sexual assault and their supporters jumping on the last Saturday of April to raise awareness and funds for sexual violence prevention and care. With sexual assault prevention part of her platform as Miss Nevada, Christina has bravely spoken out about her own experience surviving rape in order to help others.

Raise the Sky is all about using the power of our sport to do good things both in the air and on the ground, raising funds and reaching out to our communities through awesome skydiving events. Our Project XRW was proud to join Miss Nevada and the national Operation Freefall team.

What we do is amazing and inspirational. Today we shared in the everyday courage of survivors who come to skydiving to heal, reclaim their lives, and to prevent future violence. There is nothing braver than that.

The day ended perfectly. After jumps into Sorrel River, the team had dinner there to celebrate the milestones achieved: Christina’s first skydive, Tagle’s first wingsuit surf, Jeff’s first experience as a mid-air surfboard…

The photographs from today turned out so well that we’ll be submitting them for print as part of the Parachutist article I’m writing about this project and Operation Freefall. Stay tuned for some video and a few photos to be posted here tomorrow after Phil has had a few hours of sleep and a chance to recover.

Sleep well, guys, you have earned it. And sweet dreams shouldn’t be difficult after today.