Archive for September, 2010
After the unbelievable roller coaster of Tuesday, Wednesday was slated to be another epic ride at Skydive Elsinore. Our pizza party and hot tub debrief last night was good for morale. The mood all day was excitement and team unity. We huddled in the plane to debrief on the way up if we didn’t have time to do it on the ground, and then put all our hands in to breathe together before every exit. I felt a real sense of pride about how far we had come, and saw a similar kind of pride shining in the smiles of my teammates – even when we didn’t get exactly what we wanted.
We did six jumps, starting out with more coordinated surf-style docks (three canopy pilots with three wingsuiters). The challenges ranged from working with different Otter pilots trying to get the right timing on our run-ins, to the setup of the canopy flyers relative to one another. Since Jessica was always set up lowest and furthest to the right of the three canopies, I rarely got a visual sense of what was happening above and behind me. Getting the dock required so much focus and concentration that once we had it, I just tried to take deep breaths and keep flying the suit, preserving strength to keep an upward push so she wouldn’t take too much strain on her legs as they stretched with her toes under my rig.
At one point Jessica and I docked but I still had some momentum as she took hold of me, causing us to turn toward Tagle, who was himself trying to take a dock on wingsuit pilot Will Kitto. The spacing of the canopies relative to each other needed work so everyone would always have an out – and, secondarily, so we would have the best chance of all getting proximate once we were in our docked pairs. Nebelkopf and Bobo set up above and behind, and would immediately start descending once they were docked because of their combined weight. Jess and I were the lightest pair.
And then, there was the Heroic Jump. The PD Factory Team members exited the aircraft, and the pilot’s turn was so tight and fast that the wingsuiters ended up getting out right over the tops of their canopies instead of above and behind them. Jeff and I, not realizing until too late that they hadn’t had time to get set up and get on their front risers yet, led a hot approach that blew right past them. So there we were, in a whole new configuration – wingsuiters setting base for canopy pilots. We picked a line and maxed out our wings, trying to see behind us without compromising flight performance.
Cue Indiana Jones theme song: Daaaa-da-da-DA-da, daaaaa-da-da-DAA-da, daaaaa-da-da-DAAAAAA-daaaa, da-da-da-DAAAAAA….
As my muscles burned, the canopies came into my peripheral vision, and I looked for the one furthest on the right – but my head was turned to the left. I flew up just close enough to see that I was looking at Tagle instead of Edgeington, and as we hung out there together for a moment, he pointed back behind me. I looked over and saw Edgeington coming down on my right.
At this point things started to feel surreal, like the scene in Point Break where the freefall portion of the skydive goes on for something like four minutes while everyone has casual conversation – except this was my life, and it was real. Did I really just get directions in freefall from Jonathan Tagle hanging in his harness, to Jessica Edgeington smiling and waving at me under her Velocity?
I maxed out the wings yet again and rose up to meet Jessica as she came down, sliding in underneath her for the dock. The sight of her legs above me, hooked in to my rig, was sweet and hard-earned. Although the set up took so long and the canopies were more spread out than intended, we all linked up in our pairs and flew together across the sky, with the lake shimmering below us and the Ortegas crouched in the midday heat.
Smoking Flocks
It’s amazing how quickly some things go from being beyond imagination to some kind of normal. We switched gears in the afternoon to do a few unlinked, mixed canopy-wingsuit flocks. That was our idea of a nice, relaxing way to end the day. Everyone flew smoke. The canopy pilots set up in a wedge, and Jeff and I flew through the “gates” of the two canopies at the back, pulling in directly behind Jessica, who was leading the formation. I looked left and saw Jeff in his X Bird, in freefall. Then I looked ahead at a canopy in full flight and Jess waving us in closer as she grinned over her shoulder. Behind us, two more canopies and two more wingsuit pilots blazed a smoking trail.
At breakoff, Jeff and I pulled forward and ahead of Jessica, enjoying our range before she took off the riser trims and we all broke off – some of us to pull, and others not to.
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On Sunday I arrived at LAX, met up with PD Factory Team member Ian Bobo and Jeff Nebelkopf, made the requisite stop at In N Out for burgers, and then headed to Skydive Elsinore for Project XRW. My biggest concern at that point was whether my wingsuit would be waiting for me in a FedEx box at the dropzone – definitely a requirement for participation in the skydives ahead.
I coined the phrase “XRW” (Extreme Relative Work) in April, when Jeff and Jonathan Tagle first got together with videographer Phil Peggs to try new ways for a canopy pilot and a wingsuiter in freefall to interact in the air. I had no idea whether I’d actually be able to do it myself. The right equipment is critical, and for a bunch of unplanned reasons, my new TonySuit X Bird was going to have its maiden voyage this week. Normally I would expect to be flying a suit that already felt like an extension of my body. When we arrived Sunday afternoon on the dropzone, I was relieved to find my shiny new wings waiting. I pulled the suit out of its packaging, tried it on in the Team Room, and thought to myself, “Wow, this learning curve is going to feel like one of those dreams where you show up naked and unprepared to an exam”. Then I got ready to start flying.
The past few days have brought some of the most incredible experiences I’ve ever had. I think the wingsuiters on the Project have all experienced an element of wonder and fear getting used to the mere idea (let alone the view) of sharing intimate airspace with someone flying a PARACHUTE while we’re still in freefall – just as the canopy pilots have thought, as we fly up to them and then keep hanging out there at 8,000 feet, “Um, what are you doing here? Go pull, then come back and play!” Yesterday at some point, I told Jessica I just had to think of her as a wingsuiter in my mind so I could focus on the dock.
It’s amazing how quickly some things can become normal. This morning, we went out on the first jump to try a surf-style dock. I felt like I had finally dialed in the approach – a long dive out the door towards the already-flying canopies. The morning air was smooth and cool, with none of the turbulence that happens later in the day. I pulled in my wings, hopped out from inside the Otter door, and breathed deep as I extended my leg wing and swept my arms back for the dive. As I saw Jessica’s canopy getting closer, I put out my arms and slowed down right next to her. I went immediately in for the dock, moving towards and underneath her from her right side and then hugging air to come up under her feet, flying blind. Next thing I knew, I was the “surfee”, and we were both yelling “Yeahhhh!!!!”
I was amazed at how light it all felt. I was still flying the suit fully, but I wasn’t in control of the steering. Looking up and to the left, I saw Ian surfing Jeff in the same configuration, and it was surreal. They were close enough that Jeff was making faces at me, and I was laughing so hard I thought I might shake Jessica off by accident.
Then, at 4000 feet, she released me, and I flew away to open my parachute and land. The whole time during the breakoff I was thinking about how she’s my hero because she has already deployed; she has the skills to land that parachute at a wing loading that allows us to play together in the sky while I’m in freefall.
We went on to some less smooth dives on the learning curve- barely missed docks, some foot slippage from Jessica when she was trying to dock on my tight fitting rig that resulted in us applying gripper tape to the rig and her shoes (Ian and Jeff did this too), and needing to manage a little bit of pressure, I think, that both of us really wanted to represent as the female team in this round.
The last jump of the day we nailed it again. Food, debriefs, a few minutes out of the sun, and sheer determination got us focused and docked for an entire jump, with cameraman David Gershfeld taking some nice shots and then nearly getting a hand dock with me at the end. I should probably mention that Gershfeld’s rendition of “Eye of the Tiger” in the plane before exit also contributed to the good mojo!
Jessica and I landed on a dusty edge of the dropzone to avoid other air traffic, and walked back to the packing mat together, relieved, happy, proud, and tired.
XRW: It’s not easy. It’s a process, not a destination. It’s definitely worth it. And it speaks volumes about the evolution of our sport that Jessica Edgeington, flying a 71 square foot Velocity, was squealing while surfing my TonySuit wingsuit in freefall over Lake Elsinore today while I stuck my tongue out at the cameraman. If that’s not girl power, I don’t know what is.
Thanks to our sponsors:
Skydive Elsinore
Performance Designs
PD Factory Team
Sun Path
TonySuit Wingsuits
Paralog
The biggest challenge of the multi ways we are trying to fly is the timing. When a pair links up, they start to plummet down away from the unlinked pair. So to solve this Ian and I set up above and behind Taya and Jessica waiting for them to make the dock. Then we hooked up as quickly as we could and descended down to them for the shot. It was an amazing sight to see another wingsuit canopy dock up close. It was also quite scary to be that close and have very little steering control. Once we link up, the canopy pilot has the majority of control input. The more I tried to steer the harder it was for Ian to hold on to me.
As the day went on Ian and I seemed to be communicating on some other unexplainable level. When it was time for us both to make a move it seemed we just were doing it together without keying it. One of the challenges we were facing was not having enough time for a proper debrief in between most of the loads, so we just kept jumping and slowly dialing things in. Before the last jump we had a window and got to do a debrief and decided to split the group up, having Taya and Jessica doing a two way while Tagle, Will Kitto , Bobo and me would try for a 4 way. This made a difference as Taya and Jessica were able to fly a nice two way dock for almost the entire skydive with David Gershfeld snapping stills and taking video. Our 4 way almost built but time ran out and we had to break off.
Ian and I got to dock and do a sweet carving turn together which left me lined up to do a nice swoop on Will after he deployed his canopy. I felt like a guided missile being dropped by Bobo aimed at an unsuspecting target. Too bad Will wasn’t jumping with a camera on that jump!
Today was like a rollercoaster starting high with the 4 way, getting tired and seeing the energy dipping down mid-day with the fast pace and heat, and ending on a high note with the team bonding in the plane and everyone heading to Jonathan’s house for a pizza and pool-party debrief session.
Thanks to our sponsors:
Skydive Elsinore
Performance Designs
PD Factory Team
Sun Path
TonySuit Wingsuits
Paralog
