Skydives #138 to 142 - July 3, 1999

Perris Valley, California
www.skydiveperris.com

All of these pictures are frame grabs from video tape by Pete Lugo.

60-way Skills Camp organized by Walt Mitchell.
Although planned for about 60 skydivers, there are actually about 50 jumping today.

Ready, Set, GO!
Go + 2 seconds
Divers
Walt Mitchell in the white helmet has me on his right side in the base the entire day. His right hand is about to start the whole thing in motion. The "Super Floater," blue jumpsuit w/ red legs, is the signal for the other planes to start jumping. We're taking a 6-way base out of the Shorts Skyvan and about 12 more divers. Behind us out of frame are two Super Otters with about 15 more jumpers each. Just a couple of seconds later and you can see the Super Floater at the bottom of the photo. The 6-way base is in the middle and the divers are continuing to jump out of the Skyvan.

Base
Almost
Funnel
Here the base is stable and it's just starting to build. Walt is in the white helmet at the 6 o'clock position and I'm just to his right in the blue and white jumpsuit. Attempt #4 for the day (my jump #141) and it almost builds to completion. You can see that some of the "whackers" are a little strung out. They're supposed to be nicely curved and look like the line on a weed whacker. Attempt #5 for the day (my jump #142) and the whacker on my leg has a hard dock, pulling it low and tears me off the base. As a result, almost everyone on my side of the formation gets knocked off. Damn.

A great day. Fabulous, in fact, but ends on a sour note. Damn.

Onward to Skydive #185
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