Vertical World Record Attempts – Melissa Lowe’s recap after day 1

Vertical World Record Attempts – Day 1 Recap (Tuesday, July 29, 2015).

Attempt #1
I can safely sum up the day up as a “working out the kinks” kind of day. On Attempt #1 the planes gave a short “2-minute call” that barely gave everyone enough time to put up benches, stow away oxygen hoses and line up for exit.  This effected the divers/floaters timing in approaching the formation, causing some traffic issues. Attempt #1 was the foundation of figuring out the sight picture and a few got lost.

Attempt #2
After debrief, the organizers realized that the planes needed to tighten up their formation even more, to help with traffic and timing as jumpers approach the formation.

Attempt #3
We are building it!!  As Rook (Nelson) stated in the debrief: “We are all there. Now it’s just coming down to the fundamentals: referencing your cross partner, flying quiet and on level.”

We only did 3 out of 5 planned jumps as we waited out a few afternoon hours of weather. Wednesday’s forecast isn’t entirely promising, but we are hopeful we will get in a few jumps. Meeting at the dropzone at 7:30 AM sharp for a briefing – likely including some changes and as always, reinforcing the basics.
As the organizers (Mike Swanson, Alaska Jon DeVore & Rook Nelson) said, “It’s looking really, really good!”!!

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