Hendri Liebenberg, D938

On the weekend of 24 – 26 July 2015, Skydive Rustenburg hosted their annual Christmas in July Bash and, even with bad weather grounding us for most of the Saturday, 28 loads were flown, with 239 descents being made.

Since its inception in July 2013, wingsuiting has been the main focus of this “mini-boogie” and, together with JSC’s tonto boogie and EP Skydivers’ J-Bay boogie, this is one of the main wingsuit events on the SSA calendar. This year, our focus was on basic skills development, with a first flight course (FFC) being presented, as well as Cat 2 and Cat 3 progression jumps, wingsuit coach development and a wingsuit seminar.

Three students participated in the FFC, namely Cameron Gordon-Forbes (RSC), Dylan Hemer (DSC) and Jacques Breedt (PSC), with all three completing the ground school training and required jumps and gaining their Cat 1 status by the end of the weekend.

Wayne Ford (PSC) successfully passed his Cat 2 test on the first load of the Saturday, thereby enabling him to fly with other wingsuiters over the weekend, while Andrew de Jonge (Skydive Mossel Bay) successfully passed his Cat 3 test (next stop: WS coach rating!)

Michael Panaino (DSC) took the opportunity to make use of the FFC ground school and student jumps to get the final few requirements of his wingsuit coach apprenticeship signed off and, after two rather “eventful” evaluation jumps with Oliver Nöthen, gained his well-deserved PASA wingsuit coach rating, as well as the Squirrel Wingsuits manufacturer’s coach rating endorsement. 

The weather hold on the Saturday afternoon presented us with an ideal opportunity to bring forward the evening’s wingsuit seminar (and thereby freeing up the evening for, uhm… other activities), and this was very well attended by wingsuit and non-wingsuit skydivers alike. Oliver Nöthen went to a lot of trouble to create a very professional looking slideshow presentation and our seminar included: an overview of wingsuit development over the last two decades up to present day technologies, the route/requirements for South African skydivers to get into wingsuiting (and how the WS SSA can assist them in this regard), as well as an overview of the WS FFC ground school curriculum and the main differences/additional concerns when wingsuit skydiving, compared to regular skydiving.

We ended off the seminar with an explanation of the official FAI wingsuit competition disciplines, namely flocking, acrobatic wingsuit flying and performance flying, as well as 4-way wingsuit sequentials and XRW and, judging by the feedback we’ve had, we’ll very likely see a few new wingsuit teams entering Nationals next year in the performance and acrobatic competitions!

Sunday morning saw us up bright and early in order to make the most of the day’s predicted fair weather. No less than 8 wingsuiters were on the second load, braving the cold at altitude and most of us managed 6 wingsuit flights on the day, achieving our progression goals, while having loads of fun!

Everything went exactly as planned, and we flew the rodeo successfully all the way down to the agreed dismount altitude of 5000ft without incident, proving once again how important it is that the “rider” is an experienced skydiver. (As much fun as this type of jump can be, the additional safety concerns makes it something that only experienced wingsuiters and skydivers should attempt! If in doubt, speak to a wingsuit coach or senior wingsuiter at your DZ first.)

After landing and dishing out around 5 minutes’ worth of high-5’s and hugs, we ended the weekend in spectacular fashion by having the required “first” beers on the RSC deck with the sun setting on another fantastic weekend of skydiving. Even the 5-hour drive home on Sunday night couldn’t wipe the smile off my face, and Graham, Danelle, Herman and the staff of RSC should be congratulated for, once again, organising a safe, fun event, with something for everyone!

For any wingsuit related queries or suggestions, please feel free to contact your SSA WS representatives on ssaws@para.co.za, and remember: you can tick the WS box on your PASA application form at any time during the year, even if you aren’t wingsuiting… (yet!)

Blue skies and happy flocking!

Hettie Blignaut

In acknowledgement of Peter Lawson's contribution to our sport and development of skydivers, I approached PSC members with the notion of a special event to coincide with Pete's birthday. It was decided to have an annual Peter Lawson skydiving competition. This year, the inaugural Peter Lawson Cup was held on 8, 9 and 10 August at Pretoria Skydiving Club. The disciplines include Formation Skydiving (4-way Novice, 4-way Open and 10-way Speed Star), Wingsuiting and Canopy Piloting. There were 2 novice 4-way FS teams, 7 open FS 4-way teams, 2 FS 10-way speed star teams, 7 wingsuiters and 5 canopy pilots. 

A huge thanks is extended to event sponsors, Parachute Systems (especially Colleen Dales), AirTeam Aviation, Harri Viljoen, Cypress and Kiss Helmets for their support and contributions for the event.

A special thanks to Yolandi van den Berge, Ian van den Berge, Jacqui Coetzee, Rainer Coetzee, James Meyer, Jimmy Parrella, Bailey Edmunds and Carmen Van Vuuren for organising, managing, judging, contributions and support for the event. Oliver Nöthen and Rob Kruger managed the Wingsuit and Canopy Control competitions respectively. PSC would also like to thank all the competitors for their support towards a charity as well.

Family and friends of Peter Lees, D112, well know skydiver of the ‘60s, ‘70s and early ‘80s, gathered at PSC on the Saturday morning to scatter his ashes. His daughter, Kerry had her brother Craig and husband Vincent scatter the ashes on tandem skydives. A fitting tribute to a respected friend, mentor and skydiver. Blue skies...

The event was huge a success with exactly 500 skydives in 47 loads for the two and half days. As this will be an annual event, PSC is already planning for next year's competition with more prizes and competitors, including international skydivers. So, watch this space for our 2016 competition.

Eugene (Pottie) Potgieter, D860

What an experience!!!

During May this year, I received the exciting news that I was accepted to participate in the 2015 POPS World Record attempt!

Needless to say, this was an honour not coming about every day and definitely not to be taken lightly!

On my arrival at Perris Skydiving in California (I made sure I arrived a day early), I started to prepare myself by doing some warm up jumps with the base. My initial slot was to be a 90 Anchor from a stinger on the base (E2).

This 40-way base was engineered to make a 132-way formation work. Since some of the guys allocated to the base could not make it early, I got the ideal opportunity to polish my skills in several positions. I wanted to make sure that I was best prepared for any placement in the formation, should it come my way.

The warm up jumps went well and I really enjoyed being in the Big Way Action again. That afternoon, as expected, there were some slot changes putting me as second last dock in an outside wacker line, (F12).

Most of the first day in the record was spent in F12 and I really felt comfortable on the outside, wearing a T-shirt over my jumpsuit with extra sleeves to reduce my fall rate.

The second day, I was approached by our Team Captain, Tim Weible and given a new slot as a Wacker Anchor in the same line (F3). This quickly proved itself to be a way more challenging slot and I had to keep all my bearings in place not to screw this up. This slot needed patience and way more discipline. One cannot dock just a bit hard as it could unsettle the entire sector.

Day two showed some progress, yet we could not get a build. Always a few out or low. When this formation is built and one goes low on it, it slows down to such an extent that you cannot easily come up to dock. So, if you are not high in your stadium to the formation, you’re LOW. No one wants to end up low, as you are in the full view, entire thoughts and extended vocabulary of over a hundred unhappy skydivers – especially on a World Record attempt.

On Saturday, day three, we still could not get a completion. On the last jump of the day, nearly sunset, we took up a final load, six planes in formation with 125 skydivers. The formation formed nicely and we managed to get what we thought was a completion. In fact you could hear the cheers on landing! However, there was an uncertainty on some of the grips and we carried it over to retry Sunday Morning, unfortunately with only 121 skydivers after the Team Captains had their meeting, cutting some friends. (Terrible job, I would not want it)

The next day we proceeded with only 121 skydivers and on the second last jump we managed to build a confirmed 121 way World Record Formation! Everyone was overfilled with joy on this huge achievement and it was hugs and high fives all the way!!!

On my way returning home, I received the exciting news from Kimbo Godwin, our event organizer, that our original record attempt of 125 indeed was ratified and that we now had a 125 Way POPS World Record!! This was the best news ever, especially with the mixed feelings of having four of our friends having to stand down after the 125 Way attempt.

What a fantastic ending to a magnificent event!

Kimbo Godwin, Dan Brodsky Chenfeld, Larry Henderson, Tim Weible and the rest of the incredibly gifted skydivers taking part of this unforgettable experience, you are written in a very special chapter of my life and I am sure I am speaking on behalf of everyone else!

Thank you for a completely life changing event! May you be blessed with soft winds and gentle landings for all days to come!

Respect!
 

  
The Parachutists Over Phorty Society or POPS is a club for skydivers over the age of forty. The first POPS was founded in 1966 in the USA and has spread to many countries around the world. Competitions at meets include accuracy, formation skydiving and the special POPS competition, the Hit and Rock.

Membership requirements are that a person has made a parachute jump, or a tandem skydive, and is over forty years of age.

Email us if you’re over 40 and interested in joining POPS SA.

Lifetime membership costs R200 and you receive a POPS membership card and certificate as well as a POPS cloth patch.
 

Ollie Nöthen, D906

Where does one start?! What an experience and honour to be invited to such an awesome event. Hosted by Skydive Perris and LightningFlight which saw over 12 countries represented! I assumed it was going to be memorable at the very least, but I underestimated the experience that I was about to have.

I arrived after 27 hours of travelling and had the Monday to acclimatise and get some fun jumps in at the Skydive Perris.

Tuesday morning, bright and early, we were briefed by Taya Weiss (lead-organiser and all round bad-ass) promptly grouped into planes with a plane captain and were all set to do some 40-way (2 planes) jumps as warm up. I was placed towards the back of the plane which meant that I would get the ability to work on my Ninja skills!

The excitement is electric, everyone is focused and quiet in the plane, the door opens and the visuals out the door are breath-taking. The thoughts that went through my mind were: “Green Light, get ready, GO”, get out of the plane stable, diving 90 degree turn to the left, find slot in exit formation, get the approach to the formation right, slow down without popping and let the formation build, own your slot, BE THE BASE, break-off as planned; 5500ft break-off and stay inside your break-off group to 4500, then split off and fly as if your life depended in it, because it does! Sharing the sky with almost 80 other wingsuiters requires a level of awareness that most people are not used to.

Wednesday was the official practice day with 5 fantastic 77-way wingsuit jumps. The FAI judge would be arriving tomorrow so the pressure to perform was on!

Thursday was a “dud day” due to cloudy weather conditions (clouds in a desert, are you kidding me?!) and we only got two jumps in.

Friday was a complete weather day with no jumps taking place. As with most World Records or internationals events, weather seems to have other ideas and the clouds caused some high stress levels for the organisers.

We all woke up to an e-mail on Saturday morning (which was sent at 01:07am) that the organising team had re-evaluated the strategy and thereby split the group into 27-way (2-plane formation) and a 50-way (3-plane formation). The 50-way broke the current record twice in a row and the organisers then upped it to 2 x 61-way attempts on the same day! With sunset approaching, we were on a 20 minute call and everyone knew that this would be the last attempt for the day. Scott Callantine piped up just before boarding the planes: “Guys, if you need motivation, understand that you are the only ones today that get to do a 61-way sunset Wingsuit jump!”

Props and engines buzzing, we all piled into the Skyvan and 2 Twin Otters and flew in formation to an altitude of 13500ft. The exit went smoothly. From my view at the back, the formation seemed to have built quite nicely. Break-off and landing went without a hitch. 

We got back to the debrief room and packed up our gear for the night, then time for beer! The organisers had arranged a keg and some Taco’s at the Bomb Shelter (Skydive Perris’ awesome restaurant) for us. What Legends!

Sunday saw us all being ready to dirt-dive the 73-way exit, approach, formation and break-off at 6am in the dark with most people using their phone flashlight to find their positions on the ground. Towards the end it even started drizzling but no one even flinched at this and it showed the commitment of the feathered team!

After the dirt dive, Taya called us all in for the brief to inform us that judges, 1 on-site and 2 off-site, reviewed and unanimously agreed that the sunset 61-way of the night before was now the official new Wingsuit World Record!!! We all looked at each other in disbelief and everyone cheered! One of those surreal moments in my life that will be a highlight for years to come!

Unfortunately, the weather did not play along on Sunday and we were not able to attempt the 73-way before jumping was called off for the event.

I would like to thank Taya Weiss for... being Taya and for her ongoing support of South African Wingsuiting. Zun Stéphane Zunino, Scott Callantine, Lawrence De Laubadere and Michael Swearingen for organising and being awesome plane captains. Also, Matt Blank and Greg Drogaline were there to support the captains to “herd the cats”.

Thanks to the FAI and FAI Judges as well as the awesome camera staff and last but definitely not least, my fellow wingsuit pilots, without you and your commitment it would not have been possible.

I am looking forward to building the SA contingency for the next World Record! If you would like to work on your skills and find out what it takes to be invited and be part of such an awesome event, please let the Wingsuit SSA (Hendri Liebenberg and myself) know via email or chat to us at your local DZ. 

(Photographs courtesy of Oliver Nöthen and Mark Harris)

Well done to Jazz Republic  who who recently represented South Africa at the 1st FAI World Indoor Skydiving Championships in Prague on 23 and 24 October, finishing 10th in the FS 4-way Open competition.

L-R: Dirk Venter, Claire King, Paul 'Simba' Marcellin and Colin Rothman

The 2016 Nationals Controller will be working with PSC to ensure a well run competition and would value any competitor feedback or comments from previous experience. 

One thing which has been a real concern over the past few years is the lack of event blocking - or the fact that people competing in a number of events can slow down an entire discipline / class. For this reason, the SSA have negotiated a commitment to giving preference to FAI events (open class), and to ensuring that no team or competitor is ever more than one round ahead of the rest of the field.

The bid documents are available here. More information will be given in PSC's first bulletin. If you are in a position to help with any aspect of Nationals, please make contact with Hettie or Pete.

Congratulations PSC!

Following on from the proposed changes mentioned in the previous newsletter, we have further tweaked the Freefly C and D licence requirements. Click here for the updated MOPs for AE, as approved following consultations between the SSA AE Committee and senior free flyers around the country. The document will remain marked as a “draft” until we have operated with the changed requirements for a few months to ensure that no further amendments are needed before formally incorporating it into the PASA MOPs.

The major changes are :-

• Formalisation of Head Up coaches, who are now enabled to take first time free flyers, and sign them off on Cat II, Cat III and C licence jumps.
• C & D Licence jump sequence has changed completely. Instead of being 3 & 7 jumps respectively which TEACH certain skills, they are now 2 & 3 jumps respectively which TEST the student’s ability.
• All C Licence jumps are 3 Way Head Up jumps, where one of the jumpers must be either a HU Coach or AE Coach
• All D Licence jumps are 3 Way Head Down jumps, where one of the jumpers must be a AE Coach.

We believe that this will solve the issues we have faced with lack of available coaches, as well as that of skilled 'tunnel rats' who would then just need to prove their ability to gain their PASA licence.

Since implementing the Head Up coaching system on a trial basis earlier this year, we now have additional coaches, which has really helped make coaching accessible to new students. These HU coaches are Warren Hitchcock, Braam van Heerden, Dietrich Bock & Maryke Prinsloo. The HU coach trial period has been a clear success HU AE Coach Rating. Click here for the updated Coach Rating application form (Form 19).

Those who have already started their C or D licence progression on the previous progression system are welcome to continue along this path to obtain their next licence. You will have until the end of January 2016 to apply for your next licence. The new licence jumps as outlined above are applicable immediately and can be completed and signed off in your logbook, however, due to IT administration constraints, licences for the new jumps will only be available to apply for from 1 February 2016 after the deadline for those applying under the previous system expires.

SSA AE Committee
Julie Teague
Warren Hitchcock
Richard Morgan

For further information please contact:

Your elected SSA committees have provided the following mid-term feedback reports to keep you informed of how they have been using your funds to develop your preferred discipline/s. The left hand column in each case indicates their original plans in April 2015 while the right hand columns represent actual activity in the 6 months to 30 September. We have included mainly the skills development activities here. Committees will present comprehensive feedback for their terms of office at the AGM in the first quarter of 2016.

It is encouraging to note that, due to higher member numbers, we anticipate there to be more funds available in the current year than budgeted for. Such additional income will be used to augment funds allocated to certain projects and/or add in additional projects.

Artistic Events

Canopy Formation

Canopy Piloting

Formation Skydiving

Style & Accuracy and Paraski

Wingsuiting

PASA Members who have received Aero Club membership Certificates and / or cards please note:

The Aeroclub SA Membership year-end falls on the 31st of December each year while that of PASA is at the end of March of the following year. This is an administrative issue only between PASA and the Aero Club so your actual Aero Club membership will be valid until the end of the PASA Year i.e end March even though your Aero Club card / certificate shows end December.