On tour - Thailand
By Tim Mace

 

The event was a 32-way invitational by world renowned skydiver and photographer Patrick Passe, consisting of experienced 4, 8 and 16 way competitors, Team members were from France, Belgium, Netherlands, UK, USA, Germany, and South Africa and had been selected approximately 6 months before the event. The event ran alongside the two week Royal Thai Sky Festival in Prachuap, Thailand.

The dz was the Prachuap military airbase, a strip of land about 1.5km wide that stuck out into the sea and had an 800ft high rock on the end of it. The plan was to do a series of complex 32 way sequential dives, mostly based on multiples of 4-way and 8-way formations and moves, all designed by Patrick Passe, but kept secret from the team members until each dirt dive.

The festival was run from one military C-130, one military Fiat G222 (about 45 jumpers), one military Turbine DC3 (about 40 jumpers) and one military UH1 helicopter (8 jumpers). All the aircraft were there every day and flew 4 to 5 loads each every day. The group often used the G222 because they almost filled it, making for shorter jump runs.

Tim Mace spotted the team from all the aircraft. At the end of each day the team jumped the DC3 for a strung out exit and long dives, ending with a beach landing. The 32-way did 4 to 6 jumps each day and, they were all very successful and produced spectacular pictures.

The team was filmed throughout by world famous photographer Willy Boeykens from Belgium. As Patrick Passe said, the group "didn’t waste a single day and a single skydive".