Happy CRW Year at Skydive Surfside, Moruya NSW Australia

For the 3rd year in a row Michael Vaughan and Jules McConnel from the Aussie 2 Way Canopy Formation Team held a Canopy Relative Work (CRW) coaching camp at Skydive Surfside for 3 days over New Years. The event began on New Years Eve and continued through to the 2nd Jan.

When we are learning to skydive we get drilled into us to stay away from other parachutes for safety reasons. Then we see these crazy people who not only fly close to one another but also grab onto each others parachutes and lines. Not only do they come down smiling and laughing from their jumps but they also get a lot more bang for their buck! They get 10 minute skydives instead of 3 minute skydives. So the goal of these courses is to give participants an introduction to CRW. Get skydivers more comfortable flying close to other canopies, bumping end cells, touching other canopies and even docking building 2 stacks as pilot and pin. Then if time and skills permit, progress to 3 and 4 ways and even stairstep docks. Also throw in a few trash planes for a some laughs (especially from Michael!) and these courses are not only educational but are a whole lot of fun!

There are always 2 main requirements for participants wishing to attend this coaching camp:
1) Be keen to learn CRW
2) Be SO keen to learn CRW that you are willing to limit celebrations on New Years Eve in order to jump on New Years Day.
Tick - Bart, Tracey, Dave, Ryan, George, Adam, Sofia

The other main requirement is also obviously to have coaches who are willing to coach (Tick - Michael and Jules) on New Years Day and also a pilot who is willing to fly (Tick - Tim).

Skydive Surfside is at Moruya airport on the NSW South coast. The dropzone itself is on the 2nd storey of the aeroclub building. Downstairs there is a bunkhouse available although over New Years the entire property turned into a tent city housing well over 100 skydivers. The CRW dogs went to 10000 feet on most jumps in the dropzones regular 180 while the freefallers zoomed up to 14000 in the 10 seater cresco which was hired just for this non-boogie. Load organiser and new world record holder Cath Comyns kept the freeflyers in the air while Hayden Galvin kept the flockers happy.

The weather gods listened to our prayers and turned on perfect weather on New Years Eve. We jumped all day and each participant got in at least 2 one on ones with Jules or Michael and some lucky ones even got in a third. George and Dave had shown that they were ready for bigger ways and attempted their first 4 way at the end of the day with Crash on top and with Glenn #2.

After the festivities, fireworks and fun of New Years eve and a little sleep in we were at it again on New Years Day. George and Adam went up for a 3 way with Jules while Sofia started the year with a 1 on 1 with Michael. Jules 3 way landed miles from the dz due to some miscommunication with the pilot and perhaps also some not so clear heads. They were lucky to find some friendly locals who hydrated them then brought them back to the dz.

The temperature guage quickly hit 40 degrees and every load to height was pure relief. Lucky we were all doing hop and pops and getting to stay up there a lot longer than the meat bombs!. Just a couple of loads into the new year a strong north westerly wind picked up and stopped us from jumping for the rest of the day. Everyone headed in all directions for the day, spear fishing, surfing, swimming in the river or at the beach, finding somewhere cool in the shade to sleep or even heading for the local rodeo. Mid afternoon the southerly change came in and cooled things down to 25 degrees but also brought the clouds. Unfortunately the southerly and the clouds stayed and stopped us from jumping on the 2nd as well. To fill in the time Michael spent the time talking about big way CRW including the Aussie and World record and also a session on 2 Way CF and the 2010 World Championships. Perhaps some of the new CRW dogs will be inspired to follow in Michael and Jules footsteps. In fact some of them are already asking about the Aussie 50 way scheduled for late 2011.

Thanks to the APF and State council for providing funding to cover some of the costs and make the event more affordable for the participants. Thankyou to all the staff at Skydive Surfside for putting on an outstanding event. Thanks also to the participants for coming along and playing with my canopy, letting me play with theirs and for all the smiles afterwards. And biggest thanks to my awesome teammate and megastar Jules McConnel.

Canopy Course at Bridgewater, VIC, Australia

Location: Bridgewater Dropzone, Victoria, Australia
Time: 8:30am
Occasion: Canopy course coached by Michael Vaughan
Why are we still standing around: Ben and Anna are late!
Verdict: Lets start without them

A dozen skydivers ranging in experience from 15 jumps to 500 jumps all came to Bridgewater for the weekend to particpate in a canopy course hosted by Michael Vaughan. Most of the attendees were local Bridgewater jumpers although others were regulars from Skydive Nagambie and Commando Skydivers at Tooradin. The day began with a classroom session where everyone introduced themselves and put down their goals for the weekend. Goals ranged from "improve accuracy" to "learn more about my canopy" to "Can you teach me how to swoop?".

See www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGBe-Rh7o4U

Then it was time for jumping..... In amongst the many great landings on the weekend were:

Unstable cessna exits
3 way head down exit from 5 grand
Landing in the barley
Lock picking seminar
Some unplanned canopy relative work i.e. foot on pilot chute!
Landing a malfunction due to incorrectly stowed brakes on brand new gear, 2nd jump
As much meat as anyone can eat at the saturday night BBQ - thanks Ralph
Virgin pilots flying their first loads unassisted
Cartons for firsts
Go arounds to dodge the clouds
And the finale, a wingsuit swooper (or was that a low flying duck?) in the pond!!!

Also lots of watching and debriefing landing videos along with many classroom seminars.

What a fantastic fun weekend! Everyone had a great time, learnt heaps about their canopies and about how to fly and land them a little better. Not everyone improved on the weekend but now at least all participants have the knowledge to apply on their canopy flights over next few weeks/months to help them improve. All with the ultimate goal of improving the safety of our sport.

Thanks to Ralph and the staff at the dropzone for hosting the event. And also to the APF Sport Development fund for covering Michaels travel and the VPC for providing funding to reduce the registration costs for all.

2010 NSW Canopy Piloting State Meet

The NSW Canopy Piloting Championships were held at Sydney Skydivers on the weekend. A few keen competitors turned up a few days early to get some practice in before the competition began. By Friday afternoon there were 6-8 swoopers doing hop and pop loads and alternating with the tandem loads.

In all there were 14 competitors, 8 in open and 6 in intermediate. That is a pretty good turnout especially considering the cream of Aussie pilots have just returned from the World Meet in Russia and most were unavailable or could not afford to attend. 6 new competitors in intermediate who have never competed before is also very good to see.

The weather was not quite perfect on saturday with a blanket of cloud hanging around most of the day but it was still high enough for us to throw 1 or 2 competitors out per pass and get the competition flowing along. The cloud also kept the forecast easterlies at bay which helped keep things moving. When the winds come from the east it comes right over the freeway and becomes too turbulent and unsafe on the pond.

The competition began with the speed event. After 3 rounds almost every intermediate competitor was wet and only 2 had posted a score. The open event did not see any blistering runs but a number of competititors continued to post good scores.

After the 3 rounds of the distance event, 4 of the intermediate competitors had posted scores showing an improvement on the speed event. By competition end and 3 final rounds of Zone Accuracy ALL intermediate competitors had posted a score, a fantastic improvement during the day. Special mention should go to Kobi for scoring 1 point in 9 rounds by making the gate in Zone Accuracy, flying to zone 1 and not standing up. Nice one Kobi, not bad for your first competition. It is always good to see people giving it a go and challenging themselves. There were so many smiles around during the day, on the plane, in the pond, packing by the pond, a great atmosphere.

By sunset saturday 9 rounds had been completed and 14 hungry thirsty competitors headed for the free BBQ and bar.

Congrats to the 2010 NSW Champions:


Open Overall

Gold Michael Vaughan
Silver Tom Gilmartin
Bronze Keven Walters


Intermediate Overall

Gold Steve Cowan
Silver Simon Hayter
Bronze John Martin


Thanks to the Australian Parachute Federation and the NSW State Council for funding the sensors and reducing the entry fees for all competitors. Thanks also to Sydney SKydivers for hosting the event, to the judges and volunteers and to Chris Grime for getting in and out of the pond so often to change and fix the course. And finally thanks also to all the competitors for a fun, safe competition.

Bring on the Aussie Nationals in Feb 2011!!!!

Pond photo by Jim Smith

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