So we've just got home from our second year at the UK 4-way FS Meet at Skydive Hibaldstow, this time competing in AA category. It was amazing to see so many teams enter this year, making it an even bigger competition than previous ever - and still the worlds largest 4-way event.
The competition was due to start on Saturday 6th and with a brilliant forecast, everyone was ready to go. Except when we vacated our tents that morning and saw the sky, we knew weren't going anywhere soon. Unfortunately the low cloud stuck around all day which resulted in a lot of doing nothing. Fortunately, Katie Woods and Disco Ged decided to round everyone up to film our very own Dropzone Dance-off. We spent the afternoon climbing in and out of vans, dancing in a field and building the worlds biggest mock up exit. Fingers crossed we'll have the video to share with you soon. Eventually, all teams were stood down for the day and we resorted to the pub for some food... in the rain.
Sunday was looking better weather-wise, and at 6:30am, it was. But by 7:30am, the mist had lifted from the wet grass and the cloud had lowered. It wasn't the best start but slowly the sun started burning through and by 10:30am, the first lift was on a call. We were also fortunate to have Sarah pay us a visit to show support and bring cake.
Our first round, B O 7, was our highest scoring round of the meet and it was a great way to start. We fluctuated between 11th and 8th place on the first day with 4 really good rounds, despite some of them being relatively slow dives. And we were nailing our exits.
Sunday was looking better weather-wise, and at 6:30am, it was. But by 7:30am, the mist had lifted from the wet grass and the cloud had lowered. It wasn't the best start but slowly the sun started burning through and by 10:30am, the first lift was on a call. We were also fortunate to have Sarah pay us a visit to show support and bring cake.
Our first round, B O 7, was our highest scoring round of the meet and it was a great way to start. We fluctuated between 11th and 8th place on the first day with 4 really good rounds, despite some of them being relatively slow dives. And we were nailing our exits.
We woke up to bright blue skies on Monday morning and the last four rounds of the meet kicked off at 8:30am sharp. Our first round of the day, round 5, was an all-random (rookie) round and therefore, should have been one of the easiest. However, for the first time ever at a meet, we may have funnelled our exit slightly. Vikki went freeflying and Dave (camera) ended up on a slightly lower level than Robynne, Ro and Tanya. If you're going to mess up, might as well do it properly! Despite all this, we managed to sort levels and get back together quickly to form another 8 points.. just a shame 3 of those were also busted! Although we had the slowest score in this round, and it set us back quite a bit, we had to laugh. After all, we're not here to win, just to take part and have fun. And that was definite some sort of fun. Also, most teams normally have a bit of a crap round at a meet and we were yet to have one, so we were kind of overdue for it.
The next round was 13 4, another relatively slow dive and 13's are not particularly our strongest dive. The first page wasn't the quickest but luckily our 4's made up for it.
The next two rounds got better; especially round 8 (6 H C). We decided to attempt launching the 6 exit, rather than H and grip switching because we had done it once before and had nothing to lose, and sure enough, nailed it, again. We couldn't have had a better round to finish the meet on. Though we had a couple of rounds that might not have gone to plan, and placed lower in the table than we thought we might have, our average at the meet was 9, which compared to our average of 6.8 at UKSL Sibson, is a massive improvement.
We have to thank Steve Hamilton for providing us with his time and knowledge, throughout the season and also during the competition. It's with his help that we were able to have our cleanest meet yet with only 3 busts. Also, it was an absolute pleasure to have the talented Dave Curtin filming for us this weekend and we owe him a big thank you.
Sadly, this was our last meet with Ro filling in for Sarah as inside centre. However, it's not all sad news though. We're so very lucky to still have Ro as part of the team. She will be donning her wings and camera helmet once again and will be back filming us next season. Sarah will hopefully be back jumping within the next couple of months and we're so excited to have her back. We can confirm we will be taking part in Bodyflight World Challenge in October with Sarah. There's no better way to end the season the same way it kicked off.
The next round was 13 4, another relatively slow dive and 13's are not particularly our strongest dive. The first page wasn't the quickest but luckily our 4's made up for it.
The next two rounds got better; especially round 8 (6 H C). We decided to attempt launching the 6 exit, rather than H and grip switching because we had done it once before and had nothing to lose, and sure enough, nailed it, again. We couldn't have had a better round to finish the meet on. Though we had a couple of rounds that might not have gone to plan, and placed lower in the table than we thought we might have, our average at the meet was 9, which compared to our average of 6.8 at UKSL Sibson, is a massive improvement.
We have to thank Steve Hamilton for providing us with his time and knowledge, throughout the season and also during the competition. It's with his help that we were able to have our cleanest meet yet with only 3 busts. Also, it was an absolute pleasure to have the talented Dave Curtin filming for us this weekend and we owe him a big thank you.
Sadly, this was our last meet with Ro filling in for Sarah as inside centre. However, it's not all sad news though. We're so very lucky to still have Ro as part of the team. She will be donning her wings and camera helmet once again and will be back filming us next season. Sarah will hopefully be back jumping within the next couple of months and we're so excited to have her back. We can confirm we will be taking part in Bodyflight World Challenge in October with Sarah. There's no better way to end the season the same way it kicked off.