Wed, Sep 17, 2003
Assault on Canopy Formation World Record Thanksgiving
Weekend
Beginning on November
22, 2003, members from around the world will meet at Lake Wales
(FL) Municipal Airport to begin training to beat the Canopy
Formation (CF) World Record, held by the European community since
1996. They will train for four days, competing for their place on
the official World Record beginning on November 28, 2003.
Canopy Formation jumpers open their parachutes within a few
seconds of leaving the airplane. Using pre-planned maneuvers, they
join to build airborne formations by hooking their feet in the
parachute lines of the other jumpers.
Between eighty and one
hundred master skydivers will spend four days attempting to break
the current CF World Record of 53, set by the European skydiving
community in September 1996. Numerous attempts have been made
since, meeting with interesting results, but no fficial records. In
November 2002, U.S.-led skydivers accomplished an unprecedented
feat: five jumps, in one day, completing five successful 50-way
formations. On the following day, the U.S.- based group set a
national record of 56 members in a joined formation. (A world
record is not official unless a world judge is present at the
event.)
According to the U.S. Event Committee, the goal this year is a
64-way diamond formation, but the number will increase, if the
world record is beaten. To put this in perspective, this year's
world record formation will be larger than a Boeing 747, standing
on its tail.
The U.S. Event Committee includes Chris Gay, Mark Gregory, Mike
Lewis and Dave Richardson. All four are among the premier CF
skydivers, organizers and instructors in the world, and have dozens
of World Championship and U.S. Championship medals among them.
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