'Medic Monday'
The 12th May 2008.
On Monday the 12th May 2008, Pete
Cook came down to teach the staff first aid. With
plenty of stories to keep us interested and to
demonstrate just how many times he has made use of
his life saving skills, we sat through a fast paced
day of lectures and hands on practical exercises.
Intensive tuition, getting us to
learn the latest updated techniques for CPR, how to
treat parachute related injuries, how to stabilise
an incident until additional help arrived, and even
why it's better to call 112 for the emergency
service, we all quickly appreciated just how
valuable this life saving course really was.
The course wasn't all serious no
nonsense, a little light hearted humour went a long
way. Below: Staff member Tony Keigthley playing the
part of a possibly injured or maybe just sleeping
person.
Well done to all on the course.
Staff members Mike Colthart, Blair, Wes, Liz Ashley,
Paul Hollow, Noel, Richey, Russ and Tony Keigthley
all passed the course and have the certificates to
prove it!
Weekend of the
10th to the 11th May 2008.
It's the CF weekend with Pat
Hammond, and also the walk up load organising with
Simon Cathrine. We couldn't have had better weather
for the CF event, with blue skies and almost no
wind, it gave them the opportunity to play anywhere
they wanted. Well done to Pip Hollingworth, Jo
Bolton, Doug McLlwraith, Ruth Ferris and Lee
Armstrong who
all took part in CF, and all got their CF1. Will we
see you competing at the nationals?
The memorial service at 3:00 over
the dropzone and control tower went differently this
year. With the flag going first, followed by the
flyover, only this year it was just the Lancaster
Bomber, without the escort of the usual Spitfire and
Hurricane aircraft. Lancaster bomber pictured below.
Photo by Wes.
With the summer weather and nil
winds present, it brought some more birdmen out of
hibernation. This year we hope to get a few flocking
dives going, so if you are interested doing some
wingsuit flying, remember that we have a resident
wingsuit coach on site.
Simon Cathrine and his walk up load
organising went well, with bigger and better
formations being built as the weekend went on. The
weekend was designed to be a no commitment, fun and
relaxed learning environment. It allowed people to
sign up for one or two dives, practicing what they
wanted to improve on, without having to commit the
entire weekend. Congratulations to Simon Cathrine
who got his 1800th this weekend too!
Finally, congratulations to Karen
Simpson for getting her FS1, to Mike Chiu for his
first freefall and Jo Burns for her 800th jump.
Weekend of the
2nd to the 4th May 2008.
The weekend bank holiday weekend was
one jammed with different activities. Tube jumps
(human tube), Hoop jumps, Tracking dives, Hybrids
and Wingsuit jumping were laid on, all you had to do
was pick which one you wanted to do first. One of
the more 'interesting' hybrid dives is pictured
below, it didn't quite go to plan.
The top gun wingsuiters were very
well received, and several people got their first
wing suit jumps done, with even more people getting
back into it. Well done Kath Rybinski, Jack Waltham
and Scott Mackenzie for getting their first ones
done. Remember that Liz Ashley is our resident
wingsuit instructor, and has a variety of suits
available, so if you want to learn or continue
wingsuit flying, just let her know. The Top Gun
wingsuiters will also be back later in the season,
so hopefully we can get a nice flocking dive
together, even more reason to come along and
practice.
Included in the hoop jumping was a
joke for one of our jumpers, who has been on at
least 4 hoop jumps, yet never made it through the
hoop. This one is for you. (The hoop below was never
intended for use in the air)
If you want to take part in any of
these types of jumps, take a look at the diary of
events for the next scheduled one.
Next weekend is the beginners
weekend for CF (that's Canopy Formation for those
who want to know, sometimes known as CRW) and also
the same weekend that Simon Cathrine is running his
walk up load organising. So if you want to improve
your teams FS skills, or get involved with the
canopy side of things, come along.
Congratulations to Andy Wesley who
got his 1200th jump on his daughters first tandem
skydive (pictured below, photo by Wes)
Finally, congratulations to Tim Key
from Flaming Pants who got his 100th jump, and Alan
Wilson who got his 50th.
We
like to thing at Target Skysports that we are a centre
of excellence for team training and the competitive
environment. The National Championships have been held
at the UK dropzone for the last 9 out of 10 years. This
will continue in 2007.
LOAD
ORGANISING
There is an extensive rigging loft at the centre where
maintenance is undertaken of all the centre's student,
tandem and kit hire rigs. Turnaround for the completion
of work for private customers is usually within one
week.