Weekend of the
27th to the 28th June 2009.
The weekend of the 28way! 5 teams
turned up for the event, including the Irish team 'FUNnel
Rats'. Although the air was warm, and the skies were
bright, a layer of haze sat at above Hib for most of
the weekend. Not letting the initial lack of jumping
dampen their spirits the skydivers found several
other things to do. Sumo Wrestling for one! Photo
below By John Williamson.
The competition got under way with
the Dornier as the lead aircraft and the two SMG
Finist as tail planes. Below: Photo of Hibnosis by
John Williamson
As well as the 28way competition,
there was also a slightly more unusual kit being
jumped. A Paradactyl. Photo By John Williamson.
Winners of the 28Way competition
were Chasing Tails with 7 points, coming in close
behind were Hibnosis with 6 points. Sadly due to the
loitering haze during the weekend, the event was
judged on only two rounds.
Below: Photo of the 28 way FS
winners "Chasing Tails"
Finally congratulations to Steve
Murphy who announced his engagement to Julie and to
Simon Brentford who got his Wingsuit coaches rating.
Ask to see his sticker, and have a look at his
photo, apparently it's quite amusing.
Remember that next weekend is the
Free Fly Scrabbles, run by James Davies, plus the
usual FS coaching and load organising!
Weekend of the
20th to the 21st June 2009.
The weekend of the UKSL 4FS. A
little too much cloud at the start of the weekend,
but things eventually brightened up, and the
competition got into full swing. A total of 16 teams
turned out, and were in closely skilled groups,
meaning that the competition was not only fair, but
a close call. It made it all the more fun for all
involved.
The Bad Lieutenants were also
gracing the skies with their presence, led by Lt
Davies and Private Parker. They also have a special
Funshine Boogie event planned for the 18th-19th
July, with a strict limit of 12 places. Not only
will people be coached by some of the best flyers in
the world, but you get priority manifesting too!
Contact the office to book your place.
Above: Random Vengeance, winners of
the AA class. Photo by John Williamson
Below: Phobia, Winners of the AAA
class. Photo by Noel Purcell.
Winners of the AAA class were;
Phobia, taking 1st place with 75pts, Fusion in
second with 70 pts and Vision in 3rd place with 67
pts. Just one point behind were Fend For Yourself,
and one point behind them Kaizen with 65. A really
close contest for medals in the top class.
Winners of the AA class were Random
Vengeance scoring 59pts, Strangers having scored 58
pts got second place, yet another fierce battle for
top position.
The A class was won by Unagi with 49
pts, Slot Machines took silver with 35 pts and 5D's
got third place with 26 pts.
In the Rookie class, Nimeton got 1st
place with 29 pts, Karma followed up in second place
with 22 pts, and RAFSPA Typhoon with 9pts took third
place.
Not only has the UKSL 4FS taken
place, but a lot of tandems jumping for the Help the
heroes charity have been to Hibaldstow and jumped
for the cause. On top of that, there are a lot of
congratulations below!
Starting with FF1 and FS1s,
congratulations go to Mick Nunn Blythe Davies and
Mike Chui for their FS1s, Aidan Mittra, Lee
Armstrong and Bruce Bryan for their FF1s. In
ascending numerical order, Neil Whitehead and Rachel
Gentle got their 100th jumps, Debbie Williams got
her 200th jump, Mike McNulty for his 300th jump,
Clara Melia for her 500th Jump, Brian Cumming for
his 700th jump, Ane Brentford for her 800th jump,
Liz Class for her 1000th jump and special
congratulations to Sally Uren for getting her 3000th
jump. It was pointed out that for her 3000th jump,
she did something special, another AFF jump!
Weekend of the
13th to the 14th June 2009.
A warm and windless weekend, and the
swoopers loved it. A busy weekend once again, this
time with POPS, an FF Road show, Separate FF
Coaching, A lot of FS coaching, Birdman flying, Team
Training, and the CF Grand Prix. On top of that,
charity tandems and all of the experienced jumpers.
Needless to say, the Dornier was in full use, and
the Finist picked up some of the extra pace. Below:
Fusion launching a very tight exit!
With the aircraft dropping off
several CRW jumpers, the loads became even lighter,
and the Dornier, which can happily reach altitude in
around 12 minutes shot up even faster with the ever
lighter loads!
The POPS enjoyed their accuracy
event called "Hit and Rock", where they landed on an
accuracy target, dropped their kit and jumped into a
rocking chair. Enjoyed by all, including the
spectators, and even some younger jumpers who found
the comfort of the relaxing rocking chair. They are
sure to join the POPS club once they reach 40! Photo
Below: POPS boarding the Dornier.
The FF Road show went down well,
with quite a number of people getting further
coaching. Not surprising really, as the coaches were
some of the best free flyers in the world! Every one
that signed up benefited significantly, from getting
FF1s to improving their skills in the air, and of
course having a lot of fun doing so.
Next events are; 4 Way FS UKSL this
weekend (20th and 21st) , 28 Way Comp 27th & 28th
June.
Finally, congratulations go to Aidan
Mitra and Bruce Bryan for their FF1s, and Blyth
Davies for his FS1. Also to Mike McNulty for his
300th Jump.
Weekend of the
30th to the 31st of May 2009.
By far, the warmest and most
welcomed weekend of the year so far. With plenty of
tandems, experienced and students jumping there was
plenty going on. On top of this, those that had been
participating on Brian Vachers canopy course were
lucky enough to spend lots of time under canopy
after doing hop n pops in the cooler air at 7,000ft.
The Al Kahir foundation brought down
some tandems all the way from Glasgow to jump with a
female instructor, so Karen Bain was kept busy for
most of Sunday.
Kaizen and Vision were still hard at
their team training regime, and Kaizen managed to do
75 jumps through the week (not including Tue & Wed)
and even finished just after lunch on some days!
Don't forget that the next week is
the Skydive Choreography Event, and the weekend
after is the CF Grand Prix, POPs meet and the FF
coaching Roadshow! So quite literally over the next
two weekends, anyone interested in the main
disciplines of Skydiving, will have something to
look forward too!
Weekend of the
23rd May to the 25th May 2009.
The warmth of summer was welcomed by
the skydivers at Hibaldstow this weekend. Kaizen and
Vision were once again making full use of the back
to back Dornier lifts. A mass of firsts and
achievements throughout the weekend was not
surprising seeing as a total of 983 descents were
made!
Tandem instructor Shane Pennington
(aka 'Baldrick') did his first fun jump in around 2
and a half years. Photo of his landing below.
Derrick Kent was loading organising
some 10 way FS for a little fun for all. Dan Brown,
Tim Cushnie and Louise Shaw all got their AFF Level 8
done, and with only a few consol jumps left to go,
they will likely have their A certificates next
weekend.
Jump tickets for this week are just
£16, but they have to be purchased and used this
week. Also the Safe Flight school will be running
starting on Friday, so if you want in on the canopy
course, contact the office for one of the last
places available!
Finally congratulations to Pippin
Brennan, John Gaytor, Tatiana Yusupova, Tim Hunt,
Lisa Stephenson and Kate French who all got their A
Certificates.
Congratulations also go to Lisa
Stephenson for her 50th jump, Kaz Simpson for her
100th jump, Rai Ahmed for reaching the 800 jump
mark, and Caroline Guest for breaking that four
digit barrier for 1000 jumps. On top of these people
Tom Ruttle got his first hour in freefall, and Dave
Grimes got his FS1. Special congratulations to
George Glass who through determination has reached
AFF Level 7.
Weekend of the
9th to the 10th May 2009.
With the week before having
exceptionally strong winds across the UK,
opportunities for jumping were limited. Yet most
afternoons, the winds dropped to almost nothing and
the skies remained clear, making us hopeful for the
weekend ahead. Our hopes were confirmed, as the
winds allowed even the AFF and RAPS students to jump
throughout the weekend, and jumpers interested in
swooping to have plenty of fun.
There was a Fly-By with a Spitfire
for the RAF Hibaldstow & Kirton-in-Lindsey Old
Comrades Reunion. One of our Pilots Chris Rika, who
loves his aircraft, has yet to see one of these
fly-by at Hibaldstow as he is always busy elsewhere,
we did try and leave him a voicemail message with
the aircraft engine noise on it.
Simon Cathrine and Henry Chow were
running some Pre-Competition training programmes.
Simon ran some seminars and did a little team
coaching, whilst Henry concentrated on training
teams. Several teams, including 'Karma', '5D's' and
'Uvavu' took advantage of this. With 5D's making
their first jump of their team career.
Finally, congratulations to Kate
French for obtaining an A Licence, and to Derrick
Kent for getting 1800jumps.
Weekend of the
2nd to the 3rd May 2009.
Skydive Hibaldstow was open all week
as part of the BPA instructors course, for both AFF
and Tandem courses. Two of our own skydivers Jo
Burns and Susan Farquah were on the AFF course, and
both of them passed and got their AFF Instructors
rating. Photos below. Well done girls!
Above left: Susan Farquah. Above
Right: Jo Burns
The weekend, although wet at times
did provide plenty of breaks to get lifts up in the
air. Teams including Fusion were able to do back to
back training on a fast Dornier turn around, yet
also managed to find time to coach others during
their lunch break.
The free flyers were back, launching
larger formations, and doing a little coaching on
the side. So if you want FF coaching, just ask the
manifester! there's plenty of people around to help
you.
The Warwick static line course all
got jumped on the Saturday, along a few that did
tandems too! Next year "The Great Warwick Jump" will
hopefully have 400-500 people jumping over the
weekend, and a massive amount of money raised for
charity too!
Finally: Congratulations to; Tom
Ruttle for his FS1, Leanne James for her CF1, James
Grayson and Peter Mather for getting their A
Licenses.
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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.
We
like to think at Skydive Hibaldstow 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 12 out of 13 years. This
will continue in 2009, 2010 and 2011.