NEW WORLD RECORD!!!
Sun 2nd Aug, 09
Every year Skydive Chicago holds one of the biggest boogies in the World...Summerfest!!! This year was no exception, and why not throw a World record in there just for good measure, the first time ever that a Freefly Record would hit 3 figures.
Mike and Adam traveled out early to make the most of the boogie prior to the record, Mike was organising at Summerfest for the first time and due to the majority of the record participants also heading out early they had a chance to create some of the best and most exciting boogie jumps the boys had ever seen. As the first days of the records rolled around we started with 3 groups of 45 ways, then we built up 65 ways, then 80 ways and by the end of the first day of attempts we were already completing 100 way plus formations.
As we worked towards completing the 108 way any small mistake meant one of the many great flyers on the bench would be taking your slot, there was no room for error, with even some of the greatest flyers feeling the sharp side of the axe after making mistakes. The most common mistake being made was getting lost, you needed multiple references to know your position, start following a skywalker to your slot only to realise it was the wrong skywalker was enough for a one way trip to Benchville, or the official line was "We're gonna rotate you out of this one"
Sunset jump on day 2, the 6th 108 way of the day, people had been rotated in and out like they were on saturday morning Swap Shop, everyone was ready to make the record, the formation built quickly, but looked as if there was a few out. we landed and everyone was asking "did we get it?" after a long hour of scrutineeing from the judges they confirmed we had done it, and as we watched the video we saw how close it was! The whole formation was built and flying for a good 10 seconds, all except one, the now infamous Pat, who was lost on the wrong side of the formation (a benchable offence) finally working out where he should be, the whole room of freeflyers watched as Pat carved the whole formation until he found his slot, slipped in and completed the formation less than a second before the first wave of trackers broke off. History made, job done, all that was left was to celebrate in style! Check out the video below.
Thanks to Rook Nelson, Mike Swanson, Alaska Jon and all the great Skydive Chicago staff for an amazing event!
Whats up next? Nationals, then onto the World Cup in Czech Republic! Bring it on!!!!!
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