Day 1 of Mission 100
Excitement courses through my veins as anticipation of this event is about to begin. The last (and only time) that I’ve participated in a 100 way attempt was in Orange Massachusetts in 2004. The largest completed formation I’ve been on was a Woman’s 37 way record at Skydive Burnaby in July 2002. It was a tremendous success and an honour to be a part of. The buzz that exists on completion of something of this magnitude is hard to explain. it still sends shivers down my spine!
At 9am sharp, 60+ skydivers gathered on the patio of Parachute Montreal’s incredible facilities. What a beautiful drop zone! A main briefing of the day and the upcoming event unfolded during a meet & greet of sorts. It was nice to meet the event organizers …. basically the drop zone owners + the Lemay family (aka Team Evolution, which happens to be a Father and his talented 3 young sons).
The first day was spent working on 20 ways from one plane. We managed a glorious 4 jumps in … 2 from the Twin Otter and 2 from the Sherpa (this meant being ferried to another airport where the Sherpa had an acceptable runway length to depart from (too short at Parachute Montreal). Unfortunately, on my first jump from the Sherpa, I somehow managed to trip and fall heavily on my right knee before exiting the plane. Not only was I concerned about my body jolt but also, the thought of the jumper behind me belting my rig hard with his foot had me a tad worried. Not the time to have a premature opening on my reserve, when at altitude. But all ended well, and I managed to make it in to my slot on every skydive toad. Fabulous :). I learned that if one is diving out of the Sherpa (and we’re talking late late diver), one needs good grippy shoes for the slippery floor and for dodging the bundle of scattered seat-belts that are a ready target to be tripped on.
It’s amazing what ice and arnica will do when put on injuries asap. I spent the rest of the evening babying my shoulder and banged up knee, praying that an injury wouldn’t stop me from enjoying a complete week of record big way jump attempts.
