Womens record

Firstly Congrats to everyone envolved.

This was on the home page of the BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29685123

Couple questions regarding the break off.

Was each stage signalled by someone deploying?

What happens if one has a mal? There gonne be pretty much bang above someone just deploying (the first two were pretty close so not a lot of vertical seperation)

I dont really do RW and i dont do Bigways so just curious.

thanks
Tom

tomireland

Firstly Congrats to everyone envolved.

This was on the home page of the BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29685123

Couple questions regarding the break off.

Was each stage signalled by someone deploying?

What happens if one has a mal? There gonne be pretty much bang above someone just deploying (the first two were pretty close so not a lot of vertical seperation)

I dont really do RW and i dont do Bigways so just curious.

thanks
Tom

Deploying as a breakoff signal is common in big-ways. Specific procedures vary from one event to another.

Excellent question about someone having a mal with a second early deploying jumper below. I'm not sure why there were two ladies dumping in the center. Can anyone chime in on that?

First, thank you so much for the congratulations! It was a fun event with both new and old friends from around the world, and we didn't have any major injuries, so we are happy about that.
To answer if each stage of the tracking wave break-offs were signaled by the deployments, the Original Poster is correct. We had 3 different pull-outs (ladies who deployed while still in the formation) to signal each of the track off wave altitudes. We had 3 different tracking waves leaving at 3 different altitudes.

If any of the pull-outs (ladies deploying at each stage to signal each break off wave) has a mal, hard pull or goes low, etc, we have Plan B. We had a "Hard Deck" for each of our break off tracking teams. There is always a back-up plan in case of human error.

To answer about whether or not the 1st and 2nd (middle) tracking waves had enough separation, the 2nd wave knows they are in between the 1st and 3rd tracking team. They know to track less hard than the 1st wave. I've been a tracking leader in the 2nd wave (in the Square One 200-way sequentials a few years back), and I knew to be aware of the tracking teams in front and behind me.

Usually I am a part of the 1st wave track off as I was for the last Women's Record. I was a 1st wave tracking leader in 2009, and I must say that I prefer that. We can really crank it out at the later half of the track, which is ideal.

Just fyi, the camera flyers are all aware of where the pull-outs will be, so they are not super close during the deployments. The pull-outs are placed in areas where the proper tracking teams can see the deployments. Also, we are all told to leave on "body extraction" from the formation, not upon the pilot chute's extraction. We could still have a record if a person's pilot chute is out, but the person's body is still intact in the formation with all grips in place.

Cheers, everyone, and thanks for the support!

Rosa, I think the OP's question concerning safety was about the second center deployment being close (in time) to the first. That places the second jumper pretty much directly under the first and seemingly not by much given the short time separation. If the first lady to deploy were to have a mal and needed to chop, I think the OP was concerned that there would be a collision risk with lady number 2.

I reviewed the video and it appears to be about a 4 second separation from body extraction to body extraction. Call it 750 +/- feet vertical separation.

Thanks for the reply.

Was purely out of interest.

Glad everyone was safe. i think i would prefer to either be the person signalling the first wave so i am away from everyone else opening or in the first wave so i can max the track.

Were any restrictions put on w/l, canopy type etc? With a large number of canopies did they specify no highly loaded ellipticals to minimise the risk of off headings/canopy collisions or do they rely on you not to be idiots? and lets be honest there is always some.

What height were the break offs and deployment altitudes for each wave?

cheers

Here's a great shot of one of our locals, Lynn. We love Lynn.

I don't have the photo credit, but it's a beautiful shot.

From the pictures I've seen of the event so far I recognize Lynn, Rosa, Mary B and Mary SanA - good people, fun jumpers. I look forward to more pics too.

Photo credit goes to Luciano Bacque.

Yup, if you look really hard you can see me in the pic you posted of Lynn.