Rambling On ⭐️ Drop Zone Action e-News #566 (26 June – 2 July 2023)

🎉 Achievements 🎉

⭐️ John – Completed AFF Course
⭐️ Kieryn – Completed AFF Course
⭐️ Joel – Completed AFF Course

⭐️ Emily – Finished B-Rels
⭐️ Chris – 200th Milestone jump  / D Licence
⭐️ Cambo – 400th Milestone jump

 SOS – Skydivers Over 60 – Aussie Record:

⭐️Stephen Smedley, ⭐️Martin Klapper, ⭐️Chris B, ⭐️Paul Osborne, ⭐️Andrew Mulholland, ⭐️Nigel Ackroyd, ⭐️Michael Connolly, ⭐️Janine Hayes, ⭐️Nigel Brennan, ⭐️John Winkler, ⭐️Peter McKenzie, ⭐️Steve Cusato, ⭐️Shane Sparkes, ⭐️Mildred Spinoza, ⭐️Bernardus Nordkamp, ⭐️Jim Doyle, ⭐️Mike Dyer, ⭐️Kerry Hook, ⭐️Farrell McKay, ⭐️Stephen (Chook) Chandler, ⭐️Jeffrey Johnston, ⭐️Tony Maurer, ⭐️Gwyn Burton, ⭐️Dave McEvoy, ⭐️Geoff Bingham, ⭐️Ian Wilkinson, ⭐️Reginald Blain, ⭐️Sandor ‘Motzi’ Molnar, ⭐️Andrew Pearson & ⭐️Kim Brooks.

JOS – Jumpers over 70 – Queensland Record:

⭐️Geoff Bingham, ⭐️Nigel Brennan, ⭐️Reginald Blain, ⭐️Dave McEvoy, ⭐️Paul Osborne

🎥 Steve Fitch & 🎥 David Brown.

Congratulations! 👏

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On Monday 26th there were 27 fun jumpers here. 5 loads were done. John and Grant did Stages 3, 4 & 5 of their AFF Courses. It was Day 1 of the Learning Curve Camp.

A few “over sixties” jumpers started arriving to get a bit of practice in for the record attempts starting Wednesday.

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On Tuesday numbers swelled. 34 fun jumpers got the planes moving onto 9 loads. Rebekah did AFF Stages 3, 4, 5, & 6; Jagajit did Stage 5, Grant did Stages 5, 6 & 7; John did Stages 6, 7 & 8. And Emily did 3 B-Rel Coach jumps with Toddy.

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On Wednesday 44 fun jumpers got onto 9 loads for SOS (Skydivers Over Sixty) Bigways.  Adam did a B-Rel Coach jump with Toddy.

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Thursday was too windy for skydiving. The SOS Team did lots of preparation and dirt-diving.

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Friday 63 fun jumpers got onto 13 loads. New students Joel and Kieryn did Stage 1 TAFF of their AFF Courses. John did Stage 9 – completing his AFF Course.  Congratulations! 👏

The SOS Big Ways were in full swing. The old record SOS record of 17 set at Batchelor NT in 2017 was broken and a new Aussie SOS record of 30 skydivers over sixty was set on the second attempt of the day.

SOS Record – Fitchimages

🎥 + 📸 Photos by Steve Fitchett – www.fitchimages.com

Photo Gallery

Click to watch all Fitchimages of the SOS and JOS records.

SOS & JOS Records 2023 – Fitchimages.com

Media Coverage

The SOS Record event received some great media coverage on Channel 9 and Channel 7, as well as an interview with Chief Instructor Ben Nordkamp on ABC. Check our Skydive Ramblers Facebook page for all the links to the videos, or use the Quick links below.

• https://www.facebook.com/9NewsQueensland/videos/3538674513051740
• https://www.facebook.com/7NEWSBrisbane/videos/1419081758911692
• https://www.abc.net.au/brisbane/programs/mornings/thirty-skydivers-link-up-to-make-australia-over-sixties-record/102554890

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It got even bigger on Saturday 1st July. 96 fun jumpers were here. 16 loads went up. Our Tandems today were Beh, Jonah, Jordan, John and Clare.

New AFF students Joel and Kieryn did Stages 2, 3, 4 & 5 of their AFF Courses. Federico and Harrison did B-Rel Coach jumps.

Chris & Dawn ran the Belly Bash Load Organising event.

The SOS crew did another 3 formation loads for fun, and 5 Parachutists Over Seventy also set a new Queensland record. Congratulations to all involved! 👏

Belly Bash – Load Organising with Dawn & Chris

Whilst the SOS legends were hard at work making new Australian records, our Belly Bashers was making some rather special and memorable jumps of their own. (Attendees: Dawn A., Adrian B., Kelly B., Jason C., Dale F., Thiago G., Kristina H., Nelson McC., Tim R., Anna VDV., Chris D., Dougal M., Lee J., Janine H., Mildred S., and Lu S..)

We were all very saddened by the news of losing one of our Australian sky family in the US last weekend. We decided we wanted to honour Mel by building an “M” formation for her in the sky above Ramblers. It was a very beautiful moment. The formation held for around 10 seconds and was clearly visible from the ground. Thank you so much for everyone involved in this jump, and special shout out to Kristina Hicks for organising the formation.

We also had the pleasure of celebrating Cambo’s 400th jump by planning a challenging 2-point 10-way, with Cambo trading his usual camera slot to be in the base of formation and Anna taking over camera duties!!

As ever – many thanks to our awesome sponsors Ramblers, TSC, SQPC, APF and Mee Loft.

Next Belly Bash will be held on the 19th July. This will be a special edition “Belly BAshes” where we will be taking on the UK in an Ashes-themed showdown!!

Photos by Cambo and Anna Van Der Vlugt:

JOS Record – Fitchimages

On Saturday, 1st July 2023 five Jumpers over 70 set a new Queensland Record!

⭐️Geoff Bingham ⭐️Nigel Brennan ⭐️Reginald Blain ⭐️Dave McEvoy ⭐️Paul Osborne

Congratulations to all involved. 👏

🎥 + 📸 Photos by Steve Fitchett – www.fitchimages.com

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Sunday was relaxed! There were still 32 fun jumpers and 6 loads went up. Students Joel and Kieryn did Stages 6, 7, 8 & 9 – completing  their AFF Courses. Congratulations! 👏 John did 2 B-Rel Coach jumps with Reece. And then the week was over.