Skydive Dallas Oct. 28

by Wendy Faulkner

Registration for the Skydive Dallas DQ camp started at 7 AM Saturday and we had a fairly novice-level group of CRW jumpers. The first dive was an attempt at a 9 way diamond, while some of the virgin CRWdogs went up on a simple stack attempt. The base funnelled on the diamond, and a spinning wrap ensued, but it cleared without a cutaway. We then started doing some smaller diamonds with moderate success. A nice 7 way kite was built on Saturday.

DQ had the first load of the day on Sunday morning, although clouds only kept us to 9500 feet. Because of airline traffic, we had to deal with some strange spots which caused quite a few off-airport landings. The locals were nice and Skydive Dallas was great in picking everyone up.

Some bigger formations were built but nothing larger than a 7-way. One cool dive dive was to have 2 offset 4-way diamonds and then the top diamond leave and pin again on the bottom. But alas, I couldn't get into my slot. Even with 30 pounds of weights and 25 pounds of gear (yes, they were carrying me to the plane) I was still floaty. And the nasser toggles didn't stick to the velcro very well which meant they often floated beyone my reach for the rest of the dive. Without those I couldn't get down to a formation. The 7 way looked beautiful from above however. The day ended with a 9 stack attempt, which ended with 7. My nasser toggles slipped from my reach and I couldn't get down to the stack. Jeff pinned me and we tried to get the biplane down but without luck. My arms were so tired after that dive I couldn't even flare but a Prodigy loaded at 0.8 doesn't need a flare for a soft landing.

I love CRW but 30 pounds of weights suck. At least the other CRWdogs were kind helping me carry all the extra weight on the parahikes after landing. The weekend was a lot of fun. I learned a whole lot, and can't wait to do more CRW. My only plea is for FCI to PLEASE make a smaller Prodigy.