Diary CF-Challange 2017 in Sky Camp

CF Sky Camp in Poland 2017

Day 4, June 11

As expected, and greatly appreciated, the morning sun shone over the Sky Camp DZ, as if it was trying to tell us that there was a beautiful day waiting ahead of us. And so it was. Breakfast was enjoyed ‘lus blus,’ meaning ‘relax’ in Polish.

The crEUw jumps where a continuation of the jumps made in the days before. Szymon’s bigway group was improving it’s ability to build a fast base, and to fly on heading. It seems like Szymon also engineered a lighter formation – we went up with 16 of us, or maybe it was just that the airplane was flying on the last fuel vapors in its tanks. Ether way, you did a great job Szymon and team Poland!

Also the Polish pups improved jump by jump. During the event, and also this morning, some Polish pups got individual 2-way coaching, putting it in practice later in the day. Further, not only did we welcome Justyna Sinica as Polish crEUw cat but also congratulated her on becoming the owner of a L126! We look forward to seeing her in our women’s record event later this year.

Our group finished the day with a 12-way box.

Thank you Szymon, Martin and Rudolf for organizing this event, and Sebastian Dratwa and family for hosting us. Your dropzone rocks!

Day 3, June 10

In the morning and during the first hours of the afternoon, a front choose to cover us with a wet, cold blanket, sometimes pressuring us to use umbrellas or ‘stay in.’

This time was used for briefings on safety issues and the use of our website. Later on, some chose to eat pizza in town for dinner, while others chose to grab a beauty sleep.

Just after 5 o’clock, the weather changed and the day left us slots for three more jumps. Two scrambled 4-way jumps offered us practice, fun and more crEUw bonding. A 15-way sunset jump finished the day, but clouds prevented us from completing this formation.

Too bad we had to find out, during this event, that the new Polish regulations about filling up the airplane is completely based on weight and not on number of skydivers. So the SP PAC could only carry 15 of us… So much for our KILO-boys.

Day 2, June 9

The organization had high expectations and set the starting time as 8 o’clock, leaving no room for any serious ‘holiday crEUw dog’s’ night life.

The day started with a 16-way, a 6-way box and some instruction dives.

In both groups we gave room for our crEUw dogs to try new slots, so it was up to Szymon and George to do the piloting. In the six way, our pups practiced flying a good echelon.

In the afternoon we split up in three groups, giving everyone the opportunity for more practice. By this time, Gerben had arrived, and was ready to take one of the groups under his wing(s). The efforts payed off! Jesse Rubrech, who had worked hard over the last two days practicing flying in echelons, stung the 6-way box.

Too bad the starburst in Peti’s group lead to wrap with a cutaway, making this the first cutaway in three years of organizing the CF Challenge.
Talking about firsts, Szymon organized his group during the whole day and ended up flying the first 16-way above Poland. With Szymon as pilot it was worth attempting to fly a two-point 16-way. We congratulate Szymon with his first big-way piloting, taking the crEUw dogs community one step further.

As you can imagine, the beer tonight tasted really good.

Day 1, June 8

8 o’clock in the morning @ Sky Camp Drop Zone, Kazimierz Biskupi, Poland. While the last crEUw dogs arrive, breakfast is being served on a grassy DZ covered with blue skies, which is waiting to host the third European CF Challenge. The conversations are those of friends, happy to see each other again and looking forward to the next four days of crEUw fun.

While the first loads landed from their small ways,  some newer crEUw dogs dropped in as well. Today was a good day for the ‘pups’ to get introduced to bigways. Looking forward to tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE LIST

1. Henk (NL) L. 143
2. Gerben (NL) L. 160
3. CFPasi (FIN) L. 160
4. Seele (GER, Video) L. 143/160
5. PETi (GER) L. 143/160
6. Marcin (PL) L. 143
7. Michal (PL) L. 143
8. Rudolf  (PL) L. 176
9. Simon (PL) L. 193
10. Gajos (PL) L. 143
11. Sebastian D. (PL) L. 143/160
12. George (NL) L. 193
13. Dennis (NL) L. 160
14. Ben (BEL) L. 193
15. Hyppyheikki (FIN, Video) L. 160
16. Jukka (FIN) L. 160
17. Katrin (EST) L. 113
18. Ipa (EST) L. 126
19. Piotr (PL) L.
20. Andrzej (PL) L.
21. Tomek (PL) L. 160
22. CeDeROM L.
23. Drozdzo (PL) L. 176
24. Frans (NL) L. 160
25. Zwierzak (PL) L. 160
26. Martin (CZ) L. 160

New and trying to fly a good approach and stay in position relative to the formation

1. The Norwegian guy (N) L. 160
2. Pitero (PL) L. 193
3. Sujek (PL) L. 176
4. Dziubek (PL) L. 160
5. Justyna (PL) needs L.126 for rent (not any more!)
6. Jesse (NL) L. 160
7. Tomek (CZ) L. 160
8. Góral (PL) L. 176