At the beginning, the manifest was overwhelmed and the rhythm of the
jumps was slow. The absence of the jet made itself felt and neither Beaís
soft voice, neither the jokes in front of the mike could erase it...
There was also a lot of work in the boarding area with the planes landing
and taking off one after the other. Franck and Marco from the Boogie Performance
staff came to help the Espace Boogie team and there was work for everybody.
Thanks to everyoneís perseverance, what had made success of the boogie
in Vichy for ten years was still there. A large big top with a floor accommodated
the restaurant, the bar and the video rooms. As always, the load organising
system was efficient; it was applied to all disciplines: RW, sit-flying,
skysurf and freefly. Every night, the talented Stéphane Cruciani
would show a film with the dayís jumps.
It started as well as could be expected. After two days of good weather,
a strong rain fell on the freefall village, changing the camping area in
muddy battlefield. This short respite allowed the organisation to work
things out and to optimise the jump rhythm now that Train in Spainís Super
Otter was there.
The week went on this way, with weather or traffic holds: Vichyís sky
is not exception to the rule. The jumps start again with every patch of
blue sky with sometimes too many clouds for formation flying but always
on the safe side.
The absence of a big plane unfortunately spoilt what should have been
a big party for Espace Boogie 10 years birthday. Although one would have
expected many withdrawals, the number of participants was only slightly
less than for previous years. The same went for the number of jumps: without
the weather and traffic holds, the rhythm, which had increased after the
first days, was acceptable for a boogie of this size. As for the spring
boogie, the complementarity of Espace boogie and Boogie Performance was
fruitful.
In the end, as it had not been enough already, bad weather settled
down for the last two days. The last two loads took place on Saturday evening
during an unexpected sunny spell. The participants left a muddy field the
day after with some regrets.
On the dealersí side...
Boogies are always a good occasion for meeting the industry representatives
or for demos. Among the many dealers in Vichy, everyone could see Parafun
which came to present its new container the Advance. Its stand was comfortably
set in a big trailer-truck. One could try some containers on the ground
only since the certification process was not over yet. The highlight of
the presentation was the tombola held during the boogieís 10 year birthday
party. A inscription number was drawn for its owner to win an Advance container
given by Parafun. The winner had to be attending the party so there were
several draws. A German skydiver eventually won the container.
Examination of the load organising
system
For the 10 years of Espace Boogie, Joël Cruciani, the big chief
of ì^the tribe of the men dancing in the sky^î was not lucky. He was within
an inch of cancelling everything. With no Antonov 72 and less altitude,
the impossibility to fulfil the desires of his tribes was bringing his
motivation down. ì^I felt like I was going backwards, but it was better
moving on than cancelling the boogie^î said Cruciani. Indeed, cancellation
would not have been understood whereas last minute problems were understood
and accepted, surely because the previous nine years gave confidence in
Espace Boogie. Moreover, the boogie in Vichy is more than one big plane,
there is the atmosphere, meeting people, quality jumps with load organising
and video for everybody for every freefall second. The whole Espace Boogie
staff stuck together so that at least this was preserved.
This year novelty was the freefly load organising. There are a lot of
things to work out but Espace Boogie and its set of freefly ì^masters^î
was the first structure to offer load organising for this ever evolving
discipline. It never went that far, even at the Freefly Festival in Eloy.
Adding to some of the French top freeflyers (Sébastian Mérian,
Sylvain Turina and Stéphane Fardel), a good part of the American
upper crust (The Fly Boyz and the former Free Fly Clowns : Olav, Omar and
Charles Bryan) came to Vichy.
Load organising for freefly is a new challenge for Espace Boogie. The
problems are different than for RW: 20 to 40 people groups are not possible
yet and for beginning and intermediate freeflyers there cannot be more
than three skydivers for one instructor. It is a problem of profitability
to solve according to the technical level of the participants and the size
of the freefly groups. The more demanding freeflyers regretted the lack
of availability of the load organisers. Some were indeed more available
than others; they were not all paid though, only their expenses were. The
labourer is worthy of his hire...
The more experienced participants could play and share unusual jumps
organised by the ì^masters^î who were in Vichy to liven up things rather
than organise groups. Next time, freefly load organiser should be paid
and thus be more available. This year was more a show than a freefly load
organising. In the evening, one could enjoy the big ways around Babylonís
giant wind socks, some tracking jumps with Sébastien Mérian
and other freeflyers inventions on the big screen.
ìThe sit-flyers are the championsî shouted Alain Cruteanski
a.k.a. Skygod the 1st at times when he did not know that ì^bellyjumpers
suck^î. With OJB as the load organiser, they beat their own world record
with 14-way formation. A non official record of course since all participants
signed a document stating that no organisation except themselves could
recognise the record. Cheers for this group in which the atmosphere was
fantastic.
As for RW, the candidates for organised jumps respect more and more
every year the two basic rules of load organising: to be able to dock on
a 10-way formation and to respect the money and pleasure of those who are
at their place in the group.
Espace Boogie especially thanks Yves Négrié and Titou
Auvray for taking care with patience of a group of beginners who mostly
worked on the approach and the docking. Thanks to their pedagogy, Yves
and Titou delighted a bunch of young RW jumpers living the beginning of
their passion.
Didier Boignon, Mike Brooke, Dario Jotti, Dave Morris and Richie Hornig
found the balance of their group in good spirits. They would do several
points depending on the jumps and at the condition that the size of the
group remain under 20. Darryl Moranís group with more than 30 skydivers
would have needed more altitude to have as much fun as the previous year.
Jeff Ronzevalleís group which was about the same size was also a bit too
big to move on easily from the first point although there were several
quality jumps.
For the 36 skydivers in Patrick Passeís group the message was clear from the beginning: ìThere is no Antonov, we have less than 5 000 metres, the weather will not be very good, it is out of question that jumps get messy. We will have fun this year only if jumps are perfectî. On the 20 jumps of the group, there were about fifteen 3 point sequences, two of which with a jewel and a diamond with everybody in the same direction as the first point. The group evolves every year, leaving some room for young perfectible RW jumpers.
Warning: the English translations in this text may not all be correct.
Thanks for your comprehension and please address any comment to me Jean-Francois
RIPOCHE.