kkeenan 14 #1 May 21, 2007 We had a fun weekend of CRW at ZHills. One jump in particular made for a pretty good story. We were building a 6-way Box with Annie DeKoker on right Row-3 wing and Dave Hillebrandt as the tail of the 4-way. Stan (The Shark) Bussey was the lockup between Dave and Annie. Stan was in the process of docking when we started to break the formation to do a run-back. As the formation broke apart, Dave, Annie, and Stan came together in what looked at first like a couple of bumps. It looked like Dave was going to be sucked into the mess, but popped out and flew merrily away. Annie's canopy stalled, dropping her into the middle of Stan's canopy, and it was Off to the Races. As you may know, Annie weighs about 110 lbs. soaking wet. Stanley weighs about 220 (wet or dry). Stan's canopy wrapped around Annie like the shrink wrap on a CD. They started spinning at a high rate, with Stan on the end of the lines and Annie cocooned in his canopy under her still-inflated 113 Lightning. The spin was pretty fast, and they were descending like crazy. Annie said that she was completely wrapped, and the fabric was so tight around her face and chest that she couldn't breathe - she also couldn't move anything but her legs. I think the load of Stanley pulling 2-3g in the spin was probably considerable. After 4-5 revolutions, which Annie said seemed pretty long, the spin stopped and they were flying stable under Annie's L-113. She said that at this point, she was starting to pass out. A few seconds later, Stanley cut away. The weather had been pretty funny all weekend, with gusty winds and increasing clouds. The wrap ccurred at about 8k. As the wrapped pair spun downward, with the rest of us chasing, we were directly over a large cloud. They were probably about 300-400 above the cloud when Stanley cutaway, disappearing in freefall into the cloud. A few seconds later, Annie flew into the cloud with Stan's parachute around her. She said that it was a huge relief when Stan cutaway. She was still completely wrapped in the canopy, but being able to breathe again was a major improvement. By the time we all cleared the cloud, we were all ofer the sky in all different directions. We could see Stanley's reserve for the first time, so that was a relief - he would apparently live on to cause yet more chaos on another day. Annie, meanwhile, was trying to get free of The Shark's canopy, which was tied pretty securely to her body and risers. Dave flew up next to her, yelling for her to start cutting. She hadn't wanted to use a hook knife on the canopy, but with Dave's encouragement, she started hacking. Soon, the canopy was free, landing near the airport with Dave following close by. A search was done for Stanley's free bag, but it is still at large. I'm not sure if Dave thought about who would be fixing Stan's canopy when he told Annie to use her hook knife on it. However, with the number of cut lines, and cut and torn fabric, it looked like it had been run over by a Pasco County mowing tractor. Dave will be busy for a while. Annie was pretty battered. The fabric squeezing around her pushed her sunglasses into her face, so she thinks she'll have a couple of black eyes. Those will go good with the bruises all over her body. She said that today she feels like she's been in a car wreck. Everyone loves a good jump story. I figured this qualifies. Blu Skize, Kevin 3_____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CReWLL 0 #2 May 22, 2007 OK kid, do you feel that? Ta Da Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
parachutist 2 #3 May 22, 2007 Quote OK kid, do you feel that? Ta Da Got any pics of that shredded canopy, Dave? Shots of before & after it gets mended would be good to see. Has Dean lost hold on the title of "Slasher" to someone half his size? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
