Seven Hills Skydivers jump into Rhythm and Booms in Madison, Wisconsin – July 2007
For the past 12 years Seven Hills Skydivers demo teams have jumped into their largest venue, the Rhythm and Booms fireworks event at Warner Park in Madison, Wisconsin. As many as 250,000 people view the fireworks with tens of thousands viewing in and around the park. Each demo jump has come off flawlessly with all skydivers landing safely and amazing the crowd each year with their accuracy and mostly stand up landings. This year we received a nice sized sponsorship from Culver's Corporate and Culver's of Sun Prairie to help defray our costs. Our ground crew of Kim, Greg, Linda, Sara, April, Sheila and Frank worked the incoming crowd with a booth offering info on the club and how to make a first jump. They continued their team efforts by securing the landing area and providing ground to air communications. Greg got us some pub on WOLX during the jump while April and Frank took some great photos which made a local paper and have also found their way into the office of Craig Culver himself. He loved 'em!! Who knows where they may be seen next. Razz, Bob, Jay and Rich made the jump from around 7,500. Razz dutifully reminded the three of us to "don't funnel' the exit which 'we' of course did. You might want to ask Rich for an explanation but don't expect a good one. After a masterful recovery we all deployed at the appropriate altitudes with Bob flying the American flag and Jay red, white and blue streamers. Razz, doing video, came to the rescue at 3,500 feet, yelling at the guy with the large Culver's banner that it wasn't fully deployed. One quick check of the belly bag with the tail of the banner snagged on the zipper fixed the problem quickly.
Demo jumps done properly, especially close to and on the ground, are a great way to promote our sport and our club. More than jumpers are needed to make it a successful event. Hopefully, there are many members in our club who have made making or being a part of a demo jump one of their goals. Though they can be filled with pressure, like any jump well done they bring a great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. Work on your skills (especially accuracy) and you too may have the chance to funnel an exit in front of thousands of people. I don't think anyone saw except Razz - and his camera. |
