Skydivers rise to occasion

The Tech skydiving club leapt into competition over the semester break, with 12 students making the trip to the National Collegiate Skydiving Championships in Florida.

Several of the club's teams did extremely well in the competition. GT Fusion, with members Jonathan Bartlett, Rebecca Murray, Kevin Patrick and Elizabeth Stoner, took second place, failing to beat out a team from the Air Force Academy by a single point.

GT Airlock, with members Omar Mireles, Shane Migliore, Adam Chamely, and Nate Fisher captured fourth place. Viscosity, with Tech members Allison Yasitis and alum Craig Sellars, took third.

This is quite a feat for the relatively inexperienced Tech squad. Three out of the four members of GT Fusion have been jumping only since October of last year.

Bartlett, a more experienced skydiver, " acted as sort of a player-coach for us, " Patrick said.

The members of the team made a real commitment to excel, traveling to the competition drop zone in Florida once a month to train. The team chose to travel rather than to jump locally both because of weather concerns and to gain as much knowledge of both the plane and area they would be using to jump at Nationals.

Up to 20 practice jumps were made each weekend, rapidly increasing the team's knowledge and experience with the formations they would be expected to create.

Despite the fact that a typical jump from 10,500 feet would result in approximately 65 seconds of free fall, in competition divers are only given 35 seconds in which to try and earn points.

Each team is given a set of four formations drawn from a published pool of formations to which all teams have access.

On a competitive jump, teams are expected to accurately cycle through the set as rapidly as possible, earning a point for each formation successfully completed, so familiarity and precision are key to a strong showing.

A cameraman brought by the team jumps with them, recording all of the actions during the jump so judges can evaluate the team's work once they reach the ground.

The team also traveled to Orlando several times to work in a vertical wind tunnel. This provided longer periods to work on their individual skills, as well as group work.

At $10 per minute, however, not a second was wasted by the team, even though that does, as Patrick noted, " make it cheaper than [what] that much free fall during jumps [costs]. "

Outside of the four-man team competition, the weekend was just as much of a success for other Tech skydivers. A two-man team, GT Propel, took second place. In individual competition, Adam Chamely and Shane Migliore took first and second respectively in the Intermediate Sport Accuracy event.

Geoffrey Loy took second place in the Novice Sport Accuracy Event. Furthermore, the GT Fusion Freefly duo of Patrick and Bartlett took fourth place in the freefly test event.The weekend culminated for the Tech participants with a group dive that linked all 12 Yellow Jacket divers in one formation.

" Back twenty years ago, people said that a five-man formation was impossible. It just goes to show you how far the sport has come " , Patrick said. Twelve Tech divers linked together in a single formation set a new school record.

This competition was the last for several of the divers involved. GT Fusion's members are all graduating in the next three semesters, so the next group of Tech skydivers is needed.

The club has facilities at Skydive Atlanta and meets every Monday in room 251 of the CRC from 6 to 7 p.m.

The success of Fusion is evidence that this is a sport that can be quickly learned given the time and resources needed. The club encourages any interested individual to come by a meeting.

The seven jumps and several hours of classroom training needed to become a certified skydiver can be done in a week, or stretched over several months, depending on weather, resources and time constraints.

For those that have experienced it, the feeling is like no other. " When you are about to jump out of a plane, anything else going on in your life stops, " Patrick said. " Looking out, it is like you are jumping into a picture. "