11/21/2007 Sarge and Wendy’s Daily Blog

When you set your alarm clock for 4.30 a.m. to get up and dirt dive, it had better be worth it. The drive to Lake Wales airport is dark and cold. The coffee at IHOP on the way begins to make it bearable. Bleary eyes start to open and smiles begin to creep across tired faces. The smiles always become wider as you walk past Alan Gutshall who somehow manages to be first up, coffee in hand and always ready with a “Good morning, sir, good to see y’all” as you make your way to the 5.30 a.m. circle up.

In short, today was worth getting up for.

We set up the formation inside the armoury which is our home for the week, walked it out on the runway outside and boarded our aircraft around 7.30 for another crack at the 100 diamond. Spirits were definitely up. The chase CASA went over the base at 18,000 and by 12,500 feet the thirty-six way base was hammering through the sky. The formation built to 64 quickly and relatively smoothly by around 7,500 feet and the row 9 wings were called in. The row 10 wings came in shortly afterwards and the formation built into 90’s by the time it reached the 5,000 hard deck. Mike Lewis gave a “hold on” call in anticipation of the last four people docking and to the sound of arch calls we waited. And waited. And waited…and waited…and…well, you get the picture.
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With stuff like this to do…why wouldn’t you want to jump out of a “perfectly good airplane?”