Everyone enjoys a good speedstar competition, and Spaceland’s fifth annual Transitions event on June 2 was a great example! Seven teams across three Spaceland locations (Skydive Spaceland–Houston in Rosharon, Texas; Skydive Spaceland–Dallas in Whitewright, Texas; and Skydive Spaceland–Clewiston in Florida) paired a mentor with two jumpers who had fewer than 100 jumps each to practice the essential skills of diving and docking quickly, vying for prizes including a free day of jumping for the overall winners.

Once the dust settled, Houston team JSquared (Joel Brooks, Jeff Dundas and mentor Nicole Black) swooped in for the kill with a total score of 83.58 seconds (27.86 seconds per round). Dallas team I Don’t Know, Maybe We’re a Tandem took second overall and first in Dallas with 97 seconds (32.22 seconds per round), and Florida team Fluffers took third overall and first in Florida with 102.32 seconds (34.11 second per round). First-place teams at each location won 60 percent off a day of jumping, second place got 40 percent off, third got 20 percent off, and everyone won with free coaching by the mentors.

“The mentor program is so valuable to our skydiving community,” said Mentor Program Director Valerie Marvin of The Ratings Center. “It’s so good for integrating new skydivers into the community and keeping them safe and learning. These competitions are great to motivate them, as well.”

Spaceland hosts monthly themed Transitions events (e.g., dive and dock, learning to organize, canopy skills) with a few competitions such as this one throughout the year. The mentor program is active daily or on weekends at all Spaceland locations, with jumpers under 100 jumps able to get free coaching from instructors or coaches regardless of where they got licensed. The next competition is 3-Way Formation Skydiving on October 6.