Above: The Pennsylvania women turn points during their record-setting weekend. Photo by Matt Jackson.
On July 27 and 28 in Perkasie, Pennsylvania, 12 ladies gathered at Skydive Philadelphia in an effort to set two unclaimed state records and break another record. However, the story began back in May during a friendly speedstar competition. After realizing that most of the people on the winning team were female and knowing that there were plenty of other skilled women in the area, organizer Jessica Kettlewood looked into the current Pennsylvania state records. It was clear that it would be wildly unchallenging to break the single-point large formation record and establish two sequential records. Thus began two-and-a-half months of organizing a women’s record weekend.
A couple months and many group texts later, the weather gods granted the group the nicest jumping days of July for the record weekend. Twelve ladies gathered together for the first time at Skydive Philadelphia ready to learn, have some fun get in the record books. Head coach Sheryl Adams-Benner, assisted by Elizabeth Porter, guided the group. After a meet-and-greet session and a safety briefing, they started walking through the exit and first jump: a 12-way featuring a 6-way-star base with the six jumpers taking leg grips in between. Like true superwomen, they were able to set the large-formation record on the first jump.
For the remainder of the day and into the next, the 12-way group struggled through different iterations of the sequential jump. On the sixth attempt, they set the sequential large formation and full-break sequential large formation records with the same jump. Overall, it was a successful weekend and has lit a fire at Skydive Philadelphia for setting more Pennsylvania records there in the future.
Jessica Kettlewood | C-51173
Telford, Pennsylvania