Brought to you by Steve Lefkowitz of SDC Rhythm XP (rhythmskydiving.com). Additional instructional materials are available by downloading the Rhythm apps:  Rhythm Skydiving 101 and Rhythm Skydiving 401.

Each year, Safety Day is the second Saturday in March (this year, that’s March 14). It marks the beginning of a new season, and even in poor weather, jumpers flock to this event, their minds filled with fresh ideas and expectations of the warm summer days ahead.

Halloween is all about chocolate, taking candy from strangers and, apparently, flying really fast parachutes at one another—at least for attendees of the debut Flock and Flow camp, held at Skydive Paraclete XP in Raeford, North Carolina, during Halloween weekend.

October 2019 proved to be a banner month for sequential skydiving, as two separate groups of jumpers achieved world-record performances, one in full-break sequential formation skydiving and the other in canopy formation skydiving.

On Sunday, October 27, five parachutists safely landed at 20,200 feet MSL (with a density altitude of 22,700 feet MSL) on the West Col in the Nepali Himalayas.

On December 26, 1959, Dr. John Gaffney (“Doc” to his skydiver friends) led the Central Florida Sky Divers Club to the DeLand Municipal Airport to jump from a Tri-Pacer flown by the airport manager, Bob Lee.

It was a delightful early November evening in DeLand, Florida, when 30 or so friends and family members gathered to honor Raymond E. Ferrell as USPA presented him with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Around the world, October is the month dedicated to breast-cancer awareness. For many years, the skydiving community marked this month with Jump for the Cause, an event that brought women together to raise money for breast cancer research and set women’s world record formation skydives.

Tom Jenkins always saw the value of structured competition and record performances in driving skydivers to become more skilled while also having fun.

Siân Stokes and Milko Hodgkinson enjoy a fun jump during Tsunami Skydivers’ Boogie in Belize.

Faris Al Obaid, Mohammed Al Mutairi, Nicole Arnulphy and Abraham Harutyunyan fly a tube formation at Kuwait Skydive & Fly.

Marina Prokopenko comes in for landing at the Gemini Bridges geologic formation during the MOAB Boogie hosted by Skydive Moab in Utah.

Like just about any innovation or improvement, the hip rings introduced to make a skydiving harness more flexible for freestyle and freeflying have a downside. If the harness is fitted correctly so the two ends of the leg strap at the ring seldom or never make contact, no wear should appear.

Studies have shown that the individuals deviating from standard protocols don’t set out to break the rules.

Brought to you by Steve Lefkowitz of SDC Rhythm XP (rhythmskydiving.com). Additional instructional materials are available by downloading the Rhythm apps:  Rhythm Skydiving 101 and Rhythm Skydiving 401.

During the Aeronautrixx Unicorn Sisters in Skydiving Boogie at Skydive California in Tracy, organizer Julie Kleinwort and Jack Wang assemble a Mr. Potato Head in freefall, a fun activity that also helps to develop proximity skills. 

Mike Scotton (red, yellow and black rig), D-33933, makes his 1,000th jump with friends at Skydive the Ranch in Gardiner, New York.

In early December, the British Parachute Association unveiled its new identity—British Skydiving—and introduced a new logo and website.

The European Skydiving Symposium is inviting the skydiving community to attend its conference for skydivers, instructors and gear specialists at the Mazurkas Conference Center and Hotel near Warsaw, Poland March 5-7.

Tandem Instructor Francisco Nieto y Torres, D-37152, celebrates his 1,000th jump by taking his mother on a skydive at USPA Foreign Affiliate Skydive Cuautla in Mexico.