There's no sense in being pessimistic...

"There's no point in being pessimistic, it wouldn't work anyway." Me

Martin offered to organize an attempt at a POPS (Parachutists Over Phorty Society) record attempt. There were 56 people on the DZ that qualified, and although they weren't all members it would just be a paperwork exercise to get that  done after we had made the record. For my 40th birthday my girlfriend at the time had registered me and bought me a T-shirt complete with my POPS number on it. This would be easy. Some of these people had spent the last 6 days practicing for a 100 way, doing a 56 way would be a piece of cake.

The plan was to build the same basic formation that we had been practicing all week, just with fewer people. We'd build it out as far as we could with however many people we had.

Easy-peasy.

We strolled through the dirt dive, knowing that this was well within our capabilities. The average number of jumps of the people that were on this jump was probably in the thousands.

We went up, we went out, and nailed it. We held that thing for at least 5 seconds before we broke and tracked away. When we landed all you could hear was hooting, hollering, and cheering because we knew we had nailed our second national record in as many days.

The road past the DZ and the pathway back to the packing area was lined with people congratulating us on our achievement.

But when the judges saw the tape, it turned out that, wait for it, wait for it.......


We'd "Missed it by that much!"

Everybody got on, but not all at the same time. We had built a 56 way, but not all the grips were in the proper place all at the same time.

Crap.

The only thing to do was to go up and try again. Which resulted in a complete ZOO dive that rivaled anything I'd ever seen during the worst excesses of the World Freefall Convention.

As we walked to the debrief Mario fell in beside me and pointed out that there was still enough daylight left to give it another shot. I was completely blindsided when he asked "Would you like to organize it?" Would I?!?!?! OHMYFUCKINGGOD!!!!!!!!. Hell Yeah!!!!!!

Then I remembered the now half empty mug of Crystal Skull Vodka and Lemonade in my hand. When we entered the debriefing tent  he saw that that I was not the only one, and that most of the people had decided it was past beer thirty somewhere in the world. Reality set in as I pondered trying to put together a Canadian National Record. The biggest thing I had ever run was a few 20 ways during long weekend boogies in Gan. This was way beyond my experience, and I was glad I had already begun drinking.

After watching the video a couple of times, Mario pointed out that we were all tired, that it was hot, and that he didn't think there was enough energy left to try it again. Today.


Which is when he dropped his bombshell. He turned to me and asked "Larry, would you be willing to organize another jump tomorrow?" 56 Pairs of eyes turned to me. Oh Fuck. I'll swear my heart skipped a beat. My mind went into overdrive as I tried to think up a way to sidestep this freight train that had been pointed at me. But there was only one possible answer to give. Mario knew that when he had asked the question. "Yes" was the only thing to say.


Mario Prevost has been pretty good to me over the years. And now, he's just given me my chance to show if I can live up to the legend that I am in my own mind. We'll find out if I can at 9:30 Sunday morning. 


I'm Fucked.