2020: The Year We’ll Never Forget (No matter how hard we try)

By Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld

In my 40+ years of skydiving I’ve realized that there are two reasons why every skydiver I’ve ever known jumps.
1) They love having turned their fantasy of human flight into reality.
2) They treasure being a part of our very special skydiving family.

After quarantining for a few months I appreciate and value these things more than ever and promise to never take them for granted again. It’s a privilege to get to play like we do.

Skydive Perris is a premier DZ for holding large National and International events. P3 (Perris Performance Plus) organizes many of these events. So far in 2020 all of these had to be canceled. But as June was approaching and restrictions were being lifted we decided to try and salvage some kind of P3 Power Play. The Power Play is an annual event that normally welcomes 48 to 64 very experienced FS jumpers who come from around the world to get together and do some incredible skydives.

In May we sent an email out to the Power Play gang asking who wanted to come if we held the event. One third said if we held it they would absolutely be there. One third said there was no way they would come no matter what. The last third said it was too early for them to decide.

In June we sent another email telling everyone we were hoping to try to do something. We didn’t know what “something” was going to be. It might be a 13way or 30way. It could be one group or two. We told everyone, “we need to know if you’ll come no matter what we do.”

As it turned out we had a 20way. And I can honestly say it was the happiest group of 20 skydivers I’ve ever seen! They were all just SO GLAD to see each other. SO HAPPY to get to jump together. We had an amazing time and did some fantastic jumps.

We all followed the Skydive Perris COVID 19 Protocols. Yeah, it’s a bit of a pain in the ass to wear masks, sanitize our hands before we board the plane, leave the door open and take everyone’s temperature before they come on the DZ. But it’s just not that big of a deal. A small price to pay for all of us to be able to comfortably get together and play games with our friends in the skies!

A BIG thanks to Dr. Bob Domeier for helping us figure out a good plan and Dr. Steve Briggs for the great post copied below:

“Dan – Thanks for all the work that you and the Perris Valley Skydiving staff put in to make this happen, and for doing it with scientifically based viral defense protocols that ensured our jumps – including those from 18,000 ft above sea level – were all we had to worry about. You and Skydive Perris have always been champions of safety for our sport and incorporating best practices to prevent viral infections into your drop zone operations has set the standard for the skydiving world.”
-Steve Briggs

It is so great to have Skydive Perris open!! We’re being Covid careful AND having a blast seeing the gang back at the DZ, sharing the skies and appreciating our friends and amazing sport more than ever!!