From The Desk of Dan BC – November

Perris Newsletter | November 2017

We’ve finally recovered from the Nationals!! What a great two weeks it was. The chance to have a front row seat to watch state of the art performances in every freefall discipline was incredible. And to see the mutual admiration, respect and camaraderie amongst all the athletes from those disciplines was a true statement of who skydivers are and the amazing community we have. Perfect weather, as many as 130 loads a day and nearly 19,000 jumps with only three minor injuries made it one of the best USPA Nationals I’ve ever been to, and I’ve been to a lot. Special thanks to our staff, everyone who came to watch and especially the competitors.

The Nationals also enjoyed a lot of good media coverage. One comment made by several reporters was that they’d seen few sports like skydiving that are gender neutral, where men and women compete against each other. I explained to them that there is no advantage in skydiving regarding size and strength so men and women compete on an even playing field. Not only that but every year there are plenty of both on the podiums during the medal ceremonies. They were quite surprised by this as they were under the impression that skydiving is a very male dominated sport.

Male dominated sport?? That is definitely not the case at Skydive Perris! Sometimes I feel like I’m the only guy around! Melanie owns the DZ. Shazza runs the school. Sheila is in charge of the Tunnel. Selena is the boss at the loft. Laura is behind the scenes keeping all of us in line. Grace Katz leads the Perris Organizers (Mark Brown thinks he’s in charge but that’s only because Grace lets him believe that.) Kate Cooper-Jensen is the Big Way Master. Christy Frikken is the head FS Coach. Taya Weiss is the WS Guru. Jeanine Bonvin organizes the FF Organizers. There are so many more great female coaches, organizers, instructors, riggers, tunnel instructors, pilots, manifesters, as well as Perris Skydiving School, Bomb Shelter, Wind Tunnel and Square One employees that I can’t mention them all here. Should I continue?

Male dominated?? I don’t think so. No one dominates this drop zone. It’s enjoyed by women and men of all colors, religions, sexual preferences, professions, nationalities, political parties, ethnicities, back grounds, economic statuses and with more opinions than there are people.

But all of them follow the same three, very strict rules we have at Skydive Perris:

1) Don’t be dangerous
2) Don’t be an asshole
3) Have fun.

And we have a lot of fun coming up on the schedule!!

NOVEMBER 9 – 12   FF CALIFORNIA RECORD 100WAY
NOVEMBER 11           VETERANS DAY
NOVEMBER 16 – 19  P3 16 TO 60WAYS
NOVEMBER 24          TEAM BUILDER
NOVEMBER 25          GHOST NATIONALS
NOVEMBER 26         TURKEY SCRAMBLES MEET
DECEMBER 2, 3       XRW CAMP
DECEMBER 26 – JANUARY 1   PARTY IN PERRIDISE BOOGIE