Safari trip before leaving South Africa

  Yesterday I went to a safari park a little north of Pretoria. We went early so we could see the animals before it got to hot and the wild animals went sleeping for the day. It was a easy trip from Pretoria and the price was 140 ran that's about 75 DKR for 3 persons 10 euro or 12 $.

we only drove 10 min before the first 3 rhinos was standing next to the road. we went to the center of the park and got some breakfast and after  that we just drove around the park there was both Crocodiles Hippos elephants zebras you name it the only animal we didn't meet was THE King he was hiding in the bush waiting for the spring buck to run by.

  

New country New Lounge

Just landed in London LHR  2 hrs late so I am now leaving 9:40 instead of 6:35 But Again Thanks BA for excellent service in the Lounge's. It looks cold outside about 30 degree C colder than it was yesterday in South Africa..

Ummm BA lounge and Club World

Just arrived in the airport got checked in through the SA security witch is like going through a open gate. But I guess that's the way it is down here.

I was invited to the new BA lounge when I was upgraded to club World again. Here there is free food, full bar, the waiters almost carrying you to your chair, so that's what money is all about. Hmm..  the plane is delayed out of JHB so I don't know if I am going to reach the plane in Heathrow  but I guess I am just going to run like a MTF to reach the plane.. I have meet a lot of the competitors from the meet here in the airport and I can actually sit here in the BA Lounge and see them all walk by. Once again Umm.

Final results

WPC competitors meeting

 

 

After the comp there was a competitors meeting, the jury wanted to know if the current accuracy setup should be changed so the ties in the top of the comp would be more spread.

One of the ideas was making  5 water gates that give you 100 points on the water then there is a zero zone (z z) where zone 5 is today and to keep all your points from the water you need to land in that z z . The further you land from the z z you loose more of your water points. You just need to touch the  z z to get the points you don't need to stay there, but if you run out of the main course you will get a zero.

The idea of skipping the entry gate was also there and that idea I actually think we will use in Denmark next year this way the intermediate jumpers can still fly the water gates and take some points on the water without getting wet..

This was the most discussed tropic of the meeting there was also something about making more spread on the speed points. But I didn't really get the idea of the way they wanted to Calculate the points.

After these tropics I think we all got thirsty because all the jumpers was suddenly in the bar.

its over finished slut finito and yes FUCK I got 3 zeros as usual

missed the gate on the distance run so I am expecting a lower overall score than I hoped for but the result will follow  maybe first tomorrow....shit fuck

But it was a GREAT competition and I had a lot of fun and I think that's the most important part...

WPC day 4 so far so good

Today the weather is really good and might be changing to be even better for the last round in Distance. I made 2 jumps one accuracy where I am 99,99999 sure the judges missed some of my points. And one speed with a time around 3,3 sec. but overall I am pretty happy for today's jumping. I am using the 96 canopy for accuracy and distance and the 90 for speed so it worked out well.

The wind is pretty much downwind now so I guess the world record is going to be beaten for sure today. 

More to come later when the distance is over...

WPC day 3

The weather was playing with us again today there went one load up at 12 o clock and then we went on weather hold again. At about 16:30 the organizers decided to send all loads up and just take the re jumps necessary if the wind was too much.

The wind was about 5,5 to 7,5 as a crosswind in the beginning and everybody on the last rounds was hoping for a little downwind for the distance. BUT that didn't happen instead the wind changed to 45 degree crosswind Headwind so there was a lot landing in the water on the last rounds. I only made 53 m. so the overall result is starting to look very bad for my perspective think I am around 60.

The biggest Mistake someone made yesterday was one of the Russian guys that already have made 3 very dangerous landings and already had a yellow card for that during training. He had a petty good distance score 73 m taking the weather into consideration but the wind was higher than 7 m so the judges asked if he wanted a re jump. I think there was 3-4 people telling him NOT to do the re jump but the Russian wanted a free jump and when he landed he was very hot on the gate. and was dragging water through the entry gate and got a ZERO for that round... 

WPC day 2.... Five rounds accomplished

We managed to get 5 rounds completed yesterday

2 accuracy

2 speed

1 distance

My first accuracy I got a nice score 3 water points and zone 2 the 2nd jump would have been better 3 water points and zone 5 with a penalty but  the tip of my toe touched the plastic in zone zero and I lost that round. The speed rounds was 4,4 and 4,9 sec not really good but a placement of 38 in the speed round. On the first distance round the wind was very shifting. and as I was setting up my jump into headwind it shifted to a straight crosswind. So even that I tried to play safe I missed the gate by a foot and got my second zero in the comp.

But I am far from the only one to have a few zeros, 18 jumpers got vertical extension (zero) in the distance. and also some of those in in the very top of the comp I will try and post pic. of the score sheet later.

2nd day of the competition

Today the wether  WAS perfect we got all of round 1 in the planes but the last plane had to turn around  just before takeoff due to VMC.I made a pretty good 1st round so far so good.

Now the last load have just been called out again so we are back to jumping. Just a short brake of 15 min...

1 day of the competition

Waiting waiting waiting

low clouds and no jumping

The best thing was I got SUSHI yesterday and a good night sleep..

Last day before the competition

Today I got 4 training jumps the 2 jumps in the morning was very windy and most  jumpers were not able to fly trough all the gates including my self.

The last 2 jumps I made was perfect and very good scores so I am pretty satisfied and feel ready for tomorrow. At the opening ceremony I felt very alone going with the Danish flag it would have been nice if peter were here also. But again the Danish flag looked pretty and was a lot bigger than the rest of the flags.. I have never been to a thing like this and have not been thinking about national clothing. DFU haven't send us anything so I had to settle with the official T-shirt that was given to the competitors.

I am going to be on the first load 2nd group tomorrow so I hope the weather is calm tomorrow at 7:00 now I am off to bed so I am fresh tomorrow..   

by the way its soon Christmas But its 30 g C outside??????

The spider for the other day

some of the delegates my lens is not wide enough

Stupidity must be British

hmm yesterday someone had a chop on he's velo he said that he's slider got entangled in the lines. That's fair I would chop that one too. Then the first stupidity comes he is trying to swoop the pond in a tiny reserve, that resulted in a wet reserve canopy that need to dry before he can jump again.... then they find the canopy and the reason for the chop is clear... during a FAST installation of the RDS slider he install it with a line through the cable so it is locked at the cascade point of he's lines. But what when you are in a hurry things go fast and you make mistakes..

Most of the competitors have arrived its clear to see that the ones that have been her for a while is the serious ones PD / US team the Aussie's, Swedish and some more.

My training is really helping and I am very glad I have been here for some time. The weather is very shifting for every jump and today with high winds there have been a lot of zeros among the new jumpers. This morning I got the Velo 96 that Morten Pedersen from PD send me a day earlier than expected. The most helpful staff here in SA called Fedex and arranged to speed up the customs. A very nice girl working in manifest offered me to pick it up at the fedex central in Johannesburg. I got to practice in the canopy all day today and that's been really good. But I couldn't have been without the canopy I borrowed from Kenny G so I am very grateful for the help I got after I burned my canopy on the smoke in Elsinore ... 

Tomorrow we can only train till 13 after that the opening ceremony is starting and after that it's all  serious stuff  but I am looking forward to the competition.

My expectations so far is to be close to the 35 best but that might be a high goal with the quality of the jumpers here. But I will try to play safe and get all the gates, that is my primary goal but I know its a difficult goal with the weather we have down here..

We were supposed to bring the Danish flag down here ,but due to Peter not coming and Jacob working for Paul Potts all last month and traveling directly down here. We didn't have any flag. we called the Danish embassy to hear if they had a spare we could borrow. Denmark now have the biggest flag here so we are able to represent Denmark in a proper manner

Sorry thought i posted links to the videos from Elsinore...

søndag video

monday jumps

thuresday jump

About the thing that they can't drive down here.

Or maybe its just me .... that can't drive but its a wired thing driving in the wrong side of the road.  Sometimes you really need to think very different from what you are used to.

But we are starting to get the hang of it. There is a few things you need to get used to. A red light don't always mean that you cant drive and a roundabout is just guide lines. When you get a red flashlight on the road maybe you should drive a little slower.

Yesterdays training went OK but I am still not the best of friends with the recovery arc of the velo 90 I am flying. Hope fully I will get an other canopy tomorrow if the customs will release it earlier than expected..;o)

1th. Day in Pretoria SA

My trip from Elsinoer was long but didn't feel that long.

Brian Drake a local jumper from Elsinore drove me to the airport just after the last jump. Brian have been flying with a broken ankle all week and a few stitches in he's finger he absolutely deserves the medal for the best spirit in the formation.

In LAX airport I went for my last bite of sushi and after that I was ready to fly this time only on world traveler but all the way in front do I didn't have any stupid kid playing with the seat all the way over. after 3 movies I landed in LHR picked up my luggage and went to the SA flight with no problem at all.

This time I got club world seating ahhh nice my own personal bed in a airplane.. I tried to sleep all the way, so the trip was not so long. In JHB airport there was a guy standing waiting for me with a big sign so I felt pretty important for a while.

Check in went pretty smooth so i was ready yo jump after 20 min on the DZ because of the thin air and 4000 ft elevation i stood a few jumps over to watch the other competitors. My first jump was way to high as I expected  it to be the 2 newt was also to high but better safe than sorry. My 4th jump was just as it should be and actually a little better I went for distance an actually got 140 meters. That would have been the new official Danish distance record if in the actual competition.

But I was not the only one going long some of the PD guys have already jumped longer than the official record I think the longest swoop today was 170 m that is 15 m longer than the  existing record.

This is my first time in South Africa the land is almost as I had expected but one thing that surprises me is every house have big fences and barb wire around. all windows is secured with bars there is a extra metal gate inside the house that need to be locked after 18:00 so i guess its not for fun when people say don't walk the streets at night down here.

Another thing I was reminded about on more occasions today Peter Kallehave is not coming down here so I am going to be the first Danish Canopy pilot to attend a world championship. I guess the beer is on me for that one...

By the way they really cant drive down here they are all driving in the wrong side of the road.....

We DID it and we Rocked...

The 71 way world record is in the House the formation flown on the 5th jump was a perfect formation. The record might not be a formation exactly as any other, but everyone were in there assigned slot. And the formation was flown  by the best wingsuters in the world.. no doubt about that.. This is the first attempt of its kind so there will be a lot of talk around what the standards is for a record like this. The Grid thing is not possible to do in real life try to do that with a RW formation I think it will take quiet some time for them to do also..

But in any things that is good there is also bad things on the 3th jump we landed downwind and mu canopy got caught in my smoke bracket and burned holes in the 2 outbd cells of my 70 jump new canopy. That sucks bigtime. BUT it is not as bad as it sounds. I Called Performance Designs after the accident and got a hold in Morten Berg. He immediately ran to he's Car and and picked up he's private velocity 96 and shipped it to me. If that's not world class service I don't know what that should be.

Kenneth that have been my rigger, driver, jump/drinking buddy again on this trip  saved my ass again and let me borrow he's canopy for the last jumps. He is also sending my damaged canopy to PD for repair.

  

 

day 11 damm we are good

Today we made even better formations than yesterday. 2 of the jumps were with smoke trails. there have been some really sweet ground footages that really shows the size of the formations. I haven't got any pictures to show today but we are really getting there. I still don't think we will make a formation where all wingsuit's is within there 3x3 m2 box but as far as the jumps have been today it will be close and there is no doubt that this is the BIGGEST ever made with wingsuit's....

Ower and out....  

Elsinore day 10 71 way jumping

We made 5 jumps today there is not much to say but here is the result after 5 jumps more will follow..day 

Update on day 9 and 10 in Elsinore

Sorry but I have been busy here in Elsinore We have been flying wingsuit formation all the time since we arrived 2 days ago.

Yesterday we started the day getting together in the groups. I am in the Rear center group and I am going to fly with smoke in the tail. We got 5 jumps in yesterday and we have made some really nice formations so far.  The exit is now a 7 sec piece of cake we are about 25 - 30 sec for completing the formation and then it is getting perfected as long as we go.

The whole formation is going to consist of four groups from 4 planes fwd aft and LH RH wing.  the organizers have really been thinking a lot about this there is a  few places i disagree with them and so far i have been right with the first things that being exit order with the 2 smoke jumpers in our group we are now exiting last as I suggested and that's working just perfect  now.

The only issue I have now is the brake off where I think the forward part of fwd formation should be braking off with the wings at 5500 ft and then the rest at 4500 ft . But the organizers docent think as i do so we are going to brake the wings off at 5500 and the fwd and aft group at 4500. I personally don't have a problem i just need to turn 90 degree and pull but there is some people that is going to be tight tomorrow if the organizers is wrong..

Today we  made 3 jumps and the last jump was in much too high wind  for a record attempt but our team leader wanted to jump so we did.  I  don't have a problem with high wind but there was a lot of out landings so we properly should have stayed on the ground.

We just had a American FAT dinner. No wonder there is so meany fat people over here 3 different piece's of meat, beans and a piece of bread............... after that there was a safety brief and right now people is drinking a beer and talking about tomorrows jump where we are going to make the first attempt for the 71 way wingsuit flock....

Now for my opinion on all this I seriously don't believe that we are going to be 71 wingsuiter's at the 3x3 meter box at the same time but i know for sure that we are going to be DAMMM close and this is going to be the best slot specific formation EVER build so i am really looking forward to this..

Perris / Elsinore day 8

Got 3 jumps in Perris so that's 54 swoop jumps and 2 ws jumps in total.

We went to Elsinore at 14:00 got registered and me and Benny wend on the first possible jump. I made a max speed flight with Dennis and just to make that jump perfect we made a 30 sec dock, that made the BIG smile on both of our faces...

After sunset we meet with Peter Dennis and Kenneth at Kokoros sushi. After that we all agreed that Kokoros is better than Hanas sushi.....

right now we are sitting in the camper drinking the last beers in the cooler so tomorrow cant be bad

Perris day 7

no update

Perris day 6 finally good weather.

The weather now looks very promising today was about 20 g and tomorrow should be 25 sweet..

I got 11 jumps today and my turn have become much better but still need a little more snappy endings to get more lift out of the canopy. The wind picked up at midday so I went downwind on the grass. so I got a few swoops covering the whole grass area here in Perris 480 ft sweet...

I also had the last modifications done on my wingsuit by Kenneth and attached the PD and L & B patches so no one  can be in any doubt  what i love to fly...

Benny, Mette and Christian "Tytte" arrived at 16:00 they were pretty tired when they arrived so we went for a beer in bombshelter just to get them a tad more tired. after that we went to Hanas sushi again to get some food. and it looked like they were pretty hungry to with the amount of rolls they consumed

As the big surprise a 4th guest arrived late last night. Peter called me yesterday telling that he decided to go here anyway. and showed up about 21:30 but both Kenneth and Bundy went home so they will get the surprise later..... 

Perris day 5

hmm not much to tell bad weather only 4 jumps in high wind

Tomorrow should be perfect weather finally

Perris day 4

its a bit slow at the DZ at the moment both due to bad weather and not that many people. But I managed to be on every load yesterday and got 9 jumps so I guess I am on a totally of 25 jumps here now. I was hoping for that number to be between 35 to 40 so its not going exactly as planned.

I am having a little trouble getting my new canopy to do what I want it to do... I Guess my longest swoop on the pond is about 250 ft and that is far from my best. But I talked to Bundy and Kenneth about the end of my turn and that's what I will be working on  tomorrow.

Perris day 3

Sunday was a bit tame. The day started  with a bit of a overcast and high wind for swooping. but about 10:00 it cleared up a bit and we made 3 jumps in a row then we got on another weather hold and that was the story for the rest of the day. only 6 jumps. But it gave me time to make some modifications on my wingsuit and the last jump was a jump with Kenneth where made a few docks and was testing each others speed out. in the end of the jump I maxed  the suit out to see if it had gotten better and there was a big improvement from last time. the coolest thing about the jump was seeing Kenneth after I deployed. He is perfect build for wingsuiting  and he almost kept level with me until he deployed he's New Storm canopy from PD. That was a smooooth opening by the way.

After that we went to bombshelter for a beer and decided to go for sushi at Hanas sushi. They just make the best sushi ..

Perris Day 2

Just a little update from yesterday: I got my luggage no prob. Kenneth picked me up at the Airport end we wend to Hollywood boulevard to get something to eat. We heard that there was a Halloween parade in west Hollywood and went there. WOW what a parade there was Thousands of people dressed out in more or Less clothes what a sight...

we got to Kenneth's place pretty late so it was straight to bed..

I got up early and went to the DZ with Kenneth got a big breakfast and then off we go... just got a new canopy Velo 90 so i used the day getting it dialed in. the first 3-4 jumps was ok but not at all fast enough. after that it started to get better but the wind was pretty weird today so it was hard setting it up. But that's good training. Bundy Thinks I need to make my snap a little later so that's what I am going to practice for tomorrow. Got 12 jumps today so i am pretty satisfied...

And just a few pic from first Class in a 747-400 

USA: Perris, Elsinore and South Africa: Pretoria trip Day 1

My trip started today at 01:30 where my cab picked me up to the train station. After that a 4 hrs trip from Århus to Copenhagen slept all the way. In the airport I was quiet exited for my trip because I am traveling on staff tickets again but this time on staff duty so unless the plane is overbooked I am secure on getting on the plane. I was also pretty stoked when I selected seats yesterday getting Club Europe tickets from CPH to LHR and Club World from LHR to LAX perfect.... but if that sounded good it became better. Going through the ticket desk a red light flashed when they scanned my ticket "Sire I have upgraded you to FIRST CLASS" so the perfect trip just got better. First class is pretty good king  size chair that easily changes to a bed. You get to choose from a menu card with 3 different dishes. Personally service you want it you got it drink, fruit, chocolate you just name it. Now sitting in the plane with 2 hrs to go I only have one concern and that's my luggage. It got checked through all the way from CPH to LAX and last time it was 4 days late. I really hope that don't happen here. I was supposed to travel with Peter Kallehave but he is pretty stressed at job. So he is not coming to USA. I had the feeling he was going to back out but got the sms confirming it when I flew from CPH. Bad for him. He could use the time off. So right now I don't know how to get from LAX to Perris Peter was supposed to get a rental car we could split, I sms ed Kenneth if he could pick me up at the Airport but cant get a answer before I land....    that's  it for now might get a update on that later when I hit Perris.