Perfect preparation prevents paddling with a porpoise, or so I believe the saying goes. Jumping on an island you need to be prepared for a wet landing. Ideally avoiding the sea is Plan A, but should you need it, having a Plan B is highly desirable.
So, if the situation allows a few of the events planned for 2020 are H2O themed. Details are still being confirmed, but a session at a swimming pool to practice our drills should we have to land in the water will remind us of the fundamentals to self-rescue.
Some water jumps are planned. A few lucky ones will get the chance to splash down at our normal landing area, but this time it’s covered by the sea. This is also a good chance to check our boat handling and recovery skills to pull the jumper and soggy canopy out of the drink. Mal has announced that skydivers could get involved with a RNLI exercise sometime this year, so I’m guessing landing on water will be involved again, a useful test in case we need to ditch further offshore.
We all have to carry a life jacket on every jump so we should be able to bob about for a few minutes whilst they come to the rescue.
A few other events are planned for the rest of the year including safety evening, night jumps, demos, and of course, our Hula Hula boogie.
Nigel O’Brien
Find out more about Jersey: https://www.skydivejersey.net
Photo: Mal Richardson at the Jersey boat show 2019 by Nigel O’Brien
