Spring Fling 2019

By Brian Pangburn

More than 150 jumpers from 17 countries and six continents traveled to Skydive Sebastian in Florida for the Spring Fling canopy formation skydiving (aka canopy relative work or CRW) event March 9-17. The nine-day event—now in its 15th year—has continued to grow. Organizers Chris Bohn, Chris Gay, Eric Gallan, Francois Huot and Brian Pangburn kept up with the surge in participation by adding Andrew Draminski, Gerben Frankvoort, Sean Jones and Scott Lazarus to the organizing team. The team’s goal was to keep everyone challenged, from the 12 jumpers who had never tried CF before to the most experienced participants.

New for 2019, the organizers dedicated the event’s first day—which happened to be USPA Safety Day—to the CRW pups (new CF jumpers) by holding safety seminars and making one-on-one jumps. Devoting the first day to the pups and their safety ensured that they learned correct techniques from the start, and for the third consecutive year, none of the pups was involved in any wraps or cutaways during the event. Some pups came mainly to learn canopy-control and proximity-flying skills but soon found themselves enjoying the full CF experience. And just as in the previous year, a few pups even participated in 36-ways by the second weekend!

This year, the boogie’s scope widened a bit to include beach jumps and night jumps. With Sebastian’s beautiful backdrop, the photo opportunities were too numerous to count. The group also attempted to jump while a Delta IV rocket was launching from nearby Cape Canaveral, but as everyone was holding their formations, cameras ready … the launch was delayed until the opportunity passed.

Experienced Spring Flingers performed their favorite formations and also a few new ones. On her birthday, Magaly Sandoval made a thread-the-needle jump and completed an all-female 4-way. The Matrone family (Aleth and Frank with son Dominic) posed for family portraits in two different CF formations on the same jump. Throughout the event, the Raw Dogs CF group kept the night life rolling!

On March 14, the CF World Team, led by Gay, completed two world records: a two-point 37-way and a night 36-way. The night record included pyrotechnics, and as always, local residents reported sighting UFOs in the area. The team has sent the records to the Féderátion Aéronautique Internationale (the World Air Sports Federation) for ratification.

CF events are known for having a family atmosphere, and Spring Fling was no exception. From Sarah Bromley baking cookies and brownies for everyone, to participants offering to help train the pups, to jumpers with cameras volunteering to follow formations to provide video debriefs for each load, everyone pitched in to make the event as useful and fun as possible. When one jumper cut away at night and couldn’t find his main, the Spring Fling family passed the hat and within 24 hours, he had enough money for a brand-new canopy.

Amada Smalley and the staff at Skydive Sebastian made everyone feel welcome and at home. They did everything they could to keep the CF loads going day and night. The participants were so impressed with the DZ that many asked the organizers if they would hold the event there again next year. The answer: absolutely yes!

About the Author

Brian Pangburn, D-18122, began canopy formation skydiving in 1994. Since then, he’s competed in all CF disciplines and has co-organized the last few CF world records. Pangburn now focuses on teaching and coaching CF.