Camp Prepares Vertical Jumpers for New Rules

By Melissa Nelson Lowe

Five Minute Call
Tuesday, October 1, 2019

In August, Matt Fry and Melissa Nelson Lowe hosted a Vertical Sequential Camp at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa, Illinois. The skills-camp participants came from Brazil, Dubai, Kuwait, Mexico, Norway, Turkey and the U.S. to prepare for the two-point 80-way Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Head-Down World Record attempts scheduled for June 25-28, 2020, at Skydive Chicago. Skydive Sebastian in Florida will host a second preparatory camp in February.

Fry and Lowe were instrumental in spearheading rule changes that USPA and the International Parachuting Commission of the FAI adopted for head-up and head-down sequential skydiving earlier this year. The old rules limited formation design, and with the new rules in place, vertical sequential flyers are anticipating moving the discipline forward. Already this June, Fry organized a successful 20-way that set the FAI World Record for Largest Two-, Three- and Four-Point Head-Up Skydive. It was an invigorating success.

“It’s exciting to pioneer a new world-record category and to have fun doing dynamic big-ways—turning points into creative formations. It reminds me a lot of the direction [FS organizing group] P3 has gone.” Lowe said.

More information about the next record event and preparatory camp is available at facebook.com/verticalsequentialworldrecords. Jumpers can also contact Lowe and Fry directly at verticalsequentialworldrecords@gmail.com.

Melissa Nelson Lowe | D-20224
Montrose, Colorado