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KLATOVY BIGWAY CAMP 2019

Testimonials from the people who went

Well organised. Good people. Awesome planes. Amazing hotel. Best cameramen

- Tom Shorten, cameraflyer

Great fun and hugely informative. Flying from the best aircraft for bigway.

- Cinderella (Longbottom)

A massive change to the norm with skydive boogies. Lots of in depth coaching and advice, which helped having various coaches with various disciplines to see ideas from both sides of the fence. The organisation and help was spot on, I found if I was to have any questions I was reassured there were answers. Ideal location and setup.

- Bejay Cutmore

Brian talk too much, much more than me 🤔

- Ronny Holen, Viking troll and co-organiser

Jumped out of skyvans, improved skills and met loads of new people

- Morgan Holland

No stress, good fun, lots of learning.

- Anon

Despite the weather not being ideal the jumps, briefs, dirt dives were expertly executed and very clear and informative. Time was short between jumps but spent very well. Only criticism is that changing LO in the second group to guys that had not prepared the jumps beforehand left a bit lacking and hence the learning on those jumps may not have been as successful as could have been.

- Dave Eyre

*insert poem here*
Seriously, great job. I loved every second. The DZ was great, staff, pilots, facilities..the whole lot. Awesome group of people. Really appreciated the warm up day then starting smaller on the main camp and progressing from there. Plenty of ‘learning opportunities’ which were picked up in the debriefs by LOs - correct approach to situations was explained in a polite, non-threatening way so the individual didn’t feel like a failure and everyone else could listen for future reference.
I mean, only criticism? That crappy weather we had on day 2! But seminars were a great shout and, like I said, the DZ staff were fantastic at getting us jumping whenever there was an opportunity.

- Sonia Holland

It was a really great opportunity to experience jumping out of a skyvan, to attempt 20 way formations and to deal with 40 canopies in the sky. Some parts felt a little bit rushed and disorganised, partly because of the weather. I think some jumpers were a bit distracted in the debriefs and dirt dives. A bit more discipline on the ground would have been really helpful, maybe some of these ground rules should be more explicitly explained at the beginning of the camp!

- Kim Fabian

Great learning curve for both experience and beginners and of course the sky van what can I say there is nothing like running out of the back of a plane at 14000 ft or so with room to be comfortable on the way up

- Jason Langridge

I think debriefing needs more time and more detailed.

- PJ Armstrong

Overall a good camp. Learned a lot and would do the camp again

- Phillip Fitzpatrick

5*. Because Ciaran was Load Organising! Ha ha

- Ciaran McCartney, Load Organiser

The trip presented an opportunity where I could challenge myself in a fun and safe environment, and with some wonderful people by my side. I learnt SO much and I was made to feel so welcome despite the fact that I didn’t have as many jumps as others. I feel pretty proud of myself and now I can’t wait for PUPS in August! Thanks so much to the load organisers, the photographers, and to the team at Sunpath.

- Jem, (epic tshirt designer)

It was a very good camp, lots of fun, beautifull drop-zone, well run, clean, efficient, and generally a very pleasant place, hotel was excellent.

- Anon

I knew very little about formation skydiving, apart from gaining FS1. After meeting Brian, and getting involved with the tunnel flying, I really realised that too be able to fly in a controlled way certainly wasn’t easy. The art and technical logistics is certainly a challenge. And then to put this into practice in the air was very exciting, scary, frightening, emotional, challenging and adrenaline pumping.

All these emotions put together made it a real pleasure and a sense of achievement. I have come away with another way too step back and take another view on my life. I complement Brian for putting together these events with passion, And dedication. And all those involved in evolving this side of the sport.

- Gareth Corfield

It delivered what I was expecting plus more

- Lubemonkey

The camp provides an excellent entry into BigWay!
You get to fly different slots (it’s very difficult to get this opportunity in the UK), but as you have no pressure to complete a formation it allows you to relax into a slot. If you embrace these new challenges the learning curve is amazing!!! This is not something I normally do!!!

- Anthony Green

Really well organised event, just a shame the weather wasn’t playing sat/sun! Loved Brian’s diagrams with everyone’s names, made it really easy to see how the formation came together. Great talks too, even if they were only due to the bad weather!

- Kim Tyler (not Electra!)

Great location, loved the skyvans , brilliant coaches and best of all a fantastic bunch of people. Can’t wait for next year !

- Karen Collins

A true training camp, not just practice. How often do you get to fly the same formation multiple times in every slot type, learning on every jump.

- Chris Holland

This was my first ever bigway camp. I thought the groups were well put together having similar levels of skill. There was a nice chilled atmosphere with no stress. A lot of fun learning and practicing new skills.

- Scott Brettle

4*. Nothing to do with the event, just purely because of weather.

- Colin Wright

I thought the camp was really good and taught very important skills. the debriefs were good and we definitely made the most of the weather we had. my one big gripe was the dirt dives and that people just did not realise they had to pay attention and not have separate conversations

- Jordan Simcoe

Brian is the sort of Load Organiser (/instructor) who strives to get the best out of everyone. No matter what your skill level or experience you'll still be able to learn something from him. More than that, Brian, like everyone, is also still learning (though he's so close to baddas ninja level he can smell it), and in a debrief is happy to say when (on the rare occasion) he's messed up and explained what he did wrong so we can all learn from everyone's mistakes. That's what this camp is about: fuck up and learn from your mistakes now so you don't fuck up on the jumps that really matter.

We also had other awesome coaches too, all with the same ethos. We had some bad weather this year but made use of the time with really good seminars and talks on various subjects, so the time was t wasted and very productive

Also, skyvans. Need I say anymore?

Yes, Innhopp! An amazing opportunity not often come across. It's not the main reason to come to the event but definitely an icing on the too.

Did I mention Skyvans? No? Well, come for the Skyvans!

It's also a great place to learn multiplane formations if you've not done any before :)

- Treeboy

Awesome ninja skills camp! A variety of great lessons in a supportive environment, pitched to the right level and with the opportunity to push the envelope in a gracious space and improve the results.

- The other Brian

Great organisation and a really fun week, learning with no pressure.

- Elliot Clapp

Excellent organisation with first rate instruction in a relaxed atmosphere amongst friends at a fantastic DZ - all combined to provide optimum learning.

- Griff

Great event for dedicated learning, I developed a lot in the concepts and intricacies needed for larger ways. Occasional frustration when jumping with some people who are not quite on a similar level, but I totally accept this is an introduction to big way skills and you can still focus on your own learning even if the formation as a whole is not quite making it.

Also brilliant getting individual feedback, which will help as a reference to get into larger formation projects later on

- Peter Leach

Great skydives, great people, great fun. Always a pleasure to jump with Brian

- Martin Skrbel

Very well organised event

- Colin Whitaker

Well organised camp, with excellent facilities. The coaching, briefs and debriefs are excellent and great use was made of bad weather days to ensure learning opportunities for all.

Was really impressed with the way the DZ and yourselves maximised our jumping potential by watching/predicting blue holes, and then making sure we were ready to go on a short call.

Good discipline and excellent communication (whatsapp) throughout the camp which ensured we completed as many jumps as possible.

- Andy D