Skydivers jump on formation freefall practice

ONE of the world’s best skydivers visited Barwon Heads at the weekend to coach the high-flying locals who’ll be taking part in an Australian skydiving record attempt in June.

Pete Allum is an international coach and competitor who’s done more than 30,000 jumps. He started jumping as a teenager and has been skydiving for nearly 40 years.

Held at Skydive Australia – Barwon Heads Airport, Pete coached 20 Victorian skydivers who were training to take part in a formation of 120-plus freefalling skydivers in California in early June. The record is 119 people, and the new record attempt will be in Perris Valley California on June 1-3.

Pete said he was “super excited” to be visiting Victoria.

“Skydiving and surf, my perfect combo!” he said.

Barwon Heads coach Kelly Brennan said “bigways skydiving”, as she called it, was addictive.

“I was on the existing record of 119 people that we set in 2015, and I’m heading back to California for another attempt this year,” Kelly said.

“We have about 30 Victorians making the trip.

“We rarely have the aircraft available to practise really large formations, so we brush up our flying skills in smaller formations.

“Once a month we get together for 10-person formations here at Barwon Heads.

“Every now and then we get 14 to 16 people together for training. It’s an incredible opportunity for us to be coached by Pete Allum, who’s a world class skydiver and one of the nicest guys in the sport.

“He’s also a keen surfer so I hoped he wasn’t too distracted by our stunning bird’s-eye views of the coastline.”