June 2006, The annual Headcorn Woodmouse meet - Speed 7 competition

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Speed 7 2006

We have just had the best ever speed 7 competition at Headcorn that I can remember. For three weeks now it’s been overcast and windy and there’s been nothing happening anywhere, but the forecast for the coming weekend was excellent.

A total of twelve teams came to Headcorn for the annual speed 7 competition, a mixture of local jumpers, plus Headcorn teams such as “Why Us” and teams from the Fire Brigade and also the Police. After the office had finished registering the crowds of us, and after a quick briefing from Pete the meet very soon got under way...

Driven by some hard core manifesting, the club managed to get all the way thru the jumps on the first day except the last part of round four which we completed on Sunday by 10am. During the ceremony, chief instructor Pete Sizer thanked the club staff and pilots for their hard work in organising and running the event, and he also thanked the hundred or so jumpers that came to the event to make this happen.

There weren’t too many hangovers from the party in Wings on Saturday night and the atmosphere was fantastic, just like the old days. After the competition we carried on jumping on the Sunday until after 8pm, with larger loads from 6 way to 16 way - we just carried on having fun, it was like a summer from heaven, and it was so good to see so many familiar faces again.

Results

The Gold medal went to intermediate team “Lazy Bastards” - Jay Applebee, Mark Lawson, Graham Stone, John Ashton, Paul O’Connor, Paul Barnes and Nigel Rowlan, (78.33 seconds).

Senior team, “Why Us” - the Headcorn staff veterans took Silver, (86.45 seconds).

Junior team, “2 Balls Short” took the Bronze, (93.13 seconds).

The party in wings

Does anybody remember anything about the party in Wings, if so please let me know.

What is the speed 7 competition and how does it work ?

Traditionally the Woodmouse is a speed eight competition - This was changed at Headcorn a few years ago due to the configuration of the lift capacity in the Turbolet - two 7 way teams plus camera each.

Each team exits the aircraft and has to form a 7 way star as quickly as possible to win. You are timed from the moment you make the move leaving the aircraft, up until you get the star complete, and depending on how many jumpers you get to complete the star properly. Four jumps are totalled up for each team and the quickest team win.

Teams are categorised depending on their jump numbers into 3 levels: senior, intermediate, junior.

Junior have the advantage they are allowed to actually launch the exit free flown, (no grips). Intermediate are only allowed to exit starting behind the line of the door which makes it harder. Senior have the hardest job and actually have to start well down inside the aircraft meaning they have much further to go to dock on and build the star.

This means that no matter what your experience level is, anyone can join in the competition and have a fair play at trying to win - as clearly shown this year, we have all three categories in the first three positions.

To make it even more interesting, awards are also given for the most interesting second point - if you can get that far!

Headcorn Woodmouse Competition History - Winners!