There was the DZ incorrigible energy burst who goes by the name of Ronnie; always up to mischief, but went to great efforts to nurture everyone by cooking for the whole DZ a wonderful curry night for his birthday. 

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There were friends and family who did tandems: Lana in manifest; Lee McCormick’s wife Jacqui and son Obie; the caterers; 15-year-old Rachel Feltham  who has been working manifest for the past year while she waits until she is old enough for AFF, did her fourth tandem. 

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Gary Scheepens got current and revalidated his Tandem Instructor rating and the paper-rock-scissors competition to see who would be the first to go on the front with him saw so many willing volunteers. Skye Taylor got back in the air after a long break with five jumps on her first day. Two students finished their AFF (Abe Van Wyk and Malte Fruhling); watching Malte run back to the hangar in jubilation gave me tingles of delight.  

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What makes skydiving is all the little things that come together to create something huge. People like Dinger, who pretend to be grumpy, but is the first to pack my rig when I am having troubles with my openings, and does so with enthusiasm; the people such as Daniel Wilcox, who lend a jumpsuit when I need one, and do not care when I come back after ploughing through the crop and it’s a mess with dust; it is the people who volunteer to drive the pilot to the airport; people who do not own dogs but are picking up their poop; Marcus Priem and Rhys Savage fixing the broken toilet; the Chief Instructor who is always doing every odd job and task needing to be done; Marcus for getting everyone out of bed each morning with “tie a yellow ribbon around the old oak tree” on repeat… (I never want to hear that song again!) It’s the honest people who realise manifest has made a mistake in their favour and own up to this and get it rectified; likewise it’s the people who take the time to thank manifest and buy them a drink; it’s the naked skydives, the people wearing tutu’s and going for horny gorillas all making people have fun and adding frivolity; the people who help pack rigs to get others in the air; or give up their slot for someone who needed to jump more than them; the pilots being flexible and putting up with random requests from skydivers, skydivers not always being ready on time, or even on the right plane!  

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Al was like a puppy missing Sandy, going from getting excited when she got her exemption to a forlorn look when they turned her away at the border. This was very sweet and highly evident she was missed, not only by Al, but by everybody, as Sandy’s name was thrown around the DZ like ping pong. Everyone was appreciative and very sore she wasn’t there.”