Day 3 Switzerland: Very hot day.

Its day 3 of competition and it was the hottest day here. First up was the mens style. Only SSG Acevedo regularly trains for style. Even though they don’t compete in style, the men’s team did fairly well. Style is a series of left turns, right turns, back loop, left turn, right turn. All turns must be on heading to the camera on the ground that is recording the jump. Using a specialized camera with a very long zoom lens, the judges score the jump on their controllability. Speed and accuracy are the key. Watch the video of SFC Elisa Tennyson’s jump today to get an understanding.

Today was different than most of the other days. The men went from style then straight to a round of accuracy. Conditions were tough for all the teams and the US Men’s team wasn’t immune to the conditions. It was a tough round for them as well.

The word came across the loudspeaker for women to get ready for style. So the women geared up in their red style suits and headed to the manifest shed. SFC Tennyson headed into the second round in first place with the Slovakia team close behind. She maintained her lead going into the third round. But after the scores posted for the third round the two jumpers switched rankings. Its becoming a close battle for SFC Tennyson. Only 2 rounds to go.

The women’s team then started round 2 of accuracy. As stated earlier today’s accuracy conditions were tough. There was little to no wind, and it was very hot. The jumpers were catching thermals off the closed runway. And what little wind there was, shifted, sometimes 180 degreres. It didn’t seem that any team could find a good way to approach the target. It would end up not being their best round.

That was it for the women. The day was ended with the formation skydiving event. The guys were eager to get in another round of formations. As soon as the announcement was made for the formation skydiving to begin, they headed to the creepers to practice for the jump. They would end up waiting another 2 hours before they got to jump. The girls lined up and gave high fives to the guys as they headed to the plane. It wasn’t long before the Army colors, Black and Gold, were in the air. The guys had mentioned during the day that it would be a tough skydive. But when they got on the ground, they were all smiles and high fiving each other again. Another impressive round with a 23 “unnoficial score”.

With that jump it ended this hot and very long day. One thing we are getting used to is the food. The food is great, however, breakfast has been different compared to a American breakfast. There are no bacon and eggs, pancakes or waffles. Its only cheese, bread and somedays its been thinly sliced ham and a thinly sliced form of sausage. So today SGM Young brought eggs he found and delivered them to SGT Laroche. SSG Laroche has had breakfast issues, meaning needs more substance, since arriving. Oh yeah, the little kids that SSG Acevedo let help pack, stopped by again today and delivered an new parachute to him. They made a replica of our parachutes when they got home. A future teammate?

You can see the official results and more at the CISM website.