On Saturday, May 4, Skydive Spaceland in Rosharon, TX, hosted its annual 4-way scrambles meet. Organized by local teams Spaceland Lite and Spaceland Toxic, six teams competed for top honors over five rounds of intermediate-level 4-way formation jumps. Clear skies and a light warm breeze made for perfect conditions, the packers made sure that everyone made their loads, and the video pool did a great job of turning back-to-back loads to keep the teams on pace for a mid-afternoon finish. Spaceland Lite member Katrina Shows wore multiple hats, serving as part-time videographer, chief judge, and along with the staff at manifest, made sure that the event ran smoothly.
At the conclusion of the close competition, Grope-N-Go took the gold with 39 points, only three points ahead of silver winner Pharr-Out, and six points ahead of bronze winner Pinball Wizards. After deep contemplation, the annual “Wow! Award”, usually given to the rookie competitor who shows an unexpected and impressive display of skydiving skill, was awarded to two competitors from different teams who had less than 200 jumps
between them: visiting from Ecuador, father and son Alonso Arturo Espinoza and Alonso Espinoza signed up for the competition not knowing what to expect, and ended the afternoon with big smiles and hopes that they will return to compete again next year.
–Dave Grabowski