After a training flight in the afternoon thick clouds built up, and with them the thermals and the wind, so it wasn’t until 7.45pm that the helicopter took off. The pilot couldn’t stay at my desired jump-out height all the time, so 3300m above sea level would have to be it. All the same, I would still have a good 3000m above the landing field. The calculations for reaching the landing zone with this wind were also critical - and very important. I can’t steer during the tumbling, and the fact that this landing field is in a relatively narrow valley between 400m high hills made planning the 3000m exercise something other than totally straightforward.
The jump, as usual, went without problem, and the tumbling entry after a few seconds of flight went like clockwork. After half time I tumbled through a thin cloud layer, which was building. Below it the air was, as expected, a bit thermally active, but I was still able to correct well enough for the first few bumps. My neck and stomach muscles now began to hurt more and more, and my fingers were cramping up. I tried to stay relaxed, but this didn’t work. The loadings up to 6g were just too extreme to enable me to stay loose. Hang on and sweat it out - that was the only thing that now mattered. Since the first record I had learnt to count the revolutions, so after 200 rotations I was basically relieved, but also at the end of my tether. The neck muscles especially were giving me increasing problems. After about 207 loops it got bumpy again, so I decided that the safe thing to do was stop. To my amazement I was exactly over the valley, as planned, and still had plenty of height in hand. Unfortunately I was not in a fit state to fly any more nice figures. That made me disappointed for the spectators, cheering me on from the ground; but it was quite simply
breathtaking to fly into this impressive arena, knowing that I had done it! I recorded my pulse rate with my Suunto t6c – the results were interesting. Compared with the first record at Grindelwald my pulse during the climb up in the helicopter was a bit lower, at around 130. While getting out, however, the previous calmness seemed to have gone. My pulse went quickly up to 180. Starting the tumblings it went back to 164, then, because of the strenuous physical loads, went slowly upwards, and after just 6 minutes in the centrifuge it had crept up to 177.
I would like very sincerely to thank the organisers, who made it possible for me to achieve this record during the BaWü 2009. A big thank you also goes to the whole ADVANCE crew and to my other sponsors.
Only thanks to them can I fully concentrate on the job in hand, because such feats are only possible with the knowledge that you have the best equipment!
Chrigel Maurer