ADRENALIN coursed through Sandra Northey’s veins 15,000 feet in the air.
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The principal solicitor of Northey Legal and Conveyancing took to the skies over Nagambie, near Shepparton, recently as part of an Australian skydiving record attempt.
Ms Northey, the only participant from the Albury-Wodonga region, was part of 40- and 44-way canopy formations, breaking the previous national record of 36.
She said the attempt went ahead in memory of one of the organisers.
“Jules McConnel and Michael Vaughan wanted to go for a new record,” Ms Northey said.
“Unfortunately Michael died six months ago in a skydiving accident, so Jules stepped up and did a lot of the organising and planning.”
Ms Northey said they didn’t want to stop at the 40-way record.
“Two days later we did two 44-ways, so everybody who attended participated in a record.”
Ms Northey said the tricky part was the timing to achieve perfect harmony in the sky.
“There were so many variables, not just the weather,” she said.
“We had to get up at 5.30am to ensure we had a steady airflow.”
Ms Northey said precision was imperative to ensure a valid formation.
“Everyone had a particular slot in the formation,” she said.
“There were a lot of things to get it healthy and stable.”
Ms Northey said concentration was key.
“You’re concentrating on doing your job,” she said.
“It was a little overwhelming trying to dock on the massive formation.”
Ms McConnel said she was still buzzing from the pulling together the record jumps.
“It was amazing and I’m still exhausted from it,” she said.
“I was so stoked with everyone being a part of it.”
Ms McConnel said jumpers never passed the safety threshold.
“We finished most of our jumps above 5000 feet,” she said.
To help with safety and preparation, an expert flew in from America.
“We had to get it right so we invited Chris Gaye who helped organised the 100-way world record in 2007,” Ms McConnel said.
“Without him it wouldn’t have been possible."
