Blue Thai skies again greet us all allowing the three planned jumps for the day. We're not off for the big attempt yet, some of the different sectors still need to come together smoothly, but building up from 100- to 200-way rehearsals.

Fallrates for the base started out slow. Much of the problem was due to the slow fall rates of the first days; people in the 3 way and 5 way lines were putting on drag to stay with the (slow at first) base. They were getting to the point where the base 18 was falling fast but would get lifted by the 3-way lines when they dock. Even if people dock with no momentum and exert no pressure on the base, docking alone can lift up the base a bit due to their wakes interacting. That meant that the outer parts of the base (3-way and 5-way lines) had to make sure to dock and drop a bit _below_ the base to counteract that tendency. The way to ensure this is to use the right sight picture; people docking have to see bellies, not backpacks. And that meant reducing drag and/or adding lead.

We made three jumps altogether, which makes for a pretty easy pace with packing, dirt diving and the usual preparation (adding lead, eating, drinking water etc.) We had some base funnels right out the door, but got a bit better on each dive. On the last jump of the day we came to within 1 of the base completing, which was a nice way to end the day.

End-of-the-day video (6.6 Mb)