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The 2000 Nationals wrapped up in style with the CRW banquet. The next morning... everyone was still there? 34 hearty souls gathered early in front of manifest to answer Mike Lewis' and Brad Hood's dare: were they man (and woman) enough to challenge the elusive Quadraplane Diamond?
"We are!" they declared, but there was just one question: "what is it?"
"A Quad-Diamond," Lewis answered, "is four 4 planes docking, to form a 16-way diamond."
"Sounds easy," the CRW Dogs responded, but they were wrong. Two attempts were made, but although they got close, no Quad Diamond was built.
While the first group attempted the Quad, the remaining jumpers practiced the base for the true mission of the day: to set a New Perris valley CRW Record (the old record was set by the Women's World Record group in ‘98).
The two groups joined forces for the last three attempts and, on the final load, they achieved their goal as they flew a 27-person diamond with the DZ crowd yelling encouragement from below. What a perfect ending for a wonderful nationals event!
Melanie Conaster bought the load "beer." "Here's to the World Record 2001," Lewis toasted, and cheers of "We Will Build It" filled the BombShelter.
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