Skydive Langar is known for good parties. Located centrally in the UK, and with several connected university skydiving clubs providing youthful support – it usually plays host to two boogies each year. Boogies 1 and 2 typically represent bookends for the British skydiving season, just inside of when the clocks change in favour of shorter evenings.
Somehow, travel has greater restrictions this Summer than in 2020. By this time last Summer, EU borders were open and many of us had hit the road for mainland Europe. Perhaps we are wiser now, tempered by experience to try a bit harder to fix our collective health problem – or maybe we have Stockholm Syndrome and decided all together to stay home a little more and enjoy it.
Langar opted to do a third boogie this year. The first one didn’t really get going, down to a combination of lingering restrictions and arctic weather, but now it is the middle of the Summer and as we are all here – here we all are. In a very rare and unlikely scenario for Britain, the forecast is not promising – but the reality is perfect. Giant clouds threaten to dump rain but never do, instead providing scenic glory in the sky (albeit with some aborted tracking plans), and the outdoors only party is gifted with the kind of perfect Midsummer night that causes you to stop what you are doing and simply stare up at the night sky.
A short while back, a member of the Langar community and well-liked British skydiver moved on from this life due to a medical issue unrelated to skydiving. On the final day of the boogie, this was to be celebrated in true and tested ways – an ash jump, a fireworks display, and a fancy dress party. It is a particularly British approach to execute a plan both brilliantly and vaguely all at the same time. Potter’s ashes were both jumped and shot into the sky in spectacular fashion, but the fireworks display happened before it was actually dark and started without warning – sending all the various four-legged friends into a panic because nobody told them to be ready. The party was supposed to be Hawaiian-themed, but also Potter-themed. This is already confusing enough without Big Bird being there, plus at least one dinosaur, several unicorns, and an uncountable number of folk that just went with ‘shiny’. Know what? That’s great. You can do much worse than to get sent off by the Brits in a wild and ramshackle way.
Langar Midsummer Boogie is one for one in terms of success right now. All the elements involved got done – the boogie, the skills camp, the party. Even the weather turned up despite expectations. The new shape of the world is still shaking up all our plans – but next time around one could easily make this a priority over other things in other places.
