Lesley Gale Interview

The first interview for the 2nd weekend of Nationals is recently ex-editor, Lesley Gale. She may be an ex-editor of the Mag, but she is also a part of 8-way team Brit Chicks, a load organiser and well know UK skydiver. Read her views of her tenure at the magazine here:

1. How does it feel to have left the magazine after 15 years in the role of Editor?
I am really happy to be opening a new chapter in my personal book of life. After 15 years it's time to take up a new challenge. I also feel great pride in my achievements with The Mag. I recently re-read my original editorial in my first magazine, December 1995 where I set out my
goals of making it more up to date, educational, international, fun, informative and focussed on the leading edge of the sport. It's pretty cool that I did all that I set out to do and more. My work here is done!

And I am pleased to hand the baton to Liz Ashley and wish here every success. Did I mention I'm looking forward to the new experience of The Mag popping through my letterbox and it being a surprise!

2. I hear you are planning an 'educational' trip across the U next year. What does this involve?
I am going to drive from the east coast of the USA to the west, visiting a dozen or more DZs over the space fo four months for various cool events. Together with my boyfriend and cameraflyer Stikkos, I'm going to make an educational resource for teaching big-way skydiving, including video and interviews from the people, places and events we visit.

This is a trip of a lifetime! I've never done anything like it. I have been lucky enough to gain some sponsorship towards the cost of the trip, through the Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship. This is a truly amazing trust fund set up to support any Brit with a travel project that brings real value back to the UK as well as the individual applying. Any skydivers with a good idea, see www.wcmt.org.uk

3. Next summer is some time away, what are you going to do in the meantime?
I'm going to spend considerable time planning the trip, hopefully find a few more sponsors and set up a website so anyone interested can follow our travels via a video diary. Also I have some coaching commitments lined up, a few big-way camps and the 200-way sequential world record attemmpt in Eloy, November 2010. And I'm hoping to finally 'get round to' all those little projects everyone has at home that they don't have time for when working and skydiving.

4. Do you ever see yourself returning to the world of publishing and editing?
My travel project is a publishing venture in a way, it just uses a different medium, of video rather than paper. For sure I have a creative side that is especially fulfilled when working within the sport I love so much. I have an idea for a book for AFF Graduates, and a few other possibles, such as one on the history of Airspeed - again it is going to be great to have the time to give these a go.

5. Are there any plans for a 2011 Britchicks or UK record which you are a part of?
We aim for the next Brit Chicks in 2012 as next year I will be doing too much travelling. This will be the same format as ever - everyone is welcome, coaching will be offered, and we aim to set a new female national record.

I would also love to organise a mixed gender Brit Record, of course with the help of a small team of experts. We certainly have the talent in the Uk to go much larger than the 100-way set in 1999 - but it takes someone with the time, effort and energy to get it going.

6. Now that you have a little bit more free time, would you like to learn something different to the discipline of FS and bigways?
If you've been reading The Mag you'll know that I started freeflying with Alberto Fuertes in the Bodyflight tunnel over the last year - Stikkos and I won the Freefly B category at the World Challenge, April 2010. We also did about 50 jumps with Mikey Carpenter in Lodi, California. I love it and will certeinly do more.

Never jumped a wingsuit yet either but that's on the 'wannado' list .. plus I'd love to learn ground-launching and do the mountain flying boogies that are becoming more popular.

7. Was the magazine censored by the BPA when you were Editor?
It's not so much a matter of censorship as that Skydive is the BPA magazine and not everything related to skydiving is deemed suitable. For example, the BPA prides itself on a great safety record, through its Operations Manual. Base jumping, ground launching and proximity flying are obviously not covered by the Ops Manual so we couldn't include 'how-to' articles on these topics. But we have printed occasional photos of these subjects so it's not that they were or are banned completely.

When wind tunnels arrived in the UK there was a certain level of scepticism and misunderstanding of how they relate to skydiving. So it took a while before tunnel-related articles were accepted in The Mag. But now I think that the benfits of wind tunnels in increasing participation and raising the quality of British skydiving have been proven then they have become accepted.

In summary, a National Governing Body magazine is never going to be 'living on the edge', you have to buy an independent magazine for that kind of coverage, as the magazine should rightly focus on the BPA's main goals of safety, education and training of sport parachuting.