On the ground and skies of Oripää, skydivers have been enjoying a week of learning and practice. Last Monday, the new Finnish women's record was set for headdown diving, after eight daredevils fell through the sky in formation, with their feet pointing heavenwards.

Of Finland's 700 or so parachute jumpers, a third are women.

In freeflying, competing teams form different kinds of patterns before opening their parachutes. The performance, which lasts for about one minute, is recorded by cameras secured to jumpers' helmets. The performance is judged afterwards from the video footage.

One participant, Anita Malo from Skydive Turku, describes some of the subtleties passed on by master coaches at Oripää. When jumping head down, for instance, it makes a difference whether one's ankles are straight or bent, and how one holds one's head.

Jumping without a parachute

The biggest star guest of the week comes from the U.S. Scott Palmer is a professional skydiver and coach, famous for his jump some five years ago, where he dove out of a plane without a parachute.

"I jumped out and I went down to another person who was wearing a parachute, and we strapped up together and we descended under one parachute. Somewhere between 30 and 35 seconds I was without a parachute in the air", Palmer remembers.

Not recommended for beginners.