Marlborough Skydiver Heading To World Cup

MARLBOROUGH, MA — Diving headfirst out of a plane 14,000 feet in the air isn't everyone's idea of a fun sports session, but for Marlborough resident Magaly Sandoval, it's her perfect sport. She is one of five people on the U.S. Parachute Team. Sandoval and the team are gearing up to head to the 2019 World Cup of Canopy Formation Skydiving in Strejnic, Romania, next month.

"I tell everyone two of my favorite things are cats and jumping out of planes," Sandoval laughed. She's been skydiving for four years and started in her home country of Costa Rica. "I saw an ad in the paper for a solo skydive," she said. Sandoval preferred from the start to dive on her own, though many first timers have an instructor strapped to them, literally pulling the strings. "I don't like entrusting my life to other people," she said, "After that jump, I loved it, I was hooked."

Sandoval was born and raised in Costa Rica and has lived in the U.S. for ten years. She said what she loves most about skydiving is the challenge it gives her. "It's very physically demanding — it's not just silly jumping out of planes, it's a real sport," Sandoval said, "By the end of the day you're exhausted."

Sandoval and the Parachute Team practice at an airport in Connecticut — she's one of the lucky members who lives just 40 minutes from the site. Each practice consists of five to six jumps. In canopy formation skydiving, teams of four skydivers deploy their parachutes immediately after jumping from the plane and build formations as quickly as possible while holding onto each other’s canopies. A videographer flies alongside to capture the action.

The discipline that Sandoval and the team compete in is called rotations and consists of the team of four skydivers making an initial formation and the top jumper rotating to the bottom of the stack to score another point. As soon as the rotating jumper is linked onto the bottom of the stack, the new jumper on top can make their way to the bottom. In total, the team has a minute and 30 seconds to score points with more formations.

Good chemistry within the team helps practices fly by, Sandoval said. "We're all fun people so it's not so serious," she said, it's common for the team to start singing on the plane and crack jokes before a jump, "We're friends before teammates which really helps."

This will be the first time the team will compete in the World Cup of Canopy Formation Skydiving. The skydivers earned their place on the U.S. Parachute Team at the 2018 U.S. Parachute Association National Championships. This also marks Sandoval's first skydive outside of the U.S. besides her inaugural dive in Costa Rica. The competition is August 17th through the 20th.

Sandoval said although it's been four years of skydiving, she still gets nervous before each jump. "Every time I just try to think of what's making me nervous — I check all of my equipment before I go," she said, "But once you jump you're not thinking about anything, you're just enjoying the sensation of the wind and the sights from 14,000 feet."

Thinking of the World Cup in specific, Sandoval said the only worry that comes to mind is the time change and it's possible affects on the team. "Some of us are going to try to get there a day or two early to get used to the time change, we just don't want to be tired during the jumps," she said.

While Sandoval and the team would love to take in the sights and attractions in Romania, she said their priority will be the competition.