February sapper mag:Layout 1 21/1/09 16:11 Page 8
Skydiver 2008
C
pl Dean Smith, Known to most as ‘smudge’ has been
awarded the skydiver of the year award by the British
Parachute association and will receive the Taz Causer Trophy in
January 2009
Smudge has had a busy year by any standards, he returned
from operations in Afghanistan in May where he was an inte-
gral part of the Engineer Recce Group attached to the
Household Cavalry Regiment - where he took some time
keeping a certain carrot-topped Mr Wales out of harms way
with good old sapper advice.
On his return to the UK he took part in several RE
parachute team training events and entered the UK and
Army Canopy Piloting Championships at Bad
Lippspringe in July. In this event he won medals in
the canopy piloting, accuracy and style disciplines
proving himself to be an outstanding all round
competitor. Based on this success he immediately
deployed to Slovakia to compete in the World Accuracy
Championship where although not among the
medals, he demonstrated excellent canopy
handling and accuracy.
In September Smudge took part in a canopy
piloting championship as part of the European
Swoop League at Busloo in the Netherlands.
During that competition a Portuguese canopy pilot
misjudged his approach to the gate and hit the water
very, very hard. Smudge was the first person into the
water and with some difficulty managed to set the
injured skydiver to the shore where he cleared his air-
way and started Exhaled Air resuscitation. It took the
emergency services some time to reach the scene of the
incident but Smuge managed to keep the jumper alive for
about 30 minutes before the ambulance and professional
care finally arrived. Sadly the skydiver later died of his
injuries but everyone who witnessed this awful accident
was extremely grateful for the quick reaction and effort that
Smudge made.
In November, Smudge entered the World Canopy Piloting
Championships held in Pretoria, South Africa. This involved three separate
events, speed, accuracy and distance with individual score resulting in a
overall score. There were 69 competitors representing 19 nations in the
event and Smudge came 16th overall.
In between the events Smudge has also given freely of his time
coaching and mentoring a range of parachute students, both military
and civilian. He continues to be an active and key member of the RE
Sport Parachute Association and many current RE parachutists are
grateful for his enthusiastic and fun coaching.
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68