Jump Florida Skydiving Center in Lake Wales, FL set a new Canopy Formation World Record.
Building “The Beast”: The 2025 Canopy Formation World Record
A two-year international training effort culminated in the largest canopy formations ever built, redefining what CRW is capable of
The last world record was set at the Florida Skydiving Center in Lake Wales, Florida, USA, on November 21, 2007. One hundred parachutists linked up under canopy to form the largest parachute diamond formation ever created. They came from 14 countries to participate in that jump. – from the 2007 press release.
Eighteen years later, in November 2025, the Canopy Formation world returned to Lake Wales with the big mission: to build the largest parachute formation in history—a living, breathing skyscraper of parachutes connected together in the sky. Years of preparation led to these two weeks to happen.
It was an event unlike any other: incredibly complex to organize, emotionally intense to experience, deeply unifying for the community, and awe-inspiring both for those on the ground and for the jumpers flying toward the massive structure.
When I briefed the jumpers who had never flown to a formation this large, I told them: “When you fly to your setup position next to the formation, take a second to look at this incredible thing — observe it — and then forget about it. Find your slot, keep your wing leader in the corner of your eye, and FOCUS on your dock.”
Seeing a formation this huge – the size of a vertical city – can be distracting, and overwhelming. Even finding your slot sometimes required counting the rows down one by one. But let me start from the beginning…