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Timing will be everything when Sarah Churchill steps out of a plane into the skies above Southern California later this month. She and the other skydivers around her – a total of 185 women from all over the world – will have just 60 seconds to get into formation.
If they succeed, they will set a new women's world record for skydiving – and raise around $1million for breast cancer research.
"It will take us about three minutes, which is a significant time because every three minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer around the world," explains 25-year-old Sarah.
The 185 female skydivers will step out of 10 aircraft at 19,000 feet before falling through the air together at about 120mph.
"This will be my biggest skydiving challenge yet," says Sarah.
"We'll all be supplied with oxygen as it will be above normal air level, and will have just 60 seconds to get into our pre-rehearsed slots before we have to move away because we can't open our parachutes near each other."
Although the formation skydive at 19,000 feet will last a matter of minutes, Sarah, a sales account manager, has had to undergo two years of gruelling training in order to take part.
During that time, she has to leave her home in Bradley Stoke to attend training camps in locations around the world, and has made more than 600 skydives.
"Training camps can be a couple of days, or a couple of weeks. One camp I attended in Spain lasted for three and a half weeks during which time I did 80 skydives," says Sarah, who works at Eastwood Park Training and Conference Centre, near Thornbury in South Gloucestershire.
"I've had to attend camps abroad three times this year and five times last year, but luckily I have very supportive employers. They've allowed me to take some unpaid leave in addition to my annual leave, and are also matching funds raised by my colleagues."
Sarah got her first taste of skydiving when she was a student on a nursing degree course at the University of the West of England.
"I joined the skydiving club because it sounded interesting and I thought it would be a good way to meet new people. I've been addicted ever since I left the plane and began to freefall in a tandem skydive attached to the instructor."
Sarah went on a skydiving course in San Diego, California, and later came back to the UK and continued training.
She was then invited to join the Brit Chicks skydiving team, which set a UK record for the largest all-female formation of 68 women skydivers in September 2007, and also raised over £40,000 for the British Red Cross.
Sarah, who is still part of the Brit Chicks, was one of 30 participants selected from the UK to join those seeking selection for the Jump for the Cause team that will try to break the existing all-female formation skydiving world record of 151 later this month.
To secure her place in the team – which will be raising funds for breast cancer research at City of Hope medical centre in the United States – Sarah had to compete against 300 other skydivers from around the world.
"We've been travelling around the world together, slept in tents together, and we've all grown as sky divers together. They've become like my extended family," she says of her team mates.
"Many of the women in the team have been affected directly by cancer, including two women who have survived breast cancer.
"My father died of cancer and I'll be flying in his memory."
As we talk, I notice a massive bruise on Sarah's arm.
"Skydiving is very hard on your arm muscles and thighs, and I get a lot of bruises," she says.
"We need to be able to hang off special bars on the fuselage of the plane, which can be quite daunting when the plane is flying at 90mph.
"Skydiving isn't necessarily about fitness. I can't run 15 miles or anything like that.
"But you do need physical strength, plus mental agility, as there's so much to remember in a very short space of time, while you're getting bleeping sounds in your ears telling you that you've reached a certain altitude."
When Sarah is training she can do as many as five or six skydives a day. So far she has done around 200 skydives this year and 300 last year.
"I've never ever get bored of it," she says.
However, Sarah is less enthusiastic about the physical effects she experiences while some 19,000 above ground.
"It looks graceful from the ground, but when you're up there it's not as glamorous as it looks," she says.
"It's freezing, and my fingers and toes get blue, and my eyes and nose absolutely stream as if I have a terrible cold."
Luckily, her boyfriend, Mac, knows exactly what she is going through.
"He's a skydiver too," Sarah explains. " He's done more than 3,000 skydives, so I've got a long way to go to catch up with him."
