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Para Gear is interested in photographic submissions that you may have for the 2019 - 2020 Para Gear Catalog #82. We have taken the time to briefly describe the format and certain criteria that we look for, in order to help you to see if you have something worth submitting. We have included examples of previous catalog covers for your reference. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.290693934285998.71336.290673160954742&type=3 or /photos/zArchive/Article_Photos/Para_Gear_Covers/index.html Over the years Para Gear has used photos from all of skydiving's disciplines. We do not have a preference as far as what type of skydiving photo it is, rather we look for something that either is eye-catching or pleasing to the eye. In light of the digital age, we are also able to use photos that in one way or another may be less than perfect and enhance them, removing blemishes, flipping images, altering colors, etc. Front cover of catalog 81 Back cover of catalog 81 The following are preferences. However what we prefer and what we get, or choose, are not always the same. If however we came down to a choice between two photos of equal quality, we would opt for the one that met more of our preferences. We typically prefer that the photo be brighter. In the past we have used sunset photos and even a night jump photo, although by and large most of the photos are daytime. We like the subject of the image to have contrast with the background. Subjects that are wearing brighter more colorful clothing usually stand out more. We prefer to have the people in the photo wearing equipment since that is what we sell. Headgear, goggles, jumpsuits, altimeters, audible altimeters, and gloves are all good. We also prefer to see skydivers wearing head and foot protection. We do not print any BASE jumping nor any Tandem photographs. No submissions of these will be accepted. We are not interested an any photos of individual or groups of skydivers standing on the ground. Front cover 2016 Back cover 2016 Our basic criteria is as follows:Vertical Format. The front and back covers of the catalog are both in a vertical format. We can use a horizontal (landscape) shot, as opposed to a vertical (portrait), and then crop it as long as the image lies within a vertical cropping. Photo Quality. The front and back cover shots will be printed as 8 ½ x 11 in 300 dpi format. Any film that can hold its quality up to this size and print dpi is fine. Digital format is preferred. In the event of a final cover choice, we prefer to be sent the original digital image or slide for getting the best quality out of the image. Back Cover Photo. The back cover photo is no different from the front except in one respect. We need to have room on the left side of the image for the thumb index. In the past we have taken images and been able to horizontally flip them thereby creating this room. Originality. Anything that is original, eye-catching, or makes someone take more notice of the catalog covers is something we look for. It could be a photo from a unique camera position or angle, a scenic skydive, shots under canopy, landings, etc. We look for photos that have not been previously published and most likely would not accept them if they have, as we want a photo that no one else has seen yet. We also do not want any photos that are chosen as the front or back covers to be used for other non Para Gear advertising for a period of one year. Para Gear offers $500.00 each for both the front and back covers we choose. Our current deadline for catalog cover submissions is November 16th 2018. Sending sample pictures by e-mail to [email protected], If you are sending sample digital pictures please note that they do not need to be in a very large format. If we like the sample picture we will then ask you to send the higher quality original. Please feel free to contact me directly with any questions. -
New Zealand’s Mason Holden and Flying Finn Toni Sulankivi blew away the best of the UAE’s indoor skydivers to win the Dynamic 2-Way category in the annual SandStorm Scrambles event at Inflight Dubai. Despite never having competed together – the duo only met for the first time on the night of the competition – Holden and Sulankivi combined superbly for a five round score of 411 points. It was enough to win the 13-team category by 8.8 points from Shayni Couch and Ivan Semenyaka in second place (419.8) with Omar Mohammad and Thomas Worboys coming home in third with a score of 421.1. Staged in inflight Dubai’s 5.03m x 20.73m indoor tunnel, the two-category event saw competitors combined into two and four-flyer teams by Inflight Dubai’s Team Skynamic in order to represent a spread of ability. And while many combinations, including Holden and Sulankivi’s ‘Little and Large’ team, had little or no experience together, the entrants agreed that the format provided some excellent competition. “I hadn’t even met Toni until the draw was made just before we took to the tunnel together,” said Holden, who hails from Wellington in New Zealand and is an instructor at Skydive Dubai. “But that’s what makes the Scrambles competition so much fun. You don’t know who you will be paired with, which makes the five flying routines very challenging.” For Sulankivi – who shared the AED8,000 first prize with Holden - it was the perfect end to a long day of skydiving, both indoor and outdoor. “I live in Abu Dhabi so I was up at 5am to come up to Dubai to go skydiving during the day, before competing in the tunnel in the evening,” said the Finnish flyer, who works in Government IT in the UAE capital. “It’s a very special event and the unpredictable nature and the camaraderie between the teams make it so good. You know most of the guys and girls by sight but to compete as a pair with someone you have never met before is a real challenge.” For Holden there was double success – the Kiwi also claimed second place in the 4-Way Dynamic competition after joining forces with fellow-flyers Mo Mudassir, Jamie Arnold and Emma Merritt in the ‘Bench Pressers’ team. Victory, and the AED16,000 winners’ cheque in the five-team 4-Way Dynamic category, went to the ‘Employee of the Month’ team of Dani Roman, Thomas Worboys, Brad Merritt and Mishka Lucaci on 423.8 points, 12.1 points ahead of ‘Bench Pressers (435.9). Third place went to the ‘Randy Ryanopolis’ team of Ryan Dudderidge, Pablo Rua, Omar Mohammed and Ivan Semenyaka on 444.5 points. Both competitions featured a non-scoring warm-up round, four unique dynamic speed rounds and a mystery final round with the five scores of each round added together to determine the final placing. The next event in the SandStorm Scrambles series will be the Formation Skydiving competition, which will take place at Inflight Dubai on April 22. Competitors have until April 20 to enter at www.inflightdubaisandstorm.com. SandStorm Scrambles Results 2-Way Dynamic 1. Little & Large – Holden/Sulankivi (411.0) 2. Share-A-Van – Couch/Semenyaka (419.8) 3. Shut Up Omar – Mohammed/Worboys (421.1) SandStorm Scrambles Results 4-Way Dynamic 1. Employee of the Month – Roman/Worboys/Merritt/Lucaci (423.8) 2. Bench Pressers – Holden/Mudassir/Arnold/Merritt (435.9) 3. Randy Ryanopolis – Dudderidge/Rua/Mohammed/Semenyaka (444.5) -
The best skydivers in the world had an epic day in Copenhagen taking part in the first professional freestyle skydiving contest ever held in the heart of a major city. The Swoop Challenge CPH Invitational, took place on the famous Copenhagen Lakes, Friday the 12th June. A total of 19 international athletes from 11 countries participated, 16 of them making it to the final in Copenhagen. 70,000+ spectators created an intense atmosphere at the Peblinge Lake, whilst the live broadcast on national TV , and 200 million reached on Snapchat's 'Copenhagen Story' helped in making the event a huge success, as the city took advantage of the first Danish summer day basking in the sun and warm temperatures throughout the whole event. The Swoop Finals were the culmination of 5 days of intense parachuting in Denmark as the Swoop Challenge consisted of a Swoop Qualifying at Dropzone Denmark in Herning, the Swoop Night Lights, a spectacular air show in the Copenhagen Harbour on Thursday, and the the climax, The Swoop Finals on Friday. American superstars led the wayThe sunny and warm weather made conditions close to perfect for the spectator, however the wind direction and strength was unpredictable causing problems for the athletes during the warm up and two competition rounds, with many ending up in the water next to the landing platform (6 meters wide/25 meters long). At the end of a dramatic and close two rounds of competition, it was American superstar Noah Bahnson, one of the top names of the sport, that took home the Swoop Challenge title along with a first price of $7,500. In a close second came Nick Batsch, USA, ($5,000) (both are former swoop world champions) and David 'Junior' Ludvik, USA, ($2,500) rounded up the podium in 3rd. "I have never swooped in front of this many people before and it's just amazing in this beautiful weather and on a great course here in the middle of Copenhagen. We normally don't get to see this setup in skydiving because swooping competitions are held out on skydiving centers in the middle of nowhere on a small pond, so it's fantastic what the organizers are doing bringing the competition to a major city for the first time. Copenhagen is an amazing city from the sky and it is beautiful so see the city from above and landing on the big lake. We have all had a great stay in Denmark attending this fantastic Swoop Challenge event," the winner Noah Bahnson says and adds: "My last swoop is up there among my favorite swoops of all time, it was too much fun," Noah Bahson said on live TV while watching his swoop freestyle trick after he was announced as the winner. World premiere of a difficult and dangerous trick Another American, Gage Galle, attempted something that has only been attempted once, and never been caught on camera before: The barrel roll swoop, a very difficult inverted manouver, best performed over water, due to the high probability of a crash. Even though this trick has never been successfully completed, Gage chose live TV to make his attempt. He succeeded with the barrel roll, and despite crashing in the water exiting the trick, the judges gave him a high score, and for the first time ever, a barrel roll was caught on camera with the crowds going crazy. The world tour dream is aliveThe idea of Swoop Challenge and the motto 'Swoop to the People' was only formed in 2013, and after a trial event last year, the big test of the setup was Friday's competition. Next step is taking the concept to other major, spectacular cities around the world: "What a fantastic day. The 70,000+ spectators in Copenhagen had a giant party, and the crowd created a unique atmosphere around the lake. We have been working extremely hard to build this event over the past two years, and it all became a little more complicated due to the weather forecasts, that made us reschedule on short notice, but despite that, Swoop Challenge was a great success and we are thrilled and proud. 70,000 people chose to stop by the lake today, and this makes it clear to us, that it is possible to unite the beauty in extreme sports and the heart of a historical, cultural metropolitan. After today's success we are dedicated to carry Swoop Challenge across the borders and create a world tour, but it is only attainable, if others are willing to support us. Our athletes, whom are the among the best swoopers in the world, have all said, that it was amazing to jump in Copenhagen," says George Blythe, co-founder of Swoop Challenge. "Swoop Challenge was organized with great success. It opened our eyes and gave us world class parachuters in the skies above Herning and Copenhagen. With this great event, Swoop Challenge has achieved to take event planning the to the next level, and shows us a new way to use spectacular arenas for sporting events. The international athletes tells us, that they have never experienced a more beautiful place to skydive than Copenhagen, and it proves, that the concept of Swoop Challenge is on the right track," says Lars Lundov, CEO of Sport Event Denmark, the national sporting event organization that works to attract major international sporting events to Denmark and that supports Swoop Challenge financially. Dane Webber close to a sensational podiumThe only competitor from Denmark, the Danish swoop champion, Christian Webber, had a great day on home ground, and was sitting at a sensational 2nd place after the first round, after super star Micah Couch, USA. The Dane, who is employed full time and only jumps in weekends and 7 weeks a year on training camps was by far the one with fewest career jumps at 2,800. The Dane followed up with a solid second round to take home an impressive 6th place finish on home ground to the delight of himself and the Danish spectators. Top-6 - the total number of point attainable were 100 per round (200 total after 2 rounds) 1: Noah Bahnson, USA - 140,80 points (60,60 and 80,20) 2: Nick Batsch, USA - 140,01 points (58,32 and 81,69) 3: David Junior Ludvik, USA - 133,49 points (58,75 and 74,74) 4: Patrick Kaye, USA - 126,28 points (57,00 and 69,28) 5: Curt Bartholomew, USA - 123,53 points (57,68 and 65,85) 6: Christian Webber, Denmark - 112,32 points (63,76 and 48,56) ----- 7: Cornelia Mihai, Romania 8: Billy Sharman, South Africa 9: Gage Galle, USA 10: Petter Mazzetta, Sweden 11: Abdulbari Qubaisi, UAE 12: Martin Reynolds, England 13: Micah Couch, USA 14: Chris Stewart, New Zealand 15: Leigh ‘Macca’ McCormack, Australia 16: Kristian Moxnes, Norway Tukes Iwamoto from Japan, Kenneth Gajda from Denmark and Jeannie Bartholomew from America were the three athletes not qualifying for Swoop Finals, but they each had a chance to perform at the Swoop Night Lights on Thursday evening in the Copenhagen Harbour. -
The centre of Copenhagen will become the stage for a world premiere on Saturday June 13th. The famous Copenhagen Lakes in the middle of Denmark's capital will host the first ever professional freestyle parachuting competition ever organized in the heart of a major city as the Swoop Challenge CPH Invitational gathers the world's top athletes for 6 days of intense parachuting in a unique format. The philosophy of Swoop Challenge is to take parachuting to the people. The action packed and intense parachuting meets the urban and cultural settings of a vibrant big city in a unique blend of culture and extreme sports in beautiful settings in Denmark's capital. The best athlete after the two rounds will be crowned Swoop Challenge CPH Invitational 2015 champion and will receive a USD 7,500 first prize. Second and third place finishers will receive $5,000 and $2,500 respectively. Innovation of the sportThe Swoop Challenge CPH Invitational 2015 consists of six days of parachuting: A training camp and qualification, a grand air show in the Copenhagen Harbour and the competition day on the Copenhagen Lakes with more than 50,000 spectators watching. The professionalisation of the sport, the brand new competition format and the idea of having parachuting in urban areas has never been seen anywhere in the world. “We’re turning everything upside down and bringing extreme sport into the hearts of cities where people can experience it right in front of their own doors rather than out in the middle of nowhere where it usually takes place. We like playing with the contrast of extreme sports within a cultural and historic city while really focusing on the live experience for both spectators and viewers alike," co-founder George Blythe says. Image by Anders Bruun LarsenIn 2013 he and co-founder Michael Kattrup Lassen came up with the idea to parachute in the middle of major cities, where people naturally are. In August last year with the help from a lot of friends they showcased the sport and had 14 athletes doing one display jump each to test what was possible. The outcome by far exceeded the expectations of the duo and they partnered up with other experienced persons in the parachuting and event world to pull off the next step of their plan: The first professional freestyle competition ever to be held in the center of major cities. "We know from last years pilot project, where we held a display with 14 jumpers, that parachuting in the heart of cities was very interesting. Back then we had no idea what was going to happen, but 20,000 spectators turned up at Peblinge Lake with both national tv stations, DR and TV 2, covering the event. This success gave us the drive to follow our dream of developing a full-blown competition in the middle of cities where the world’s best athletes would be brought to town. We now have some the world’s best that are very excited about the idea of Copenhagen and we’re really looking forward to presenting them to the thousands of spectators at Peblinge Lake Saturday June 13," George Blythe says. Best extreme sports athletes in the worldAthletes from 11 countries are coming to Denmark and among the are multiple world champions and top athletes of the sport. They visit Herning and Copenhagen to take part in a competition of the highest international level and in a format none of them have seen before. Image by Aleksander Horup"One of my favorite disciplines in swooping is freestyle, and I love being able to swoop in very unique places. The opportunity to swoop in downtown Copenhagen in front of more than 50,000 spectators is awesome and something like this has never happened before. Swooping in a major city is a big dream and I am glad to be a part of such an amazing event," says American Curt Bartholomew, the defending swoop world champion from 2014 and 2012 and the 2013 World Games and World Cup champion. The 20 athletes will be attending a training camp and qualifying in Herning at Dropzone Denmark where they will compete for one of the 16 spots in the Swoop Finals in Copenhagen. Athletes from 13 countries are competing: Abdulbari Qubeisi, United Arab Emirates, 4,600 jumps Billy Sharman, South Africa, 8,642 jumps Chris Stewart, New Zealand, 5,100 jumps Christian Webber, Denmark, 2,800 jumps Cornelia Mihai, Romania, 7,000 jumps Curt Bartholomew, USA, 6,900 jumps David 'Junior' Ludvik, USA, 14,500 jumps Gage Galle, USA, 8,000 jumps Jeannie Bartholomew, USA, 3,000 jumps Kenneth Gajda, Denmark, 11,000+ jumps Kristian Moxnes, Norway, 8,000 jumps Leigh McCormack, Australia, 4,830 jumps Martin Reynolds, England, 5,500 jumps Micah Couch, USA, 10,000 jumps Nicholas Batsch, USA, 7,250 jumps Noah Bahnson, USA, 10,000+ jumps Patrick Kaye, USA, 15,000 jumps Petter Mazzetta, Sweden, 7,500 jumps Tukes Iwamoto, Japan, 10,000 jumps Support from official DenmarkBoth the City of Copenhagen and Sport Event Denmark are supporting the event and look forward to see this brand new initiative: "This is the first time a professional freestyle parachuting event takes place in the heart of a major city, and Copenhagen is the perfect venue with the lakes as the iconic backdrop. The setup is creative and unique in a way we haven't seen before and it correlates perfect with Copenhagen's image as a both historic and cultural capital and an urban and innovative city. When it comes to Swoop Challenge, Copenhagen shows that this is a city that loves sports events in the heart of the city," says Carl Christian Ebbesen, Mayor of Culture and Leisure in the City of Copenhagen. The city supports Swoop Challenge financially. "In Denmark we organize a wide range of international sporting events on land and water, and with Swoop Challenge now also from the air over Herning and Copenhagen. The Swoop Finals in Copenhagen will be the first, professional freestyle parachuting competition ever held in the heart of a major city, and Copenhagen will once again be showcased as an event destination of the highest international standard," says Lars Lundov, CEO of Sport Event Denmark, the national sporting event organization that works to attract major international sport events to Denmark and who supports Swoop Challenge financially. PROGRAM FOR SIX DAYS OF INTENSE PARACHUTING June 8-13 2015:Swoop Qualifying Monday to Wednesday June 8th to 10th, Dropzone Denmark, Herning: Training camp Monday and Tuesday and qualification Wednesday for 20 athletes. The top-16 in the qualifying rounds will attend the Swoop Finals in Copenhagen. Swoop Night Lights Friday June 12th, Nordre Toldbod, Copenhagen Harbour: Spectacular airshow over Copenhagen in front of Toldboden and CPH City & Port Development's headquarters. From 18.00-20.00 (6-8pm). Swoop Finals Saturday, June 13th, Peblinge Lake Two rounds of competition at Peblinge Lake in front of Kaffesalonen’s platform, where the total score after two rounds decides the winner of the Swoop Challenge title. From 13.00-18.00 (1-6pm) For The Whuffos - How Swooping WorksThe participants jump out of helicopters in 1.500 meters/5000f and deploy their parachutes shortly after, as the focus is on the actual flight in the parachute, not the free fall aspect. The small and aggressive parachutes, called canopies, enable the athletes to fly fast towards the ground. When arriving above the course, the swooper dives the canopy towards the lake's surface to reach speeds of almost 150km/h and prior to contacting the water the swooper levels out the flight. The last stage of swooping consists of freestyle tricks on the water with high speeds before landing on a platform right in front of the spectators. 22 tricks currently exist and can be combined into different combos. There will be two rounds and five international judges will score each jump based on the turn towards the water, the actual freestyle swoop and the landing. -
Image from Windoor Facebook PageThis weekend saw the second large indoor skydiving competition of the year kick off, with the 2015 WindGames. The event which ran from the 23rd to 24th of January, was held at the Windoor tunnel, located at Empuriabrava. There were over 30 teams from around the world participating in the competition, which spanned across three primary disciplines: VFS, 4-Way FS and 2-Way Dynamic. VFS Finals The VFS finals had a bit of controversy when a few teams protested their earlier round scores, which indicated that due to the lack of an overhead camera, certain grips weren't visible for the judges. This resulted in a few of the teams providing their own video footage to the judges in an attempt to get their earlier round points adjusted. At the end of the final round, Avalon Realfly Sion stood just 2 points ahead of their rivals, Windoor Full speed. Through rounds 1 to 8, the two teams had never been further than 2 points away from each other at the end of any round. FS 4-Way Open Finals What was likely the most anticipated event of the competition, the FS 4-Way Open Finals had the audience keenly watching as the favorites, Team Hayabusa went against Airspeed for the top spot in the competition, albeit that Hayabusa had almost certainly clinched a win by the 9th round, when they sat 8 points ahead of Airspeed, thanks to a couple of 4 point leads in rounds 6 and 7. 2-Way Dynamic Finals The 2-Way Dynamic division is a fast growing style of indoor skydiving, in fact there were over fifteen teams registered for the 2015 WindGames 2WD event. 2WD is definitely exciting, as speeds can often come within a fraction of a second of one another, as we saw with this event at the WindGames 2015. Team Dynamight went up against the Hurricane Factory Team for third place, but Hurricane Factory Team managed to edge the bronze medal by just 0.3 seconds, with a final time of 72.5 seconds. At the end of the event team Windoor Smooth Criminals from France, managed to edge out fellow Frenchmen Les Touristos by 0.9 of a second. -
All Imagery By Konwent Photography After completing 3 rounds of Zone Accuracy, 2 rounds of Speed-Distance, 2 rounds of Distance and 2 rounds of Speed - all swoopers were ready to relax. Out of 59 CP competitors only 22 decided to take part in Freestyle competition on the very last day of 5th DIPC in Dubai. In one of the previous bulletins an important change was announced. Last year every competitor could decide for himself to participate in CP Freestyle or not. This year only the first 30 competitors of overall were supposed to be allowed to compete. “Supposed to” - because apparently this limitation has been cancelled 1h before the first round when only 10 approved competitors showed up. That’s why all CP competitors were finally allowed to compete. All day long were able to watch 22 swoopers doing NacNacs, Kowboys, Flips, Lazy Boys, Supermen and many other tricks. We’ve also asked Bjoern Korth, Event Judge of Canopy Piloting about the reason of new limitations. “The majority of swoopers focus on Distance, Speed and Accuracy in their training. For safety reasons we didn’t want to allow all swoopers to participate." - “The majority of swoopers focus on Distance, Speed and Accuracy in their training. For safety reasons we didn’t want to allow all swoopers to participate. Some of them might never done freestyle before. Competition is not the best place to start.” - says Bjoern - “Freestyle is also difficult to judge, it was not judged often before. Of course we have guidelines from FAI, but it’s still something new.” But looking at those who took part in these additional 3 rounds, they all seem to be happy about the jumps they’ve made. Even if not swooped perfectly, they were doing some really cool stuff with the pond just as it was their playground. We all hope that next year more competitors will take part in this spectacular show. - Well, I think that people don’t want to get hurt on the last day of the competition. Many of them leave Dubai tomorrow and the wet rig weights way more - laughs Marat Leiras from Skydive Dubai Team - Freestyle is great, lots of fun, everybody is relaxed and can explore this beautiful swoop pond. I try to use my imagination, free my mind and soul. During World Air Games 2013 organizers tried to combine Freestyle with “regular” Distance, Speed and Accuracy and it was really great. Something fresh and new in the sport. The last day of 5th DIPCBelieve it or not, but during CP Freestyle the audience was much more active and numerous than during any other swooping discipline. Hundreds of people were giving big applause for every trick that ended up in the water and even bigger for spectacular maneuvers finished smoothly on the ground. - It’s really cool, I hope that next year I will be able to watch it again! It’s a new style of swooping, exciting and probably very dangerous - says Lydia watching the show. - I had to decide between Accuracy landings on the Beach DZ and Freestyle Swooping here - says a man with a Kazahstan T-shirt - but it was worth staying close to the swoop pond. As the CP Freestyle rules are difficult to follow for most of the audience, Regan Tetlow (Media Presenter of DIPC) and Greg Windmiller (USA National Team) explained every trick and the guidelines that competitors should follow. But not only the trick itself matters. Judges asses everything: setup, trick accuracy, landing and how long the trick was held on the pond. Final results are impacted by all those factors. - DIPC is doing great job for parachuting and skydiving in general. They really try to keep CP close to the public. Everything is organized so great, that it could be a kind of “benchmark” for all other parachuting event organizers - says Greg Windmiller. Bye bye, Dubai2014 DIPC took 8 long days. The variety of all skydiving disciplines, colorful surroundings, airshows, extreme sport itself - made the event great for professional and amateur photographers. HIPA organized the contest holding one of the highest money prize in the world ($7000 for 1st place, $25000 in all awards). - "It’s a great event for us, photographers" - Juan Mayer, Skydive Dubai photographer - "I don’t have many chances to see the Jumeirah Palm from other angles than usual, but when jumping on the Beach DZ I could really rediscover its beauty." The submission is already closed so we all look forward to see the results. Just before the Closing Ceremony a 50-way formation was jumped. Skydivers created “43” number to celebrate 43rd National Day of UAE. After spectacular airshows of Al Fursan, Zoltan Team and Parabatix - all medals have been given to the heros of the event. France, Russia and USA (and other) anthems were played many times during this evening. And this is how 5th DIPC became history. Current results can be found at both Omniskore's and EAF's websites Marta Molińska is a 28 year old skydiver, event organizer, PR specialist, journalist. She currently lives in Poland, running social media and event management for her domestic Dropzone Sky Camp. She fell in love with skydiving 2 years ago, and has over 600 jumps. She smiles a lot (like it was her trade mark). -
All Imagery By Konwent Photography The first day of CP in Dubai was supposed to take place on Tuesday, 2nd Dec on the Independence Day in Dubai. Unfortunately strong winds put both Accuracy and Canopy Piloting on hold. From canopy disciplines only CF was actually flying. The busy dropzone was focused more on perfomers, airshows and holiday celebration. First swoops were made on Wednesday morning. - "The conditions change between rounds but in the first round I was able to make good adjustements and scored 100" - says Curt Bartholomew from Alter Ego Team after first round of Accuracy - "Of course I prefer to go headwind, this is how it was today, but everything depends on location specifics and here Accuracy goes always in the same direction. Sometimes it’s downwind, sometimes headwind. The factor we cannot influence." - "I’m happy with the results so far" - Cornelia Mihai from Skydive Dubai Team with a big smile leaving the swoop pond - "We’ll see how it goes with next rounds." "The truth is that even the slightest change of wind speed or direction can make a huge difference in the results. It’s not rare for comeptitors to have more than one canopy of the same model (like Petra or Peregrine) but in different sizes to make a choice just before the jump accordingly to weather conditions. - In practice round I took Peregrine 75, but for the first round I flew Peregrine 67." - adds Curt. The pilot is a real engine of his canopyThe choice of the canopy seems to be one of the CP aspects which may determine a career. To make it simpler, there are two manufacturers that provide swoopers with high performing canopies: Performance Designs and NZ Aerosport. They delivered to the market, the Peregrine and Petra, which are already used by the majority of competitors. As none of them are useful for everyday freefall jumping, users needed a canopy with performance of Peregrine/Petra and terminal deployment tolerance. (NZ Aerosports have, since publication told us that the Petra is able to open in terminal and opens well with a normal slider and RDS) So more than 1 year ago Leia form NZ Aerosport was announced to be ready to sell and just two weeks ago PD released trailer of Valkyrie. Both canopies are described as high performing with smooth openings and being perfectly good for freefall jumping. "If you take basic aerodynamics, this is the logical direction to go." - John LeBlanc - "If you take basic aerodynamics, this is the logical direction to go." - John LeBlanc, PD vice-president and head of R&D; - "But I must admit that the Valkyrie project started before the Peregrine development. We have 40-120 prototypes every year and we only announce the new product to be ready when it’s really great." - "It’s a step up from Velocity or Comp Velocity. It was designed to be an everyday usage canopy with higher performance." - says Albert Berchtold, marketing representative of PD - "It’s a different canopy than Leia, even if some claims otherwise. We were working on it at the same time as NZ for a couple of years now and we’re really happy with what Valkyrie became. Just ask users if they like it!" And we actually did. Pablo Hernandez, winner of DISL (Swoop League) says: "The first thing that comes to me when I think of Valkyrie is the amazing openings. Really smooth and soft, my neck and back loved it from the frist jump. It also has a lot of rear risers power and toggles power. It can be used as an everyday canopy but it’s good for competition as well, mostly for Accuracy. I don’t jump it here, as I only have 30-40 jumps on it but for the next competition I will probably take it." The first users’ descriptions of Valkyrie performance seem to be similar to Leia characteristics. - "We arrived at the Leia trying to find Petras little sister as it were" - says Richard Munro from NZ Aerosport - "A high performance wing that incorporates many design elements of Petra without some of the practical limiatations. It’s probably reasonable to think PD had similar intent with their canopy development. In the end, the competition between the manufactuers only leads to better canopies - the pilots are the real winners." - "I really love Leia, it’s good for Accuracy jumping in competitions but I would say it’s more dedicated to everyday skydives" - claims Lee Barraclough, competitor from NZ Aerosport - "The openings are really nice." "I really love Leia, it’s good for Accuracy jumping in competitions but I would say it’s more dedicated to everyday skydives" - Lee Barraclough But the truth is that aerodynamic and gravity rules stay the same for all canopies. If constructors want to achive a specific goal or parameters - no mercy - they will probably come to the similar conclusions and ideas. - "The canopy is only a tool, the pilot is a real engine" - explains Nick Batsch, competitor from Alter Ego Team - "It doesn’t really matter if those canopies are different (probably not much, by the way). If there actually is any dispute between manufacturers is more about ‘who did it first’, and not ‘who did it better’. It shouldn’t be taken too seriously." We tried to find a swooper who actually tried both canopies and apparently Curt Bartholomew is the only one. - "I admit Valkyrie is similar to Leia, it feels a little bit different as the manufacturers use probably different fabrics and materials and the construction is somehow different, but the openings are supersoft in both canopies, similar risers pressure and toggle power. Probably I would benefit Valkyrie more in Distance and Speed but to be honest, they are both really good." 5th DICP almost doneWindy weather 4 days in a row is not a common thing in Dubai. Organizers keep up with the competition but many disciplines were put on hold because of difficult conditions. Distance and Speed were done only during the second day of CP, on Thursday. First two rounds were a combination ob both, so called “Speed-Distance”. It’s an experimental combination (not confirmed by FAI) where one result of a jump influences two traditional categories: Speed and Distance. This means that the stake is doubled, the pressure is doubled and of course the risk of loosing precious points is also doubled. - "I’m happy that there is a trend of experiments, which I’ve already noticed in Klatovy, to make Canopy Piloting more interesting for the public. To make it more attractive and spectacular" - says Sebastian Dratwa - "But having in mind that this is the most important goal, I can’t understand why the Accuracy was completly isolated form the audience. Even Regan [media presenter] had to choose between being close to people and actually seeing how competitors landed." It is true that the Canopy Piloting discipline is the most interesting for the audience. But from all three categories, only Distance is easy to understand. Even if Speed is simple, without instant results on the screen, it’s not that exciting. On the other hand it really is great (also for competitors) that the negative zones in Accuracy were removed. It’s easier to follow the rules for competitors, not to mention non-skydivers watching the show. All attempts to bring CP closer to the audience are great. There is still a lot to improve in future editions but kudos to organizers for all their efforts. - "It’s great here, as every year. Sometimes the weather is not helping with organization of the competition." - says Regan Tetlow, media presenter of DIPC - "I love this place. Actually I decided yesterday to move to Dubai, I change my life from now on…!" As all three CP categories are done, there is an extra one for tomorrow: CP freestyle. Last year around 40 competitors (out of 70) took part in this additional event. Sadly, this year only the first 30 are allowed to participate. Let’s keep fingers crossed for them. The 5th DIPC will soon be over… Current results can be found at both Omniskore's and EAF's websites -
All imagery by Konwent Photography FS (previously known as RW) is a classic discipline in skydiving, known and developed for years by those who love cooperation, synchronization and team spirit. VFS can be treated as a modern variant of FS flying, however it is different in almost every aspect. The future of both disciplines will probably not be the same neither. Entry level too demandingBoth FS and FVS are skydiving disciplines where four people have to cooperate really close, get the highest level of precision, mutual understanding and speed. What makes them different is the orientation. Cameraman is part of the team and goes together through all ups and downs. Regardless omnipresent admiration of freefly in general, VFS appears to be less and less popular, belly flyers at the same time are getting stronger. - It is very difficult to start a serious training in VFS. Being able to move forward, backwards, sides and turns on a belly is enough to start even the simplest training. VFS is a completely different story, the entry level is much higher and you need to gather five people with required skills in headup and headdown positions. It’s not easy to create a team - claims Karla Cole from 5th DIPC Judges Committee. - I would also say that the cooperation between the team and cameraman is also more demanding. It’s much easier to catch all grips from above, while here cameraman needs to move quickly, needs to know sequences and figures very well to adjust movements and his (or her) own position to show grips to the judges. Tunnel future for VFS?When you listen well to skydivers’ whispering you’ll hear that VFS will more likely move to the tunnels. What’s interesting is that you can’t say the same thing about FS flying. This classic discipline is growing and in this case tunnels are only improving skydivers’ skills. Many FS competitions take place in the tunnels but outdoor “oldschool” skydiving is still in charge. On 5th DIPC there are 13 teams on FS Open and 8 teams on FS Female. In the same time - we only have two VFS teams (keep in mind that $7000 award will not be given to anybody). - Of course freefly is more fun at the moment, but VFS is something really different. People love dynamic stuff, carving around, doing snakes, layouts… - says Benoit Lemay, member of Canadian Evolution team, which compete in both FS and FVS disciplines - I think that either VFS will move to the tunnels, either 2-way VFS teams will start to participate because it’s easier to practice and to organize. - I don’t think VFS will migrate to the tunnel and stay there. Tunnels provide great training conditions and these days are more accessible to everyone. - explains Marcin Seń from Almost, polish representation - You don’t have to be a skydiver to train in the wind tunnel, that’s why there are more VFS teams competing in the tunnels than in the sky. And let’s face it, VFS is much more difficult than FS. Freefly is about imaginationBenoit is not the only one who noticed that skydivers are more interested in dynamic freefly than in competing FVS. Also Olav Zipster says that freefly is more about using your body in every way possible than about following formal rules of 4-way flying: randoms, blocks, strong dynamic exits etc. Freefly is more about emotions and imagination, you can do literally whatever you want. It’s like swimming in the air, go faster, go slower, invent new rotations, adjust your movements to what you want to achieve. That’s what counts for example in freestyle, I think this is the future of freefly on the competitions in years to come. - Olav Zipster, freefly legend with 28 years of experience - I think FVS is really difficult to train and it doesn’t really feel natural for freefly to stick to the rules and demanding frames. No matter how both VFS teams fly during this competition, it’s difficult to say that the battle is exciting. We can only hope that in next competitions and championships more teams will participate to keep the discipline alive. In the same time in FS competition TOP3 varies from one round to another so we all look forward to the very exiting end of it. Canadian, Belgium, USA - these three teams are working hard for the gold medal. - We started with Hayabusa 5.0 which means that we have a new member, Jeroen, instead of Roy who decided to choose professional coach career. We treat this competition as an additional training, but we’re doing good, and hope to win - says David Grauwels from Hayabusa, Belgium FS representation (2nd place after 7th round) - We really don’t have any secret plan, we just verify round after round how it goes and where are our weak points. It’s all about cooperation and trust in the team. What’s new in DIPC5th and 6th day of the competition is still very windy, so Accuracy was put on hold for the majority of both days. Competitors were able to do only one round in the evening. Everyday there is an air show of Zoltan’s team, Parabatix team and plenty of music, gymnastics and sport performers at the dropzone. Also every day organizers draw 10 lucky winners who get iPads and iPhones 6. Today, on Tuesday, Canopy Piloting should start their rounds, but after two first loads organizers decided to wait for better conditions. Afer one day of relax and DISL celebration, all swoopers are ready to show how they perform with speed, distance and accuracy. Looking forward to the real show! Current results can be found at both Omniskore's and EAF's websites -
All Imagery by Kuba Konwent 5th DIPC: Accuracy, VFS, 4-ways and CF flying hardThe fifth Dubai International Parachute Competition is already started and going on from sunrise to sunset. The dropzone is closed for all commercial activities (AFF, tandems, fun jumps), but a collection of jumpships including 2 helicopters, 2 Twin Otters, 1 Cessna Caravan are going up and down with short breaks for refuel. The essence of skydiving community is just here. Accuracy in the very centerAs the swoop pond will be silent for a couple of days, accuracy landings attract most of audience’s attention. Some say that it is a discipline which is not under intense R&D; but apparently it’s very exposed and divided between group and individual competition and also between seniors and juniors. - Some rules changed since last year - says Matthias Maushake, Head of Manifest - We now allow Juniors to jump with Seniors in one group, so that’s one of the main changes. We try to adjust competitions to the reality and we observe how it goes to be able to come up with conclusions. - Everything is great, the discipline is getting bigger, canopies are being improved. I look forward to the future of Accuracy - claims Saeed Alhashimi from Judges Comittee. Womens Team Accuracy Results Pos Nat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Total 1 Belarus 5 5 5 2 2 5 4 5 33 2 Russia 6 7 0 1 10 4 1 8 37 3 China 19 3 5 5 8 4 3 6 53 4 Poland 10 10 6 3 6 12 19 10 76 5 France 25 18 18 6 26 19 8 8 128 Mens Team Accuracy Results - Top 5 Pos Nat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Total 1 Slovenia 3 3 4 1 2 0 2 2 17 2 Italy 7 3 1 5 1 0 2 2 21 3 Russia 4 2 0 2 0 7 6 1 22 4 Hungary 2 4 3 4 2 2 6 3 26 5 China 4 0 2 3 6 5 1 7 28 What Lies Ahead for VFS?For a very long time before the competition only the Canadian VFS team was registered. Just a few days before DIPC one additional team from Poland declared their attendance, making it one of the disciplines where there are fewer entries than previous years. - It requires a lot of comittment and patience. Having an average of 10 points is a huge effort not only for one person, but for four and of course the cameraman - says member of Canadian team member - We’re happy with the 48p. we have in total now. However it would be perfect if we had more teams to compete with. Having only 2 teams on board, it’s not the same, but of course we will do our best to have the highest score possible. We have also asked the Polish team how they feel during their first competition: "We only have 2 months of training as a team. The atmosphere is great and we aim for getting some experience. We don’t expect a miracle to happen but it’s important to compete with the best." - says capitan of Polish representation, Marek Nowakowski. Windy dropzone and Swoop LeagueSaturday’s afternoon was already quite windy. Accuracy competitors were released for the rest of a day. Sunday morning wind was around 15-17 knots, so competition started around 11am. Accuracy still on hold, but everyone else is doing their thing. Also at the Desert Campus Swoop League is going on. Today new category was introduced to the competitors and public: “max-speed” which is a combination of Speed and Distance. Competitors are supposed to enter with a maximum speed and fly as far as they can. Here is how it looks like: Post użytkownika Performance Designs. 4-ways Open/FemaleFormation Skydiving is a classic. You can see 4-way teams training on the creepers everywhere, coaches circuling around and giving hints. We asked Karla Cole from Judges Committee how does she feel about FS skydiving during this competition. - It’s a classic discipline, I don’t think it will ever going to be less popular. There were disciplines that have died already, as Skysurfing, but FS is not one of them. I’m a little bit worried about VFS, because it really is awesome and yet… we only have 2 teams registered. Only time will show the future. - says Karla. Asked about FS and VFS development responds: Well, definitetly VFS requires more high skills and of course the mutual work between the team and cameraman. It’s easier to catch all grips from above than in VFS where you have to be sometimes headup, sometimes headdown and know better how to show the grip to the judges. Sometimes only one point decides who is the winner. The same for FS. And indeed - In FS Canadian and Belgium team have both 88 points in total. That’s the sport spirit we’re all looking for in skydiving! More results can be found at both Omniskore's and EAF's websites -
All imagery by Kuba Konwent Dubai is a special place and for a skydiver - it really is unique. If you want to feel like a professional athlete and member of a serious global community - there is literally no better place. Skydiving is not a niche sport here - it’s a main one. Skydivers are not freaks with a weird hobby, but appreciated professionals and VIP guests. Different world, no questiones asked. In the recent days skydivers of all disciplines were registrating and jumping over the Palm and on the Desert for training sessions. Accuracy, 4-ways, swoopers, freestylers - the magic of diversity was visible all around both dropzones and in the tunnel. Busy days for the Manifest, organizers and competitors. - I’m definitely more experienced than a year ago and I also have a smaller canopy size, which can be helpful - says Cornelia Mihai from Skydive Dubai swooping team, starting in Canopy Piloting discipline. - Of course I aim for winning, as everybody. I trained a lot and I will do my best. Today first rounds of Accuracy, 4-way Open and 4-way Female took place. The weather conditions were positive for the majority of a day, but in the late afternoon and evening stronger wind made swoopers worried about tomorrow’s Dubai International Swoop League. It is considered to be a warm up competition before DICP rounds but it has a separate results and awards. A couple of changes were applied this year to the general rules known so far. We will publish more details soon, just before Canopy Piloting which starts on 1st Dec. - I’m always planning a new record - laughs Nick Batch (8 Distance and 2 Speed world records) - Of course Speed is more demanding, so I will definitely be focused on that. But I also feel there is a lot to do in the Distance area. As always, between swoop pond and national teams’ booths, there is a lot of fun going on, but one place seems to be more crowded than the others. It’s a wingsuit simulator with a specific ‘tracks’ displayed in a special big goggles mounted on a head. Everyone can feel the thrill of wingsuit proximity flying, after lying on a special device which is sensitive to all body movements. To make it even more realistic, you can feel wind on your face and sounds of the air going faster and faster. Really great entertainment not only for non-skydivers. As every year, there is Photography Competition taking place and everybody can submit their pictures. Spectacular views and performances, big format event and colorful surroundings make the place perfect for professional (and amateur) photographers. Many of them could be spotted at work during sunset PPG (powered paragliding) flying: beautiful and unique view. At 8pm the official opening of DIPC took place in the artificial stadium built a couple of days before. It was truly a stunning performance of sky-dancers hanged on the ‘sky’ displayed on walls and ceiling. Hanging on a ‘circus’ handles all performers were literally flying 2 meters above the audience. Skydivers watching the show would notice that their movements are not only beautiful but suprisingly accurate and professional. After a short while everyone was already sure that the real skydivers were actually performing. This fact made a show even more incredible. With fireworks just above heads and hearts full of music - everyone is ready to make this competition legen… wait for it ... dary. -
Image by Juan MayerThe Dubai International Parachuting Championships began yesterday with the opening of registration, arrival of delegations as well as the first series of practice jumps. Registrations will continue today, Thursday the 27th November 2014 with the addition of the first series of meetings and conferences for the judges, and managers taking place. Final (late) registrations will take place on Friday, as well as the first series of competition jumps which will begin at 09:00. Later in the evening the opening ceremony will take place. The competition will continue on until the afternoon of Friday the 5th of December, with closing ceremony, award presentation and farewell dinner in the evening. The last two days of the event will see the departure of delegations as well as an air show. The DIPC first began 5 years ago and has since become a highlight of the annual skydiving calander, playing host to the best skydivers in the world. They will be competing for a total prize pool in excess of $400 000. Dr.Rainer EXI Hoenle, chief judge of the 5th DIPC recently published a bulletin to the Emirates Aerosports Federation (EAF) website detailing some of the technical aspects and rules of the competitive categories, which can be viewed on their website. The weather forecast for the next 10 days is mostly positive, with only a chance for rain forecast by some weather agencies on the Monday. Otherwise everyone is holding thumbs for a jump friendly period, with winds hopefully remaining below the limits. Dropzone.com will be bringing you updates throughout the event over the course of the next 10 days, so be sure to check in regularly. Video footage from the 2013 Dubai International Parachuting Championship -
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) - The World Air Sports Federation, was founded in 1905. Skydivers from all over the world have been waiting for this moment of recognition where the indoor skydiving collides with skydiving and the indoor sport competition becomes real. In November 2014, history was made in the air sports. For the first time ever Indoor Skydiving was recognized as a sport by the FAI and a World Cup was held at iFLY Austin in Texas, USA. Many countries were represented such as Russia, USA, Canada, Mexico, France, Sweden, Czech Republic and Monaco. This is also the first time that a junior category has been recognized within the air sport. Aerokart Akademie sent their best flyers, two FS junior teams with flyers ranging from 10 to 13 years old and an average score of 12.8 and 10.7, Akademie 1 and Akademie 2. Both teams have been training hard and competed against five other teams in the same division leading the way for the Bad Boys, representing Czech Republic, with a beautiful win of 20.9 average score. Close behind was our USA team Spaceland Lite and Team eXact from Sweden. The podium never looked so good with so much international talent. In the female category, team Aerokart Deep Blue had a smashing victory with a 24.7 average score, allowing the female team from Czech Republic, Hurricane Factory Chicks, to get second place. These girls certainly made an impression with their coordinated jumpsuits and smiles. The Freefly discipline, part of the Artistic Events, always amazes the general public with the synchronized movements and sent the crowd rallying with applauses. Not to be surprised, team USA has put an enormous dedication into showing the world their passion for indoor skydiving and created a routine that took the judges off their feet. Team Mandrake, composed of Chris Dixon and Javier Serrano, won Gold with a 65.0 total score. Collective, the other USA team followed with the silver and Orion Freely from Sweden took bronze showing the judges’ one of the most challenging synchronized team exits of the competition The Mexican team, Avix, showed to everyone that with love and dedication, being part of the first world cup was an experience of a life time and to not ever be forgotten no matter what place you got. If you enjoy a dance routine performed by a single person that is full of emotion and energy; full enough to make your arm hair spike, than you know that the Freestyle category blew away many eyes and made many heads turn. Music choreography and soft dance moves were incorporated to impress the judges and general public. The indoor World Cup hosted seven Freestyle competitors and they all had their unique signature moves. USA was represented by our ‘Golden Boy’ Reese Willson with an total score of 60.4 and a final round flown with his arms inside his jumpsuit to encourage the disabled to participate in the sport! In second place were the famous pointy toes of Mike Silva with team Collective of the USA, followed by the exquisite flying technique of Olga Bakulina and Leo Volkov with the Russian delegation. Following up the Russians was Drew, Man of Steele, of the USA with his shocking triple flips, then the youngest world medal holder in indoor skydiving history Mateo Lumnios with his matching orange shoes. Lastly in the Freestyle category, Lise Hernandez Girouard represented Canada and got the crowd singing to “pretty woman” during of one of her performance rounds. Three countries were represented in the VFS category, USA, Poland and Mexico. SDC standard held their world class status with an average score of 24.3, sharing the podium with team Fly Definition in second place and Avix from Mexico in third. SDC Standard teammates Mickey Nuttall, Will Pesek , Rook Nelson and Jason Peters set the bar really high for anyone that would like to take their World Champion title away next year! A few years ago Gillian Rayner, the IPC Controller, explored the idea of creating the World Cup Indoor skydiving, working with Axel Zohmann, Director of the IBA, and iFLY Operations Manager, Erin Horton. Modifying the rules of skydiving and adapting them to an indoor 14 foot wind tunnel, we dedicated this World Cup to all future World Champions that will come after this grand year. To many hours of flying in the wind tunnel and to leaping into new winds, may this year motivate many of us to train and to empower our community to achieve new flying skills. We raise the glass to the FAI for making this dream a reality for all of the competitors. Here Here! -
Andy Farrington of the United States won the world’s first Red Bull Aces Wingsuit 4 Cross Race in the skies over the central Californian town of Oakdale on Thursday, flying at speeds of up to 135 miles per hour (217 km per hour) and beating three other rivals in the final down a slalom course in the premiere of the new sport. In the high-speed, high-altitude race through four stationary gates that started with a leap from the back hatch of a sky van airplane at 7,000 feet and descended to the finish line at 3,500 feet, Noah Bahnson (USA) took second and Julian Boulle (South Africa) was third in a field of 52 of the world’s best Wingsuit racers from 16 countries. “This is just amazing, cutting edge and really the start of a revolution,” said Farrington, a professional sky diver who did stunt work in the film “Transformer 3” of his historic victory in the new sport that is attempting to make Wingsuit flying safer with the start and finish at higher and safer altitudes. “This is racing and this is the way to hold a competition. You are racing the people right next to you, at the same time and on the same, set course – just like in any other sport. Just like in ski racing, it’s cut and dry. You either make the gate or you don’t. You either finished ahead of the other guy or you didn’t. And you’re doing it all thousands of feet in the air.” The race format is in essence ski cross in the sky with four Wingsuit racers flying against each other at a time in a test of skill and courage as they navigated the slalom course. From the start at 7,000 feet, the racers descended at accelerating speeds to the first of four gates (at 6,500 feet) and then to the subsequent gates and the finish line (at 3,500 feet). The racers then pulled their parachutes at a safe altitude of about 3,000 feet. Farrington set a course record of 40:16 seconds in the final. American Katie Hansen was the best of five women in the race that does not differentiate between male and female and made it into the top 32. Results Red Bull Aces: 1. Andy Farrington (USA) 2. Noah Bahnson (USA) 3. Julian Boulle (RSA) 4. Jhonny Florez (COL) 5. David Covel (USA) 6. Sebastian Alvarez (CHL) 7. Jason Moledzki (CAN) 8. Charley Kurlinkus (USA) Photographers: Joerg Mitter, Balazs Gardi -
Bartholomew wins Canopy Piloting Triple Crown, Hernandez earns European Canopy Piloting Championship & Windmiller sets new Speed World Record at the 7th FAI World Cup of Canopy Piloting They say there’s no rest for the weary and the pros at the FAI 7th World Cup in Canopy Piloting & 3rd European Championships were ready for battle as the competition got underway Wednesday. The World Cup in Kolomna, Russia is the third major Canopy Piloting championship in the past two months and while some began the competition with an eye on sweeping the three events, others arrived ready for redemption. 7th FAI World Cup of Canopy Piloting: This leg of the competition season has seen the same 4 competitors battling for the top spot time and again: Team Alter Ego’s Curt Bartholomew and Nick Batsch versus the PD Factory Team’s Tommy Dellibac and Pablo Hernandez. However, 76 other pros arrived in Kolomna ready to take over. Day 1 - Speed & Distance There was no playing around during Day 1 when competitors completed 6 rounds of the competition and closed the day with a new Speed World Record and a tight point spread between the top 15 competitors. US Army’s Greg Windmiller (USA), began the competition with three Speed World Records listed in his resume and would add one more to the list before the first day was halfway over. With a speed of 2.371 in the final Speed round, he became a 4th time Canopy Piloting Speed World Record Holder. The field quickly shifted to Distance, and another World Record would be challenged in the first round with Skydive Dubai’s Cornelia Mihai (UAE) setting a new Female Distance World Record after flying 138.54 meters. Curt Bartholomew (USA) flying his canopy 154.02 meters was only .07 meters short of teammate Nick Batsch’s current world record of 154.09 meters. Batsch, however, would continue to dominate the Distance rounds, ultimately besting Bartholomew and the UAE’s Billy Sharman. Day 2 - Zone Accuracy Rounds 1 & 2 The field awoke on Day 2 with expectations of an intense 3 jumps, with the scores so close that anyone in the top 15 could still podium. Bartholomew would broaden his lead over the other competitors with a 91 score (100 points) in the first round and a perfect 100 score in the 2nd round, which would be the only perfect 100 scored by any competitor throughout both completed rounds. After the second round, Bartholomew was comfortably in first by nearly 60 points, leaving Dellibac to protect his silver standing from Sharman and the rest of the top 15, who were all within striking distance should they outscore him in the last and final jump. Event organizers had planned to complete the competition on Day 2, but only about half of the field were able to complete the final round before a weather hold stopped the competition for the day. The competitors arrived the next morning ready to complete the final round, but would end up spending two days waiting on weather to clear to finish that final Zone Accuracy Round. With weather forecasts not showing a promising window, event organizers called the competition complete Saturday afternoon without the final round of Zone Accuracy. The World Cup of Canopy Piloting victory gives Bartholomew what is known as the Canopy Piloting Triple Crown - the current champion of the World Cup, World Canopy Piloting Championship and the World Games. Overall Winners: Gold: Curt Bartholomew (USA) Silver: Tommy Dellibac (USA) Bronze: Billy Sharman (UAE) Speed Medalist: Gold: Curt Bartholomew (USA) Silver: Tommy Dellibac (USA) Bronze: Billy Sharman (UAE) Distance Medalists: Gold: Nick Batsch (USA) Silver: Billy Sharman (UAE) Bronze: Curt Bartholomew (USA) Zone Accuracy Medalists: Gold: Curt Bartholomew (USA) Silver: Pablo Hernandez (ESP) Bronze: Dominic Roithmair (AUT) 3rd FAI European Canopy Piloting Championship In addition to the World Cup events, 43 competitors were also vying for the title of European CP Champion. Hernandez would lead the field following a comanding lead in Zone Accuracy, followed by Brice Bernier (FRA) and Dominic Roithmair (AUT). Overall Winners: Gold: Pablo Hernandez (ESP) Silver: Brice Bernier (FRA) Bronze: Dominic Roithmair (AUT) Distance Medalists: Gold: David Maleze (FRA) Silver: Roman Dubsky (SVK) Bronze: Johan Karlsson (SWE) Speed Medalists: Gold: Brice Bernier (FRA) Silver: Peter Kallehave (DEN) Bronze: David Maleze (FRA) National and World Records Several new World and National records were set throughout the competition, showing the continued push in the discipline as competitors are going further, faster and harder. World Records: Speed: - Greg Windmiller (USA): 2.371 seconds Distance - Female: - Cornelia Mihai (UAE): 138.54 meters National Records: Speed: - Netherlands National Speed Record: Erwin Baatenburg de Jong: 2.505 seconds - Sweden National Speed Record: Johan Karlsson: 2.503 seconds - Norway National Speed Record: Barton Hardie: 2.686 seconds Distance: - United States of America National Distance Record - Female Jessica Edgeington: 136.49 meters - Netherlands National Distance Record: Erwin Baatenburg de Jong: 130.95 meters - Sweden National Distance Record: Johan Karlsson: 131.36 meters - Norway National Distance Record: Barton Hardie: 130.24 meters One more international Canopy Piloting event is scheduled for 2013, the 4th Dubai International Parachuting Championship from November 27 to December 10. -
Bodyflight Bedford, the World's largest indoor skydiving wind tunnel once again plays host to the World Challenge - two heated competitions of Freefly and Formation flying. The Bodyflying competition attracts athletes from around the globe to pitch their flying skills against each other in a bid to win some of the £20,000 cash prize pot. The ex-MOD wind tunnel was built in the 1950s as an aerodynamics research facility. Its use was relatively short-lived and the site was converted by Nottinghamshire businessman, Paul Mayer into a new leisure attraction, opening its doors to the public in September 2005. LAST YEARJust seven months since its opening, the first Bodyflight Bedford World Challenge took place in April 2006. After a hard fought battle, Formation Skydiving champions, Airspeed Odyssey from the US took first place in the Formation event, walking away with £4,000. Second place was awarded to Belgium's national team, Spa Hayabusa who took home £2,000; the Swedish based Team 42 took third place with £1,500 and Fast & Furious from Italy snatched fourth place and £500. Teams were enjoying the fast turn around and trying to make the most of their 35 seconds working time, which kicked off as soon as the first team member went through an entry door. The Judges were scoring via DVD recorded from the overhead cam. With 12 teams entered, each round took approx 15 minutes to complete! On Sunday, Freeflyers took over. There were 11 teams entered the competition. The 2-way freefly competition was also run along the same lines as international skydiving events. Element-R (Cathy Bouetter & Fabian Raidel) were crowned the winners and received £4,000, second place and £2,000 was awarded to Babylon (Fred & Vince), Mamba Airkix (Joao Tambor & Mike MacKenzie) walked away with third place and £1,500 with £500 and fourth place being given to The Joe & Carlos Show (Joe Winters & Carlos Euribe). Cathy Bouette of Element-R said, "Winning the competition was such a big surprise for Fabian and I because Joe & Carlos are known as the 'Tunnel Kings' and won the last wind tunnel competition in the US! I could not believe it! We had the chance to train a little a couple weeks before to get our two routines solid for the competition!" "Each team had a 5-minute warm up before the start of the competition. Rounds 1, 3, 4, 6 & 7 were Free Rounds where we were able to show whatever you want and try to impress the judges for 60 seconds. We practiced 2 Free Routines trying to be as smooth as possible with a smile - and on time! Rounds 2 & 5 were Compulsories. They picked 5 randoms out of 8, separating Belly/Back & Sit/Head Down because of the speed changes. The judges seemed to be fairly happy, giving us high scores for the last round. I really, really enjoyed this event - and as my 1st tunnel competition, it didn't turn out so bad! It was such a privilege to fly with Fabian, he is really an amazing flyer with great energy! "There was a very nice atmosphere during this weekend from all the participants and organizers. I really like the fact that it is mixed, not only between men and women but also nationalities. Such a nice feeling to be flying, looking at people's faces on the other side of the window! It's kind of like being on stage, it gives you more energy than being by yourself in the big blue sky! For me especially, seeing the smile on my parents' faces before each round." THIS YEAROn 7-8 April 2007 Bodyflight will again host a competition of two categories; both of which are 'Open' so allowing a broad spectrum of flyers to enter and compete against each other. This year twice as many teams will be able to take part, up to 30 in each category! Both events will be run concurrently over both days with a celebratory party afterwards. As added excitement, participants in the Freefly category will be setting two of their free routines to music. Pre-edited tracks will be available for them to use or they may create their own. This state of the art progression will allow Freeflying teams to go that step further and express themselves by dancing to music in mid-air. Following the success of this first ever World Challenge and the overwhelming interest shown by the skydiving community, this year's event promises to be a must in the sporting calendar. Teams are invited to apply for a place in the Challenge online at www.worldchallenge.info -
Space Games # 8 took place at Skydive America Palm Beach Florida, from the 28th January to the 6th February. Everything went very smoothly with all the Games. More precision and control was requested for the Races and as expected everybody's flying skill level was much higher then previous Space Games. Beautiful. Once again a big thank you to our sponsor Skydive America and Larry Kerschenbaum for hosting the event at its beautiful location and putting up all the prize money for the events and developer of the Space Games, Olav Zipser! Here are the Results: Atmosphere Dolphin Challenge: Started with the Atmosphere Dolphin Challenge this time, 31 competitors from (USA, Italy, UK, Germany, Finland, France, Canada, South Africa, Macedonia, Venezuela) Double elimination One on One Tournament style event. Names were drawn randomly the day before starting the competition. Believe in fate or not, to me it is one of the must fun part of the all Games: the Drawing from the hat. He He, it gives you the chills and butterfly and is kind of magic that moment where they pick your name and now they pick the next name..apprehension, phew!!, who is it gonna be ??? It's funny how the Fate Plays it's own game and make you meet specific persons along the Race !! 2 racers exit the plane with the ball master who is filming the race. They need to perform specific maneuvers in a specific order next to the spaceball and in between each maneuver, point at the spaceball at grabbing distance.etc This time even more precision was requested to all Free flyers in order to get their points: be in the picture with full torso, head and hips, pointing to perfection, don't cross over the other competitor airspace. Fast yes.but super precise that was the winning key decision on who was the winner was first left to the competitors themselves no matter what the rules would say. If the racers could not decide between themselves who was the winner, the decision was then left to the judges who would apply the rules systematically. Everything went smoothly and most of the times competitor would find the winner by themselves. Judges ended up being called only for very tight races. The nicest way to actually understand how the Competitors get along during the races, basically see who had to meet who and so on would be to see the bracket itself. These are the final results! 1st Place : Jon De Vore 3000,-$ 2nd Place : John Matthews 1500,-$ 3rd Place : Steve Utter 900,-$ 4th Place : Filippo Fabbi 5th Place : Mike Ortiz, Stefania Martinengo 6th Place : Olav Zipser, Eli Thompson, Bruce Graybill, Mike Swanson 7th Place : Jim Oreilly, Rob Silver, Matt Nelson, Kevin Sabarese, Mauro Tannino, Janine Hill 8th Place : Teppo Heikinnen , Timmy Wardensky, Goran Lazarovsky, John Skinner, Max Cohn, Francisco Neri, Emannuelle Celicout, Joe Josephs 9th Place : Lucky Mike, Dave Brown, Stan Gray, Micheal Sandner, Dave Padijasek, Nathan Gilbert Special special Thanx to all the people who helped so much to get this Game going without whom this race would have not possiblytake place : AD Challenge Space Ball masters cameraflyers : Timmy Wardensky, Francisco Neri, Steve Utter, Teppo Heikinnen, Stefania Martinengo, Janine Hill, John Shoffner, Filippo Fabbi, Mike Swanson, Mauro Tannino, Bruce Graybill, Olav Zipser, John Matthews, John Skinner, Jim Oreilly, Rob Silver, Stan Gray, Lucky Mike Outside cameraflyers : Brad Chatellier, Steve Utter, Larry Kerschenbaum Judges : Roger Nelson, Gordon Craig Freefly Indy 500: 32 Competitors. Actually a few of them left the Competition after the 1st round giving a forfeit as the AD Challenge the Freefly Indy 500 is a double elimination One on One style Event. Again winning key was: super fast but precise and more than anything aware of how your track was set. As a matter of fact some of the fastest people lost their races as being very fast but didn't take enough precautions in making sure that they got the gate or the eclipsing of the ribbons attached to the foot of the Pylons. Other people had different approach in the game sacrificing some of their speed to make sure to get the gate and eclipse the ribbons in a clear way. As the race is judged through the 2 pylons camera views, racers had to consider carefully the different perspectives of the shooting angles, in case the 2 pylons would have not be perfectly on level. In this Game, as in the AD Challenge decision on who was the winner was first left to the competitors themselves, no matter what the rules would say. If they could not come up with a winner by themselves accordingly, then judges were called to make the decision applying the rules systematically. A new element in this edition of the Free fly Indy 500 compared to the previous Space Games Events was that for each single race the 2 competitors had to flip a coin to decide which direction to go around the track: left or right. The final results!! 1st Place Olav Zisper 3000,-$ 2nd Place Jon De Vore 1500,-$ 3rd Place Mike Swanson 900,-$ 4th Place Steve Utter 5th Place Colon Berry, Mauro Tannino 6th Place Rook Nelson, John Matthews, Teppo Heikinnen, Brad Chatellier 7th Place Max Cohn, Michi, Janine Hill, John Shoffner, Francisco Neri, Filippo Fabbi 8th Place Dave Padyjasek, Stefania Martinengo, Jim Oreilly, Dave Brown, Lucky Mike, Tim Wardensky, Bruce Graybill, John Skinner 9th Place Emannuelle Celicout, Joe Josephs, Larry Kerschenbaum, Rob Silver, Goran Lazarovsky, Kevin Sabarese, Mike Ortiz, Nathan Gilbert, Special Special Thanx to all the people who helped so much in getting this Game going, without those friends this race would have not possibly taken place: Pylons Cameraflyers: Kenny Cosgrove, Brad Chatellier, Timmy Wardenski, Francisco Neri, Dave Padyjasek, Stefania Martinengo, Max Cohn, Kevin Sabarese, Mike Swanson, Filippo Fabbi, Dave Brown, John Schoffner, Janine Hill, Teppo Heikinnen, Michi Sandner, Mauro Tannino, Steve Utter, Olav Zipser, John Matthews, Rob Silver, Larry Kerschenbaum, Nathan Gilbert, Bruce Graybill, Emanuelle Celicout. Outside Camera: Brad Chatellier, Steve Utter, Olav Zipser, Larry Kerschenbaum, Filippo Fabbi The Bermuda Triangle Tracking: Here the race is a One on One Single elimination style event. Anyone is welcome to test their tracking skills in this event and the race is judged by competitors as to who was ahead at opening time. The only fast rule in this event is that competitors have to be open by 3000 ft! The final results!! 1st: Olav Zipser $ 500 2nd: Dave Padyjasek $ 300 3rd: Dave Brown $ 150 4th: Rook Nelson, Mike Swanson 5th: Bruce Graybill,Teppo Heikinnen, Lucky Mike Pantall, Kevin Sabarese 3 way Freefly Open: 11 Teams. For the 3 Way Freefly Open teams had to present a video of their best Compulsory Round and a video of their best Free Round. Compulsory Round consisted of 9 basic moves to be repeated in order in the 45 seconds. The moves were: 360 turn, 360 loop, weedeater (done simultaneouslyby the 2 team members without the camera) Under over, 3 carves, 69, Foot to foot, Mind warp, Vertical Compress. Best Teams performed 18 points in the 45 seconds. Free round was judged on Camera Work/ Photography, Technical Skills, and Artistic Overall Impression. Most of the Teams presented very technical flying combining it with Artistic Choreography. Very Nice and Interesting stuff: speeds changing from belly to vertical to fast tracking to fast transitions and difficult docks. Flyboyz won with a very nice Choreography and excellent interactive team flying, the musical rhythm and perfect synchronization is what characterizes this team. Team Skyfly (Olav Zipser, Rook Nelson and Mauro Tannino) and Team Modern Skyflying (Mike Swanson, Filippo Fabbi, Olav Zipser)both presented very technical dives showing all flying dimensions in a nice fluid combination, which didn't lack rhythm! 2 teams distinguished themselves presenting 2 dancing style routines mixing free flying and freestyle together in a nice Choreography: French Connection (Emanuelle Celicout, Max Cohn and Steve Utter) and team Sky (. Both Teams presented a nice fluid and elegant Choreography with technical speed changing and new original moves. Again, all teams distinguished themselves for different elements, technicality and originality of certain moves. 1st Flyboyz (Fritz Pfnur, Mike Ortiz, Eli Thompson) 4500,-$ 2nd Skyfly ( Rook Nelson, Olav Zipser, Mauro Tannino) 1800,-$ 3rd Modern Skyflying (Mike Swanson, Filippo Fabbi,Olav Zisper) 900,-$ Best Camera : Fritz Pfnur (Fly Boyz) 180,-$ Best Tecnicall Tied : Flyboyz, Sky and the Juice 60-$ per Team Best Artistic : Flyboyz 180,-$ Special Special Thnx to the Judges in the 3 wayFreefly Open as we know is a very tiring and hard job. Camera/Photography : Janine Hill, Tim Koranda, Roger Nelson Technical : Kevin Sabarese, John Schoffner Artistic : Chad Jonosky, Joel
