The Canopy Piloting World Championships is nearly finished.  But it’s not been without a few issues- most notably the smoke from all the fires in the area.

This hasn’t stopped competitors bonding; Mike Kleist, German swooper and author of The Secret of Male Multiple Orgasms and Other Sex Skills , has been researching his next book on how to pick up girls.  Others have spent time working on their wing loadings, as athletes in this discipline should, and eating pies, or the Russian equivalent.  The mischief has been a little tame so far but if the competition finishes today then perhaps we’re in for a wild night.

So far Speed and Zone Accuracy are finished with PD Factory Team and Flight-1 athlete Jason Moledzki clinching both golds with some awesome performances.  You can see the break down of results here.

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Smoke on the ... Everything

Competitors at the Canopy Piloting World Championships are plagued by the dense smoke that has engulfed the area.  So, at breakfast in the hotel, PD Factory Team members and some of the South African delegation decided to bond with the locals with a few vodka toasts to set the morning off.  The smoke is pretty thick outside so our chances of jumping are low.  These guys started the meet roulette game early.

Breakfast of Champions

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While many of you will have been following the outstanding achievements that have been going on at the World Championships in Russia, you might not be aware of the other dangers that are present.  The Canopy Piloting World Championships is about start at Kolomna, near Moscow.

Competitors are still arriving and some have been here for a week.  But Moscow and huge parts of Russia are engulfed in smoke from peat fires that have arisen after the unusually high temperatures this year.  Many of the competitors that gave such inspiring performances in all of the disciplines that have already competed are still stranded in Moscow- the staging airport on their homeward journey.  They should get out in time, coughing and spluttering, but for some of us our competition hasn’t even started yet.  In fact, an Air Base in the town where the competition will be held was recently consumed by the fires and 200 aircraft were destroyed.  Just a few hundreds metres from one of the hotels that we’re staying in there are blackened trees showing how close the fire came.

But now the fires are heading to Chernobyl and there’s a risk of radioactive material mixing with the drifting smoke.  Canada and Poland are evacuating their embassies and the Russian Surgeon General has recommend that anyone that can leave the area should do so.

All this sounds pretty challenging and our lack of on-site training jumps is a real concern.  But really the more problematic issues are that of a huge bunch of skydivers hanging out and not having much to do.  This is when it gets dangerous and mischief comes in to play.  So watch this space to see how it plays out (assuming we’re not consumed by the smoke and fires that is).

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Niklas Daniel captured this image of Spaceland Blue exiting out of a LET-410, during the 2010 World Meet in Menzilinsk, Russia

Much is happening in little Russia as many of the worlds best skydivers have arrived at a dropzone in Menzelinsk, ready to represent the respective nations.  This dropzone will be hosting events in Formation Skydiving, Canopy Formation and Artistic events over the next 7 days.
Competition begins on Sunday and it will be exciting to see all the new champions.  Blue Skies Magazine predicts the battle in 4-way will be fiercer than in years past!   If you desire to follow the action step by step, you can keep up to speed on the OmniSkore website and their Facebook page, where Jan Meyer will be posting updates and photos.

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And worsties, of course. Here it is, the first Blue Skies Mag “Best Of” poll! It’s an all-write-in poll, so everyone has an equal chance of winning.

Vote here!

Call us elitist, but we do ask that you vote only if you’ve made more than one jump at one drop zone. We know, the place you did that one jump was the best of the best of the best, but …

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Vector Festival is coming to Skydive Empuriabrava in a few short days; one big highlight will be the film festival, with a €1000 prize for first place. Yowza. For the Yanks, that’s about $1,200. Yeah, yowza.

Winners will be chosen based on

• Originality of Idea
• Creativity of Content
• Best Story
• YouTube Views
• YouTube Rating

For your Friday viewing pleasure, here are all the entries (in alphabetical order). If you particularly like any of them, click through to the YouTube page and give it a thumbs up!

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… to Nationals. Yeah, Nationals, that’s it. It’s just behind this pretty door. Don’t be scared. That? Oh, that’s just the smell of excellence you’re getting a whiff of.

Follow Us to Nationals

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