The 3rd Dubai International Parachuting Championships and Gulf Cup is only a few short days away – starting up on November 29th and running through December 10th at Skydive Dubai.
Some of the best teams and athletes of the skydiving world will travel to Dubai to battle it out above the exotic beaches.
The organizers website expects 55 or more nations to attend. Events are Canopy Piloting, 4-way Formation Skydiving, 4-way Canopy Formation and Accuracy.

The games are held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai.
This event has traditionally been exceptionally generous with price money, and on November 14th, the organizers announced that the price purse had been doubled. A total of $775k will be distributed amongst the winners in the different events, although in Team and Individual accuracy only competitors from the Gulf Region and it’s affiliated partner-nations are eligible.
Breakdown of the price money can be viewed here.

With that kind of money on the line, we can expect to see some rocking competition.

The U.S. Parachute Association does not currently give financial support to teams out of their operating budget. The U.S. Parachute Team Trust Fund is a “tax-exempt fund [that] holds all donations in irrevocable trust and the interest it earns is distributed evenly to U.S. Teams for international competition.” [Source: USPA]

In general, teams come up with the money to compete internationally through donations, fundraising, or out of their own pockets. So, should USPA raise member rates so they can give National teams money to represent the U.S. in international competition?

Comments/discussion highly encouraged

photo by sushi♥ina

[UPDATE 10/5/11: I forgot to mention that this is not something USPA is considering. We just want to know what you guys think.]

50 of the nations best canopy pilots (or so we hope) are currently hanging out by the pond at Skydive Spaceland in Rosharon, TX – 33 competing in Open class and 17 in Advanced.
Both classes will compete in 3 events (Speed, Zone Accuracy and Distance) with 3 rounds of each. Medals are given 3 deep for each event and for overall as well.
Meet director Albert Berchtold reports that they have already wrapped up the Speed event and were able to complete one round of Zone Accuracy before going on hold due to winds.

According to unofficial scores posted on the PD Blog, Nick Batch (Alter Ego) took gold in Speed, Ryan Brownlow silver and Jonathan Tagle (PD Factory Team) bronze.

The results from this meet will determine the US team of Canopy Piloting, so competition is fierce. After 4 rounds, Curt Bartholomew (Alter Ego) is in 1st place, Jonathan Tagle (PD Factory Team) in second and Ian Bobo (PD Factory Team) in third. Many more jumps to be made, so we will likely see a good bit of shuffling of the top 10 places before the event is over.

Unofficial scores through round 4 are available here:

• Open Class
• Advanced Class

Best of luck to all the competitors – go big, make the gates and don’t hit the ground too hard!

USPA announced on their website that Jim Hayhurst has been hired as the next Director of Competition, succeeding Larry Bagley who retires at the end of March. Jim is well known amongst the style and accuracy crowd and has served on the USPA’s Competition Committee in the past.

We wish Jim best of luck with the new position – and since we don’t believe for one minute that Larry is actually properly retiring (he’s much to feisty for that), we wish him the very best for future projects and hope to see you around!

Swoooop!

This weekend was no exception as 25 competitors registered to compete. It was a good mix of pro pilots and amateurs and in this traditionally dominated male event, three swoopettes showed up to compete. Greg Windmiller slipped on his speedy pants went on to set a new Florida distance state record by going 147.3 meters (or 483 ft). Nicely done.

Pablo Hernandez of PD Factory Team took 1st place, Brian McNenny of Slipstream Airsports 2nd and Greg Windmiller of the Army Golden Knights in 3rd – a truly star studded podium (please feel free to take the stud part however you’d like). Pablo pretty much owned this meet with 6 scoring rounds, leaving Brian and Greg to battle it out for 2nd place.

Check out this nifty 4 minute 16 second “teaser” video shot at the comp – thanks to meet director Albert Berchtold for sharing.

For you Excel spreadsheet types, you can find all the scores and points right here.

USPA Nationals are in full swing again at Skydive Chicago, IL. This past weekend saw the 4-way formation skydiving teams battle it out, with Arizona Airspeed taking 1st place as so many times before, but not without stiff competition from younger teams such as Perris Fury and the new generation of Golden Knights.
It is now on to more formation skydiving (8-way, 10-way, 16-way), followed by  vertical formation skydiving, freeflying, freestyle and canopy relative work (CReW).   Nationals then wrap up with the classic events of style and accuracy.

Right before Nationals there was a wee bit of drama concerning a certain someone slapping up a 3rd party website intended to host news and information from Nationals.  That page was taken offline per USPA’s request, as it had no affiliation with the real deal.  There were some hurt feelings, but seeing that Skydive Chicago is doing a pretty good job of posting scores as they become official, most people were able to dry the tears and move right along.  You can read more about USPA’s stance here –  and really it’s pretty easy to identify with their point of view.

James LaBarrie from Skydive Carolina has been on site and on behalf of Blue Skies Magazine put up a shitload ton of news and photos on our Facebook page.  If you are on Facebook and hungry for Nationals news, check it out – he’s been doing an excellent job!

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

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).

The Florida Canopy Pilots Association is clearly not content being just in Florida, so their the 4th meet of the season scheduled for next weekend (May 15th-16th, 2010) will be held in Raeford, NC.
League Director Albert Bercthold is still on the bench after having a small disagreement with planet earth at the last meet, so PD Factory Team member Ian Bobo will step in to assist with meet directing along with being the meet coach.

Blue Skies Magazine reps Lara & Kolla will be on site for the meet, so you can expect fun updates and photos from the weekend.

From the Dubai Parachuting Championships and Gulf Cup 2010, we got word that Jonathan Tagle has inched ahead of Marat Leiras to claim first place, with Jay Moledzki in third in canopy piloting!

In the 4-way competition, USA’s Arizona Airspeed beat out Belgium and France; the women’s results are France, Germany, Spain. And, in accuracy, it’s Christian Auswoeger, Quargaf El Hassane and Al–Suwaidi Matar.

Congrats to everyone! Full scores here.