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

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.

SkyGod in Dubai

Original photo by Jonathan Tagle, who is competing in Dubai at the Dubai Parachuting Championships and Gulf Cup 2010. Good luck to JT and everyone playing in the sand!

Jay celebrates with team mates Ian, Shannon and Jessica

From the PD Blog:

Posted with permission from Performance Designs, Inc.
Photo courtesy of Performance Designs, Inc.

For skydivers, weather holds can be the most dangerous time, particularly at a Canopy Piloting World Cup.  For some, there was time to kill, and the Australian delegation challenged some of the other nations to an improvised game of indoor (well, in-tent) cricket.  Others took the time to get some much needed rest, particularly following the early starts we’ve been having with 0530 take-offs.  Here are a few pictures of competitors resting while they wait for the winds to drop.

The dropzone is situated at 5000 feet above sea level and that altitude those teeny little parachutes move pretty fast (especially with some of the big boys dangling under them).  We spoke to some of the American competitors before heading out and they seem to think we can expect new World Records at the event, as long as the weather cooperates.

US Team Manager Albert Berchtold commented that “the course is super fast and conditions today and yesterday were very challenging.  Quartering tail wind pushing you downwind through the speed course.  If the conditions are like this during the meet, it won’t be  “if” the speed record gets broken, but it will be how many times.  Going fast isn’t the problem, its keeping your ass in the course”.

Speaking of weather, during this past week of practice wind and rain has hampered training a little.  Competitors are getting up well before the chickens to get to the DZ early, in order to get in a few jumps before the winds kick up, which has been around 10 AM.
A person who would rather remain nameless pointed out that these conditions suit the Australian delegation perfectly, as they provide for extended hours at the bar.  That is definitely something the Aussies are better prepared to handle than any of the other nations attending, so should those conditions prevail we can expect to see some green and gold on the podium.

Competition is set to start on December 2nd and run through the 6th. We will do our best to bring you update and news from the event as it progresses.

Smile! You're on BlueSkies Camera!

So, for your viewing entertainment, we bring you the first day of Last Big Splash. Let us know what you think (but be kind, it’s our first foray into video-land!) and enjoy!

We’ll also have several sweet photos from photographer Justin Carmody in the November issue of Blue Skies Mag, so keep your eye out for that—and stay tuned for Day Two of Last Big Splash…

PACK’D Team Training Plan

There are a lot of specifics that apply only to PACK’D; feel free to modify and edit so that it fits your team. If it helps you or you found helpful additions or changes, let us know!

On June 13, 2009, the ParacleteXP SkyVenture wind tunnel hosted the Indoor Skydiving Championships. The event started as an outdoor competition in 2007, was both a sky and tunnel competition in 2008, and this year was solely an indoor tunnel competition. The event drew competitors from all across the United States in multiple disciplines. Featuring 4-way RW, 8-way RW, 2-way VFS/freefly and 4-way VFS, there was something for everyone. This is one of my personal favorite competitions due to the size and power of the tunnel, the fantastic staff and facilities, and the massive $21,500 prize pool.

Saturday, June 13th at 9:00 a.m. began with the competition draws for 4-way RW and 2-way VFS/freefly. These events ran back-to-back throughout the day. Two-way freefly finished on Saturday while 4-way RW ran through Sunday.

Spectators watch the 4-way RW competition heat up | photo by Chad Wilcox

The 4-way RW open competition featured another tight race between Arizona Airspeed and Perris Fury. This time, Fury came out on top, but the Airspeed lineup had Thomas Hughes and John Eagle filling in for Craig Girard and Eliana Rodriguez at the last minute. Fury and Airspeed finished with impressive averages: 29.8 and 28.9, respectively. Fury’s 29.8 average ties Airspeed’s previous 29.8 average as the highest indoor meet average. They were followed by the Golden Knights in third with a 24.2 average.

The scores in the rookie division were also impressively high. VTSD won the 4-way event in the Rookie division with a 29.3 average, Carolina Windfall took second with an 18.7 average and Just In Time finished in third place with a 10.0 average.

The 2-way VFS/freefly event had many local competitors as well as visitors from out of town. The free rounds were crowd favorites, featuring a fantastic display of flying ability. As with the open 4-way RW, the open 2-way freefly had a tight race for first place between EP (Ari Perelman and Scott Palmer) and local team Zion (Melody and Selwyn Facey.) EP edged out Zion with a final score of 51.67 to 50.19. Deadly Flying Ninjas (Thomas Hughes and Kay Nelson) took the bronze with a 46.75. Team Anti Gravity XP (Alex Verner and Josh D’Annunzio) deserve special mention as the only two competitors under 18 holding their own in the open class, finishing with a 41.19.

Team EP | photo by Chad Wilcox

Extended Play (Emma Tranter and Scott Palmer) won the intermediate 2-way event with a 48.81. Delirium (Angela Tara Hsu and Jairo Garcia) took second with a 39.94 and Merry Jane (Pali and Julia Rovnan) finished in third with a 32.36.

The championships finished up on Monday with 8-way RW and 4-way VFS. Both of these events were winner-take-all format.

Billing itself as “the biggest vertical wind tunnel on the planet in terms of power and size”, ParacleteXP is the only wind tunnel in the world to feature an 8-way competition and the teams certainly did not disappoint. The ParacleteXP home team (with tunnel owner Tim D’Annunzio and his son John D’Annunzio) won the 8-way competition with a 24.9 average. The new Golden Knights 8-way line up (five of whom have just started training 8-way this year) ended up in second place with a 23.7 average.

This meet was the first 4-way VFS competition to feature the recently updated dive pool and was also the first 4-way VFS competition to have 8 rounds. California came out in force for this event with teams NorCal and EOS, the only all-girl 4-way VFS team in the world (and the best looking team!) NorCal won by a significant margin with a 22.6 average. Second place was the ParacleteXP home team XPVFS with a 17.1 average. Kyle’s Team finished in third place with a 15.0 average narrowly beating EOS’s 14.2.

Overall this was a fantastic competition with a fun group of competitors, run at a great wind tunnel. The staff ensured everyone had enough time to adequately prepare for all rounds and made sure everything ran smoothly. There was great flying all around and a very nice turn out. I look forward to the next event held at this wind tunnel and definitely plan to attend.

Final Results:

Team Anti Gravity XP | photo by Chad Wilcox