Curt Bartholomew
When you are the World Champion of Canopy Piloting, it goes without saying that you are a bit of a bad-ass under canopy, right? Check out this video of Curt Bartholomew from Team Alter Ego demonstrating a laid back afternoon by the pool at a nice resort, tropical style.
Then watch it again, and pay special attention to the slow motion stuff from Curt’s view-point…. dang!
If you’d like to see more from Alter Ego, follow the team on Facebook.
This past weekend saw FLCPA season’s first meet of the FLCPA at Skydive City, with near record participation. A total of 48 competitors with a healthy mix of pros and amateurs came to compete on a cold weekend in Florida (no, not Canada cold, just cold by Florida standards).
Brian McNenney of Slipstream Airsports took home Gold overall, Albert Berchtold came in second and Jerry Hannon third.
2 new state records were set: Golden Knight Greg Windmiller set a new Florida State speed record (2.476 seconds) and Paul Rodriguez of Southern California laid down 95.36 meters during the second round of distance.
A couple of competitors needed to visit nearby medical institutions after swoops gone wrong during their respective runs.
Jeannie Anderson (amateur class) hit the pond hard in practice and was transported to the hospital. Injuries turned out to be minor and she was released to go home and recover a couple of days later. During one of Kelsey Mizeur’s (pro class) competition runs, an A-B line broke during the turn. Kelsey hit hard and had a surgery to repair L2 as a result. Those two incidents remind us that competitive canopy piloting is serious business and should be treated as such. The demands on both pilots and gear are higher than during a normal skydive – especially for those using CP specific gear (such as an RDS or thinner than stock lines). We wish both competitors a full and speedy recovery!
Complete results and a brief writeup can be found on the Swoopleague.com website.
The Florida Canopy Piloting Association wants to let canopy pilots everywhere know that it’s time to hitch up their swoop britches, and get ready for the 2013 season. The Florida league is ready to roll with the first meet in one short month from now. This league traditionally has some heavy hitters in it, as many of the world’s top pilots train and live in Florida.
The meet schedule is as follows:
Meet 1: February 2-3rd, Skydive City, Zephyrhills, FL
Meet 2: March 2-3rd, Skydive City, Zephyrhills, FL
Meet 3: April 13-14, Raeford Parachute Center, Raeford, NC
Meet 4: May 4-5th, Skydive City, Zephyrhills, FL
Meet 5: June 1-2nd, Skydive the Farm, Rockmart, GA
The league schedule coincides nicely with the USPA Canopy Piloting Nationals, to be held at Skydive City, Zephyrhills, FL May 8-10th, 2013.
It appears that the FLCPA writers are channeling their inner sportscaster, so the original post on the FLCPA website is well worth visiting. We can’t be sure, but maybe league director Albert Berchtold has more in common with Albert the Sportscaster than previously thought!