Blue Skies Magazine » Swooping

FLCPA meet in Raeford, NC

Kolla — Mon, 10 May 2010 23:53:24 +0000

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.

Bobo Birthday Swoops

Lara — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 18:23:58 +0000

The PD Factory Team celebrated the end of their recent training camp – and team member Ian Bobo’s birthday! – with some swoops into the Deep Woods Ranch. Photographer Justin Carmody set up to capture the magic and we set up to capture the magic-capturing. Enjoy!

[Warning: extremely cute but annoying dog barks throughout this video. Loudly. Incessantly. Gratingly. You've been warned.]

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

For more of Justin’s photography, check out his website and the pages of Blue Skies Mag.

A Week With Jeffro…For Reals This Time!

Lara — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:55:52 +0000

When we started this crazy adventure, we promised you seven days with Jeff Provenzano, better known as Jeffro, the first canopy pilot to ever execute a Miracle Man in competition.

It got scheduled, re-scheduled…basically never happened (though we did give you some great weeks with Eric Deren and Nick Grillet). Until now! Jeffro is in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia with the Red Bull Air Force and we’re tagging along for the surreal, alcohol-free ride. Look for the final week in the March issue of Blue Skies Mag, and stay tuned here for some audio outtakes and long-long-distance phone calls.

Yep, he's that guy. Ad by optionstudios.com.

Jay Moledzki Takes the Gold

Kolla — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 16:44:05 +0000

Jay celebrates with team mates Ian, Shannon and Jessica

From the PD Blog:

After the completion of nine rounds Jay Moledzki from the PD Factory team stood atop 66 competitors as the winner of the 2009 World Cup in Canopy Piloting. The final round of accuracy was completed on Sunday morning in a downwind. The full results can be found here on the events official website.

There were also two new world records set yesterday afternoon. The first was in the speed event set by Greg Windmiller of the US Golden Kinghts/USA with a time of 2.093 seconds. The second was in distance set by Nicolas Batsch of the USA with a distance of 181.70 meters.

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

Wind Holds at World Cup Leave Time For Mischief

ChiefMischiefMaker — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:56:49 +0000

The Canopy Piloting World Cup started in South Africa on Wednesday and is due to conclude on Sunday. So far 2 rounds of Speed have been completed and, with the exception of 4 re-jumps, 2 rounds of Distance have also been completed. This included Canadian competitor and PD Factory Team member Jay ‘Sexy Pony Tail’ Moledzki smashing the World Record with an impressive 175.92m on round 2 on his Comp Velo 79. This currently leaves him in first position with almost a 40 point lead ahead of some strong competition. The 5,000′ elevation and changing wind conditions have resulted in a large number of zero scores.

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.

World Records in the Making – Zoom Zoom

Kolla — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:53:20 +0000

After a bit of a rough start with challenging conditions and a series of serious injuries, it seems that the World Cup of Canopy Piloting at Johannesburg Skydiving Club is finally on a good roll.

British competitor Alastair Macartney commented in his Facebook status update this morning that Brian Vacher (UK competitor and a member of the PD Factory Team) had just set a National Distance Record – and then as a side note mentioned that Jay Moledzki (Canadian competitor and also a well known member of the PD Factory Team) had gone on to set a new Distance World Record – 175.92 meters (still unofficial, pending FAI approval).
There are still plenty of competition rounds left to go so we might still see some exciting news from JSC.
For those of you that don’t care too much about Canopy Piloting, competition or world records – but do enjoy mischief and prankstery (yup, new word, I just invented it), we got something good coming. Just waiting on Prankster in Chief to find himself a good solid internet connection to transmit the pixels our way – stay tuned!

5th FAI World Cup in Canopy Piloting

Kolla — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 16:54:47 +0000

Right now some of the top canopy pilots in the world are either making their way to or have already arrived at the Johannesburg Skydiving Club (JSC) in South Africa. 66 competitors from 16 countries will be competing for medals in 3 events; Speed, Accuracy and Distance. The overall winner of the 3 disciplines combined will be crowned the World Cup Champion.
Including judges and support staff, 23 countries are represented in South Africa.

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.

Help Send the Aussies to Russia!

Lara — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:12:27 +0000

A message from Australian CF competitor Jules McConnel:

Aussie skydiving team “Ookoonono” have made an awesome 2010 Calendar filled with spectacular pictures of us doing what we love – jumping out of planes! We’re raising funds for our journey to the World Parachuting Championships in Russia next year.

Ookoonono Calendars!

We’ve filled the calendar with all the great skydiving boogies and events for 2010, and – of course – pictures of us (each month is an A4 page opposite an A4 photo).

We’ve had great support from drop zones, equipment manufacturers and photographers to create the masterpiece – thanks to you all! (See below for gratuitous mention)

Calendars are now on sale for $AUS25 + postage (postage in Australia is $2.50) If you haven’t yet ordered a copy of the calendar, and would like one, please order now by returning a message through facebook, or emailing me on juliamcconnel@yahoo.com

HURRY! There’s a limited supply!

You can also purchase a copy at the following dzs:
Skydive Nagambie (see Jill at manifest or visit Rob at the Phantm display during the Full Moon Boogie)
Skydive Surfside, Moruya (ask Fleur)
Groundrush Cafe, Sydney Skydivers, Picton (ask Dave)
And I’ll be floating between Skydive Maitland and Skydive the Beach, Wollongong if you want to pick one up from me there!

They’re a great Christmas present, or get one for yourself! For those of you who have already got one – thanks for your support! And thanks once again to all our sponsors and photographers to make this calendar happen – Skydive Oz, APF, Cookie Composites, Deepseed, Downward Trend, Phantm, Aerial Skydiving, Skydive Nagambie, Skydive Express, Skydive Maitland, Performance Designs, Parachutes Australia, ASM, Sydney Skydivers, Keith Macbeth, Steve Fitchett, Mike Paolin, Shane Price, Craig Bennett, Joe Hallin, Jill Grantham, Jenny Gordon and lastly Alex and Gav for your inspiration!

Have a great 2010!
Jules x

Last Big Splash: 4 Questions

Lara — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:11:10 +0000

Yeah, yeah, we’re late with this. Last Big Splash was September 26-27 at Fantasy of Flight in Florida, but these videos are just as good now as they were then. We asked a random sampling of swoopers canopy pilots dudes people the same four questions. Check it out…

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Last Big Splash, Part 1

Lara — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:15:15 +0000

Smile! You're on BlueSkies Camera!

Kolla had a job judging the Last Big Splash a few weeks ago, and I thought I’d go along to see some swoop carnage, test out our new FlipCam! and get some sun. It was a great weekend, apart from the sweltering heat and feeling slightly awkward at first—I used to judge Florida swoop meets as well, but having been out of the state for the last three years, I let myself out of the swoop-loop a bit. But, it turns out today’s swoopers are just as friendly, crass and awesome as they’ve always been

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…