Planet Skydive

The 8th German Swooping Open was held in the last week of June. Due to the World Championships in summer in Russia we were expecting less swoopers than the years before. Twenty seven men from ten different nations came to...

It depends: are you going to Bridge Day (the largest 1 day event in West Virginia)?

If so, there’s a chance.

Here’s the rundown- Subaru (our awesome flagship sponsor) is hosting a scavenger hunt -that’s right, a scavenger hunt- on the bridge.  It’s open to all BASE jumpers, rappellers, funnel cake eaters, official t-shirt wearers, and pretty much anybody that comes to Bridge Day.

What’s the prize, you ask?  Try $1000 cash.

Cool, huh? 2nd place gets $500. 3rd gets $250 dollars. All you have to do is make it to bridge day, have a cell phone that you can text from, and be willing and able to have a little fun.  Seriously.  That’s it.

It’s going to work like this:

• The Subaru folks will hide 5 (and only 5) codes at different places around the bridge.
• You’ll get a clue that describes where you’ll find the first code.
• When you find code #1 and text it in, you’ll get a clue for code #2.
• If you’re the first person to text in all five codes, you win.

You can sign up by going to the Official Bridge Day website and entering your name and phone number over in the sidebar.  The first clue goes out to everyone on the list at 11 a.m., Saturday, October 16th, 2010 (that’s Bridge Day, y’all).

So, what do you think?  Do you have what it takes to, um, text some stuff?  If so, Subaru and Bridge Day are ready to join you for some fun.

Come get your scavenger hunt on, everyone.  See you there.

UPDATE:  The scavenger hunt is limited to the first 2oo applicants.  Better hurry

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PD was started in 1983 and moved to Deland in 1990. In 1993 PD opened its doors at the newly built facility where it exists today. The new building was 16,000 sq ft and there were a mere 10 employee's...

Last Friday, July 23rd, we did the new Russian Headdown record 26 way! Congratulations to all participants! The event took place at my home dz “Aerograd Kolomna”.

Every year we have more and more good flyers, so next year we hope to go bigger. Lets try to beat 30!

Olga.

PD was started in 1983 and moved to Deland in 1990. In 1993 PD opened its doors at the newly built facility where it exists today. The new building was 16,000 sq ft and there were a mere 10 employee's...

Here’s secret: we do a lot of rafting around the New River Gorge Bridge.

Not shocked?  Okay, okay… it’s not a secret.  This is the whitewater rafting capitol of the universe.  Well, America.

What I’m trying to establish is the fact that there’s a lot of know how here on the New River.  And this very post is all about how to act like you know what you’re doing on a white water rafting trip, even if you don’t.

Cool idea, huh?  Thing is, it’s not really the expense of a whitewater trip that’s important; it’s your time. Vacation time is more precious than just about anything, so it’s better to be prepared, right?  Just follow these simple steps:

1.  Know your reservationist.  Call her (almost always a “her”) several times.  Ask a ton of questions, everything from what should you wear to how long will you be gone.  Ask to talk to a guide.  Ask to talk to the owner.  If she gives you any grief about it, book your trip with another company.

2.  Request a guide.  Companies are a little hesitant to do this over the phone if you don’t know specifically the name of the guide you want.  But you can ask for a list of, say, the five guides with the most experience.  Experienced guides give better rides.  If you haven’t requested a guide before your trip, you should try to ride in the Trip Leader’s raft, usually the most experienced guide on the trip.

3.  Listen up.  Sit toward the front of the bus on your way to the river so you can hear the safety speech.  Pay attention.  Rafting is fun, but only if you’re prepared for anything to happen.  We can go ahead and be honest and say that, if you fall out in a rapid, you won’t remember much of the safety talk, but who knows?  The important parts might come racing back to you right when you need them.

4.  Choose the right section.  Here’s the golden rule to a rafting vacation:  Whoever has the most fun wins.  Not “whoever does the most dangerous thing in the world”.  Some sections are for kids, some aren’t.  Some water levels are good for the hard rapids, some aren’t.  Be honest about how adventurous you are when you make your reservation, and they’ll steer you right.

Bridge Day is one of the most popular days to go rafting in the universe.  Well, America.  You can check out all the action right from the water, which might be the best view of Bridge Day that anyone not wearing a harness or a parachute will ever get.

The big bridge is on the Gorge section, or as the rafters call it, the Lower New.  It’s pretty spectacular to see from a raft.  Book a raft trip (and use the techniques above) and see it for yourself.

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What more can one ask for then travelling to the Adriatic sea in June? Don’t mind at all and besides it’s our job . Nice place for having a DZ we think and nice work place for the next two weeks while conducting a USPA Coach and AFF IRC at SKYDIVE FANO, Italy. We found such a beautiful place at the skydiving center which we just had to love. Besides a lot of green grass and trees, they offer an awesome relaxing area with nice bar, terrace, chilling sofas and swimming pool… The skydiving operation is running fulltime during the summer while dropping from a self-owned Pilatus Porter and the view is just indescribable. We found a great Italian hospitality with family vibes and a lot of great food and get-togethers in the evening. We really enjoyed our time and can look back at a successful course.

We managed to graduate 7 new USPA Coaches and 4 new USPA AFF Instructors:

- Alex Foster (Coach)
- Lorenzo Polastri (Coach)
- Gabriele Tazzari (Coach)
- Francesco Locci (Coach/AFF-I)
- Massimiliano Selighini (Coach/AFF-I)
- Luciano Caviola (Coach/AFF-I)
- Simone Della Balda (Coach/AFF-I)

Congratulations to all the newly rated instructors and good luck with your future student work. We can really recommend Skydive Fano as a great place for skydive holidays and hope to return soon again!

Follow the flow or just simply: a presto, ragazzi!

PD ZERO jumpers Cheryl Stearns and James Hayhurst traded first place medals in accuracy competition at Archway Skydiving Center in Vandalia, IL last weekend. Stearns won the ten-round North American Cup competition with a total of 13 centimeters, while Hayhurst...

LSPC's Redemption Boogie is a huge success. Stump lands a tandem in a lake due to the micro-burst phenomena and adds another excuse to the, "I wont admit it, but I'll never make a base jump," list. Karry invites Dave to train with her and Whitney by asking him to lay base, teeheehee. Dave helps set off pyro for Tora Tora Tora. Thanks Russ and Linda Haas for providing us with the children's classic My Friend Don. SUMMERFEST!!!!!!!!! www.skydivechicago.com Safety First with Brian Germain: Subterminal Deployments. Pic of the Week - A jumper exits the DC-9 over Perris Valley. Photo by Niklas Daniel. Interview with John Leblanc part 1. Chuting Star Rigging Loft offers everything you need. Go to chutingstar.com for purchases and tons of useful information. Dave, Stump, and Karry review the video Learning to Freefly Head Down. Mike Engle wants to know if there really is a difference between a skygod and just a jerk? Gen is creating another painting of the women's world record. Buy our shirts before they run out. We may even throw in a free sticker!

This June was very busy for us, lots of jumps, lots of freefly coaching. Most exiting event that happened in our dz I would say was the Anomaly boogie. Trent Alkek from "Spaceland Anomaly" visited Aerograd Kolomna from the 12th...

This year the US Nationals will be hosted by Skydive Chicago, so it is not surprising that the dropzone has turned into a real training center. Having the Nationals at their home dropzone inspired existing teams to start training (harder) again and other jumpers to put together a new team. It’s been a pleasure to see the bonding between all the jumpers, the fun they have and the progression they make. For me, there is one team that stands out the most and that is CYPRES sponsored four-way team Rhythm, the local heroes. Therefore, I would like to talk a little bit more about this very dedicated group of people.

 

6.00: Some of the team members meet in the hangar for the Insanity workout. 45 to 60 minutes of hardcore exercising. I usually join them for this workout and I can confirm that it really is INSANE.

 

8.15: The team meets in the hangar to prepare the jumps of the day. First of all they engineer, walk and creep the dives. Next they turn on their CYPRES, do gear checks, put on jumpsuits etc. Before they go up Steve grabs a last sandwich to get through the next hour.

 

9.00: Wheels are up for the first quad of the day. They are ready to train hard and have a lot of fun. Everything is going smooth until the whole team lands off and the dropzone truck needs to pick them up. Thiago jumps a Velo 96 but still manages to bring back half a cornfield in his canopy, a great opportunity for the packers to make some jokes about him.

 

10.30: Fifteen minute break for a short briefing and preparation of the next four skydives. Rob takes advantage of these few extra minutes to tease the packers while Thiago starts singing love songs. In the mean time, Steve grabs a sandwich and Janette watches it all with a big smile on her face.

 

10.45: Start of the second and third quad of the day, again with a fifteen minute break in between. Most team members start to run a little bit slower and are dripping in sweat. You can tell that they are getting a little bit tired, but you can still see the dedication on their faces. By now, Jason had to ‘almost’ cutaway five times (apparently his packers really suck, or could it have something to do with his body position?), and screwed up even more attempts to do a blind man. Steve is now taking sandwiches on the plane because he is so hungry, Thiago needs to go cry around the corner because Brazil just lost against The Netherlands in the World Cup and Janette…. She is still smiling.

 

13.00: Time for a well deserved lunch break. For everyone who can’t finish their lunch, Steve will take the leftovers. Rob is sick of listening to some of the packers complaining that they are hungry and decides to order a ‘packer pizza’ to make them shut up. Jason is now crying about little aches here and there so that Thiago wonders if we should call waaaaaaaambulance.

 

13.30: Start of the last quad of the day. They might be a little tired, but they always have energy left for a joke. So the whole team plans to have camera flyer Jason climb out the door before they decide to have a go around. For a minute, Jason is hanging on the camerastep with the rest of the team waving at him from inside the plane. According to the packers, a well deserved treat.

 

15.00: After the last jump has been made, the debriefing starts. The team finally gets to sit down (with or without a sandwich in their hand) and closely watches and analyzes the videos of the 16 jumps they just made.

 

16.00: After a hard day of work, everybody is ready to do their own thing. Thiago usually needs to do a little bit of work in the office, Jason is ready to jump in the pond and Steve feels like doing some funjumps with the local skydivers, (of course, only after he had a sandwich, or two) something that is highly appreciated by everyone, including myself.

 

19.00: Before sunset most team members hang out for a little while at the DZ pond. No need to say that Steve especially enjoys the food on the grill while talking with the others. Sometimes they will even drink a beer. Usually just one, because tomorrow there is a new training day …. starting at six.

 

This is what a general training day looks like, but next to all the hard training, the team does a whole lot of other things. This year Janette put together an 8-way team while Steve is jumping with another 4-way. On weekends that they are not training they organize ‘Team for a day’ for the local skydivers. If nothing else is going on, they will take the opportunity to organize interesting RW jumps for anyone who wants to participate. Anyway, they are always busy trying to improve either themselves or the sport in general. An attitude we could all learn from.

 

 

In my opinion there are three things that are absolutely certain:

1) They are on a mission

2) They love what they do

3) Steve likes to eat, … a lo

 

Finally I would like to share what people at the DZ think about the different team members:

 

1) Steve: smile, food, hungry, muscular, short shorts, goofy

2) Janette: awesome, smoothie, honest, hard core, work out, reserved, shy, good coach

3) Rob: coca cola, amazing, driven, helpful, cheeky, happy, goofier

4) Jason: sleeping beauty, Californian beach boy, high maintenance (according to Thiago, that all comes with the job), beef jerky, weight lifting

5) Thiago: quiet, nice, dedicated, friendly, sweet, pretty

A few weeks back we posted profiles for about 1/2 our sponsored individuals. If you thought the first 1/2 of PD's Instructor/Athlete page was an impressive list, check out the rest of the our athletes! http://www.thepdblog.com/pdblog/sponsored-athletesinstructors.html

For those of you looking to brush up on your packing skills, we've added a new video to PD's video section on our website. We've included the new video below. Its broken down into three parts so it loads a...

Okay, this post is going to cover bikes (pedal) and bikes (motor).

Let’s start with some housekeeping.  The bridge is closed to bikes -every and and all kinds of bikes- during the event.  So don’t ride your bike up to the bridge expecting to cross it, because no.  You can’t do that.  Foot traffic only on the bridge.

BUT that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bring a bike.  You should.  There are tons of places to ride around the gorge, and a few places to ride on Bridge Day itself.

If you’re pedaling a bike, you can use the trail system on the Fayetteville side of the bridge to get around on the big day.  The best place to go is out to Long Point, which offers a spectacular view of the bridge, the gorge, and the jumpers and rappellers.  The first portion of the long point trail is an easy grade, making for some good mountain biking.  The last part is steep and technical, so you might consider locking your ride to a tree before the first rhododendron tunnel.  Plus there will be a lot of other folks out that way, so be careful of pedestrians.

You can also ride a bike down to the bottom of the gorge, but please, Please, PLEASE remember:  You have to ride back up.  You can also ride a bike to the bridge, as long as you plan not to cross.  Plenty of places to lock up.

Now, for hogs and road racers, there are some don’t-miss motorcycle rides around the New River Gorge.  The first is The Midland Trail, aka Scenic RT 60.  There are great winding stretches on both sides of RT 19, which leads you to the bridge.  Getting to Bridge Day a day early opens up the possibility of riding on the Fayette Station Road, which goes down to the New River right underneath the big bridge.  You’ll also get to cross the little bridge and get an up-close look at one of the biggest rapids in the gorge.

On the South (Fayetteville) side of the gorge, any of the roads that go down to the river will deliver some fine riding, especially the road along Duloup Creek that goes down into Thurmond, which is county road 25, aka the Thurmond McKendree Rd.  Make sure you stop at the train station on the other side of the river and check out the museum.

Other rides and maps are available, y’all.  If you’re a mountain biker, check out New River Bikes and Marathon Bike Shop, both in Fayetteville.  If you ride Harleys, friend up  New River Gorge Harley Davidson on Midland Trail.

See you out there!

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Sunshine Factory started around 1982 and was incorporated in 1984. The business was started by Joannie Murphyand Henri Pohjolainen. For many years their store was in downtown Zephyrhills with a small satellite store at the dropzone. The two divorced in...

Refreshed and full of beans its was up and away off to Skydive Carolina

After arriving at sweet Skydive Carolina! I was greeted by the southern hospitality that knows no bounds. After meeting up with James and shown my sleeping quarters for the next few days I was promptly handed a beer to ease into the warm weather here in South Carolina.

After a bit of catch up with long lost friends it was time to get some well deserved sleep. What with the AGM Australia trip still fresh in mind, i was wide awake at 04:00 to wonder in which country I was in (my body still wasn’t quite sure)! With a little effort I managed to get to counting my 3^rd sheep before falling asleep again to wake to a wonderful day at Carolina fest. After a quick shower and morning coffee it was time to find out where I was to set up on vendor row.

This year vendor row was jam packed with the likes of PD, Mirage, Cookie helmets, Liquid Sky, Aerodyne, Sunpath, Icarus, Hypoxic, Skysystems, Vitamin water and Blue Skies Magazine ( Man it feels a little like the Skydiving Expo all over again with the amount of vendors turning up). There was a noticeable trend with more and more companies turning up with “CYPRES” X-gloo inflatable tents really making vendor row looking “tres chic”. The boogie started with full steam ahead with the Otter and PAC taking willing skydivers up, up and away. They had lots more to offer with the mornings starting up nice and early with the first balloon jumps at 06:15.

Point to note:
This is the only event I have been to where the LO’s and Vendors have the own hospitality Truck!

James and his team had outdone themselves once again and with FREE otter loads. Is their any other boogie that you would want to go to……….?

With the likes of Clemisexy (from CYPRES sponsored team Arizona Arsenal)  and Melsinore (CYPRES sponsored Melanie Curtis) not too forget “Bones” (CYPRES sponsored Simon Palacio) organizing all the Freeflyers and Kirk Verner (CYPRES sponsored Team member of Paraclete team) Organizing bigger ways their is no other boogie on earth that gives you more “bang for your buck”.

Their really is nothing to improve at this boogie but every year James manages to make it better than the year before! With Carolinafest 2011 already on a green light i can’t wait to see what James and his team have lined up for next year!

On the last day it was time to say my goodbye’s,  it was nice to catch up with the other roadies and all the skydivers and watch some of the action on the evenings big screen. Will i be back next year? Just try and stop me!

Here are some pictures of all the action at Carolinafest 2010

In other news of the day:
The next event (Flygang in Italy) i had planed was delayed by a day due to me missing my flight back home to Germany …….. but that story is best suited  for the bar with a beer in hand!?……lol

 

Jumped out of the plane at Dusseldorf and into the car to make my way to Belle Italy.

I was looking forward to seeing our CYPRES dealer Stephano again at Flygang Mollinella along with his crew. Flygang is a small DZ in the middle of Italy with a PAC AND a Skyvan (nemo style) and maybe the smallest landing area i have seen (it just adds to the excitement) With everyone ready to give a helping hand it doesn’t take long before you find yourself enjoying the sights from above promptly before you are asked to exit the plane If you ever find yourself in Italy be sure to look up the DZ even for a quick jump on the way through!

The best thing i find about visiting Italian DZ’s is the evening meal, Never anywhere else have i seen everyone move the tables into long lines and eat “together”, It’s awesome!  If understanding Italian is not your strong point then just wait and try and communicate during an evening meal! It is hilarious!

Flygang was also a (ssssssssssh) FIRST for the two CYPRES “pink” tents side by side, after set up (thanks Brendan) much time was spent deciding what to do with the extra space until it was settled to turn it the “CYPRES hospitality corner” only a few items were missing to truly achieve this (cocktail bar, lazy boy bean bags, Waitress, Beer, skydiving video’s and a 56 inch HD flat screen) but we had a firm hold on the idea and because i have been extra nice this year.  Santa will bring me the few missing items for Christmas for sure!?

During the weekend stay not only where CYPRES sponsored freefly team Volare doing their best to keep everyone in the air but the Italian Nationals in accuracy where finishing up as well. I dont think i have ever heard the ZERO buzzer go off so many times! The old school jumpers side by side with the new school freeflyers, very interesting! I even managed to get the winning team in front of the tent for a quick foto shoot. The days were long and the nights even more so:-)

After only 2 days it was again time to say my goodbye’s and make my way to Empuria brava for the Vector Festival 2010…………

Arrivederci Flygang, Hola Empuria brava

After a night stopover in Nice (their are some really nice perks of the job) the drive continued to Empuria brava for the yearly VECTOR FESTIVAL 2010. Arrived, set up and ready for the masses! It was time to meet up with the CYPRES sponsored teams/individuals and catch up on events over coffee.  “Cafe con a leche” was to become a common phrase in Empuria for the week!

CYPRES sponsored guys (and Girls) a plenty in Empuria and even more made their way down for the event. Regan Tetlow was doing his Hot Weekender, Pete Allum was around  RW organizing, The Babylon boys were on hand to provide freefly organizing along with Volare and Skywalkers. With so many top class sponsored teams i don’t know why we don’t call it the Vector/CYPRES festival (only joking)!…..

Vector had gone all out this year to really get the boogie feeling out their with jam packed action every night. The coffee was coming in handy already! The first night had the sponsored teams jumping in on the beech followed by food and bubbly at a local beech bar, rocking to the tunes from Fabian (owner of Boogieman suits). Thanks to Boogieman and Cookie helmets for a nice start to the festival! Thursday night saw a chill and relax night with fine food and fine wine at one of the top hotels in Empuria brava…….. It was to a be a pool party but due to rain looking weather it turned into a nice gathering with friends and all the meat you could eat! Sponsored by yours truly and Empuria brava. All those that couldn’t make it you sure did miss out!

Friday night was truly the highlight of the event, Dedric from PD had organized the Petebox to strut his stuff in the local nightclub down town. To top it all off they held the Vector film festival there as well and had some AWESOME video entries! It was not just your normal video contest, it was more like the Oscars! with best role, best supporting role, best director etc they made a right night of it……… The main winner was CYPRES sponsored Bruno Brokken’s video “the fun jumper” Please watch it it is soooo good! The rest of the night was their to party on down and looking at some of the skydivers in the morning they sure did. The Saturday nights entertainment and excitement was supplied by our very own Regan Tetlow, the Vector raffle their were some really cool prizes this year, too many to name. The main top prize was a complete VECTOR container won by no other than a top friend of mine Mister ” i never win anything at raffles” Brendan Devine. Needless to say he was quite happy with that!

The days were packed full of fantastic jumps, good weather and Awesome vibes. Vince from the Babylon boys got the CYPRES Bomb in the Air, check out the pictures of the bomb and more action shots of the weekend.

Photo credits:

Kuri (Babylon boys)
Mike Gorman
Gary Burchett
Rob Kendall

The Sunday brought with it the dreaded wind and kept us firmly on the ground! Time to call it a day and pack up for the 1500km drive back to Germany.

Farewell Empuria hello Sweden

My last CYPRES road tour stop off so far took me to sunny Sweden for their mid summer boogie!

With a Beaver, PAC and Otter jumping was not a problem here. The guys and girls were taken every oppertunity of the warm, cloud less weather to get up in the air and jump. With the long long daylight hours up in Sweden their was not anyone who could complain they didn’t get enough jumping in!

The boogie was to celebrate the Midsummer which is partied to the max here in Sweden and this years event was no different. At 18:00 the planes shut down and the drinking began! It was so funny to watch the games they had come up with ……. so so funny, there were 3 teams (made up of local clubs) competing for some German CYPRES sponsored beer! The winning team in the end was the home team (although i think they had the home advantage on the “take your clothes off to build the longest line” due to strength in numbers!)

Late starts were order of the day……… If you could have seen how hard they partied during the evenings you would agree that was not a bad idea.

Sunday morning came quickly and again it was time to pack up and leave. I so enjoyed my time in Sweden and hope to be back their soon.

More pictures here

Made it back just in time to watch the Englan- Germany match after 900km of driving! Towards the end of the game i sat wishing i had not driven so fast! Lets see if the UK can do better in 4 years time? 4-1 just was not worth the drive back lol

Ladies and gentlemen is has been a whirlwind tour so far, so much fun but very busy. Having started the CYPRES tour in the middle East for the Gulf Championships back in January, it’s been “all go” at CYPRES roadshow headquarters ever since! So much so that apart from the regular CYPRES facebook updates there has been little time for entertaining blog posts! Now that i have a little “down time” here in Sweden i thought “why not do a little run down of the events so far”?

After the Gulf Championships and a little time off to go check out the Alps with my trusty snowboard their wasn’t much time before hitting Deland USA for the first skydiver Expo ever (check out the blog posts further down the page for more info).  After that there was just about time to pack my bags with fresh goodies before shooting off “down under” for the 50 year anniversary of the APF (Australian Parachute Federation). We were invited by the APF to come down and build up the CYPRES “pink” tent as their annual event is all about learning and broadening the horizons of all skydivers. We fitted right in with the seminars (amongst others) by Brian Germain on controlling fear and Chris Gay on CRW. They had even brought in the first female parachutist ever in Australia to talk about her experiences “back in the day” .Which was definitely the highlight of the AGM!

The evenings were always there to “network” along with a few beers and another highlight of the AGM was the prize giving combined with back to the 60’s fancy dress party (see picture album). Having spent 4 days down under and my body just starting to adjust to the time it was time once again to jump on the plane back home and to pack for Carolinafest 2010 at Skydive Carolina USA!

Note:
One of the rare upsides of flying so much is the collection of Airmiles……. I had reached the magical amount to fly back in upper class which topped of the trip in Style…… Their is nothing like flying 24 hours with a glass of Moet champagne getting topped up by the lovely ladies of upper class! Its a hard life but somebody has to do it……. LTD……. Living The Dream!

Stump tattoos himself with the new SDR logo. Karry trains for the upcoming women's freefly world record camp. Brian Germain discusses reserve canopy lifespans in Safety First. Pic of the Week - Jonathon Tagle and Jeff Nebelkoph fly a docked wingsuit/canopy formation over Moab, Utah. Photo by Phil Peggs. Merriah Eakins discusses a malfunction she had that involved an entanglement with here gear and her hair. Listener email and voicemail. Stump says he is going to base jump off a 300 foot tower....tonight....we'll see what his excuse is on the next episode.

by CYPRES Crew Member Olga Bakulina

For those, who think that Siberia is always cold, that we have bears with balalaikas walking on the streets and drinking vodka, I can tell - they lied to you! Last weekend I visited one of Siberian dropzones called Tanay and I was very surprised in a good way. There are many skydivers, but no bears, weather was warm and party was fun! :)They just started this dz about 1 year ago from nothing and now it looks very good. If t dz owner will keep working on the dropzone that fast, so very soon we’ll see the biggest siberian skydiving center. Now they already have the big hangar with manifest, teamrooms, packing aria, AFF classes, tandem and videorooms. They operate 3 aircrafts: An-28, L-410 and An-2. Landing aria is huge and lots of space for offlanding. And dz gets pretty busy on weekends. 5 min away from dz there is a big ski center with nice hotel, restaurant, beautiful nature and professional health care. Lots of ways to spend a good time.

I was invited for freefly camp, because domestic skydivers would like to learn and grow more interest for freefly in their dz and places around. They have plenty good bellyflyers, but very few freeflyers. So, they want to make it even :).

Freefly camp went great. I was busy. More and more people got their interest in freeflying. Some skydivers really want to train and develop. So, maybe, we’ll see some great Siberian freefly on the next National championship. Way to go, Siberia!

See you!

Olga.

The realm of parachute accuracy is one of the oldest and largest skydiving disciplines in the world. Most of the jumpers in this part of our sport are still jumping designs that were created more than 30 years ago, none...

Ian Bobo from the PD Factory Team arrived Wednesday night in Hartford and was whisked away to West Hartford Center to Barcelona for Tapas. Once his hunger was quenched, a migration to the newly opened Irish pub for more grub....

There are boogies and then there is the Midsommer Boogie 22/06 - 27/06 in Sweden, this annual event is held by three Swedish Skydiving Clubs who put their planes (Otter, PAC & Beaver), jumpers and party hats together to celebrate...

So we've been keeping an eye on the Australian National CF team lately. Ookoonono, made up of performers Jules McConnel and Michael Vaughan, have been pretty active bouncing their canopies off each other lately. They're followed around by their teammate...

Our own PD factory team is in the middle of their summer training camp at Skydive Spaceland this week. As the host of the 2010 USPA Nationals coming up September 1st-4th this makes an ideal location for their training this...

by CYPRES Crew Member Olga Bakulina

This June was very busy for us, lots of jumps, lots of freefly coaching. Most exiting event that happened in our dz I would say were Anomaly boogie. Trent Alkek from “Spaceland Anomaly” visited Aerograd Kolomna from 12 till 21 of June for freefly coaching. (I know he’s also CYPRES sponsored athelete :))

Boogie were the great success. We did 34 jumps in 7 days. If weather was better (it was very windy for 2 days), we’d do way more, cause last Saturday our dz did 105 loads. Trent was doing coaching for different freefly levels: 1 on 1 and also group jumps. Everybody was happy with his coaching and people wanted him to stay longer and come back next time.

Trent liked our dz and Russia a lot. I know him for a little while and he always was interested in visiting my country. So, for me it was even more exciting to break his stereotypes. He didn’t expect that our dz would that big and busy, he was very surprised, when he spent week here and didn’t even take a sip of vodka.

So, to make him to believe, that he’s really in Russia, we had to show him real russian bear.

So, everybody was happy and I was happy, because I was the event organizer. I think after the such good experience we will invite more people to our dz for our freefly partnership.

Event sponsor - DM Logistics (www.dmlogistics.ru)
Information support - dz “Aerograd Kolomna”
Event organizer - Olga Bakulina.

See you!

Olga.

Endlich war es soweit, am 19.06.2010 wurde der mittlerweile allseits beliebte Börde Cup bei Skydive Soest ausgetragen. Schon am Freitag reisten einige Teams an, um sich häuslich im Camping Areal einzurichten. Natürlich wurden schon einige Team Besprechungen abgehalten und geschaut wer so alles bei wem in welchen Teams unterwegs sein wird. Sehr zu Freude einiger Springer Kollegen fanden sich auch einige ältere Recken des hiesigen Fallschirmsports ein, um am Börde Cup teilzunehmen

Leider spielte das Wetter am Freitag nicht so gut mit und daher wurden erstmal nur Team Besprechungen abgehalten und schon mal die Zapfanlage am Abend ausprobiert. Am Samstagmorgen war es dann soweit, um kurz vor Neun nahm unsere Schiedsrichterin Gundel das Mikrofon in die Hand und begrüßte alle Teilnehmer des Börde Cups 2010 in Soest. Gundel nahm mit Moritz Wesenberg die Auslosung der einzelnen Teams vor. Gesprungen werden konnte entweder relativer 6er Speed oder im 2er Speed Free Fly. Um kurz nach Neun Uhr kam dann auch gleich der erste Aufruf für die ersten zwei Teams. Als Absetzmaschine stand eine DO-28 zu Verfügung, die von Cristian Gutsche geflogen wurde. Trotz des etwas unseligen Wetters und mehrerer Wetterholds konnte man am Vormittag glatt zwei Runden schaffen. In der Mittagspause stand die Verpflegung der Springerkollegen und die aller Gäste im Mittelpunkt.

Eine Pizza Bude stand bereit die in Windeseile Pizzen, Nudelgerichte und Salate anbot. Leider hatte der Wettergott ein kein Einsehen mit den Teilnehmern des Börde Cups, ein Wetterhold jagte das andere. Immerhin wurde die Dritte Runde angefangen und auch zu Ende gebracht. Unter großer Teilnahme aller Anwesenden schritt man um 18 Uhr zur Siegerehrung. Ganz besonderen Dank an dieser Stelle dem Orga Team um unsere Lissy herum, die mal wieder alles fest im Griff hatte.

 

Dank natürlich auch an dem Hauptsponsor des diesjährigen Börde Cups 2010, der Firma Airtec, vertreten durch Jupp und Regina Veltmann und einigen Mitarbeitern von Airtec, die uns mit gesponserten Preisen zur Seite standen, dem Fallschirmhersteller Paratec, die mit ihrer Road Tour mit Patrick vor Ort waren sowie natürlich der DO-28 Flugcharter und dessen Piloten. Hier nun die Namen der Teams und dessen Platzierungen.

 

 

Die 6er Teams die unterwegs waren.

We've updated our list of PD sponsored teams to include our teams that begin with the letters P-Z. Have a look and check out some of their team members. Here's a link to the page!! http://www.thepdblog.com/pdblog/sponsored-teams.html

Well, all in all yesterday went well. Once Kevin started his jumps the weather stayed nice for the rest of the day/night. His plan was to start at 4am, so all of his volunteers and him were up early just...

The 2010 season of the FLCPA(Florida Canopy Pilots Association) came to a close this past weekend at Skydive the Farm. The fifth and final meet was held on Saturday under sunny skies, 90 degree temperatures, and light winds that remained...

Weather finally cleared so Kevin has been jumping hard. He is only a couple jumps away from 50 right as I write this post. A PAC 750 is the only plane they are using today and Kevin is making just...

Ok, so I think I am the cause for all if the bad weather. I am here at Skydive Twin Cities where Kevin Burkart is making 200 jumps to raise money for Parkinson's Disease. He started this morning at 4am,...

Over Memorial Day weekend about 30 freefliers were invited out to Eloy to partake in the AZ Challenge to see what formations they could come up with. Whether it was large and hard to fly or small and complex, these...

It was Hot and Humid, but that didn't stop hundreds from flocking to Chester, SC to check out the annual Carolina Fest Boogie held in June, 2010. Setting a state vertical record was just one of many amazing skydives to...

For those of you who haven't heard yet, this week begins the Vector Festival at Empuriabrava in Spain. PD will be there with loads of demo canopies so swing by the PD tent and talk to Dedric about trying out...

Okay, when you come to Bridge Day in West Virginia, there are certain things that you absolutely have to do.

One of those is NOT “jump off the bridge”.  Just sayin’.  You have to be qualified to jump, first of all, and the vast majority of folks that come for bridge day are spectators (myself included).

So we can go ahead and rule that out.  Also, you don’t have to rappel off the bridge.  Same thing goes here- you have to be qualified to do it, which rules most of us out.

But that’s only two things.  To use a scientific measurement, there are literally a whole bunch of other things to do.

Here are the 5 that I’m thinking are the full-on, don’t-miss, must-do, call-your-mom-about, been-there-got-the-T-shirt Bridge Day activities to put on your list:

-Taste Of Bridge Day Okay, you know there’s going to be some food at any place that has an event called “Taste-Of-Whatever”.  But here’s the thing:  this food is awesome.  Remember your favorite meal ever in your life?  Put that memory on steroids and place it next to one of the most beautiful views in the world, and that’s pretty much what you’re looking at here.  Taste Of Bridge Day is the Friday night before the actual Bridge Day festivities, so make sure you come early.

-Watch The Flags Go Up You have to get to the event early if you’d like to see it, and you would.  Like to see it, that is.  Seeing Old Glory, the WV state flag, and the US Park Service flag (a new addition last year) ascend up the entire length of space between the ground and the bridge is one of the most inspiring, patriotic sights you’ll ever see.  Be at the landing zone for the best view.

-Enjoy The Show Get as many angles as you can.  On the bridge is cool.  At the landing zone next to the river is cooler.  There are also some other spots around the rim of the gorge, like Long Point.  Jumpers leap from the bridge all day long, and rappellers slide up and down seemingly endless ropes all day long, too.  It’s one of the world’s great photo ops, so make sure you have plenty of film in your camera.  Wait, what’s “film”?

-Check Out The Vendors There’s only one place in the world where you can see a guy carve a wood duck with a chainsaw, buy a homemade quilt with a BASE jumper on it, and sign up for skydiving lessons within 100 yards of each other.  The sides of the bridge are covered with vendors from around the world, if you count the US as the world, and a walk through is definitely on the to-do list.  Also, you must eat a funnel cake (Fried oreos or elephant ears are also acceptable [barely]).

-Go To The Chili Cookoff When the jumping ends, the cookoff begins.  Right on the steps of the historic courthouse in downtown Fayetteville, you’ll find the best chili this side of wherever was formerly known for having the best chili.  Brought to you by the businesses and restaurants of the New River Gorge and the Fayetteville CVB, the chili cookoff is a great way to get to know our little (awesome) town.  Also, there’s cornbread.  And craft beer.

Okay, y’all.  Let me have it:  What did I miss?

Share and Enjoy:

So the weather didn't clear and the forecast doesn't look good, the first PD Battle at Midway is finished. It was a great group of competitors and there was some awesome skydiving but only 5 rounds were completed. The horizontal...

So the weather hasn't cleared yet and some members of the VFS teams have flights out this afternoon. After talking to all the teams, everyone was ok with calling the meet for the VFS portion and award the winners with...

OK, Well the weather cleared enough to jump until sunset last night. Some of the teams were on a sun sat jump. That is where the sun is actually down, not just setting. 5 rounds are complete and there have...

After a long weather hold were back in the air. Not sure if we will be able to jump for the rest of the day but there are teams in the air right now. We will most likely get 2...

I was able to catch up with Matt Acord from the US Army Golden Knights 8-way team and Chris Farina and Josh Hall from Perris Fury. We are still on a weather hold here at SDC but we think we...

This is the video right before round 2 took off.

Ok, so we flew 1 hour south to a small DZ called Archway Skydiving and decided that the long trip, coupled with the bumpy flight to get there wasn't the best idea. A group of us flew down in the...

Well, since the weather isn't looking too good here at SDC...Rook has decided to fly all of the competitors down to a DZ south of here to get in some rounds. I will be headed down in his passenger King...

Last night the draw for this weekends competition took place at 8pm here at Skydive Chicago. I tried to give you an update last night but was experiencing issues, most likely user error, but I am going to stick with...

Skydive Atmosfera (Cypres Dealer!) was the first DZ in Poland to join the USPA high standards and promote safe skydiving. They just celebrated their 5-year anniversary and can look with pride at a private club with warm friendly atmosphere for skydivers and accompanying persons. Huge grassy landing area with no obstacles (300 ha) and all the necessary facilities, incl. Bar, camping, hot shower on site, attract skydivers who like to stay in decent conditions.

Our INSTRUCTORS ACADEMY has been - once more- invited to conduct USPA RATING COURSES under the lead of USPA I/E and CYPRES representative Marcus Laser during the June Boogie and we had a great time with very inquisitive candidates. The organization through the DZ Owners Ula&Iwan was outstanding and the only unfavorable aspect was (as so often in our sport): the rainy weather for days! Nevertheless we were able to successfully evaluate our course candidate and give a huge congratulation to the new rated USPA AFF Instructor and Coaches:

Marcin Laszuk (AFF-I) / Milosz Lam (Coach) / Anna Dzido (Coach) / Agata Czapnik (Coach) / Tatsiana Laikouskaya (Coach)

Our second congratulation goes out to the organizers and participants of the HIGH ALTITUDE jumps as it has been the first civilian high altitude jumps (7000 mts) in Poland!! The participants received a thorough introduction and briefing while undergo medical supervision which lead to an achieved “unofficial” Polish record. Very well done!

As you can see, at Skydive Atmosfera, there is always something to celebrate. If you look for a rush-free, relaxing atmosphere, great food and people, with something do to in the evening, go and visit them, just 40 miles to the north from Warsaw. We will definitely be back!

The season is here and everyone is jumping. Safety First with Brian Germain: Pilot Chutes, size really does matter. Why not jump on the GOPro and Countour HD bandwagon? Order yours today from Chuting Star Rigging Loft at www.chutingstar.com. Pic of the Week is Frederick Bremer on an accuracy jump in 1974 under an American Pappillion round parachute. Photo by Dave Waterman. Pat Moorehead and Dave continue discussing righteous road trips, jumping for the fun of it, and "old-timers" societies POPS, SOS, JOS, and JOES. Gosia of SDC's Furies reminds us via Facebook to join PD's Battle at Midway. Get your 4-way team here for some great competition and a chance to win $5000. Dave, Stump, and Karry review Norman Kent's movie, "Willing to Fly." The first listener to leave a voice message wins a free copy of the dvd. Skydive Radio finally has shirts to sell... almost. Dave will soon travel to Spaceland to enroll in Rabbit's School of Skyvan Piloting. Poker Thursday's at 9:00pm EST.

Hey, guess what?

Subaru is the flagship sponsor for Bridge Day West Virginia 2010.

Right.  Subaru.  The folks that did this.  And built this.

How cool is that?  Wait, wait… I know the answer…  VERY cool.  Sorry, but Subys flat out rock.  They run forever, go anywhere, look cool, and did I mention they run forever (almost)?

It’s really a perfect fit for Bridge Day, too.  They’re not hugely popular in New York and L.A., but hey, neither are we.  That’s okay; people in the mountains know what works (I’m kind of a fan, if you haven’t guessed).

Here’s a list of 5 reasons why Subaru rocks:

1. Attitude Or really, I should say non-attitude; they’re the opposite of showing off.  Pretty good on the fuel consumption, but more than that, it’s a feeling of independence.  That’s it: Subaru drivers are independent.

2. Looks They’re cool looking, but, again, not showy.  Lots of room for kids, dogs, parachutes, rope, bikes, skis, snowboards, skateboards, inflatable pool toys, apples, and kayaks.

3. Green-i-ness Every Subaru made comes for a factory that produces ZERO landfill waste.  And the Suby plant in Indiana was named… wait for it… a wildlife habitat.  Clearly, they’re on to something that resonates with their target market (read: you).

4. Performance Did you watch those video links?  These things can climb trees.  Nothing better for winter in the Appalachian high country than a dependable four wheel drives that’s all that under the hood.

5. Community Subaru sponsors all kinds of cool organizations, like the National Ski Patrol, the Professional Ski Instructors of America, and the International Mountain Biking Association Trail Care Crew.  And, y’know, us.

Hey, looks like Bridge Day is in pretty good company.  Make sure you stop by the Subaru booth to say hi.  They’re going to have a ton of swag to give out, and some great discounts on new cars (c’mon, you know you want one).

So what about you?  Love your Subaru?  Let us know in the comments.

Share and Enjoy:

The past few weeks have been a busy time for us here at PD and its not going to slow down anytime soon. Since the summer has kicked off PD has hit the road for the summer tour. We hope...

Get it?  It’s a pun with the word “jumping”, because we… okay, never mind.  Sorry.

We’re getting the blog back together!  It’s long overdue, and there’s a lot to write about.  I’m not sure where we’ll put everything, but if I’ve learned anything from Bridge Day, it’s this:

Sometimes, you just gotta jump.

So here’s what you can expect to see on the blog…

• Stories about funnel cake.

• A lot of posts about why people BASE jump.

• The view from the rope:  all about rappellers and the people that love them.
• Da Bridge.  History, facts, stats, pics, and whatever else I can find.
• How to make funnel cake.
• Whitewater stuff and rock climbing stuff and mountain biking stuff.  Basically, the other events here in the gorge.
• Lots of posts about the people that come to Bridge Day (that’s YOU!)
• Directions, logistics, and seriously helpful info about the Bridge Day event.
• Zen and the art of funnel cake.
• West Virginia Vacation ideas, and believe me, there’s nooooooo shortage of stuff there.
• Places in the park and exploring the New River Gorge National River Areas
• Something about riding motorcycles around in the mountains of West Virginia.
• Guest blog posts from around the world of Bridge Day.
• Two words:  Funnel.  Cake.

So, in advance, thanks for stopping by.  You absolutely rock for coming to this blog, because, hey, that’s just how we roll.  It ought to be a really good time, so make sure you tell your friends.  Or not (completely understand if you just need to keep your Bridge Day addiction to yourself- baby steps).

So that’s where I’m coming from.  How about you?  This is your bridge day blog, so what would you like to see here?  Write a comment, and I guarantee you won’t be ignored

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Interested in learning a bit more about the teams that PD support? Have a look at a list of some of the teams that are part of PD's sponsorship program. These teams from around the world compete in various discliplines...

Finally arrived a sweet Skydive Carolina! The southern hospitality knows no bounds. After meeting up with James and shown my sleeping area for the next few days I was promptly handed a beer to ease into the warm weather here in South Carolina.

After a bit of catch up with long lost friends it was time to get some well deserved sleep. What with the AGM Australia trip still i was wide awake at 04:00 to wonder in which country I was in (my body still isn’t quite sure)! With little effort I managed to get to counting the 3^rd sheep before falling asleep again to wake to a wonderful day here at Carolina fest 2010. After a quick shower and morning coffee it was time to find out where I was to set up on vendor row.

This year vendor row is jam packed with the likes of PD, Mirage, Cookie helmets, Liquid Sky, Aerodyne, Sunpath, Icarus, Hypoxic, Skysystems, Vitamin water and Blue Skies Magazine ( Man it feels a little like the Skydiving Expo with the amount of vendors turning up). There was a noticeable trend with more and more companies turning up with “CYPRES” X-gloo inflatable tents really making vendor row looking “tres chic”. The boogie is starting with full steam ahead with the Otter and PAC taking willing skydivers up, up and away. Tomorrow is starting up nice and early with the first balloon jumps at 06:15 and getting Carolina Fest 2010 well underway.

Point to note:
This is the only event I have been to where the LO’s and Vendors have the own hospitality Truck!

James and his team have already outdone themselves once again and with tomorrows FREE otter loads is their any other boogie that you would want to go to……….?

 

Well, the second half of May made up for April. We had some absolutely amazing weeks of skydiving.

More than 250 people made their first skydives and many more came back for their second skydive.

People came from all over to skydive with us, Ann arbor, Detroit, Toldeo even Windsor - Canada.

Congratulations to everyone who got to Experience Human Flight with us, we know you'll never look at life quite the same way again :-)

Summer is just beginning we're looking forward to a great season.

Blue Skies,

 

Team Roostertail has been swooping it up around Denmark for quite a number of years now. Besides their accomplishments as a competitive team they have worked hard to spread their knowledge about canopy piloting and safe skydiving. They're canopy camps...

Hallo Leute,

Na was war das für ein Megageiles Pfingstwochenende in Deutschland. Ein Bilderbuchwetter nach Springergeschmack, ohne Vulkanasche und Regen. Egal ob Sprungschüler, Sprunglehrer, Teams oder Fun Jumper, alle freuten sich aufs Springen.

An diesem tollen Pfingstwochenende war ich bei meinem Sprungverein in Soest Bad Sassendorf. Schon ab Freitagmittag kamen die ersten mit ihren Wohnwagen und Wohnmobilen an und richteten sich häuslich auf der Camping Area ein. Unser Norbert, erster Vorsitzender unseres Sprungvereins ließ es sich nicht nehmen, selbst noch schnell unsere Landewiese mit dem Mähtraktor in Form zu bringen.

Am Freitagnachmittag wurde schon ein Teamtraining für das Team Fallguys anberaumt und mit den Coaches Michaela und Freddy Kuhlmann einige Sprünge für den nächsten Tag zu besprochen, geht es doch darum für unsere Vereinsmeisterschaften am 19.06.2010 unseren Heißgeliebten Börde Cup zu üben und der Konkurrenz über die Schultern zu schauen. Zum Abend hin füllte sich die Camping Area mit weiteren Springer Kollegen, die sich zu den schon häuslich eingerichteten dazu gesellten.

Am Samstag ging es dann los, schon am frühen Morgen, quasi als gerade die Heißluftballone um 7 Uhr in der Frühe starteten, brach die Karawane von Springern und Tandemgästen los und der Parkplatz füllte sich. Ein Weiteres Team, das Team Pit und Pat im Wellenbad, eine Truppe von Spaßspringern, trat ebenfalls zum Team Training an um für unseren Börde Cup zu trainieren. Auch trafen sich unsere Birdmänner Rainer Kiel und Peter Schantorra zum Birdmann-Fliegen, um ihre neuen Flügelanzüge auszuprobieren. Um 9 Uhr wurde der erste Load aufgerufen, ab dann war kein Halten mehr, und unsere DO-28 mit unserem Piloten Joe Schaufelte einen Lift nach dem anderen hoch, so schnell, das die Packer am Boden manchmal gar nicht mitkamen um die Teams mit ihren Schirmen zu versorgen. Da kam die Mittagspause den Packern gerade recht, unsere Katrin bot mal wieder in unserer Snackbar ein tolles Essen, an dem kaum ein Springer vorbei konnte. Unser Pilot Joe gab alles und am Ende des Samstages war man bei 20 Lifts angekommen, mit Umlaufzeiten von jeweils 15 Minuten auf 4000 Metern. Für den Abend war bestens gesorgt, und man ließ den Abend beim Bierchen am Lagerfeuer ausklingen. Ffür einige Kollegen reichten schon zwei Bierchen um ins Bett oder in den Schlafsack zu fallen.

Am Sonntag ging es nach einem reichlich guten Frühstück dann wieder um 9 Uhr in die Luft. Unser Joe legte mit der DO-28 wieder mal los. Los legte auch unser Moritz, der seinen Papa Volker Wesenberg, Ausbildungsleiter in unseren Verein, nacheifern möchte und den Papa schon mal zeigte, dass es nicht mehr all zu lange dauern würde, bis ihm auch das Gurtzeug vom Papa passen wird. Mann kann davon ausgehen, dass es nicht mehr lange dauern wird, und er sein erstes Tandem mit Papa machen wird. Unsere Do-28 ging wieder hoch und schaufelte einen nach dem anderen Lift hoch. Man sah zufriedene Springer, die gerade von der Landewiese zum Aufpacken in die Halle kamen, Gesichter die sich so richtig über dieses tolle Wetter freuten. So ging es ohne Abweichung den ganzen Tag so weiter und unsere Lissy im Manifest lief zur Höchstform auf, manch einer dachte er wäre auf dem Rummel, da unsere Lissy so ein Flair von Kirmesrufen über ihr Mikrofon schallen ließ. Und die nächste Fahrt geht rückwärts, alles Anschnallen, die nächste fahr geht auf 4000. Man kann sagen, alle hatten riesigen Spaß und am Abend saß man beim Bierchen oder bei leckerem Gegrillten zusammen und redete über diesen gelungenen Tag.

Am Montag sollte es laut DWD Regnen, aber nicht bei uns in Soest. Das Soester Loch blieb uns bis Montagnachmittag hold und somit ging um 16 Uhr der letzte Load in die Luft. Alle waren über dieses gelungene Pfingstwochenende sehr glücklich, und viele fuhren mit strahlenden Gesichtern nach Hause und konnten bestimmt einiges an guten Eindrücken mit nach Hause nehmen. Dem Wettergott kann man nur Dank sagen, hatte er doch endlich mal ein Einsehen mit uns Springern und der blöde Vulkan hielt auch Still.

Gruß euer Rasti….

Here's a quick update from the folks at Skydive Everest.... May 2010 – Everest Skydive Progress Report Here's an update from the Himalaya as we prepare to begin jump operations in a few days. After arriving in Kathmandu earlier in...

This is an unusual meet weekend for the NSL News.  It is Sunday, and i am visiting Skydive City in good old Z-Hills for a day.  I am covering the annual 4-way Scramble for the NSL News and write a few lines here.  But i am actually spying for the NSL and FSL.

Event organizer Oren Kalb told me already earlier this year that he was expecting a great turnout.  He had 12 teams lined up several weeks ago, and this surely caught my attention.  I decided that i would go and visit the Z-Scramble this year, as i have never been here before for the same event.

Now i am glad i am here.  It is very impressive, there are 22 lineups competing just for fun.  Just the way i would like to see it everywhere all the time.  This is new record participation for Oren and his 4-way Scramble.  He had 15 teams as the maximum number so far.  Wow…

Didn’t we have the same situation already earlier this year?  Yes, the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2010, one of the few high-profile and highly competitive competitions in the world, had record participation, as well.  What does this all mean for 4-way competition?  It means that there is an obvious upswing - hard to imagine in times of a slow economy everywhere.

But it is a fact, and the best thing of all is that the upswing is not only in one area of 4-way competition.  The Shamrock Showdown represents the serious 4-way competition, while the Z-Scramble stands for real recreational 4-way fun.  Both record participations together leave no doubt: 4-way is fun - no matter on what level you do it - and the popularity is not only unbroken, it is gaining momentum.

There is even more evidence.  The United Kingdom Skydiving League just recorded the highest number of teams at a May competition, the season opener, in the history of British 4-way competition.  26 teams competed last weekend in Netheravon.  The UKSL events are a combination of all four competition classes, including the more competitive AAA and AA Class, plus the more recreational A and Rookie Class.

The format of the Z-Scramble works really well.  Participants sign up as individuals, and the event organizers put them together in lineups that are as much leveled as possible.  They have four categories of experience levels.  The most experienced team members are the team captains and are guiding each lineup through the four rounds.

Videographers for all teams collect their footage and dub it for judging at the end of the day, while the participants eat provided food and drink beer.  The day ends after four casual and fun 4-way jumps at the bar.

The format fits perfectly for Skydive City, however, it would fit to each dropzone on the planet.  I talked more about the format with Oren, and i am ready to apply the same format for NSL/FSL events.  Scores and photos of the lineups will follow later.

Photographer Niklas Daniel took this composite shot of Brianne Thompson tracking away over Skydive Elsinore,CA.