The PD Blog

USPA Nationals 2011 Wrap Up

As the sun set in the Eloy desert this past Saturday, it marked the end of an amazing 2011 USPA Nationals hosted by Skydive Arizona, with just over 500 competitors participating in 19 various disciplines, and countless staff and volunteers working in the shadows to make it all happen. And let's not forget out our beloved judges and judging panel who worked around the clock to keep the scores current and the intensity of the competiton going.

For those wondering what it takes to host a USPA Nationals, just think about the 114 competition and 17 training loads that Skydive Arizona flew on the first day of the Formation Skydiving Competition.

If you've ever been to a USPA Nationals, the one thing you will see is that the average teams and competitors are not the world class, 20+ average teams, they are the day-to-day jumpers who have a passion and drive for competition. It's so rewarding seeing the up-and-coming teams fighting it out in the Intermediate divisions, the newbies to nationals going all out and having fun while fostering their competitive nature and the life long friendships that are built.

What's a Nationals without a jump off ...

In the 4-Way Advanced meet, there was a tie after 10 rounds for 2nd place between Start 4 from OH and Fallout from PA, with Start 4 coming out on top and taking the Silver, Fallout settling for the Bronze. 4-Way Intermediate saw the same deal in round 10, however this was a tie for Gold. Teams T-Minus:01 & Dallas Khaos XP  went into the jump-off with T-Minus:01 coming out on top winning Gold, 1 point ahead of Dallas Khaos XP who took silver.

Worth throwing some names around ...

Performance Designs has long supported teams and individuals both in and out of the competitive environment, and it would be rude not to show some love and thanks to those who have excelled at the USPA Nationals 2011.

Arizona Airspeed - 4-Way Open Gold Medal

Golden Knights Gold - 4-Way Open Silver Medal

Perris Fury - 4-Way Open Bronze Medal

SDC Rhythm XP - 4-Way Open, 4th Place

XP4 - 4-Way Open, 5th Place

Golden Knights F4 - 4-Way Open Womens, 1st Place

SDC Furies XP - 4-Way Open, 12th Place

Golden Knights - 8-Way Open, Gold Medal

Arizona Airspeed - 8-Way Open, Silver Medal

XP - 8-Way Open, Bronze Medal

Amphibious Attack Tigers - 8-Way Open, 5th place

One Knight Standard - 8-Way Open, 7th Place

Golden Knights - 10-Way, Gold Medal

Arizona Airspeed - 10-Way, Silver Medal

*@#!? - 10-Way, Bronze Medal

GKXP - 16-Way, Gold Medal

Arizona Airspeed - 16-Way, Silver Medal

Clean Air - CF Sequential, Gold Medal

Clean Air - CF Rotation, Gold Medal

Scarecrow - Freefly Open, Bronze Medal

Skydive Ricks - Classic Accuracy Team, Gold Medal

Cheryl Stearns - Classic Accuracy Female, Gold Medal 

James Hayhurst - Classic Accuracy Mens, Gold Medal

Jimmy Drummond - Classic Accuracy Mens, Silver Medal

Mark Jones- Classic Accuracy Mens, Bronze Medal

Marius Ivascu - Classic Accuracy Mens, 4th Place

Dennis Murphy - Classic Accuracy Mens, 5th Place

Cheryl Stearns - Style Female, Gold Medal

James Hayhurst - Style Male, Gold Medal

Marty Jones - Style Male, Silver Medal

Jimmy Drummond - Style Male, Bronze Medal

Way to represent ...

This years USPA Nationals marked an "on year" where the USPA selects teams and individuals to represent the US at the next World Meet, being hosted by Skydive Dubai, December 2012 in the UAE. These teams and individuals will go head-to-head against the world's best to try and bring back Gold, Silver or Bronze from the world stage. Performance Designs would like to congratulate everyone on their outstanding performance, and wish them the best of luck in this years training and the up coming World Meet.

Men's Style and Accuracy Team*

• Mark Jones
• Marius Ivascu
• William Beaudreau
• Jimmy Drummond
• James Hayhurst
• Dennis Murphy – Alternate

 Women's Style and Accuracy Team*

• Elisa Tennyson
• Mery Rose
• Cheryl Stearns

 VFS Team - SDC Standard XP*

• Jason Peters
• Matt Nelson
• Mickey Nuttall
• Will Pesek
• Dalton Samuelson
• Marci Ross - Alternate

 Men’s FS 4-way Team - Arizona Airspeed*

• Thomas Hughes - Captain
• Mark Kirkby
• Joshua Hall
• Niklas Hemin
• William Schmitz
• Brian Johnson - Alternate

 Women’s FS 4-way Team - Golden Knights – GKF4*

• Angela Nichols - Captain
• Laura Dickmeyer
• Dannielle Woosley
• Jennifer Schaben
• Scott Janise

 FS 8-way Team - Golden Knights*

• Brian Krause - Captain
• Kurt Isenbarger
• Matthew Davidson
• Sean Sweeney
• Justin Blewitt
• Joshua Coleman
• Michael LaRoche
• Lawrence Miller
• Andrew Starr
• Angela Nichols - Alternate

 CF 4-way Rotation Team - Elsinore Too Wrapped Up*

• Eric Gallan - Captain
• Sean Jones
• Taylor Cole
• Will Kitto
• Glen Fafard
• Bart Stonestreet – Alternate

 CF 4-way Sequential Team - Clean Air*

• Michael Paolin – Captain
• Mark Gregory
• Brian Pangburn
• Chris Gay
• Eli Godwin
• Yuliya Korkh - Alternate

 CF 2-way Sequential Team - Clean Air*

• Chris Gay – Captain
• Brian Pangburn
• Eli Godwin
• Yuliya Korkh - Alternate

 Freestyle Team - Dragons*

• Tiffany Lamb – Captain
• Travis Mills – Video

 Freefly Team - NorCal Alliance*

• Anthony Landgren – Captain
• Aaron Johnson
• Michael Knight – Video

* Pending approval by the USPA Competition Committee

Worth 1000 words ...

Check out the PD Facebook page for photos from the USPA Nationals:

Nationals Album 1

Nationals Album 2

Podium Photos

Photos by PD and Niklas Daniel

Keeping it in the family ...

This year saw PD staff members competing at the USPA Nationals, and we even got a few medals for some bragging rights.

• Amanda Mandrafino (Engineering) - Bronze Medal in Freestyle
• Gilles Dutrisac (Engineering) - Silver Medal in 4-Way Advanced
• Albert Berchtold (Dealer Relations) - Silver Medal in 4-Way Advanced & 5th in ProAm 2-Way Sequential CF
• Alex Bittner (Marketing) - 5th Place in Freestyle
• Karl Meyer (Marketing) - 4-Way Advanced (Lost to a team called Monkey Business)

PD Sponsored Jumper Laszlo Andacs, spent a few days at Skydive Arizona and took some amazing photos, check them out here: www.laszloimage.com

USPA Nationals 2011

USPA Nationals 2011 hosted by Skydive Arizona

PD has been busy setting up and gearing up for all the competitors to arrive and get settled in. So far the top VFS teams are in the house, and Arizona Airspeed is taking a few days off before their final training camp, the French CRW team are filling the skies with their PD Storm canopies.

Jumpers participating in the first part of the USPA Nationals have been seeing how many pennies they are losing and how well their tucks and turns are the day before Classic Style and Accuracy Landing kicks off at 6:45am tomorrow.

This year marks an "on year" for all competitors looking to represent the US in the World Meet to be held in Dubai in 2012.

As always Performance Designs attends the USPA Nationals to support those who come out and compete, be it the top-level teams and individuals or the fun pick up teams looking to put their best up against the rest. This year is no different, PD has set up a video debrief room next to the gear store with 4 TV's and a charging station so teams can relax in the AC, watch their dives and get ready for the next round. We look forward to seeing you all in there.

Keep up to date on daily "tid bits" via our PD Facebook page, and don't forget to check out the awesome photo gallery with pics by our PD Reps and none other than PD Sponsored Athlete Niklas Daniel. Scores and more can be found on the OmniSkore website.

AXIS goes to M.O.A.B.

Brianne Thompson and Niklas Daniel of AXIS Flight School arrived with the Skydive Arizona otter in MOAB to help organize during the 8th annual Mother Of All Boogies. Over the course of four days, jumpers from all over flocked to the beautiful dropzone to enjoy the great scenery, friendly people, and make some awesome jumps. We had an awesome time jumping and organizing at this boogie and would like to thank everyone who attended!

 

 

In addition, AXIS was able to take part in some of the off-site jumps, such as MOAB Airpark and  Castle Valley in order to take pictures. Please visit Nik's Blog to view more images.

And for all you freeflyers out there, here is some GoPro footage from an interesting jump we did with some tunnel instructors from SVCO (Skyventure Colorado).

 

AXIS would like to thank Skydive Moab for hosting this great event, and is looking forward to attening next year!

Arizona Vertical Challenge

 

Photographer Niklas Daniel captured these images during the Arizona Vertical Challenge.

This annual invitational event is led by VFS team AZ Arsenal and brings some of the most talented freeflyers from around the world to Skydive Arizona. Participants built large and complex formations with multiple points. 

 

 

Canopy Piloting World Meet is Smoking!

After days of waiting in the smoke filled skies of Kolomna, Russia, the wind has finally changed in our favour and the Canopy Piloting World Meet is in to its second day of competition!

Jumping started on Monday with most competitors getting between one and three practice jumps before they were engulfed by the smoke, making its way from the many fires that are currently plaguing Russia due to temperatures soaring into the high thirties.

An early start on Tuesday looked unlikely to begin with but again the skies cleared around ten o'clock and the competition started with two rounds of distance. With a gusting tail wind, competitors were able to make impressive distances including Christian 'Wuzi' Wagner, Jonathan Tagle and, with a leading 159.77 metres, Greg Windmiller from USA- all were flying Competition Velocities.

After lunch and two re-jump loads, the course was set for speed with crosswind to downwind. Greg put in another good round, trailing a split second behind USA's Curtis Bartholomew with 2.582 seconds. With a few re-jumps and an impending storm, at about 1900 the meet finished for the day.

The only event yet to be run was Zone Accuracy and so that was first up this morning. The loads planned to take off at 0800 but this slipped to about 0830 although we're not sure why. With the lack of training jumps some of the top competitors took some poor scores. The scores show jumpers tied on 84 points for first place in this event.

As the last jumpers were making their turns the thick smoke was rolling back in at a fast pace and we're back on a hold. Competitors are now seeking shelter and walking around with their face masks on.  Check out the results here.

Considering the extreme weather conditions here in Kolomna, spirits are high amongst the competitors and everyone is enjoying the sights of scantily clad Russian women!

Reported by: Alastair Macartney & Ceri Lewis

Skydive Everest Report-May 2010

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 the month, the team began it's necessary preparations to move our equipment into the Sagarmatha (Everest) National Park.  A few days later the team arrived at Lukla airfield (Elevation: 9,000ft MSL) to begin the 2 day trek to the Syangboche Airfield (12,350ft MSL), the world's highest civilian dropzone.  All of the team parachute equipment was subsequently flown into the Syangboche Airfield which arrived shortly after the expedition team.

After carefully inspecting and repacking the parachute equipment at the Syangboche Panorama View Lodge (13,000ft MSL), unofficially now the world's highest rigging loft, the team has now set out to manifest it's jump program for the May 2010 expedition.  In addition to the traditional range of both solo and tandem jumping, the Everest Skydive staff is also planning some new and exciting jump programs.  The programs include the first ever Everest Skydive wingsuit jumps which are scheduled to be made during this expedition as well as the possibility of  potential repeat of the world record setting jumps made last year onto the Kala Pattar plateau (17,192ft MSL) if weather conditions permit, landing even higher on the ridgeline.

Everest Skydive is proud to announce that with the introduction of the United Parachute Technologies Sigma Tandem system to the equipment roster, that now all Everest Skydive parachute systems are  Skyhook equipped.  As Everest Skydive has grown into a sustainable, repeatable venture, with more and more complex jumps being made each year,  it became clear to the expedition staff that the potential for high altitude breakaways predicated that the Skyhook become adopted as standard equipment for all sport and tandem jumps being made. 

The May 2010 equipment roster includes:

Performance Designs Canopies

United Parachute Technologies Sigma Tandem Systems and V3 Sport Systems

Sunpath Javelin Sport Systems

Vigil II Automatic Activation Devices

Larsen & Brusgaard Altitrack and Military Altitrack Altimeters

 

Without the tremendous support from expedition sponsors, Everest Skydive would not be the global success that it is today.  The entire staff of Everest Skydive would like to extend our heart felt gratitude to all of our sponsors.

 

Namaste to all and thank you all for your support,

 

 

Reported by: Everest Skydive Expedition Mountain Crew-

Wendy Smith, Tom Noonan, Mary Noonan, Ryan Jackson, Antione Forestier

 

Army Canopy Piloting Team Wins Sports Awards

The British Army Canopy Piloting Team, from Netheravon in UK, were selected as the Army Sports Team of the year at an Award ceremony in London earlier this week.  The PD Sponsored Team was up against stiff competition from other elite sportsmen and women, including a number of Olympic hopefuls.  To demonstrate the importance of the Award Ceremony the prizes were presented by General Sir David Richards.  He is the Chief of the General Staff- the Head of the British Army.  He also outlined his dedication to sport insisting that the qualities it delivers are integral to his main effort in Afghanistan.

Four of the six man team were present to receive the Award; the other two were committed elsewhere with one training in Elsinore and the other serving on a military exercise.  General Richards also praised the team for the impressive work that they do for The Royal British Legion, a charity that supports all members of the Armed Forces past and present, as part of Jump4Heroes.  The video clip below shows a short TV Interview from the Awards Ceremony.

Across the Atlantic...

While most Canopy Pilots in the US are lining up for Swoop Week there's still a lot happening on the other side of the Atlantic. The last European Swoop Tour competition of the year kicks off on Friday in the Netherlands. Organized by Henny Wiggers it's run out of Teuge but jumpers land on the beach at nearby Lake Bussloo. While a few Europeans have gone to kick some butt at Swoop Week there is still going to be a pretty competitive and exciting competition over here.

Despite the poor summer weather we've been having we've still managed to get a few jumps in. In between training we managed to bang our Velo's together in some CReW formations. While we certainly had some fun doing this, PD do not recommend it.

Good luck to all of you at Swoop Week and the EST.

Extreme Week

Extreme Week took place last week in Voss, Norway. This was the 11th year of extreme week and once again it was a great success despite some slightly dubious weather at times. There were a whole variety of sports happening such as longboarding, BASE jumping, climbing, big air, kayaking, kiting, rafting and paragliding. Each evening there was a skydiving demo jump into the centre of town followed by a prize giving, a 30 minute video of the day and then a variety of famous bands and DJs rocked the party tent. With it being held so far North it didn't get dark and the parties always continued on.

There was load organizing at the dropzone and the Nordic Meet were pulling some sick freeflying moves. Mountain flying was high on the agenda and a number of PD sponsored jumpers from a variety of different nations were in town. Some of the other highlights included some neat speed riding, featured for the first time, and some great ski stunts. The top moves must have been the ski jump over the swooping canopy with another swooper right behind the skier. This was then followed with the skier flipping over a hovering helicopter!

Much of the action was shown on both National and International TV as well as a variety of other media. If you haven't been to Norway or hung out with Norwegians before then you should think about going next year- they're super friendly and it's a beautiful country. Here's a short video of some of the fun that I had at Extreme Week.

La Isla de Encanto

PD Factory Team members JC Colclasure and Jonathan Tagle recently held a Canopy control course at the XtremeDivers dropzone during the Puerto Rico Freefall Festival. Those who participated in the course all had good things to say about the experience and felt they had improved their canopy skills. Event organizers Jason Gonzalez and Viviana De Jesus put on a first class event that drew 247 registered skydivers over the week. With the beautiful scenery and great weather the boogie is a natural draw for skydivers, especially wingsuiters. With over 25 wingsuiters in attendance many large and small flocks were flown and  reps from Birdman, Fly Your Body and Tony suits made sure demo suits were available for everyone. Just because the jumping day was over didn't mean the fun was. Jason and Viviana made sure the night time activities were well taken care of by hosting a dinner as well as having a weekend DZ party that provided a live DJ and some of Puerto Rico's fine  adult beverages all night for free. If you didn't make it this year put it on next years list of boogies to attend.