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. 

 

 

Tracking anyone?

Photographer Niklas Daniel captured this shot of Brianne Thompson of AXIS Flight School

diving out of an otter over Skydive Arizona. 

Arizona Airspeed 2011 Valentines Meet Video

For all you four way enthusiast out there, here's some footage of Arizona Airspeed ripping through the points at this years Valentines meet at Skydive Arizona. Enjoy, if your eyes can keep up...

 

Airspeed Wins Shamrock Showdown 2011

The 2011 Shamrock Showdown brought the best in the world to Deland, FL
 for a weekend of perfect weather and some fast-flying 4-way. Twenty teams took to the skies for ten rounds of competition, including current world champions France Aerodyne Aerokart as well as the newly reshaped Arizona Airspeed.

The boys from Arizona proved to be a powerful force as they ended the meet with a 24.9 average to the French team's 23.6. Airspeed dominated every jump except round 8 and posted an astonishing score of 30 in round 7. 

Airspeed's not the only team who had a good meet, though. Paraclete XP4 and SDC Rhythm also competed in the AAA category and wrapped up the weekend with 19.9 and 19.7 averages, respectively.  FAI World Cup in August, USPA Nationals in October...With this kind of 4-way action, you pay for the whole seat but you only need the edge!  

Katana over Arizona

Photographer Niklas Daniel captured this shot of Brianne Thompson under her KA 97 over Eloy, AZ.

Katana over Sebastian

Excerpt from PD Photographer Brian Buckland's blog:

"I think someone is following me.  I could have sworn I saw their shadow run across my brand new Katana while I was flying it over Sebastian in late 2010." 

The folks at PD did a great job designing this custom Katana Logo for all to see. 

Enjoy!

Paraclete XP Indoor Skydiving Championships 2011

Impressive was the word used to describe this past weekend's Paraclete XP Indoor Skydiving Championships. This event saw some of the top teams and individuals in 4-Way, 8-Way, VFS, & 2-Way Freefly coming together to battle it out for cash money and top honors on the podium. Performance Designs would like to congratulate their sponsored teams and individuals on a great performance. 

The newly reformed Arizona Airspeed, took top place in 4-Way Open, with XP4 in second and the Golden Knights Gold taking bronze. PD sponsored teams SDC Rhythm XP & Perris Fury followed up in the placings. With three teams putting 24 points in the first round on the board it was set to be a tight competition. Airspeed kept to their usual form and slowly crept ahead of the rest on the leader board.

Watch some of the Arizona Airspeed rounds here on VIDEO along with a few from the recent Dubai International Parachute Championships.

The Golden Knights Gold had no training as a team coming into the competition, and with a 26.30 average, put things into perspective for the coming season. The Golden Knights kept up with the momentum and posted the highest recorded 8-Way 10 round average with an impressive 28.10, even with this being a tunnel meet, turning out a 28 average in 8-Way is not to be ignored.

The 2-Way Freefly event proved that the apple does not fall far from the tree, with Kirk Verner's (Former Air Speed Member) & Tim D'nunzio's (Owner of Paraclete XP) sons taking gold with a win over SVCO Collective, and XP3D taking up the third spot on the podium.

And like any skydiving related event it would not be complete without a little carnage, and the Best Trick Competition brought just that! SVCO Instructor Mike Silva took gold - “with the most flips and twists I have ever seen” according to Nick Grillet.

4-Way VFS saw a narrow one point win for SDC Standard the current US National Champions over the current world champions Team 4Speed XP from France. Most participants of the weekend report that the VFS Open was the closest competition of the event, with 4Speed XP looking on form despite a few glitches that cost them the top slot. SDC Standard kept with their rhythm and flew flawlessly to gold. The up coming World Cup in Germany will see these two teams putting their skills to the test again and maybe 4Speed will settle the score.

Check out this video of Team 4Speed XP VIDEO.

“Thanks XP for the great event and the great tunnel. The event ran smoothly and it is always nice to get cash in hand when you’re standing on the podium.” - Nick Grillet

Scores can be found at scores.paracletexp.com

Images from www.SkydiveChicago.com