The PD Blog

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!  

Informational Video - How to Measure Your Slider

Learn the PD factory method for measuring your slider. Proper sizes can be found in the line trim charts on the PD website (or you can click here).

 

FLCPA DeLand Meet #1 Full-Length Video

The Florida Canopy Piloting Association (FLCPA) had its first meet of the season back in late January at Skydive DeLand and we were on site covering the event to the fullest. A friend of ours, Jonathan Pears, shot some pretty amazing footage of the meet, some of which you may have seen in the teaser video released on our website. If you didn't catch the teaser, click here.

If you've seen the teaser, I'm sure you're anxiously awaiting the full production and we are happy to share it with you now. Enjoy the video and look for more productions from PD in the near future!

 

Attaching Toggles with a Finger Trapped Loop

Here's another addition to our line of informative videos. If you've ever wanted to know how to attach your toggles using a finger trapped loop, this is how PD does it in the factory. Keep checking back for more.

 

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 

Hi, This is Nick Grillet (outtakes!)

We're starting the new year out with a short compilation of some funny outtakes of Nick Grillet, PD's US Tour guru. Sit back and get ready for some laughs!!

 

USA CF Team Clean Air

If your interested in taking up CF, or just want to bang end cells with someone, we can't think of a better group of people to learn from.  Brian Pangburn, Chris Gay, Mark Gregory, Mike Paolin, Liz Godwin, and Pam Pangburn have been introducing skydivers young and old to Canopy Formation(CF) skydiving for many years. Here's a video bit of info from Brian about the team and the disclipline from their win at the World meet in Tuege.  The team recently returned from the 2010 World Meet in Russia where they again won Gold in the 2 way sequential event AND in the 4-way sequential event flying their CF Storms.

 

What is Next for Parachute Lines?

If you've followed this series, you should have some knowledge about the types of lines currently used in the construction of our parachutes. Now the question is, what is next in canopy line technology? Check out Part 6 of our series about Line Types to find out what John LeBlanc believes is around the corner.

 

Informational Video- HMA line

Part 5 of our informational video segment on line types talks about HMA.  This line type is currently available on the Katana, Comp Velocity, and Velocity models.  Enjoy!