The PD Blog

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

Last Day. The weather is great!

Busy busy day, teams are hustling to get the last few jumps in.  Jumping should be done by 11:00 am and the award ceremony is planned for 2 in the afternoon.
Scores are posted on the official website - click here for FS events or here for Artistic events.
Check back later for pictures from this afternoon!

Day 4. No rain but plenty of wind.

Today started in high winds and has remained that way for most of the day - some of the lighter teams flat out flying backwards!   Meet organizers made the call to go on standby, with the safety of competitors in mind.
This afternoon the weather finally cooperated enough so to send loads again, even if the winds are still pretty stiff.  There is a lot of excitement in the air in several disciplines as competition is tight.  It's fantastic for the spectators and people watching from home and definitely puts pressure on the athletes to perform at their very best. 
Kurt form the NSL website has been doing a fantastic job of keeping scores up, posting videos from selected rounds and generally providing everything FS junkies could ever want.   The NSL World Meet coverage can be found here.

Tomorrow is the last day of competition, and according to posted schedule competition should be done by 11:00 am, local time.
Now I can hear a lot of clapping, hooting and hollering, so someting exciting must be happening on the scoring screens, better go check it out!

We have put up a few more pictures and will go out in a sec to snap a few more of all the action taking place.

Maubeuge, part 2

Day 3. Still raining. No longer singing.

Day 3 of competition is here, starting off with a bit of a weather hold due to fast moving clouds and showers of rain.  Competitors and their supporters are milling about.  Some catching up on much need rest and others busy creeping and stretching, preparing for the next round as soon as the weather breaks.
In the past hour or so the sun has starting to break through the clouds a little so we are hopeful that before too long we will see the Porters flying again.
The meet organizers are doing a fantastic job of keeping scores updated, visible both on the many monitors around the area as well as on the official scoring board.
Videos from all disciplines of competition are constantly playing so there is really no reason to be bored.
Albert and I made the trek to the super-grocery store earlier (the directions there included a trip through roughly 80 roundabouts)  in search of umbrellas.  We picked up a pair of very cool eco-friendly ones and of course as soon as we walked out of the store it stopped raining.....    should have done that sooner!
In the photo you can see the Norwegian female team Fortitudo getting ready for a jump yesterday.  This is their first World Meet and they are already putting up some impressive scores.

Stay tuned for more updates later today.... hopefully updates of something other than rain!
We have also put up a few more pictures from around the DZ, album can be found here or in our Picasa web-album (which you can subscribe to for updates) - link below.

World Meet 2008, Maubeuge

weeDay 2 continues

Its about 4:30 pm here and we are on a temporary weather hold due to clouds.  Apparently they make it pretty difficult to see what is in front of the camera;-)

Here's a few more scores for you to check out...

FS 4 Way Open	Rd1	Rd2	Rd3	Rd4	Total
United States	30	32	24	16	102
Belgium	27	33	23	17	100
France	28	30	23	17	98
Russia	28	30	22	16	96
Norway	27	29	21	17	94
Canada	25	27	22	17	91
Italy	23	21	16	13	73
Switzerland	19	23	17	13	72
The Netherlands	22	20	16	12	70
Germany	21	17	14	13	65
Lithuania	19	19	13	13	64
Denmark	18	20	14	11	63
Australia	15	21	16	11	63
Suomi (Finlande)	19	19	14	10	62
South Africa	17	19	15	11	62
Austria	14	19	15	12	60
Sweden	16	18	14	10	58
United Kingdom	15	17	14	8	54
Brasil	15	14	11	10	50
China P.R.	7	9	8	5	29
Cyprus	6	5	4	5	20
Turkey	5	6	6	2	19
Slovakia	9	4	4	0	17

FS 4Way Women	Rd 1	Rd2	Rd3	Rd4	Total
United Kingdom	24	26	17	15	82
United States	24	23	19	13	79
France	23	23	19	14	79
Norway	22	16	16	13	67
Australia	19	20	15	11	65
Germany	19	16	15	12	62
Belgium	10	14	12	9	45
Spain	7	11	10	8	36

Freefly 2 way	Rd1	Rd2	Total
France	9.1	8.6	17.7
Norway	9.1	8.6	17.7
United Kingdom	8.2	8.6	16.8
United States	7.5	8.6	16.1
France2	7.5	7.7	15.2
Sweden	5.9	6.5	12.4
Sweden2	5.1	6.1	11.2
Russia	5.4	5.2	10.6
Italy	5.3	5.2	10.5
Suomi (Finlande)	5.7	4.6	10.3
Israel	4.6	5.7	10.3
Switzerland	5	5.2	10.2
United Kingdom2	5.5	4.6	10.1
Australia	5.5	3.9	9.4

Day 2 of Competition 08

Its about 10AM here in Maubeuge and competition is well under way.  The sun is out, the clouds are light and fluffy and the winds at about 5 mph are well less than they were yesterday.

Round 2 of 4 way open and womens has completed and round 3 is underway. Freefly is in round 2 and our Skysurfing friends began round 1 about 1 hour ago.   Eight Way FS is scheduled to begin around Noon.  Here's a few scores to keep you busy....

FS 4 Way Open	Rd1	Rd2	Total
United States	30	32	62
Belgium	27	33	60
France	28	30	58
Russia	28	30	58
Norway	27	29	56
Canada	25	27	52
Italy	23	21	44
Switzerland	19	23	42
The Netherlands	22	20	42
Denmark	18	20	38
Germany	21	17	38
Lithuania	19	19	38
Suomi (Finlande)	19	19	38
Australia	15	21	36
South Africa	17	19	36
Sweden	16	18	34
Austria	14	19	33
United Kingdom	15	17	32
Brasil	15	14	29
China P.R.	7	9	16
Slovakia	9	4	13
Cyprus	6	5	11
Turkey	5	6	11

FS 4Way Women	Rd 1	Rd2	Total
United Kingdom	24	26	50
United States	24	23	47
France	23	23	46
Australia	19	20	39
Norway	22	16	38
Germany	19	16	35
Belgium	10	14	24
Spain	7	11	18

I've been known to make typo's and everything above is unofficial.  More to come...

Day 1 - singing in the rain

The first day is off to a bit of a slow start due to drizzle and rain. The competitors are in good spirits and very much ready to go. Now we just hope that the rain will let up soon so competition can get started!
According to the forecast (and with a little bit of luck) we should see the first loads take off this afternoon.
The French hosts are no strangers to this kind of weather and will no doubt make the most of any opportunities that present themselves.

Last night we attended the official opening ceremony in downtown Maubeuge. The town is incredibly welcoming towards the skydivers. Many of the local residents gathered at the town square for a parade through the downtown area, complete with marching bands, music and all the good stuff. The fleet of Porters to be used during the competition took part in the parade by flying in a formation over the town.
We took quite a few pictures and will post them on them here on the blog shortly :)

Hopefully we will be able to make another post this afternoon with the good news that competition has started, but until then send warm and dry thoughts towards Maubeuge!

Arriving in Maubeuge

Well, here we are at last - on the doorsteps of the 2008 World Meet in Maubeuge, France. 
We have been looking forward to this event for quite a while and it will be very exciting to watch the competition.  Many of the teams/individuals have already been here for a few days and then a whole bunch of others arrived today (like us).
Al and I arrived around noon after a long flight from Florida, and went straight to the dropzone, where the event hosts were busy putting the finishing touches on the setup.  It rained on us a little but then cleared up in the afternoon enough to allow a few loads to get in the air.

Tomorrow should be a good day - hopefully the weather will cooperate nicely.  We plan to take a bunch of pictures and post them on the blog, fun times ahead!