ArticlesWCIS-2016, Day 2
Thursday 13 October 08.05hrs: We're up and running! The competition started dead on 08.00hrs - with the Republic of South Africa's 4-Way team 'Jazz Republic' first into the tunnel (pic above!). Interim Bureau Decision
8th European and 5th Junior European Freefall Style & Accuracy Landing Championships: Italian Delegation
65th IPC Plenary - Vashets, Bulgaria - Day 1 28th January
Day 1 of the Open meetings which precede the formal Plenacy. These meetings are an opportunity for the Bureau and Committees to present their plans for changes and the future – and the meeting is then open to general discussion and allows the Bureau and Committees to formalise their presentations for the actual Plenary. Welcome to the various sponsors of the Plenary meeting – local dignitaries. The Mayor of Vashets then welcomed the delegates to the 65th Plenary meeting. Graeme then welcomed everyone to the meeting, and Graeme told us about his busy year – which is covered well in his report. He started the year with a trip to Moracco and then to Tanoy in Russia – followed by a quick trip home and then to Lausanne and the FAI to learn that the World Air Games would happen this year – in Dubai. Graeme then covered the World Championships this year starting with Banya Luka, and publically thanked Patrice Giradan for helping beyond his role as FAI Controller, when the Meet Director could not attend due to ill health. Graeme then moved on to the World Championships in Prostejov. He thanked Martin for all his work in such a successful World Championships. The busy year then continued with the CISM and ASIANA and wonderful competitions. Graeme then moved on to the General Conference of the FAI and commented on the new personelle in the FAI and looks forward to a really good future working together. At the end of the General Conference two of the IPC Bureau members were elected onto the Executive Board, Gillian Rainer and Niels-Christian Hansen. Then onto the USA for the Canopy Piloting World Championships with an impressive scoring system which allowed everyone on the drop zone to keep track of the results as they happened. Next was the 1st Indoor Skydiving World Cup in Austin. Graeme spoke about the emotional impact of watching young people (children) flying 4 way sequential in the tunnel. The last big competition of the year was the trip to Dubai for DIPC – impressive as always and now he was in Varshets for this meeting. He then moved onto the future – and presented the future and started with the Stategic Plan a living document and always being looked at and reviewed. In view of the changes that will happen to the bureau and Graeme set the priority to review and revise the Strategic Plan. He then referred to the FAI Vision Statement, and expressed the concern of IPC to the use of “safe” air sports, and although parachuting will continue to work at making the sport as safe as possible, but this cannot be certain and is why the IPC is not totally happy with this statement. Graeme moved on to Media Presentation and Marketing and the committee needs to be resurrected from the Marketing point of view and IPC needs to expand on this area, IPC needs to find sponsors and there is a need for someone to take hold of this and work. Graeme asked the delegates if they knew of anyone who could look after marketing and promotion. Ronald Overdijk said that there are marketing companies who would be prepared to do this for a no fee basis. Lot of events taking place and we need to watch the timing of these events so they do not clash, even with other large events outside our sport. Graeme moved on to the fact that young people were now involved in our sport and it is necessary for the FAI and IPC to look at the child protection measures taken by other sporting bodies. Graeme to finish he talked about the new media and promotion from Skydive TV and have already been welcomed by USPA, a company of skydivers with experience in this field. Internet TV coverage of events, and they came to IPC to present the World Championships at Z’Hills, Canopy Piloting. Speed Skydiving
It has developed over the last few years and represents the fastest non-motorized sport on Earth. In essence, speed skydiving is the discipline where only one aspect of skydiving counts – freefall speed. The speed achieved by a human body in free fall is conditioned of two factors, body weight and body orientation. In a stable, belly to earth position, terminal velocity of the human body is about 200 km/h (about 120 mph). A stable, freefly, head down position has a terminal speed of around 240-290 km/h (around 150-180 mph). Further minimizing body drag and streamlining the body position allows the skydiver to reach higher speeds in the vicinity of 480 km/h (300 mph). Canopy Piloting[flickr user=me size="large" tag="cpdrawing" ] * see below Canopy Piloting involves a series of tasks designed to test a parachutist's ability to control his canopy and fly accurately. Each test starts with the parachutist navigating through a number of gates which are situated over water. The parachutist has one of three goals, depending on the task; complete the course in the shortest time, therefore having the highest speed; complete the water section and then land on a target as accurately as possible; achieve the longest distance from the entry gate before touching down. How is the Winner Defined?To maximise the accuracy, the competitor must successfully nevigate the water section before landing as close to the centre of the target as possible. The maximum score for speed goes to the parachutist flying the course in the shortest time and the best score for distance will go to the parachutist controlling the canopy to fly the maximum distance. How is it scored?For accuracy; pass between the course markers and stay within the course to gain points. Extra 'gate' points are earned when a competitor drags a part of his body (usually his foot) through an imaginary line on the surface of the water between water gates. Penalities are awarded in the landing phase if the competitor falls over, or is not in the central zone with their first touch. Speed: pass between the course markers to start the speed run; the times is started by breaking an electronic beam across the course. The competitor's time is stopped as they break a second beam across the exit gate and their time is measured to the thousandth of a second. Distance: pass between the course markets and remain within the boudaries of the course to obtain a score. The distance is measured from the entry gate to the first point of contact with the ground. Canopy Piloting is a fairly new sport, made possible by the development of smaller and faster canopies in the mid 1990's. The discipline was originally called "blade running" but soon evolved into the format used today. Competitors compete over a stretch of water for sefety reasons because of the high speeds involved - at the same time creating spectacular action as the parachutists whizz across the surface of the water, leaving a plume of spray behind them. This discipline requires a high level of skill and experience with many national federations insisting on a minimum requirement of 500 parachute jumps before allowing a competitor to enter a Canopy Piloting Event. The first World Championships in Canopy Piloting took place in 2006. * PDF's of the Illustrated slides of the Discipline Events are available under "Documents" "Disciplines" "Canopy Piloting" on this website. More Articles...
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Speed Skydiving is a new skydiving discipline with as simple a definition as it gets. Achieve the fastest speed possible over a given distance.
FAI on Flickr
