3rd Dubai International Parachuting Championship & Gulf Cup 2011 - Daily Diary - 4th December

Day 4 - Almost over for some, long way to go for others - and all to play for.

An unusual Baloon amongst those helping to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Indepednce Day	Along with the 16way CF stack (pictures to follow) skydivers built a "happy birthday" message with fun and respect.

Another long day for the Accuracy jumpers, early start and late finish.  At least in Dubai it does not run on into the evening, as it is dark by 5.30 - and we are treated to magnificent sunsets at the end of each day.  This is really developing into an interesting and tight competition : at the end of 5 rounds appropriately the Male Individual event has in first place one of the UAE competitors, Al Gaith Ahmed Rashed on 1cm with 4 tied for 2nd place on 2 cm and 5 tied in third place with 3 cm.  Their 6th round commences early tomorrow after the Female 5th round is completed.  The competition here is between the Chinese and Russian competitors with China in 1st and 2nd  Russia in 3rd and Chinese and Russian tied in 4th place.

Whilst Formation Skydiving completed the 7th round, Canopy Piloting filled the middle of the day with two exciting rounds of Distance.  With a moderate following wind for the first round there were no huge scores, but after mid-day the wind picked up and the 2nd round gave some very impressive runs and a few bruise inducing arrivals, as each competitor pushed the limits of their performances.  Many of the judges for Formation Skydiving are also judging Canopy Piloting, and so the 8th round of FS, planned for the afternoon has been rescheduled to later in the week to allow the round 7 scores to be published, and to give those competitors a day off in Dubai.

Meanwhile Canopy Formations continued, by the end of the day 4 rounds of all events had been jumped and scored.  The weather forecast for tomorrow is similar to today and so it is planned to continue with the Accuracy, then Canopy Piloting with another round of Accuracy and one of Speed.  Canopy Formations will continue to take place out on the Racecourse in the town.