EC & WC Prostejov 2012 - Daily Diary

15.00 hrs and the competition is over.  All the rounds have been judged and each team captain has stated that they have no cause to protest, so that fun jumping can begin - an opportunity to jump with your international rivals.  This may have been the smallest Parachuting First Catergory Event in modern history, but it will be remembered for its friendliness and fun in the way the meet has been conducted, organised and participated in. 

Hayabusa, Belgium have shown they are real contenders for the Sword - Dubai should be interesting!  With a final score of 261 points they were way ahead of the Russians, Sportloto with 212 points in second place.  The battle for 3rd place continued to the final round with Satori jumping clean ending with a final total of 202, beating the French girls, Aerodyne Deep Blue - the nerves got to them in the 10th round, and not only was it slower, they also picked up one bust, ending up with 199 total.

Follow the link to see excellent daily videos produced by Petr for the organisers - VIDEO

The other competitions in Formation Skydiving showed the American female Golden Knights team would have beaten the French girls had they not entered the Open; with the Golden Knights ending up with 201 points and Norway almost making their average target with a total of 176 points.  Meanwhile the only team to enter the VFS competition, the UAE team showed they are going to be a team in contention in Dubai at the end of the year.

The new regulations requiring HD quality for cameras and the judging system proved a huge success, with the judges reporting that at last they can judge the image the competitors have on their cameras!  At the competitor's meeting tomorrow evening it will be interesting to learn how this is perceived by the competitors and also the use of reduced speed judging for a thrid view and an absolute call.  The judges also asked the camera person to show the door-frame in order that the actual point of exit from the aircraft could accurately be determined.

The Artistic Events were also a small competition, but it was a good one with some beautiful flying and WONDERFUL is the competition word from the judge's room.

In the Freestyle Russia was well ahead of the other contenders from Venezuala and Great Britain.  The Venezualian Freestyle jumper commented that the whole experience had been inspiring - and they take home a  silver medal!    There had also beenn a close contest in the Freefly competition between the team from France, Airwax, Russia's Paradise, Italy's Somain and Great Britain's Freefly.

Competitor's meeting at 17.30 hrs tomorrow, one hour before the Prizegiving and Closing Ceremony.  Bus leaves the hotel at 9.00 a.m. in the morning for fun jumps.

Wednesday 29th August:

By 1.30pm 6 rounds had been completed with none other than Belgium's premier team Hayabusa in the lead with 148 points, Team Thunder, their fellow compatriots, in 2nd place with 128 points and Russia's Sportloto in third place with 122 points.

It's a pity that the UAE VFS Team have no one to compete against, We look forward to seeing them perform on their home territory at the Mondial later this year.

The three Freestyle teams have kept their positions through 4 rounds, with Russia totalling 28 points so far, followed by Venezuala with 22.9 points and UK not far behind them with 21.1 points.

Russia is also holding onto first place after 4 rounds in Freefly too with 30.5 points with France licking at their heels with 30.2 points and with 29.2 points, the Italian team sitting in 3rd place.

12.00 - Round 5 FS completed, with Hayabusa awarded a rejump due to the exit into cloud and being unjudgeable for the start of their jump.  The rejump was excellent - 31 points clean!  The clouds have moved away and the 6th round is underway.  The artistic judges also have some work to do after a slow morning.

8.00 hrs We were greeted this morning by overcast skies, but with a high cloud base Round 5 of the 4-way open was soon underway.  The forecast for the rest of the day looks promising, so it's planned to do another 4 rounds of FS, 3 rounds of VFS, as well as another 3 rounds in Artistics.

Belgium's Hayabusa has remained in first place throughout the 4 rounds so far with a total of 95 points, with Russia's Sportloto behind them with 83 points and Belgium's Thunder team close on their heels with 81 points.

Tuesday 28th August.   By miday 2 rounds of FS are completed - everyone is in front of the DZ screen for the judging - the image is superb.  The big question is where is the Oman team?  They pre-booked, and sent an e-mail to say they were on their way with two teams, not one - and nothing has been heard from them since!  Meanwhile the competition is underway, and already there is a good competition developing between the two Belgium teams (in the World Cup) and Russia, France, GB and Italy for the next placings.  The sun is shining, the wind down, so conditions are great.

Meanwhile the Artistic Events are also underway, with the intention to jump 3 rounds today.  So far the first round of Free Fly has been judged and France is in the top spot.  Free Style is currently being judged.

The voice of the Manifester and now a photo - Sarka Blaskova - calling the teams to order.

The Closing Ceremony and Party have been moved to Friday evening, and if the weather continues to be good (it is forecast to be) we have a three day World competition.

First bus from the hotel 6.30 for the competitors.  First load is at 8.00 - the weather looks good.  The plan is to jump 4 rounds of FS events, and then 3 rounds of AE Events.

This is a small competition, but the atmosphere is really great.  Yesterday when teams learnt that some of the cameras did not meet the requirements of the new regulations - it is worth reading the competition rules before entering! - there was a great effort made between the teams to share/lend cameras to each other.

The Jury has already been busy sorting a few registration issues, but all was all ready by the time for the opening ceremony last night.

To quote each speech maker last night - we wish for a good competition and blue skies!

27th August 2012 :  The weather in the afternoon was mixed with high winds, 5 more practice jumps were judged before eveyone left the DZ to get back to the hotel for the opening ceremony at 17.00 hrs. This was followed by the FS draw at 20.00 hrs.

12.00 noon - the first practice jump is judged.  Turkey 4-way score 6 points clean.

26th August 2012:   We're up and running!

Official practice jumps will start at 3pm local time today Sunday 26th August, ending at 3pm on Monday. Registration has been extended until midnight on Sunday 26th August, so check back later to see who and which countries have entered which disciplines. The dive draw will take place tomorrow at the Opening Ceremony.