IPC Plenary Meeting, Faro, Portugal 2017: Day 1

Wednesday 25th January 2017: 

The Delegates, Alternate Delegates, Official Observers and other attendees gather for the start of the Open Meetings prior to this year's 2017 Plenary. Manuel Almeida, Organiser and Portugala's delegate, welcomed everyone to the Open Meeting and reminded us of a few points about the sensible use of the wifi and the need to ensure the ID's were worn at all times.

The IPC President, Dr Exi Rainer Hoenle,  addressed the meeting to explain minor changes to the Agenda running order, principally to enable bids to be presented together. With 5 bids for Indoor Skydiving a draw order was made to effect the presentation order. 

The Deputy Chair of the Indoor Committee, Trude Sviggum, presented the report to the floor. The popularity of this discipline has exceeded all expectations, hence we now have 5 bids on the table. It was suggested that competition-wise it would be a great advantage to have a World Cup Series during the World Cup year. To this end a task force will be formed to put forward a future plan of action, which is hoped to present at the Plenary. Junior entrants form a great part of the Indoor Skydiving community and the discussion elaborated on age related matters and how this affects different countries.

Indoor Skydiving Committee

The morning continued with Mark Szulmayer presenting his Formation Skydiving report, although many of his committee were currently absent due to various reasons. One aspect his committee wish to amend is to increase VFS pool 4 blocks and 2 randoms for 10 round competition. In addition they wish to remove part of rule 4.4.2, ie the. reverse jump order in the semi-final and final rounds. The competitors believed it was a waste of time and could be determined at a convenient break in the competition.  

Mark went on to describe minor changes to the 8 way pool and general housekeeping with consistency of pools and minor re-numbering of 2.1.7. The competitors are happy with 4-way so no changes are envisaged.

The 4-way pool has now been reprinted so that all grip locations are more clearly presented, following the removal of the side-body rule last year.

There was a discussion regarding the fact that one of the Indoor Skydiving bids included an 8-way competition, but as yet this was not part of the callendar and the committee had yet to do rules for it.  There was discussion on the point as there was concern that the addition of 8-way would, in the future, preclude some tunnels form being able to bid for a FCE.  The committee would leave this for the time being as is - i.e. no 8-way indoor.

We then moved to Ron Miasnikov who presented the reports from the Artistic Events committee.  She reported that both events during 2016 had a good participation for both events and a good number of junior competitors. 

There were also two very good Competitors Meetings after each FCE, particularly in Chicago which in fact became a Workshop of competitors and judges leading to some very good suggestions and ideas which the committee are taking on board.  They felt that there should be a change to the rule asking for reverse order of jumping to reverse order of judging, which would save time.  Also to remove the cut after round 5 and let all teams/competitors jump the full number of rounds for the competition to bring AE in line with other disciplines.

In the indoor competition, Dynamic, the committee were considering introducing a Bust Challenge.  In other words if a competitor felt the live judgement leading to a bust was incorrect, they could challenge it, and the video of that flight would be reviewed.  If the challenge was correct the competitor would still keep the challenge to use again.  However, if the challenge showed the bust was correctly given, they loose any chance to use it again.  Just like tennis and line calls.

A lot of discussion followed the feeling from the committee that it is too early to split indoor Solo Freestyle into Male and Female events as this could mean too few NAC entries to qualify for a FCE.  There was quite a bit of opinion from the floor on this issue generally and whether disciplines were actually viable.

The committee would continue to discuss how or if they introduce a music round as part of the Solo Freestyle programme.  In Poland there were very different uses of music during the competitors' performance putting pressure on the organisation, and changing the desire of the discipline to have a level playing field for all.

Ron then introduced her dramatic idea - pay the judges!  The need for professional judging, particularly of the AE event being judged live - with Dynamic still needing professional fliers to teach traditional AE judges how to judge their event.  At the World Cup in Poland the Cheif Judge used a combination of Dynamic and AE judges on a panel of 5 and it worked very well, but more time is needed at the judges conference before the competition starts to bring everyone up to speed.  This involves judges taking more time off work, at a cost, and so the committee were looking at the proposal to pay judges.  This caused discussion and they were asked to involve to the Judges' committee in these discussions.

In bringing her presengtation to a close Ron submitted her revised budget of 2000 Euros for preparation of Dynamic training videos for judges.

We then broke for a very necessary Coffee Break before the various Bids for the Indoor Skydiving WC 2018 were heard.

Australia:

The first country to make their Bid for the IS in 2018 was Australia lead by Brett Sheridan with iFly Downunder. By 2018 Australia will have 5 active Indoor Skydiving tunnels and they are proposing to host the IS World Cup from 29 September – 4 October 2018 in Sydney, NSW.

Brett described the facility as a one-stop venue which currently hosts one of the largest entertainment/sports complexes including a 4* hotel and multiple restaurants. Its position in the world globe cannot be altered, but the concept that it's an expensive place to get to was addressed by comparing flights to Norway from Los Angeles ($1046) and to Australia ($1272). He went on to suggest that people made the trip into a holiday.

As a sports-minded nation they are used to promoting their various sports with multiple media companies and commentators – engaging with the public and explaining what it is all about. He concluded his presentation with an engaging video.

Slovakia:

Next we heard from Sarka Blaskova, the appointed Event Manager for Slovakia’s Bid for the 3rd World Cup in Indoor Skydiving, togther with the 1st European Indoor Skydiving Championships in 2018.

An experienced organiser with Hurricane Factory, Sarka proposed the venue at Tatralandia, located in Liptov region close to the highest mountains in Slovakia. She acknowledged the location wasn’t the easiest one to get to, but paid shuttle services could be provided to/from the Poprad–Tatry international airport (1 hr by car) as well as Krakow (3hrs by car).

Hurricane Factory Tatralandia is located within the Tatralandia Holiday Resort complex with cottage and bungalow accommodation, all of which is within walking distance of the tunnel. Two date options were offered, the organiser’s preferred choice being the Spring dates of 28 February – 4 March 2018. The second option was 31 October – 4 November 2018.

Bahrain:

Being one of the world’s tallest, full glazed tunnels at 19.5 metres, Gravity was one of the first brands to build a tunnel to host competitions and a facility based on hospitality.

The location also boasts a never before seen 8.3 metre video screen facility. State of the art technology and smooth wind speed – relax and rehearse in space other tunnels do not have. Its extraordinary height means it can offer a base jump facility - one of only 2 tunnels in the world that can do so and each competitor will be offered that experience once the comp is finished.

Sponsorship from high profile Bahrain business and government will enable officials and judges to be accommodated at 5 star hotel to include local transport and food. The entry fee has been reduced from $740 to $599. In addition, prize money totalling $200,000 will be on offer. Judges Training course will also be offered. Opening ceremony at a Japanese award winning restaurant, with the closing ceremony earmarked at the 5* Ritz Carlton, on their private island. Special rates with Gulf Air are also anticipated.

Like Slovakia, they too are offering two dates, namely 21 – 25 March 2018  or 24-28 October 2018. Teams will also be offered 15 mins free tunnel training time.

Norway:

The Bid was presented by Norway's delegate, Trude Sviggum, to host the IS Championships during the period 10-15 April 2018 in Voss.

Despite some issues with the sound system which prevented us hearing the views of many jumpers, the Video showed some stunning views of Voss and Norway.  Voss is a beautiful place and visit once you want to go back and competitors have said they hope it will be there.

They worked hard with their budget to give the best they can. They have operated a tunnel for 5 years which is known for its good and strong air flow. They have hosted competitions since 2014 and in 2016 held the Nordic Indoor championships. 4 working towards 2018 competition.

Experienced team at hosting international competitions in other sports. Unfortuntely limited space in the tunnel, so plan to set up on the outside – 150 indoor for spectators only, competitors and VIP area for officials and sponsors. Restaurants outside x 2 screens – tent for creepting and quiet area of competitors – space for TV production and Judges rest area. Competitors behind the tunnel to make it less crowded and more convenient for them. Agreement with the Park hotel with lake front and what is bosted as the best wine cellar in Europe! – Work with biggest TV companies in Norway to create a production and running the live stream with experienced commentators and facebook feeds. An Extreme sports festival is held in Voss  the TV company is experienced at covering these.

Children cannot participate in championships up to and including the year they turn 12. The rules also apply for foreign children participating in championships held in Norway.

Following Norway's Bid we broke for lunch.

At 14.30hrs we reconvened the Open Meting when the IPC President introduced Fritz Brink, the newly elected FAI President. He has also been appointment as the link between the FAI Executive Board and the IPC. He was pleased to attend his first IPC Plenary.

We continued with the presentation of the Report from the Chair of Canopy Formation, Rina Gallo. With a successful and well attended competition at the Mondial, followed by a good turn out at the Competitors' Meeting, it was evident that competitors wanted a lot of changes to the rules.

One of the major ones was the dislike of the definition of a Foot Grip – to a “contact”. Marylou will initiate a web challenge and the rules for that will include a ‘contact’ as a grip definition to see how it goes.

Build time will not be changed from 20 – 40 as the committee felt this was going backwards. A malfunction 1 per event will give a rejump. Throwaway Round stays.

A call to reinstate the Web Challenge so this will be tried again, so all delegates go home and get all the CF competitors to compete! CF does not want competitions in WC years – so this will be an opportunity to try out rule changes. Any CF team at any level can compete – follow the draw and submit it and it will be judged – 2 months chance to do it.

If we have a good response, next year Marylou promised to go out and seek a sponsor for a good prize. Last time we did this she secured a new canopy for a competitor being drawn randomly. A suggestion from the floor that could this be used for a National Championships? Three rounds. Why not? The committee will take this on board. To use Dropbox as a means of collecting videos.

With the next CF event scheduled at Saarlouis, Germany later this year, Rina invited all delegates to bid for future CF competitions.

The Speed Skydiving Chair, Elisabet Mikaelsson, offered to slow down her presentation to enable everyone to follow her (!). She went on to introduce her committee, then showed us a video which had been produced to explain Speed Skydiving to the media, seeing as their discipline is more likely to be heard than seen.

Last year's first World Championships at the Mondial in Chicago had entries from 23 competitors encompassing 9 nations. With the sport's popularity finally extending beyond the European boundaries, it was encouraging to have entries from Australia and the USA.

The speed boundaries continue to be broken, necessitating the alteration of the graph to accommodate the record speed achieved last year. Following the competitors' meeting several proposals were put forward relating to safety factors including altitude limits for the course to account for the increasing speeds being achieved. Likewise, changes pertaining to Exit Order and Maximum Exit Altitude, plus the number of rounds.

As for Approved Analysis software and Speed Measuring Devices, more testing is required to evaluate Barometric versus GPS Measurement systems before the committee can make any final decisions.

Forthcoming competitions: European Championship and World Cup 2017, Saarlouis, Germany
Future bids:
World Championship 2018 Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, 2018
World Championship 2018 DZ Voznesenka Krasnoyarsk Region, Russia, 2018

We returned to two more Bids, with the first presented by Denis Sviridof and assisted by Aliya Ananina with their Bid for Russia to host the  23d FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving, 12th FAI World Championship of Artistic events, 18th FAI World Championship of Canopy Formation and 2nd FAI World Championship of Speed Skydiving during the period 10-19 August 2018.

The venue is DZ Voznesenka, in the Krasnoyarsk region of central Russia. Distance from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk is 4130 kms. Flight from Moscow (Domodedovo, Sheremetevo, Vnukovo airports) – Krasnoyarsk (Emelyanovo airport) takes 4 hours 45 minutes, or by train from Moscow (Kazansky station, Yaroslavsky station)is 60-67 hours.

Top hotel accommodation – 15 floors – shuttle bus will be organised.
A number of questions from the floor; Do the aircraft have grips, steps etc.  WiFi OK. Sanction Fee – must be 90 Euros, was quoted in US dollars. Insurance requirements – what is the US$ price for the insurance. Omniskore not an accepted scoring system for Speed Skydiving. 

The second Bid, for the same Championships, was made by Australia's Delegate, Gail Bradley.with a revised date schedule of 4-14 October 2018, the venue being Runaway Bay on the Gold Coast in Queensland, being 1 hour from Brisbane airport. The same venue would be hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2018. 

She made an excellent presentation which emphasised the Australian way, clearly explaining and illustrating the different packages on offer.

Media Plan will be handled by a full time employee of the APF, Rob Libeau. With experience of Australian TV.
The questions were general and answered easily. However, the bid was subject to a variation if the fuel prices increase by more than 15%.

 Finance Secretary Report:

Exi explained that at the end of the last Plenary there was no appointed Finance Secretary. He thanked Peter Pfalzgraf for taking on the role.
Peter went on to explain that he took on a much more difficult job than he had anticipated. He thanked both Buzz and Doris for their help in taking on this role. He did explain that handwritten claims do sometimes create problems in processing the claim so he proposed a change to the Reimbursement Policy to state that banking and personal details must be typed not handwritten.
Peter presented a different format of the IPC Financial Statement, he found the previous ones difficult to understand and is now presenting a much simpler format.
Part of the Special Reserve held by the FAI for IPC includes part of the repayment of the loan made to IPETA.

There was discussion between the members of the working group over the veracity of the figures, so Exi suggested the presentation be continued in the morning after the Working Group has consulted.

The IPC President drew the day's business to a close, advising of a 09.00hrs start on Thursday morning.