IPC Plenary Meeting, Faro, Portugal 2017: Day 5

Sunday 29th January 2017:

We head into the second and final Plenary Session, but not before mentioning the superb Gala Dinner that the organisers arranged with Hotel Eva .Not only were we treated to a magnificent banquet but also a lively and entertaining traditional Portuguese dancing and accompanying musical troupe.

During the meal Exi called for quiet and announced that there was a surprise in store for one member present and gave the floor to Gillian Rayner, previous IPC 1st Vice-President, to make the presentation. Gillian announced that she was very happy to be acting on behalf of Graeme Windsor (who could not be present) in presenting to Buzz Bennett a lead crystal rose bowl in recognition of his 40 years of continuous service in IPC. He had not been present the previous year and this was the first opportunity to do so. There was tremendous applause and a few not so dry eyes, including Buzz himself, who probably for the first time in his life had to admit he was speechless! Once he regained his composure he extended his thanks to one and all - in this video!

Speechless 'Buzz' receiving the crystal rose bowl presentation from Gillian Rayner
A proud and happy Lena sharing her husband's special moment!

Sunday 29 January 2017:

Marcus took the floor to take a second head count of countries present for today's voting procedure. Austria's delegate was not in attendance.  Marcus confirmed 33 countries in attendance with 8 proxies, totalling 41. The simple majority being 21.

Mohammed Al-Delayle, Chair of Indoor Skydiving set out the proposed rules changes, including junior definition to be up to 17 years with minimum of 12 subject to attaining 13 yrs in the year of competiton. In presenting a comparison chart of proposed IS Bids the delegate from Bahrain took the floor to advise Mohammed that there were errors relating to the dates of Bahrain's bid. The dates were verified as being in October as stated in the Bid forming part of the Agenda. However he also pointed out that the competition would be for 3 days. Mohammed then went on to explain why the committee was rejecting the two bids on the table for 2019 and their proposal that in future all bids should meet a criteria, they proposed a time frame for bids - current year +2 so next year bids could be accepted for the current year (if nothing on the calendar already), 2019 and 2020. They also proposed that a tunnel must be up and running before they could place a bid for an FCE. He had already covered the junior proposal of age range, but that only juniors 15 - 17 could compete in the open event. That the junior event would be run at a separate time from the open event, i.e. mornings or afternoon to keep their competition days shorter.

The proposals were accepted unanimously by the Plenary

There was also a proposal on the table from the family of Ty Baird, who sadly died in 2016, to create an award in memory, to be awarded to the top Indoor Junior World Champion, to be known as the "Peter Pan Award".

We then moved to the Vote for the five IS 2018 bids on the table. Marcus asked for Buzz to act as a scrutineer, which was accepted. Marcus then explained the voting slips he was handing out. As the delegates would be voting for all bids at one time, the voting slip comprised the names of the 5 countries, one per line, with the slip divided into 3 vertical columns: Yes - No - Abstain. Each line must only contain one X, each paper 5 X;s.

Whilst the voting slips were handed out, collected and counted Exi called for the presentation from the Canopy Piloting Committee.

Alberto Martin Paracuellos, committee Chair. He stated that all the proposals were contained in Annex 25, the only rule changes they proposed were modifications; a change to the dimensions of the Zone Accuracy grid, a compulsory training jump, no need for members of a team to jump together, specification of the course markers and the material to be used in the accuracy landing zone, a change in the qualification of the judges, 7 FAI, 4 National for specific tasks. All the changes are detailed in the document circulated at the Plenary and available after on the Web Site. One proposal of the committee that did not receive agreement, and therefore was not presented today, was to modify the result calculation from a percentage system to a simple ranking system. However the WAG competition 2017 would use that system for the results calculation.

Alberto called for a vote to accept the proposed rule changes. Patrice Girardin asked for a separate vote on the WAG scoring system. The changes overall were approved unanimously. The WAG ranking was carried with only 1 vote against it.

He then moved to future FCEs and for 2018 to be voted on - a secret ballot was not called for and Poland received unanimous approval. For 2019, France had presented a Letter of Intent, there were no questions.

The 7th FAI World Canopy Piloting Championships in  will be held in Wroclow, Poland: 1st - 8th July 2018

We then moved to the result of the vote for the 2018 Indoor Skydiving World Cup:

The Bid was awarded to Bahrain.

The 3rd FAI World Cup in Indoor Skydiving  will be held in Allaq, Bahrain, 24 - 27 October 2018

Norway asked if the Plenary would consider the bid they had made, as had Slovakia, for a European Championships. Both bids had been for both competitions. As this was not a separate item on the Agenda the Bureau asked for time for a quick Bureau meeting before giving a decision.

We then moved to the voting for the Indoor Skydiving World Championships 2019.

Neither Germany nor Italy achieved a simple majority in favour : Germany 5 Yes - 26 No :  Italy  17 Yes - 23 No - 1 Abstention

France has a Letter of Intent recorded of their wish to bid for 2019, this Letter of Intent is still valid.

John Smyth then presented Wingsuit Flying. John explained that due to time constraints he would not go through his report again, but would just go through the rule changes proposed including confirmation of the committee's decisions on matters that had aroused a great deal of correspondence.

Wingsuit Flying Committee

Performance - no reduction in altitude - Acrobatic - would stick to working time for the next 2 years and would not move to an altitude window. This is because the systems currently available are not accurate enough and due to not being developed fully, would slow the judging down. This was very much against the Strategic Plan for IPC. A Flight Director will be appointed to act as inflight liaison in the co-ordination of jump runs; this is for safety reasons. Use a Geometric Altitude, designated flight path. The order of the event would be Distance, Speed, Time. The flight director must be on board any aircraft with 8 or more capacity. His role is to assist not direct. He will also ensure the 600 mt/15 seconds spacing between exits.  The changes in Acrobatic judging and scoring will give credit for skill, including the camera-flying as in AE.  There were no questions and the changes were approved unanimously.

There was a bid for the FCE in 2017 and he called for a vote: The Netherlands delegate called for a secret vote. He explained that the previous year's competition had been in the USA and was expensive, as was this, Netherlands would find it difficult to send one candidate and he was concerned that we may, as a result have a small competition. Exi replied that competitors want to compete, and we had no other bid.  Randy asked to speak to explain a change to the bid as a result of a mistake in the original presentation.  After discussion a 2/3rds majority vote was called for to hear what he had to say, it was achieved and it was explained that the cost for an entry in both disciplines would not be double the individual entry (as appeared from the original bid) but there was a price for both :

Performance - $995, Acrobatic - $925. and both events - $1545 with the sanction fee in addition*.

* An error was made in the earlier version I posted - this is the correct and accepted entry fee for both events - $1545.  Susan Dixon

A secret vote was then taken on whether or not the FCE should be awarded to the USA - the result was 24 - Yes : 16 - No : 1 - Abstention. Carried.

The 2nd FAI World Cup of Wingsuit Flying  will be in Overton, Nevada, USA: 1st - 9th November 2017

There were two bids on the table for 2018 - the Netherlands and the Czech Republic

Gustavo Eduardo Reyes: Chair T & S Working Group

Whilst the voting slips were handed out, Exi called on Gustavo Eduardo Reyes, to report on the activity of the Technical and Safety Working Group. During the meeting Gustavo had handed out to all Delegates the CD containing the results of the survey for 2015 and thanked all Nations that had participated and called for more to do so.  The only way we will make Skydiving/Parachuting safe is if we share information on potential problems and solutions. The more information we have the better it will be.   When he called for questions, Patrice Girardin, French Delegate spoke about the programme they had started in France to compile a comparison chart of different Nations qualification systems, so that it was easier to understand the actual standard of a visiting jumper. Jiri Blaska, Czech Republic said the basics were there in SCS5 and this should be respected for all licences - if it needed to change, change Section 5.

Exi thanked Gustavo and his Working Group for all their hard work.  Gustavo explained that they had put an amount in the budget so that they could change from CDs (some laptops no longer read them) to USB sticks for the future.  He also announced that for future surveys they would include aircarft (parachuting) accidents.

Marcus then announced the results of the vote for the 2018 Wingsuit Flying World Championships.  It was close but one emerged with a larger simple majority.

Netherlands                               22 Yes - 18 No - 1 Abstention

Czech Republic                         25 Yes - 16 No - 0 Abstention

The 2nd FAI World Wingsuit Flying Championships will be held in Prostejov, Czech Republic 25 August - 2 September 2018

We then had a much needed Coffee break and the Bureau met and decided that the Indoor Skydiving European Cup 2018 could be voted on by the Plenary as there was no conflict of interest with the approved bid from Bahrain for the World Cup.

After delegates returned from the Coffee Break a vote was made between Norway and Slovakia - Norway received a definite simple majority.

Norway                  26  Yes  -  6  No  -  3 Abstentions                   Slovakia  10 Yes - 24 No - 3 Abstentions

The 1st FAI European Indoor Skydiving Championships will be held in Voss, Norway 10 - 15 April 2018

Next came the Working Group that is responsible for the core of our sport's regulations, everything that controls the conduct of it.  Ronald Overdijk the Chair of the Rules and Regulations WG started by saying he did not intend to go over all the proposals that had been discussed at the open meeting and assumed that everyone had read the proposals.  He intended to elaborate on changes that were not accepted.  No remarks were made about the proposed changes to Section 5 - he drew attention to 1.3 (1) and 1.3.(2) addressing safety issues.  4.5.3.(4) now incorporates the IPC Medal Policy into Section 5.  There is no change to the Jury requirements.

The First Category Event Application Document had been revised to define the Application Schedule dates not to add a time frame for the bidding procedure but when bids are decided, i.e. date + 2 years.  There would be a different time scale for a Mondail and also Para-Ski requires 3 years.  There was now a blank bid document which would be available to all potential bidders so that all the information is there that is needed for inclusion in the Agenda.  Bids will only be accepted for Indoor Skydiving from a Tunnel that is open and operating. All equipment must be ready and operational for both training jumps and the competiton. Reconfirmed that once a bid is on the Agenda it cannot be changed.  There was also a new table of application fees and deposits required, made simpler and less expensive - this had been discussed at the Open Meeting.

In the Internal Regulations there was one change in the duties of the Records Officer who will now do clarification and approval of a dossier before presentation to the FAI for ratification.  When asked the question from the floor of Randy Connell, if there was a time scale built in for final ratification?, Ronald, said yes, 30 days for publication.

There was also a blank Bulletin format for use by organisers and revised Jury and FAI Controller's handbooks.

The changes were all accepted unanimously when put to the vote.

We then moved to a report on the work of the Judges Committee, Chaired by Bernard Nicholas. Bernard commenced by thanking his committee for their work during the year and said he had no problem working with women. He did not propose any changes to his committee and asked for any questions on his report - there were none.

Judges Committee	Bernard Nicholas: Chair Judges

The work on the detailed document on Accepted Judging and Scoring Systems had been created, it was intended to annex this to the First Category Event Bid Document, so that it would be a help to organisers, providers and judges and would form part of the Application Document and ultimately the Organiser Agreement.

He then covered the proposed wording regarding the Video Controller, arrival at the competition site of CJ, EJs and Judges. There was discussion from the floor on the wording of the proposed change to SC Section 5 - 6.7.1 (1). The explanation from Bernard was accepted. The committee had not accepted the proposals from either Austria or Canada except to add the word Final in the title of SC S5 6.1.2(8).

The proposals were accepted unanimously by the Plenary.

Bernard showed the New Judges Log Book which had been organised by the Delegate from Austria in conjunction with CISM and Cypres (Airtec GmbH) at no cost to IPC. He thanked them and also said that he had 250 Log Books that were available for all FAI Judges.

The Judges committee intends to look at the role of the Video Librarian in the light of the rapidly changing technology and will discuss it over the year and come back with a proposal for the plenary next year.

Patrice Girardin, in his role of 1st Vice-President is responsible for the maintenance of the Jury List and produced it with the proposed changes - removals and additions for approval by the Plenary. This was given unanimously.

So we are drawing towards the end of the Meeting, but not before a few further important decisions have to be made.

Firstly, Awards and we commenced with the FAI Gold Parachuting Medal for which we had two contenders.  

Randy Connell acting Delegate of USA who had made this proposal spoke of their nominee - B.J. Worth.  As the USA stated, he needed no introduction and was a legend in his own lifetime in our sport - almost too many outstanding achievements to name - former President of IPC - World Champion - Record Holder countless times - Organiser......  here was an opportunity to acknowledge his contribution to our sport.

B J Worth - Recipient of the FAI Gold Parachuting Medal

Last year Argentine had proposed José Angel Bassano for the Leonardo deVinci Diploma but it had not been correctly complied and they had agreed to defer it to this year.  Now they were proposing José Angel Bassano for the FAI Gold Parachuting Medal.  It was a very generous act on the part of Argentina when they withdrew their nominee and agreed to re-apply next year to leave the field clear for the USA Proposal.  This meant there was no need for a vote and as there were no objections B.J. Worth  has been awarded the FAI Gold Parachuting Medal.

The next agenda item was a Proposal from Norway to establish a new Award for Indoor Freestyle in honour of David Reader.  However the family had decided not to proceed, at this time, with this proposal and so Norway had withdrawn it. 

Ron Miasnikov then stated that the Artistic Events and Indoor Skydiving committee had presented, for inclusion on the Agenda, a proposal from the family of Tyler Biard.  They asked  to create an Award for the Indoor World Junior Frestyle Champion to be known as the Peter Pan Award.  The letter from the family was posted on the Agenda as part of Annex 39, the Indoor Skydiving Committee report.  It had been discussed at the Open Meeting.    Exi called for a vote to create this award, in the interest of our sport, and this was unanimously supported. 

We then moved to Any Other Business. 

Dr. Isvan Sipos, Hungary asked if the IPC Meeting 2018 be organised more effectively to save time during the meetings, and asked that the Bureau work with FAI and the future organiser and come forward with proposals to speed up the voting process.  Marcus Haggeney did say that the FAI had an electronic voting system which they would discuss its use again with the Bureau.

Doris Merz-Hunziker, Switzerland asked the Bureau how the documents would be circulated during the Plenary in the future.  The arrangement in Faro using a local 'cloud' had not worked satisfactorily - for whatever reason.  The Bureau responded that all the documents from this meeting would be available on both the Organiser's website and the FAI Website as soon as the meeting finished, but would certainly look very carefully at this for the future.

Patrice Girardin, France then talked about the work being done by the French Parachute Federation along with the NAC and the Organiser of the Paris bid for the 2024 Olympic Games.  The rules have changed, and it is now possible for the City hosting the games to select 5 new sports for inclusion.  It is early days, but they are working together to see if it is possible for Indoor Skydiving to be included.  Don't be surprised if you see media reports on this venture.

We then moved to the agenda item 27.  Elections and Appointments

During their presentations Committee Chairs had presented their committees and any proposals for change.  The total list now included the new Working Group - Parachuting for the Disabled.  No one was against the acceptance of the proposed committees and working groups structure.

Nomination and Election of the IPC IPETA Directors

Both Dr. Rainer 'Exi' Hoenle and Patrice Girardin were nominated from the Bureau, Gail Bradley (Australia), Marylou Laughlin (USA) and Dr. Istvan Sipos (Hungary), were proposed from those attending the Plenary.   The two Directors from the FAI were Marcus Haggeney, FAI Sports and Marketing Director and Mr. Alvaro De Orleans Borbon (FAI Executive Board).  All were accepted unanimously.

The following positions were all confirmed unanimously by the Plenary:

Elisabet Mikaelsson as IPC World Games Liaison Officer and Randy Connell as the IPC Records Officer.  The appointment of Susan Dixon as IPC Webmaster and IPC Media Liaison Officer had been voted on the previous day.

Patrice Girardin then presented the confirmed Juries for the 2017 FCEs and also the FAI Controllers for the FCEs awarded at this Plenary for 2017, 2018 and 2019.

The end of the meeting is in sight.

We now came to the selection of a venue for the 28th FAI - IPC Plenary Meeting.  After the required vote (2/3rds majority) not to go to Lausanne the Delegates were ready for the presentations from Israel and Bulgaria, both of whom bid to host the 2018 Meeting.

Ron Miasnikov, Israel presented the bid from her NAC by showing a picture of Jerusalem under snow - a rare site, but it does happen.  Come to Israel, it is about time for a real change, something different - the venue is a Kibbutz, set amongst trees and close to the beach.  Tel Aviv is a city that never stops if you want time away from the meeting.  She admitted the bid is expensive, but it is totally inclusive and they plan to organise hospitality visits including a dinner at the tunnel one night with the chance for Delegates to fly - and if you stay for an extra night they will arrange complimentary tours.

Vesela Stanenova-Dzhorova presented the bid from Bulgaria.   We know them, they have run a successful Plenary meeting in the past, but this time they propose to host it in Sofia, the capital city.  Easy air links to all European Cities and for those coming from further afield, only one change.  The Hotel is easy to reach by public transport, but they will provide a shuttle service to and from the airport.  There is a good, free Wifi service in the hotel and venue.  On Friday they offer a Tour of the City of Sofia from the Mayor of the city - she then showed a 30 second video.  

There were no questions for either bidder and so a vote was taken.

The result :                                Israel  10                          Sofia  28                      1 Abstention and 1 Spoilt Vote.

The 68th FAI IPC Plenary Meeting is awarded to Bulgaria.

Exi then ended the meeting by thanking the Portuguese Parachute Federation for their work as hosts of this, the 67th FAI IPC Plenary Meeting.  There was a standing ovation for the hard work done by Manuel Alemida, Delegate for Portugal, before everyone dispersed for lunch and their journeys home.