Level the playing field

The Icarus FX came out in 1996...

The Icarus VX came out in 1999...

The PD Velocity came out in 1999...

The JVX came out in 2005...

In three and half years the JVX has won two US National championships (2004/2008) and two Pro Swooping Tour championships (2007/2008). This isn't bad considering the short time the JVX has been on the market and the percentages. Less than 15% of pilots our competing with a JVX compared to other canopies like the Velocity with a 84% share of the field. We can only image how much more the JVX could do in the hands of more swoopers.

Price and experience keep most pilots away as we do not allow just anyone to fly the JVX and we don't offer discounts or have a dealer network. In addition to this we offer a list of options to our customers allowing you to build a custom competition canopy not available anywhere else on the planet! We are continually testing and refining the JVX with improvements that get added as upgrades which are made available to our customers.

It has become obvious that "certain" factory pilots are not flying the same parachute that you can buy. In 2004 we decided to change all of that and launch Daedalus canopies (pronounced 'Day duh less') to offer canopy pilots the same high performance parachute our factory pilots fly. In that same year the JVX won the 1st US championships of canopy piloting and it did it again this year. We agree that the JVX is not for everyone but if you think you have what it takes then you might want to take another look.

Over the past year we have improved our sail material technology, our lines, our trim, our logo process, our online color picker and much more. With these advancements and an array of custom options we hope to level the playing field and bring a gold medal to the little guy from somewhere you have never heard of before.

Call or E-mail us today!
1-888-752-8660
support@daedaluscanopies.com

jimslaton@daedaluscanopies.com
www.daedaluscanopies.com

Nick Batsch wins the US nationals of Canopy Piloting and the PST championships at Swoop Week!

Nick Batsch has won the 2008 US Nationals of Canopy Piloting winning four medals in all and he also won the Pro Swooping Tour championships for the second year in a row! Nick flew a JVX 77, JVX 79 & JVX 85 to victory in almost every event setting a new IPC/FAI world record in the process. Nick took home $2,500 for his overall win in the PST championships and another $500 for his 1st place finish in the long jump distance event.

It was awesome watching all the PD Factory Team and other competitors go head to head with Nick in each round. It was a very tough competition but Nick beat out over 40 other competitors to win the US Nationals of Canopy Piloting and then another 26 to win the Pro Swooping Tour championships. Nick has won two championship eagle trophies and four USPA medals in total. Kevin Love won $1,500 for 2nd place in the PST championships and Stuart Schoenfeld won $1,000 for third. Nick will represent the USA in South Africa later this year as the #1 slot on the US team of Canopy Piloting.

PST Championships kick off

The Pro Swooping Tour championships started this morning at 9:30am with 27 competitors ready to rock. We started with the long jump distance event to see who could go further after touching the water before a set of buoys and over a start gate. Nick Batsch won this event and $500 from a local Toyota dealership.

Some of the pilots could not fly over the start gate after touching the water so they received the lowest possible score.

The body position Nick learned at the ground launch center and used to win the PST championships last year is now in use by many other competitors. It was great to see all the different ways competitors are trying to fly now. It was even more entertaining watching Nick Batsch and Jonathan Tagle go at it round by round.

ABC World News was shooting on location all day and the venue was packed. We raffled off two free tandem skydives to spectators courtesy of Stapp Interstate Toyota. After three rounds of the long jump distance event we switched to the "Freestyle X" event and the crowd loved it! There were many good runs during the event today including a "miracle man"combinations, "blindman" combinations, "tick jockeys" and more. In the end Shannon Pilcher finished on top winning the Freestyle X competition.

We start the freestyle accuracy event in the morning at 9:00am to finish the Pro Swooping Tour championships for 2008. We will have more reports coming at you tomorrow.

Nick Batsch wins US Nationals of Canopy Piloting at Swoop Week!

Nick Batsch has won the 2008 US Canopy Piloting national championships flying his JVX 77. Nick beat out 44 other competitors including some of the best swoopers in the world. Shannon Pilcher won the silver medal and Stuart Shoenfeld won the bronze.

At the award ceremony the USPA awarded Nick with four medals including the overall gold, the gold in speed, silver in distance and bronze in accuracy! Nick is currently the Michael Phelps of swooping winning the most medals of the 2008 US Canopy Piloting Championships. Saturday morning (Aug 30th) Nick will defend his current title as the Pro Swooping Tour championships.

Steve Haseman won the gold in the advanced class with Shane Shaffer taking the silver.

US Canopy Piloting Championships

The US Canopy Piloting National Championship started at swoop week this morning. We held the safety briefing at 8:00am and made some small course modifications. We used all breakaway gates for the speed course except on the entry gate were we used airblades. In an effort to keep the air blades stationary during the meet we wrapped the airblade on itself and taped them up. This reduced the chance of the airblade blocking the electronic timing system sensors if the wind shifted directions.

The course modifications required us to add additional markers on the course to make it easier to see from above. Two large red inflatable balls (twice the size of a basketball) were put at the base of the entry gate markers and smaller yellow balls (size of a volley ball) were used to line the inside of the course between vertical markers. There were 45 competitors in all so it took us half the day to complete the speed event. 

We continued on with the Zone Accuracy event which took most of the day. The competition lasted from 9:00am to about 6:30pm. We only had one re-jump due to a malfunction and the rest of the day went on without incident. Jonathan Tagle won the accuracy event with Shannon Pilcher in 2nd and Nick Batsch in 3rd. At the time of posting the staff is still calculating the runs from the speed event. The area was full of vehicles today with a fairly large crowd at the pond. We have another 8:00am safety briefing in the morning and will start the distance event at 9:00am. 

Golden Knights sweep CPC championships!

From left to right, Christopher Moore, Greg Windmiller & Michael Eitniear

The Golden Knights Swoop Team cleaned up during the 2008 CPC championships at Swoop Week. After a challenging day on the speed course with a heavy crosswind Greg Windmiller, Michael Eitniear and Christopher Moore pulled through it victorious. 

The team came out of no where with solid and consistent runs during the competition. They told us they came to get their PST pro cards and it was one of their main goals for the Swoop Week. Not only did they win first, second and third place receiving their pro cards they also donated their $5,000 cash winnings! 50% went to the Wounded Warrior Foundation and they gave the remaining money to 4th, 5th and 6th place. Competitors were surprised to receive the cash and it was a first in canopy piloting. 

The Golden Knights performance at this year's championships is great for the Army but even bigger for the canopy piloting community. Little by little the Army Golden Knights have been making their way onto the scene fighting budget cuts for the war effort and more. Just take a second to consider what competition skydiving (RW) would have been like without the Golden Knights and what it could now do for canopy piloting. 

Congratulations to all the members of the US Army Golden Knights on their great performance at Swoop Week and we look forward to seeing them in future competitions.

CPC championships complete Aug 27th

In picture above, Sgt major Michael Eitniear swoops the speed course at today's event.

The 2008 CPC championships are now complete! We finished the speed event today completing three rounds before noon. The US Army Golden Knights did outstanding holding their lead and showing their canopy piloting skills. 

We had a fairly heavy crosswind on the course for the first few rounds forcing many to make a difficult downwind final so they could drift into position while approaching the gates. The winds stayed consistent until the 3rd round when they dropped off to nearly nothing. Competitors jumped from a twin otter at 5,500ft in groups of four to a pass. We had the secret service and Home Land Security on site to observe all the activity.

The competitor briefing for the US Nationals of Canopy Piloting will be 6:00pm at the pond and the award ceremony for the CPC championships will be at 8:00pm in the main hanger. We will award the championship (eagle) trophy, $5,000 in cash and glass trophies to the runner up and third place finish. We will post the scores and announce the winners of this championship event on the website later tonight.

CPC Championships Aug 26th

Photos from today's events have been added to the photo gallery

Today was the kickoff of Swoop Week with the CPC Championships. The weather was good with no wind until nearly noon. We started the distance event on time at 9:00am after a short safety briefing. In round one we had a competitor who approached the entry gate to steep and impacted the water staying submerged for several seconds. Several people jumped in the water to pull him to safety and 911 was called. He was transported to a nearby hospital for a couple of broken ribs and a slight concussion.

The competition continued about 45 minutes with round two of the distance event. All re jumps were moved to the end of round three. There were several good runs on the distance course with Greg Windmiller from the US Army Golden Knights leading after round one. We finished the distance event just before noon and switched to the accuracy event. The first round of zone accuracy was in light and variable winds but it picked up to 4-5 meters per second for the last two rounds.

The additional headwind made it challenging for the competitors so the first couple of pilots came up short from setting up to far back. The rest of the competition went without any issues and more pro level pilots showed up to train after the competition was finished. We ran several training loads out of the twin otter giving competitors the opportunity to practice on the speed, accuracy and distance course. In the morning we finish the CPC Championships with the speed event starting at 9:00am. The award ceremony will be at the main hanger tomorrow at 8:00pm.

Swoop Week kickoff with CPC Championships

We held the CPC competitor briefing this evening at the pond. We have a variety of pilots including the US Army Golden Knights, many from the Southeast region and a fairly large group from Skydive the farm. At the meeting we discussed the rules, guidelines and course for the competition. Not much has changed since last year except all the markers on the inside of the course is now 1.5 meters or 5ft. 

We have also moved the entry gate for the distance event more to the middle of the pond for added safety. With the other position some of the pilots would be setting up and approaching over the ground increasing the chance of a "hit & splash". We flew a few loads after the briefing but the winds picked up over 20kts but pilots were already in the air. Most of them selected to swoop the distance course downwind making for some interesting runs. We have added videos of these swoops to the photo gallery. Our pond maintenance shows up at 6:00am in the morning followed by the judging staff at 7:00am and then the competitors at 8:00am for the safety briefing.

Swoop Week Aug 25th

Today began around 8:00am with competitors training on the pond in preparation for the competitions starting in the morning. First up is the distance event of the CPC Championships followed by zone accuracy. The weather is looking pretty good with scattered clouds in the region with light to variable winds.  

We have all the courses up on the pond featuring distance, speed, zone accuracy and the long jump. More US Army Golden Knights showed up including the sergeant major who is registered for both the CPC and US Nationals. Last year's CPC champion Bryan Buechler has shown up and is training on the pond today. We spent a few hours today setting up the new timing system with custom brackets to fit. The new system which is property of PD is much better and reliable. The system is so accurate the sensors don't even have to be in the pond but on each side of the pond. We also added more packing tents and the WPST's team truck has been moved into position behind the bleachers at the pond. More to follow...