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...

Surge of high winds!

At sunset today we had a surge of high winds come through the pond and nearly wipe out all the courses! The winds only lasted 15-20 minutes but it was enough to create waves on the pond. In previous years we have had all of the courses blown off the pond and into a field. We were prepared this year with a new type of anchor system and breakaway poles. The new system allows the course to flex without striping or breaking the fiberglass poles.  We have posted a video of the action.