WHAT OUR MEMBERS ARE UP TO 

2012

Mardi Gras Madness

Sydney’s Mardi Gras had a Skydivers' inaugural float for the first time in 2012. Twenty-three smokin’ hot skydivers joined the march in support of the LGBT community.

VTPC State Championships

Formation Skydivers took to the skies between 26 and 29 January to compete at the VTPC State Championships, held at Australian Skydive, Bridgewater DZ. Congratulations to winning Open 4-Way Formation Team "Chuck Norriss" and Intermediate 4-Way Formation Team "Ayr Monkeys".

Ayr Monkeys 4-way Inter Gold – Ralph Hamilton-Presgrave	Ayr Monkeys Marquee – Lisa Perdichizzi	Chuck Norris 4-way Open Gold – Lisa Perdichizzi

2011

New Australian VFS Record Achieved

Photographs by Will Pesek

Between the 26th and 30th of December 2011, 59 skydivers participated in the Australian Vertical Formation Record Attempts at Sydney Skydiver' Picton DZ, NSW. Armed with years of experience in the air and a burning desire to beat the existing 25 way record set in 2009, under the guidance of Coach Mickey Nuttal participants took to the skies and were rewarded with the achievement of a new 33 way record on the 29th December 2011. 

Congratulations to all those who were involved in achieving the new record!



For record details and participants, click here.

For footage of the jump click here. 

 

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Australia Soars at 3rd Dubai International Parachuting Championships and Gulf Cup

Photographs by Dave Boulter

 The Australian Parachuting Team has achieved some excellent results! Michael Vaughan, Jules McConnel and Craig Bennett (Team Ookoonono) set a new Aussie record of 23 points and achieved second place in the Canopy Formation 2-Way Sequential event.

In the Canopy Piloting Freestlye Demonstration team event, the Australian foursome of  Rob McMillan, Tom Gilmartin, Ben Lewis and Luke Oliver came third behind the winning UAE and 2nd placing USA teams. Robbie also placed in the top 10 in the Individual CP Freestyle results.

Team Ookoonono in action	Team Ookoonono with IPC President Graham Windsor	Dave Boulter scores a zero on his round 7 jump	Rob McMillan demonstrates his canopy piloting skills

 For full results click here.
 
Congratulations to the medallists and all those who participated at the event!

Julie Takes The Plunge

Photographs by Wade Edwards
 
Many of you will have spoken to the lovely Julie Singh who has been an Admin Assistant at the APF National Office since April 2010. Julie made her first tandem jump at Ramblers Parachute Centre’s Toogoolawah DZ on the 3rd December with TM Kim Fairclough.

Congratulations Julie and welcome to the skies!

Sydney Harbour by Wingsuit

In the very early hours of the morning of December the 14th, Glen Singleman, Heather Swann and Vicente Cajiga exited over Rosebay, flew 3.5 N Miles into a 30 - 35k head wind, landing at Barangaroo. Click here to see the "Wingsuit harbour flight" video footage on Channel Ten News.

Glen Singleman wingsuiting over Sydney Harbour

2011 South Queensland Regional Championships: FS and VFS

Photos by Frank Klaus and Lisa Perdichizzi

The 2011 South Queensland Regional Championships were held at Ramblers Parachute Centre, Toogoolawah on the 19th and 20th of November. Competitors battled it out over the two days to win the title for their respective team events. After a tight contest the following winning teams were determined: 

- VFS 2 Way: "I.T." - Marc Dergacz, Phil Kemper, Naomi Adam (camera)
- FS 8 Way Intermediate: "Air 8" - Chris Rose, Greg Maskell, Leanne Critchley, Riss Anderson, Lisa Perdichizzi, Ben Nordkamp, Mat Coles, Corey     Parker, Kim Fairclough, Steve Fitchett (camera)
- FS 4 Way Open: "All Out 4-47" - Steven Greens, Nerissa Anderson-Roger, Selwyn Johnson, Anna-Marie Johnson and Lisa Perdichizzi (camera)
- FS 4 Way Intermediate: "Rexona 4 Men" - Steven Geens, Pete Davis, Wade Davey, Reilly Carlidge, Lisa Perdichizzi (camera) 
 
Congratulations on your achievements at this event!

(L to R): 2way VFS 1st place "I.T." - Marc Dergacz, Phil Kemper, Naomi Adam (vid)	(L to R): 4way FS intermediate 1st place "Rexona 4 Men" - Reilly Cartlidge, Peter Davis, Wade Davey, Steve Geens, Lisa Perdichizzi (vid)	(L to R): 4way FS open 1st place "All Out 4 - 47" - Riss Anderson, Ann-Marie Johnson, Selwyn Johnson, Steve Geens, Lisa Perdichizzi (vid)	(L to R): 8way FS intermediate 1st place - "Air 8" - Chris Rose, Greg Maskell, Mat Coles, Leanne Critchley, Corey Parker, Riss Anderson, Lisa Perdichizzi, Ben Nordkamp, Steve Fitchett (vid)

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APF Annual Board Meeting

 The APF Annual Board Meeting took place on November 16/17 2011 at the National Office in Brisbane. Over a  productive two days the Board discussed and debated a variety of important issues, and made a number of positive resolutions that will keep our sport heading in the right direction. Thank you to all the Board Members for their input over the two days.

Back L-R. Jack Cross (NQ/Chair), Trevor Collins (NT), Mark Szulmayer (NSW), Des Ewing (NQ), Neil Fergie (ACT), Carsten Boeving (VTPC).Front L-R.  Brad Turner (CEO), Grahame Hill (NSW), Dave Smith (President), Graham Cook (WA), John Kinton (VTPC). Absent from photo: Jason Cook (SQ).

2011 Style & Accuracy State Championships

Photos by Lisa Perdichizzi
Group Photo by Joel Carpenter

The SQPC Style & Accuracy State Championships were held at Moffatt Beach, Caloundra on 4-5 November 2011. All events were hotly contested with nine competitors in the Individual Precision Accuracy event, 20 in the Individual Sport Accuracy event, and four teams in the Sport Accuracy Team event.

Congratulations to the winners of each event. They were:

• Jason Ford - Sport Accuracy Individual
• Tibor Glesk - Individual Precision Accuracy
• Will Dyer, Andy Pike, Shaun Hagan, Jodie Prime, Chris Poole - Sport Accuracy Team

For full event results click here.

Accuracy Landing Medallists (L to R) Mike Dyer (3rd), TIbor Glesk (1st), Andy Pike (2nd)	Sport Accuracy Medallists (L to R) Luke Oliver (3rd), Jason Ford (1st), Nathan Beckingham (2nd)	Most Improved Competitor (L to R) Ian "Crusty" McGregor (Meet Director), Fay Coxe (Chief Judge), Jamie Beck (most improved), Jim "Jock" Moir (Judge), Sheen Simmonds (Trainee Judge)

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Janine Hayes - 30 Jumps in a Day to Fundraise for Cancer Support

Photographs by Kelly Brennan

To celebrate her 30 years of active participation in skydiving, Janine set herself the challenge of doing 30 jumps in a day to raise money for Cancer support. On Saturday 5th November, after a two week delay due to inclement weather and with a lot of help, she achieved her goal. Taking place at Aerial Skydives which operates at Latrobe Valley Airport in Victoria, the 1st lift off was at 9am with all 30 of the mix of Precision and Sports Accuracy jumps completed soon after 5pm.

Janine would like to acknowledge her support crew - husband Ken Hills who always goes along with her nutty ideas, Kelly Brennan a skydiving stalwart, Chris Bricknell local jumper and his mate Tim Menzing. Kelly Gavin from the Aero club and the pilots Russell Snelton and Alan Campbell also deserve thanks, as well as the support from family and friends who helped make it happen.

So for those of you who pledged a donation she is happy to accept the funds for completing 30 Jumps in a day to fundraise $30,000. Bendigo Bank BSB 633000 Account 144032638.

Congratulations J9!

 

J9 and Russ before 1st sortie	Janine on her 30th Jump	Completed Jumps

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2011 WA State Championships 22-23 Oct

Hosted by Hillman Farm Skydivers
Photos by Phillipa Cook

On the 22-23 Oct the 2011 WA State Championships in 4 way and the Dave Lock State accuracy were held at Hillman Farm Skydivers DZ at Darkan WA. There were two teams each in FS Open and Intermediate, plus 14 Sport accuracy competitors.
Hillman's first State Meet for over ten years was well organised with 18 loads completed on the Saturday that included three of the six rounds of 4 way and all three rounds of accuracy, before the weather called it at 9.00am on the Sunday morning.
Although a small turnout, the competitive spirit was running hot with Jeremy Langford, the State Coaching Co-ordinator, doing a great job of coaching all the teams. The whole competition was run out of a GA8 Tubo Airvan supplied by WA skydiving Academy.

The winners were:

FS 4 Way Open. 1st - Airtite L-R Jeremy Langford, Simon (Sas) Di Sciasio, Rob Tasic, Gary Nemirovsky, Andy Oakley (vid)	FS 4 Way Inter. 1st - Hillman Cidal Tendencies L-R Jeremy Langford (coach), Chris Edward, Mark Lush, Andy Vukovich, Dan Hammond, Darren Vickers (vid)	Bruce Jenson 1st Novice Sport Accuracy	Ashley Geneve 1st Open Sport Accuracy

The Lee Irvine shield, awarded for the person or team that personifies what the competition is all about, was awarded to the Hillman Cidal Tendencies team.
The special Team Player award, of a new Dytter, donated by Skydive Kalbarri, was awarded to Adam Easto. 

L-R Adam Easto (Team Player Award) and Jeremey LAngford	L-R Mark Lush and Judge Peta Holmes	FS 4 way Open 2nd - Righty Tighty L-R Ash Geneve, Angela Jung, Vicky Green, Ash Saunders, Carl Jefferis vid (absent) (Andy Oakley stand in)	FS 4 way Inter 2nd Winners and Grinners - L-R Adam Easto, Janette Mannon-Savage, Craig Cook, Grant Taylor, (Carl Jefferis vid -absent)

       

A Big thank you to WA Skydiving Academy, Skydive Jurien Bay, Southern Skydivers, Jeremy Langford & Airtite, Skydive Kalbarri, the APF, the WAPC council and the staff and volunteers at Hillman Farm who all gave assistance and support to make it a combined DZ effort and a success for all WA jumpers. 

For full results click here.
 
Graham (Dixie) Lee
CI Hillman Farm Skydivers

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In Review: Afterlife Boogie 2011 Coffs City Skydivers

Aerial shots by Wayne McLachlan
Ground shots and all editing by Carley Taylor

26th-30th October 2011, yet another great Afterlife Boogie (no.4) hosted by Coffs City Skydivers, Coffs Harbour, Mid North Coast, NSW.
An eager 80 skydivers registered for the event. A few days of rain and cloud were soon forgotten with 3 days of free flying, atmo/angles and wingsuiting, making for awesome fun!!!! The vibe was infectious, the excitement intense and friendships were made that will last forever.

International guest Rob Heron - Freefly, and other great coaches like Genetix - Tyler Baird & Mason Corby - Atmo, Brad Ward & Hayden Galvin 5D were on hand sharing their knowledge and wingsuit skills, Attila Csizmadia from Icarus Canopies - FS coaching.
The Boogie ended with a fantastic aerial display over Coffs Harbour with parachutists landing on the Jetty Beach to a crowd of a thousand onlookers.

Come and join in next year!

Coffs City Skydivers would like to thank the APF and all our sponsors for their continued support. Without this our extraordinary event would not be possible.
Thank you!

Check out the Facebook page and more great links publicising this successful event in the Media Watch section of the APF Nov 3rd broadcast.

Skydivers enjoying the view over Coffs Harbour at the Afterlife Boogie	Rob Heron flying over Coffs Coast	Parachutists land on the Jetty Beach Coffs Harbour	Rob Heron and Steve Hill getting into the action

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Aussies in Arizona October 2011

An Australian contingent has just completed an intensive FS training camp at Skydive Arizona. Two Open FS 4way teams plus a few extra individuals completed seven days of tunnel coaching plus jumping with ground coaching.
The teams training were; WTFS (Greg Jack, Shirley Cowcher, Helen Mahoney) and Valkyries (Kate Langley, Kate Rogers, Riss Anderson, Michelle Hales), plus Ben Nordkamp, Allan Gray and Darren Forfar. The teams were enthusiastically coached by Mark Kirkby and other members of Arizona Airspeed and received a very warm welcome from all at the DZ.
As the Aussies were leaving, Skydive AZ was getting ready for the US Nationals and many teams from all over the world were arriving and warming up for competition. Over 60 teams were expected to register for the event. 

Valkyries in the air. Photo by Bill Schmitz	Members of Valkyries with Arizona Airspeed including cameramen	Back: L-R Greg Jack, Mark Kirby (Coach), Darren Forfar. Front: Shirley Cowcher, Helen Mahoney.

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California State Record Event at Perris Valley Oct 2011 - Aussie participation 

The Australian 120-150 way large formation skydiving record attempt event is well under way with preparation as the planned date is just over 7 months away!
A bunch of Aussies have just finished attending the California State Record Event at Perris Valley, USA (12 to 16 October) - another successful P3 Event.
They got a 200 way completion on jump two of the final day, setting a new California State Large Formation Record which had been held previously by successive Women's Jump for the Cause records since 1999 - the most recent record set (until last Sunday) was the Women's World Record of 181 Way set in 2009.

The Aussies who attended were:
Richard Wilkinson, Brett Gersekowski, Melissa Harvie, Sean Walsh, Heather Little, Ryan Sanders, Ben Nordkamp, Riss Anderson, Shirley Cowcher, Dave Loncasty, Andrew Barker, Barry Calver, Russell Blackman, Greg Jack, and that wonderful adopted Aussie Yuakai Hashimoto!
For more information on this event and preparation/registration to be part of the Aussie 2012 Record attempts - check out the Aussie Bigway site, including the most recent UPDATE of 18 Oct 2011.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                New Californian State Record 200 way. Photo by Willy Boeykens

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2011 NSW CP State Championship Results

For full results CLICK HERE
This event was held at Sydney Skydivers' Picton DZ over the 8th/9th October. Twelve Competitors registered for the comp spread over both Open and Intermediate categories.
Congratulations to the following medal winners:

Open Overall 1st Selwyn Johnson 2nd Michael Vaughan 3rd Dave Noble		Inter Overall 1st Fully Sik 2nd Shannon Straubinger 3rd James Cooper
	L-R Michael, Selwyn, David		L-R Shannon, Fully, James

Congratulations to all participants and thanks to all involved in running this competition, not least of which included Chief Judge Dean Brooke-Rerecich, Judges Bruce Towers and Kate Langley, Meet Director Jon McWilliam, Course Director Michael Vaughan and Course Assistants Ben Crowe and Aaron Bootland.

CLICK HERE  for slideshow from the event! 

Shannon Straubinger Safest Flyer Award	2011 CP NSW State Meet Competitors, Judges and Volunteers

2011 SA State Championship Results

This event was held on the weekend of 17th-18th September at SA Skydiving's Langhorne Creek DZ in South Australia.
Competition was held in the disciplines of FS 4-way Open and 2-way; Wingsuit and Swoop and Chug! (Wingsuit results not provided at time of publishing)
 
Congratulations to the following: 

FS 4-way Open 1st  Adam Pemble, Charl Rootman, Angelique Rootman, Vlasto Zamecnik - photo Curtis Morton	FS 2-way 1st Helen Hayes, Chris Kalins - photo Curtis Morton	Swoop and Chug 1st Tommaso Liccioli - photo by Curtis Morton

2011 NQ State Championship Results

This event was held in conjunction with the Go Troppo! Boogie at FNF Tully from 13th -17th September 2011. Events included CP Open and Inter; 2-way Freefly with the competitor jumping with a rotating coach/ videographer; and FS 4-way Inter. Congratulations to all participants! Medallists were as follows:

Canopy Piloting Open 1st: Keiran Rundle 2nd: Ronny Perry 3rd: Jason Cryan		CP Inter 1st: Dylan Anderson 2nd: Troy Maher (Troy has recently achieved his Certificate A!!!) 3rd: John Martin
	L-R Jason, Keiran, Ronny		L-R Dylan, Troy
2-way Freefly Inter 1st Jason Cryan 2nd Vicki Allen 3rd Tristan Birch		Formation Skydiving 4-way Inter 1st FLUKE 2nd Rock n Roll 3rd Super Awesome Videographers:  Lisa Perdichizzi, Rory  Sutherland, Peter Dawson
	L-R Tristan, Jason, Vicki		L-R Top row: Peter Etherington, Manny Jacobs, Branden Van Niekerk, Guy Daniel, Simon Di Sascio L-R 2nd Row: Valerie Schmied, Sonja Neville, Janet Geister, Austin Lawson L-R Bottom Row: Troy Maher, Barton Cunningham

2011 NSW State Championships in FS & VFS

This event was held at Sydney Skydivers' Picton DZ over the weekend 1 - 3 October. The FS 4-way comp was completed on the Saturday (6 rounds Inter & 5 rounds Open completed, many rounds from 8,000ft due to ATC issues) & the 2 way novice comp was completed on Monday. (Sunday was a washout)

Congratulations to the following medal winners:
4-way Open
1st "Avatars" -Jon McWilliam, Barry Calver, Sean Walsh, Mark Szulmayer, Calder Chernoff (v).
2nd "Valkyries" - Riss Anderson, Kate Rodgers, Kate Langley, Michelle Hales, Calder Chernoff (v).

(4way Open gold medalists - "Avatars") 

4-way Intermediate
1st "Slim Jims" - Michael Vaughan, Joe McCosker, Andrew Struthers, Ben Crow, Matt Barrel (v).
2nd "Fat Boys" - Ian Robertson, Derek Murphy, Matt Baker, Phil Budge, Barry Calver (v).

(4way Inter gold medalists - "Slim Jims") 

2-way Novice
1st "Fully=LoneRanger" - Michael Vaughan, Ben Crow, Matt Barrel (v).
2nd "2 Fast" - Dr John Cusack, Matt Baker, Jim Smith (v).
3rd "Outa beat Vaughny" - Fully Sick, Jayden Lippers, Matt Barrel (v).

Click here for ALL FS Scores

(2way Novice gold medalists - "Fully=Lone Ranger") 

VFS
Unfortunately with only one team turning up for this event no competition could be held. However the current VFS Open Australian Champion team "The Addicted" comprising of Kim Hopwood, Cath Comyns, Lucas Georgiou, Tim Golsby-Smith and Scott Hiscoe (v) completed their rounds and got them judged for training purposes. According to the judge - "they did nine rounds with only one bust - so their tunnel time in Singapore is paying off!".

(VFS Open team "The Addicted" in action - Photo by David Noble)

Congratulations to all participants who made the effort to join in this State Meet.

(L-R Judges: Dean Brooke-Rerecich, Bruce Towers and Dubbing Liz Siedlecka)

Aussies invited to the China Air Show

LAIWU, CHINA 24-28 September 2011
Craig (Crash) Bennett, Jules McConnel, Andrew (Sarge) Preston, and Michael Vaughan represented Australia in a contingent of 28 international parachutists from 9 countries to perform at the 2011 China International Airsports Fiesta in Laiwu city, 500km south east of Beijing.  Represented countries include Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Argentina, Belarus, Belgium, USA, Germany and the Netherlands.
At the opening ceremony on Saturday 25th the World Canopy Formation Team set a new Chinese and Asian record by building a 25 way CF diamond. The formation took 4 minutes to build and was held for 2 minutes!
Three Chinese built AN2 biplane aircraft flew in formation and took 35 minutes to get to exit altitude of 9500ft. They built the formation by 4500 - 5000 feet on most days of the show. The weather was fantastic for all days including practice until the final show gave us a 3000ft cloud base with sprinkling rain, so the team managed to pull off a 4 way diamond and 3 stacks from each plane and wowed the crowd with formation landings finishing with a parabatic display by the Canadians who landed from a downplane precisely in front of the crowd.
The 2011 China International Airsports Fiesta is the largest, most distinctive air sports event in China. The Fiesta included 800 air sports pilots from over 20 countries participating in aerobatic stunt flying, parachuting, microlight aircraft, helicopters, hot air balloons, model aircraft and other performances.

L-R Aussie CIAF participants: Michael Vaughan,           Chinese/ Asian record - 25way CF diamond                   
Jules McConnel, Andrew Preston, Craig Bennett.           Photo by Wilco Peppelman
Photo by Pam Riggs 

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Australia's Newest Youngest Female Skydiver

On the 16th September on her 8th birthday, Mia Begic (Yr 2) made a tandem skydive with her father Tom at Skydive Oz' Moruya DZ to place her in the record books under the Notable Events category, as Australia's youngest female skydiver. Her brother Zhan (Yr 4) also made his 1st tandem skydive on the same day - just shy of his 10th birthday.
These skydives have been made after the club through the Chief Instructor made successful application to the APF under the powers of APF Op. Reg 3.4.
This record was previously held by Elise Brown who made her 1st tandem skydive at the age of 9 at Sydney Skydivers in December 2009.

The APF maintains a

register of parachuting records

. Three major categories apply:                                                   Mia, Tom and Zhan Begic - Photo by Jules McConnel

    * Competition Records
    * Performance Records
    * Events occasionally occur which fall outside these categories. These are recorded as Notable Events.

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Results from the 6th FAI World Cup of Canopy Piloting 2011

The 2011 World Cup of Canopy Piloting is now complete with 8 of our own Aussie Canopy Pilots representing us in the Czech Republic.

Our boys have been having a fantastic time as evidenced by the regular Facebook updates, videos and  photos. Many of us here at home have "liked" the "In The Corner" page at https://www.facebook.com/randomlinksproductions and have been following the episodes and fun from afar.
Pic Right - The team ready for action. Photo by Lea Critchley
From a field of 101 competitors our top three Aussie standings were:

Luke Oliver - 27th
Andrew Woolfe - 29th
Brad Jones - 32nd

Craig Bennett             Top placed Aussie competitor Luke Oliver. Pics by Lisa Perdichizzi.

6th FAI World Cup in Canopy Piloting Overall Standings CLICK HERE 
A huge Congratulations and well done to the entire team of Andy Woolf, Ben Lewis, Brad Jones, Keven Walters, Niki Jackson, Luke Oliver, Ronnie Perry & Scott Brown! Thanks also to the Aussie support crew of Lisa Perdichizzi as head of delegation and team manager and Leanne Critchley.

For more photos and videos from the event click HERE for FB site
Check out the the official website and scores HERE

Display Weekend in Far North Queensland - photos by Brandon Van Niekerk

Seven display jumps in two days!! This is the third year running for the Display Weekend organised by LDO Issy Dore.  The idea being to give novice and intermediate jumpers display experience: Jumping into lots of different venues, and using it as an educational experience to make jumpers more aware of spotting, accuracy and working together as a team to show a positive face to the public.

The first day of jumps are into easier locations with each jump getting progressively harder. The jumpers don't get to see the locations before they jump in, but a thorough brief is given and a plan made prior to each jump. The Sunday is for the showcase jumps onto Dunk Island and Beaver Cay.

Unfortunately the wind blew up on Sunday and it was too choppy to come back from the Cay. A great jump into Dunk Island was followed by a jump back into Castaways resort at Mission Beach.

A great time had by all. Beautiful weather, good friends and great visuals. Check out the News article HERE.

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Rotor Out's campaign for the World Cup of Formation Skydiving!

Results from the 17th World Cup in 4-way Formation Skydiving
Australia's own 4-way team "Rotor Out" have done us proud following their fantastic performance at the recent World Cup in Germany.
After 9 rounds with a 15.9 average Rotor Out made the cut into the semi-finals and improved on their own Nationals average by 1 point! 
The final placing for Rotor Out was 9th out of 21 teams - A job well done team! Congratulations on your World Cup Campaign!!! 
See the 4-way competition results HERE
For a full run down of all the Results in all events Click HERE

Aussies traveling to International Competitions

From 23 July -  Current Australian Champions 4-way Open FS team "Rotor Out" is travelling to Saarlouis, Germany, to train for the 17th FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving that starts on 1 August.
Event website: http://www.epcwc2011.com/
Team members: Craig Vaughan, Gary Nemirovsky, Jens Goennemann, Stephanie Vaughan, Patrick Nygren (Camera)
Check out the article in the NSL Newsletter that features Rotor Out’s participation in this event!  Click Here

Also attending as an offical appoinmetn by the IPC are: Peta Holmes - Judge; Graeme Windsor - Jury President

From 7 August - Canopy Piloting competitors start making their way to Klatovy, Czech Republic, for Czech/Austrian National Championships and training before the 6th FAI World Cup of Canopy Piloting that starts on 22 August.
Event website: http://www.pinkskyvan.com/cp/
Andrew Woolf, Ben Lewis, Bradley Jones, Keven Walters, Luke Oliver, Niki Jackson, Ron Perry, Scott Brown
Also attending this event in official capacity is Lisa Perdichizzi (Team Manager and Head of Delegation)

Also attending as an official appointment by the IPC: Craig Bennett - Event Judge

2011 Eurporean Championships of Style and Accuracy, Serbia 18-28 August. Though no Aussies are competing in these champions, The IPC has officially appointed Lindy William (APF Director Judges) as a Jury Member.

Congratulations to all the team members and appointees for making the efforts to be able to participate in these events. We wish you the very best!

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Sport Accuracy Comp at Picton DZ

Sydney Skydivers Picton DZ held its first Sport Accuracy competition on the 1st weekend of July 2011 with the help and support of Sydney Skydivers, APF, & NSW Parachute Sport Council. The event kicked off at 8am with 12 competitors in 3 categories, Open, Intermediate and Novice. Conditions were perfect and 5 rounds were completed with some fairly close competition by early in the afternoon, followed by a sausage sizzle and medal presentation.

The event was well received and a great way to keep our canopy skills current considering that many jumpers go into hibernation at winter...most of us were stripped down to single layers early into the rounds.
Winners were: Open (See pic lower left) Michael Vaughan 1st, Ian Robertson 2nd, Dave Loncasty 3rd, Intermediate (See pic lower middle) Casey Butler 1st, Penelope Barrett 2nd and Liam Hamilton 3rd, Novice (See pic lower right) Andrew Wright 1st, Andrew Struthers 2nd, Ray Arida 3rd. Casey Butler also won the judges choice award with the closest landing to the target outside of Open competitors at 0.70cm.

The event went smoothly with no incidents and everyone involved had a tonne of fun and got to learn and develop their canopy skills with Michael giving the group a full video debrief at the end of each round. We hope to run another comp in a couple of months.

  

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Glenn Farrell's European World Tour 

I am getting towards the end of my European Swoop Tour for 2011. So far I have competed in the Danish and Belgium Nationals, using these competitions as my currency jumps before attending the PD Factory Team High Intensity Training Camp with Jay Moledzki at Klatovy. The camp consists of 10 jumps per day for 6 days (2 days each working on Distance, Speed, and Zone Accuracy). There are 10 people on the course (including Jay) from many different Countries (Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, Germany, Holland, Italy, Norway, and Russia). I'm having a great time and learning lots. My final destination is the German Nationals and British Open two days after this camp before heading back home. Hopefully I have enough energy left for the competition after this training camp!
Scores for the Danish Nationals
Scores for Belgium Nationals
 

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50th Australian Style and Accuracy Championships 2011

Over 40 competitors from 4 states of Australia and New Zealand converged on Port Macquarie, NSW, for the 50th Australian Style & Accuracy Nationals held 18 - 20 June 2011.
Congratulations to the following place getters!

For full results CLICK HERE For more photos CLICK HERE

Special thanks for their extraordinary efforts in organising this event go to Ian Robertson and Debbie Sommers.

Freefall Style and Accuracy Landing (Overall and Masters) 1st Tibor Glesk, 2nd Janine Hayes, 3rd Dave Boulter. Photo by Ellis Hills	Freefall Style (Individual and Masters) 1st Tibor Glesk, 2nd Janine Hayes, 3rd Mike Dyer. Photo by Ellis Hills	Accuracy Landing (Individual and Masters) 1st Tibor Glesk, 2nd Andy Pike, 3rd Dave Boulter. Photo by Ellis Hills
Sport Accuracy (Individual) 1st Ian Robertson, 2nd Lisa Perdichizzi, 3rd Luke Oliver. Photo by Ellis Hills	Sport Accuracy (Masters) 1st Ian Robertson, 2nd Joe Dorkota, 3rd Andy Pike. Photo by Ellis Hills	Ground to air Camera crew. Photo by Lisa Perdichizzi
Jim Czerwinski. Photo by Lisa Perdichizzi	Tibor Looking Stylish. Photo by Shaun Hagan	Tibor Glesk. Photo by Lisa Perdichizzi

Tom Noonan's Tour of Downunder May/June 2011

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Aussie Skydivers on New World SOS Record

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Flight of the Phoenix - DeLand, Florida 14th-17th April

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2011 Oz Nats 2011 CF, FS, VFS, Artisitc

The Australian National Skydive Championships have been run and won at Sydney Skydivers

2-way Canopy Formations: Team Ohnonomyshoe: Michael Vaughan, Glenn Farrell, Camera: Craig Bennett	FS 4 way Open: Team Rotor Out: Steph Vaughan, Craig Vaughan, Jens Goennemann, Gary Nemirovsky, Camera Patrick Nygren	FS 4way Inter: Team Wookie: Sas Di Sciascio, Talis Steele, Michelle Hales, Allison Irvin, Camera: Rob Tasic
VFS Inter: Butt Scratchers: Dylan Tempest, Jessie Tempest, Jenny Gordon, Erica Tadokoro, Camera: Shea Convery	FS 8 way Open: Cat Scratch Fever: Andrew Barker, Mark Szulmayer, Dave Loncasty, Glenn Farrell, Maybritt Prahl, Paul Borgaise, Jon McWilliam, Clayton Gill, Alternate: Nicole Hannan	Freestyle: Team: GetSmart: Bella Smart, Tyler Baird Camera: Dylan Tempest

Our thanks also go to the only VFS Open team, The Addicted.  To grow the VFS knowledge base, the team members mentored other jumpers and created a VFS inter competition for this year’s nationals which was a fabulous initiative on their behalf.  

The APF National Office congratulates all competitors for their participation and contribution to the 2011 Nationals and further congratulates the medal winners on their achievements!  We are looking forward to a bigger & better year in 2012! (and its an ON year!)

                                                                                                                                                                                 The Judging Team

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South Qld Skydivers Awards night

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Meeting a Legend

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8 is the Magic Number

7th Australian Canopy Piloting Parachuting Championships The 2011 Nationals were held at Sydney Skydivers’ Picton DZ between the 16th and 20th February.

Open Overall placing Gold Matt Harris Silver Michael Vaughan Bronze Cameron Rolfe 4. Gary Hamilton 5. Rob McMillian 6. Alex Nelson 7. Kev Walters 8. Ben Lewis 9. Luke Oliver 10. Koppel Solomon 11. John King 12. Tom Gilmartin 2011 Open Canopy Piloting Overall Scorings

Intermediate Overall placing Gold Andrew Woolf Silver Scott Brown Bronze Simon Hayter 2011 Intermediate Canopy Piloting Overall Scorings   2011 CP National Judes

 Airtec Blog Post Nationals

13th FAI Para Ski World Championships 2011, Gosau, Austria.

For full results, blogs and more pics check out  http://www.fai.org/parachuting/node/7892  and the official event web site at http://www.paraski2011.at/

2012 World Parachuting Championships host decided!

Graeme Windsor, President of the IPC, along with Lindy Rochow-Williams and Mark Szulmayer, our Delegate and Alternate Delegate respectively have been in Montenegro for the IPC Plenary Meeting which has just closed.

The major results to come of this meeting was the outcome of the 2012 World Parachuting Championship Bids, as well as the 2011 Canopy Piloting World Cup.

This event will encompass the following disciplines - Style & Accuracy, Formation Skydiving: 4-way & 8-way, Canopy Formation 2-way & 4-way Artistic Events Freestyle & Freeflying, Canopy Piloting and Paraski.

In terms of the Australian National Championships, this means that our 'ON' year will remain as the 2012 National Championships.

2011 Canopy Piloting World Cup is to be hosted by Klatovy, Czech Republic 22 - 28 August, 2011

For more information on any of the above, visit the IPC website: Click here

Dubai International Parachuting Championships and Gulf Cup 5 - 17th January, 2011

Michael Vaughan, Glenn Farrell and Ben Lewis travelled to Dubai recently to compete against 87 of the world's best Canopy Pilots.

The event, by all accounts was an exceptionally well organised and well run event, with only a few weather days as the only disruption to the event.

The final standings of the Aussie representatives overall were:
19th - Michael Vaughan
65th - Ben Lewis
76th - Glenn Farrell

Congratulations to all of the Aussie representatives! The Dubai Cup was also the first international Canopy Piloting
event for both Ben Lewis and Glenn Farrell!

View the PD competitior interview, including interview with Michael Vaughan here.

For the full scores: http://www.ipc-wcresults.org.uk/ and http://www.emiratesaviation.org/

2010

Women's Vertical World Record 26th November 2010

Two Aussies were on the recent Women's Vertical World Record in Eloy, Arizona. Erica Tadokoro and Cath Comyns flew over for the event. After two days of great jumps they built a 41-way which more than doubled the old record set two years ago in Arizona. They had built 30+ ways during the warm up camp and on the first day of record attempts but it was the last jump of the second day that it all came together.

The new world record is claimed by 41 women from 11 countries who flew in a head-down formation over Skydive Arizona in Eloy, Friday, November 26, 2010. Organizers Arizona Arsenal, the vertical formation skydiving team from Skydive Arizona, are very excited about the spectacular feat and are proud of their friends and fellow skydivers.

Congratulations to Erica, Cath and all the girls on this tremendous feat. For more photos click here

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South East QLD Skydivers Club league Round 1

12 teams ... 4 way and Freefly .. 1 awesome event .. 1 round down - 3 more to come.

SEQS Club (South East Queensland Skydivers) kicked off it's inaugural League competition on Saturday 13 November.
The competition aims to inject some excitement and knowledge into the jumping scene in SE Qld as well as giving teams "competition" preparation for next years nationals

All flatties got the added benefit of having free ground coaching and an introduction to the art of engineering dives by Peter "Ebone" Etherton.

  
Photos by Lisa Perdichizzi

Equinox Boogie

The weather in the 2 weeks leading up to the boogie made organisers and jumpers alike a little edgy to say the least, but after an initial day of washout, the weather gods came through! With over 200 people registered, the loads were running hot for the rest of the week. There were coaches in almost every discipline, and everyone was catered for.

 Coaches for the week included Dave 'Bing Bong' Morris organising big way FS, Gigliola Bornis leading Atmo, wingsuiters from 5D, Barry Calver organising big ways, Belgium Steve running 4-ways and 8-ways, Team Off Track looking after the freefliers and Higgo looking after the needs of the CReW dogs!

The action was running hot both in the air and on the ground with huge bonfires, the calypso bar open and top entertainment nightly.

              
         Raft Jump - Photo by Grim Swinnen                        Horny Gorilla Exit - Photo by Wayne McLachlan

Australia unites for memorial jumps - October 2010

On the weekend of the 2nd and 3rd of October, jumpers throughout Australia held memorials and organised skydives in memory of Fiona McEachern.

 
                                  PICTON (photo: Stuart Ware)                                                 LANGHORNE CREEK  (photo: Erika Wisznieski)

North QLD demo jump weekend, August 2010

Jumpers from North Queensland sent in these photos of some beautiful tropical demo jumping around Tully and Dunk Island. They completed 7 display jumps over 2 days. Photographer: Mick Hardy

Barry Calver's Australian PowerPlay, August 2010

On August 21 and 22, ten lucky members of Barry Calver's Australian "PowerPly" ran a weekend of complex sequential skydives with Todd Hawkins as coach.
Following is a sequence of 3 photos that displays the sort of things that were flying around under the lens of photographer, Luke Oliver.

4W4E1 AND FF4E1, August 2010

SEQS Club held the inaugural 4-way-4-every-1 and freefly-4-every-1 at Toogoolawah on the 21st August. Participation for the event was outstanding, with 61 registered jumpers! Photographer: Lisa Perdichizzi