The PD Blog

Photographer Niklas Daniel captured this shot of PD staff member Albert Berchtold on a practice run during the 2009 USPA Nationals.

Thats right folks, we do skydive ......

This years USPA Nationals is currently in full swing, well when the rain lets the Otter wheels turn in Texas. And as usual PD has a few staff members showing their skills this year. Proving that in fact we do skydive and not just sell parachutes.

Nick Grillet (Elsinore BTE), Albert Berchtold (Canopy Piloting), Giles Dutrisac & Kristina Peterson (Sebastian Tempest) Amanda Mandrafino (Freestyle).

Keep up to date on the scores and the highlights of the USPA Nationals on the USPA Nationals website or NSL Website.

Along with all of PD Sponsored teams and individuals we wish them the best of luck ..... Blue Skies, Go Compete.

 
 
 Photos by: Ori Kuper & James Akins
 

Day One

Photographer Niklas Daniel captured this shot of the Skydive Spaceland Otter during the 2009 USPA Nationals. 

Night Swoop

Photographer Niklas Daniel captured this shot of Mas Di Siena during the Chicks Rock Boogie at Skydive Elsinore.

Last Big Splash 2009

This weekend was the first annual Last Big Splash.  This canopy piloting event was organized by the FLCPA and hosted at Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, Florida.  For the first time, a sea plane fly in was coupled with some friendly skydivers to bring some extrordanary entertainment to the guests at the air museum. 

The competition was hed over 2 days and included 27 of the worlds best canopy pilots competing for $5000 in a event of non-traditional swooping events.  At the end of the second day Shannon Pilcher was in first place, Brian McNenney was second, and Pablo Hernandez rounded out the top three.

Photo by: Marc Ellis

Final scores Here:

Download LastBig Splash 09 final

Spaceland Blue reppin’ at Chicks Rock Boogie Oct 1-4!

On October 1-2, Spaceland Blue and Skydive Elsinore will be joining forces to bring you the most badass 4-way camp EVER at the most badass boogie of all time!

Brianne Thompson and Annie Peterson of Blue and Melanie Curtis of "Melsinore" will be out to bring the most awesomest 4-way vibe to the Chicks Rock Boogie at Elsinore. We will be working on 4-way skills from beginning to advanced levels. So, if you’ve never done 4-way- or you have a team and want to do more, then this camp is for you! Ladies and Gents are all welcome- we don’t discriminate when we’re spreading the coolness.

Then, when we’re done with 4-way, Brianne and Annie will be organizing for the rest of the weekend! ! And Mel will be doing what she does best, being Melsinore! Represent.

 So, basically, there is absolutely no excuse for you to not be there!

Hot chicks. Hot skydives. Fun times. Anything else? Word.

Visit www.skydiveelsinore.com and click on the hot chick for more details and pricing! Sign ups will be through the office. Slots are limited- so hurry!

Any other questions? Contact brianne@spacelandblue.com or annie@spacelandblue.com.

World Cup 2009 Prostejov, Czech Republic

The first day of competition began yesterday.  The first three rounds of 4 way(open and women) have been completed, two rounds of freestyle, 2 rounds of freefly, 8 way and VRW are also well underway.  Monday afternoon the opening ceremonies were held in the town square and each country was presented in front of the town hall.  This was followed by a spectacular performance by a group of five accuracy jumpers who landed directly in front of the presentation stage.  

The weather here in Prostejov has been sunny and beautiful(with the exception of a short wind hold yesterday afternoon).  There are 20 countries represented here this year for about 275 competitors.

Best of luck to all who travelled from near and far to compete in this years world cup.

Factory Team wins Lake Bussloo Canopy Piloting Competition

This year the event at Teuge, Netherlands brought twenty five competitors from around Europe, South America, USA, Russia and Australia.  The first day of competition(friday) was weathered out due to high winds.  Saturday started off with 4-6 meters per second making it very challenging to pilot the course.  For those who haven't been to this event before, it is well known to be a very technical and difficult venue.  The courses which are located on the beach are quite close to the tree line.  After completing two rounds, only four competitors were able to successfully able to negotiate two scoring runs.  

After beginning the third round we stood down due to turbulence and high winds.  The organization did their best to wait for conditions to improve to continue the meet, but unfortunately the weather didn't let up. The meet was concluded and the scores after two rounds were announced as final.

Congrats to the top finishers and big thanks to Nationaal Paracentrum Teuge for another year of swooping at Lake Bussloo.  Keep an eye out for some video from the meet coming soon..

Blue Shadows

Photographer Niklas Daniel captured this shot of 4-way Team Spaceland Blue during their last training camp in August, 2009. For more cool pictures or info about Blue, please visit their website at SpacelandBlue.com 

Belgian Canopy Piloting Nationals & Black mountain Swoop Open 2009

The last 2 day Skydive Flanders in Zwartberg has been host to swoopers from around the world.  Thirty canopy pilots came to try their best to become the winner here in Zwartberg and those from Belgium fought to be their countries national champion.   Apparently Zwartberg is Belgian for "Black mountain".  The area was named for the large mountains/piles that surround the city.  These hills were created from the coal mining days from the mining shafts dug in the surrounding areas.  OK, History lesson over, now the swooping.

The weather was perfect for the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  The race for the top was very close til the very end.  Pablo Hernandez(ESP), Mike Vogeleer(BEL), Michael Vaughn(AUS), Peter Kallehave(DEN), Grim Sweenen(BEL), and Albert Berchtold(USA) traded places within the top six from one round to the next.

After two days of heavy competition Michael Vogeleer stood atop a field of great competitors.  Pablo Hernandez from the PDFT came in second, and Albert Berchtold from the US rounded out the top three.

After the prize giving ceremony, many of the competitors took the opportunity to demo one of the Comp Velocities PD brought to the event.

Here's some photo's and we'll amend the post to add the scores once we get them.  Many of these competitors will be headed to Bussloo for the meet next weekend which will round out the 3rd meet in this Euro Tour.Download Black mountain 2009