The PD Blog

What can be said in New Year rhymes,
That's not been said a thousand times?
The new years come, the old years go,
We know we dream, we dream we know.
We rise up laughing with the light,
We lie down weeping with the night.
We hug the world until it stings,
We curse it then and sigh for wings.
We live, we love, we woo, we wed,
We wreathe our prides, we sheet our dead.
We laugh, we weep, we hope, we fear,
And that's the burden of a year.
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

We at Performance Designs would like to wish all our friends and customers, near and far, a happy and safe 2008.   
   

CSC Rhythm, welcome to the family!

Hey all - please meet our newest Sponsored team, CSC Rhythm!

CSC Rhythm is a 4-way team that trains out of Chicagoland Skydiving Center (CSC) in Hinckley, IL and Paraclete XP Skyventure in Raeford, NC. CSC Rhythm is Laurent Beaudouin (Tail), Brian Ball (IC), JaNette Lefkowitz (OC), Steve Lefkowitz (Point), and Kevin Naftzger (Video). We are passionate about doing the best jumps we can do and having tons of fun doing it. We are proud of building a strong team based on open-mindedness, commitment, a positive attitude, no excuses, and confidence in ourselves and one another.

In 2007 CSC Rhythm competed with player coach Robert Chromy and finished 3rd in the Advanced category at the USPA Nationals.  In 2008, Kirk Verner will coach the team, as we look forward to another great season of growth and fun.  We are equally excited about helping to grow the sport in the Midwest through plenty of organized events and activities, and generally being a resource for other skydivers in the area.

The team is extremely excited about being a part of the PD family and looking forward to flying the PD colors over CSC. 

Please visit their website, with a ton of good 4-way information, including the very popluar CSC Rhythm Performance Measurement Tool (4-way fanatics should definitely check that one out).
We are very happy to have CSC Rhythm on board and look forward to a great 2008!

On the road again.....

Christmas boogies around the world are in full swing right now and our 2 tireless (and a little nutty) tour reps are busy attending events.  Isaiah and Nick are in Z-Hills at the moment and evidently staying too busy to have time to send updates to the blog!
Then next weekend it is off to the Cross Keys Invasion at Skydive Sebastian - and from what we hear the invaders are already on site, jumping up a storm and having a blast.  Have fun wherever you are - and check our website calendar for updates to the coming soon 2008 Tour Schedule!

Happy Holidays

We wish all our customers, near and far, a happy holiday season.  Hopefully Santa brought some good skydiving boys and girls fun new toys for Christmas!

We look forward to an exciting and fun 2008 :)

Blue Skies,
the staff at PD.

Speedriding - the PD Spire!

Many of you have gotten in touch to ask about PD's newest project, the PD Spire. Well, it is almost time!!   PD will be formally launching it's first Speedriding (Ground Launching) wing before the end of 2007 - and our faithful blog readers are the first to know :)
The Spire is a high performance wing, intended for a VERY current and VERY skilled pilot, with considerable experience flying high performance wings.   

We are also working on other designs for more novice pilots and hoping to have those on the market late next year (2008).

At this time, the only way to try or buy the Spire is by going through one of our 2 Speedriding dealers:
Loïc Jean-Albert (Europe) and  Kevin Love (United States)

Shortly you will be able to learn more about the wing on the PD website, so check back soon!

Swooping in Florida - FLCPA

Ok swoopers, it is time to prepare for the 2008 season in Florida!   Newly minted league director Albert Berchtold just sent out a newsletter with a ton of information along with the schedule for 2008.  If you are planning to take part in the activities and want to be kept up to speed, please contact Albert with your e-mail address so he can add you to the list.
Chris Hayes, the founding father of the Florida league is stepping down this year, to focus on other areas in his life.  Chris did an absolutely amazing job of establishing the format of these competitions, providing an incredible learning environment for up and coming swoopers.  Thanks Chris - for paying it forward!

The schedule & locations are as follows (changes may happen):

• Meet #1 Feb 9th- Florida Skydiving Center, Lake Wales, FL
• Meet #2 March 8th- Skydive Palatka, Palatka, FL
• Meet #3 April 12- Skydive Sebastian, Sebastian, FL
• Meet #4 May 17- School of Human Flight, Tallahassee, FL
• Meet #5 June 14- Skydive the Farm, Rockmart, GA

Each competition will follow roughly the same schedule, which is as follows:

• 8 am registration opens
• 9 am practice load
• 9:45 Competitor briefing
• 10:30 Competition begins

- please note that all times are approximate, as weather and winds may come into play.

The meets are open to amateur and pro competitors, the pros will compete using the existing handicap system.  Every meet will award cash prizes to the top 3 finishers, a top rated coach will be on site for EVERY meet.  Skydiving gear manufacturers such as Alti-2, Sky Systems and PD will also send reps to some of the events. 

Also - it bears mentioning that there are records to be set in the good state of Florida!  There are so many records unclaimed, that it will almost be impossible not to set a good few over the course of the  season.  Check the USPA website out for more information on the current records :D

'Tis the Season....

... to be silly :)
One of our sponsored teams - Team Off Track in Australia just sent us a funny holiday card, to get us in the holiday spirit.  Check it out here and see what you think....  we would love to see more so if you have a good one, send it on!

Dates in DeLand??

Team Evolution (current Canadian National 4-way team) is one of the sponsored teams PD works with.  Evolution plans on spending much of the winter here in DeLand, training and preparing for World Meet 2008 and no doubt enjoying getting a little break from the Canadian winters.
The team consists of Michele Lemay and his 3 sons, Vincent, Martin and Ben.  Their cameraman, Peter Toutoudakis, is not related to the family (to the best of our knowledge), but does a great job filming the team.  The Evolution boys are among the most professional and polite athletes you will ever run into, so when I was reading up on Kurt's news on the NSL website I couldn't help but to laugh out loud.

"The recent visit of Canada's national 4-way team, Evolution, to its first winter camp in DeLand had a funny beginning. The four Lemay's went shopping at a local grocery store later in the evening and asked a young female clerk for help: "We are looking for dates, can you help us, please?"
The young lady looked confused when father Michel and the three sons Vincent, Martin and Benoit seemed to be very serious with their inquiry. The LeMay's noticed that the clerk did not really know where to put this question and eventually realized the second meaning of the dates..."

You can read this story in full on the NSL website (here) - along with many other fun and interesting 4-way articles. 

Military Canopy Coaching

Scott Campos is one of our sponsored athletes and has been working with PD for several years. I'm sure that many of you have seen that ball of energy running around a dropzone or attending a boogie, usually either wearing a wingsuit (which can make for awkward running) or  running around organizing a flock dive or something similar.  But always running.
Many don't know that Scott's in "normal" life he is also a member of the Army's Special Forces and a part of his job includes skydiving.  Pretty cool huh. Scott just sent us a line about a canopy course he recently did with members of the PD Factory Team, read on....

I recently had the opportunity to spend a week doing a canopy control course with Ian Bobo and Shannon Pilcher. As part of a workshop offered by CPS, tailored to Military jumpers, I was able to send 15+ military HALO jumpers/riggers to this training, many of whom are also active in the civilian skydiving community.

The feedback both Ian and Shannon provided to the group was fantastic, everyone had a great time and had noticeably improved by the end of the week. Ian even went on to jump a military rig and a 75lb rucksack to see what it was like when we "go to work". If you ever have the opportunity to attend one of their canopy courses, no matter your experience level, I highly recommend it. Both are great guys and excellent instructors.

- Scott Campos

Reserve Wing Loading

We received a comment on one of our posts, with a question about Reserve wing loading.  We think this is a very good topic that really deserves it's own post, so we handed the keyboard to Nick Grillet (one of our tour reps) to answer.

Wing loading can be a tricky topic, as many factors come into play when determining the appropriate loading for your canopy (both for main & reserve).   
Meteorological conditions, experience levels, dropzone elevation and surroundings are examples of things that factor in.  PD's R&D department thoroughly tests each reserve size under a wide range of wing loadings to make sure that the canopy performs to satisfaction (and then the rigors of TSO testing are a topic for a whole new blog, if not several!). Based on those tests, we publish a chart with wing loading recommendation for each of our models & sizes. 

As for wing loading in general, it is fairly well known in the skydiving community that the higher the wing loading the more aggressive the canopy flies & turns and more altitude is lost during each turn. Each jumper needs to consider his or her own experience and pick the appropriate size canopy based on that. Keep in mind that if you find yourself under your Reserve, you likely just had an emergency or are currently dealing with one - which might not be the best moment for deep thoughts about equipment selection!
You should also anticipate having to land your reserve away from the main landing area, possibly in a tight situation. Your goal should be to select a reserve that you feel reasonably comfortable with landing in any kinds or direction of winds  as you never know what the situation might bring. 
I'm sure you have heard this before, but erring on the conservative side, may make ALL the difference in whether you walk away safely or not. 
You can demo your PD reserve here and jump it as a main to see for yourself how it flies. Any other information on wing loading compared to experience level can be found on our website, just click on the canopy you jump and view the chart. Pay particular attention to our maximum recommended exit weight for each canopy size and be honest when you evaluate your experience level.
I have tried my best to keep this short but the topic is worthy of long talks, so by all means let us know if any other questions come up.

Stay safe!