The PD Blog

Spanish Nationals - Final Results

Well the competition is finally over and what a competition it was. Conditions were tough, mostly downwind, and many took a tumble or worse. A few made the brave decision to stand down on the odd round and there were also a couple of casualties with some broken bones, but we're assured that they'll recover. As previously mentioned Bruno set a new record on his Velocity 111 although it will remain unofficial. The video can be seen here. The final results were:

1. Wutzi Wagner
2. Pablo Hernandez
3. Michael Vaughan

The prize giving and party were really great. The atmosphere was fantastic and everyone was super friendly. If you haven't been to this meet then definitely put it in your diary for next year.

Spanish Nationals - Day 2 and 3

At the end of the first day Pablo was 70 points in the lead and looking like the clear favourite to walk away with the gold. However he took a zero early on day 2 and the competition became pretty exciting again.

The winds picked up as the day went on the competition went on a weather hold. Again, the cry of the day was safety first- with the course running downwind and the conditions bouncing around and 14 knots blowing it was pretty tasty. A number of competitors started to nurse some injuries and some made the brave call to come off the loads. The yellow card of shame came out a few times and few people flew some entertaining "course destroyer" routines. The accuracy was tricky for some with many flying out the back of the course while others just went too far back and didn’t make it far enough. The entertainment carried on during the wind hold with the DJ stood on the back of the Red Bull Hummer cranking out the tunes.

Day 3 got the remaining rounds of distance and speed completed and we’re now on a wind hold again. The top 20 now go through to the semi finals with the top 10 to the finals. The scores for those will only count to the overall. So the placings for the individual events are set:

Speed:
1. Pablo Hernandez
2. Rodrigo Ferreira
3. Mike Vogeleer

Distance:
1. Bruno Brokken
2. Pablo Hernandez
3. Michael Vaughan

Accuracy:
1. Wutzi Wagner
2. Alastair Macartney
3. Michael Vaughan

There are 3 rounds to go but the overall standings so far are:

1. Wutzi Wagner (793)
2. Pablo Hernandez (715)
3. Michael Vaughan (709)

The atmosphere is still pretty great. The organizers have a big party planned for tonight with lots of free beer!

FLCPA Sebastian, April 12th.

Reported by League Director, Albert Berchtold.

This past weekend was the 3rd meet in a series of 5 canopy piloting competitions that make up the FLCPA season.  Friday morning we set up the courses and opened registration.  Eager pilots scurried to make their practice runs on the course Friday afternoon as soon as the courses were all set up.  Friday and Saturday brought sunny skies and and light winds up to 12 mph in hight of the afternoon.  Twenty competitors (13 Amateurs and 7 Pros) participated.  The competition ran smoothly, with some challenging wind conditions that were changing light crosswinds to heavy headwinds from round to round.  We finished up the final round  at around 5:30 and held the awards ceremony at 7:00 pm.   
First Place was Bryan Buechler  from Team Gold Coast Swoop.  Chris Moore of the Army Team Golden Knights took second.  and in third Place was Pete Schwartz from Virginia. 

This weekends meet was run during the  Carnivale boogie in Sebastian, FL.  The party after the awards ceremony was full of excitement.  Jay Moledski was spinning the tunes, Jeff Nebelkov from Tony suits was carving amazing ice sculptures, and various fire spinners were about the dz. 
Big thanks to our judges - Kim, Laticia, and Mike.  Thanks to Skydive Sebastian for hosting an excellent meet.  The 4th meet of the season will be held May 17th at Skydive Tallahassee, FL - see you there!

The meet scores can be seen below - complete results and league standings will be placed on CPAFL website  shortly. 

1    *Bryan Buechler*    397.52   
2    Chris Moore    396.37   
3    Pete Schwartz    394.73   
4    *Brian Vacher*    389.81   
5    Mike Olivela    355.77   
6    *Mike Shatalov*    349.99   
7    *Brian McNenney*    333.36   
8    Sergei Fedotov    325.44   
9    Greg Rau    289.60   
10    *Greg Windmiller*    279.43   
11    Ben Lowe    268.11   
12    David Lambert    264.53   
13    *Chris Watkins*    246.18   
14    Loud Dan McAllister    229.97   
15    Army Dan Richarelson    164.45   
16    *Peter Vohwinkel*    128.79   
17    Ron Naperala    121.98   
18    Edward Heady    111.39   
19    Greg Clidaras    109.91   
20    Pia McFarland    44.55 

*Name* denotes a pro competitor