Well, just a quick update to let you know about this link:
Max Haim's pictures of the event.
Have a look, Max, as always, does a very good job ! 
No need to tell you the weather is warm and the sky beautiful...
Welcome to BFU International Boogie, 2nd edition in Reggio Emilia, Italy.
This time again all conditions are here to make it a very successful event.
As you can see on the picture, there is tons of famous load organisers, FF and RW, and well known Videographer and Photographer:
Fred and Vince from Babylon,
Ippo, Manuel and Luca from Aria,
Philippe Valaud, Tim Porter,
Livio from Sinapsi and Patrick Passe for Formation Skydiving,
Wendy Smith and Max Haim as photographers.
The plane fleet is just perfect:
The famous Beech 99, Jan's rocket machine,
an Antonov 28,
a Pilatus Porter,
and a balloon !
I'll try to keep you updated on what's going on here, but the best is just to come !!
Dedric,
enjoying the Italian style and amazing food !
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.
In the semi final of the Spanish Nationals Bruno Brokken flew 154m on his Velocity to beat the current World Record. The winds were in limits but blowing consistently downwind along the course. He hit the gate beautifully and carried past the current record to 154m. Official scores are yet to be posted but this record is unofficial as there are only 2 FAI judges. We just have the finals to go in about an hours time before the prize giving and what is certain to be a big party.
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!
The Spanish Nationals kicked off this morning, sponsored by Red Bull and PD. It's like a mini World Meet with 45 competitors from 17 different countries. People have travelled from places such as Australia and Venezuela to attend. Being in Spain you would expect it to be a relaxed competition, which it is, but it's also very well organised and there is a great atmosphere. Safety first is the cry of the day and Meet Director Lucia is swift to issue a yellow card for any infringements- we've had one injury and no-one wants another one.
So far we've done one round for distance and accuracy and two rounds of speed. The speed course is a 80m S carve- this might sound tough to some but, if you get your line right, you can actually take a straight line through it.
The standard of competitors is high. Many have been on the swoop scene for a while; some competing, some not. But now they've all converged on Skydive Lillo and it is a happening place. At over 2000 feet above sea level those that have learnt to really generate some power are putting in some great runs. There's a few that need to learn to be accurate and consistent with the power as well! Great to watch is Michael Vaughan, all the way from Australia, making his first competition with a new turn- 990 degrees of rotation!
Conditions have been testing during the middle part of the day with some winds changing and even some big name competitors have taken a zero. We're waiting for the scores now but my guess is that local jumper Pablo Hernandez will be in the lead.
I've been in the water twice today but not landed in it- I'll leave you to figure that one out.
Right, I'm off for a cerveza and some tapas.
Well Al and I made it to Brazil. The flight was almost 10 hours long. We did luck out and get a row of 3 seats to our selves which made sleeping much easier. We did make one big mistake before attempting to drive to the DZ and that was not doing a currency exchange. We found out that the toll booths down here don't take US dollars(oops). And the toll operators English was about as bad as our Portugese. After 45 minutes of confusion we gathered worked together and figured out that we were going the wrong direction and would need to turn around. The good news was that we didn't need to pay the toll.
The weather hasn't been the greatest since we arrived. Low clouds and strong winds have kept us on the ground. The good news is we've had plenty of time to make new friends and exchange ideas. The event is not only locals, but groups from northern Brazil, Peru, Chile, Paraguay, and others from around South America. We are just getting ready to put on a seminar to discuss packing and deployment processes.
Only about a quarter of the people speak English which makes communicating exciting. I can tell you everyone is very nice down here. We are having a really good time. Well it is time for our seminar now, check back later for more details.
It's the second time that PD has a Demo Tour Stop in Fano, Italy. First time was in 2007, and this year was as good as before.
Fano is the home DZ of 
It's like a big family entertaining themselves with many different activities. Have a look to their website.
Italians are very friendly, and always happy to have the opportunity to try new canopies. Sometimes they are a little bit too "hungry" and you have to slow down their enthusiasm because they are not affraid afraid (thanks Kolla for the right spelling!) of trying a demo they might not be ready yet to handle the safiest way. It makes your day a bit more "spicy" than usual !
Livio, our dealer from Sinapsi, was help a lot, translating and explaining why you should or shouldn't jump this or that canopy; and sometimes, he just let his arms down, looked at me with a "don't be that much suprised" look, and say: "Italian Style !".
But we all had a very good time. And the weather was with us. Shining sun, caressing wind, quenching beer.
Beside his canopy course, Livio was also coaching a RW 4way, Team NEXT.
Even if he was very busy on the ground, Livio managed to put himself on a few lift to do some hop'n'pop, and practiced his downwind landings for the next I.S.T. competition.
The pictures can be found HERE
As always, I had all my demos ready to fly.
Here is a list of which canopies I have for you.
Dedric
European Rep.
PD Tour rep Nick Grillet and Scott Roberts from Team Fastrax Swoop are spending the weekend in Perris Valley, supporting an 8-way camp Perris Fury is hosting along with handing out demo canopies, doing seminars, help with packing and all that good stuff that comes with a PD Tour stop.
Nik Daniels, Perris Fury cameraman snapped this shot of the PD reps setting up and getting ready for the weekend. It looks pretty green to me, and there are clouds... hmm.... did they really go to Perris???
PD Demo Tour started in Casale Monferrato, Italy
This nice little DZ is located between Turin and Milan, and is very friendly.
They usually operate only the weekend, and this is the home of Luca Marchioro from Synapsi, our local dealer.
AERA DELTA 47 (that's the name of the DZ) owns a SMG 92 Turbo Finist, a 10 slots plane with turbine.
For the Easter Boogie, the activity was opened exceptionally all week.
PD was there friday, saturday and sunday with demo canopies.
The weather was really good, and the skydivers enjoyed the outdoor packing area in the shadow of the two big tents, where I placed my goodies and demos, near Vigil.
There was a mix of freeflyers and bellyflyers. A FS 4way team was training hard at the same time.
Beside the Italians, there was also two Swiss and three belgiums.
Some of you will recognize Sandrine, the Vigil Rep, and Jordy, the happy winner of Gap Vector Festival 2007's raffle.
People were interested having a go on a demo. Most of them were looking for the same canopy they already have but one size smaller. Some had no precise idea of what to try, some wanted to use the opportunity to learn how a reserve canopy flies.
Between hooking canopies, I gave some always welcome packing tips and landing advice.
I had a good time there,
enjoying the end of the winter,
and I hope I'll see you again next week in Fano, IT
or in Reggio in may.
Dedric.
European Marketing Rep.
Check out the pictures here!
