The PD Blog

La Isla de Encanto

PD Factory Team members JC Colclasure and Jonathan Tagle recently held a Canopy control course at the XtremeDivers dropzone during the Puerto Rico Freefall Festival. Those who participated in the course all had good things to say about the experience and felt they had improved their canopy skills. Event organizers Jason Gonzalez and Viviana De Jesus put on a first class event that drew 247 registered skydivers over the week. With the beautiful scenery and great weather the boogie is a natural draw for skydivers, especially wingsuiters. With over 25 wingsuiters in attendance many large and small flocks were flown and  reps from Birdman, Fly Your Body and Tony suits made sure demo suits were available for everyone. Just because the jumping day was over didn't mean the fun was. Jason and Viviana made sure the night time activities were well taken care of by hosting a dinner as well as having a weekend DZ party that provided a live DJ and some of Puerto Rico's fine  adult beverages all night for free. If you didn't make it this year put it on next years list of boogies to attend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

PD Factory Team Recruiting!!

As many of you know, the PD Factory Team has been around for a long time - starting out as a 4-way FS team but later developing into the highly skilled & fine tuned Canopy Piloting team we are oh so proud of.  But, change is inevitable and PD Factory Team member Shannon Pilcher has begun to lay plans to withdraw from competition and rigorous training that comes with it.  He plans to focus more on coaching and teaching in the future, passing on some of the secrets that have made the PD Factory Team so successful.
This does leave a possible opening on the team, although the time line is at this point not fully clear.
If YOU are interested in becoming a member of a fast paced, highly skilled Canopy Piloting team, keep on reading. 
First of all, to be able to follow in Shannon's footsteps, one must have really big feet (size 15).  In addition, that person should be of good character and high integrity.  They are not necessarily looking for a fully developed pilot, but some experience of high performance canopy flight is a plus. 
Canopy Piloting is a tough discipline so good athletic conditioning is recommended (no wussies please).

If you (or someone you know) might fit the bill, please contact Shannon Pilcher for further information. 

PS.  Today is Shannon's birthday, so if you want, you can drop him a line to wish him a happy birthday.  He's getting a bit old though, so to make him feel better about it tell him that the gray hairs just make him look more distinguished.

The Spire in Valfrejus

Factory Team members Jonathan Tagle and JC Colclasure spent a few good days in Valfrejus recently, having fun with the Spire in the snow - click on each picture for a larger view :)

Prankster Pilcher

I'm sure most of you know or know of Shannon Pilcher from the PD Factory Team.  Apart from being a great guy and a fantastic skydiver (in just about every discipline, although I can't recall him doing much Freestyle), he's also known to be a bit of a prankster.  He likes a good practical joke a little more than the next guy, but I guess that can be expected from someone born on April Fools day.
Through the years, Shannon has been a part of more pranks than I can count, many of them absolutely hilarious. 
Occasionally though, Shannon is on the receiving end - and many of you probably remember when the Norwegians painted his house pink with a big "Skydiver of the Year" lettered on the side (see the NSL website for pictures).
About a month ago, when Shannon returned from his very successful trip to Australia (for the World Cup of Canopy Piloting), he had a bit of a surprise waiting for him.  Shannon rolled into DeLand in the middle of the night, tired and jet-lagged after the long trip home, wanting nothing more than to put his little head on the pillow and get a good nights sleep.   But, as you can see in the pictures, it wasn't an easy path to the bed, as 2 of his "friends" had decided to fill about 2000 dixie cups with water and place on the floor in Shannon's bedroom. 
Nice job guys - you know who you are... and I think Shannon knows too, so watch out!

Chicks Rocking at Skydive Elsinore

Chicks Rock - one of the coolest boogies on the West coast - is going full swing.  Isaiah McCauliffe and Scott Roberts are out there on behalf of PD & Team Fastrax Swoop putting on a canopy camp for those interested.  They haven't bothered to call home today, but we take that as a good sign as they are probably being kept busy by people that like to fly their canopies!
The entire PD Factory Team is out there as well, wrapping up their training camp.  They (just like many other hard core swoopers) are in the final stages of preparing for the World Cup of Canopy Piloting, coming up in Sydney, Australia in just a few weeks.

With this event in California our very busy 2007 tour season draws to a close for the most part, although we will probably find another boogie or two to go to before the year is over.  This will give us some much needed time to do gear maintenance and relax a little before starting to plan the 2008 season.   

But - now it's Friday afternoon here at the PD Factory and it's time to prepare for the weekend. It looks like it's going to be just absolutely gorgeous jumping weather, so we hope to see some of you out at the DZ!     Stay safe and have a great weekend!