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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roberta Mancino featured in Men's Fitness Mag

Italian born skydiver Roberta Mancino (Italian Freestyle Champion and world class freeflyer) was selected the sexiest woman in sports, in an online poll by Men's Fitness Magazine. 
The magazine did a fairly detailed interview with her about skydiving where Roberta does a great job as an ambassador of the sport.

This lady is a lot more than just a pretty face though, make no mistake.  She's a bad-ass flyer both in the air and under canopy and I am certain we will be seeing more of that lady in years to come :)

Team Gold Coast Swoop!

Hey all - please meet our newest Sponsored team, Gold Coast Swoop, woooooshhhh......

Gold Coast Swoop (GCS) is a Professional Swoop Team that trains at Gold Coast Skydivers, in Lumberton, Mississippi. Gold Coast Swoop is currently comprised of two members: Bryan Buechler and Craig Saucier. We are passionate, highly competitive, and serious minded team with goals of competing strongly at the world class level, while still enjoying the camaraderie and good times that the Pro-Swoop Tour has to offer.
In 2007 (Gold Coast Swoop’s first year of competition) they garnered several accolades by placing 1st and 2nd in the Southeast Canopy Piloting Circuit (SE-CPC, also known as FLCPA), 1st and 3rd at the USPA Canopy Piloting Nationals, and 9th and 10th at the PST Championships.

The 2008 season promises to be just as exciting with several upcoming Southeast Pro-swoop Regional competitions and Pro-Swoop and USPA Nationals.  Gold Coast Swoop is extremely honored to officially join the PD Family, and will fly our new PD colors with pride while supporting the many organized events and activities in the Southern and Southeast Region.

- Bryan & Craig.

We look forward to good times with those guys - both true Southern gentlemen and a pleasure to work with. Best of luck this season!  And yes, the PD Blog sometimes struggles with the proper pronunciation of their last names, not as easy as it looks!

Bird Man Top Gun - Watch Out!

Please meet the newest addition to our family of Sponsored Athletes.... Bird-boys Macca Macdonald (UK) and Jarno Cordia (Holland) - we are happy to have you guys on board!

We are Macca and Jarno, two highly experienced wingsuit addicts that can be found enjoying the nylon crack on dropzones around the world. Since first starting to fly, we have both increased our skills and knowledge to such a level that we were asked to become founding members of the Bird Man Factory Team Top Gun.

We are both recognized wingsuit instructors, known for being approachable, friendly, knowledgeable, trustworthy, and above all, safe* skydivers.

We both believe strongly in using the highest quality skydiving products - which is one of the reasons we are so stupid excited to be working with Performance Designs. As long term users of their canopies we know how reliable and well built they are, not to mention their performance!

If you see us around, come and say hello. It's always good to meet new people, especially if beer is involved. 
Massive thanks to PD for supporting us.

Macca and Jarno

*We can?t be held responsible for our actions once the jumping day is done...

Skydiver of the Year 2007 - Christy Frikken

Those of you that subscribe to Skydiving Magazine know that each year the Magazine selects a skydiver that has stood out for their contributions to the sport and awards the title "Skydiver of the Year".     The selection is based on nominations received and this year Christy Frikken of team Perris Fury is being recognized for her vast contributions to the sport and chosen discipline of Formation Skydiving. 

If you haven't seen the March issue of the Skydiving Magazine, you should definitely try to get your hands on a copy - turn to page 6 and read up on Christy and her team (if you just can't wait for the mag, you can also get the story from the NSL website).
PD has been working with Perris Fury as a team for a little over a year now (although we have known Christy since she was just a little skydiving girl getting demo canopies from PD).  The team members have proven themselves to be both very talented skydivers but also incredibly professional and pleasant to work with.   We are privileged to have athletes such as Christy, Josh, Chris, Uli and Nik as ambassadors for PD - you guys (and gal!) absolutely rock.   If you want to see a little bit more of Fury in action, check out their photo album on the PD Blog.

The PD Blog would like to caution Christy to stay very clear of Norwegian jumpers, they seem to have a thing for the Skydiver of the Year title, and like to paint houses pink.....   or maybe that was just Shannon Pilcher that brought it out in them :)

Christy, we are incredibly proud of you and wish you all the best in future endeavors!

Mass Defiance

Ben Liston of Mass Defiance (PD’s sponsored 4-way team from up north) got in touch with a few updates. The boys from the North East had a strong finish at Nationals this season – a 19.3 point average earned them a 5^th

place open class finish in 4-way. They also had a blast for a third year in row with team Lock It Up in the 8-way event and took home a silver medal in 16-way with the Golden Knights. Outside of their competitive efforts, the team’s done a great job over the last four seasons of running the New England Skydiving League, being an approachable resource for new jumpers, doing demo jumps and helping to make local events and boogies successful.

While New England has brought a snowy winter, the team has been tearing it up in the tunnel and are hungry to get back air when the weather breaks. You can find team members at SkyVenture New Hampshire on Tuesday nights for free RW coaching (individuals and teams are both welcome!), and they regularly coach there on weekends as well. Mass Defiance was proud to work with the West Point Parachute Team over the fall and psyched with the Cadet’s strong performance at Collegiate Nationals this year. The team can be contacted via the Mass Defiance website  for general questions about 4-way or would like to inquire about coaching. 
The team also wrote a great article about the basics of 4-way that is posted at CollegeSkydiving.com (another great website for young jumpers) - but the information is good for people of all skill levels.

While the team’s tail flyer, Jim Rees, has sadly decided to step down for the 2008 season (this part-time team has held strong with the same line-up since 2004!), the rest of the guys are looking forward to competing at the Paraclete Money Meet, the New England Freefly Scrambles, and the US Nationals in 2008. There’s no news yet on who will fill Jim’s big shoes (size 13), but we’ll post more news when we get it!

CSC Rhythm in the tunnel

CSC Rhythm kicked off their 2008 training earlier this January with style - and many firsts (beer!!!).
They did their first tunnel camp in 2008, it was the first camp with the new lineup, first camp with Kirk Verner as a coach and the first camp in the new Paraclete XP windtunnel.  The team said that each one of those experiences far exceeded their expectations - couldn't ask for a better start for 2008. 

JaNette from CSC Rhythm commented that in a very short time, the team has developed a great rapport that is evident bith in the air and on the ground.   "Kirk is a great coach, who is guiding us both jump-by-jump and helping to lay out a long term vision for the team.  This inlucdes not only flying and 4-way techniques, but also team building.  The new Paraclete XP windtunnel is extremely impressive.  We heard tons of great things about it, and yet only after entering that tunnel for the first time did we really appreciate how superior it is.  For starters, the size and smoothness of the air are awesome, but every detail from the moment you walk in the facility is the best we have experienced.   We were joined by another team, O2 for the camp.  They looked great and we enjoyed sharing the experience with another team.  Cant wait until next camp!!"

You can find more information about upcoming camps on the team website - check it out!

 

Beerlight is ON!

One of our favorite photos Melanie Curtis, from Skydive Elsinore.  Look at the speed and determination, as she goes for the price during a sunset Hit 'n Chug at Chicks Rock 2007. 

We love ya Mel - thanks for being a part of the team!

Perris Fury Raffle Winner

One of our sponsored teams, Perris Fury recently organized a raffle where the participants had a chance of winning a free day of 3-1 coaching with Perris Fury - pretty much a dream day of fast and furious 4-way with some of the best flyer's on the planet.

The lucky winner is Reagan Bellinghausen.  He gets to pick his favorite slot for the day and Fury members will fill in the other slots.  Everything is included - free jumps, free video, free coaching for every jump, free packing and even a free session in the tunnel.

2nd and 3rd place winners Chris Wajnarowski and Johnny Bateman will receive their choice of a Fury T-shirt or a "Best of Perris Fury" DVD.  Perris Fury would like to thank all that purchased tickets and participated in the raffle - the team really appreciates your support!!

Team Mandrin

Well, first of all we are happy to announce that we have renewed our sponsorship agreement with team Mandrin.   Mandrin members are Dave Brown, Kyle Stark, Mike Whittenburg, Rook Nelson and Jon Pinyon (alternate), with Brian Buckland as their cameraman.
Mandrin has been very involved in forming and shaping VRW from it's inception, former Mandrin team member Eric Deren was instrumental in getting the discipline of the ground.

You might have heard of those cats before, as they are the current USPA champions in the very challenging discipline of Vertical Relative Work (VRW).  Mandrin is about to head to the tunnel training camp of the year at the Paraclete XP tunnel and have announced that there is time available for sharing and/or coaching at a very reasonable rate - fantastic opportunity to train with the champions!  The team is doing this to help foster the discipline of VRW and "pay it forward" to up and coming VRW's.
Please contact Dave Brown for pricing and availability - the dates for this camp are January 24th-26th,2008.