It was another incredible day at the Dubai Palm drop zone for the DIPC – but then, every day here is incredible. It’s hard to describe the level of opulence, you just have to come and experience it for yourself. I’ve never seen anything like the level of toys here – the latest is a video ‘jukebox’ where you can go and watch any team’s video of any round in any discipline! Every day there is a free raffle and 5 iPhones and 5 iPads are given away, it’s crazy.
4-way Female
Another 2-3 rounds of 4-way completed for Open, female and VFS. In the female 4-way the positions look unlikely to change, with France well ahead on a 21.8 average, Norway with a 18.2, UAE 15.8 and Canada 14.2. The French National team are picking up momentum with the competition and skydiving at a truly world class level; their scores put them fourth in the Open competition.
4-way Open
It’s a similar story in the Open class; as expected Hayabusa are way out in front, with a 27 average, then Russia with 24.2 and USA with 22.2. Qatar’s 4-way has advanced a lot in a year and are looking strong in fourth, with UAE in fifth. These positions look pretty set, it’s further down the board that there’s a battle going on, between Germany, Monaco, UK and Canada.
4-way VFS
It’s a similar story in VFS with Nexus, the local Dubai team skydiving strongly and well out in front, 14 points ahead of the French VFS team that beat them last year – a huge difference at this level, although not insurmountable. Philippe Schorno, the French coach, said they were ‘not ready’ for the competition. Last year they brought in a new flyer (Cathy Bouette) and tried out various different slots. 8 months ago Guillaume joined the team. A month ago the team made the decision to change slots, so their scores have been affected. Their goal is the World Championships 2014 in Prostejov, and they are seeing this competition as a rung on the ladder – but of course are still not so happy to be trailing behind UAE (Dubai Nexus). Halfway through now, the French are at 94 points with Dubai at 105 – a huge difference at this level, although still not insurmountable.
Canopy Piloting
Once again the conditions for canopy piloting were difficult, with a high and variable crosswind that was right on the limits. The CP discipline today was Zone Accuracy, where the competitors have to drag a toe in the water through four gates, and then points are awarded for their landing on the other side, bonus points for standing up the landing. Ian Bobo commented that it was hard to get ramped up for the competition doing just 1 jump a day. Everyone in every disciplines feel that but actually it’s much harder in CP, as the set-up point for their final turn changes with the wind conditions.
World Record in CF
US team Clean Air set a new world CF record, of 45 points in 60 seconds. Congratulations to Chris Gay, Brian Pangburn and Yiliya Pangburn for smashing the previous record of 36 formations, set by the French in August 2012. There were protests in from many CP competitors about the judging being unusually harsh but the scores remained the same.
DIPC 2013 – Episode 1 – New World Record! Dubai Highlights video from the PD Blog
Freestyle
In freestyle the game changed a little. France is still in the lead followed by Finland but the US team Animare losing ground to the Venezuelans, who now look lined up for the bronze, as they are a full 2 points ahead of USA (freestyle scores are in tenths of a point so this is a huge difference to make up). Olav Zipser (Venezuela)s was super happy with the day, but he felt for Animare, since he had just been with them at US Nationals, where they scored much higher. Amanda Festi of Animare was very positive about the day, saying that because their goal is next year’s World Meet, it’s great for them to be here and see what they need to improve. They’ve been scoring about 2 points less – per round! – than at Nationals, so are hoping at the end of the competition they will get some in-depth feedback from the judges to go forward. Amanda also said that they were suffering from a lack of training jumps at this location. ‘Sometimes I’m in a loop thinking blue (sea), blue (sky), blue sea – oh, no, that’s sky!’
Full scores and video at: Omniskore
Image gallery at: JuanMayerProductions
