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Thomas Hughes joined Airspeed 8-way in 2006, and rejoined in 2011 being a powerful force since. He is personable, sincere, super talented and full of energy. A natural athlete, he used to compete in waterskiing, and also enjoys running, free diving, flying planes and kiteboarding. An original Orlando tunnel rat, he was invited to join the UK National team when he had barely enough jumps to land his canopy! He has too many medals to list, including 4-way, 8-way, VFS, freestyle and canopy piloting. We interviewed him just before the Wind Games at Windoor…<\/p>\n
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##Competition history<\/p>\n
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2000 Deland Tunnel Rage
\n2002-2003 Sebastian XL
\n2004 Arizona Blade
\n2005-2006 Deland Fire
\n2006 Arizona Airspeed 8 way
\n2007-2008 Knight Trax
\n2007 Fastrax
\n2009 Spaceland Force
\n2009 Paraclete XP 8 way
\n2010 Arizona Airspeed<\/p>\n
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Full medals list here<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n ##Why does Airspeed choose the Wind Games competition?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Well for us our main competition is Hayabusa. We know they compete at the Wind Games and also at the World Challenge at Bedford. For us, we like the small competition environment, it\u2019s easy to get training time at Windoor before the meet. Also, for me, I\u2019m originally from England, I know what it\u2019s like and for me personally the least amount of time I spend in England the better!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We love coming to Empuria, it\u2019s a beautiful town\u2026 the meet is so short that we can walk around the town after the meet or before it starts, it\u2019s just real easy and relaxed for us.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ##How is it going to be for this first battle of 2015 with Hayabusa?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Honestly for us, we are not even really trying to compete with Hayabusa at the moment, we are just trying to sort our own things out. We\u2019re a new team, we have new goals. We\u2019re trying to find a system that works for us, working out how what works for us, what doesn\u2019t… How to set our goals, how to achieve what we want in meets, and so on.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Although Hayabusa are here and it\u2019s nice to have a base point as to what they are doing as compared with our scores, we\u2019re not necessarily trying to compete with them at this point, we are going to save that for a year and a half away.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ##Airspeed has always had great systems so why are you changing them?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s definitely true that one of the great strengths and fundamental things of Airspeed has been the systems but things change. People evolve on and off the team and, like anything else, the systems evolve. We have new people on the team, we\u2019re necessarily going to do the same thing that the team did 20 years ago. Something different might work out better with a new line-up.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ##Are you team captain now?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Technically yes but that\u2019s actually one of our systems we\u2019re trying to change. We\u2019re trying to become more of a team without any one defined leader. So I\u2019ve been on the team the longest but we are trying to keep the responsibility amongst the whole team and not a dictatorship within that group.<\/p>\n ##Does Airspeed still use a rotating captain system?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We sure do. We normally do it per camp, so we have four-day training camp, and we have a different captain for each camp. We rotate captains through the camps. That way everyone can get their ideas in, get to see what they want to see.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But within that we\u2019ve also learned that the captain has to be flexible. Even in that environment he can\u2019t be a dictator. If there is something someone wants to see then we try to accommodate it always, not just when it\u2019s their captainship. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n ##You\u2019ve flown with Nick before haven\u2019t you? <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yes, I\u2019ve actually done two teams with Nick. Fastrax in 2007, where he was in the Point slot, which is where he is now. I also did Airspeed with him in 2011 and 2012, when he was Inside Center. It\u2019s great to have Nick back on the team. He\u2019s my piece partner, he\u2019s Point. It\u2019s just great flying with Nicholas, it\u2019s just a blast. Him and I have always had really good energy. He\u2019s picked up that slot super easily and our skydiving is really good – well I should say our tunnel flying is really good, we haven\u2019t actually got in the air yet. But in the tunnel it feels great flying with him, very natural, which is nice. He\u2019s a Viking, that says it all!<\/p>\n ##What are the strengths of the current line-up<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One of the biggest things we have right now is a really good team bond. We\u2019ve definitely changed some of the ways we do business amongst the team. We all bring a really good vibe to the team, a lot of good energy, loads of enthusiasm. We have a lot of good engineering and diversity among the group, which is helpful.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ##How\u2019s Justin working out on camera?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Justin has now been with us for 2 years. He is great, he\u2019s re-committed to the team for another 2 years, which is awesome, he\u2019s such a pleasure to be around. It\u2019s nice having Justin around, he\u2019s really not afraid to give us input. As much as we try to bring a cameraman on the inside of the team, which of course they are, he still sees things from the outside perspective. He\u2019s really good about interjecting his opinion from the outside of what that core four looks like and is talking about. We get a lot of good input and feedback from him, which is really nice. He is very engaged. It\u2019s super cool to have that outside perspective, because a lot of times we don\u2019t always see what\u2019s going on<\/p>\n ##How did you get that scratch on your face and the hand injury?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yesterday as I was bicycling here to the Windoor tunnel in Empra, then just outside that warehouse here, a giant Bengal tiger leapt out of the bushes and threw me over the handlebars of this bike that I was borrowing from Pete, which is a bit defective. We got into a big tussle on the ground.. the Bengal tiger is now a rug in front of the fireplace and I have a couple of war wounds on my face and hand. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n ##Will Chris need the tiger skin for a jumpsuit, are his bags still missing?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fortunately Chris [Farina] just got his bags back from American Airlines, after spending 3 days here without them, he\u2019s been flying in Thiago\u2019s spare suit since we got here. Unfortunately his jumpsuit was not in his bags, it\u2019s really strange, where could it have gone? He thinks we\u2019re playing pranks on him … but nobody on this team would ever play a prank on Chris, not ever, never in a million years. \ud83d\ude09 <\/p>\n <\/p>\n ##What does the competition calendar look like this year for Airspeed? <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Wind Games<\/a> is our first meet, so we are very excited about this one just to see where we\u2019re at and get our systems in place. Then we go to the Paraclete indoor competition<\/a>, then directly to the Paraclete XP outdoor meet<\/a> in Deland. Hayabusa are also doing both those competitions. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Unfortunately we are not doing the Bodyflight World Challenge<\/a> this year. Then there\u2019s US Nationals in October, in Arizona. Next year it will probably be a repeat, of the exact same competitions again. <\/p>\n ##How do you feel about the break from March to October, with no competitions?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We have that every year. In the past we\u2019ve tried to do some training meets by connecting with other teams. Last year we tried to do that with the Canadians. We will probably do the same thing also with Hayabusa; they don\u2019t have any meets in that time either. Just to kind of keep us in the game. All the teams want to be competing, that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing here. So we want to pitch ourselves against each other, to keep the energy and the fire going. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n ##Any predictions for the competition here? <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s going to be interesting. Both teams have a change in line-up, obviously they have Bob as their new team member and we have Niklas as our new guy – or not so new guy. We also switched around our line-up as well. We moved Thiago from the Point back to the Tail and switched Niklas from Inside Center to Point, so some switches in there… and I have a broken hand.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ##You have a broken hand?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I went to the hospital in Figueres yesterday to get it checked out, as it\u2019s pretty swollen and I was in quite a bit of pain [after the fight with the Bengal tiger]. They took an X-ray, it was broken, the doctor wanted to do surgery and put it in a cast. I said, let\u2019s just hold off on that for a few days. We\u2019ll see how the meet goes. We did an hour\u2019s training in the tunnel with my hand broken. It\u2019s pretty painful but there is not much I can do. I\u2019ll compete through the meet and get it checked out when I get home<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ##You don\u2019t think competing might make it worse?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Well it\u2019s already broken! \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ##Do you have good painkillers?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Vitamin I and Ibuprofen. I don\u2019t think I can compete if I take anything stronger than that. So we\u2019ll just have to suffer through the pain and hope certain formations don\u2019t come up .. mainly the ones where I have to hold on to anybody.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ##Will you switch yourself out to Point for a round if it looks like a bad draw for the hand?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That\u2019s definitely an option. Nick and I have been doing a lot of A-slot, B-slot stuff, we feel equally comfortable in both slot, so we may consider that. Also with the entrances to the tunnel, it feels very familiar in either slot. We\u2019ll see how it goes tomorrow.<\/p>\n ##Thomas, is there anything you\u2019d like to add?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I\u2019d like to say hi to my Mum! \u2026 and of course give a big shout out to our amazing sponsors\u2026 Skydive Arizona<\/a>, Skyventure Arizona<\/a>, Cookie<\/a>, Larsen & Brusgaard<\/a>, Tony Suits<\/a>, Paragear<\/a>, Performance Designs<\/a>.. and everyone else who knows us! <\/p>\n <\/p>\n #Post event additions<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ##How did the broken hand work out? <\/p>\n ##How was the meet for you?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/\/d0f7c4b9-4a3c-418c-967e-fe7fe4563fab.jpg\")
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\nIt was no problem! Of course it was a bit painful but, really, I mostly felt great. I was just happy I could still compete. <\/p>\n