This is the fourth year that Skydive Dubai (SD) has run the Dubai International Parachuting Competition (DIPC), often known as the Gulf Cup. In 2012, the DIPC was combined with one of the best World Meets the sport has ever seen. Skydive Dubai always pulls out all the stops to make an incredible infrastructure and atmosphere, and every year sees improvements made by our hosts, where you would not have thought any were possible.
42 countries were represented, with an arc of tents from each nation framing the central swoop pond and circle of accuracy. Disciplines included CF, 4-way FS, 8-way, VFS, accuracy, canopy piloting and this year, artistic events were added to the menu for the first time for the Gulf Cup. With so many events, and not so much daylight this time of year, it takes 12 days, meaning each team does about 1 jump a day, or 2 jumps a day and every other day off. Either way it’s the challenge is to keep motivated and fly hard, without the normal natural momentum of a competition.
We are 2 days into the competition so all events have started but most have barely enough rounds to set the scene. There is only one nation entering each category, whereas previously the Gulf Cup was like a World Cup and would accept multiple entries.
4-way FS
Hayabusa must have been disappointed not to have a rematch with Airspeed; last year’s epic 4-way battle was the closest and hardest fought World Championships in living memory, each team outscoring their previous best by 17 points. Hayabusa return, and last year’s Russian team (Barkli) who took bronze, but no Airspeed; instead the slightly better looking SDC Rhythm, very nice to see them competing for US, as a major player. After 2 rounds, they are in third just ahead of Qatar and UAE, this could be an interesting fight!
Hayabusa DIPC4 Rounds 1 & 2, by Danny Jacobs
8-way
It’s a different field in 8-way compared to last year, when the meet was dominated by the Golden Knights, who took the World Championship title back from the French National team. This time only the Russians return from the podium; US is not represented and France is not the National team, rather it’s a combination of Monaco 4-way and ex-members of French 8-way.
Having done 4 rounds, 8-way is the event that has the most meat on it. ‘Les Anciens’ of France are running at a 15 average, the Russians are a point behind, and sitting pretty out in front are – guess who – United Arab Emirates! Skydive Dubai’s 8-way performance is going ballistic! Their 8-way team last year was on about 11-12 average. This year Coach Craig [Girard] set a goal of a 14 average and wondered if it was too ambitious – but they are way outscoring that, with a 15.75 after 4 rounds. Eliana commented that she’d seen a change in focus after the 4-way team was at the meet in China. They had a very close battle with China all the way through but held it together and eventually won. She felt they had gained a lot of confidence and belief, and this translated into more focus and better jumps.
Canopy Piloting
The winds have been pretty strong and variable (too strong for classic accuracy), which makes it hard for canopy piloting. The speed event was done into a headwind, making record scores impossible, and managing to score very difficult. Nonetheless, the event was a real crowd-pleaser, especially worked by the ubiquitous Regan. The Speed part of the Canopy Piloting event is over, won by Curt Bartholomew (US), with French David Maleze in second, and UAE ‘s Cornelia Mihai in third. It was a real day for the ladies, with Jessica ‘edging’ in front of her PD teammates Brian Vacher and Jay Moledzki, and the most female competitors ever in a world class event.
Other events
There are 4 teams in freefly (France, Russia, Venezuela & Austria, in that scoring order) and 5 in freestyle (France, Finland, Venezuela, US and the first UAE freestyle team. VFS has three teams; UAE, who were second last year but now have a commanding lead in front of France, last year’s medalwinners France and a surprise entry from Poland, featuring the multi-talented Dafi, who has set records flying every way up you can imagine.
Atmosphere
Friday ended with an amazing Opening Ceremony, a show in its own right, and Saturday’s finale was a paramotoring display, first time I’ve seen anyone other than canopy pilots dip their toes in the a swoop pond, awesome fun. Stay Tuned, tomorrow is going to be an incredible day…
Full scores and videos at: Omniskore
Dubai International Parachuting Competition (DIPC) and its origins
