GLIDEANGLE 1 #1 December 31, 2007 Skydiving competition rewards specialization in a single discipline (FS, Canopy Piloting, Accuracy, CReW, etc). Is there a multi-specialty competition that rewards the well-rounded skydiver? I am thinking of a competition like the Olympic decathalon, or the rodeo award for high scores in a variety of disciplines, or the triathlon that combines three different endurance envents. Imagine the challenges (both skill and equipment) if there were 4 way team events that combined a brief period of formation skydiving followed by a brief period of CReW, followed by accuracy landings in a single jump. Of course, some will say that I picked the wrong events... that the sequence should be: freeflying formations, followed by CReW, followed by swooping in a single jump. The most comprehensive would probably be a series of jumps half with the first group of skills and the other half with the second group of skills. Yes, it would be expensive to train. I can't even begin to get my head around the gear issues (terminal speed openings for CReW, optimal canopy for CReW & accuracy or CReW & Swooping). The payoff would be building multi-skilled skydivers who can help build bridges between disciplines. Have I lost my mind? The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DJL 235 #2 December 31, 2007 That would be fun but it would be difficult to go from freefall to CRW and then try to swoop the CRW canopies. A better sequence would be. 1. CRW - four-way rotations - make 4 points. 2. All four cut away 3. RW - make 8 points 4. Deploy high performance canopy packed into reserve container. 5. SWOOP! Unfortunately skydivers are a bunch of lame pussies. They'd never be down for something this fun."I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brettski74 0 #3 December 31, 2007 It doesn't have to be all in one hit like a triathlon. It could be more like the decathlon or heptathlon where there is a series of 10 or 7 events, all run separately and competitors score points in each event which are weighted and added together at the end to come up with final standings. To make it a decent number of events and a decent test of "all-round" skill, it'd have to be a team event. Maybe 4-way FS, 4-way VRW, 4-way CRW rotations and swoop zone accuracy, and call it the tetrathlon. 4-way VRW could drastically reduce the number of viable teams, though. Is there a more mainstream-accessible freefly team event? Maybe we could lobby to make it an Olympic event. They've got plenty of other -thlons. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
howardwhite 6 #4 December 31, 2007 Many, many years ago there was a Nationals event called TRAC (Team Relative work and ACcuracy.) It died for lack of interest. HW Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skydance1954 0 #5 January 1, 2008 Intreging idea. However, given the realities of the sport, and how difficult and expensive it is to train just one discipline, I think it would be attainable only by a very small cadre of jumpers. Those who have stupid amounts of money or major funding. Even back in the day when we'd all do RW and then accuracy (because that's all there was), you didn't see anyone who was competitive in both at the same time. You were either one or the other. I'm not saying it's impossible, just difficult. And you'd probably be good in the "all round" category, but not top dog in any one discipline. Which, I guess, is the point.Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
beowulf 1 #6 January 1, 2008 Quote That would be fun but it would be difficult to go from freefall to CRW and then try to swoop the CRW canopies. A better sequence would be. 1. CRW - four-way rotations - make 4 points. 2. All four cut away 3. RW - make 8 points 4. Deploy high performance canopy packed into reserve container. 5. SWOOP! Unfortunately skydivers are a bunch of lame pussies. They'd never be down for something this fun. It would be better to have the CRW canopy as a tertiary. My biggest gripe would be the possibility of losing the canopy. Who knows how far away that canopy would end up after being cut away so high. I can't afford single use canopies. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DJL 235 #7 January 1, 2008 QuoteIt would be better to have the CRW canopy as a tertiary. You say this because you're a wuss."I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhreeZone 20 #8 January 1, 2008 Not to mention most of those that have stupid amounts of money or jumps to be competitive at RW are already decent freefliers due to their tunnel time/freefall experience and the majortiy of them are good canopy pilots already. Just look at the PD team last year. Took their demo sub-150 reserves to the Canadian nationals and scored very well in classic accuracy with them. At least one of them is a Gold medalist at 4 way open in the US Nationals also. As Mike said, its a small subset that would be interested in this. A lot of the top flyers already enter multiple events at Nationals and do very well in them.Yesterday is history And tomorrow is a mystery Parachutemanuals.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
