ParaShoot

We just finished the competition. In a little over 1½ day all 9 rounds could be completed before it started to rain. Especially the down wind carve and S-carve courses were very challenging. 1) Jay Moledzki 3000 euro 2) Jeff Provenzano 1500 3) Chris Hayes 1000 4) Pablo Hernandez 750 5) Bruno Brokken 500 6) John Zuliani 300 7) MIchael Vaughan 200 8) Alastair Macartney 9) Shea Convery 10) Cameron Rolfe The 3x Argus will go to one of the first 6 by throwing a dice at the ceremony in 1 hour. More info later

I don't agree with "and the competitors as well". The first round of accuracy was a nightmare for many of the competitors. The wind was unpredictable, 0 - 7 m/s. Many competitors landed in the water due to the lack of speed and got a zero. No fair chance to make a decent approach. This round should not have been started at these conditions. After the first landings the meet should have been stopped and restarted when the conditions were acceptable like a few hours later. This supposed to be a great World Championship but for many it's not anymore.

Final scores!!

The s-carve distance round this morning was really challenging. A bit down wind which made it very though to stay within the course. Jonathan and Jay flew all the way over the course into the sea. One more round to go. We started round 10 (carve accuracy) but had to stop after the first 3 landed due to the wind. Everybody has a rejump and hopefully we can start all over at 18:00.

You're right about the IPC rules. But with the EST events we chose to use the percentages for all disciplines because it makes more sense and is more fair. In case the maximum score in an accuracy round is for example just 50 due to circumstances the value of that round is way less than the others (speed and distance). It was the intention of the IPC to do this but apparently it has not been changed because the maximum score is 100 anyway and mostly it is the actual maximum score.

The best 18 are in the finals. Scoring has been reset to zero. First round done before the wind picked-up. Hopefully continue with the next round (straight accuracy) this afternoon.

The results so far. Look at the different sheets for details.

Lake Bussloo Beach Swoop. One of the European Swooping Tour events. Thursday August 31 training at the beach. Friday and Saturday competition. Saturday night BBQ & party at the DZ. The list so far (47): Jeffro Provenzano USA Luke Aikins USA Jake Kylfoil USA Chris Hayes CAN John Zuliani CAN Jay Moledski CAN Cameron Rolfe AUS Michael Vaughan AUS Alastair Macartney UK Martin Bäcklin SWE Shea Convery AUS Marc Jacobs BEL Dominique Lesage FRA Patrice Duquerrois FRA Dédric Hourde FRA Danielillo SPA Darren Doyle AUS Pablo Hernandez SPA Dirk Höhne GER Momo Michaelqld Guido van den Eynde BEL Jan Ceulemans BEL Gert Michiels BEL Erwin van Lommel BEL Grim Swinnen BEL Mike Vogeleer BEL Heiko Böger GER Jürgen Camps BEL Luis Candeias POR Carlos Faustino POR Rodrigo Ferreira POR Roel Roeloffzen NL Barry Reverda NL Peter Lankreijer NL Edwin Dangé NL Henny Wiggers NL Edu Mertz NL Koen van de Venne NL Erwin Baatenburg de Jong NL Etienne Schreinemacher NL Erwin van Hooijdonk NL Hans Dijkman NL Nina Engel GER Frederique van der Hilst NL Kaz Cheekey AUS Carla Costa POR There will be 2 categories: Open and Female. The girls will join all others but will also have a separate ranking with € 1.000 cash purse. We would like to limit the competitors to 3 Grand Caravan loads to 48. If you’re interested please let me know ASAP. Henny@parashoot.nl

Yes! The present IPC rules don't give a maximum time for speed but the system is still set to max 10 sec, which is automatically zero points in percentages. An actual time other or more than 10 sec will give points in percentages related to the best score. ** Know what you say but don't say all you know. **

Due to to much wind on Friday the competition started at Saturday morning and was completed in one day. First lift at 08.45 and last to land at 21.15. Competition consisted of 3 rounds of the 3 disciplines speed, distance and accuracy. All disciplines were preceded by a training round so in total we did 12 jumps that day. Speed and distance had a head wind of about 4 - 5 m/s. Later in the afternoon the wind dropped and accuracy was done with zero to 1 m/s downwind. 1 Jay Moledzki Canada US$ 5.000 2 Shannon Pilcher USA $ 3.000 3 Ian Bobo USA $ 2.000 4 Jeff Provenzano USA $ 1.600 5 Nikolay Sukharnikov Russia $ 1.000 6 Jonathan Tagle USA $ 800 7 Alexander Kvochur Russia $ 600 8 Vladimir Polyakov Russia $ 500 9 Michael Vaughan Australia $ 300 10 Alexander Golovkin Russia $ 200 In total a cash purse of US$ 15.000. A great and efficient event! For more inside information about the results and other competitors see attached scoring list.

There are 2 main reasons for using a filter on a video wide angle converter. - The first is of course to avoid scratches. Normally an expensive lens will need a good (more expensive) filter to keep the best quality. You will be amazed about the difference in quality between the different filters. You will only see the difference with a very good lens though. - Probably a more important reason to add a filter is to avoid condensation. Of course not all locations have this problem but an extra layer will really help a lot. If the lens has no thread than just put a filter on backwards and glue or kit it on. If you make it air tight the change of condensation is minimal. Be sure to check that you won't have vignetting. If the filter is backwards the change is much smaller for that. ** Know what you say but don't say all you know. **

That's the key. I started doing tandem video when they didn't have a drogue so I had to arch some more to keep up with them. When you exit on your belly you should always stay below and facing up. In this position you won't be in the danger zone for the droque and you can easily arch a little more to get some more speed. I'm pretty light weight and can still follow a drogue-less tandem if I need to. If you have to look down (to keep the tandem framed) your body is in a de-arch so it will be very difficult to catch up. Of course once you get some more experience the best way is to learn to fly in any position. That'll give you a lot more range which can be applied a lot faster when necessary. ** Know what you say but don't say all you know. **

I've not tried the new Raynox lenses on a miniDV camera yet but there's a big difference in quality between all different brands. The new Raynox lenses claim to have a quality of about 540 to 600 lines in the centre. I always tried to explain it simple and from what I understood the quality reference is: - VHS can see about 200 lines - S-VHS about 300 - MiniDV about 400 - HDV about 500 - 600 The older Raynox, Kenko, Hama, etc. lenses have max 350 lines. My feeling is that single piece lenses have even a little less. The better the lens the less you loose on quality. You can easily check the difference in quality by putting the camera on a tripod and make still shots with different lenses. Analyze these pictures and you will be amazed about the differences you find. ** Know what you say but don't say all you know. **

I assume you got your camera today and are playing with it so you are prepared for the weekend. You can't wait to jump it. I use several different wide angles (or sometime even without a wide angle) all depending on the kind of skydiving and the shots I have in mind. For freefall I prefer as wide as possible (0.25 - 0.30). Under canopy about 0.5. On the ground mainly no front lens and some zoom to make dramatic shots of expressions of movements. Let us know your first results. Henny ** Know what you say but don't say all you know. **

It all depends on what footage you're looking for. For training the best way is to shoot like Dragon2 explains. Start before the final approach and keep everything almost full frame. The swooper can debrief his swoop best like this, especially when it's filmed in line with the entry gates. For shots for a film you should shoot different ways. Like zoomed in at the upper body and face for real nice expressions. Zoomed in on the lower body and legs for dramatic landing shots. Etc. etc... Try to start with one technique and stick with it until you really master that. ** Know what you say but don't say all you know. **

Congratulations!! Coming days you'll be busy with reading the manual. Especially for your ground shots there are so many setting possibilities to play with. Good luck. Henny ** Know what you say but don't say all you know. **

Yes, I use wide angles on my A1. In Thailand we've tested many different brands. Although I never was a fan of Raynox lenses they came out with a new range for high resolution (600 lines). The 0.3 had the biggest angle and best overall sharpness. I assume the new 0.5 will have the same sharpness. Also the Raynox lenses are very ligth weight. Besides the Raynox we tested my Century Optics 0.3 and 0.5, Emson 0.38 and 0.5, Kenko 0.42 and Hama 0.45. Although all were pretty sharp in the centre they the were not as sharp as the cheap Raynox lenses and all were not sharp in the corners. The Hama 0.45 for 52 mm was very sharp too because it only uses the center of the lens. After Thailand I've tested some more lenses but it appears that the new HDV camera needs High Resolution lenses for best results. All my lenses I was very happy with are not sharp enough for my new camera. OK, I'm spoiled :-) I've ordered both Raynox lenses and will look for more high resolution lenses. I'm sure other manufacturers will come with high res lenses soon. ** Know what you say but don't say all you know. **

A very nice site with detailed comparisons between the 2 cameras is: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/forumdisplay.php?f=99&order=desc Very usefull is the ability to record in HDV and output to iLink (firewire) in standard DV.

Hi Matt, I'm just back from a trip to Australia to compete at their Ozzy Swoop Nationals. Because I was competitor I didn't make many pix myself. Therefore Wendy Smith could use my D200, 24-85 and SB800 for many ground shots. She used the flash but only at 250. The results are really nice. Before down under I was in Thailand for The World Team 400 way world record. I'm getting spoiled with this camera because now I really start seeing the quality of the Nikon lenses. On my previous cameras they showed very good but with the higher resolution it becomes clear that many wide angle lenses are very sharp in the center but less at the corners. The DX lenses are sharper than the D lenses. I can probably replace my 14, 16, 18, 20 and 24 lenses by just the 12-24. The more I use the D200 the more I start liking it. Compared with Bruno's 5D it looks a little less sharp but the lighting, colors and speed (5fps) are much better. I'll post some pics in original size at my website with some links over here later. So far I'm very happy with the toy. ** Know what you say but don't say all you know. **

Hi Swoopers, It took a while but this is the EST schedule for 2006; Portugal (not confirmed yet) June 08 - 10 Voss Norway June 26 - 28 Copenhagen Denmark July 13 - 15 Kolomna Russia July 20 - 23 Empuriabrava Spain July 27 - 29 Lapalisse France (not confirmed yet) August 03 - 05 Bussloo Netherlands September 1 & 2 Let's have a safe and successful swoop season.

I'm used to shoot on shutter priority between 320 and 500. A sample from last weekend: http://www.parashoot.nl/pix/_DSC0026.JPG

Got my new D200 yesterday and made a few jumps with it today with different lenses (Nikkor 14, 16 and 20 mm). Like with my previous Kodak SLR Pro it's hard to find the best setting for sharpness. It's winter here with a lot less light though. I'm very, very happy with the quality of the results. It's an awesome camera with extreme nice pictures. If I compare the pix from the D200 with the fullchip Kodak my first impression is that the pix from the D200 are more crispy. Together with my new Sony HDV A1 I'm prepared for the future and the upcoming 400 way. Henny The Netherlands

It's the other way around. The HC1 is the consumer version and can only output what has been recorded. For straight editing you need to record and output in DV. If you use a computer you can record in HDV, edit it and output to DV. The A1 (professional) though can output whatever you want due it's build in converter. You can record in HDV 16:9 and output to DV (and composite) 4:3, cropped or squeezed. I've heard from several cameraman that they're very happy with the quality of the HC1. I need the A1 but haven't heard anything about it yet.

The Lake Bussloo Beach Swoop Festival 2006 (The Netherlands) will be held at Friday and Saturday September 1 & 2. Thursday (August 31) competitors can train at the competition course at the lake. This competition will again serve as the finals of the European Swooping Tour and will therefore close the season with a huge party (free BBQ etc.) Saturday night at the skydivers clubhouse de Wolk. No jumps are scheduled on the lake on Sunday :-). The registration limit (45 in 2005) for the 4 categories will be extended to 60 and the cash purse will be raised accordingly. • Open • Intermediate • Dutch • Female The first ever separate female category was a great push for the girls and will certainly be back next year. Besides the swoop competition many spectacular side activities are scheduled to make it a full program for the crowd. We’re working on a big crane (> 100 mtr.=300 ft.), balloon festival (BASE), Motorized chutes, special courses (inflatable porches), etc...

The overall ranking of the 4 best results of the EST 2005 competitions. Overview without logo's 1: Jay Moledski 2: Jonathan Tagle 3: Bruno Brokken 4: Shannon Pilcher 5: Henny Wiggers 6: Francisco Neri