chayes12

Just to let everyone know, we got weathered out for round 6 today for the 2004 FLCPA season. This meet will not be rescheduled. This will conclude the 2004 season. Congratulations to all those who participated and improved so much this year. 16 people showed up for the meet despite the weather and we all decided at noon to call the meet considering that Sundays weather forecast called for high winds. This officially gave Ian Bobo the overall win for the 2004 season as the 2004 FLCPA champion. Thanks to everyone for your support and interest. It was a very interesting year for swooping in Florida. The pond at Lake Wales is very very nice. It is certainly ready for the upcoming World cup. It measures 300'x110' (or so) and has powder white sand at both ends. It was a real tease considering most of us did not get to swoop it at all. The bad weather gave all of us a chance to get together and share opinions about how the 2004 season went and about the future of swooping in Florida and in the USA. A very good discussion was had with everyone offering some great input and ideas about the upcoming 2005 season. Some of the things that were discussed were; -Who should be eligible for cash prizes in regional meets. Intermediate or Pro or both? -Should there be some sort of handicap used for regional meets so that intermediates would have a handicap and possibly win a meet and beat a Pro or should there be two separate classes that only compete against their own class? -Would you, as an intermediate swooper paying entry fees rather compete in an event with Pro swoopers who were likely to win the prize money or go to an event where there were no Pro swoopers and have a better chance of winning prize money? Any other opinions or ideas should be posted here and now!!! Lets not get carried away here with meaningless arguments. Choose your thoughts and words carefully. We are currently considering these and other things regarding the 2005 season in Florida. As soon as I have any more info I will post it here. One thing, it seems, that we are all in agreement about is the fact that one format and set of rules needs to be chosen and followed for consistency throughout the USA. We are just looking for some opinions and feedback here. Hopefully Mr. Slaton will read some of these ideas and consider them as he and his organization continue to evolve the sport of swooping for us all. Thanks Chris

Here are the overall scores for FLCPA after 5 rounds with everyones worst score removed. We will take everyones 4 best scores after 6 rounds to determine the overall (Bobo) winner.

Tyler Lawson at Skyquest

Sorry they look so bad. I will fix them and post clear copies.

Here are the score sheets from round 5 and the overall for the 2004 FLCPA season.

Our prizes for the 9 cell class include 50% of from Alti-2 for first place. A Neptune is $249 so this could be worth $125. Second place is an embroidered Atli-2 jacket and a t shirt for third. Intermediate and advanced classes are eligable for cash prizes. Hope to see ya Chris

9 cell competitors will pay the same comp fees as all the other competitors. $150 for five jumps. You will need to check into the DZ and fill out the normal waivers if you have not jumped in Sebastian before and put your comp fees onto your personal DZ account. Competition will be one speed carve, two distance and two zone accuracy. Competitors will be judged and scored and winners will be determined for the 9 cell class. Prizes for the 9 cell class will be 50% off from Alti-2 (a neptune) for first. We also have an Alti-2 jacket and a T shirt for second and third. The comp will be on Saturday, but the courses should be set up on Thursday for practice jumps on Thursday afternoon and all day Friday. The actual comp will start at 9:30 am Saturday morning. Practice jumps will be allowed Saturday morning, so if you can't make it Friday, please come early (7:30) Saturday morning so every one can make at least one jump before competing. At least one practice jump (if not more) will be manditory for 9 cell class competitors. The exit order will be determined on the morning of the comp after everyone has registered. Exit orders are determined mostly by wing loading. Swoopers will be put in groups of four and each group will get there own pass for the comp jumps. The groups of four will have approximately 1.5 minutes between groups. Swoopers must make their comp run in the order they have been given or they will not receive a score for that run. For the first 2 rounds, speed carve and 1 distance, the 9 cell class will go last, then we will switch the order and the 9 cell class will go first. This gives swoopers a chance to see the other swoopers make their runs. These and alot of other things are the stuff that we will introduce people to that are interested in learning and entering into the world of competition swooping. I and other experienced swoop competitors, will be there Friday to answer any other questions people may have and we will have a special briefing for anyone interested where any question may be asked and answered at 9 am Saturday morning. Hope to see you all Chris

Individual 1st Moledski $1150 2nd Pilcher $600 3rd Bobo $350 4th Colclasure 5th Koon Team Moledski/Neri $500 I'll post the score sheets as soon as I can. We missed you Chuck

I will post them here this week.

It's official. Skydive Sebastian has agreed to match the prize purse for FLCPA round 5. I have it in writing. The prize money will be doubled. So, round 5 will be in Sebastian on December 4th. I hope this does not inconvenience anyone.

Easy big fella. This class is intended as a beginner class for pilots that are not yet ready to fly the cross brased stuff. Not a pro swooper like yourself. It is a chance for low time jumpers to begin to begin. Maybe someday we will see a skydiver with 2000 jumps, 1996 of them hop and pops from 5000 ft.

The 9 cell class will not be scored against the other two classes. It will be a class on it's own with it's own winner. Again we will all watch these pilots closely and give them guidance and help them learn the skills necessary to move into the higher class. We used the no vertical rule in some of the earlier meets before FLCPA and it worked well.

This class will be intended as an introduction for beginner swoopers. The vertical extension rule is for safety. Sounds like you should be in the intermediate or pro class with distances like that :)

Let's try it! Here ya go. We will have a 9 cell class at the next two FLCPA meets. Course dimensions will remain the same with same scoring system as intermediate and pro classes. The difference will be this. Entry gates will be 30 ft wide, but will not have a height requirement. Pilots will need to fly through the course at any height with no vertical extension penalties. In other words the entry gates extend to the sky. You must still fly through the gates though. You can not enter the course from the side. Round 5 December 4 Skydive DeLand Round 6 January 15 Lake Wales If anyone has any questions you may email me dirrectly chrish@performancedesigns.com Thanks and we hope to see you all get involved

This poll shows good interest. Let's try it! Here ya go. We will have a 9 cell class at the next two FLCPA meets. Course dimensions will remain the same with same scoring system as intermediate and pro classes. The difference will be this. Entry gates will be 30 ft wide, but will not have a height requirement. Pilots will need to fly through the course at any height with no vertical extension penalties. In other words the entry gates extend to the sky. You must still fly through the gates though. You can not enter the course from the side. Round 5 December 4 Skydive DeLand Round 6 January 15 Lake Wales If anyone has any questions you may email me dirrectly chrish@performancedesigns.com Thanks and we hope to see you all get involved

We have changed the official rule in the Florida league regarding the zone accuracy event to address this issue. It is not necessarry to get the first gate to score points in your accuraccy runs. You get scored for whatever gates you get. You only have to get at least one gate and at least one zone to score. You acctually only need to fly 70 ft from the 4th gate to the zone 1 to score points. This is for windy days and for less experienced pilots with 9 cell canopies. It seems to work well and does not produce as many zero's. There are intermediate swoopers with cross brased canopies, but in the intermediate class there are so many other things to learn about competition canopy piloting that are not directly related to the type of parachute you are flying. Intermediate 9 cell and cross brased canopy pilots can learn alot competing along side each other. But I guess if there were enough 9 cell pilots that just wanted to compete against each other, then why not... Chris

On October 11, the day the dates were set, the pole showed Lake Wales and DeLand ahead at the time. Today is October 14th and the pole shows Lake Wales with 10 votes and DeLand and Z Hills tied with 9. The pole is now officially closed and the dates and locations will remain as posted. Any further votes will not be relevant. I am looking forward to finishing this series and looking towards next season when we will mix it up a little more. Hope to see you all at both events and at Skyquest in November. :)

Here are the dates and locations for the next two FLCPA meets to finish the 2004 season. Look for next year's season to start earlier, maybe a 4 or 6 event series to start in March of 2005. Round 5 December 4th DeLand Round 6 January 15th Lake Wales

We did not have this Round 5 meet because of the hurricane. I would still like to keep the 6 event format and do two more meets to finish the 2004 series. We will try to reschedule as soon as things settle down in Florida. Maybe round 5 at the end of October for Halloween and then round 6 in December.

Sorry guys. We will have to reschedule this one. Please let everyone know. Stay safe Chris

I am not sure about the planes yet. I will post something here as soon as I find something out. As of right now, 9 am, the competition is on for tomorrow. Chris

Well guys it's like this. We're all aware of the current hurricane situation. It has really put a stop to everything in Florida. Especially Lake Wales. If this event was not part of a series, I would have waited untill Lake Wales was ready for us. They are great people and I would have prefered to wait to have the round 5 at their new pond. At this late time in the schedule with everyone still feeling these bad storms, I just figured that it would be easiest for everyone, swoopers, judges, organizers to have it again in DeLand instead of trying to coordinate a different location two weeks before the event. Don't forget that DeLand did an excellent job for us giving us their otter for the comp. They had that plane ready for us when we needed it. Steve in manifest is on it and so was Mike Johnston. Not to mention that I personally have used up all my vacation days for the year. I agree that it would be cool to spread the vibe and we will. Patience. This is just the beginning. After we get this series done, we can all decide (maybe a vote) where we should swoop for the next events. Who knows maybe we'll even go out of state. Expand a little. Anyway, I hope you guys will understand and bring your best for round 5, in DeLand. Chris

Unfortunately due to the Hurricane, Lake Wales will not be available for round 5 of the Florida League. I have spoken with them and we will schedule a meet there as soon as they are ready for us. Maybe the final FLCPA round or something. We are looking forward to swooping in Lake Wales. Round 5 will be on the same date, September 25, in DeLand. Please pass this information on to anyone interested. Chris

Dates are November 18-21 with comp days on the 19th and 20th $350 per competitor. This includes 10 jumps. Cash Prizes for top five places and team events. Format 2 jumps 12 inch wide lane 300 ft. 2 jumps S carve 2 jumps long jump 2 jumps Free (freestyle) declared 2 jumps Team speed All competitors will pay $350 and can use their other two tickets for practice if they are not competing in Team speed. There will not be a separate price for competitors not competing in the team events, so get your teams together. Schedule Thursday November 18 Practice all day Friday November 19 6 comp jumps..... 2 12 inch lane, 2 S carve and 2 long jump. Saturday November 20 Practice until 11am 4 comp jumps...2 Free style and 2 team speed. There will be no practice jumps before competition on Friday however, Saturday morning there will be practice jumps available until 11am at which time the freestyle and team speed jumps will start. Registration will open Thursday morning November 18 For information about Skyquest go to www.skyquestflorida.com

Here is the score sheet from round 4