bigwayskydiver

Do you actually know the answer to this?

I certainly did not mean to say that what the P3 crew did was illegal or that they violated any type of contract law. We live in the free market but that does not mean I have to like it of believe that it is not in the best interest of skydiving. I am not trying to be malicious but just expressing my opinion. Although world team does not have regular meets, there are a lot of big way events out there that are much more high quality then the camps P3 puts on and cost less. Events such as Kaleidoscope are Back to the Future are more challenging and draw better jumpers on average. The reason some people may not have heard of some of these events are because there is not an application process. You either get an email invitation or you don't. They are not marketed like the P3 events are. If you are in the big way circuit, you know about them. If you dont care about bigway, then you may not have. However, these events are better and cost much less than P3 sponsored events. I know there are a lot of anti BJ people on here. The purpose of my post was certainly not to waive the BJ banner or create some kind of BJ movement. However, the fact of the matter is that BJ's events are better and cheaper. I rather do Kaleidoscope over anything P3 does. I cant think of anyone who thinks otherwise. Do the worlds best organizers deserve to be paid, hell yes the do. Should world class events where jumps are made from high altitude cost more, of course. Should jumps for the upcoming 200 way from 15K to 18K cost $70 a pop, hell no. Again, I will say that P3 is the best thing for new skydivers trying to break into bigway. It provides a means to learn outside of a major event. Before that, you learned by getting onto an event and doing it. Obviously this very stressful and not an ideal was to set someone up for success. Bigway needs to attract new skydivers to replace the aging bigway population not to mention that many of our newer skydivers branch off into other disciplines outside of RW. If someone asked me about getting into bigway and doing a 100 way, I would tell them to go to a P3 camp. However, my point is that its ridiculous to tell a skydiver that has been on multiple Kaleidoscope, Back to the Future, TSR, Jump for the Cause, etc for the past several years that if they don't go to a camp they will not be considered for the world record, TSR or any other event P3 hosts. While at the same time, someone who went to some camps and made good 100way attempts at a camp be given the slot.

I recently received a very disturbing letter from the World Team. Apparently, the P3 group out at Perris swooped up the contract with UAE to support the event that was previously promised to world team. I have attached the letter. Over the past few years, bigway has taken a drastic turn. Anyone who has been interested in World Team and other high profile jumps knows that attending a P3 camp is almost a requirement. Even people who hold multiple world records are told point blank that they need to attend a camp to get a slot on World Team. These camps run about 900 a pop for 20 jumps. It is highly "encouraged" to attend a back to back big way camp and 100 way camp for about $1800. Participation on the world team has been the carrot for jumpers to attend P3 camps. I know jumpers that have attended over 6 camps with the hopes of a slot on world team. This trend is spreading to other events too. The recent announcement for Texas State Record requires attendance at a P3 camp within the last year or you need a special waiver. I know more than one former TSR participant that is not even applying because they refuse to go the camps. At the same time, the cost of P3 events has skyrocketed. The upcoming 200 way has a price tag of $1425 for 22 jumps. These costs were unheard of until P3. In fairness to P3, their camps do serve a great purpose of helping skydiver learn the skill necessary to perform on bigway skydives outside of a high profile event. It gives the organizers the ability to train and evaluate bigway participants. Unfortunately P3 has morphed. Now getting onto bigways is a function of paying into the P3 system rather than experience and ability. Some of our most experienced bigway skydivers are now standing aside, refusing to pay thousands of dollars to P3 to attend bigway events that they have attended several times previously, and performed well. Instead, less experienced skydivers buy their slots onto these events. Now P3 is in complete control of the world record. This latest maneuver by P3 was not made in the best interest of breaking the world record. Rather, it was a greedy way of ensuring that their pockets remain lined with silver at the expense of the event. Anyone who speaks out is blackballed by Kate and her crew at P3. Now I leave you to ponder whether or not to drink the P3 cool-aid.