50TH SOUTH AFRICAN SKYDIVING NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

By Jacqui Bruwer


The 50th South African Skydiving National Championships was held at Pretoria Skydiving Club from the 28th of April to the 1st of May 2014 at the Wonderboom Airport. It is also Pretoria Skydiving Club's 50th birthday this year. The championships consisted of two skydiving disciplines, Formation Skydiving and Canopy Piloting.





In Formation Skydiving, eight 4-way teams consisting of 4 members and a camera person, two 8-way teams and nine 2-way teams competed for the Gold Medals in Novice, Intermediate and Open Categories. The aim of Formation Skydiving is to build as many pre-determined formations during freefall within the allocated 35 seconds, prior to opening your parachute




Photo by Robbie Stewart


Final Results:
2 Way Novice:
1 Wing It 74 Points
2 Tumbles 64 Points
3 Kung Fools 52 Points

2 Way Open:
Savolo 2 84 Points
Miley's Cypress 72 Points
Vertical Xelleration 2 72 Points

4 Way Novice:
Random Motion 24 Points

4 Way Intermediate:
Airspud 42 Points
The Unexpected 28 Points





4 Way Open:
Savolo 141 Points
Jazz Republic 114 Points
Vertical Xelleration 100 Points



Photo by Warren Dent


8 Way Open:
Savolo 8 25 Points
PeriX 17 Points

Canopy Piloting saw a total of 8 Seniors and 3 Intermediates enter the competition. Canopy Piloting consist of a pilot flying his canopy at speeds in excess of 100 km per hour over a body of water during 3 events: Accuracy, Speed and Distance




South Africa's top two pilots did not compete this year due to injuries but the competition drew world class competitors from Dubai and Belgium as guest competitors giving some spectacular flair to the Canopy Piloting Championships. Cornelia Mihai from Dubai set a new FAI Female record in Speed with a time of 2.251 seconds as well as a new FAI Female record in Distance with 163.77 meters.






The Overall Results for Open were as follow:
Overall Results including Guests South African Championships Results
1 Cornelia Mihai (UAE) 1 Jean Jacques Wallis
2 Patrick Kaye (UAE) 2 2 Dian Kemp
3 Roy Seber (Belgium) 3 Waldo Prinsloo




Accuracy Results Including Guests South African Championships Accuracy Results
Cornelia Mihai (UAE) 1 Jean Jacques Wallis
Patrick Kaye (UAE) 2 2 Rob Kruger
Roy Seber (Belgium) 3 Dian Kemp




Distance Results Including Guests South African Championships Distance Results
Cornelia Mihai (UAE) 1 Dian Kemp
Patrick Kaye (UAE) 2 2 Jean Jacques Wallis
William Sharman (UAE) 3 Waldo Prinsloo

Intermediate Results:
Overall Results
1 Riaan Bergh
2 DeWet Davel
3 Julie Teague

Accuracy
1 Riaan Bergh
2 Julie Teague
3 DeWet Davel




Distance
1 DeWet Davel
2 Riaan Bergh
3 Julie Teague




There were 55 competitors during this championships, 6 Judges from South Africa and one judge from Sweden. Two aircraft, Atlas Angels, were used with 135 Loads flown. The 2014 South African Skydiving National Championships was unforgettable and an historic event for all involved.


Events 2014
PASA







Copyright © Pilot's Post PTY Ltd
The information, views and opinions by the authors contributing to Pilot's Post are not necessarily those of the editor or other writers at Pilot's Post.