Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of the Parachute Association of South Africa will be held at Grand Central Airport on Tuesday, 18 February 2014 at 19h00.

AGENDA

1. To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting.

2. To present and ratify fees for the next year.

3. To receive and consider the individual discipline’s reports on:

    3.1 the statement of accounts for the previous year.
    3.2 the activities for the previous year.
    3.3 the budget for the next year.
    3.4 the planned activities for the next year.

4. To set the limits of expenditure for the individual disciplines.

5. To elect the incoming Non-Executive Directors.

6. To ratify the office bearers as tabled by the SSA committees:

    6.1 Formation Skydiving
    6.2 Artistic Events
    6.3 Canopy Formation
    6.4 Freefall Style & Accuracy Landing and Paraski
    6.5 Canopy Piloting
    6.6 Wingsuiting
    6.7 Judges

7. Other business.

Proxy votes are acceptable as long as such votes have been lodged, in writing, at least 24 hours prior to the commencement of the General Meeting, with the Non-Executive Directors, and shall be applicable to specific agenda points on a point-by-point basis. Any one member shall be allowed to carry a maximum of ten proxy votes per agenda point.

Omission of receipt of notice to any member or affiliated body shall not invalidate the meeting.

By Order of the Non-Executive Directors                               Johannesburg, 1 February 2014

Once again, EP Skydivers hosted the Jeffreys Bay Christmas Boogie in……..Jeffreys Bay (Paradise Beach).

We had brilliant weather and plenty of fun. The folk from the 3 Fat Fish did our catering again and did a splendid job. FS was super with a few 16 ways and some other cosmic formations concocted by Clirk and Dare, with Bailey honing his freely skills on FS jumps. Even Ian van den Berge was there as acting car guard, shooing people away with his crutch.

The free flyers did us proud with some serious skills gleaned from the Babylon lads. We can see a serious increase in general skill over the years.

There was also quite a big international presence this year. The Boogie seems to be getting more and more popular with the folk from the cold side of the earth migrating to the sun.

Dean from Witbank became the pool guy (our own porta-pool to cool down in), while Amanda Loots reprimanded the chancers using the opportunity to get a quick wash, with a swift KLAP!

Thanks to everyone once again (too many people to mention) for making this boogie happen. We did record loads, a big thanks to Roger for flying like a real pilot.

See you all again at the end of the year. Same time, same place.

James and Joos

  
(Photographs courtesy of James Williamson and John Williamson)

Paul Lutge, D606 (left) being congratulated by NSTO, Mark Bellingan, after completing his 10,000th tandem recently. Paul started skydiving in Pietermaritzburg in 1987. He is a freelance instructor jumping in South Africa and Namibia and is also a static line instructor and PRO rated jumper. 

It’s February so that means … GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!

Really? February? Well, not usually but this February sees us complete the delayed 2013 Rumble. The big day is Saturday, 15 February (with Sunday as a weather day). NNP will be fresh off her MPI, a second aircraft is a distinct possibility and all the Rumble excitement is guaranteed!

This year, we are mixing it up by adding in VFS. We have come up with a handicapping system that will allow FS and VFS to compete against one another fairly (or possibly unfairly – it’s a work in progress) in a single competitor pool.

So pick your preference and register! Remember, you register as an INDIVIDUAL. As long as you have your Cat I in FS you can enter the Rumble and join an FS team. If you want to enter the VFS category you’ll need your Cat II (AE). There is only room for a limited number of teams, so don’t waste time! Enter now.

Each entrant must submit their form and prepay for their own jumps and for the portion of the cameraman’s jumps that they are liable for. The organizers will pair everyone up at the draw, which will take place on the DZ this year. It will be late in the day on 8 February. You don’t have to be there in person but it can be an opportunity to discuss strategy with your new teamie.

The understanding is that, once partnered with someone, you will not then go and do any training jumps with them. Feel free to communicate and exchange fallrate information, coaching tips, etc. You can even go through the SASL draw and plan who will exit in which position and what job each will do on the jump.

Remember – the Rumble is an opportunity for junior jumpers to get their first taste of competition. If you are eligible, then sign up. If not, then jump-jump-jump. The 2014 Rumble will take place as normal later this year. Make sure you are ready.

Email bookings for registration info.

Pretoria Skydiving Club, hosts of Nationals 2014, are offering a training camp during the Easter weekend : 18 April to 21 April 2014:

*  4 days of training, one aircraft, 18 loads per day.

*  4 way Teams with camera and 2 way Teams with camera.

*  3 Teams per day can do 6 loads each.

This will be strictly be on pre-booking/manifesting and make full payment. Bookings for training camp will close on Friday 4 April 2014. Refunds will be provided should we have bad weather.

Contact Hettie for more information.

The perpetual problem is finding an experienced, current “senior” with the time and budget available to join your new team. They have teams of their own, already consuming every cent for training and their own skills development, with no funds left for a novice team project.

We can help.

Applications for the project are now open for teams entering Nationals 2014.

We will award 3 team subsidies again this year, assisting financially and technically.

Novice jumpers, this is especially (but not exclusively) for you!  Novice 4-way is self-classification, so to qualify, you don’t need low jump numbers, it just means you are new to 4-way competition.

• The offer will be awarded to as a subsidy to the senior jumper’s slot on a new 4-way novice team.
• We would prefer to spread them around the provinces but various criteria will be used, including team commitment, readiness, senior’s skill & experience, coaching experience & development support and more. The project is intended to kick-start and retain FS teams, long term, not just the immediate goal of getting more teams to 2014 Nationals.

Below are the guidelines we will follow. Even if you do not fully comply we encourage you to apply. You might still be the most appropriate application.

1. Interested jumpers who want to be on the team as a novice or as senior are to mail the FS committee who will select the successful teams.
2. Novice teams who just need a senior, and teams who already have a senior in mind are both welcome.
3. 4-way and appropriate coaching experience will influence the selection of the senior jumper but are not the only considerations.
4. Subsidy will be paid to the senior as a refund for 10 slots, paid after Nationals, provided the team complied with the agreement. As a guide:

• The senior must do at least 20 training jumps after completion of Nationals 2014 with the novice team.
• The novice team must enter and complete Nationals 2014.
• The senior must have competed in open 4-way FS at Nationals 2012 / 2013 / 2014 (exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis).
• All teams, whether selected or not - are encouraged to contact the FS committee for assistance by way of coaching, debriefs, preparation, creeping, etc.

If you’re interested, contact Claire King ASAP – you don’t need to be ready and complete as a team. We need to know everyone who is keen so we can kick off the process.

Please include some background, current team situation, experience level in FS and 4-way, home drop zone. If you’re still just thinking about it, let us know informally so we know the interest level is. The decision date will depend on the responses.

Challenge yourself, discover the amazing world of FS 4-way Competition and see your skills soar.

Email or Phone: 082 886 3544

Hopefully you’ve all had a chance to get your 3 SASL jumps in over the holiday season. If you were at any of the boogies, we’ll understand if your SASL rounds seem a little shaky as you and the cameraman were constantly distracted by the beautiful views. These are the hardships we deal with in beautiful, sunny, African Decembers.

Still Time Left

Since 1 Feb falls on a weekend, we’ve extended Jacember until Sunday night, 2 Feb to submit your jumps and we released February’s draws a day early on Friday (FS and VFS) so you can do both all weekend 1-2 Feb.

Leaders Maintain

Both Jac and Debby have retained their leads in FS and VFS respectively. Fantastic work, guys!

The points show that it is far from secured for either though and plenty of opportunity still awaits those keen to pip them. But they’re are equally motivated to keep that lead so best you get to work before the gap gets too big.

After November’s more forgiving VFS draws but 4-way Advanced teams still slogging through some pretty laborious, block-heavy skydives and 4-way Basic landing repeats of the tougher formations, Jacember rewarded us with more "balanced" draws for the 4-way. In fact Jacember draws were pretty fair in all events and with 2 months to complete them, we’re expecting great things ;)

Camera Opportunities

To all you Freefliers out there, the introduction of VFS has brought in an increased demand for quality camerawork. Especially if turning points isn’t your thing, this is a great opportunity to refine your camera skills and start doing some "work" jumps for the VFS teams who are really short on good camera. As always, good skills precede paid skydives so you should be delivering reliable, quality competition-acceptable footage before teams should be expected to cover your slot. The SASL’s VFS teams offer a perfect practice format to learn and improve your camerawork and the SASL judges will gladly give you feedback on your camerawork (for SASL or non-SASL VFS, during or at the end of the month). Come Nationals, the VFS teams – like all FS teams – are after the best cameramen, so fill the niche now!

Any FS teams looking for assistance of any kind, please do contact the SASL Committee. There are a lot of really helpful and experienced jumpers around, many avenues for help and if we can’t assist, I’m pretty sure we can point you to those who can.

Keep your points up! Enter ANYTHING!

If you still haven’t entered SASL, go to www.skyleague.co.za to find out how every level of skydiver has a chance to win great prizes in fun, low-commitment competition. Aerodyne, http://www.l-and-b.dk/, Bev Suits, AfricanSkyGear, dPhi prizes all up for grabs!

What are you waiting for?

Game ON!!!

PASA and the Toggle Times cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions, due to all content being submitted without verification.