Update - 2nd FAI World Championships in Canopy Piloting
By Tamsin Stedall

Event dates:
Friday, 14 November 2008	Judges arrive
Saturday, 15 November 2008	Judges’ seminar
Sunday, 16 November 2008	Judges’ seminar
Monday, 17 November 2008	Official practice day
Tuesday, 18 November 2008	Official practice until 12 noon Opening ceremony at 4 pm
Wednesday, 19 November 2008	Competition starts 6am until sunset
Sunday, 23 November 2008	Competition ends 1pm
Sunday, 16 November 2008	Judges’ seminar Closing Ceremony and prize giving at 5 pm

The 2nd FAI World Parachuting Championships in Canopy Piloting are almost upon us. This prestigious event was awarded to South Africa for the first time and will be held at Pretoria Skydiving Club from 17 – 23 November 2008.

For those skydivers who have not yet had the opportunity to attend a Canopy Piloting competition, even as a spectator, which is the category most of us would fall into (pardon the pun), this would be a good time to show some support for our up and coming ‘swoopers’.

The event consists of three courses, distance, speed and accuracy.  Each course is attempted over three rounds. For distance the competitor navigates his parachute through the course for the longest distance. For speed the competitor navigates his parachute through a curved course as fast as possible. Accuracy is wherethe competitor navigates his parachute through a course collecting points for contacting the surface of the water and for a precision landing. Pretoria Skydiving Club has upgraded their swoop pond to meet the FAI requirements for all the abovementioned courses.

To date there are 60 competitors registered from 15 countries and this excludes the contingents from the USA and South America who are still to register. There will be over 1000 jumps done over the training and competition days.

The 2nd FAI World Parachuting Championships in Canopy Piloting with be broadcast on Supersport and produced by Faan Van Tonder Productions. This production will also be seen internationally on the series, Breitling Airsports World.

We are still looking for a title sponsor as well as various other sponsorship packages. We would like to thank Blu Eye, our most recent Bronze package holders for participating. For any sponsorship or marketing queries please send an email to tamsin.stedall@gmail.com

Event information is available on www.canopypiloting.co.za. Make sure you are at Pretoria Skydiving club in November to get a look at what the best canopy pilots in the world can pull off and to support our South African team.