Jonathan Tagle, a Murrieta resident and pro skydiver, skims the water in the National Skydiving Championships of Canopy Piloting in Houston. He took the overall gold as well as gold in the distance event, silver in accuracy and bronze in speed. Picture: Ori Kuper

Murrieta man takes gold in parachute contest

A Murrieta man has taken the title of the country's best canopy pilot.

On Saturday, Jonathan Tagle, 41, won the gold medal in the 2010 National Skydiving Championships of Canopy Piloting in Houston.

Canopy piloting, or "swooping," is an aerial sport that includes flying high-performance parachutes that push the pilot through the air at high speeds, vertically and horizontally.

This is the second time Tagle won the competition. The first was in 2005.

A good pilot can glide inches above the ground for hundreds of yards at more than 70 mph, said Robert Arends, a spokesman for the competition.

Fifty canopy pilots from across the country competed in the championship, which included three competitions.

One competition challenged the pilots' speed. They swooped down and glided less than 5 feet above the ground through a curved course lined with tall, colored foam pillars, Tagle said from his home after the competition.

Most of the competitors hit speeds above 65 mph, he said.

Another competition measured pilots' ability to go a long distance. The pilots dropped within 5 feet above the ground and sailed as far as they could.

The third competition tested pilots' accuracy. They dropped within 5 feet above the surface of a lake and flew through four gates -- marked by brightly colored, soft pillars -- and touched their feet to the water's surface between them. Then they landed on the beach in one of a set of squares. The smaller the square, the more points they won. The smallest is only 2 meters wide, Tagle said.

In addition to winning the gold medal in the overall category, he won a silver medal in accuracy and a bronze in speed. The overall award goes to the pilot with the most points from all three competitions.

The win comes after more than three years of being unable to do any big competitions, Tagle said.

He blamed a bad season and a rule change. In 2007, Tagle had a bad year in the national competitions. Usually, that would stop him from moving on to the 2008 worldwide competitions, but a rule change caused him to be out from 2009 as well.

His comeback has been strong, though. In January, he took gold at the Dubai Parachuting Championships in the United Arab Emirates, and in August, he took gold at the Pink Canopy Piloting Open at Klatovy, Czech Republic.

"I feel like my experience got me to a place in my game where I know I can win at any given meet, but I have to have the right mind-set," he said. "Being in the right mentality, that's what's going to put you on the podium."