After ten consecutive competitions Jay Moledzki’s streak is up! For the first time in almost two complete seasons Moledzki missed an entry gate and garnished himself a vertical or zero score in the first round of the speed event at the 2007 Canadian Nationals. Moledzki had been holding a strong lead with 300pts to his credit as he led into the 4th round of the event; accuracy had been held first the previous day due to the varying wind conditions on the forcast. The missed gate put Moledzki in a position with only one option: Go big or stay home. With that thought in mind Moledzki attempted to make up a 76-point spread between himself and John Zuliani. Fact of the matter was that this would mean gaining and holding an average of 15.5 points over each of the five remaining rounds.

With pure grit and determination, Moledzki set out to try and accomplish this nearly impossible feat! In the 2nd round of speed Jay gained 13.16 pts, in round three, another 12.04 pts, with distance being the only event remaining and the spread now sitting at 51.2pts. The possibility of a gold medal looked bleak, but Moledzki is not known for throwing in the towel, and with distance being his strong suit, he still had three chances to give it everything he had! Round one of distance gained him 17.39pts, round two even more with 22.82pts, and the longest swoop of the competition at 105.09 meters (344.78 ft). Moledzki was intensely focused on the objective at hand.

All that Moledzki needed was to gain 11 more points on the still strong Zuliani. Zuliani swooped first and scored and impressive 82.7 m (271.32 ft) in the now 10-15 mph headwind that blew steadily from the north shore of Lake Erie.

With Moledzki up next, the anticipation from the crowd was electric. The ongoing battle for the title of 2007 Canadian Champion between Moledzki the defending Canadian Champion and Zulaini the current World Champion, was the only topic on the tongues of the spectators now filling the sidelines of the distance course.

Moledzki set up for his well practiced 450’ and put every bit of energy he could muster into the final few degrees of rotation. Dropping from the sky at breakneck speeds, he reached up and tapped the rears risers as he passed through the entry gate simultaneously launching himself 20, 30,40 or more feet in to the air in an attempt to gain as much distance as humanly possible… but today was not to be that day. The extra altitude he gained awarded him no extra distance and he touched down softly 0.3 meters behind the mark set by the new Canadian Champion, John Zuliani.

Congratulations to Zuliani for a consistently solid performance leading to a well-deserved Gold Medal, and congratulations to all of the competitors who made the effort to take part in the 2007 Canadian Nations of Canopy Piloting, especially our guest competitors from the USA.

Many thanks to the CSPA, all the judges, organizers and specifically Mike and Tara Pitt of Skydive Burnaby for being extremely accommodating, open, easy to work with and providing Canada with its first full Pro Canopy Piloting competition, as well as qualifying the new CP team who will represent Canada at the next World Meet! See you there…

Canadian Nationals Score Sheet (.pdf)

PD Factory pilots Ian Bobo and Shannon Pilcher recently had the privilege of joining Pete Allum and Anne Maxwell (www.innerrhythmcoaching.com) for a unique 4-way event in Empuriabrava, Spain. Participants to the camp were grouped in threes and matched with a coach for the day. Allum, Bobo, and Pilcher were the coaches. Their coaching fees were sponsored in full by Performance Designs; participants merely paid for their own jump expenses and video. The coaches rotated among the groups, and by the end of the four-day camp had achieved some of their best skydives to date.

“By the end of the event, three of the participants are well on the way to forming a new team,” said Gareth Couldrey of the United Kingdom. “And from my point of view, ability levels shot up, future direction was re-affirmed, and the fires to ‘go fast, 4-way style’ were fueled.

“Lets hope the guys put on a similar event next year. Keep an eye open, I'd recommend it”.

On behalf of the PD Factory Team, Bobo and Pilcher would like to thank: Performance Designs, for its continued commitment to education; Anne Maxwell, for her behind the scenes dedication and devotion; Pete Allum, for his easy nature and inspirational style; Skydive Empuriabrava; Bodyflight UK; and the participants—Team Velocity (Bob, Tom and Will Blackwell), Team Stiletto (Des, Alex and Cesar), Team Bollulos XXL (Bego, Merce, Manolo, Ricard), Team Sabre (Gareth, Brett, Martin), Team Katana (Andy, Ruth, Joel).

Complete coverage of this event can be found at http://web.mac.com/peteallum/iWeb/Site/Project%2007.html

Pink Skyvan Canopy Course
For the second consecutive year the PD Factory Team and the Pink Skyvan (www.pinkskyvan.com) teamed up to offer extensive canopy coaching to European skydivers of all skill levels. Uschi Iragorri, of the Pink organization, managed the event, held August 11-19 in Klatovy, Czech Republic. PD factory pilot Shannon Pilcher led the coaching efforts, which included three consecutive 3-day camps—one Essential Skills Course and two Advanced/High-Performance courses. A total of 24 jumpers attended the courses—eight in each camp.

Last year’s inaugural course was a single, three-day camp with eight participants. Pilcher credited Iragorri with the big leap in participation, saying that she encouraged the less experienced jumpers and high-performance pilots alike.

Pilcher said other factors also contributed to the camp’s success, including the new classroom facility, an improved swoop pond, competent aircraft pilots, really fast aircraft (five-bladed Skyvans and a beefed up C-182), dedicated ground video, and an extremely helpful manifest crew.

“But the biggest success factor was the fantastic attitudes of the participants,” Pilcher said. “Every person in the camp showed up with an open mind and a willingness to learn. And that is what made this camp so productive.”

And, thanks the Pink crew, Pilcher said he even got to add a few “firsts” to his resume, including an exit from an inverted Sky Van, and a spontaneous, high-altitude, high-speed, canopy criss-cross with Wuzi, Pablo, JP and Martin.

Pilcher would like to thank: All the camp participants (too many names to list here, but you know who you are), the Wagner family and crew (Uschi, Thomas, Wuzi, Martin, Pablo, Petra, Steffi, Phillip, and little Victoria), Fabian (ground video), Lucia for Spanish lessons, “the F!%KING Czech group” from Pribram, Mark Rahbani, Ondra and Martina, the Kill Bill Freefly Team, and everyone else who made this event such a success.

Stay tuned for next year’s event, which, along with a canopy course, will likely include FS coaching and a Canopy Flock invitational.

Austrian Canopy Piloting Nationals
As an added bonus to the Klatovy trip, Pilcher managed to compete in the Austrian Canopy Piloting nationals while simultaneously running an Essential Skills Course.

The “open class” event included three rounds of both accuracy and distance, and attracted 35 competitors from eight countries. The Pink’s own Wuzi Wagner (Austria) took a quick lead in the first two rounds of accuracy, followed closely by Mark Rahbani of Czech Rep., and Michael Vaughn of Australia.

Pilcher won two of the three down-wind distance rounds, gaining back valuable ground on the leaders.

In the end, Vaughn’s training and consistency paid off. He earned the gold medal, fending off Pilcher by a mere 1.56 total points. Spain’s Pablo Hernandez took the bronze.

Wagner suffered a zero in his second distance run, costing him the victory, but he still managed to finish fifth overall. Austria’s Gerald Trammer finished fourth overall, and was crowned Austrian national champion.

At sunset, Pilcher organized a safe and successful 18-way canopy flocking dive with many of the competitors.

“What a great way to end the weekend,” Pilcher said. “Everyone was honest about his/her abilities and experience, which allowed me to put the right people in the right slots. Combined with a mutual respect for the risks involved, we were able to pull this off safely, without any practice jumps together. Tons of respect to everyone on the jump!”

Follow the PD Factory Team as they continue the dream of flight.

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