2015 Paraclete Indoor Championships

Paraclete XP Indoor Championships 2015

The sixth Paraclete wind tunnel Championships was a lively, friendly and well-attended competition. The management was very flexible, allowing individuals to double enter, or to catch up later if they missed rounds. Judging was done by a group of coaches/competitors, with Kirk Verner, Chris Talbert, Brian ‘BK’ Knight and Tim’D’Annunzio. They were very fast with the scores, giving a true competition flavor.

4-way

14 teams entered Open 4-way, which was won in style by Airspeed on a 28.7 average, winning $4,000. SDC Rhythm XP were second, with a 26.6 average, and $2,000. The Golden Knight ladies were delighted to skydive fast, win one round, take the bronze and $1,000, which was donated to the Army Alumni.

In Intermediate there was a large field of 18 closely matched teams. After ten jumps there was a tie for bronze between Fabio’s Angels and Ragnarok, both ending on 166. The judges put Fabio’s Angels just ahead, as they had the highest scoring round (21), and invited them to choose between the medals and 15 minutes of tunnel time. The Angels chose the money, leaving Ragnarok with the bronze. True Blue, a college team from Connecticut, took silver and 30 minutes tunnel time, while Team Kaputt romped to gold and an hour of tunnel time. Kaputt featured player-coach Brian Johnson (ex Airspeed) and Kurt Gaebel of National Skydiving League.

Rookie 4-way only had 4 teams entering, and was won by Flight SP, ahead of Indoor Gravity and Golden Dick Flight crew; they all received tunnel time too.

Links to 4-way scores

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/152MgeKs37glRBa6NRmik-Iocuu9fUXXMtEg3Dp-FSng/pubhtml

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eiWisjvq4pE5nDoXKmKf1nZ4GfAoYHaqfUifGG1xSME/pubhtml

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MRT_UTTNaQYyVwGW-y4ZQ4yu4msQhvwfzXP1aBPq9Us/pubhtml

 

VFS

Four teams entered the VFS competition. Two of these were put together by Paraclete tunnel to give SDC Core, a trained team from Skydive Chicago, some competition. Anti-antigravity XP was a scratch line up with zero training that still managed to score a 10.4 average, beating STF Forgy into bronze medal position. Bald Test Eagles was a last-minute line-up of XP instructors, who did an hour of tunnel and reasonably challenged SDC, beating them on two rounds. They finished second with a 21.1 average to gold medallists SDC Core’s 22.

Links to VFS scores

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17U-KWOvei7Zt9lnaTNaxGv_YDPrF07hT75ezMjcIcTA/pubhtml

 

8-way

The 8-way competition was free to enter, which was very successful in encouraging entrants, with a total of 20 teams. Members of the Golden Knights and XP8 were extremely helpful at coaching 8-way technique to all the teams.

In Open, XP8 were outstanding, scoring a 36 and a 35, and ending well in the lead on a 27 average. Martial Ferré (French world champion) brought two teams; Veloce QFR1, a team with a week’s training before the meet, and Viva, a Swiss team he coaches. These two teams took second and third place respectively. The field included two teams that were being mentored by the Golden Knights; Raeford Knights and Husky Knights. These teams clearly had a blast, learnt lots and felt fantastic to fly with their heroes.

The 11 teams in Intermediate 8-way included Core-STF, made from two of the VFS teams. With no grippers, bad body positions and huge smiles, they stumbled their way through the rounds, ending by flying the last round in head-down positions. Such was the friendly judging that they still scored their 3 points, for the correct formations (in a different orientation).

It was an exciting fight. In the end Blocksmiths, an all-female team of Montana Miller’s, just won the competition with a 14.6 average, ahead of Young Guns on 14.4 and Vertigo on 13.8.

Links to 8-way scores

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1txm-FbOTLqygfauWzTjIGJd7tLilrsFw1so2y-eosTU/pubhtml

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SHGbJXcWsuh_H64J3IvMzS-eW4yjnOO2Br4Qi92iJ50/pubhtml

More Info

The competition was broadcast on a live stream, which you can watch at the link below, and also find more detailed coverage of this competition. At least 2,500 unique viewers tuned in to the live stream.

http://www.skydivemag.com/stream/paraclete-indoor-skydiving-championships

Thanks to Paraclete XP, Sun Path products and www.skydivemag.com for sponsoring the competition.