Newsletter May 2010
Firstly, apologies for the lack of newsletters recently - it's been a busy few weeks! Secondly, well done to everyone for making a massive effort recently to start slowly taking back the dropzone from Southampton. All students have been progressing at an alarming pace and we have been climbing the BCPA Competition league with style!
BCPA Easter Tour 2010
6 Portsmouth Students recently joined 102 other University Skydivers from the BCPA on a trip to Skydive Perris, California.
Skydive Perris truely is heaven for any skydiver. Blue skies almost every day, state of the art facilities, fast planes and a great bar!
Hundreds of skydives were made by the Club, and thousands were made by the group as a whole.
Congratulations go to Jamie Chappell and Harriet Watson for gaining their A licences. Harriet also went on to get her B licence and her FS1!
A video of the trip can be seen here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=422506255099&subj=549220099
Ryan Woets has posted a few photo albums which can be seen here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2061958&id=1102730076
Student Progression
- Matt Curtis is now on to freefall!
- Lauren McNerney and Colin Spottiswoode are on their last few levels of AFF, soon to be Cat8!
- Katie has decided to move from RAPS to AFF and completed her first AFF level at the weekend!
RAG Charity Skydives
This weekend we held jump courses for the Union's 'RAG Charity Skydive' event. Lot's of money was raised for charity and everybody who attended, for either a RAPS course or a tandem, completed their jumps. Congratulations guys, sterling effort! We hope that you've got the bug and will be back for more next weekend.
Standby for the total raised...
BCPA Southerns Competition
This year the BCPA 'Southerns' competition was held at our home DZ, Netheravon.
Much fun was had in the bar (cue inflatable horse outfits) and, like most other BCPA events, the weather didn't make jumping easy! (The clouds were in for most of the weekend). This wasn't a problem for the accuracy competition but did nearly stop the 3-way FS Scrambles* competition from getting jumped. Luckily the staff at Netheravon arranged for us to start at 6am on the final day in order to get our jumps in during a forecasted hole in the weather.
Well done to the following for their podium places and for earning us valuable points in the BCPA competition league:
- Ian Thomas - 3rd Place Accuracy (200+ jump category)
- Peter Hodges - 2nd Place Accuracy (100-200 jump category)
- Harriet Watson - 3rd Place Accuracy (0-100 jump category)
A short video of the FS Scrambles Competition can be seen here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=391724288850&subj=549220099
(*FS Scrambles, or Formation Skydiving Scrambles, is where teams are randomly drawn from a pool of either experienced, intermediate or newly qualified skydivers. This usually results in some hilarious videos as people try and get their formations built! This format allows new skydivers to learn from the guys with more experience.)
BCPA Monthly Draws + Competition League Results
We are making an effort to compete as much as possible in the BCPA Monthly 3-way FS Draw. Holding true to our word, each month this year we have submitted an entry.
Here is summary of the results:
- March 2010 - 1st place with 8 points in 34 secs and 3rd place with 7 points in 35 secs
- April 2010 - 2nd place with 4 points
- May 2010 - Yet to be judged, but this weekends entry puts us in 1st so far!
These results, combined with those from the BCPA Southerns, have jumped us 11 places to 6th in the national league and 3rd in the regional league.
Congratulations guys!
Haven't jumped in a while?
Been busy with student life and haven't managed to get down to the dropzone in a while? Don't worry! Just post on the transport forum and we'll sort you out with a lift. The weather recently has been lovely and it's only the start of Summer. This is the perfect time to get involved with the best sport the University has to offer!
If you have never completed a First Jump Course and would like to, then let us know so that we can get you in the air!
Next Weekend
The UKSL (UK Skydiving League) is being held at Netheravon this weekend. This unfortunately means that there will be no fun jumping until after the competition has finished. Mark Andrews, Harriet Watson and Myself will be entering a team (once we've found a 4th), so wish us luck!
The good news is that last year the competition was completed on the Saturday and there was lot's of jumping on the Sunday. The weather is looking amazing for both days so I strongly recommend coming down for the Saturday night party and enjoying the normal jumping on Sunday.
Upcoming Events
- 21st May - End of year meal - Loch Fyne, 18:30
- 22nd May 2010 to 23rd May 2010 - UKSL 4-Way Skydiving Competition, Netheravon. (No non-competition jumping this weekend)
- 29th May 2010 to 31st May 2010 - Skyvan Weekend, Netheravon.
- 29th May 2010 to 30th May 2010 - Packing Course, Netheravon.
Blue Skies,
Peter Hodges.
www.skydiveport.co.uk
Ex-Club President wins BCPA freefly competition!
Well done to Charlotte Kemp, ex-club president, who won the freefly competition at the 2007 BCPA Nationals, held at the North West Parachute Centre, Cark.
Website created by Ian Thomas and Andy Burgess
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