The II World Air Games, the biggest sports event this year, can be seen as the Olympic Games of all air sports. All around Spain all air sports have their own separate competition but under the same umbrella WAG 2001. For more information look at www.wag2001.org The first WAG in 1997 was held in Turkey and was a big success for the air sports. Hopefully this second edition will be even better. This page will only conduct the parachuting part
containing the following disciplines with Dutch participants: The schedule for the competition is set in general but we don't know yet what the dividing over the days for the disciplines will be. Because of the weather it's most likely that due to the turbulence when the weather gets hot Accuracy and Canopy Formation will start (very) early in the morning. During training we could only jump between 06.30 and 09.00 in the morning, than the military helicopters have to fly. At 12.00 the freefall disciplines start but also finish early due to organizational reasons. Talking about the organization. Like in Turkey (1997) they were definitely not ready when we arrived. We expected some "manana" situations because of the southern atmosphere but it was worse. Hopefully they will find the right rhythm before the competition starts tomorrow. The weather is great, clear blue skies, ± 35° Celsius and a soft breeze In the background we have a nice view at the mountains (Sierra Nevada) which still hold some snow. Martin and Sacha who are visiting the competition site were up there yesterday when the Paragliders (208 competitors) started for their last training round. It was 8 ° at about 3.400 mtr. altitude. The Paragliders had to fly to Malaga and back which I estimate to a distance of twice ± 200 km. Monday June 25, 20001:
Now the competition has been started the (mainly) French staff is trying to run it as smoothly as possible. Running all disciplines after another or sometimes side by side is a though task. So far I think they have to be complemented especially taking the circumstances in mind. Of course most competitors won't agree but knowing what they're doing I won't be in their place. The Wagner family (here on site) is running their omniskore system including the website with results. Therefor I won't post our scores here but link to theirs. The fastest and most complete overview:
First round; 4 way in 34 sec. (4 sec. lost) followed by 17 formations in 90 sec. Because of the lost 4 sec. only 16 in working time. Unfortunately our score was only 14. The judges busted us for one rotation which costs us 2 points. Reason was the topman leaving the formation before the bottom man has docked. This rotation was indeed pretty tricky but slow-motion showed that the grip was there. The rules don't allow the judges to judge in slow-motion They look twice in normal speed and the teams have to show the grips. If teams get faster it'll be more difficult to judge. Busting such a rotation and no slow-motion means grips have to be long enough so the judges can see it. Second round: The organization had planned to do CF to maximum noon or 13.00 h. due to the expected turbulence. We had to make our jump at 13.30. They send us to 9.000 ft. instead of 8.000 ft. because they expected turbulence. And that's what we got, really a lot of turbulence. All teams got the same circumstances but the organization didn't strike this complete round. The rules say clearly that if you jump you get a score. On the other hand we went up with an incredible slow Twin Otter, only climbing 400 ft./min. which made it impossible to feel the turbulence on the way up. Despite the conditions we ended up with 16 points. Most other teams were more effected by the difficult situations. Our original goal was a third place. Because
Roel took Kees his slot about 3 months before this competition this goal
seemed not be realistic anymore. But now after 2 rounds we're not scoring
bad and the other teams also didn't have much progress since last year.
It looks like we've to fight again with the Americans. So far we have
a shared 3rd place again but the Swedish and Australian teams are strong
too. It will be an interesting competition. Sequential: Tuesday June 26, 20001: Early in the morning we did another 2 rounds of Rotation. We had a bad day with bad luck and bad jumps. This proved that we're not consistent enough due to a lack of training with these team members. As said before we've a new team member. Our individual rotations are not really bad but the formation is still not flying consistent Rotation: After dinner we analyzed the video's of the jumps we did the past few
days. We know were the problem areas are and we know that we must be able
to make jumps with 17's and 18's. Watching the video makes us more aware
of our personal focus pointsand tasks. If we want to beat the Americans
and stay ahead of the Swedes we have to make better jumps. Wednesday June 27, 20001: Again we had to wake up very early. At about 08.00 h. we made round 5 of sequential. Sequential: 6 points: A new National record in CF 4 way sequential!!!!
Thursday June 28, 20001: Almost unbelievable but we made 3 jumps this morning. 1 sequential and 2 rotation. Sequential: Rotation: I'm always in favor of making a clean jump including clearly showing the judges what they have to see. Therefor I'm very disappointed that we got so many busts on the competition jumps here. Most (if all) we definitely didn't deserve. There's also good news. The Russians made a new world record in Rotation by making 22 points in time (90 sec.). 22 points: A new World record in CF 4 rotation for Russia!!!!
Friday June 29, 20001: Sequential: Rotation: We're now to far behind the Americans to catch up. They've the bronze for sure. The Aussies are 3 point behind us which leaves us no other option than making at least 14 (and they max. 17) on the last round tomorrow. Saturday June 30, 20001: Last competition day. Just 2 more jumps to complete both events. For sequential an average jump with an average score of 4. For rotation almost 17 so again 16. With this score the fourth place is a fact. In the evening the price giving would take place during a dinner party. This was the most unorganized situation I've ever attended. The winning teams had to hold up their own National Flag. I won't continue with all other issues. I simply was a mess. The next day we drove back to Sevilla and flew home. Up to the next meet. 2002 in Porto Santos Portugal the World Cup and European Championships. The year after in 2003 in Gap France the Mondials.
CU @ the next event. |
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