Canopy Piloting World Championships

69 competitors from 19 countries. That is how many were registered as at the competitors meeting this afternoon. There were 57 competitors in Sydney at the World Cup last year.

The 2 Ukrainians were delayed due to an Air France strike and have done no training jumps. They get to do a practise jump in the morning before round 1 begins, that is the drifter load.

This is going to be a very exciting competition. The unnoficial speed world record is 2.44 seconds, Marat Leiras did a blistering 2.1 yesterday in training. The distance world record is 155m and so far there are about 6 or 7 competitors having gone beyond the 160m mark in training.

Bring on round 1!

CP World Championships in Pretoria, South Africa

Today is the 3rd day of the official training camp at the Canopy Piloting World Championships in Pretoria, South Africa. About 40 of the expected 70 competitors from 20 countries have arrived and are jumping. The entire Aussie team is now here along with competitors from the UK, USA, Canada, Italy, Belgium, Brazil, Venezuela, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, and of course South Africa. More and more competitors are arriving every day.

The pond looks fantastic, the red dirt is getting into everything, (there will be no white canopies leaving South Africa, they will all be Salmon coloured!) and the 100m of grassed distance course is already taking its toll on competitors bodies. The dz is at about 4000 feet above sea level and we are seeing lots of really fast and very long swoops. Maha, Chris Teague and Jay have already landed in the sand pit out past the end of the turf. That is more than 160m from the entry gate. The current World Record is less than 160m.

Yesterday I didn't have a very good day of training, I only did 4 jumps and missed every gate. Matt Harris kindly offered to call Qantas and bring my flight forward so I could leave today and cut short my suffering. I told him there was no point, I would miss the flight because I would never be able to find the gate.

I had a better day today.....

In between training the Aussies have been making the most of being in Africa and catching up with some of the local wildlife. One of the closest parks, Pilanesberg, is less than 2 hours away and Kruger NP is about 5 hours. The Kruger park rangers are more than happy to interrupt their bicycle poacher patrols and chat to the tourists. Not sure how many poachers they catch on those rickety old bikes though. But I reckon they could get the pace going if some of the wildlife were chasing them. They said they only know of 1 ranger being taken by a lion about 20 years ago.

We are all looking forward the next few days of training and the beginning of competition next thursday.

9 Lives BASE ASIA TOUR 2008

We left cold rainy Wollongong on 21 August 2008 with plans for Tonsai for jumping and climbing, then on to KL for the International BASE event of the KL Tower.

Our plane was delayed leaving Sydney, and it made us miss our overnight train to Krabi. After sitting around in a smelly hostel in KL for a night, we decided to pursue our first building jump (legally).

We ventured to Penang, Malaysia; found ourselves some other crazy BASE jumpers congregated at a 650ft round building named Komtar. We were treated like rock stars, staying in the beautiful Shangrila 5 star luxury resort overlooking our first building. The next day we were escorted by police and locals in great style to the Komtar. 5 awesome jumps later, we were spent. Mega thermals, tight landing areas and swarms of photos and autographs signed, the day was amazing with no injuries and one hell of an after party!!

We met a Norwegian (Martin) and a Frenchie (Stephane), both top blokes, and decided to persue Thailand for two days of the most beautiful place in the world. Tonsai with its amazing locals, and kick ass 450ft cliff, which just so happens to be right over the top of a bar with ice cold Singha beer waiting after landing.

Back to KL, this time staying somewhere a lot nicer, with only one thing on our minds. It was still 2 days till the event started, so we relaxed for the afternoon, planning on doing the tourist thing the following day.

It didn’t turn out that way! Dan was playing with his cameras, getting time-lapse of the Tower, I was considering a cold beer (it was 5 o’clock somewhere in the world) when suddenly we were kidnapped by the organizers of the event, taken in style to our hotel to collect our rigs, and 30 minutes later, found ourselves standing on top of the 980ft KL tower, ready for the test jumps with the Malaysian guys! Josie was first off for the event, followed by Dan and Stephane and the fun had started. We were allowed to jump until 12noon, when the tower would be closed again until the official start of the event.

For the 3 day event, we made some really fun jumps and met some great people. We both did our first gainers, linked 2-ways and unorthodox exits, which you’d never get to try anywhere but Kuala Lumpur.The KL Tower is a very forgiving object, and we recommend it to any jumper that is passionate about progressing in this sport.

On the final day of the KL event, we were invited to represent New Zealand and jump off the helipad of the beautiful Shark Fin Building (Telecom Tower). This was the first time this building has been jumped legally on the tour. A heart-stopping exit, tight landing area and hundreds of onlookers (Independence Day Ceremony) made this a very memorable jump.

Back to the KL Tower, for the afternoon, to get our last few jumps of the event in before the farwell ceremony, attended by the BASE jump loving King of Malaysia. He thanked us for jumping off his buildings, and expressed some exciting plans for the future.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank Deepseed for making it all possible, and we’re looking forward to many more adventures in the near future!!

www.9livesbase.com

October/November Promotional Competition

Our Mates Cookie and Jeremy over at Cookie Composites have come up with an awesome offer for us.

You could WIN, this fully pimped Cookie Composites MXV, With Liquid Flatlock, Black Box, Cameye and Schumacher site worth well over $1500!!

Just by spending over $300 on any Deepseed Products. It's so easy to do. You could buy any of the following and easily qualify:

Freefly Suit, Multispeed Suit, Freefly Jacket and Pants Combo, Inverter Suit, RW Suit or Stock Item Bundle (for example a Gear Bag, Hoody, 2 x T's and a cap).

Just order before 30/11/08 and you will be in the draw to win!! Don't Miss out!! Just treat yourself to some new threads and be in to win, with approx a 1 in 200 chance of winning.

It is way better odds than LOTTO!!