CPC - do staff members compete?

[AndyMan 7]

In your local CPC region, how often do fulltime staff members compete?

At my DZ, fulltime video and AFF Staff are some of the better canopy pilots, but because they're working it's tough for them to compete in the CPC events.

Surely this is a problem others have delt with?

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[davelepka 4]

We had that problem. What we did was scedule meets for Sunday mornings, figuring the scedule would be the lightest. We would be wheels up by 7:30 or so, and be done with six rounds around 12;30 or 1:00. This is with a dedicated plane (182)and anywhere between 8 to 12 competitiors.

The other thing we did was to scedule all of the non-swooping staff memebers to be on scedule that day, helping to free up the other guys.

We didn't have anyone miss a comp jump, but we did have a few guys land from round six, and be on a 15 min call for tandems/studetns/video.

[AndyMan 7]

Did staff members from neighboring DZ's manage to show up?

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[davelepka 4]

Nope. I toyed with the idea of trying to do a Friday afternoon thing, but there were too many negatives. How early to start, with regards to sunset, and the winds are usually more calm in the AM.

It's a tough spot. We've got a limited amount of productive daylight to work with on the weekends. You could try for a week day AM, but then you have all the guys with 9 to 5 jobs who might not make it.

[Spizzzarko 0]

We told them that the CPC was at a certain date and time and if they wanted to compete they had to be on that load. If they decided to do AFF or tandems instead then they got a zero for the round.

[AggieDave 6]

Myself and the DZO of Aggieland made all the competitions last year for TX. We'll be at all of them for this year too. Its all about whats important for you. For us, we can spare a weekend here and there.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Spizzzarko 0]

Are you going to try and make it out to Colorado this year?

Grant

[AggieDave 6]

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Are you going to try and make it out to Colorado this year?

Probably not this year, maybe though, since I've got this new job and I actually have vacation hours and such I need to think about and plan with. There's a chance, though. I'm going to cross that bridge (or swoop that pond) when I get to it.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

Last season in the Carolinas, I had no other pros to compete with, so I would do the occasional run through the standard course just for fun, but could not compete. It sucked.

[Spizzzarko 0]

You lead a challenging life Chuck.

[PhreeZone 15]

Dave, part of the issue was we would'nt get notified of it until 2 weeks before hand in some cases so it was hard to find replacements on that notice. Out of all the meets only one 1 was held off your DZ right? The other issue was that almost every meet was held on NSL meet weekends for the MESL. That was putting a few of us jumping all day Sat then driving up to 6 hours across the whole state after the meet to get there for a Sunday morning start then a 3-5 hour drive home afterwards.

I've decided this year to go with the Indy league since their schedule is already published and they worked with the NSL to have their meets on non-NSL weekends. Now I can do both with out killing myself driving every Saturday night. I'm pretty sure Kelly and Vern are in too since its a closer drive for them.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[skygod7777 0]

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Kelly and Vern are in too since its a closer drive for them.

yea i'll be going for the indiana league this year....the whole thing with having all the meets at aerohio sucked balls......the reason i was told it was held there was because the majority of the people competing where from there, which it cool but also more people would have competed if it was at other dz too.....not bashing you dave at all i understand the like cost benefit kind of deal of you guys driving all the way to green county or to richmond and only having a few more people compete, but in the same respect it that was the reason almost no one from other dz's in the southern part of ohio came up.

later

[ntacfreefly 0]

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yea i'll be going for the indiana league this year....the whole thing with having all the meets at aerohio sucked balls......the reason i was told it was held there was because the majority of the people competing where from there,

I'm noticing a trend of this. Personally I don't like it at all. The CPC is supposed to entice new pilots, give existing pilots comp practice and generally increase the level of piloting.

HAVING MEETS AT THE SAME DZ OVER AND OVER AGAIN DOES NOT DO THAT!

I really hope Jim steps in and puts an end to this 'my area only' crap I've been seeing more and more of.

Disappointing.

Blues,
Ian

To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. ~ Lao-Tzu

It's all good, they're my brothers ~ Mariann Kramer

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

Ian hit the nail on the head.....sort of. Just like with NSL four-way (and all the previous RW leagues), the intent was to share the wealth. Bring people to other dropzones and let them meet new people who would, otherwise, not be able to make a single meet. Get guys from those other dropzones to step up to the plate and give it a whirl.

Back in the day, every dropzone in a parachute council would shut down in support of regional parachute meets. They would all pack up and go to the meet; competitors and fun jumpers alike. Now the CPC isn't really going to be able to draw such support the way USPA regions operate these days, but if the CPC district directors are smart and align themselves with other meets (like the NSL), then they have a better chance of drawing competitors. I tried it that way last year in the Carolinas and still only got marginal participation.

Those of you running districts in "not so busy" areas seem to be consolidating your meets at the "popular" dropzones. If you get the participation you need to make the venture viable, then good for you. If not, and you are running all your meets at one or two dropzones, then you had better ask yourself why. It's my experience that every "other than Deland/Z-hills/Perris" dropzone has one or two "really good" swoopers who are capable and willing to compete. Making those people drive across two states to get to one DZ everytime just doesn't seem right. Spread the wealth.

Either way, good luck.

[davelepka 4]

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the reason i was told it was held there was because the majority of the people competing where from there, which it cool but also more people would have competed if it was at other dz too....

We know it wasn't the ideal set up. One of the problems we had was that asdie from you and Vern, Preezone, and one guy from Skydive PA, we had no real interest from anyone at any DZ's, even Aerohio. If we had any indication that it would have remotely worth it, we would have taken a comp elsewhere. As it was, if we traveled, we only knew for sure that there would one or two guys who would compete. On top of that, pre-season efforts to work with DZOs and make arrangements for possible comps at their DZ's weren't really too well recieved.

Even at Aerohio, we only had four guys confirmed for the first comp. A bunch showed up that morning, but it was all a surprise to us.

The real problem is that it takes ALOT of time an efort to organize a region with no real compensation. I'm not even talking about getting 'paid', but just recouping expenses for travel and course materials and such. Even forgetting about the time, and what thats worth, you can't expect a guy to miss work at his home DZ, travel to a comp, set up the course, run the meet, travel home, and pay for it all out of pocket.

As far the NSL or any RW league goes, it's alittle different in that there's no course to set up or course materials, theres more participants to pay into reg fees (our biggest CPC comp had fewer jumpers that three fourway teams), and most likey more support from the DZ due to the high number of full altitude slots they sell.

Again, I know it could have been better, and at the beginning of the season, we really had high hopes. But once it got underway, we did the best that we could with the situation that was presented to us. I'd encourage anyone to give a shot themselves, and see what they come up with.

I hope the IN league work out better for all invovled, but in reality, I suspect it will very similar to what we had, only closer to you guys, so you'll like that better.

[chachi 0]

i am glad that the pacific NW league takes advantage of 5 dropzones across 2 states. the cpc isn't just about a league but about competing on different turfs like you would if you were competing at pro competitions. making 270's at your dropzone and hitting the gates is easier than showing up somewhere and having to adjust and be competitive.

[AggieDave 6]

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am glad that the pacific NW league takes advantage of 5 dropzones across 2 states. the cpc isn't just about a league but about competing on different turfs like you would if you were competing at pro competitions

That's good and all, but last year we had DZs flat out refuse to host the CPC. This year, after the organizer went to the championships last year, decided that we need more meets over water. Well, that's 2 DZs in TX that has a pond on the DZ. So that severely limited everything. Last year only 1 meet was over water and that wasn't even on a DZ, it was at a municipal lake.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[chachi 0]

^sounds like you guys may want to provide some feeback to your organizers.

stoobert for President!

[Brains 2]

Actually, three dz's with water, But i can tell you it sucks to swoop our pond.

Never look down on someone, unless they are going down on you.

[AggieDave 6]

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Actually, three dz's with water, But i can tell you it sucks to swoop our pond.

Swooping your pond can be like getting kicked in the shin by the Terminator, huh?

Well, I guess I should have said "we have 2 DZs in TX with swoop specific built ponds."

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Brains 2]

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Swooping your pond can be like getting kicked in the shin by the Terminator, huh?

yeah, something like that.
it all went to shit shortly after this pic was taken

Never look down on someone, unless they are going down on you.

[meatbomb 0]

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it all went to shit shortly after this pic was taken

Any picture of a swoop taken looking downwards whilst standing, so you can see the topskin of a canopy, has gotta be pretty close to "The Edge" (TM)...

---
Swoopert, CS-Aiiiiiii!
Piccies

[natef 0]

good point :)

[twnsnd 1]

Yeah, that is what we call "Digging Hard". Note the deep brakes, angle of descent, and fact that the dude is still under the canopy. He's totally going in baby!

-We are the Swoophaters. We have travelled back in time to hate on your swoops.-

[bob.dino 0]

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Yeah, that is what we call "Digging Hard". Note the deep brakes, angle of descent, and fact that the dude is still under the canopy. He's totally going in baby!

Indeed.