Swoop League for New England Canopy Pilots?

[skydivah1 0]

For years there have been leagues popping up around the country giving pilots a platform to learn, grow and compete but nothing has ever been established for CPs in New England. The closest league is the NECPL in NJ. Simply put, it's too far away for most of us to commit to the time, distance and financial aspects of getting to all the meets.

Skydive New England has the only swoop pond in the area but it doesn't meet the requirements needed for a safe competition.

Somebody must know of a perfect place to hold a competition - whether it's a farm pond, river, beach or sewer treatment plant .

I just want to bring the discussion to the table in hopes that it will at least get people thinking and maybe get the ball rolling.

Unfortunately for me, my schedule is extremely inflexible with a lot on my plate already and my location isn't ideal otherwise I would pursue it.

I'll even give you a few name ideas for the league:

CaPONE (Canopy Pilots of New England)
NECaP (New England Canopy Pilots)

Let's go!

[sswain 0]

CaPONE (Canopy Pilots of New England) is a great name!!!

If/when this happens, a few of us from Canada will be down!!!

[jacketsdb23 49]

skydivah1

Unfortunately for me, my schedule is extremely inflexible with a lot on my plate already and my location isn't ideal otherwise I would pursue it.

I will tell you from experience that running a league takes ungodly time commitments, is expensive (out of pocket money), requires personal and professional sacrifice, and is a big pain in the ass.

Albert down in Florida and Brad Moon in New England will tell you the same thing. Its extremely hard to get a league going and keep it going. You are spoiled in that you have a good supported league relatively close by. I would put whatever effort you can into supporting Brad's league in NJ.

Fly fast and have fun!

Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen
God is Good
Beer is Great
Swoopers are crazy.

[skydivah1 0]

Quote

You are spoiled in that you have a good supported league relatively close by. I would put whatever effort you can into supporting Brad's league in NJ.

If by spoiled you mean a 12-14 hr drive one way, plus travel expenses, working out time off and praying that the weather cooperates then sure.

Look, I agree that it is a monumental task to undertake which is why I know with my schedule and location that there's no way I could spearhead it. However, maybe there is somebody out there that does have the time to put into it and is willing to tackle it. If so, put it out there and I'm sure a lot of us would pitch in whether it's scouting locations, making phone calls, getting the necessary equipment, finding financial donors, training judges etc.

The thread's only be up for 24 hours and already our Canadian brothers are showing interest. We can't let them down now!
Let's go!

[hokierower 0]

It has already been said, but running a league is a massive undertaking and the cost to install and maintain a swoop pond is pretty big as well. We were pretty lucky with CK in that the pond already exists.

I don't think you'll have too much luck starting a third league (there's a new one that just started in the Midwest) when FLCPA dominates most of the time and money that swoopers have because it traditionally leads up to Nationals. This year is the exception because nats is in September.

The rest of the CP community routinely does everything you mentioned to fly to Zhills/Raeford to compete. There are even quite a few people from Hawaii who have done it the last couple of years.

I'd recommend you come to CK for one of the two NECPL comps this year and talk things through with Brad.

[skydivah1 0]

I appreciate the input. I made it to one of CK's comps last year but unfortunately it got weathered out. Brad was gracious enough to refund my reg fee. If the stars line up again, I'll be sure to register for one this year.