EC's & WC's in FS, AE, CF, SP, Saarlouis, Germany. Day 3
Wednesday 9th August 2017
20.00hrs: The news of this World Record coincided with the decision to call it a day, with the Meet Director advising all competitors in all disciplines to be back on the DZ for 08.30hrs tomorrow morning.
19.50hrs: It's sure been a busy afternoon with no further weather interruptions, with the highlight of the day being a new(unofficial at the moment!) World Record in Canopy Formation ! It had been anticipated that the draw for Round 3 in 2-Way Sequential would indeed be a fast round and France 'A' has smashed the current World Record of 45 points with a remarkable score of 56 points! They certainly don't do things by half as clearly the Round 3 sequence suited them. There is plainly much to be said for the adage, 'The luck of the draw'.
16.10hrs: In Formation Skydiving we have 50 teams - 31 in 4-Way alone - so it's not surprising that the scores aren't appearing instantly. What is apparent in 4-Way is Hayabusa's scores are mirrored with those of VR4 France, each scoring 35 in Round 1 and 26 each in Round 2. Will they continue in this vein for the rest of the competition?
15.05hrs: Okay, we're back up and running again with the next 15 minute call for AE's Freestyle teams. I'm sure I heard an audible sigh of relief as the call has finally gone out for the first of the 8-Way teams to kit up.
14.40hrs: Those pesky clouds have rolled in again, so once more we find ourselves on a weather hold. The ladies have now completed Round 2 and the score for France VR4 Femmes has us head-scratching as what happened to end up with a score of 17points*! They remain in the lead, but only by 2 points ahead of Canada's Fuzion, with 1 point separating them from Bubble Trouble. * It turns out that they funnelled the exit . . . . . a real rarity by today's standards.
12.30hrs: Round 1 in 4-Way FS is now complete, with joint 1st place being - unsurpringly - Belgium's Hayabusa, with VR4 France on 35 points! The first round in 4-Way Female has also completed, with France VR4 Femmes in 1st place on 29, followed by Fuzion from Canada on 24, with Russia's Bubble Trouble in 3rd place on 23. The first rounds may well set the scene, but there's a long way to go yet.
11.15hrs: The first round has been completed in 2-Way Sequential CF with France 'A' in 1st place on 28 points, with Russia close on their heels with 27 points. In 3rd place, on 18 points, is France 'B' - but there are 7 more rounds to complete - so everything to play for. In fact, they are going straight into Round 2. The first call (25 minutes) has been made for the Speed Skydivers, bringing the 3rd aircraft into use, so hopefully they'll be able to make up some of yesterday's lost time. Similarly the first of the Artistics Events - Freefly - have been called, so too Freestyle Skydiving. As far as the planned schedule for today is concerned the 8-Way teams aren't likely to get airborne until the end of the day.
The sun has certainly brought out a considerable amount of visitors to the DZ and judging by the smiles on their faces, they're clearly enjoying the experience.
10.20hrs: The low clouds which brought proceedings to a halt have now dispersed and the next 15 minute call has been made. The build up of cloud may well cause something of a stop-start issue throughout the day. If it does, let's hope the holdups are minimal.
10.05hrs: It's just been announced that everyone is on a temporary weather hold due to cloud.
08.45hrs: The first 15 minute call has just been made for the 1st load of the day!!! After a miserable day yesterday, spirits were high this morning as the first Caravan load of CF competitors was airborne just after 09.00hrs, followed shortly afterwards by the FS Open jumpers.
