Fantasy Swoop 2004
Fantasy
Swoop at SkyQuest 2004
By Chris Hayes
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Perfect weather and winds
made for one of the best Fantasy Swoop competitions yet at the 2004 annual
Skyquest Florida skydiving festival.  This
is the fourth year for the event with some of the past years dealing with
high winds and bad weather. Ideal temperatures and a 3 mph downwind made
for some very long and exciting swoops. The Fantasy of Flight location
with it’s 300x90 ft pond is also an ideal and very fun place to swoop,
only allowing skydiving at the location once a year. The facility is an
aviation museum for the rest of the year. Competitors looked forward to
this year’s event and were not let down.
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This years event except
for the freestyle rounds, was not modeled or structured from a strict set
of rules or guidelines. The event consisted of ten competition jumps, two
24 inch lane, two S carve, two long jump, two freestyle and two team distance
rounds. Noodles were laid out on the water to create the courses with the
24 inch lane running the entire length of the 300 ft pond.  The
S Carve course proved to be very challenging as well with only one competitor
scoring a perfect score of 100 (Moledski). The long jump event required
a competitor to fly down touch the water and then fly back up over a set
of five foot gates before flying as far as she/he could for distance. Not
touching the water or not getting over the gates gave the competitor a
zero for the run. The freestyle rounds followed PST format and rules with
chief judge, Karine Leblond, graciously making the trip from California
to judge the event. Competitors declared both of their freestyle rounds
with no draw involved.
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Competitors showed up Thursday
for a day of practice jumps with six competition jumps on Friday and four
on Saturday. Competitors were allowed to practice their freestyle rounds
on Saturday morning before doing their actual competition jumps with the
team distance finishing up the event on Saturday evening.  Everything
seemed to happen right on schedule.
An outstanding team of judges
made all the difference in the world. They made their jobs look effortless
and did an excellent job of judging, manifesting and making everything
go smoothly. Karine Leblond and Danielle Ford headed up the team both working
long before the event and long days and into the competition nights creating
their scoring spreadsheets so that competitors did not have to wait to
see their scores. Friday’s scores were available on Saturday morning and
the final standings were done on Saturday not long after the last competition
jump was made. Jennifer Laras and Dorice Grove also made sure that everyone
got the points that they deserved and didn’t get points if they missed
their zones. David Andreaux and Robin Miller rounded out the team doing
the crucial video that the judges sometimes depend on for accurate scoring.
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Performance Designs had
a great showing with the top three spots going to the PD Factory team.
For the overall individual class, Jay Moledski finished in first and collected
$1,150.  Team
mates Shannon Pilcher and Ian Bobo took second and third and collected
$600 and $350 for their efforts. JC Colclasure finished fourth with Danny
Koon finishing out the top five. For the freestyle rounds which were included
in overall standings and prize winnings, Shannon Pilcher and Jay Moledski
tied for the first position. Second place went to Danny Koon with Francisco
Neri and JC Colclasure finishing out the top five. PD also did well in
the team events with the team of Moldski and Neri finishing first and collecting
$500. Second place went to the Icarus Team extreme guys, JC Colclasure
and Luigi Cani. The third place finishers were Kaz Sheeky and Scott Roberts.
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| Area Hotels |
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Here for more detailed information about the area hotels that offer
special NSL rates. |
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| SkyQuest Sponsorship |
| Click
Here to request information on how you can sponsor SkyQuest Florida
and/or provide prizes and awards for the events. |
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