2016 Nationals in April?!?!?!

[hokierower 0]

Just read the USPA update email and it states that CP nationals in 2016 will be held APRIL 7-10 at Zhills. That's a full two months earlier than this year. What gives?

[raymod2 1]

Here are the dates for the USPA Canopy Piloting Nationals over the last 9 years:

September 17, 2007
August 28, 2008
October 21, 2009
September 2, 2010
September 15, 2011
June 14, 2012
May 8, 2013
May 21, 2014
June 20, 2015

As you can see, the idea that you can train all year and be fully prepared for Nationals at the end of the season has become a distant memory. It makes no sense to me.

[shaggio 0]

I personally like the fact that USPA sends out an email saying that "A little caution and conservative flying both in freefall and under canopy will go a long way toward helping ensure your season starts off safely."

And then in the next paragraph says that Nationals for Canopy Piloting are in April!

[WickedWingsuits 0]

Someone told me once that all USPA Nationals had to be held late in the season for training and currency reasons, guess that was an urban legend.

Summer Rental special, 5 weeks for the price of 4! That is $160 a month.

Try before You Buy with Wicked Wingsuits - WingsuitRental.com

[SVinRider 0]

The pros will be current no matter what, so for the top 10 it doesn't matter in that sense.

I would like to hear the rationale behind the decision though as we have similarly early nationals.

It's all of us plebeians with regular jobs who'll have to time vacations and overtime better. It's definitely doable to get decently up to speed but it's difficult to properly set up a training schedule.

Bring what you got not what you want.

[peek 21]

SVinRider

I would like to hear the rationale behind the decision though as we have similarly early nationals.

USPA's BOD (using the advice and information from the Competition Committee) selects which bidder gets to host (a particular part of) the Nationals. Only Skydive City bid on Canopy Piloting Nationals.

It has very little to do with USPA deciding anything. The only decision would be to accept their bid or don't have a CPN. You would need to contact the bidders to ask why they chose a particular set of dates.

[dqpacker 7]

hokierower

Just read the USPA update email and it states that CP nationals in 2016 will be held APRIL 7-10 at Zhills. That's a full two months earlier than this year. What gives?

You mean the FLCPA Championship?

[raymod2 1]

Gary, the USPA doesn't give recommendations or guidelines to the bidders regarding appropriate dates? What happens if we get a bid one year in December and the next year in January?

[peek 21]

raymod2

Gary, the USPA doesn't give recommendations or guidelines to the bidders regarding appropriate dates? What happens if we get a bid one year in December and the next year in January?

I don't know. You will need to ask someone on the Competition Committee.

For many years in the past, the entire list of events were held by the same DZ within a short period of time, and they usually bid for a time period later in the season.

Now that different events are being held at different DZs, they can (and are) being held at a variety of dates.

That's all I know.

[bob.dino 1]

This may have something to do with an earlier date:

Quote

6th FAI World Canopy Piloting Championships - Farnham (Canada) - 21 Aug to 28 Aug 2016

[raymod2 1]

There are several concerns regarding selection of the US team with regard to the timing of Nationals and the World event:

1) We want all competitors to have time to train before Nationals.
2) We want all competitors to have the opportunity to go to the World event every year.
3) After the team members are selected they need time to make travel arrangements for the World event.

Factor (3) was a hot topic a few years back and I believe there was a rule proposed that if there wasn't enough time between Nationals and Worlds then we would send the team that was selected the year prior. This is not an ideal situation because it conflicts with factor (2). It seems like there has been an attempt to avoid that situation by moving Nationals earlier every year but that conflicts with factor (1).

I personally think too much weight is given to factor (3). 6 to 8 weeks is a reasonable amount of time to make travel arrangements. If the World event is August 21 next year then we could still have Nationals in late June or early July.

[tkhayes 348]

there are many reasons for the timing. Mostly to do with the availability of aircraft and such. Easter is early in 2016, and most visiting aircraft in Florida split pretty much right after the Easter boogies end and head to their northern homes.

Skydive City has the premier location and ability to pull off a great CP Nationals but in May or June our backs are to the wall with no airplanes, and increasingly bad weather. It is a 3 day event and the chances of never completing it are high in those months.

We struggled last year hosting it in May with having to ferry aircraft, no staff (everyone left for the summer) and staying open 7 days a week for an extra month in order to host the event. We normally close in the summer months.

So the decision was made that it is more important to host an event with the best possible chance of completing the event both with aircraft and weather rather than worrying about how early it is for competitors.

Yes some people may still have snow on the ground but there are dozens of year round dropzones to train at that are open year round. All across the USA. Not just in Florida.

And we plan to offer some training incentives realizing the early dates are an inconvenience for some. Albert is also hosting an FLCPA Meet the weekend prior as he usually does, and this has been the case since our first Nationals in 2013. An excellent venue to train for the Nationals, and even a few days prior.

TK Hayes
Skydive City