SEMINARS

In this seminar, British Skydiving and FAI Judge Lucy Westgarth covers some classic examples of common busts, as well as a few obscure instances and the odd red herring to help understand those pesky infringements on your scoresheet.

The session concludes with an interactive try out session using OmniSkoreHD! to judge some historic competition footage.

Skysurfing was a prominent sport in the 90’s with global status, before fading from public conscience during the 2000’s. Mike Frosts’s seminar has contributions from World Champions, pioneers, prominent teams, tour organisers and sponsors.

The skysurfing community has come together to share and celebrate the history and rise through the X-Games, World Air Games and Pro Tour Events along with commercial endorsements. With a focus on the teamwork of the sky surfer and camera flyer to create global TV events. It remains one of the most challenging and rewarding activities in skydiving and only a small number of sky surfers in the world remain.

This talk is about the number of landing incidents we are currently having in at British Skydiving and the different ways we are planning to tackle the problem, including a new system of training for both canopy piloting and canopy handling. Mark also discuss the introduction of new regulations for type and size of canopy to be jumped, and how and when these changes will be implemented. The aim of the talk is to dispel any rumours and to get as much feedback as possible from the jumpers about how they feel they might be affected.

Turning your hobby into your full-time profession can be a daunting task for anyone. In this seminar, Emily explores the process of what turned her from a fun jumper to a DZ professional. The transition from weekend visitor to living on a drop zone, working in the sport and the personal sacrifices and challenges she faced to earn an instructor rating.

Jarno Cordia from Wingsuit Team, Fly Like Brick, gives a presentation on the start, evolution and progression within the sport of wingsuit flying.

With the focus being safety & training thew seminar is aimed at both wingsuit pilots and non-wingsuit skydivers to increase knowledge and awareness about wingsuit training, suit sizes/models, gear checks and more.

Hans has more than just a little bit of experience packing parachutes, and with all those pack jobs, he’s learned a thing or two.

In this seminar, you’ll hear some tips and tricks to make your packing more enjoyable along with some myth busting about packing techniques and (bad) habits.

Hans will also cover safety and safety issues and talk about the influence some components of your equipment can have on your canopy and its opening.

An inspirational and intellectual conversation about progression within the sport. Using experience from grassroots skydiving to Big way Freefly records, parachute packing and equipment, sports and practical psychology.

In this seminar, British National Champion in Speed, Jimmy McCarthy, explains the first few steps and requirements to get into tracking, freeflying and speed skydiving.

Capt Dan Lovegrove looks into the planning and execution of Red Devils displays, using the Lords CWC Final as a medium for discussion. Particular attention is paid to how the Red Devils mitigate risk when using high-performance canopies and wingsuits for high profile events.

The British Collegiate Parachute Association (BCPA) recently celebrated 40 successful years of bringing university skydiving clubs together and developing generations of skydivers. In this talk, Catherine Diffy and Amber Padfield will be taking a look back into the history of the organisation, sharing the magic of how it all works, and hearing from some alumni who have gone on to become national champions and instructors.

With over 30 years of non-stop experience in canopy design and testing at Performance Designs, you can imagine that there have been some interesting and unexpected surprises along the way. This talk from John LeBlanc is all about those sometimes crazy things we’ve learned – about parachutes and ourselves – when we design and develop new prototypes and then finally share the final product with the community.

Some of the lessons have not only played a big part in how in our parachutes have evolved over the last three decades, but has also shaped our sport and our community as well.

John’s comments on canopy aerodynamics from the designer’s point of view will often surprise those who have only learned while jumping commercially available canopies. Avoiding an overly technical treatise, the intention is to provide an entertaining peek behind the curtains at Performance Designs’ R&D department—to see what really goes on. You will see video examples of the good, the bad, and the sometimes ugly things that are often an exciting part of canopy development.

Watch PD Vice President and Lead Canopy Designer, John LeBlanc, as he shares stories and offers insights on what we’ve learned – and where it might be going next.

Quality FS Organised jumps are Challenging, Social and FUN!

Every jump changes, a different exits slot, a different build sequence and different moves in the sky to different points…

If you are unfamiliar, here’s your Jim Bradwell guide to what it’s all about, what skills are needed and how to get on events.

Vertical formation skydiving, or VFS, is often considered to be way too difficult for anyone to take part. Tim Gaines of Omni 99 debunks some of those myths and provides guidance for anyone who is keen to have a go at VFS. Using knowledge Omni99 has learnt the last 5 years, Tim goes through the best way for new teams to progress and take part and how to avoid some of the team’s past mistakes!

Jackie Smith highlights her career in the sport from day 1 and covering how she became the first female on The Red Devils (and becoming the first female in the world to be on a full-time military team).  With such an amazing career in the sport representing the nation at World Championships in all aspects of jumping, hundreds of demo jumps into some amazing venues.

She has been multiple national champion in Style, Accuracy, 4-Way, 8-Way and has won competitions both in the UK and USA in 8, 10 and 16-way competitions and won the Rhine Army Championships Open Event in 4-Way and Overall Individual accuracy. Working in USA on a full-time demo team, Firestone Team, jumping into a theme park out of a DC3 each evening, King’s Island, in OHIO, where the arena was the size of a boxing ring. And of course, her World Championship title becoming the first person in the world, male or female, to score 10 x 0.00cm on an Electronic measuring pad and going into the Guinness Book of World Records for doing so.

Watch the incredible story of Jackie Smith.

This seminar is a  personal account of Ben Samuels’ relationship with safety.

A story from AFF to present, Ben discusses how he adopted safe practices and how he engaged in unsafe practices using psychoanalytic theory to suggest reasons why it was and still is difficult to internalise ALL safety information.

Ben concludes his presentation by exploring how his understanding of basic psychology is helping him to work with the risks associated with the sport and reduce the chances of having an accident.

Jens Gosmann brings us news directly from the CYPRES HQ. What’s new for 2020 and in addition, some case studies of saves and reports from 2019.

Join Ian Gallacher and Kate Solomons-Freakley of Glider FX and Aerosparxs as they take you on journey from pyrotechnic aerial displays and relative work with wingsuiters to skydivers jumping from gliders and how their work is inspiring a new generation.

Andy Goodall’s seminar aims to raise awareness of safety onboard the aircraft and identify common accident trends thus improving pilot survivability and overall safety during flight.
The seminar will be of interest to skydivers and pilots and will provide skydivers with a better understanding of the problems that pilots may encounter during flight, and to help pilots better understand the nature of skydivers and to raise awareness of accident trends and statistics of inflight accidents worldwide.

Highlighting the Importance of a Safety first culture Andy will also discuss real-time, Emergency pilot parachute saves.

Kenneth Gajda from UPT presents a practical session that maintains focus on the tandem area with particular attention to reserve line stowing on the UPT Sigma and Micro Sigma.

Tom Parker and Rob Kendal of Sun Path explain harness sizing and canopy compatibility for the Sun Path range of containers. This seminar is suitable for all levels of experience. The session will conclude with a question and answer session.