Skydive the Expo 2020 featured a full day of free to attend seminars and educational talks.
From progressing in our sport, to talks from some of the leading manufacturers, there’s something for everyone. Full details of the available seminars will be added below as they are confirmed.
Catch up with the seminars below and be sure to look out for details for the 2022 line up.
So you think you can judge (formation skydiving)? - An interactive workshop
Lucy Westgarth
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.
About the Speaker
Lucy is a BPA/FAI Judge in Formation Skydiving.
History and Future of Skysurfing
Mike Frost
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.
About the Speaker
Bio coming soon.
Canopy Piloting and Canopy Handling Working Group Update
Mark Bayada
Chief Pilot, APA Netheravon
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.
About the Speaker
Mark started skydiving 26 years ago and in that time worked full time in the industry initially as a member of the Red Devils parachute display team and then as an instructor and chief instructor and pilot. He is a council member and has been an instructor examiner for 17 years assisting with several enquiries following incidents and working groups including the canopy working group that created the CH and CP system.
Following a number of serious landing incidents another working group has been formed, of which he is the chairman, to look into the problem and recommend any changes that might help reduce the number of incidents in the future.
From Hobby to Full-Time Career
Emily Aucutt
AFFI & CSI at Skydive Langar
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.
About the Speaker
Emily is a full-time AFF and CSI at Skydive Langar.
The Evolution of Wingsuiting
Jarno Cordia
Professional Wingsuit Pilot
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.
About the Speaker
Jarno Cordia is a wingsuit pilot with over 20 years experience in the sport. Specialized in wingsuit acrobatics and camera flying, he is one of the highest ranking professionals in the sport with more than 4000 wingsuit flights on his resume and over 500 hours of Indoor Wingsuit Tunnel flight experience.
Packing Your Parachute - What not to do
Hans van Marrewijk
European Marketing Representative – Performance Designs
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.
About the Speaker
Hans is the European Marketing Representative for Performance Designs and has made over 22,000 jumps. He started skydiving back in 1994, started working in the sport in ’98 and joined PD in 2014.
Zero to Hero.. But why stop there
Anthony Andrews
TEAM-JEDI AIR FORCE (chief safety officer)
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.
About the Speaker
Anthony Andrews is a British Skydiving Instructor and an IBA and TI body flight instructor, Anthony uses extensive knowledge and understanding of flying and incorporates lessons into helping people understand more technically how to fly and goes into some depth on the progression system within British Skydiving for skydivers and instructors.
Tracking, Freeflying and Speed Skydiving
Jimmy McCarthy
Head coach at Jimmy's Sky and Tunnel Coaching
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.
About the Speaker
Bio coming soon.
High Performance Displays with the Red Devils
Capt Dan Lovegrove
Officer Commanding Red Devils
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.
About the Speaker
Capt Dan Lovegrove has been incredibly lucky to command Parachute Regiment soldiers in many roles during his career and that privilege continues now. He joined 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment in 2015 and took over as Platoon Commander of 8Pl, C Bruneval Company. He has since conducted overseas exercises in the USA, France, Germany and Georgia. In 2017 he was posted to ITC Catterick as a Platoon Commander to train new Parachute Regiment recruits.
With over 200 jumps, Capt Lovegrove is developing his Canopy Relative Work, Tracking and Freeflying. In his spare time he trains arms in the gym and spends time with his family renovating clocks. He was also featured in the 2019 ITV Documentary, Paras: Men of War.
40 Years of the BCPA
Catherine Diffey & Amber Padfield
Chair & Vice Chair of the BCPA
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.
About the Speaker
Catherine (Chair) and Amber (Vice Chair) both joined the sport back in 2016 as university students, where Catherine built her university club from scratch and Amber has been joined and began running her society. They fully immersed themselves into the British Collegiate Parachute Association (BCPA) from the beginning and have since been inspired to run the organisation that got them so involved and connected with the sport and it’s community.
With less than 200 jumps, Catherine has already completed formations up to 39-way and began her journey into CRW and can usually be found in her onesie (no, not the jumpsuit, the bedtime type!) at her home dropzone, Dunkeswell.
After achieving her long standing goal of getting her FS1, Amber is now fully committed to her training in carnage jumps and a-little-too-big-way formations, spending most of her time on bad weather days talking about packing.
Crazy Things We've Learned, 30 Years of Canopy Design & Development
John LeBlanc
Vice President of Performance Designs
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.
About the Speaker
John LeBlanc is the Vice President of Performance Designs, Inc., and also the Lead Canopy Designer. John started skydiving 42 years ago, as a 16 year old high school student, meeting company founder Bill Coe at a Skydiving club meeting at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU.)
John joined PD in 1983 as the first employee. They decided right at the beginning to engage in continuous canopy research and development, to push way beyond the boundaries of what was then possible in canopy flight. This approach has served the company and community well, and led to PD innovations such as zero-p material, low drag suspension lines, new airfoil and planform technology, and crossbraced canopies. Due to this focus, PD now have 300 employees to meet the demand.
John designed and tested several very well-known canopies. Some of these include the Spectre, Sabre2, Stiletto, Storm Velocity, Optimum reserve, Peregrine, and Valkyrie. He is an accomplished pilot and has more than 6000 jumps.
Jumping on Fun FS Organised Loads? Why Not? What's it All About, Skills Needed and How to Get on Events
Jim Bradwell
FS Load Organiser
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.
About the Speaker
Bio coming soon.
VFS - You Don't Need to be a Ninja!
Tim Gaines
Omni 99
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!
About the Speaker
Tim is a member of Omni99 and has competed in VFS for over 5 years both nationally and internationally at world skydiving/indoor championships. He is currently the British Skydiving VFS representative between competitors and the council.
A Path less Travelled
Jackie Smith
First Female Red Devil
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.
About the Speaker
Jackie opened the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Meadowbank Stadium jumping the Scottish Saltire flag, escorted into the arena by the Royal Marines which was transmitted live (for the first-ever time) with an audience of 102 million viewers. Oh, and did we mention she BASE jumped off El Capitan in 1981 when BASE jumpers faced a BPA lifetime ban (the naughty girl that she was!).
A mother of two ‘men’ and grandmother of two little princesses. Having been awarded the Royal Aero Club ‘Gold, The Prince of Wales Cup, Inducted into the Skydiving Hall of Fame and awarded the Jim Crocker Sword as a Lifetime Achievement.
Safety and Me: A Personal Journey
Ben Samuel
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.
About the Speaker
Bio coming soon.
2019 Activation reports & What's new for 2020
Jens Gosmann
Management Assistant - Cypres
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.
About the Speaker
Bio coming soon.
Inspiring Future Generations
Ian Gallacher and Kate Solomons-Freakley
Aerosparx Glider Pilot
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.
About the Speaker
Bio coming soon.
Parachutes and Pilots
Andy Goodall
Chief Instructor Military Parachute School in Bahrain
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.
About the Speaker
With over 6000 jumps Andy’s career has been as varied as it has been exciting. A former Red Devil with 5 years on the team and over 250 displays, Andy went on to become an AFF and Tandem Instructor/Examiner for British Skydiving as well as putting in over 1000 hours and 2000+ drops as a Pilot/Examiner. Not content with holding ratings from British Skydiving, Andy also held AFF and Tandem ratings for the USPA.
Andy’s jump plane experience encompasses the C172, C206, C208 Caravan, BN Islander, GA8 Air van and the Twin Otter. As a CAA Class Rating Instructor with CAA Display Authorisation he is also qualified to fly the Mustang P51, T6 Harvard/Texan, OCM Administrator and the Hawker Hurricane.
UPT Sigma / Micro Sigma - Differences in folding and reserve line stowing
Kenneth Gajda
UPT Rigging Department Manager / UPT Master Rigger
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.
About the Speaker
With 19 years and 13,000 jumps, Kenneth has been active in various areas of the skydiving world; 4-way and Canopy Piloting competitor, full time multi-rated instructor and examiner, Master parachute rigger, as well as fun- and test jumper.
Explaining Harness Sizing & Canopy Compatibility for Sun Path Containers
Tom Parker & Rob Kendal
Tom Parker: Engineer / Rob Kendal: European Marketing Rep
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.