Artistic
Events
By
Tamsin Stedall
The first Free Fly Scrambles meet
was held on the weekend of the 23rd
and 24th of August at Johannesburg
Skydiving Club. After many fun attempts
at having mid year free fly skills
camps and competitions with the hope
of incorporating both junior and experienced
skydivers the perfect formula has finally
been realized. The Free Fly scrambles
meet, brainchild of Brendon Delate,
one of our brilliant certified Free
Fly coaches, was a fabulous success.
Brendon Delate was one of the members
of Sirius which were the winners of
this years Free Fly section at Nationals.
He organized the Free Fly Scrambles
meet and conjured up prizes from sponsors,
Converse.
The day started off bright and early
with competitors arriving at 7h00 for
dirt dives. The draw was sent out prior
to the meet for the ‘open minded’ free
flyers to wrap their brains around.
Competitors were greeted with welcome
packs filled with goodies from the
sponsors, Converse, including T shirts,
key rings, wallets, ear phones and
the girls scored another batch of that
great Adidas shower gel and deodorant
that got sampled at Nationals.
How did this competition differ from
other meets? Standard Free Fly competitions
see a team of two Free Flyers and a
camera person competing over a certain
amount of rounds, doing pre determined
free rounds nominated by themselves
in conjunction with a number of rounds
with moves drawn prior to the competition
which would be the same for all teams.
The rounds are judged on number of
points scored as well as artistic execution.
The Free Fly Scrambles has pre determined
moves per round for both intermediate
and senior competitors. Each round
sees individual free flyers jumping
with random team mates, which vary
for each round. The judging is only
compiled of points completed and each
individual receives his or her score
overall score. This means that anyone
can compete regardless of level of
skill or whether or not they are a
part of a team.
There were a total of 13 competitors,
7 intermediate and 6 open, which filled
9 loads and 74 slots on the PAC 750XL.
The PAC provided for easy exits out
of a big door. Congratulations to Brendan
Van Niekerk for winning the open section
with Zeljko Markovic taking second
place and Christopher Teague third.
First place in intermediate went to
Tamsin Stedall with Paul Gerard and
Dian Kemp being awarded second and
third respectively.
A big thanks to the organizers, sponsors,
Converse, and the SSA for sponsoring
50% of the camera slots making competing
more affordable.
The second Free Fly Scrambles meet will
be held at Pretoria Skydiving Club later
in the year with dates to be confirmed
shortly and we hope to include competitors
from KZN, the Cape and other regions.
