Dipsy 5

I am currently in Dubai as one of the judges for the Dubai International Parachuting Championships – DIPC for short (often pronounced dipsy).  It is the fifth year of the championship hence DIPC5.  If you use the hashtag #DIPC5 on Twitter or Instagram or Facebook you will find lots of updates and information of the goings on here.

Which most of the time is lots of skydiving.  At the moment the focus at the landing area at Skydive Dubai is the Accuracy Landing competition.  There is a target with concentric circles around it on an inflated tuffet which the competitors aim to hit dead centre.  For every centimetre off the centre they have their first touch down the higher the score and the aim is to score zero.  You can’t see the actual landing tuffet in this picture as it is surrounded by barriers to ensure only competitors and judges are in the proximity of the landing.

All skydiving has to be performed under certain weather and wind conditions, and the maximum wind speeds at which competitions are held for accuracy are lower than for other disciplines.  Unfortunately this afternoon the wind got too strong and the competition was stopped.  Luckily, acrobatic airplanes were standing by to provide us with this fantastic show in the air.

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